Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing in Outriders delivers a solid 1080p experience, but the data reveals a sharp performance cliff as resolution climbs. The measured frame rates show a system that is comfortable at lower resolutions and settings, yet struggles to maintain playable framerates at 4K with higher quality presets. The benchmark results indicate that this combination is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, where the balance between the six-core Zen 2 processor and the Turing-based GPU is most effective.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS for Outriders at 1920x1080 with High settings is 113.6 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 18129, which places it 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-11400 and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, indicating near-identical performance among these processors.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER falls into the 63rd percentile for performance, meaning it outperforms a majority of GPUs in the database but is not a top-tier part.

Q: What is the best performance improvement from Low to Medium settings at 1440p?

A: The frame rate drops from 129.4 FPS at Low settings to 94 FPS at Medium settings, a decrease of 35.4 FPS, showing that Medium is a significant step up in graphical load.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 SUPER faster than the RTX 2070 in synthetic tests?

A: Yes, the data shows the RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 2070's score of 19680.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest measured average FPS is 25.2 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary driver of graphical performance in this pairing, and its characteristics directly shape the Outriders results. The GPU is built on the 12 nm Turing architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The core clock operates at a base of 1470 MHz and boosts up to 1650 MHz, while the memory runs at 1750 MHz with an effective data rate of 14 Gbps. These specifications position the card with a 63rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 19774 places it just ahead of the RTX 2070 by a margin of 0.5%.

The GPU's role is most evident in the scaling of frame rates with settings changes. At 1920x1080, the average FPS moves from 158.1 on Low to 83.4 on Ultra, a span that shows the GPU's capacity to handle the game's effects load. However, the RTX 2060 SUPER appears to hit a hard limit at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 25.2 FPS is not just a drop; it is a clear indication that the GPU lacks the raw fill rate and compute power to maintain fluid motion at that resolution with maximum quality. The 8 GB frame buffer is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests it becomes a limiting factor at 3840x2160 with High or Ultra presets, where the combination of resolution and effects pushes the card beyond its comfort zone.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable pattern of decreasing performance as resolution rises, but the magnitude of the drop reveals important insights about the system's bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 113.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 reduces this to 73.9 FPS, a 35% decrease. The jump to 3840x2160 is far more punishing, with the average FPS falling to 38.7, which is a 66% reduction from the 1440p result. This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, as the workload on the graphics card grows faster than the CPU's ability to feed it frames.

The Low settings preset further confirms this dynamic. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 158.1 FPS, but at 4K Low it still manages 69.1 FPS. The fact that the 4K Low result is higher than the 1440p High result (73.9 FPS) suggests that the game's visual quality presets have a more substantial impact on performance than resolution alone. The Ryzen 5 3600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is clearly capable of keeping up with the GPU at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p. However, the data does not show the CPU becoming a bottleneck; rather, the GPU's compute and memory limits are exposed as the pixel count increases, leading to the steep performance decline at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand context of all tested combinations for Outriders, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 3600 and RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1315th out of 1693 combos. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the rankings, indicating that while it is not a weak performer, there are many more powerful combinations available. The CPU's synthetic benchmark performance is respectable, with an average score of 18129 and a percentile ranking of 76 among all CPUs. This places it in the same performance tier as the Intel Core i5-11400, which scores 18150 and is only 0.1% faster.

The GPU, however, holds the combo back in the rankings. The RTX 2060 SUPER's 63rd percentile ranking is notably lower than the CPU's 76th percentile, creating a slight imbalance where the processor has more headroom than the graphics card can use. The combo rank of 1315 out of 1693 suggests that users with this hardware will need to make compromises in settings or resolution to achieve a smooth experience. The data shows that the combo is perfectly capable at 1080p, where it can push High settings to 113.6 FPS, but it falls outside the top half of all tested configurations, reflecting the GPU's mid-range status in the broader market.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates provide clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for this hardware. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 113.6 FPS, which is an excellent balance of visual fidelity and performance. The Ultra preset drops to 83.4 FPS, which is still playable but does not offer a proportional improvement in image quality for the 30 FPS cost. The Medium preset at 138.4 FPS is smoother but sacrifices too much visual quality for a system that can handle High without issue. Therefore, High at 1080p is the recommended setting for this combo.

For users targeting 2560x1440, the High preset at 73.9 FPS is the optimal choice. The Medium preset at 94 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing frame rate, but it does not look as good. The Ultra preset at 51.9 FPS is borderline, and the Low preset at 129.4 FPS is unnecessary for a system that can handle higher quality. The data clearly shows that 4K should be avoided with this pairing, as even the High preset at 38.7 FPS is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the Ultra preset at 25.2 FPS is effectively unplayable. The 1440p High or 1080p High presets represent the sweet spot where the RTX 2060 SUPER's 8 GB of VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are fully utilized without being overwhelmed.