Inside

Inside, the 2016 puzzle-platformer from Playdead, is not a demanding title by modern standards, but the combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT pushes frame rates to extraordinary levels. The measured data shows this pairing delivers over 200 FPS at 1080p and 1440p in most settings, and remains comfortably above 100 FPS even at 4K with maximum quality. This performance profile reveals a system that is massively overqualified for the game's visual complexity, yet the benchmark results still provide a clear picture of how the CPU and GPU scale under different resolutions and presets.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data for Inside reveals a classic scaling pattern where the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 425 FPS, which is the highest recorded number across the entire test suite. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset drops the average to 330 FPS, and at 4K it falls further to 207 FPS. This represents a decline of 22% from 1080p to 1440p, and an additional 37% decline from 1440p to 4K. The substantial drop at 4K indicates that even with a GPU as powerful as the RX 9070 XT, the sheer pixel count of 3840x2160 begins to dominate the rendering workload.

The scaling behavior changes when the settings are raised to Ultra. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 219, which is only 5% lower than the 230 FPS recorded at High settings. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 157 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it reaches 99 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Ultra quality is 55%, which is less pronounced than the 51% gap observed at Low settings. This suggests that as the visual fidelity increases, the additional shading and texture work partially masks the resolution penalty, though the GPU still remains the limiting factor at 4K.

The Medium preset provides the most complete dataset, as it is the only setting tier that includes minimum and maximum frame rate values. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 367 FPS with a minimum of 312 FPS and a maximum of 422 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 264 FPS with a minimum of 224 FPS and a maximum of 304 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 166 FPS with a minimum of 141 FPS and a maximum of 191 FPS. The consistency of the frame delivery, measured by the gap between minimum and average FPS, remains stable across resolutions, indicating that the rendering load is evenly distributed without sudden spikes or stutters.

The resolution scaling data points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU is capable of feeding the RX 9070 XT enough frames to exceed 400 FPS, but the GPU's rendering capacity becomes the ceiling as pixel count increases. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, does not appear to limit performance even in the most CPU-light scenarios. The benchmark results indicate that Inside is heavily GPU-bound at 4K, where the RX 9070 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to maintain high frame rates but cannot prevent the expected drop from lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Ultra preset at 1080p delivers an average of 219 FPS, which is already far beyond the refresh rate of most displays. However, the step from High to Ultra at 1080p only yields a 5% performance reduction, making Ultra the clear choice for players with high-refresh monitors. At 1440p, the Ultra preset produces 157 FPS, which remains exceptionally smooth for a game that does not require fast reaction times. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 264 FPS, but the visual improvement from Medium to Ultra is substantial in a game with such a distinctive art style, and the 40% frame rate cost is a reasonable trade-off.

At 4K, the situation becomes more nuanced. The Ultra preset achieves an average of 99 FPS, which is just below the 100 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for a premium experience. The High preset at 4K improves this to 104 FPS, representing a 5% gain over Ultra while likely offering nearly identical visual quality in a game that uses a stylized monochromatic palette. The Medium preset at 4K reaches 166 FPS, but the visual downgrade from High to Medium is more noticeable in the lighting and shadow effects that define Inside's atmosphere. Given the data, the High preset at 4K offers the best balance between fidelity and performance, with the 104 FPS average ensuring consistent smoothness.

For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers an extraordinary 425 FPS, but this comes at the cost of the game's visual identity. Inside relies heavily on its atmospheric lighting and subtle environmental details, which are significantly reduced at Low settings. The benchmark results suggest that the Low preset is only suitable for competitive play or for users with extremely high refresh rate displays, such as 360 Hz or 500 Hz panels. For the vast majority of users, the High preset at 1080p, with 230 FPS, provides a superior experience without sacrificing the game's artistic direction.

The Medium preset at 1440p stands out as the data's most balanced option, with 264 FPS average and a minimum of 224 FPS that ensures no frame drops below the typical 144 Hz refresh rate. This configuration offers headroom for streaming or recording software, as the frame rate remains high even under additional system load. The measured minimums at Medium settings, which are available for all three resolutions, show that the frame pacing is consistently stable, with the 1440p minimum of 224 FPS representing a 15% drop from the average, which is a healthy margin for real-world gameplay variability.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, combined with a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache, make it one of the most capable gaming CPUs available. In the context of Inside, the CPU's role is minimal because the game's physics and logic are not computationally intensive. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low, reaching 425 FPS, demonstrate that the processor can handle the game's single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads without breaking a sweat.

The benchmark scores for the Ryzen 9 9900X3D reinforce its position as a high-end processor. In Cinebench R23, it scores 47,737 points in multi-core and 6,739 points in single-core tests. The Geekbench scores are 22,884 multi-core and 3,041 single-core. These numbers place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all processors, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of desktop chips. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, which has an average benchmark score 0.6% higher, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, which is 1.3% lower. These close margins show that the 9900X3D is at the top of the desktop CPU hierarchy, though not the absolute fastest in every scenario.

For Inside specifically, the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are largely underutilized. The game was released in 2016, before the widespread adoption of multi-core optimized engines, and likely relies on a few heavily loaded threads. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,646, ensures that even the most demanding game logic runs efficiently. The processor's 128 MB of L3 cache is a theoretical advantage for gaming, as it reduces memory latency, but in a game as lightweight as Inside, this benefit is unlikely to translate into measurable frame rate gains.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, shown in the PassMark multithread score of 56,154 and 3DMark max threads score of 13,795, provide headroom for background tasks while gaming. Users running streaming software, voice chat, or web browsers with many tabs will not experience any performance degradation in Inside, as the CPU has ample resources to allocate. The 120 W TDP of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is modest for a processor with this level of performance, indicating efficient power delivery and thermal management. In a game like Inside, the CPU is unlikely to reach its thermal limits, allowing the boost clock to remain at 5.50 GHz for extended periods without throttling.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for playing Inside with this CPU and GPU combination?

