Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 delivers a highly inconsistent experience in Inside, one that is almost entirely dictated by the graphics card’s limitations. The combo ranks 1622nd out of 1671 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 3% of all systems, and the measured frame rates confirm a GPU-bound bottleneck that prevents the flagship CPU from ever stretching its legs. The data shows that while the CPU is a top-tier component, this pairing is only viable for playable performance at 1080p with reduced settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Inside with this combo?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all four tested presets achieve playable frame rates. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 61.9 on Ultra to 135.2 on Low, whereas 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 dip below 60 FPS on High and Ultra presets.

Q: How does the CPU benchmark relative to its direct rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D scores an average benchmark of 71660, which is 0.9% ahead of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 and 1.8% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X. It trails the Intel Xeon 6517P by 1.9% and leads the Intel Core i7-14700KF by 2.2%.

Q: Is the GPU the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: Yes. The RX 570’s average benchmark score of 30158 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (0.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (0.2% higher), but its 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth constrains performance heavily in this game, as seen in the steep FPS drops at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The jump is substantial. The measured results show an average of 135.2 FPS on Low, which drops to 108.2 on Medium, 70.4 on High, and 61.9 on Ultra. This represents a 73.3 FPS difference between the lowest and highest presets.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Not at playable frame rates for most presets. At 3840x2160, the High preset yields only 29.6 FPS and Ultra drops to 28.1 FPS. The Medium preset reaches 46.9 FPS, and only the Low preset approaches playability at 58.7 FPS.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among all tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 1622nd out of 1671 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the bottom percentile of all configurations. This low rank is driven by the GPU’s modest performance relative to the CPU’s high-end standing.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, with a substantial 128 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark results are exceptional: it scores 59712 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 8430 in single-core, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 22515. Its percentile rank of 96 means it outperforms 96% of all CPUs tested.

In Inside, however, this processing power is largely irrelevant. The game is a 2D puzzle platformer that does not demand heavy multi-threaded workloads, so the CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads are never fully utilized. The data shows that the CPU’s nearest rivals all have nearly identical average scores—the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 at 71056 and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70420—yet the gaming performance remains pinned to the GPU’s capabilities. The CPU’s role here is to provide ample headroom, ensuring that it never becomes the bottleneck; the measured FPS drops across resolutions are consistent with a graphics-limited scenario rather than a processor-limited one.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is a much older component, based on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm process. It has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. Its memory configuration is 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s benchmark scores are modest: it achieves 880 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 32084 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 42752 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its percentile rank of 74 indicates it beats 74% of all GPUs, but that is still far below the CPU’s 96th percentile standing.

The GPU is clearly the limiting component in this pairing. The measured FPS data shows that performance scales almost linearly with resolution and settings, which is typical of a GPU-bound workload. At 1080p Low, the RX 570 delivers 135.2 FPS, but this falls to 70.4 FPS at High and 61.9 FPS at Ultra. The 4 GB VRAM is likely a constraint at higher resolutions, as the 3840x2160 Ultra preset drops to just 28.1 FPS. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 30158 is nearly identical to much newer cards like the RTX 5060 and RX 7700 XT, but in this specific game, its age and memory limitations hold back what the CPU can deliver.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1622nd out of 1671 tested combinations in Inside, which places it in the bottom 3% of all configurations. This ranking is a stark contrast to the CPU’s individual performance, which sits in the 96th percentile. The discrepancy highlights a severe imbalance: the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a top-tier processor, but the RX 570 drags the overall system down to near the bottom of the leaderboard.

The data suggests that this pairing is not well-suited for this game. The combo’s rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU’s inability to maintain high frame rates at demanding settings. For context, the CPU’s nearest rivals—the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X—have similar average scores, but the actual gaming performance is dictated by the graphics card. The RX 570’s nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA Tesla M60 and RTX 5070 Mobile, also have similar average benchmark scores, yet none of them are known for high-end gaming. This ranking serves as a clear warning that high-end CPUs do not compensate for a weak GPU in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for the best playable experience. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 70.4 FPS, which is smooth and playable, while the Ultra preset drops to 61.9 FPS, still acceptable but closer to the edge. For a more comfortable margin, the Medium preset at 108.2 FPS offers a significant boost without sacrificing too much visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only one that remains clearly playable at 95.1 FPS. The Medium preset at 76.8 FPS is also viable, but High at 48.5 FPS and Ultra at 46.6 FPS fall below the 60 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160, no preset reaches 60 FPS; the Low preset tops out at 58.7 FPS, which is borderline playable but not ideal. The best experience is therefore at 1080p with Medium or High settings, where the frame rates are high enough to ensure smooth gameplay without the visual degradation of Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 135.2 FPS, Medium averages 108.2 FPS, High averages 70.4 FPS, and Ultra averages 61.9 FPS. At 2560x1440, the numbers drop significantly: Low averages 95.1 FPS, Medium averages 76.8 FPS, High averages 48.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 46.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, the performance is further reduced: Low averages 58.7 FPS, Medium averages 46.9 FPS, High averages 29.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 28.1 FPS.

The data reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference is 73.3 FPS, but at 1440p it is 48.5 FPS, and at 4K it narrows to 30.6 FPS. This suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU is so heavily taxed that even lowering settings has diminishing returns. The 1080p results are the only ones where every preset is above 60 FPS, making it the only resolution where the game is fully playable without compromise.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K shows a steep decline in performance, indicative of a GPU-bound system. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the High preset, the average FPS drops from 70.4 to 48.5, a reduction of 31.1%. Going from 1440p to 4K on the same preset, the FPS falls from 48.5 to 29.6, another 38.9% decrease. On the Low preset, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is from 135.2 to 95.1 (29.7% lower), and from 1440p to 4K it falls to 58.7 (38.3% lower).

These percentages show that the GPU is the limiting component, as the frame rate scales inversely with the number of pixels rendered. The CPU’s high single-thread performance and massive cache are irrelevant here; the data indicates that the RX 570’s 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. The conclusion is clear: to get the most out of this combo, players must stick to 1080p, where the CPU can still push the GPU to its limits, and even then, Ultra settings are the ceiling for a consistent 60 FPS experience.