Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a commanding performance profile in Outriders, placing this combination at rank 357 out of 3710 tested configurations. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet retains enough headroom to push very high frame rates even at 4K. Benchmark results show a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, with the RTX 4080's substantial memory bandwidth and the 7800X3D's potent cache architecture working in concert to keep frame pacing consistent across the board.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable yet steep decline as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario in a graphically demanding title. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 232 FPS, which drops to 199 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 143 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 38% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p, and a 28% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the RTX 4080's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint as pixel count grows.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. With High settings, the average FPS moves from 186 at 1080p to 149 at 1440p (a 20% drop) and then to 78 at 4K (a 48% drop from 1440p). This nonlinear decline at 4K suggests that the GPU is approaching its fill-rate and shading limits, as the 78 FPS average at 4K High is still playable but represents a significant step down from the 149 FPS seen at 1440p. The gap between Low and High settings at 4K—143 FPS versus 78 FPS—further underscores that the GPU's compute resources are the bottleneck, not the CPU.

Interestingly, the Ultra preset at 4K yields 56 FPS, which is 22 FPS lower than High at the same resolution. This 28% performance hit for the jump from High to Ultra is larger than the 20% hit seen from Medium to High at 4K (104 FPS to 78 FPS). The data indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU, likely tied to the RTX 4080's ray tracing capabilities, though the specific settings are not enumerated in the measured rows. At 1080p, the Ultra preset still manages 165 FPS, showing that the GPU has enough headroom at lower resolutions to absorb the extra workload, but at 4K it becomes the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory operates across a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for Outriders at 4K, where the data shows average frame rates of 78 FPS on High settings—a figure that would be unattainable with a lesser memory subsystem, as the game's texture streaming and asset loading demand substantial bandwidth.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed with a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz, with memory running at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). These frequencies, combined with 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute throughput of 48.74 TFLOPS is what drives the high frame rates seen at 1080p, where the GPU is not yet bandwidth-limited. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 232 FPS, which is close to the practical ceiling for many displays, indicating the GPU is delivering near-peak performance.

The RTX 4080's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores are relevant for Outriders' visual effects, even if the game does not mandate ray tracing. The measured FPS for Ultra settings at 4K (56 FPS) versus High (78 FPS) suggests that the Ultra preset leverages these specialized cores more heavily, causing a measurable performance regression. The GPU's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs places it in the top tier, and its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores within 0.1% in average benchmark score, confirming that this SKU is positioned at the upper echelon of performance. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Outriders at any resolution, and the data shows no signs of memory capacity throttling, as even the 4K Ultra preset maintains a stable average FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance for this hardware configuration is the High preset at 2560x1440, which delivers an average of 149 FPS. This setting provides a substantial frame rate cushion above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors, while still offering significantly enhanced visuals over Medium, which averages 177 FPS. The 28 FPS difference between High and Medium at 1440p is a modest cost for the visual uplift, and the data shows that High is the sweet spot for competitive play without sacrificing image quality.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 yields 232 FPS, which is ideal for esports-style responsiveness, but the visual compromise is severe in a game like Outriders where environmental detail matters. At 4K, the High preset at 78 FPS is the recommended choice for a smooth experience, as the Ultra preset drops to 56 FPS, which may introduce perceptible stutter on 60 Hz displays without VRR. The Medium preset at 4K offers 104 FPS and is a viable alternative for those who want higher frame rates, but the data shows that High provides the best balance of fidelity and smoothness at this resolution.

