Inside

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT pairing delivers a robust performance in Inside, a puzzle platformer released in 2016. The measured data shows high frame rates across all resolutions and settings, with the GPU clearly carrying the load. This analysis breaks down the scaling behavior, the GPU's role, and how the combo ranks among tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 168.6 at 1920x1080 to 138.7 at 2560x1440, then to 86.1 at 3840x2160—a reduction of nearly half from 1080p to 4K. Ultra settings show a similar pattern: 167.7 FPS at 1080p, 130.3 at 1440p, and 84 at 4K, a 50% decline. Medium settings drop from 205.8 to 185.2 to 139.6, a 32% loss. Low settings, however, scale more gently: 221.3 FPS at 1080p, 198.2 at 1440p, and 168 at 4K, a 24% reduction. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the CPU or other system components limit performance, while at High and Ultra, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The i5-9400's six cores and six threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz, are sufficient for the game's logic, but the RX 7700 XT's raw throughput dominates at higher quality presets. The game itself is not demanding; even 4K Ultra maintains 84 FPS, so the scaling reflects the GPU's ability to handle increased pixel counts and shading work rather than any memory or bandwidth shortfall.

GPU Role

The RX 7700 XT is built on RDNA 3.0 with a Navi 32 chip, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock reaches 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz. These specifications are far beyond what Inside requires, as the game's 2D side-scrolling visuals place minimal stress on the GPU. The card's average benchmark score is 30097, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, scores 30109—a 0.0% difference—while the AMD Radeon RX 570 scores 30158, giving the RX 7700 XT a 0.2% deficit. The card outperforms the Tesla M60 by 0.4% and the RTX 5070 Mobile by 0.6%. The GPU's pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s contribute to the smooth frame rates observed across all settings. The 12 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor; even at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 84, and the memory bandwidth of 432 GB/s ensures no stutter. The GPU's launch MSRP is 449 USD, but its performance in this title is clearly sufficient for high-refresh-rate play at 1080p and 1440p, and it remains playable at 4K. The CPU's role is secondary; its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125 are modest, but they do not bottleneck the GPU in this game, as evidenced by the high frame rates even at Low settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Ultra?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 167.7.

Q: How does this combo rank among tested configurations?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT combo ranks 954th out of 1671 tested combinations.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The RX 7700 XT has a memory bandwidth of 432 GB/s.

Q: What is the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score?

A: The i5-9400 scores 7969 in Cinebench R23 multi-core.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the RX 7700 XT?

A: The launch MSRP is 449 USD.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Inside is as follows:

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|

| 3840x2160 | High | 86.1 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 168 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 139.6 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 84 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 138.7 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 198.2 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 185.2 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 130.3 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 168.6 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 221.3 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 205.8 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 167.7 |

The data shows a clear hierarchy: Low settings always produce the highest frame rates, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra trailing slightly behind High in most cases. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 53.6 FPS (221.3 vs 167.7), while at 4K the gap narrows to 84 FPS (168 vs 84). This suggests that the GPU's performance scaling is more pronounced at lower resolutions, where the CPU can keep up, and becomes more uniform at higher resolutions where the GPU is fully utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 954 out of 1671 places it above the median of all tested configurations. The CPU alone sits at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 73rd percentile, indicating that the GPU is the stronger component in this pairing. The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2305 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals: the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2300 (0.2% higher), the i3-1125G4 scores 2299 (0.2% higher), and the Xeon E-2134 scores 2295 (0.4% higher). The only rival that beats it by a meaningful margin is the i7-8809G, which scores 2319, a 0.6% advantage. On the GPU side, the RX 7700 XT's average score of 30097 is essentially tied with the RTX 5060 (30109, 0.0% difference) and slightly below the RX 570 (30158, -0.2%). It leads the Tesla M60 by 0.4% and the RTX 5070 Mobile by 0.6%. Given that Inside is not a demanding title, the combo's rank is likely influenced by the CPU's modest performance in other workloads, but in this specific game, the frame rates are consistently high. The data indicates that this pairing is well-balanced for the title, with the GPU providing ample headroom and the CPU never becoming a limiting factor at any resolution or setting tested.