Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers an extraordinary performance ceiling in Inside, securing the 5th position out of 1,671 tested combinations for this title. This top-tier ranking places the combo in the 99.7th percentile of all configurations, demonstrating that this pairing is among the absolute fastest available for this puzzle platformer. The benchmark data reveals that the system is capable of pushing frame rates far beyond display refresh rate capabilities at nearly every resolution and setting level, making the limiting factor more about the game’s engine and CPU overhead than the GPU’s raw rendering power.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured frame rates for this configuration place it at rank 5 out of 1,671 total combos tested in Inside. This near-podium finish indicates that only four other hardware pairings in the entire database achieve higher average frame rates in this specific title. The ranking reflects the combined strength of both components, as the Ryzen 9 9900X’s high single-thread performance and the RTX 5090’s massive rasterization throughput work together to eliminate virtually all potential bottlenecks. The data shows that this combination outperforms the vast majority of systems, with the percentile ranking suggesting it beats over 99% of all tested configurations. Given that Inside is not a graphically demanding title by modern standards, the CPU’s role becomes disproportionately important, and the Ryzen 9 9900X’s 5.60 GHz boost clock and 12 cores provide ample headroom to feed the GPU at any setting.

Interestingly, the combo’s ranking is even more impressive when considering the GPU’s nearest rivals. The RTX 5090 sits at the 94th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. Its closest competitor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241, a mere 0.1% difference, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%. This tight grouping at the top of the GPU hierarchy means that the motherboard of the RTX 5090 is nearly identical to its closest peers, yet the combo still achieves a top-5 finish, suggesting the CPU’s 94th percentile ranking (average score 54,450) is what pushes this pairing over the edge. The Ryzen 9 9900X sits within 0.4% of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s average score of 54,681, showing that AMD’s 9000-series flagship-class chips are all clustered at the performance apex.

FAQ

*Q: How does this combo compare to the absolute best configurations in Inside?*

A: The combo ranks 5th out of 1,671 tested, meaning only 4 other CPU-GPU pairings produce higher average frame rates. This places it in the top 0.3% of all tested combinations, a remarkable achievement for a 12-core CPU paired with a 32 GB GPU.

Q: What is the highest measured frame rate for this system?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 425.8 FPS average. This is the peak frame rate recorded across all resolution and settings combinations.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 the bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is rarely the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system produces 425.8 FPS, but increasing resolution to 4K Low only drops this to 303.3 FPS, a 28.8% reduction. This indicates the CPU is the primary constraint at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes more relevant at 4K.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to Low?

A: At 4K, Low produces 303.3 FPS while Ultra produces 145.8 FPS, a 51.9% reduction. At 1080p, the drop is from 425.8 FPS to 321.2 FPS, a 24.6% reduction. The Ultra preset has a larger impact at higher resolutions.

*Q: Does the RTX 5090’s 32 GB VRAM affect performance in Inside?*

A: The game is lightweight and unlikely to exceed even a fraction of the 32 GB GDDR7 memory capacity. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and 512-bit bus width are far beyond the requirements of this title, meaning VRAM is not a performance factor.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X’s single-thread performance influence the results?

A: The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1,286 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6,555 indicate excellent per-core performance. Since Inside is a puzzle platformer with light multi-threading, this single-thread strength is crucial for achieving the high frame rates shown in the data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a fascinating dynamic between the CPU and GPU. At Low settings, the system produces 425.8 FPS at 1920x1080, 380.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and 303.3 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 28.8% drop from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest and indicates that the CPU is the primary limiter at lower resolutions. The Ryzen 9 9900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads provide immense headroom, but even the fastest consumer CPUs cannot fully saturate the RTX 5090 at 1080p in a light title like Inside.

