Inside

# Inside — AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

The measured data for this combination shows a Puzzle Platformer running at frame rates that are consistently high across all tested presets, with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti pairing producing average FPS figures that never dip below 85 at 4K Ultra and reach as high as 397 at 1080p Low. The dataset includes four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160), with only the Medium preset providing minimum and maximum FPS values, which allows for a partial view of frame-time consistency. This analysis interprets those measured rows to clarify which preset offers the best balance, what the CPU and GPU each contribute, and how the combination ranks among the 3,716 tested combos in this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows point to Medium settings as the most informative preset for evaluating this combo, because it is the only preset where minimum and maximum FPS were recorded alongside the average. At 1080p Medium, the average is 317 FPS with a minimum of 270 and a maximum of 365, which means the frame rate stays within a 95 FPS window even in the worst case. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 228 FPS with a minimum of 194 and a maximum of 263, still maintaining a tight range. At 4K Medium, the average is 143 FPS with a minimum of 122 and a maximum of 165, which is a 43 FPS spread that remains smooth for a puzzle platformer.

High settings produce a step down that is noticeable but not dramatic: 198 FPS at 1080p, 143 FPS at 1440p, and 90 FPS at 4K. The drop from Medium to High is roughly 37–38% at 1080p (317 to 198 FPS), 37% at 1440p (228 to 143 FPS), and 37% at 4K (143 to 90 FPS), suggesting a consistent scaling factor across resolutions. Ultra settings are the most demanding, yielding 189 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p, and 85 FPS at 4K, which is only 4–9 FPS lower than High depending on resolution.

Low settings unlock the highest frame rates: 397 FPS at 1080p, 285 FPS at 1440p, and 179 FPS at 4K. Given that the game is a puzzle platformer with no competitive multiplayer component, the extra frames from Low over Medium (80 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, 36 FPS at 4K) are unlikely to provide a meaningful gameplay advantage. The Medium preset is therefore the recommended baseline because it delivers the highest average FPS with recorded minimums that remain above 120 FPS at all resolutions, ensuring no perceptible stutter while keeping visual quality above the lowest tier. For users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw speed, High is the better choice than Ultra because the FPS cost of Ultra over High is only 9 FPS at 1080p, 7 FPS at 1440p, and 5 FPS at 4K — a marginal difference that may not justify the extra graphical load.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process from TSMC. The CPU's benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 1286 in 3DMark and 2253 in Cinebench R23, while the multithreaded scores reach 13929 in 3DMark max threads and 32172 in Cinebench R23 multicore. These figures place the CPU in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 57498 that sits within 1.4% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i9-14900 (deltaPct of -1.1%) and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (deltaPct of -1.4%).

For Inside, a puzzle platformer released in 2016, the game's workload is primarily GPU-bound at higher settings, but the CPU's single-thread performance becomes relevant at low settings and high frame rates. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 397 FPS, which is 80 FPS higher than Medium (317 FPS) and 208 FPS higher than Ultra (189 FPS). This wide spread indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to push well beyond 300 FPS when the graphical load is minimal. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2519 and 4-thread score of 4886 suggest that the game, which is not a modern multithreaded title, likely relies on a few cores; the 9900X's high boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures that those few threads run at peak speed.

The L3 cache of 64 MB and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for a game of this era, where asset streaming is not demanding. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 12552 is less relevant here, as Inside does not appear to scale with core count given the modest performance difference between Medium and Ultra at the same resolution. The data implies that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any tested setting; even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 85 FPS, and the bottleneck shifts to the GPU as resolution increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti uses the GA104 chip on the Ampere architecture, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process, with 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus providing 608.3 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock is 1770 MHz, and it features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s. Benchmark results show a Passmark G3D score of 23356 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3478, placing the GPU in the 75th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 29945. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 5070 Mobile (deltaPct of 0.1%) and the RTX 2080 Ti (deltaPct of 0.5%), indicating the 3070 Ti sits in a competitive mid-high tier.

In Inside, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the FPS values are extremely high across all settings (189–397 FPS), suggesting the GPU is not fully stressed even at Ultra. At 1440p, the FPS ranges from 136 to 285, showing a 30–38% drop from 1080p depending on the preset, which is consistent with the increased pixel count. At 4K, the FPS ranges from 85 to 179, and the gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 94 FPS (179 vs 85), indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint at this resolution.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is worth noting for a 2016 puzzle platformer; the game's textures are not likely to exceed this amount even at 4K Ultra, so VRAM is not a bottleneck. The memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s is more than sufficient for the game's visual complexity. The data shows that the GPU scales predictably: the ratio of 4K FPS to 1080p FPS is approximately 0.45 for Low (179/397), 0.45 for Medium (143/317), 0.45 for High (90/198), and 0.45 for Ultra (85/189). This consistent ratio across all presets implies that the GPU is handling the resolution scaling uniformly, and the CPU is not interfering with the GPU's workload at any point.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Inside?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 397, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is 80 FPS higher than Medium at the same resolution (317 FPS) and 208 FPS higher than Ultra (189 FPS).

Q: Does the combo maintain a minimum FPS above 60 at 4K?

A: Yes, the only preset with recorded minimum FPS is Medium, where the minimum at 3840x2160 is 122 FPS. For the other presets at 4K, the averages are 90 FPS (High), 85 FPS (Ultra), and 179 FPS (Low), all of which exceed 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multithreaded performance?

A: The 3DMark single-thread score is 1286, while the max-thread score is 13929, a roughly 10.8x difference. The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2253 versus 32172 multicore, indicating strong scaling across the 12 cores.

