Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers exceptional performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer that is far more demanding on frame rates than its minimalist art style suggests. The data shows this combo achieves a rank of 38 out of 2887 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1.3% of all systems tested for this title. This pairing of a 12-core, 24-thread Zen 5 processor with NVIDIA's flagship Ada Lovelace GPU produces frame rates that range from 140 FPS at 4K Ultra to 425 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the game is almost entirely GPU-bound at higher resolutions while the CPU's headroom becomes relevant only at the lowest settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process from TSMC, featuring 12 cores and 24 threads. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz can boost up to 5.50 GHz, which is critical for a game like Inside that relies heavily on single-threaded physics and logic updates. The processor's L3 cache totals 128 MB, a substantial pool that helps keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 6739 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 47737 in multi-core, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1269 and a 16-thread score of 12490. These numbers place the 9900X3D in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54762.

When comparing to its nearest rivals, the 9900X3D's average score is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093), but it leads the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K by 1.3% (54053), the Intel Xeon 6505P by 2% (53701), and the Intel Core i7-14700F by 2.1% (53620). This indicates that the 9900X3D is competitive with, though not dominating, the upper mid-range Intel offerings in general compute tasks. For Inside specifically, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough draw calls and physics calculations to maintain high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system produces 425 FPS, which suggests the CPU can handle the game's logic at extremely high rates, but the fact that this is the highest recorded frame rate across all configurations indicates a ceiling imposed by the CPU's single-thread performance rather than the GPU.

The processor's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 is adequate for the game's data streaming needs, and its PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 4090, which uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The CPU's TDP of 120 W is modest for a 12-core part, and its unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, though the measured data suggests no overclocking is necessary to achieve the frame rates observed. The launch MSRP of $599 positions it as a high-end desktop part, but the benchmark results focus purely on performance metrics rather than cost considerations.

FAQ

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D compare to its nearest rivals in overall CPU performance?

A: The 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54762, which is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093), but 1.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053), 2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701), and 2.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700F (53620). This places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

*Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Inside, and at what settings?*

A: The highest average FPS is 425, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next highest is 393 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 381 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 325 at 1080p to 234 at 1440p, and further to 147 at 4K. This represents a 54.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo, and under what conditions?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 200, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. At 2560x1440 Medium, the minimum is 299, and at 1920x1080 Medium, it is 334.

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

A: The combo ranks 38th out of 2887 tested combinations, placing it in the top 1.32% of all systems. This is a strong result for a game that is not typically considered a benchmark title.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 381 FPS, while Ultra produces 222 FPS. This is a 41.7% reduction in frame rate from Low to Ultra, showing the significant impact of visual quality settings on performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 38 out of 2887 tested combos in Inside. This places the system in the top 1.3% of all configurations tested for this game, which is a remarkable result given the game's age and relatively simple rendering requirements. The rank reflects the raw computational power of both components, as Inside does not heavily utilize multi-threaded CPU performance or advanced GPU features like ray tracing, which means the system's high placement is due to sheer clock speed and memory bandwidth.

The percentile ranking of the CPU (91st among all CPUs) and GPU (88th among all GPUs) suggests that this combo is near the top of the performance curve, but not the absolute best. The 38th rank out of 2887 combos means there are 37 combinations that perform better, likely featuring even faster CPUs or GPUs with higher factory overclocks. However, the delta between this combo and those above it is likely small, as the game's frame rates are already exceeding 300 FPS at 1080p Medium, which is far beyond what any display can show. The data indicates that this combo is overkill for Inside, but it does provide headroom for maximum refresh rate gaming without any frame drops.

The rank also suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck in most configurations, as the GPU's performance scaling with resolution demonstrates. At 4K Ultra, the system produces 140 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The combination's rank of 38 confirms the balance of the two components, as neither one is severely limiting the other in this workload. The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM is far more than the game requires, and the CPU's 12 cores are not fully utilized, but the combination still delivers top-tier performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo spans three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra). At 1080p, the system delivers an average of 425 FPS on Low, 393 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 334 and maximum of 452), 325 FPS on High, and 309 FPS on Ultra. These numbers are exceptionally high, indicating that the game is CPU-limited at this resolution, as the GPU is not being fully utilized even at Ultra settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 116 FPS, a 27.3% reduction.

Moving to 1440p, the average FPS drops to 381 on Low, 352 on Medium (with a minimum of 299 and maximum of 405), 234 on High, and 222 on Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is more pronounced at higher settings: High settings see a 28% drop (from 325 to 234), while Low settings see only a 10.4% drop (from 425 to 381). This suggests that the GPU begins to become a factor at 1440p, especially with higher quality settings that require more pixel shading and texture filtering.

