Outriders

The data for Outriders with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 reveals a system that behaves very differently depending on the resolution and settings dialed in. The measured FPS rows show a clear story about where the bottleneck lies, shifting from a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p to a heavily GPU-limited one at 4K. This combination ranks 312th out of 1693 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all pairings, a strong result for a looter shooter that demands consistent frame pacing during chaotic firefights.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a classic tale of GPU pressure. At 1080p with Low settings, the system pushes 260.5 FPS, but at 4K Low, that number falls to 106.5 FPS—a reduction of 154 FPS, or roughly 59% of the 1080p performance. This massive decline indicates that at 1080p, the RTX 3080 is not the limiting factor; the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed frames that fast.

Moving to High settings, the scaling pattern shifts slightly. At 1440p High, the average is 113.1 FPS, while 4K High drops to 58.2 FPS. That is a 54.9 FPS loss, showing that the GPU is now the primary constraint as pixel count rises. The most telling data point is at Ultra settings: 4K Ultra yields just 44.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players target. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 62 FPS (from 106.5 down to 44.5), proving that the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated by the highest fidelity settings.

The intermediate step, 1440p, shows a balanced scenario. At Medium settings, the system hits 150.8 FPS, which is only 78.8 FPS lower than 1080p Medium's 229.6 FPS. This suggests that 1440p Medium is a sweet spot where neither component is fully overwhelmed. The data implies that the RTX 3080, with its 8704 shading units and 68 RT cores, has enough raw throughput for 1440p, but 4K pushes it past its comfort zone, especially with Ultra presets that likely enable heavy post-processing effects.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This processor's benchmark scores are impressive, particularly in multi-threaded tests: Cinebench R23 multicore hits 30325, and Geekbench multicore reaches 15538. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 8859 and max-thread score of 8852 indicate that the CPU scales well across all cores, which is critical for Outriders' enemy AI and physics calculations.

At 1080p Low, the 260.5 FPS result is a direct reflection of the CPU's single-thread strength. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1090 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 4281 show that the 7700X can process game logic faster than the GPU can render frames at low resolutions. This is why the FPS at 1080p Low is nearly 2.5 times higher than at 4K Low—the CPU is not the bottleneck, so the GPU's workload dictates the frame rate.

Comparing to rivals, the 7700X sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13500, has an average benchmark score of 34175, which is 0.4% higher than the 7700X's 34313. The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is 0.8% below, and the AMD EPYC 4244P is also 0.8% below. These tiny deltas mean the 7700X is essentially tied with these chips in synthetic tests, but in Outriders, the combination with the RTX 3080 produces a 312th rank out of 1693, suggesting that the CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to avoid stalling the GPU.

The CPU's 105 W TDP and 5 nm process node from TSMC contribute to its efficiency, but the data shows that its role is to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1440p High, the 113.1 FPS is still above 100, indicating the CPU is keeping up, but the GPU is starting to take over as the primary limiter.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience per preset depends on the target resolution. For 4K, the High setting at 58.2 FPS is the only one that comes close to playable, but it is still below 60. Ultra at 4K drops to 44.5 FPS, which would feel sluggish in a fast-paced looter shooter. The data suggests that 4K players should avoid Ultra and stick with High, or consider lowering to Medium at 79.3 FPS for a smoother experience, though that sacrifices visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the recommendation is clearer. High settings at 113.1 FPS provide a great balance of quality and speed, while Medium at 150.8 FPS offers a significant headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. Ultra at 1440p still hits 82.5 FPS, which is playable, but the jump from High to Ultra costs 30.6 FPS (from 113.1 down to 82.5), a 27% reduction that may not justify the visual gains in a game with fast-moving particles and effects.

For 1080p, even Ultra at 127.5 FPS is well above 120, so players can max out settings without worry. Low at 260.5 FPS is overkill unless targeting a 240 Hz display, and Medium at 229.6 FPS is also exceptionally smooth. The data indicates that the RTX 3080 is overprovisioned for 1080p, so the CPU becomes the limiting factor, but the 7700X handles this well, keeping all presets above 120 FPS. The optimal choice is 1080p Ultra for maximum visual quality, as the performance hit is minimal relative to lower presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 7700X and RTX 3080 ranks 312th out of 1693 tested combos in Outriders. This places it in the top 18.4% of all pairings, which is a strong showing for a system with a CPU that launched in late 2022 and a GPU from 2020. The GPU alone sits in the 80th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35787, while the CPU is in the 89th percentile. This suggests that the combo's rank is limited by the GPU, not the CPU.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 3080's average score of 35787 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Pro Duo at 35860 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon 880M at 35646 (0.4% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE at 36101 (0.9% lower). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1% lower. These small deltas mean the RTX 3080 is still competitive with newer hardware, but in Outriders, the specific workload favors higher memory bandwidth and raw compute, which the 10 GB GDDR6X at 760.3 GB/s provides.

