Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a strong Outriders experience, but the data reveals that settings choices matter more than resolution here. At 1440p, which is the sweet spot for this pairing, the High preset hits 130.5 FPS, while dropping to Low only adds 30.5 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 24 FPS, which is significant for a game that rewards smooth aiming. The measured FPS rows show that Medium at 1440p (144.9 FPS) is the best balance of visual quality and headroom, especially since the High preset at 4K (79.3 FPS) is already playable but leaves little margin for busy combat scenes. For players with high-refresh displays, Medium at 1440p is the practical choice, as it stays well above 144 FPS while avoiding the diminishing returns of Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows a clear pattern: Ultra settings impose a heavy cost across all resolutions, and the benefit over High is not justified by the FPS loss. At 1080p, Ultra averages 131.4 FPS compared to High’s 153.6 FPS, a 22.2 FPS difference. At 1440p, that gap widens to 24 FPS (106.5 vs 130.5). At 4K, Ultra drops to 54.6 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider the minimum for a looter shooter. Meanwhile, High at 4K holds 79.3 FPS, which is comfortable. The data indicates that High is the best preset for this combo, as it delivers 153.6 FPS at 1080p, 130.5 FPS at 1440p, and 79.3 FPS at 4K. Medium is a viable alternative for those who want extra headroom, as it reaches 170.8 FPS at 1080p and 144.9 FPS at 1440p, but the visual downgrade from High is noticeable in a game that relies on environmental detail. Low settings are only worth considering for competitive play at 1080p, where 189.3 FPS gives maximum responsiveness, but the graphical sacrifice is steep for a game that is not a pure esports title. The recommendation is to use High for the best experience, with Medium as a fallback if you prioritize frame rate over fidelity.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its benchmark scores show a single-thread result of 836 in 3DMark and a multi-thread result of 5411 in the max-threads test. In Cinebench R23, it scores 2319 single-core and 16429 multi-core. These numbers place it at the 79th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20875. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores 20897, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the two are statistically tied. The Ryzen 5 5500’s single-thread performance is adequate for Outriders, which is a game that benefits from strong per-core performance but does not heavily stress multi-threading. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 189.3 FPS, which suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at lower settings. However, the gap between 1080p Low and 4K Low (133 FPS) indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are sufficient for this workload, but the PCIe Gen 3 interface may slightly limit data transfer speeds compared to newer platforms. Overall, the CPU provides enough headroom to keep the RTX 4080 SUPER fed at 1440p and below, but it is not the star of this pairing.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER is a GeForce 40-series card built on Ada Lovelace architecture, with 10240 shading units, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. It has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory bandwidth is 736.3 GB/s, and the card’s compute capability is rated at 52.22 TFLOPS for FP32. Its benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 6600 and a Passmark G3D score of 34245, placing it at the 88th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which scores 53489, a delta of 0.2%, meaning the RTX 4080 SUPER is essentially on par with that card in synthetic benchmarks. In Outriders, the GPU’s role is dominant, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 4K, the difference between Low (133 FPS) and High (79.3 FPS) is 53.7 FPS, which shows how much the GPU is taxed by higher settings. The 16 GB VRAM is ample for this game, even at 4K Ultra, where the card still manages 54.6 FPS. The card’s high pixel rate (285.6 GPixel/s) and texture rate (816.0 GTexel/s) help maintain smooth frame pacing, but the data shows that Ultra settings are too demanding for consistent 60 FPS at 4K. The GPU is clearly the primary driver of performance in this combo, with the CPU providing enough support to avoid major bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 421 out of 1693 tested combinations in Outriders, placing it in the top 25% of all tested systems. This rank reflects the strong GPU paired with a mid-range CPU, which is a common configuration for high-refresh 1440p gaming. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 88th percentile among GPUs and the Ryzen 5 5500’s 79th percentile among CPUs contribute to this position. However, the rank is not higher because the CPU’s single-thread performance, while adequate, does not match the top-tier processors that would allow the GPU to reach its full potential at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves 153.6 FPS on High, which is respectable but not exceptional when compared to systems with faster CPUs. At 1440p, the combo’s 130.5 FPS on High is strong, and at 4K, the 79.3 FPS on High is competitive. The data indicates that this combo is well-suited for 1440p gaming, where the GPU’s power is fully utilized without the CPU becoming a significant constraint. The rank of 421 out of 1693 suggests that there are many faster combinations, but this pairing offers a balanced experience that should satisfy most players.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the combo delivers 153.6 FPS at 1080p, 130.5 FPS at 1440p, and 79.3 FPS at 4K. That is a 23.1 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 51.2 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K. The percentage loss from 1080p to 4K is 48.4%, which is substantial. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance remains constant while the GPU’s workload increases. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p (189.3 FPS) to 4K (133 FPS) is 56.3 FPS, a 29.7% reduction. This smaller relative drop at Low settings suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU at lower graphical loads, but the GPU still limits performance at 4K. At Ultra settings, the drop from 1080p (131.4 FPS) to 4K (54.6 FPS) is 76.8 FPS, a 58.4% reduction, which highlights how Ultra settings disproportionately burden the GPU. The data shows that 1440p is the optimal resolution for this combo, as it provides a good balance between frame rate and visual detail. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, and players should reduce settings to High or Medium to maintain playable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces 189.3 FPS on Low, 170.8 FPS on Medium, 153.6 FPS on High, and 131.4 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 57.9 FPS, showing that settings have a major impact at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the results are 161 FPS on Low, 144.9 FPS on Medium, 130.5 FPS on High, and 106.5 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra here is 54.5 FPS, similar to 1080p. At 3840x2160, the results are 133 FPS on Low, 105.5 FPS on Medium, 79.3 FPS on High, and 54.6 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 78.4 FPS, which is the largest spread across all resolutions. This suggests that Ultra settings are particularly punishing at 4K, pushing the GPU to its limits. The data also shows that Medium settings offer a good compromise at 4K, with 105.5 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings at 4K (79.3 FPS) are also acceptable, but Ultra (54.6 FPS) falls short of smooth gameplay. Across all resolutions, the High preset provides the most consistent experience, with FPS ranging from 79.3 at 4K to 153.6 at 1080p. The measured FPS values indicate that this combo is best used at 1440p with High or Medium settings, where it delivers between 130.5 and 144.9 FPS, ensuring a smooth and responsive experience in Outriders.