At 4K (3840x2160), the average FPS is 293 on Low, 235 on Medium (with a minimum of 200 and maximum of 270), 147 on High, and 140 on Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is significant across all settings: Low drops by 23.1% (381 to 293), Medium by 33.2% (352 to 235), High by 37.2% (234 to 147), and Ultra by 36.9% (222 to 140). The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 200, which is still very playable, but the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 153 FPS, a 52.2% reduction, showing that the GPU's rendering load is the primary constraint at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that points to the GPU as the limiting component at higher resolutions, while the CPU provides sufficient headroom at lower resolutions. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by approximately 10-28%, with the largest percentage drop occurring at High settings (28%) and the smallest at Low settings (10.4%). This indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput becomes more important as resolution increases, but the CPU is still capable of feeding it at 1440p.

From 1440p to 4K, the scaling is more severe, with drops ranging from 23.1% at Low to 37.2% at High. The 4K resolution requires four times the pixel count of 1080p, and the GPU's rendering load scales accordingly. The fact that the FPS does not drop by 75% (as would be expected if the GPU were perfectly pixel-bound) suggests that the game's rendering pipeline has other bottlenecks, such as CPU draw call submission or memory bandwidth. The RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and 24 GB of GDDR6X VRAM are more than sufficient for this game, but the GPU's compute units are still the primary constraint at 4K.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings shows a 54.8% reduction in average FPS (from 325 to 147). This is less than the 75% reduction that would occur if the GPU were fully saturated, indicating that the CPU is still contributing to the frame time at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as the CPU's single-thread performance of 6739 in Cinebench R23 is more than enough to handle the game's logic at any resolution. The data suggests that for users with high refresh rate 1080p or 1440p monitors, the CPU is the limiting factor, while at 4K, the GPU's rendering capabilities dictate the frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset for this combo depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 393 FPS with a minimum of 334, which is more than enough for any display, including 360Hz monitors. The High preset at 1080p drops to 325 FPS, and Ultra to 309 FPS, both of which still exceed 300 FPS. For most users at 1080p, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as the difference between Medium and High is only 68 FPS (17.3%), while Ultra offers no significant visual improvement for a 21.4% drop from Medium.

At 1440p, the Medium preset provides 352 FPS with a minimum of 299, which is ideal for 240Hz or 300Hz monitors. The High preset at 234 FPS is also acceptable for 240Hz displays, but the Medium preset's higher minimum FPS (299 vs. the High's unrecorded minimum) suggests better frame pacing. The Ultra preset at 222 FPS is still very playable but offers diminishing returns over Medium. For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 293 FPS is the only way to exceed 240Hz, while Medium at 235 FPS is suitable for 240Hz displays. The High preset at 147 FPS is perfect for 144Hz monitors, and Ultra at 140 FPS is nearly identical, so High is the better choice at 4K since it provides 7 more FPS with no visible quality difference in this game's art style.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, as it delivers frame rates that are 60-80% higher than High or Ultra while maintaining a high minimum FPS. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 334 FPS, and at 1440p Medium, it is 299 FPS, both of which are above the refresh rate of any consumer monitor. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 200 FPS still exceeds 144Hz displays, making it the recommended preset for maximum visual quality without sacrificing frame rate stability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. It features 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores. The GPU's base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and its memory runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) across a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The 24 GB of GDDR6X VRAM is far more than Inside requires, but it ensures the GPU is never memory-constrained.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4090 scores 38194 in PassMark G3D and 255416 in Geekbench OpenCL, with a Vulkan score of 271631. Its average benchmark score is 60347, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4090's average score is identical to the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, 0% delta), 0.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140), 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896, with a negative delta indicating the rival scores higher), and 2.9% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58657). This shows that the RTX 4090 is competitive with professional workstation GPUs in raw compute, despite being a consumer part.

For Inside, the GPU's role is to render the game's 2D side-scrolling environments and lighting effects. The game does not use ray tracing or DLSS, so the GPU's RT and tensor cores are not utilized. Instead, the rasterization performance determined by the 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate is what drives the frame rates. At 4K Ultra, the GPU produces 140 FPS, which is a lower bound for this combo. The GPU's 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooler are overkill for this game, but the high boost clock of 2520 MHz allows it to maintain high utilisation even at 1080p, where the CPU is more likely to be the bottleneck. The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM ensures that texture streaming is never an issue, even at 4K with Ultra settings, which is reflected in the absence of stutter or frame drops below 200 FPS at 4K Medium.