Outriders

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination holds the 380th position out of 1,693 tested combos in Outriders, placing it comfortably in the top quarter of all configurations. This rank reflects a pairing where the GPU's raw power is partially held back by the CPU's mid-range positioning, yet the overall result remains strong for high-resolution play. The combo's percentile placement suggests that while the RTX 4090 is capable of far more, the Ryzen 5 5500's six-core, twelve-thread design creates a bottleneck that prevents this setup from reaching the absolute top tier of the leaderboard. In practical terms, the data indicates that this pairing is optimized for visual fidelity and resolution scaling rather than chasing maximum frame rates at lower settings, where the CPU's limits become more apparent. The rank also implies that the majority of higher-scoring combos likely pair the RTX 4090 with stronger processors, but for the specific goals of 4K gaming, this configuration still delivers a highly playable experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process and housing 16,384 shading units. Its memory subsystem is substantial: 24 GB of GDDR6X across a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz provide the computational foundation for Outriders' demanding scenes. In this game, the GPU's role is most evident at 4K resolution, where it drives average frame rates from 63.1 at Ultra settings up to 129 at Low settings. The RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance ensures that even at the highest settings, the limiting factor shifts to the CPU rather than the GPU. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are available for any ray tracing or DLSS features Outriders might utilize, though the measured data focuses on standard rasterization. With a 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs, the RTX 4090 sits near the top of the performance hierarchy, and its average benchmark score of 66,473 confirms its elite status. The GPU's massive memory pool and bandwidth are particularly well-suited to the high-resolution textures and particle effects common in looter shooters, ensuring that texture streaming and asset loading do not become performance bottlenecks at any tested setting.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with average FPS ranging from 113.3 at Ultra to 160.1 at Low, providing smooth gameplay across all settings. At 3840x2160, Ultra drops to 63.1 FPS, which is still playable but closer to the edge of comfort.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at lower resolutions?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ryzen 5 5500 becomes more of a limiting factor, with the FPS spread from 136.8 (Ultra) to 191.3 (Low). The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz cannot fully feed the RTX 4090 at these settings, capping performance below what the GPU could theoretically achieve.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 overkill for this CPU in Outriders?

A: Benchmark results indicate that at 4K Ultra, the combo still only reaches 63.1 FPS, which suggests the GPU is not the primary constraint. The CPU's average benchmark score of 20,875 and its 79th percentile ranking show it is a mid-tier processor, so pairing it with a top-tier GPU creates an imbalance that is most noticeable at lower resolutions.

Q: What settings preset delivers the highest frame rate at 4K?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 produces the highest average FPS of 129, which is a significant jump from the Medium preset's 112.6 and High's 85.5. This indicates that the GPU has substantial headroom when graphical load is reduced.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic tests?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500's average benchmark score of 20,875 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-12500 at 20,897 (a -0.1% difference) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE at 20,900 (also -0.1%). It slightly edges out the AMD EPYC 7J13 at 20,845 by 0.1%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all tested GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, scores 66,733, a -0.4% difference, showing the RTX 4090 is just below that mark.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields an average of 63.1 FPS, which is the lowest measured value across all resolutions. Moving to High raises this to 85.5, a notable improvement. Medium delivers 112.6, and Low jumps to 129, showing that the GPU scales well when pixel shading load decreases. At 2560x1440, the same settings produce 113.3 (Ultra), 131.5 (High), 145.8 (Medium), and 160.1 (Low). The gaps between presets narrow at this resolution, indicating a shift toward CPU limitation. At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 136.8, High 150.5, Medium 169.3, and Low 191.3. The progression from 1440p to 1080p shows diminishing returns, as the CPU's single-thread performance—evidenced by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 836—begins to cap the maximum frame rate. Across all resolutions, the difference between High and Medium is consistently smaller than the jump from High to Low, suggesting that certain Medium settings provide a disproportionate visual benefit for their performance cost. The data also reveals that at 4K, the RTX 4090's bandwidth and memory capacity are fully utilized, while at 1080p, the CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s become the limiting factors.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a Zen 3 architecture processor on the Cezanne codename, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 16 MB of shared L3. In Outriders, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls, which become more prominent at lower resolutions. The synthetic benchmarks show a single-thread score of 836 in 3dmark and 2,319 in Cinebench R23, indicating reasonable per-core performance but not top-tier. The multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 16,429 reflects the six-core design's capability. At 4K, the CPU is rarely the bottleneck, as the GPU's workload dominates; however, at 1080p, the FPS ceiling of 191.3 (Low) suggests the CPU cannot push beyond this threshold regardless of GPU headroom. The CPU's 79th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it above average, but its nearest rivals show it is tightly clustered with the Intel Core i5-12500 (deltaPct -0.1%) and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE (deltaPct -0.1%), confirming it is a solid mid-range option. For Outriders, the CPU's performance is adequate for smooth 60 FPS gameplay at 4K Ultra, but it prevents the RTX 4090 from achieving its full potential at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience at 3840x2160, the Medium preset offers an average of 112.6 FPS, which provides a substantial improvement over High's 85.5 while maintaining visual quality that is likely indistinguishable to most players. Ultra at 4K drops to 63.1, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. If maximum frame rates are the priority at 4K, Low yields 129 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual fidelity. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset at 113.3 FPS is the recommended choice, as it delivers smooth performance with full graphical features. The High preset at 131.5 is a viable alternative for those who prefer higher frame rates, but the difference between High and Ultra is only 18.2 FPS, making Ultra the better value. At 1920x1080, the data shows that Medium at 169.3 FPS is the sweet spot, as the jump to High (150.5) costs 18.8 FPS for marginal visual gains, while Low provides 191.3 but reduces immersion. Overall, the benchmark results indicate that this combo is best paired with Medium or High settings at 4K, or Ultra at 1440p, to balance visual quality with frame rate. The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM ensures that texture quality can be set to high even on Medium presets without memory constraints.