Q: Which resolution shows the largest FPS gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080, the gap between Low (397 FPS) and Ultra (189 FPS) is 208 FPS. At 2560x1440, the gap is 149 FPS (285 vs 136), and at 3840x2160, the gap is 94 FPS (179 vs 85).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to limit performance at 4K Ultra?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting component at 4K Ultra, as the FPS drops to 85, while the CPU's high boost clock and single-thread scores (1286 in 3DMark, 2253 in Cinebench R23) would not be stressed by a puzzle platformer at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo's rank in Inside compare to its overall hardware percentile?

A: The combo ranks 1084 out of 3716 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the 70.8th percentile (1084/3716). This is lower than the CPU's 92nd percentile and the GPU's 75th percentile, suggesting the game is not particularly demanding on high-end hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of resolution scaling across all settings presets. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by approximately 28–30% depending on the preset: Low goes from 397 to 285 (a 28% drop), Medium from 317 to 228 (28%), High from 198 to 143 (28%), and Ultra from 189 to 136 (28%). Moving from 1440p to 4K, the drop is more severe: Low goes from 285 to 179 (37%), Medium from 228 to 143 (37%), High from 143 to 90 (37%), and Ultra from 136 to 85 (37%). The uniformity of these percentage drops across all four presets indicates that the scaling is purely resolution-driven, with no setting-specific anomalies.

The total scaling from 1080p to 4K is a 55% reduction in average FPS for every preset: Low drops from 397 to 179 (55% lower), Medium from 317 to 143 (55% lower), High from 198 to 90 (55% lower), and Ultra from 189 to 85 (55% lower). This consistent 55% reduction suggests that the limiting component scales linearly with pixel count, which points to the GPU being the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The CPU's role is relatively constant, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS ratio between Low and Ultra at each resolution remains similar: at 1080p, Ultra is 48% of Low (189/397), at 1440p it is 48% (136/285), and at 4K it is 47% (85/179).

The implication is that the combo is GPU-limited at 4K, but not at 1080p, where the CPU's high single-thread performance (boost clock of 5.60 GHz) allows the GPU to run at near-peak efficiency. The data does not show a point where the CPU becomes a bottleneck, as even at 1080p Low with 397 FPS, the frame rate continues to scale upward when settings are lowered, suggesting the GPU is still the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to plateau at some point regardless of resolution or settings; instead, the FPS increases monotonically with lower graphical loads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured averages are 397 FPS on Low, 317 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 270 and maximum of 365), 198 FPS on High, and 189 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 208 FPS, and the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values is Medium, which shows a range of 95 FPS. At 2560x1440, the averages are 285 FPS on Low, 228 FPS on Medium (minimum 194, maximum 263), 143 FPS on High, and 136 FPS on Ultra. The spread is 149 FPS, and the Medium preset's range narrows to 69 FPS. At 3840x2160, the averages are 179 FPS on Low, 143 FPS on Medium (minimum 122, maximum 165), 90 FPS on High, and 85 FPS on Ultra. The spread is 94 FPS, and the Medium preset's range is 43 FPS.

The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data, and the pattern shows that the minimum FPS scales proportionally with the average: at 1080p the min is 85% of the average (270/317), at 1440p it is 85% (194/228), and at 4K it is 85% (122/143). The maximum FPS is consistently 115% of the average at each resolution (365/317, 263/228, 165/143). This consistency suggests that the frame-time distribution is stable across resolutions, with no unexpected spikes or drops. The difference between Low and Medium at each resolution is 80 FPS at 1080p (397 vs 317), 57 FPS at 1440p (285 vs 228), and 36 FPS at 4K (179 vs 143), while the difference between Medium and High is 119 FPS at 1080p (317 vs 198), 85 FPS at 1440p (228 vs 143), and 53 FPS at 4K (143 vs 90). The step from High to Ultra is much smaller: 9 FPS at 1080p (198 vs 189), 7 FPS at 1440p (143 vs 136), and 5 FPS at 4K (90 vs 85).

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 1084 out of 3716 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the top 29.2% of all configurations. This rank is notable when compared to the individual hardware percentiles: the CPU sits in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs. The gap between the hardware's standalone performance and the in-game rank suggests that Inside is not a demanding title for this level of hardware; many lower-tier combos are likely capable of achieving similar or higher frame rates because the game's puzzle platformer nature does not stress high-end components.

The combo's rank of 1084 means that 2,632 other combinations performed better in this specific game, which is a larger number than would be expected given the CPU's near-top-tier status. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the AMD EPYC 9015 (avgScore 57555, deltaPct -0.1%), AMD EPYC 7313 (57399, deltaPct 0.2%), Intel Core i9-14900 (58115, deltaPct -1.1%), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, deltaPct -1.4%) — all have average scores within 1.4% of the 9900X's 57498, meaning the CPU is not uniquely positioned to excel in this game. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals — the RTX 5070 Mobile (29928, deltaPct 0.1%), RX 6800 (30095, deltaPct -0.5%), RTX 2080 Ti (29783, deltaPct 0.5%), and RX 6700 (30433, deltaPct -1.6%) — are all within 1.6% of the 3070 Ti's 29945 average score, indicating that this GPU tier is crowded with comparable performers.

The rank of 1084 out of 3716 (roughly the 71st percentile) implies that for Inside specifically, the combo is above average but not exceptional. Given that the game's frame rates are extremely high (85 FPS minimum average at 4K Ultra), the rank likely reflects the fact that many other combinations achieve similar or higher FPS because the game is not GPU-intensive. The data suggests that a user with this combo will have a smooth experience at any preset, but the hardware's potential is underutilized in this title, as evidenced by the 397 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond what a puzzle platformer requires for smooth gameplay.