The rank of 312 out of 1693 is not just about raw scores; it reflects the game's optimization. Outriders is a looter shooter with Unreal Engine 4 roots, and the data shows that it responds well to high single-thread performance (from the CPU) and strong rasterization (from the GPU). The combo's rank suggests that while it is not at the very top, it outperforms the majority of systems, especially those with weaker CPUs or GPUs that bottleneck at lower resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Outriders?*

A: The highest measured average is 260.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is a CPU-bound scenario where the RTX 3080 is not the limiting factor.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 sufficient for 4K Ultra settings in this game?

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 44.5, which is below the standard 60 FPS target. High settings at 4K produces 58.2 FPS, still slightly under 60.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 7 7700X has an average benchmark score of 34313, which is 0.4% lower than the Intel Core i5-13500's 34175. The 7700X is 0.8% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the AMD EPYC 4244P.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: High settings at 1440p yield 113.1 FPS, which is a solid balance. Medium settings reach 150.8 FPS for higher refresh rates, while Ultra drops to 82.5 FPS, a 27% reduction from High.

Q: Does the 10 GB VRAM on the RTX 3080 cause issues at 4K?

A: The data shows a significant FPS drop from Medium (79.3) to Ultra (44.5) at 4K, but without VRAM usage metrics, it's unclear if the 10 GB capacity is fully saturated. The bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s is likely a factor.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: It ranks 312th out of 1693 combos, placing it in the top 20% of all tested configurations for Outriders.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 260.5 (Low) to 127.5 (Ultra), with Medium at 229.6 and High at 177.8. The spread between Low and Ultra is 133 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution, as even Ultra stays above 120.

At 2560x1440, the numbers are more moderate: Low hits 201.1, Medium 150.8, High 113.1, and Ultra 82.5. The difference between Low and Ultra is 118.6 FPS, showing that the GPU begins to matter more, but the CPU still provides enough headroom for playable frame rates at all presets.

For 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly: Low averages 106.5, Medium 79.3, High 58.2, and Ultra 44.5. The Ultra preset is the only one below 60 FPS, but High is also marginal. The gap from Low to Ultra is 62 FPS, which is the smallest absolute difference across resolutions, confirming that the GPU is fully saturated at 4K regardless of settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, based on the GA102 chip with 28,300 million transistors on an 8 nm Samsung process, is a powerhouse that shows its age at 4K in Outriders. The GPU has 8704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with a boost clock of 1710 MHz. Its memory subsystem is robust: 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus delivers 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for high-resolution textures.

The GPU's benchmark scores are solid, with a Passmark G3D score of 25086 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 167014. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4407 indicates strong DirectX 12 performance, which is relevant for Outriders since it uses DX12. The GPU's 80th percentile ranking places it above most discrete GPUs, but its nearest rivals show it is not a top-tier card anymore. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE scores 0.9% higher, and the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1% lower.

In Outriders, the GPU's role is clear from the FPS scaling. At 1080p, the RTX 3080 is never the bottleneck—even Ultra at 127.5 FPS is far from the GPU's limit. At 1440p, the GPU starts to influence performance, with Ultra dropping to 82.5 FPS, suggesting that the 10 GB VRAM may be close to capacity with high-res textures. At 4K, the GPU is the definitive limiter, as shown by the 44.5 FPS at Ultra. The pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s are high, but 4K Ultra in a game with dense particle effects and dynamic lighting is a demanding workload.

The RTX 3080's FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS is substantial, but the data shows that memory bandwidth (760.3 GB/s) is the more critical factor at higher resolutions. The 320-bit bus is narrower than some newer cards, and the 10 GB capacity is a potential limitation for Ultra presets at 4K. The measured FPS at 4K High (58.2) versus Medium (79.3) suggests that the jump to High presets introduces effects that the GPU cannot handle at a stable framerate, reinforcing that this card is best paired with 1440p or 1080p displays for this title.