Outriders

# Outriders with AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 5 3600 with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 produces a benchmark profile that is heavily skewed toward GPU dominance at lower resolutions, but the data reveals a clear transition point where the CPU begins to assert its influence. Across the measured rows, the system delivers playable frame rates at every preset and resolution tested, though the scaling patterns indicate that the RTX 5090’s immense rasterization headroom is only partially realized when paired with this six-core Zen 2 processor.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent and predictable decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that decline varies significantly by preset. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 155.8 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 133.1 FPS, a reduction of approximately 14.6%. At 4K Low, the average falls to 111.9 FPS, representing a further 16% decrease from the 1440p figure. This pattern suggests that even at Low settings, the RTX 5090 remains the primary throughput driver, though the CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 696 and its passmark single-thread score of 2562 indicate a modest ceiling that becomes more relevant as resolution drops.

For High settings, the scaling is steeper. The 1080p High result of 125.4 FPS falls to 105.9 FPS at 1440p, a drop of 15.6%, and then to 90 FPS at 4K, another 15% reduction. The Ultra preset exhibits the most pronounced resolution sensitivity: 113 FPS at 1080p, 97.4 FPS at 1440p, and 66.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is notably lower than the other presets at the same resolution, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s additional rendering demands disproportionately tax the GPU’s 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient for all tested configurations, so the bottleneck is computational rather than memory-related.

The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is revealing. At 1080p, the spread is 42.8 FPS (155.8 vs 113). At 1440p, the spread narrows slightly to 35.7 FPS (133.1 vs 97.4). At 4K, the spread is 45.4 FPS (111.9 vs 66.5). This widening at 4K indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that scale poorly with resolution, likely related to the GPU’s 176 ROPs and 680 texture mapping units being saturated by the combined load. The CPU’s role here is secondary; its 6 cores and 12 threads at a 4.20 GHz boost clock are adequate to feed the GPU at 4K, but at 1080p the frame rates approach the range where the Ryzen 5 3600’s architectural limits could become visible.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Outriders?

A: The data shows 1440p as the strongest balance. At High settings, the system delivers 105.9 FPS at 1440p versus 125.4 FPS at 1080p and 90 FPS at 4K. The 1440p figure remains well above 60 FPS while benefiting from higher pixel density than 1080p.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: At 4K, Ultra produces 66.5 FPS average, while High achieves 90 FPS. This represents a 23.5 FPS difference, or approximately 26% higher performance on High. The Ultra preset’s additional visual features are not justified by the frame rate cost at this resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 limiting the RTX 5090?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 155.8 FPS, which is 39.4% higher than the 4K Low result of 111.9 FPS. The CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 4605 and its passmark multithread score of 17700 suggest it can sustain high frame rates, but the diminishing returns between 1080p and 1440p Low (155.8 vs 133.1) indicate some CPU constraint as the GPU’s load lightens.

Q: What settings provide the most consistent experience across resolutions?

A: Medium settings show the steadiest scaling: 139.8 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p, and 96.7 FPS at 4K. The deltas between resolutions are roughly 15% and 19%, respectively, which is the most linear pattern among all presets.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 711 out of 1693 tested combinations. This places it in the 58th percentile of all combos, reflecting the CPU’s mid-range position despite the GPU’s top-tier performance.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Outriders?

A: Yes, at every preset except Ultra. The 4K Low result of 111.9 FPS and the 4K High result of 90 FPS both exceed the 60 FPS threshold. Only the 4K Ultra figure of 66.5 FPS approaches the boundary, though it still remains playable.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture (Matisse codename), manufactured on TSMC’s 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz, combined with a 32 MB shared L3 cache, provide solid fundamentals for gaming workloads. The CPU’s benchmark scores place it at the 76th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18129. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, scores 18150, a delta of -0.1%, indicating near-identical synthetic performance.