At Ultra settings, the scaling pattern changes. The system achieves 321.2 FPS at 1080p, 231.6 FPS at 1440p, and 145.8 FPS at 4K. Here, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 54.6%, which is significantly larger than the Low setting drop. This suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU becomes more of a bottleneck as pixel count increases, though the absolute frame rates remain exceptionally high. The Medium and High settings show intermediate scaling behavior, with High dropping from 331.2 FPS at 1080p to 240.9 FPS at 1440p (27.3% reduction) and then to 150.2 FPS at 4K (54.6% reduction from 1080p). This pattern indicates that at 4K, the RTX 5090’s raw throughput becomes the dominant factor, while at 1080p and 1440p, CPU performance limits the frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 425.8 FPS on Low, 397.9 FPS on Medium, 331.2 FPS on High, and 321.2 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 104.6 FPS, representing a 24.6% performance penalty for maximum visual quality. The Medium preset offers only a 6.5% reduction from Low, making it an attractive option for those seeking near-maximum frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the measurements are 380.3 FPS on Low, 351.5 FPS on Medium, 240.9 FPS on High, and 231.6 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p still exceeds 350 FPS, while High and Ultra both drop below 250 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 148.7 FPS, a 39.1% reduction, showing that resolution amplifies the impact of quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 303.3 FPS on Low, 245.3 FPS on Medium, 150.2 FPS on High, and 145.8 FPS on Ultra. This is the first resolution where High and Ultra produce nearly identical results, differing by only 4.4 FPS. The Low to Ultra gap is 157.5 FPS, a 51.9% reduction, making 4K the most settings-sensitive resolution. Even at 4K Ultra, the 145.8 FPS average exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors, ensuring a smooth experience.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090’s specifications are overwhelming for a title like Inside. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the GPU offers 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth, far exceeding the needs of this 2016 puzzle platformer. The 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs provide massive fill rates, with a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. These figures explain why the GPU can maintain 150+ FPS at 4K Ultra, as the game’s simple geometry and lighting effects are easily handled by the Blackwell architecture’s 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

The GPU’s boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz are relatively modest for a flagship, but the sheer scale of the chip compensates. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the 54.6% frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings directly attributed to the increased pixel workload. However, the RTX 5090’s 94th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306, confirms it is one of the fastest cards ever produced. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, is within 0.1%, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%, showing that the RTX 5090 is at the very top of the GPU hierarchy.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 9 9900X plays a critical role in this combo’s success in Inside. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), the CPU offers a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide low-latency access to game data, which is essential for maintaining high frame rates in a title that relies heavily on single-thread performance. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1,286 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6,555 place it among the fastest consumer processors for lightly-threaded workloads.

The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking (average score 54,450) shows it is competitive with the best chips available, sitting just 0.4% behind the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s average score of 54,681. The fact that this combo achieves a top-5 finish in Inside despite the game’s light GPU demands underscores the CPU’s importance. At 1080p Low, the 425.8 FPS result is likely near the engine’s maximum possible frame rate, as the CPU begins to hit instruction throughput limits. The 12 cores and 24 threads, while overkill for this game, ensure that no background processes interfere with the game’s main thread, allowing the boost clock of 5.60 GHz to be fully utilized.

Settings Recommendations

For the best combination of visual quality and frame rate, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience. At 351.5 FPS, this setting provides a 92.4% of the maximum Low-preset frame rate at that resolution (380.3 FPS), while delivering noticeably improved visuals over Low. The 1440p Medium setting also exceeds the frame rate of 4K High (150.2 FPS) by 134%, making it a superior choice for those with high-refresh-rate monitors.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, 4K Ultra at 145.8 FPS remains highly playable and exceeds the 120 Hz refresh rate common on premium displays. The 4K High setting at 150.2 FPS is nearly identical to Ultra, differing by only 4.4 FPS, so choosing High over Ultra at 4K yields virtually the same performance with potentially lower GPU temperatures. At 1080p, the Medium preset at 397.9 FPS is recommended over Low (425.8 FPS) because the 6.5% performance cost delivers substantial visual improvements. The Ultra preset at 1080p (321.2 FPS) is also viable for esports-level competitive play, as it maintains frame rates well above 300 FPS. The data indicates that the High preset is the least efficient choice across all resolutions, as it offers minimal visual gains over Medium while incurring significant frame rate penalties.