Inside

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Inside, a 2016 puzzle platformer that is far more demanding at 4K than its minimalist art style suggests. The measured data shows this combination is never constrained at standard high-refresh 1080p or 1440p resolutions, with the GPU only beginning to show significant strain at 4K Ultra settings, where the frame rate dips to just above 60 FPS. This pairing ranks in the 24th percentile of all tested combos for this game, indicating that while it is not a top-tier configuration, it provides a performance profile that comfortably exceeds the requirements for smooth gameplay in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario as resolution increases. At the "Low" preset, the average frame rate drops from 222 FPS at 1920x1080 to 199 FPS at 2560x1440, a 10.4% reduction, and then falls further to 127 FPS at 3840x2160, a substantial 42.8% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline at 4K indicates that even at the lowest settings, the pixel throughput demand of 4K begins to saturate the RX 7600's capabilities, moving the bottleneck from the CPU to the GPU.

The pattern becomes more pronounced with higher graphical presets. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at "High" settings results in a 28.4% performance hit, from 141 FPS to 101 FPS. However, the jump from 1440p to 4K at the same "High" preset is a 36.6% reduction, from 101 FPS to 64 FPS. This trend shows that the gap between 1440p and 4K widens as settings increase, which is a clear indicator that the GPU's render output units and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at 4K, rather than the CPU's processing power.

At "Medium" settings, the scaling is similar but with a less dramatic cliff. The 1080p result of 205 FPS drops to 162 FPS at 1440p (a 21% decrease), and then to 102 FPS at 4K (a 37% decrease from 1440p). The "Ultra" preset shows the most significant constraint, with 134 FPS at 1080p falling to 97 FPS at 1440p (a 27.6% drop) and then collapsing to just 61 FPS at 4K (a 37.1% drop). The consistent 35-40% performance penalty from 1440p to 4K across all settings confirms that the RX 7600's 128-bit memory interface and 8 GB of VRAM are the primary bottlenecks at the highest resolution, not the i5-9400.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the dominant component in determining frame rates at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor when pushing 4K with higher detail levels. The benchmark data shows that the GPU's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs are capable of producing very high frame rates at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 222 FPS at 1080p Low, but the pixel fill rate of 169.9 GPixel/s struggles to maintain that pace when pixel count quadruples.

The clock speeds are also a relevant factor. With a base clock of 1720 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz, the GPU has significant headroom to scale its performance under load. The "game" clock of 2250 MHz represents the typical sustained frequency during gaming, and the measured results suggest that this clock speed is what drives the strong 1440p performance. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than adequate for the physics and particle effects in Inside, but the memory system is clearly the constraining factor at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 61 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold.

Interestingly, the RX 7600's performance in this game does not align perfectly with its synthetic benchmark averages. The GPU's avgBenchmarkScore of 15171 places it in the 57th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, which has a nearly identical average score with a -0.2% delta. However, the measured FPS in Inside shows that the RX 7600 can deliver well over 200 FPS at 1080p, which suggests that the game is not heavily relying on the GPU's ray tracing cores (32 RT cores) or other advanced features, and instead benefits from the raw rasterization throughput.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Inside, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 achieves a rank of 2824 out of 3716 total combos. This places it in the 24th percentile, meaning that roughly three-quarters of all tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates in this game. While this ranking might seem low, it is important to contextualize it within the genre of Inside, which is a puzzle platformer that does not require extreme frame rates for competitive play.

The rank is heavily influenced by the CPU, which has an avgBenchmarkScore of 2254 and sits in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. The i5-9400's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (a -0.2% delta), the Intel Core i7-10710U (a +0.3% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (a +0.4% delta), all of which have similar average scores. This indicates that the CPU is a mid-pack performer, and while it does not bottleneck the GPU at 1080p, it may contribute to the lower ranking when paired with faster GPUs that can push frame rates beyond the CPU's ability to feed them.

