Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a surprisingly capable experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding than its minimalist art style suggests. Measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets show this combination can push well past 200 FPS at 1080p, though 4K Ultra performance settles into a narrower, more GPU-bound range. This analysis breaks down how the combo behaves, where its strengths and limits lie, and what the data reveals about each component’s role.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but uneven, revealing a system that transitions from CPU-bound at lower resolutions to GPU-bound as pixel count climbs. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 281 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 202 FPS, a reduction of 79 FPS or roughly 28%. Jumping to 4K Low yields 127 FPS average, another 75 FPS decline from 1440p, or about 37%. The pattern holds across all settings, but the magnitude of the drop between 1440p and 4K is consistently larger than between 1080p and 1440p, indicating the GPU becomes the primary limiter at the highest resolution.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 1080p averages 140 FPS, 1440p averages 101 FPS, and 4K averages 63 FPS. That is a 39 FPS loss from 1080p to 1440p (28% drop) and a 38 FPS loss from 1440p to 4K (38% drop). The percentage decline accelerates at each step, which is typical for a GPU that has 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit memory bus. The game’s visual complexity at 4K pushes the Radeon RX 6600 XT harder, and the frame rate reflects that pressure.

Ultra settings tell a similar story. 1080p Ultra runs at 134 FPS average, 1440p Ultra at 96 FPS, and 4K Ultra at 60 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 36 FPS, a 37.5% reduction, nearly identical to the Low preset’s proportional decline. This consistency across presets suggests that resolution scaling in Inside is dominated by pixel throughput rather than specific settings like shadows or reflections. The CPU, a 12-core Zen 5 part with a 5.50 GHz boost clock, has enough headroom at 4K that it rarely constrains the frame rate; the data shows the GPU saturates first.

What stands out is the 1080p ceiling. At Low, Medium, and High, the combo exceeds 140 FPS, and at Low it hits 281 FPS. These numbers indicate a CPU that can feed the GPU faster than the GPU can render at lower resolutions. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 1269 and a passmark_single_thread score of 4646, is strong enough to keep frame times low. The result is that resolution scaling is not linear; it is governed by which component hits its limit first. At 1080p, the GPU is the bottleneck. At 4K, the GPU is even more clearly the bottleneck. The CPU’s role shrinks as resolution rises, but its capability is what allows those triple-digit 1080p numbers.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Inside?*

A: 1440p High offers a strong balance, with an average of 101 FPS. It is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and only 39 FPS below the 1080p High result, while providing significantly more detail than 1080p.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K in Inside?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. 4K High averages 63 FPS, and 4K Ultra averages 60 FPS. Both are playable, but they are close to the 60 FPS line. 4K Low reaches 127 FPS, so there is headroom for higher refresh rates if settings are reduced.

Q: How does the combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1998th out of 2887 combos in Inside, placing it in the lower third of tested configurations. This rank reflects the GPU’s mid-range position rather than the CPU’s high-end capability.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as shown by the 37% FPS drop from 1440p to 4K across multiple presets. The CPU is strong enough that it does not bottleneck at 1080p, but the RX 6600 XT’s 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth cap performance at 4K.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1080p Medium?

A: The average is 225 FPS, with a minimum of 191 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS. This is a high-refresh-rate scenario, suitable for monitors above 144 Hz.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT’s performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 24442, which is 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630, 0.8% lower than the Intel Arc A350M, and 1.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER. These are close margins, indicating the RX 6600 XT sits in a tight performance cluster.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1998 out of 2887 tested combinations places it in the 69th percentile from the top, meaning roughly 69% of other combos perform better in Inside. This is a modest standing, but context matters. The CPU, an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, is a high-end 12-core processor with a 91st percentile ranking against all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 54762. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, which scores 55093 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, which scores 54053 (1.3% lower). The CPU is clearly not the weak link.

The GPU, an AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, ranks in the 70th percentile against all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 24442. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24277, 0.7% lower), the Intel Arc A350M (24647, 0.8% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (24170, 1.1% lower). This places the GPU in a mid-range tier, and that is what drags the overall combo rank down. In a game like Inside, where the visual style is minimalist but the rendering load is real, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 2048 shading units determine the ceiling.

