Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer where frame rates are already extremely high. The measured data shows this pairing ranks 33rd out of 1671 tested combos, placing it in the top 2% of all systems. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the average frame rates never fall below 123.9 FPS, indicating that this hardware is substantially overqualified for the game's demands. The analysis below breaks down the optimal settings, the role of each component, and how the system scales across resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the best experience. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 279.5 FPS, while High produces 291.1 FPS, Medium 397.8 FPS, and Low 426.1 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs only 11.6 FPS, which is a minimal penalty for the visual fidelity increase. However, the gap between Medium and High is substantial at 106.7 FPS, suggesting that High is the sweet spot for most users at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. The High preset delivers 207.8 FPS, while Ultra drops to 200 FPS—a difference of only 7.8 FPS. Medium reaches 338 FPS, and Low hits 384.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p remains well above any refresh rate currently available on consumer monitors, so the visual quality gain from Ultra is essentially free in practical terms. The data indicates that Ultra is the recommended preset for 1440p, as the frame rate reduction from High is negligible.

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset produces 123.9 FPS, which is still comfortably above 120 FPS. High achieves 131.4 FPS, Medium 212.4 FPS, and Low 262.4 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is only 7.5 FPS, making Ultra the clear choice for maximum visual quality. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB of VRAM and 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth ensure that even the most demanding textures at 4K Ultra do not create a bottleneck. For this system, the data strongly supports using the Ultra preset at any resolution, as the performance headroom is so large that lowering settings provides diminishing returns.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The CPU's benchmark scores reveal a strong multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 46438, while single-core achieves 6555. In 3DMark, the max-threads score is 13929, and the single-thread score is 1286. These figures indicate a processor that excels in both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads.

For Inside, a puzzle platformer that relies heavily on physics and game logic, the CPU's single-thread performance is particularly relevant. The Geekbench single-core score of 3341 and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 2519 suggest that the 9900X can handle the game's primary thread without becoming a limiting factor. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system achieves 426.1 FPS, which is a frame rate where CPU limitations would typically surface. The fact that the frame rate continues to scale with resolution and settings indicates that the CPU is not the binding constraint even at the lowest settings.

The processor's 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide ample fast storage for game data. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support further ensures that the CPU can feed data to the GPU without stalling. Compared to its nearest rivals, the 9900X sits within a tight band: it is 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700F, and 1.5% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K. These deltas are small enough that they would not produce a perceptible difference in Inside's frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process. It features 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs, along with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz, with a memory clock of 1438 MHz yielding 23 Gbps effective. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Inside's visual assets.

The GPU's computational throughput is substantial: 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s. These specifications translate directly to the measured frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 123.9 FPS, which indicates that the GPU is doing significant work but still has headroom. The PassMark G3D score of 34245 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 place the RTX 4080 SUPER in the 88th percentile of all GPUs.

When compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 SUPER shows a narrow performance margin. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, and 2.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700S. The closest competitor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, trails by 2.9%. In Inside, these differences are unlikely to manifest as visible frame rate gaps, given that even the lowest measured average of 123.9 FPS is far above the game's requirements. The GPU's VRAM capacity is particularly relevant at 4K, where the Ultra preset's textures and effects would consume significant memory.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 9900X and RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a rank of 33 out of 1671 tested combos in Inside. This places the system in the top 2% of all configurations, reflecting the high-end nature of both components. The rank is determined by the measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, and the data shows remarkably consistent performance. The lowest average frame rate recorded is 123.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, which still exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end displays.

The ranking suggests that there are 32 combinations that outperform this system, but the margin is likely small. The CPU's percentile of 94 against all CPUs and the GPU's percentile of 88 against all GPUs independently indicate strong performance. The combination of a top-decile CPU with a top-decile GPU yields a system that is competitive with the very best configurations tested. The data does not specify which combos rank higher, but the narrow deltaPct values among the nearest rivals suggest that the performance envelope is tight at this level.

For a puzzle platformer like Inside, the rank of 33 is arguably overkill. The game's mechanics do not demand extreme hardware, and the system's performance is substantially above what is necessary for a smooth experience. However, the rank reflects the raw capability of the hardware, and users with high-refresh-rate monitors will benefit from the headroom. The 4K Ultra average of 123.9 FPS is particularly notable, as it demonstrates that the system can drive the game at maximum settings on a 4K display without compromise.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 279.5 FPS, which drops to 200 FPS at 1440p—a reduction of 79.5 FPS or 28.4%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the Ultra preset falls from 200 FPS to 123.9 FPS, a decrease of 76.1 FPS or 38.1%. The total drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 155.6 FPS, representing a 55.7% reduction. This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the increased pixel count places additional load on the graphics card.

The Low preset shows a similar pattern but with higher absolute values. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 426.1 FPS, dropping to 384.8 FPS at 1440p (a 9.7% decrease) and then to 262.4 FPS at 4K (a 31.8% decrease from 1440p). The smaller drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests that the CPU is contributing more to the frame rate at lower resolutions, where the GPU is less stressed. At 4K Low, the frame rate of 262.4 FPS is still extremely high, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom even at the highest resolution.

The Medium preset follows the expected trajectory: 397.8 FPS at 1080p, 338 FPS at 1440p, and 212.4 FPS at 4K. The High preset delivers 291.1 FPS at 1080p, 207.8 FPS at 1440p, and 131.4 FPS at 4K. Across all settings, the 4K to 1080p ratio is consistent, hovering around 44-45% of the 1080p frame rate. This consistency indicates that the system is scaling linearly with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited workload. The CPU's role diminishes as resolution increases, and the RTX 4080 SUPER becomes the primary determinant of performance. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system never approaches a frame rate below 120 FPS, making it suitable for the most demanding display configurations.