Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 presents a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics for Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer. The data reveals a system where the CPU’s high-end capabilities are consistently held back by a mid-range GPU, yet the GPU still manages to deliver playable results across most configurations. This analysis examines the measured frames per second (FPS) across resolutions and settings to determine where the true performance ceiling lies.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS shows how the system's performance is throttled by resolution, pointing directly at the GPU as the limiting factor. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the combo produces 205.5 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. However, when moving to 2560x1440 at the same Medium preset, the average drops to 146.6 FPS, a reduction of 58.9 FPS. This trend accelerates at 4K, where the Medium setting yields only 91.1 FPS. The pattern is clear: as pixel count increases, the RTX 2060's workload scales dramatically, while the Ryzen 9 9900X remains underutilized.

The most telling evidence is at the High preset. At 1080p, the system achieves 127.7 FPS, but at 4K, it falls to 57.8 FPS. This is a drop of nearly 55% from the 1080p result. While the CPU has ample headroom with its 12 cores and 24 threads, the GPU’s 6 GB of VRAM and 192-bit memory bus become the bottleneck. The data implies that the RTX 2060 is the primary constraint, as the performance loss scales almost linearly with the increase in resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. The Ryzen 9 9900X's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 1286, is not the limiting factor here.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance of visual fidelity and frame rate lies at the High preset for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1920x1080 High, the average FPS of 127.7 is well above the standard 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience. Moving to 2560x1440 High, the average of 93.2 FPS remains highly playable. The Ultra preset, while visually superior, only offers a marginal FPS increase over High at 1080p (124.3 vs 127.7) and actually performs worse at 1440p (85.4 vs 93.2). This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional settings are not efficiently optimized for this GPU.

For 4K, the data suggests that High settings are the practical ceiling, yielding an average of 57.8 FPS. This is just below the 60 FPS target, but it is playable. Dropping to Medium at 4K brings the average up to 91.1 FPS, which is a substantial improvement. For a game like Inside, which is a puzzle platformer, the Medium preset at 4K appears to be the best choice for a high-resolution experience, as it more than doubles the frame rate of the Ultra preset (91.1 vs 57.2) while maintaining a reasonable visual quality. The Low preset, while hitting 114 FPS at 4K, sacrifices too much visual detail for a game that relies on atmospheric presentation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the central figure in this performance profile. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is sufficient for most titles but becomes a constraint at higher resolutions. The GPU's boost clock of 1680 MHz and base clock of 1365 MHz are standard for the Turing architecture. The benchmark data shows that the GPU is the performance limiter, as evidenced by the score of 14111 in passmark_g3d and its percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs.

The data implies a direct relationship between the GPU's workload and the FPS drop. For instance, the transition from 2560x1440 Medium (146.6 FPS) to 3840x2160 Medium (91.1 FPS) represents a 37.9% reduction in performance. This is not a linear scaling with pixel count (which would be a 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K), but it is close, indicating that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are being pushed to their limits. The RTX 2060's DirectX 12 score of 53 in passmark is low, but the game's engine likely uses a more efficient API path. The GPU's 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but not heavily utilized in this particular game, as it is not a ray-tracing title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The comprehensive FPS data offers a clear picture of performance scaling.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 255.9 FPS, Medium produces 205.5 FPS, High produces 127.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 124.3 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is significant, a drop of 77.8 FPS, which suggests the High preset introduces a substantial rendering load.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 185.5 FPS, Medium at 146.6 FPS, High at 93.2 FPS, and Ultra at 85.4 FPS. The pattern holds, with a 53.4 FPS drop between Medium and High.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 114 FPS, Medium at 91.1 FPS, High at 57.8 FPS, and Ultra at 57.2 FPS. Here, the difference between High and Ultra is negligible, with only a 0.6 FPS difference, indicating that the Ultra preset's effects are either GPU-bound or not affecting this game's specific rendering. The Low preset at 4K is the only configuration that provides a clear 60+ FPS experience, while High and Ultra are locked into the same performance tier.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS at 1920x1080 is 255.9, achieved with the Low settings preset.

Q: Is the system capable of 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low and Medium settings. The Low preset averages 114 FPS, and Medium averages 91.1 FPS. The High and Ultra presets fall below 60 FPS, with averages of 57.8 and 57.2, respectively.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on the Ultra preset?

A: The average FPS drops from 124.3 at 1920x1080 to 57.2 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 67.1 FPS.

*Q: Which component is the primary bottleneck in this system for Inside?*

A: The data indicates the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the limiting component, as frame rates scale significantly with resolution changes, while the CPU's performance metrics remain high.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the High and Ultra presets at 2560x1440?

A: The High preset averages 93.2 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 85.4 FPS, a difference of 7.8 FPS.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 9900X's multi-threading capability impact the frame rate in this game?

A: The data suggests it does not, as the performance bottleneck is clearly on the GPU side. The CPU’s 3dmark_max_threads score of 13929 indicates high capacity, but the FPS is constrained by resolution and GPU workload.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is far more powerful than what Inside requires. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide exceptional single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics. The CPU's passmark_single_thread score of 4672 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 6555 confirm its strength in this area. However, the game's frame rate is not limited by these factors.

The data points to the CPU being underutilized. The high FPS at 1080p Low (255.9) shows the CPU can feed the GPU quickly, but as resolution increases, the GPU's rendering time dominates. The Ryzen 9 9900X's 64 MB of L3 cache and Zen 5 architecture are designed for heavy multi-threaded workloads, but Inside is not a CPU-intensive title. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 94 against all CPUs shows its top-tier status, but it is effectively "waiting" for the GPU to finish its work. In this configuration, the CPU is not a contributor to performance limitations; it is simply a passenger in a GPU-driven experience.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database for Inside, this combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1358 out of 1671 tested combos. This places it in the lower percentile of all systems, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's limitations. While the CPU is a top-tier part (ranking in the 94th percentile among CPUs), the GPU's 58th percentile ranking drags the overall combo performance down.

The combo's rank suggests that there are many other combinations that achieve higher average FPS in this game. The data implies that pairing such a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU is not an efficient way to maximize frame rates in Inside. The RTX 2060's performance is the limiting factor, and the Ryzen 9 9900X's potential is left on the table. This ranking confirms the importance of balance in a gaming system; a powerful CPU cannot compensate for a GPU that is unable to keep up with the rendering demands of higher resolutions and settings.