The rank also reflects that Inside is an older title, released on 2016-07-06, and many higher-ranked combos likely include newer or higher-end GPUs. The data shows the CPU is overqualified for this pairing—it is a 9000 series Zen 5 part with a 128 MB L3 cache and a 5.50 GHz boost clock—while the GPU is an end-of-life RDNA 2 product. The mismatch is evident in the frame rates: at 1080p Low, the combo hits 281 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 60 FPS, a 78% reduction. The rank captures this imbalance, rewarding combos where the GPU can keep pace with the CPU’s output.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 281 FPS, which is the fastest result in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 225 FPS, with a minimum of 191 FPS and a maximum of 258 FPS. High settings average 140 FPS, and Ultra settings average 134 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 147 FPS, a 52% reduction, but even the lowest 1080p result exceeds 130 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers scale down but remain strong. Low averages 202 FPS, Medium averages 161 FPS with a minimum of 137 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS, High averages 101 FPS, and Ultra averages 96 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings: Low loses 79 FPS, Medium loses 64 FPS, High loses 39 FPS, and Ultra loses 38 FPS. The percentage losses range from 28% at Low to 28% at Ultra, showing that resolution scaling is uniform regardless of preset.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates compress into a narrower band. Low averages 127 FPS, Medium averages 101 FPS with a minimum of 86 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS, High averages 63 FPS, and Ultra averages 60 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 67 FPS, less than half the spread at 1080p. This compression indicates the GPU is the limiting factor; as pixel count quadruples from 1080p, the RX 6600 XT cannot maintain the same relative performance across settings. The Medium preset’s data points—86 FPS minimum and 117 FPS maximum—show some variability, but the averages stay within a playable range.

The 4K results are notable because they are the only resolution where Ultra and High fall below 70 FPS. 4K High at 63 FPS and 4K Ultra at 60 FPS are close to the 60 FPS standard, but they are not as comfortable as the 1440p or 1080p results. For a puzzle platformer where precision timing matters less than in a competitive shooter, these frame rates are acceptable, but they do not leave much headroom for frame time spikes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is the defining component in this combo, and its specifications explain the measured performance. It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1968 MHz, the game clock is 2359 MHz, and the boost clock reaches 2589 MHz. The chip is Navi 23 on RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process from TSMC, with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die.

These specs place the GPU in the mid-range, and the benchmark data confirms it. The 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score is 1804, and the passmark_g3d score is 16461. The GPU’s percentile rank against all GPUs is 70, meaning it outperforms 70% of tested GPUs. However, its nearest rivals show how tightly packed this segment is: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 scores 24277 (0.7% lower), the Intel Arc A350M scores 24647 (0.8% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER scores 24170 (1.1% lower). These deltas are tiny, indicating that the RX 6600 XT is not a standout performer but rather a solid mid-tier option.

In Inside, the GPU’s role becomes clear at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this game—Inside is not a VRAM-heavy title—but the 128-bit bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth limit fill-rate at high resolutions. The pixel rate is 165.7 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 331.4 GTexel/s, which are modest figures for 4K rendering. The data supports this: 4K Ultra averages 60 FPS, which is exactly at the standard refresh rate threshold. The GPU is maxed out, while the CPU likely has spare capacity.

The GPU’s compute capabilities also matter. The FP32 performance is 10.60 TFLOPS, and the FP16 performance is 21.21 TFLOPS (2:1). These numbers indicate a GPU that can handle modern effects, but Inside’s 2016 release date means it does not rely on ray tracing or other RDNA 2 features. The RT cores (32 of them) are present but largely unused in this title. The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure it runs the game smoothly, but the core limiter is raw pixel throughput.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a high-end processor that far exceeds the requirements of Inside. It has 12 cores and 24 threads based on Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The L3 cache is 128 MB, which is a massive amount for gaming, and the CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. The TDP is 120 W, and it uses the AMD Socket AM5.

Benchmark data shows the CPU’s strength. The cinebench_r23_multicore score is 47737, and the singlecore score is 6739. The geekbench_multicore score is 22884, with a singlecore score of 3041. The passmark_multithread score is 56154, and the passmark_single_thread score is 4646. The CPU’s percentile rank against all CPUs is 91, meaning it outperforms 91% of tested CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093 avg score, 0.6% higher) and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053 avg score, 1.3% lower), showing it is competitive with recent mid-range Intel parts.

In Inside, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with frame data. At 1080p, the combo achieves 281 FPS on Low settings, which is a CPU-bound scenario. The single-thread performance, evidenced by the 3dmark_single_thread score of 1269 and the cinebench_r15_singlecore score of 679, ensures that the game’s main thread—Inside is not heavily multi-threaded—runs efficiently. The 12 cores are overkill for this title, but the high boost clock and large L3 cache help maintain consistent frame times.

The CPU’s 128 MB L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming. While Inside is a small game, the cache reduces memory latency, which can improve frame pacing. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not a bottleneck; at 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the limiting factor. The CPU’s high scores in multi-threaded tests (cinebench_r20_multicore at 20049, passmark_integer_math at 179727) are not directly used by Inside, but they indicate a processor that will not struggle with background tasks or streaming while gaming.

The CPU’s release date of 2025-01-05 and its position in the 9000 series mean it is a modern part, and its 91st percentile rank reflects that. In this combo, it is paired with a GPU that ranks 70th percentile, creating an imbalance. The CPU has headroom to support a more powerful GPU, but with the RX 6600 XT, the system’s overall performance is capped by the graphics card. The data makes this clear: the combo ranks 1998th out of 2887, and the frame rates at 4K are GPU-limited. The CPU is doing its job, but it is not the component that defines this system’s gaming performance in Inside.