Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable, though not flawless, experience in Outriders. This combination ranks in the lower portion of tested configurations, indicating that while the CPU is a strong performer, the GPU is the primary constraint at higher settings. The data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate, with the system capable of high refresh rates at 1080p only when settings are lowered.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Outriders at 4K resolution?*

A: At 3840x2160, the system achieves an average of 34 FPS on High settings and 45 FPS on Medium. While the Medium preset is technically playable, the High preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold typically desired for a smooth experience. Low settings at 4K reach 62 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for a 60+ FPS experience?

A: At 2560x1440, the system hits an average of 65 FPS on High settings and 87 FPS on Medium. For a consistently high frame rate, 1920x1080 is the better choice, where the High preset delivers 103 FPS and Medium reaches 137 FPS.

Q: How demanding is the Ultra preset on this hardware?

A: The Ultra preset is very demanding. At 1080p, it produces an average of 74 FPS, but at 1440p it drops to 47 FPS, and at 4K it falls to just 24 FPS. This setting appears designed for more powerful GPUs.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 in this game?

A: Benchmark results suggest the CPU is not the limiting factor. The 7700 scores 18,760 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and is in the 87th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU’s 58th percentile ranking and only 6 GB of VRAM suggest it is the performance ceiling in this pairing.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in general compute?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score is 15,290, placing it nearly even with the AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% faster) and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta). It is 0.6% ahead of the RTX 3050 OEM and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600.

Q: What is the minimum FPS like on Medium settings?

A: The measured data includes minimum FPS for Medium settings only. At 1080p, the minimum is 117 FPS; at 1440p, it is 74 FPS; and at 4K, it is 38 FPS. These minimums indicate good frame pacing without severe stutters.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a 12 nm process node. It features 1,920 shading units and 48 ROPs, with a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. Memory consists of 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The GPU's FP32 performance is 6.451 TFLOPS, and it includes 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS, though the latter is not a factor in these measured results.

In Outriders, the GPU's role is central to the frame rate, especially at higher resolutions. The data reveals a steep performance cliff when moving from Medium to High settings. At 1440p, the average FPS drops from 87 on Medium to 65 on High, a 25% reduction. The jump to Ultra is even more punishing, halving the frame rate to 47 FPS. This pattern is consistent at 1080p, where the difference between Medium (137 FPS) and High (103 FPS) is 34 FPS, and the drop to Ultra (74 FPS) is another 29 FPS.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is likely a contributing factor to these steep declines. While the data does not show VRAM usage, the dramatic performance loss at higher presets suggests that the memory buffer and shader complexity are exceeding what the TU106 chip can comfortably handle. The GPU's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15,290, places it in the mid-range tier. This is reflected in the gaming results, where it can manage 60+ FPS at 1440p only on Medium settings.

The GPU's memory clock is listed as 1750 MHz, translating to 14 Gbps effective, which is typical for the RTX 20-series. The texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results (34 FPS on High) show the hardware is stretched beyond its intended design point. The nearest rival data shows the RTX 2060 is essentially tied with integrated graphics like the AMD Radeon 680M in synthetic tests, but its dedicated memory and drivers give it a distinct advantage in a full game like Outriders.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a desktop processor from the 7000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture (codenamed Raphael) and built on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The TDP is 65 W, and it supports DDR5 memory on the AMD Socket AM5 platform. Cache consists of 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU's synthetic performance is strong. It scores 18,760 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1,930 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 15,371 multi-core and 2,525 single-core. Its average benchmark score is 40,081, placing it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, it is 0.1% faster than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, 0.2% slower than the Intel Core 5 221E, 0.4% slower than the AMD Ryzen 9 270, and 0.6% slower than the Intel Core i9-13905H. This places the 7700 in a very competitive position among high-end desktop and mobile processors.

In Outriders, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The game's engine is likely well-threaded, given the 16 available threads, but the frame rate data shows a strong correlation with GPU settings rather than CPU workload. At 1080p Low, the system hits 189 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate to stress many CPUs, but the 7700's single-thread performance (1,930 in Cinebench R23) and multi-core capabilities are more than sufficient for this task.

The 32 MB of L3 cache is beneficial for gaming, as it reduces latency when accessing frequently used data. The CPU's 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth with DDR5 support also ensures that the GPU has enough data to work with, although the RTX 2060's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is the more critical figure for rendering. The CPU's 5.30 GHz boost clock is particularly useful for maintaining high minimum frame rates, as it can quickly ramp up to handle spikes in draw calls or physics calculations.

