Outriders

The benchmark data for Outriders with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 reveals a system that is heavily balanced around its graphics card, but with enough CPU headroom to push frame rates to very high levels at lower resolutions. The measured results show a clear narrative of how resolution and settings interact to define the playable envelope for this looter shooter.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about system bottlenecks. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves a staggering 242.4 FPS, but this drops to 157 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 81.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 66% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, a scaling pattern that strongly indicates the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The data becomes even more telling when examining the High preset. At 1080p High, the system produces 131.3 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 86.6 FPS, and then 4K High falls to 41.7 FPS. The progression from 1440p to 4K shows a 52% performance loss, which is far steeper than the raw pixel count difference would suggest. This non-linear decline points to the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus becoming increasingly strained at higher resolutions, as the game's texture and geometry demands exceed what the memory subsystem can efficiently feed.

What is particularly revealing is the gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the spread between Low (242.4 FPS) and Ultra (98.7 FPS) is a massive 143.7 FPS, showing that settings have an enormous impact on the GPU workload. At 4K, this same spread narrows to 48.5 FPS (81.6 to 33.1 FPS), which suggests that at 4K the GPU is so saturated that even reducing settings cannot fully compensate for the resolution overhead. The implication is that players targeting 4K will find the RTX 4060 to be the definitive bottleneck, while at 1080p the CPU has enough headroom to let the GPU stretch its legs.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Outriders, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 9600X and RTX 4060 holds the 839th position out of 1693 total combos. This places it almost exactly in the middle of the pack, which is a surprisingly modest ranking given the individual component scores. The CPU alone sits in the 85th percentile among all processors, and the GPU is in the 66th percentile among all graphics cards, yet their combined performance in this specific game lands them at roughly the 50th percentile mark.

This discrepancy between component percentiles and the in-game combo rank suggests that Outriders is not particularly demanding on either component in a way that would push this combination higher. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 5 230, both with average scores within 0.3% of the 9600X. The GPU finds itself in close competition with the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which trails by only 0.6%, and the Intel Arc B580, which leads by 0.7%. These tight deltas indicate that the system's performance is well within the expected range for its class, neither overperforming nor underperforming relative to similarly priced hardware.

The rank of 839 out of 1693 means that 854 other combinations achieve higher frame rates in Outriders. This is not a reflection of weak components, but rather an indication that the game's engine scales heavily with GPU memory bandwidth and raw pixel throughput, areas where the RTX 4060's 128-bit bus and 8 GB VRAM are limiting factors compared to higher-tier cards with wider memory interfaces.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of playable settings for different resolution targets. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 131.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience for a fast-paced looter shooter. The Ultra preset drops to 98.7 FPS, still highly playable, but the 32.6 FPS penalty for the visual upgrade from High to Ultra may not be worth the marginal graphical improvements in this title.

At 1440p, the High preset at 86.6 FPS represents the sweet spot. It maintains a solid frame rate above the 60 FPS baseline while delivering the visual fidelity most players expect at this resolution. The Medium preset at 114.4 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing frame rate over visual quality, but High offers a better balance. The Ultra preset at 64.2 FPS is technically playable but leaves very little headroom for demanding combat scenes with multiple enemies and particle effects.

For 4K, the data tells a more cautionary tale. The High preset at 41.7 FPS falls below the 60 FPS target, and even the Medium preset at 58.3 FPS barely scratches that threshold. The Low preset at 81.6 FPS is the only 4K option that provides comfortable headroom, but it requires significant visual compromises. Players with 4K displays should consider lowering resolution to 1440p for a better overall experience, as the jump from 4K Medium to 1440p High provides a 28.3 FPS improvement while maintaining similar visual quality.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K in Outriders?

A: The data suggests yes. At 4K Ultra, average FPS drops to 33.1, and the steep performance cliff between High (41.7 FPS) and Ultra (33.1 FPS) indicates the GPU is struggling with memory capacity and bandwidth at this resolution, not just raw compute.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X holding back the RTX 4060 at 1080p?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 242.4 FPS, which is near the upper limit of what most displays can show. The CPU's single-core performance and 6-core/12-thread configuration provide ample headroom, as evidenced by the minimal frame rate drop when moving from Low to Medium at 1080p.

