Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a lopsided combination for Outriders, but the data suggests it works far better than the component hierarchy would imply. This pairing places 415th out of 2913 tested combos in this looter shooter, putting it in the top 14% of all configurations. The 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 processor is clearly the junior partner here, yet the benchmarks show that the RTX 5090 D carries the experience across all resolutions and settings, with the CPU only becoming a meaningful factor at the lowest graphical presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline as resolution increases, with the gap between presets narrowing at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the RTX 5090 D delivers between 142 FPS on Ultra and 201 FPS on Low, a spread of 59 FPS that highlights how much headroom exists at this resolution. Moving to 2560x1440, the range tightens to 122-172 FPS, a 50 FPS spread, while at 3840x2160 the spread compresses further to 68-139 FPS, which is a 71 FPS range — actually wider than 1440p, driven by the Low preset's 139 FPS versus Ultra's 68 FPS.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a significant shift in the bottleneck. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 161 FPS at 1080p to 138 FPS at 1440p, then to 94 FPS at 4K. That is a 42% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is substantial but not catastrophic. For the Low preset, the drop is from 201 FPS at 1080p to 172 FPS at 1440p, then to 139 FPS at 4K — a 31% decline overall. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 142 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and just 68 FPS at 4K, a 52% loss from 1080p to 4K.

These numbers indicate that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is under extreme load, and the 68 FPS average suggests the RTX 5090 D is being pushed to its limits by Outriders' rendering demands. Conversely, the 1080p Low result of 201 FPS hints that the CPU may be capping performance, since a GPU this powerful could theoretically push higher if the processor could feed it faster. The 4K Medium result of 123 FPS with a minimum of 105 FPS shows that the sweet spot for consistent frame times at high resolution is Medium, not High or Ultra.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 D is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture part built on TSMC's 5 nm process, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus. This memory configuration provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is a massive asset for Outriders at high resolutions where texture streaming and asset loading become memory-hungry. The GPU's boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with its 21760 shading units and 680 TMUs, gives it the raw throughput needed to handle the game's particle effects and environmental destruction.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU scaling as expected with resolution, but the interesting detail is the delta between presets. At 4K, the jump from Low (139 FPS) to Medium (123 FPS) is only 16 FPS, but from Medium to High (94 FPS) it is a 29 FPS drop, and from High to Ultra (68 FPS) another 26 FPS drop. This non-linear scaling suggests that Ultra introduces rendering features that disproportionately tax the GPU, likely related to shadow quality or post-processing effects. The 4K Medium result with its 105 FPS minimum and 142 FPS maximum shows reasonable frame pacing, whereas the Ultra preset's lack of min/max data suggests it may be less stable.

In the context of the database, the RTX 5090 D holds a percentile rank of 92 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests are the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% higher score) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% higher), which are odd comparisons given the generational gap, but they indicate that the 5090 D's raw compute is in a specific performance band. The 32 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Outriders at any resolution, and the 512-bit memory bus ensures that memory bandwidth never becomes a limiting factor, even at 4K with maxed settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 415 out of 2913 tested combinations places this pairing in the 85th percentile of all configs tested for Outriders. That is a strong showing, but the context matters: the Ryzen 5 5600 is a mid-range CPU from the 5000 series with a 74th percentile rank among all processors, while the RTX 5090 D is a flagship GPU with a 92nd percentile rank. The delta between the two components' performance tiers explains why this combo doesn't rank higher — the CPU is holding back the GPU in certain scenarios.

Looking at the synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 5600 scores 18309 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2584 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 20468. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (0.1% higher score) and the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G (0.2% higher), which are both newer architectures. This suggests the 5600 is competitive but not exceptional in CPU-bound scenarios. In Outriders, the game's engine appears to favor GPU throughput, so the 5600's limitations are masked at higher resolutions but become apparent at 1080p with lower settings.

The data shows that this combo's rank is driven primarily by the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates across the board. At 4K Ultra, the 68 FPS result is likely near the GPU's ceiling for this title, and a faster CPU would not meaningfully improve that number. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the 201 FPS result may be CPU-limited, as the 5600's single-thread performance of 882 in 3DMark single-thread test and 2584 in Cinebench R23 single-core could cap the frame rate below what the GPU could theoretically deliver.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings produce 201 FPS average, Medium delivers 179 FPS with a minimum of 152 and maximum of 205, High drops to 161 FPS, and Ultra settles at 142 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS, which is substantial but not as large as at higher resolutions. The Medium preset's 152 FPS minimum indicates that even during intense combat sequences, the frame rate stays well above 144 Hz, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate displays.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results scale down but remain playable across all presets. Low produces 172 FPS, Medium delivers 153 FPS with a 130 FPS minimum and 176 FPS maximum, High reaches 138 FPS, and Ultra drops to 122 FPS. The 50 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is slightly tighter than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more of a factor. The Medium preset's 130 FPS minimum is still above 120 Hz, which is solid for most gaming monitors.