In Outriders specifically, the CPU’s influence is most visible when comparing the Low preset results across resolutions. The 1080p Low figure of 155.8 FPS versus the 1440p Low figure of 133.1 FPS represents a 22.7 FPS difference, which is the largest absolute drop among all presets when moving from 1080p to 1440p. This suggests that at lower GPU loads, the Ryzen 5 3600’s per-thread performance becomes a more significant factor. Its 3DMark 2-thread score of 1361 and 4-thread score of 2579 indicate that the processor can handle lightly threaded workloads, but the game’s engine likely scales beyond 4 threads, given that the 8-thread score of 3844 is substantially higher.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and 3,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die reflect a design optimized for efficiency rather than raw throughput. In contrast, the RTX 5090’s 575 W TDP and 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die represent a completely different performance class. This imbalance means that at 1080p, the system is closer to CPU-bound territory, while at 4K, the GPU’s workload dominates. The cinebench R23 multicore score of 15045 and single-core score of 2124 provide context: the multicore figure is strong for a 6-core part, but the single-core result lags newer architectures, which can matter in games that rely on a primary simulation thread.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 711 out of 1693 tested combinations in Outriders. This places it in the 42nd percentile from the top, meaning roughly 58% of tested combos performed better. Given that the RTX 5090 sits at the 94th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 84306, the overall ranking is dragged down by the CPU’s more modest position. The Ryzen 5 3600’s 76th percentile ranking among CPUs, while respectable, does not align with the GPU’s top-tier status.

The delta between the GPU’s percentile (94) and the CPU’s percentile (76) is 18 points, which helps explain why the combo rank (711/1693) is lower than either component’s individual standing. In Outriders, the measured frame rates at 1080p High (125.4 FPS) and 4K High (90 FPS) show that the system is consistently delivering playable performance, but the CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 4605 is nearly identical to its max-thread score of 4603, indicating that the processor saturates its available threads without significant headroom for background tasks or future game updates.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 5090 D scores 84241 (a delta of 0.1%), and the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 84171 (a delta of 0.2%). These differences are negligible, confirming that the GPU is performing as expected. The CPU’s nearest rivals show similarly tight clustering: the Intel Core i5-11400 at 18150 (-0.1%), the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 18101 (0.2%), and the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 at 18158 (-0.2%). This tight grouping suggests that the Ryzen 5 3600 is well within the expected performance envelope for its class, and the combo’s ranking reflects the inherent mismatch between a mid-range 2019 CPU and a flagship 2025 GPU.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing frame rate consistency, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 139.8 FPS, which is 14.6% lower than Low but 26.8 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1440p, Medium produces 119 FPS, maintaining a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 4K, Medium achieves 96.7 FPS, which is 30.2 FPS higher than Ultra and 6.7 FPS higher than High.

The High preset is the recommended choice for visual fidelity without excessive frame rate loss. At 1080p, High achieves 125.4 FPS; at 1440p, it delivers 105.9 FPS; and at 4K, it maintains 90 FPS. These figures represent a 10-15% reduction from Medium but offer improved visual quality. The Ultra preset, while producing 113 FPS at 1080p and 97.4 FPS at 1440p, drops to 66.5 FPS at 4K, which approaches the lower bound of comfortable playability for a fast-paced looter shooter.

The Low preset yields the highest frame rates — 155.8 FPS at 1080p, 133.1 FPS at 1440p, and 111.9 FPS at 4K — but the visual sacrifices are substantial. Given that the Medium preset at 4K (96.7 FPS) outperforms the Ultra preset at 1440p (97.4 FPS) by a negligible 0.7 FPS, players seeking 4K output should select Medium or High rather than Ultra. The data does not include minimum frame rate figures, so stutter analysis is not possible, but the average FPS values suggest that the system has sufficient headroom to maintain smooth gameplay under most conditions. The optimal configuration for this combo is 1440p High, which delivers 105.9 FPS while maintaining visual quality that complements the RTX 5090’s capabilities.