Q: What is the best 1440p preset for this combo?

A: The High preset at 86.6 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. It stays well above the 60 FPS target while providing a 22.2 FPS advantage over Ultra, which drops to 64.2 FPS.

Q: How does the 9600X compare to its nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks?

A: The 9600X scores 28,246 on average, which is 0.3% higher than the Intel Core i5-13490F and AMD Ryzen 5 230, and 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming scenarios.

Q: Can this system hit 60 FPS at 4K with any settings?

A: Yes, but only with the Low preset, which achieves 81.6 FPS. The Medium preset at 58.3 FPS falls just short of 60 FPS, so players targeting 4K must either use Low settings or accept frame rates in the high 50s.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 839 out of 1693 indicate about its overall capability?

A: It places this system in the middle of all tested combinations for Outriders, meaning roughly half of the tested systems perform better. This is consistent with a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU, where the GPU limits overall gaming performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 plays the dominant role in determining Outriders performance, as evidenced by the steep frame rate drops when resolution increases. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1830 MHz with a boost clock of 2460 MHz, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 17 Gbps effective across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is the likely culprit behind the significant performance degradation at 4K, where the game's asset streaming requirements exceed what this bandwidth can deliver efficiently.

The GPU's 3072 shading units and 48 ROPs provide adequate raw compute for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as shown by the strong frame rates at these resolutions. The 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming at lower resolutions, but the 4K results reveal the limitations of this class of GPU. The data shows that from 1080p High (131.3 FPS) to 4K High (41.7 FPS), the GPU loses 68% of its performance, which is a steeper drop than would be expected from a pure pixel-pushing scenario. This suggests that memory bandwidth, not compute throughput, is the primary constraint.

The GPU's 66th percentile ranking among all graphics cards places it in the upper-mid range, and its average benchmark score of 23,181 positions it close to the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 23,321. The RTX 4060's performance in Outriders at 1440p Ultra (64.2 FPS) demonstrates that it can handle demanding settings at this resolution, but the 4K results indicate that this card is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is clearly not the limiting factor in this system for Outriders. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, the CPU operates at a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boosts up to 5.40 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth provide ample data throughput for gaming workloads.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded and multi-threaded capabilities, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25,525 and a single-core score of 3,603. These scores place the 9600X in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 28,246 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to bottleneck, the system achieves 242.4 FPS, suggesting the processor has significant headroom.

The 65 W TDP and 4 nm process node make this an efficient processor, but the gaming performance in Outriders is largely dictated by the GPU. The evidence for this comes from the resolution scaling: when the GPU becomes more stressed at 4K, frame rates drop dramatically despite the CPU's consistent performance. The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions, where it must feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, but the 9600X handles these tasks without issue, allowing the RTX 4060 to reach its maximum potential at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak performance range. Low settings produce 242.4 FPS, Medium drops to 177.3 FPS, High achieves 131.3 FPS, and Ultra rounds out at 98.7 FPS. The scaling between presets shows a consistent degradation of roughly 45 FPS per step from Low to Medium, then 46 FPS from Medium to High, and finally 32.6 FPS from High to Ultra. This pattern indicates diminishing returns on visual quality versus frame rate at higher settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance curve steepens. Low settings yield 157 FPS, Medium achieves 114.4 FPS, High produces 86.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 64.2 FPS. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35% for Low, 35% for Medium, 34% for High, and 35% for Ultra, showing a remarkably consistent resolution penalty across all settings. This consistency suggests that the GPU's scaling is predictable at this resolution, with the 128-bit memory bus providing sufficient bandwidth for 1440p workloads.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapse becomes evident. Low settings manage 81.6 FPS, Medium drops to 58.3 FPS, High falls to 41.7 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 33.1 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K represents a 48% performance loss for Low, 49% for Medium, 52% for High, and 48% for Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 33.1 FPS is particularly telling, as it represents the worst-case scenario for this combo and highlights the limitations of the 8 GB VRAM buffer when handling the highest quality assets at this resolution.