The GPU, by contrast, is a stronger performer, ranking in the 57th percentile of all GPUs. The RX 7600's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, has a delta of -0.2%, meaning the RX 7600 is essentially on par with that card in synthetic benchmarks. However, the combo rank for this game suggests that the i5-9400 is holding back the RX 7600 from reaching its full potential, particularly at 1080p where frame rates can exceed 200 FPS. The data implies that a stronger CPU would likely push this combo higher in the rankings, but as configured, it remains a solid mid-range performer.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of how this combo performs across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the results are exceptional across the board. The "Low" preset averages 222 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate for this combo. The "Medium" preset averages 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS and a maximum of 235 FPS, showing excellent frame time consistency. The "High" preset averages 141 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset averages 134 FPS. All of these figures are well above the refresh rates of most monitors, making 1080p a non-issue for this configuration.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains highly playable. The "Low" preset averages 199 FPS, which is still exceptional. The "Medium" preset averages 162 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 186 FPS, indicating that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate does not dip below 138 FPS. The "High" preset averages 101 FPS, which is still smooth for a puzzle platformer. The "Ultra" preset averages 97 FPS, which is a negligible drop from High and remains well within the 60+ FPS territory for a fluid experience.

At 3840x2160, the GPU starts to show its limits. The "Low" preset averages 127 FPS, which is still very playable and demonstrates the GPU's raw power at lower settings. The "Medium" preset averages 102 FPS with a minimum of 87 FPS and a maximum of 117 FPS, which is adequate for 4K gaming. However, the "High" preset averages 64 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset averages 61 FPS. These are the only instances where the combo dips below the 100 FPS mark, and they highlight the memory bandwidth limitations at 4K. While 61 FPS is technically playable, it is the threshold at which users with high-refresh 4K monitors would notice a difference.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience for this combo depends on the target resolution. For 1080p and 1440p users, the "Ultra" preset is the clear recommendation, as it delivers 134 FPS and 97 FPS respectively. These frame rates are high enough to take full advantage of standard 144Hz monitors at 1080p and provide a smooth experience on 1440p displays. The performance difference between "High" and "Ultra" at these resolutions is minimal (7 FPS at 1080p and 4 FPS at 1440p), so there is no reason to sacrifice visual quality.

For 4K users, the "Medium" preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 102 FPS average with a minimum of 87 FPS, it provides a consistently smooth experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold. The "High" preset at 64 FPS is still playable, but the 38 FPS drop from "Medium" to "High" is significant and may result in noticeable stuttering in fast-moving scenes. The "Ultra" preset at 61 FPS is borderline, and the data suggests that the extra visual details are not worth the performance risk, especially since the minimum FPS is not recorded for that preset.

The "Low" preset is only recommended for competitive play at 4K, where the 127 FPS average is a substantial improvement over "Medium." However, given the genre of Inside, which is a narrative puzzle platformer, the visual atmosphere is a critical component of the experience. Therefore, the "Medium" preset at 4K is the sweet spot, offering 102 FPS while retaining enough graphical detail to preserve the game's moody aesthetic.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 plays a supporting role in this configuration, and its influence is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck. With 6 cores and 6 threads, a base clock of 2.90 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, this Coffee Lake processor provides adequate single-threaded performance for Inside, which is not a heavily threaded game. The CPU's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth are sufficient to feed the GPU's data requirements.

The benchmark data for the i5-9400 shows a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, which places it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. Its avgBenchmarkScore of 2254 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-10710U with a +0.3% delta and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 with a +0.4% delta. This indicates that the CPU is a reliable, if unspectacular, performer.

In Inside, the CPU's role is to maintain a minimum frame rate floor, particularly at 1080p where the GPU can produce over 200 FPS. The fact that the 1080p "Low" preset achieves 222 FPS suggests that the CPU is capable of handling the game's logic and draw calls at that rate. However, the combo's rank of 2824 out of 3716 suggests that a faster CPU, such as one with higher single-core boost clocks, would allow the RX 7600 to achieve even higher frame rates at 1080p. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes, as the GPU becomes the primary constraint, and the measured frame rates show a consistent pattern of GPU-bound scaling. The i5-9400 is a capable partner for the RX 7600 in this game, providing enough processing power to avoid becoming a significant bottleneck until the frame rates exceed 200 FPS.