A: According to the measured data, the High preset at 4K delivers an average of 104 FPS, which is the sweet spot for visual fidelity and smoothness. At 1440p, the Ultra preset achieves 157 FPS, and at 1080p, the Ultra preset reaches 219 FPS, both offering excellent experiences.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D bottleneck the RX 9070 XT in this game?

A: No. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 425 FPS, and the frame rate scales consistently with resolution, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU's single-thread score of 1,269 in 3DMark and 6,739 in Cinebench R23 demonstrate it can easily keep up with the game's demands.

Q: How much performance is gained by lowering settings from Ultra to Low at 4K?

A: At 4K, the average FPS increases from 99 at Ultra to 207 at Low, representing a 109% improvement. This significant gain suggests that the rendering workload at Ultra settings is heavily taxing the GPU, and reducing visual quality allows the hardware to operate at its full potential.

Q: Is the RX 9070 XT's 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for Inside at maximum settings?

A: Yes. The game was released in 2016 and has modest texture requirements. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s and 16 GB GDDR6 capacity are more than adequate, as evidenced by the 99 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which remains playable.

Q: What do the minimum FPS values indicate about gameplay consistency?

A: The Medium preset includes minimum FPS data for all resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum is 312 FPS, at 1440p it is 224 FPS, and at 4K it is 141 FPS. These minimums are 15% to 17% lower than the averages, indicating stable frame pacing without sudden drops that would cause stuttering.

Q: How does this system compare to the top percentile of hardware for gaming?

A: The CPU ranks in the 91st percentile of all processors, while the GPU ranks in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. The GPU's percentile is lower because the passmark G3D score of 26,795 is measured against a vast database of graphics cards, including older and less powerful models, but for Inside, the performance is clearly in the top tier.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using a 4 nm process at TSMC, featuring the Navi 48 chip with 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. The GPU has a base clock of 1660 MHz and a boost clock of 2970 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 2518 MHz, providing a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s across a 256-bit bus. These specifications translate into a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 760.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 48.66 TFLOPS.

For Inside, the GPU's role is dominant at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows a clear inverse relationship between resolution and frame rate, with the GPU's rendering capacity being the primary constraint. At 1080p Low, the GPU can produce 425 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 99 FPS. This 77% reduction is a direct consequence of the increased pixel count and the more complex shading operations required at Ultra settings. The GPU's 128 ROPs and 256 TMUs are sufficient to handle the game's 2D side-scrolling perspective, which places a relatively low geometric load but requires efficient fill-rate for the atmospheric effects.

The RX 9070 XT's benchmark scores, including a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7,260 and a PassMark G3D score of 26,795, place it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are notably older components, including the AMD Radeon HD 7770M with a 0.1% higher average score and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a 0.2% higher score. This unusual grouping is a artifact of the weighted average benchmark calculation, which includes many legacy tests where modern GPUs do not always excel. In practice, the RX 9070 XT's performance in Inside is exceptional, as evidenced by the triple-digit frame rates at 4K.

The GPU's memory subsystem is not a limiting factor for Inside. The 16 GB frame buffer is far larger than the game's texture requirements, even at 4K Ultra. The 644.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and shader execution do not encounter memory bottlenecks. The measured frame times, particularly at Medium settings where minimums are recorded, show no evidence of memory-related hitches. The GPU's power consumption is rated at 304 W TDP, with a suggested PSU of 700 W, which is reasonable for a card of this performance class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for Inside with the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is as follows. At 3840x2160 (4K), the High preset averages 104 FPS, Low averages 207 FPS, Medium averages 166 FPS with a minimum of 141 and maximum of 191, and Ultra averages 99 FPS. At 2560x1440 (1440p), High averages 165 FPS, Low averages 330 FPS, Medium averages 264 FPS with a minimum of 224 and maximum of 304, and Ultra averages 157 FPS. At 1920x1080 (1080p), High averages 230 FPS, Low averages 425 FPS, Medium averages 367 FPS with a minimum of 312 and maximum of 422, and Ultra averages 219 FPS.

The progression from 1080p to 4K at each setting reveals consistent scaling. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 230 FPS to 165 FPS to 104 FPS, representing a 28% reduction per resolution step. At Low settings, the drop is from 425 FPS to 330 FPS to 207 FPS, a 22% and 37% reduction respectively. At Medium settings, the averages are 367, 264, and 166 FPS, with the minimums following a similar pattern at 312, 224, and 141 FPS. At Ultra settings, the averages are 219, 157, and 99 FPS, with the 4K result falling just below the 100 FPS threshold.

The Medium preset is the only one that includes minimum and maximum FPS values, providing insight into frame delivery consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range from minimum to maximum is 110 FPS, at 1440p Medium it is 80 FPS, and at 4K Medium it is 50 FPS. The narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's workload becomes more consistent as the pixel count increases, reducing the variance between fast and slow frames. This is a positive indicator for gameplay smoothness, as it implies fewer frame time spikes that could cause perceptible stuttering.

The overall combo rank for this CPU-GPU pair in Inside is 400 out of 2,887 tested combinations, placing it in the top 14% of all tested hardware configurations. This ranking underscores that while the system is not the absolute fastest for this game, it delivers performance that exceeds the requirements of virtually all display setups. The measured data confirms that Inside is a GPU-bound title at resolutions above 1080p, and the RX 9070 XT provides ample headroom for high refresh rate gaming at 1440p and smooth 60+ FPS experiences at 4K with minimal settings adjustments.