Inside

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers overwhelming performance in Inside, a title whose modest visual demands are far outpaced by this hardware combination. The benchmark data shows a system that is entirely GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still capable of frame rates that far exceed display refresh rates even at 4K. The measured results across twelve configurations provide a clear picture of how this specific pairing scales, where its bottlenecks reside, and how users should configure the game for the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-limited curve, though the absolute numbers are unusually high for a puzzle platformer. At 1080p with High settings, the system produces 190.3 FPS, which drops to 135.3 FPS at 1440p, and further to 87.2 FPS at 2160p. This represents a 54.2% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings. The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets, indicating that the Radeon RX 7700 XT is the primary limiting component as pixel count increases.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling, starting at 383.4 FPS at 1080p, falling to 278.7 FPS at 1440p, and reaching 175 FPS at 4K. This 54.4% drop from 1080p to 4K closely mirrors the High preset’s scaling, confirming that resolution, not settings complexity, drives the performance decline. Interestingly, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller in percentage terms than the gap between 1440p and 4K, which is expected given that 4K contains 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p versus 1.78 times for 1440p over 1080p.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most constrained scaling, with 183.7 FPS at 1080p, 130.1 FPS at 1440p, and 80.5 FPS at 4K. The smaller delta between 1080p and 1440p (53.5 FPS) compared to 1440p to 4K (49.6 FPS) suggests that at Ultra, both the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth are being taxed more uniformly. The data indicates that the RX 7700 XT’s 432.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 35.17 TFLOPS FP32 throughput become increasingly saturated as resolution rises, with the 4K Ultra result of 80.5 FPS still being perfectly playable but representing the system’s most demanding configuration.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, is the dominant performance driver in this benchmark set. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Inside’s relatively simple 2D side-scrolling visuals. The GPU’s boost clock of 2544 MHz and game clock of 2171 MHz, combined with 3456 shading units, deliver frame rates that range from 80.5 FPS at 4K Ultra to 383.4 FPS at 1080p Low.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 73 places it above the majority of graphics cards, and its average benchmark score of 30097 sits within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109) and 0.4% of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29969). This near-parity with the RTX 5060 in synthetic benchmarks translates to consistent real-world behavior in Inside, where the RX 7700 XT never dips below 80 FPS even at the most demanding settings. The GPU’s 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs handle the game’s pixel and texture work efficiently, with the pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s proving more than adequate for the title’s resolution requirements.

The GPU’s memory configuration deserves attention: 12 GB of VRAM is generous for a 2016 puzzle platformer, and the benchmark data shows no signs of memory capacity limiting performance at any resolution. The 18 Gbps effective memory speed on the 192-bit bus sustains the bandwidth needed for 4K Ultra, where the 80.5 FPS result indicates the GPU is still operating well within its thermal and power envelope. The 245 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest this card can maintain boost clocks under sustained load, which the consistent frame rates across all twelve measured configurations corroborate.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience across different display targets. For users with 4K displays, the High preset at 87.2 FPS offers the best balance, as the Ultra preset drops to 80.5 FPS with only marginal visual gains expected from the higher preset. The Medium preset at 141.6 FPS is also viable for 4K users prioritizing fluidity over absolute fidelity, but the jump from Medium to High costs 54.4 FPS (from 141.6 to 87.2), suggesting diminishing returns.

At 1440p, the High preset at 135.3 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it comfortably exceeds the 120 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors. The Ultra preset at 130.1 FPS is only 5.2 FPS slower than High, making it the better choice for 1440p users who want maximum quality without sacrificing frame rate. The Medium preset at 222.3 FPS is excessive for most displays, though it could serve users with 240 Hz monitors seeking maximum smoothness.

For 1080p, the High preset at 190.3 FPS and Ultra at 183.7 FPS are nearly indistinguishable in performance, differing by just 6.6 FPS. Given this negligible gap, Ultra is the recommended preset for 1080p users, as it delivers the highest quality with only a 3.5% frame rate penalty compared to High. The Low preset’s 383.4 FPS at 1080p is only relevant for competitive scenarios where every millisecond matters, but for a puzzle platformer, the visual degradation is unlikely to justify the frame rate increase.

FAQ

*Q: Is the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT sufficient for 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes, the data shows 87.2 FPS at 4K High and 80.5 FPS at 4K Ultra, which are both well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The GPU’s 12 GB VRAM and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth handle the title’s 4K requirements without bottlenecking.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to its closest rival in this game?

A: The RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score of 30097 is effectively tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, which scores 30109, a delta of 0%. In Inside, this parity suggests both cards would deliver nearly identical frame rates at equivalent settings.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p 144 Hz monitor?

A: The High preset at 135.3 FPS is the safest choice, but the Ultra preset at 130.1 FPS also stays above 144 Hz in practice, despite being numerically below it. The 5.2 FPS difference between them makes Ultra the preferred option for maximum visual quality.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution?

A: No. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s 16 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, far exceed Inside’s requirements. The consistent frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K at every preset confirms the GPU is the limiting component.

Q: Is the Low preset at 1080p worth using for competitive play?

A: The 383.4 FPS at 1080p Low is the highest measured result, but Inside is a puzzle platformer, not a competitive shooter. The visual trade-off for the frame rate increase from High to Low (190.3 to 383.4 FPS) is unlikely to provide any practical benefit.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K Ultra compared to 1080p Ultra?

A: The 4K Ultra result of 80.5 FPS is 56.2% lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 183.7 FPS. This substantial drop is expected due to the 4x pixel count increase, but the absolute frame rate remains perfectly playable.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with its 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, plays a minimal role in Inside’s performance, as the game’s 2D side-scrolling nature presents little CPU workload. The processor’s base clock of 4.30 GHz and boost clock of 5.70 GHz ensure that even single-threaded tasks are handled with extreme efficiency. The 128 MB of shared L3 cache, a hallmark of the 3D V-Cache design, provides ample data storage for the game’s assets, though the title’s simplicity means this advantage is largely theoretical.

The CPU’s benchmark results reinforce its capability: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 59712 and single-core score of 8430 place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 71660 is 0.9% higher than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71056) and 1.8% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420). This processing headroom means that in Inside, the CPU never approaches saturation, allowing the RX 7700 XT to operate without any frame pacing interruptions from the processor.

The 32 threads are vastly overprovisioned for Inside, which likely uses fewer than 8 threads given its 2016 release date. The CPU’s Passmark multithread score of 70255 and data encryption score of 44536 are irrelevant to this game’s actual demands, but they confirm that the 9950X3D will not be a limiting factor in any scenario. The processor’s 170 W TDP and dual-die design with two 70.6 mm² chiplets, fabricated on TSMC’s 4 nm process, provide the thermal and power headroom to sustain boost clocks during extended gaming sessions. For Inside, the CPU role is reduced to ensuring the GPU receives frames without delay, a task it accomplishes with overwhelming margin, as evidenced by the linear FPS scaling across resolutions.