Given the CPU's 87th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 58th percentile, the processor is clearly the stronger component. This means that if a user were to upgrade the GPU in the future, the Ryzen 7 7700 would not hold back the new graphics card. The data shows no instance where the CPU bottleneck prevents the GPU from reaching its full potential, as even the highest frame rates (189 FPS at 1080p Low) remain stable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for Outriders with the Ryzen 7 7700 and RTX 2060 are as follows:

3840x2160 (4K):

• Ultra: 24 FPS average
• High: 34 FPS average
• Medium: 45 FPS average (min 38, max 52)
• Low: 62 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Ultra: 47 FPS average
• High: 65 FPS average
• Medium: 87 FPS average (min 74, max 99)
• Low: 119 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Ultra: 74 FPS average
• High: 103 FPS average
• Medium: 137 FPS average (min 117, max 158)
• Low: 189 FPS average

The data shows a consistent scaling pattern across all resolutions. Moving from Low to Medium yields a significant increase in visual quality with a moderate FPS cost. For example, at 1440p, the drop from Low (119 FPS) to Medium (87 FPS) is 32 FPS, but the visual improvement is substantial. The jump from Medium to High is less severe in percentage terms but still noticeable, costing 22 FPS at 1440p.

The High preset appears to be the sweet spot for image quality per frame at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, High delivers 103 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high refresh rate monitors. At 1440p, High produces 65 FPS, which is acceptable for most gamers, though it may dip in heavy combat scenarios.

The Ultra preset is problematic. At 4K, it produces a slideshow-like 24 FPS. Even at 1080p, it costs 29 FPS compared to High. This suggests that Ultra includes effects that are disproportionately expensive on the RTX 2060, likely involving ray tracing or advanced post-processing that the Turing architecture handles poorly.

The minimum FPS data for Medium settings shows good frame pacing. At 1080p, the minimum is 117 FPS, which is only 20 FPS below the average. At 1440p, the minimum is 74 FPS, and at 4K, it is 38 FPS. These minimums indicate that the system does not experience severe stutters or hitches, providing a stable experience even when the frame rate is not high.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2,881 out of 3,710 tested combos in Outriders. This places it in the 22nd percentile of all configurations, meaning that roughly 78% of tested systems perform better. This ranking is primarily dragged down by the GPU, as the CPU is in the top 13% of all processors.

This rank is expected given the hardware. The RTX 2060 is an end-of-life product from the GeForce 20-series, and its average benchmark score of 15,290 is modest by today's standards. The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the GTX 580 and Radeon 680M, both of which are either ancient or integrated graphics. The fact that the RTX 2060 is only 0.8% faster than the RX 7600 in synthetic tests, despite the RX 7600 being a newer card, highlights the RTX 2060's age.

The CPU's high ranking does not compensate for the GPU's limitations in this game. While the Ryzen 7 7700 can push high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, Outriders is clearly GPU-bound at the settings tested. The rank of 2,881 suggests that users with this combo should not expect top-tier performance in this title, but the measured FPS shows it is still capable of a good experience at lower settings.

For context, the combo rank is based on actual measured data, not synthetic predictions. This means that the 34 FPS at 4K High and 65 FPS at 1440p High are real results that users can expect. The ranking is a useful indicator of where this system sits relative to others, but the specific FPS numbers in the previous section are more actionable for deciding how to configure the game.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combination depend on the target resolution and refresh rate.

For 1080p displays, the High preset is the best choice. It achieves an average of 103 FPS, which is smooth on any standard 60 Hz monitor and adequate for 100 Hz panels. The Medium preset offers 137 FPS, which is beneficial for 144 Hz displays, but it sacrifices some visual quality. The Ultra preset at 74 FPS is not worth the 29 FPS loss compared to High, as the visual difference is typically minor in Outriders. Low settings at 189 FPS are only necessary for competitive play at very high refresh rates.

For 1440p displays, the Medium preset is the recommended option. It provides an average of 87 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target and offers a good balance between visual fidelity and performance. The High preset at 65 FPS is also playable, but the 25% frame rate drop may be noticeable in fast-paced action. The Ultra preset at 47 FPS is not recommended, as it falls below the threshold for smooth gameplay. Low settings at 119 FPS are excellent for high refresh rate 1440p monitors, but the graphical downgrade is significant.

For 4K displays, the Low preset is the only setting that achieves a playable frame rate, hitting 62 FPS. The Medium preset at 45 FPS is borderline, and the High (34 FPS) and Ultra (24 FPS) presets are not playable for a Looter Shooter where quick reactions are needed. Users with 4K displays should either play at Low settings or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

In summary, the best experience per the measured rows is at 1080p with High settings, providing 103 FPS with strong visual quality. For 1440p, Medium settings at 87 FPS offer the best trade-off. Users should avoid the Ultra preset at all resolutions, as the performance cost is not justified by the visual gains. The data indicates that this system is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being acceptable only on lower presets.