Outriders

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 lands at rank 882 out of 1693 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the database’s combo leaderboard. That rank is somewhat deceptive, however, because the measured frame rates tell a story of a pairing that is heavily balanced toward the GPU’s strengths. The combo sits just past the halfway mark of all tested configurations, which means there are many weaker pairings below it, but also a substantial number of stronger ones above it. In a game like Outriders, a looter shooter that rewards high and consistent frame rates for fast target acquisition, this rank suggests the combo is capable but not elite.

The CPU itself, a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 2 part from the 3000 series, posts an average benchmark score of 18129 and sits in the 76th percentile against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 18150, which is just 0.1% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS scores 18101, a 0.2% gap. The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 is 0.2% behind at 18158, and the AMD EPYC 9274F trails by 0.3% with a score of 18189. What this means in practice is that the Ryzen 5 3600 is squarely in a performance class where single-digit percentage differences separate it from its direct competitors, and in Outriders, that CPU headroom is sufficient to feed the RTX 3080 without becoming a bottleneck at most settings. The GPU, meanwhile, holds an 80th percentile rank against all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 35787, and its nearest rivals show similarly tight margins—the AMD Radeon Pro Duo is 0.2% ahead, the AMD Radeon 880M is 0.4% behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is 0.9% ahead.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why it drives Outriders so effectively. Built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip on an 8 nm process from Samsung, this GPU packs 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It also carries 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, which are not directly exercised by Outriders’ traditional rasterization workload but speak to the GPU’s overall capability. The memory subsystem is a key asset: 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus delivers 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for a game that streams large texture datasets during combat-heavy scenes. The clocks are set at a base of 1440 MHz and a boost of 1710 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz or 19 Gbps effective.

In Outriders specifically, the data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo hits 160.6 FPS, and even at 4K with Low settings, it maintains 108.6 FPS. The RTX 3080’s 10 GB frame buffer is sufficient for the game’s demands across all tested resolutions, and the high memory bandwidth prevents any obvious stalling in texture-heavy environments. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 29.77 TFLOPS and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s provide the raw compute needed to keep Outriders’ particle effects and enemy density flowing smoothly. The GPU’s percentile rank of 80 against all GPUs, combined with an average benchmark score of 35787, reinforces that this is a high-tier part that, when paired with a mid-range CPU like the Ryzen 5 3600, still manages to deliver playable frame rates at the most demanding settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases, and it tells a nuanced story about which component becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 160.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 132.4 FPS, a reduction of 28.2 FPS, and then at 4K it falls to 108.6 FPS, another 23.8 FPS lower. This steady decline suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is doing more of the work to keep frame rates high, but the GPU is still the primary contributor. The picture changes when looking at High settings: 1080p yields 126.6 FPS, 1440p yields 109 FPS, and 4K yields 56.5 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K here is a massive 52.5 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the GPU is becoming heavily saturated at 4K with higher quality presets.

The Ultra preset amplifies this effect. At 1080p, the combo manages 113 FPS; at 1440p, it drops to 80.1 FPS; and at 4K, it falls to 45.1 FPS. That 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for a smooth experience, and it highlights that the RTX 3080, despite its power, is pushed to its limits by Outriders’ Ultra settings at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is a loss of 32.9 FPS, while the jump from 1440p to 4K costs another 35 FPS. This pattern indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, the Ryzen 5 3600 is providing enough CPU throughput to keep the GPU fed, but at 4K with high or ultra settings, the GPU’s raw pixel-pushing capability is the sole limiting factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows offer a clear guide for optimizing the experience. For players targeting 4K, the Low preset delivers 108.6 FPS, which is exceptionally smooth, while Medium drops to 76.3 FPS and High falls to 56.5 FPS. Ultra at 4K is the only setting that falls below 60 FPS, hitting 45.1 FPS, which is likely too choppy for a looter shooter where dodging and aiming are critical. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, offering 76.3 FPS—well above the playable threshold—while retaining more visual fidelity than Low. At 1440p, the situation is more comfortable: Medium yields 118.6 FPS, High yields 109 FPS, and even Ultra maintains 80.1 FPS. For most players, 1440p High at 109 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it stays above 100 FPS while looking substantially better than Medium.

At 1080p, the combo is powerful enough that even Ultra produces 113 FPS, and High reaches 126.6 FPS. Low at 1080p hits 160.6 FPS, which is useful for competitive play, but the visual downgrade is significant. Given that the 1080p Ultra result is above 100 FPS, there is little reason to drop below High or Medium on a 1080p display. The key takeaway is that this pairing is best suited to 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates across all settings, and 4K is viable only if the player is willing to use Medium or Low presets. The data shows no scenario where Ultra is recommended at 4K, as the 45.1 FPS result would compromise the gameplay experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo in Outriders is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 160.6 FPS, Medium delivers 137.7 FPS, High delivers 126.6 FPS, and Ultra delivers 113 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 47.6 FPS, which is the narrowest of any resolution, indicating that the CPU and GPU together have enough headroom at 1080p to absorb the increased graphical load without severe penalties. At 2560x1440, the results are 132.4 FPS for Low, 118.6 FPS for Medium, 109 FPS for High, and 80.1 FPS for Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 52.3 FPS, with the Ultra preset taking a notable hit as the GPU begins to work harder on pixel shading at this resolution. At 3840x2160, the numbers are 108.6 FPS for Low, 76.3 FPS for Medium, 56.5 FPS for High, and 45.1 FPS for Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 63.5 FPS, and the step from Medium to High alone costs 19.8 FPS, while High to Ultra costs another 11.4 FPS.

The 4K results particularly illustrate the GPU’s limits. The jump from 1440p Low to 4K Low is a loss of 23.8 FPS, which is manageable, but the jump from 1440p High to 4K High is a loss of 52.5 FPS, which is severe. The data indicates that the RTX 3080’s 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game at all resolutions, but the raw compute power of 29.77 TFLOPS is strained at 4K with higher presets. The Ryzen 5 3600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost of 4.20 GHz, is never the limiting factor in these measurements; even at 1080p Low, the frame rate of 160.6 FPS is more likely capped by the game engine or VSync than by CPU throughput. Overall, this combo is a strong 1440p performer, a capable 1080p machine, and a 4K option that requires careful settings management to stay within playable frame rates.