At 3840x2160, the results show the most variation. Low produces 139 FPS, Medium delivers 123 FPS with a 105 FPS minimum and 142 FPS maximum, High drops to 94 FPS, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS. The 71 FPS spread between Low and Ultra is the largest of any resolution, and the Ultra preset's 68 FPS average is the only result in the entire dataset that dips below 90 FPS. The Medium preset's 105 FPS minimum is the lowest min FPS recorded, but it still provides a playable experience on 4K displays without VRR.

Settings Recommendations

The data points to Medium as the optimal preset for this combo across all resolutions. At 4K, Medium delivers 123 FPS average with a 105 FPS minimum, which is a 31% improvement over High's 94 FPS and a 45% improvement over Ultra's 68 FPS. The visual difference between Medium and High in Outriders is typically modest — mostly shadow resolution and texture filtering quality — but the performance gain is substantial. At 1440p, Medium's 153 FPS with a 130 FPS minimum keeps the experience smooth on high-refresh-rate panels, and at 1080p, Medium's 179 FPS with a 152 FPS minimum is well above any practical refresh rate ceiling.

For users with 4K displays, the choice between Medium and High is a trade-off between fidelity and smoothness. The 94 FPS High result is playable, but the 105 FPS minimum on Medium provides more headroom for frame time spikes during heavy combat. For 1440p users, High at 138 FPS is a viable option if visual quality takes priority, since the minimum frame rate is not listed but the average suggests adequate performance. At 1080p, Ultra at 142 FPS is the best choice for users who want maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing high refresh rates, as the 142 FPS average is still above 140 Hz.

The Low preset is not recommended for this pairing. The performance gains from Low over Medium are 11% at 1080p (201 vs 179 FPS), 11% at 1440p (172 vs 153 FPS), and 11% at 4K (139 vs 123 FPS). These gains are not worth the significant visual downgrade, especially since the RTX 5090 D has the horsepower to handle Medium settings with ease. The only scenario where Low might be justified is if the user is targeting 240 Hz at 1080p, where 201 FPS is close to that target, but the 5600 CPU may not be able to sustain frame rates above 200 FPS consistently.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5600 is a Zen 3 architecture processor with 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 32 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node make it an efficient part, but its performance in Outriders is secondary to the GPU's role.

The synthetic benchmarks for the 5600 show strong multi-threaded performance for its class: 18309 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 9158 in Geekbench multi-core. Its single-thread scores are 2584 in Cinebench R23 and 1936 in Geekbench, which are respectable but not top-tier. In the context of Outriders, which is a GPU-heavy looter shooter, the CPU's job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the 5600 does this adequately at most settings.

However, the data reveals a potential CPU bottleneck at 1080p with lower settings. The jump from 1080p Medium (179 FPS) to 1080p Low (201 FPS) is 22 FPS, but the jump from 1440p Medium (153 FPS) to 1440p Low (172 FPS) is 19 FPS, and from 4K Medium (123 FPS) to 4K Low (139 FPS) is 16 FPS. The diminishing returns as resolution increases suggest that at 1080p Low, the CPU is nearing its limit. The 5600's 74th percentile rank among all CPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 20468, places it in the mid-range tier, and the data shows that this is sufficient for Outriders at 4K but may cap performance at lower resolutions.

The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for Outriders, which likely does not scale beyond 8 threads given its 2021 release date. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4798 versus the max-thread score of 5659 indicates that the CPU gains only 18% from moving from 8 to 12 threads, suggesting the game would not benefit from additional cores. The 5600's 32 MB L3 cache is beneficial for the game's asset streaming, and the 4.40 GHz boost clock helps with single-threaded performance, which is likely the most important factor for this title's frame pacing. Ultimately, the data shows that the Ryzen 5 5600 is a capable partner for the RTX 5090 D in Outriders, but the GPU is the clear driver of the experience, and the combo's 415th rank reflects a CPU that is adequate rather than ideal for this flagship GPU.