Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer, making it a powerful combination for this title. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 215.7 FPS, and even at the demanding 4K Ultra setting, it maintains a fluid 100 FPS average. This performance profile indicates that the system is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor only at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 429 FPS, which drops to 330.6 FPS at 1440p and further to 206.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 51.8% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a substantial drop that indicates the GPU is being increasingly tasked as resolution climbs.

However, the scaling pattern changes dramatically with higher settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rate only falls from 215.7 FPS at 1080p to 157.3 FPS at 1440p (a 27.1% decrease), and then to 100 FPS at 4K (a further 36.4% decrease). The more moderate scaling at Ultra compared to Low suggests that at 1080p Ultra, the CPU is already limiting performance, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential. The data shows that the 9900X’s strong single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1286, is sufficient to drive very high frame rates, but the RTX 4070 becomes the limiting component as pixel count increases.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar to Low: 366 FPS at 1080p drops to 263.5 FPS at 1440p (28.0% decrease) and 168.2 FPS at 4K (36.2% decrease from 1440p). The High preset shows the most balanced scaling across all resolutions, with 230.4 FPS at 1080p, 166.7 FPS at 1440p (27.6% decrease), and 104.6 FPS at 4K (37.3% decrease). This consistency suggests that High settings provide a more even workload distribution between CPU and GPU, making it the most predictable preset for performance scaling.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 192-bit bus, provides ample bandwidth for Inside. The GPU’s memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, delivering a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This substantial memory throughput is more than sufficient for the game’s visual assets, even at 4K resolution, where the data shows the GPU is still able to maintain over 100 FPS on High settings.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz, combined with its 5888 shading units, allows it to handle the game’s rendering demands efficiently. The benchmark results show that the RTX 4070’s average benchmark score of 37283 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with its closest rival being the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which scores 37507 (a -0.6% difference). This competitive positioning is reflected in the game’s 4K performance, where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor at Ultra settings, producing exactly 100 FPS.

The GPU’s 64 ROPs and 184 texture mapping units contribute to its ability to maintain high fill rates, which is crucial for a game with Inside’s atmospheric lighting and shadow effects. While the RTX 4070’s ray tracing capabilities (46 RT cores) are not heavily utilized in this title, its raw rasterization performance is what drives the high frame rates observed. The data indicates that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is working at its limit, suggesting that any further increase in graphical demands would require a more powerful GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 230.4 FPS, which is only 14.7 FPS lower than the Medium preset’s 366 FPS but provides significantly better visual fidelity. At 1440p, High delivers 166.7 FPS, comfortably above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many gaming monitors support, while still maintaining a 9.4 FPS advantage over the Ultra preset.

For 4K gaming, the High preset is the clear recommendation, producing 104.6 FPS. While the Ultra preset achieves exactly 100 FPS, the marginal 4.6 FPS difference does not justify the potential visual compromises in other settings. The Low preset at 4K produces 206.9 FPS, but this is unnecessary for a smooth experience and sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that relies heavily on its atmospheric presentation.

The Medium preset serves as a middle ground, offering 263.5 FPS at 1440p and 168.2 FPS at 4K. However, given that High provides a substantial visual upgrade with only a 36.7% frame rate penalty at 1080p (230.4 vs 366 FPS), the High preset is the optimal choice for most users. The Ultra preset, while playable at all resolutions, offers diminishing returns over High, with only a 6.4% frame rate difference at 1080p (215.7 vs 230.4 FPS) for what is presumably a minor visual improvement.

FAQ

*Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + RTX 4070 combo capable of 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, the data shows this combo achieves 104.6 FPS at 4K High and exactly 100 FPS at 4K Ultra, making it fully capable of smooth 4K gameplay.

Q: What is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 429 FPS at 1080p Low settings, driven by the CPU’s strong single-thread performance.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450, placing it 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681) and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F (54097).

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the system at any resolution?

A: At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, producing exactly 100 FPS. At lower resolutions, the CPU is the primary bottleneck, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 227th out of 1671 tested combinations, placing it in the top 13.6% of all tested systems for this game.

Q: How much memory does the GPU have and is it sufficient?

A: The RTX 4070 has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Inside at any resolution and settings combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 227th out of 1671 tested combos for Inside, placing it in the 86.4th percentile of all systems tested. This is a strong showing, putting the combo in the top 14% of all configurations. Given the game’s age and relative simplicity, this high ranking is expected, as the components’ raw performance far exceeds the game’s requirements.

The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs (with an average benchmark score of 54450) and the GPU’s 81st percentile ranking (with an average score of 37283) both contribute to this exceptional in-game performance. The combo’s rank suggests that it would be competitive with systems featuring more expensive components, particularly in a game that is not heavily GPU-dependent. The data indicates that the 9900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads, while not fully utilized in Inside, provide a solid foundation for the high frame rates observed.

In the context of the full benchmark database, this combo’s 227th rank out of 1671 demonstrates that it is a well-balanced pairing for this title. The gap between the 9900X and its nearest rival, the 9900X3D (a -0.4% difference), is negligible in real-world gaming scenarios, confirming that the 9900X provides excellent value without sacrificing performance in this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X plays a critical role in achieving the high frame rates observed in Inside. With 12 cores and 24 threads, the CPU has substantial parallel processing capability, though the game’s single-threaded nature means that its strong single-core performance is more relevant. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with its Zen 5 architecture, allows it to excel in the lightly-threaded workloads typical of puzzle platformers.

The CPU’s benchmark results confirm its strength: a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6555 and a multi-core score of 46438. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 1286 and 16-thread score of 12552 indicate that it can handle both single-threaded and multi-threaded gaming workloads effectively. The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450, places it just 0.4% behind the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F.

At 1080p Low, where the CPU is the primary bottleneck, the combo produces 429 FPS, demonstrating the 9900X’s ability to feed the GPU with data. The CPU’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth supported by the CPU ensures that data can flow quickly to the GPU, preventing stutters or frame drops in demanding scenes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates show consistent performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves 429 FPS on Low, 366 FPS on Medium, 230.4 FPS on High, and 215.7 FPS on Ultra. The difference between Low and Medium is 63 FPS (14.7% reduction), while the drop from Medium to High is 135.6 FPS (37.0% reduction), indicating that High settings introduce significantly more graphical work.

At 1440p, performance scales predictably: 330.6 FPS on Low, 263.5 FPS on Medium, 166.7 FPS on High, and 157.3 FPS on Ultra. The percentage differences between presets are similar to those at 1080p, with High representing a 36.7% reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset at 1440p is only 9.4 FPS slower than High, suggesting that the visual differences between these two presets are minimal in terms of performance impact.

At 4K, the frame rates remain impressive: 206.9 FPS on Low, 168.2 FPS on Medium, 104.6 FPS on High, and exactly 100 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is 57.3 FPS (36.4% reduction), which is the largest percentage decrease across all resolutions for this preset. This confirms that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, as the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are pushed to their limits. The data shows that even at the most demanding settings, this combo never dips below 100 FPS, ensuring a consistently smooth experience.