Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist aesthetic suggests. The measured data reveals a system that utterly dominates this title, with frame rates that remain fluid even at 4K Ultra settings, though the scaling patterns expose a fascinating bottleneck dynamic between the CPU and GPU across different resolutions.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is remarkably steep, which is unusual for a puzzle platformer. At High settings, the system produces 246.5 FPS at 1920x1080, dropping to 179.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally settling at 113.5 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 54% reduction from 1080p to 4K, a pattern that strongly indicates the GPU becomes progressively more saturated as pixel count increases. The RTX 5070’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are clearly being taxed by the higher resolutions, though the game remains perfectly playable throughout.

The scaling behavior is even more revealing at Low settings. Here, the 1080p result of 426.3 FPS collapses to 355.8 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 225.6 FPS at 4K. The massive 47% drop between 1440p and 4K at Low settings suggests that at lower graphical presets, the GPU’s rendering pipeline becomes the primary limiter far earlier. This is counterintuitive for a game this old, but the data shows that Inside’s lighting and post-processing effects scale aggressively with resolution.

At Ultra settings, the pattern shifts dramatically. The 1080p score of 238.8 FPS drops only 28% to 172.2 FPS at 1440p, and then a further 37% to 108 FPS at 4K. The relatively modest decline from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra suggests that at the highest preset, the CPU begins to play a more significant role in maintaining frame rates, as the Ryzen 9 9900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads are pushed harder by the additional draw calls and physics calculations.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The RTX 5070’s specifications directly explain its dominance in this title. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2325 MHz and boosts to 2512 MHz, and this Blackwell 2.0 architecture with 6144 shading units delivers 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. For a game like Inside, which features heavy use of volumetric lighting and dynamic shadows, this raw compute power translates into the high frame rates observed across all settings.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity proves sufficient even at 4K Ultra, where the game’s texture streaming and particle effects demand substantial memory bandwidth. The 192-bit memory bus and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth ensure that texture fetches never become a bottleneck, which explains why the frame rates remain above 100 FPS even at the most demanding settings. The GPU’s 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, while not directly utilized by this non-ray-traced title, contribute to the overall efficiency of the rendering pipeline.

Interestingly, the GPU’s benchmark scores align with its in-game performance. The PassMark G3D score of 29137 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 place it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. This positioning is consistent with its measured performance in Inside, where it outperforms the vast majority of tested hardware.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The data provides clear guidance on preset selection. At 4K, Medium settings deliver 179.4 FPS, which is a 58% improvement over Ultra’s 108 FPS while maintaining the game’s core visual identity. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 65.9 FPS (a 37% reduction) for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in this stylized title. For players prioritizing smoothness, Medium at 4K represents the sweet spot.

At 1440p, the story changes. Ultra settings produce 172.2 FPS, which is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most gaming monitors. The difference between Medium (283.7 FPS) and Ultra (172.2 FPS) is substantial, but both are so far beyond typical display capabilities that the choice becomes purely aesthetic. High settings at 179.3 FPS offer a balanced compromise.

For 1080p users, even Ultra settings at 238.8 FPS exceed any consumer display’s capabilities. The data suggests that at this resolution, the preset selection is irrelevant for gameplay smoothness, and users should choose based solely on visual preference. The Low preset’s 426.3 FPS is only useful for competitive play in esports titles, which Inside is not.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

*Q: Can this combination handle 4K Ultra settings in Inside?*

A: Yes, the system achieves 108 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, 4K Medium at 179.4 FPS provides a significantly smoother experience for only a modest visual trade-off.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ryzen 9 9900X’s single-thread performance of 1286 in 3DMark and 6555 in Cinebench R23 becomes the primary constraint. The frame rates of 426.3 FPS at Low settings indicate the CPU cannot push much higher, even with the RTX 5070’s capabilities.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score of 41687 places it 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41441) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41610). These margins are negligible in real-world gaming performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: The difference is 183.6 FPS, with Low producing 355.8 FPS and Ultra producing 172.2 FPS. Both are well above display refresh rates, so the choice should be made on visual quality.

Q: Does the 12 GB of VRAM limit performance at 4K?

A: The data shows no VRAM-related stuttering or frame drops at 4K Ultra, where the system maintains 108 FPS. The 672.0 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for this game’s requirements.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 127th out of 1671 combinations, placing it in the top 8% of all tested hardware configurations for Inside.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The rank of 127 out of 1671 tested combinations places this system in the top 7.6% of all configurations evaluated in Inside. This high ranking is particularly noteworthy given the game’s age and the fact that many newer, more powerful GPUs have been tested since its release. The Ryzen 9 9900X’s 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs (with an average benchmark score of 54450) combined with the RTX 5070’s 83rd percentile GPU ranking creates a synergistic pairing that excels in this title.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show how close the competition is at this performance tier. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681 (0.4% higher), while the Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54097 (0.7% lower). These differences are within measurement error, suggesting that the 9900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads, boosted to 5.60 GHz, provide ample processing power for Inside’s physics and logic calculations. The GPU’s rivals similarly cluster closely, with the RTX 3090 (41441) and Tesla M40 (41897) within 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Ryzen 9 9900X’s architecture plays a crucial role in achieving these frame rates. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), the CPU provides exceptional multi-threaded performance. The 3DMark max threads score of 13929 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 46438 demonstrate this capability, which is essential for handling Inside’s complex physics interactions and entity management.

The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly important for this game, as puzzle platformers often have single-threaded bottlenecks. The 3DMark single thread score of 1286 and Cinebench R23 singlecore score of 6555 indicate excellent per-core performance, which directly contributes to the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low settings, the 426.3 FPS result suggests the CPU is approaching its absolute limit, as the game’s logic and render thread become the determining factor.

The large 64 MB L3 cache (shared) helps maintain smooth frame pacing by reducing memory latency for frequently accessed game data. Combined with DDR5 memory support and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, the CPU ensures that the GPU never starves for data. This is evident in the minimal frame rate drops between Medium and High settings at 1440p (283.7 FPS to 179.3 FPS), where the CPU’s ability to feed the GPU becomes more critical.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 426.3 FPS, which is the absolute maximum observed in the dataset. Medium settings achieve 396.4 FPS, representing a 7% reduction from Low. High settings drop further to 246.5 FPS, a 38% decrease from Medium, while Ultra settings bring the total down to 238.8 FPS, only 3% lower than High.

The 2560x1440 results show a different scaling pattern. Low settings produce 355.8 FPS, which is 16.5% lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings achieve 283.7 FPS (20% lower than Low), while High settings drop to 179.3 FPS (37% lower than Medium). Ultra settings produce 172.2 FPS, a modest 4% reduction from High, suggesting diminishing returns at the highest preset.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. Low settings produce 225.6 FPS, which is 36.6% lower than the 1440p Low result. Medium settings achieve 179.4 FPS (20.5% lower than Low), while High settings drop to 113.5 FPS (36.7% lower than Medium). Ultra settings produce 108 FPS, a 4.8% reduction from High. The 4K Ultra result of 108 FPS is the lowest measured, but it remains comfortably above the standard 60 FPS target, demonstrating that this combination provides a flawless experience in Inside at every resolution and preset combination tested.