The Ultra preset is only advisable at 1080p, where it achieves 165 FPS, making it a viable choice for users with high refresh rate 1080p panels. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 108 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 28% performance loss over High. The measured data clearly indicates that High is the recommended preset for this GPU-CPU pairing across all resolutions, offering the best frame rate per visual investment without pushing the GPU into diminishing returns.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest raw performance. The Low preset averages 232 FPS, with no min or max FPS recorded, indicating a stable output. Medium averages 206 FPS with a minimum of 175 FPS and a maximum of 237 FPS, showing a 62 FPS range that suggests some scene-dependent variability. High averages 186 FPS, and Ultra averages 165 FPS, resulting in a 67 FPS spread between the lowest and highest quality presets at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down but remains robust. Low averages 199 FPS, a 14% reduction from 1080p. Medium averages 177 FPS with a minimum of 150 FPS and a maximum of 203 FPS, maintaining a similar 53 FPS range as at 1080p, indicating consistent frame pacing. High averages 149 FPS, and Ultra drops to 108 FPS, which is a 35% reduction from High at the same resolution. The data shows that 1440p is the resolution where the RTX 4080 starts to feel the load, but it still comfortably exceeds 100 FPS on all presets.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low averages 143 FPS, which is a 28% drop from 1440p. Medium averages 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 119 FPS, showing a 31 FPS range that is tighter than at lower resolutions, suggesting that the GPU is consistently saturated. High averages 78 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS, which is a 39% reduction from High. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 87 FPS, highlighting the massive performance cost of higher quality settings at this resolution.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 on High settings provides 149 FPS, which is the optimal balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, the system exceeds 165 FPS on all presets, while at 4K, only the Low and Medium presets exceed 100 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Outriders?

A: Yes, the RTX 4080 with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory delivers 78 FPS on High settings at 3840x2160, which is playable. However, the Ultra preset drops to 56 FPS, so users should stick to High or Medium for a smoother experience.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 54247 in average benchmark, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54209, a delta of 0.1%. This makes the two cards effectively identical in synthetic performance, though the SUPER is not present in the measured FPS data.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: Based on the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K, the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D with 8 cores and 16 threads, boosting to 5.00 GHz, provides sufficient headroom, as evidenced by the 232 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across the measured settings?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 88 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 on Medium settings. This suggests that even at 4K, the system rarely drops below 60 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience.

Q: How does the Ultra preset impact performance compared to High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra is 21 FPS lower than High (165 vs 186). At 1440p, the gap is 41 FPS (108 vs 149), and at 4K, the gap is 22 FPS (56 vs 78). The percentage penalty grows with resolution, from 11% at 1080p to 28% at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a Zen 4 architecture processor built on a 5 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 4.20 GHz boosts up to 5.00 GHz, and it is equipped with a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a defining characteristic of the X3D series. The CPU's benchmarks show a 3DMark max threads score of 7967 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16817, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, scores 33089 in average benchmark, a delta of 0%, indicating that the 7800X3D is competitively positioned.

In Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations, and the measured FPS data suggests it excels at this task. At 1080p Low, the system hits 232 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that the CPU's single-threaded performance (3DMark single-thread score of 959, Geekbench single-core of 2426) becomes a factor, but the data shows no signs of CPU throttling. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration with 16 MB of L2 cache (1 MB per core) provides ample parallelism for the game's multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by the PassMark multithread score of 34293.

The 7800X3D's 96 MB L3 cache is particularly beneficial for Outriders, which features dense environments and many on-screen entities. This large cache reduces memory latency, allowing the CPU to maintain high frame times even when the GPU is under load. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system still achieves 56 FPS, which is a scenario where the CPU must keep up with the GPU's rendering demands. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 is sufficient for this workload, and the PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes ensures that data transfers to the RTX 4080 are not a bottleneck.

The CPU's TDP of 120 W is modest for a desktop part, and its production status is active, meaning it is a current offering. The 7800X3D's 3DMark 16-thread score of 7980 and 8-thread score of 6539 show a near-linear scaling, indicating that the processor effectively utilizes all its cores when needed. In Outriders, the data suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor, as the FPS drops are consistent with GPU load across all resolution and settings combinations. The pair's overall combo rank of 357 out of 3710 confirms that this is a top-tier configuration, with the CPU providing a stable foundation for the RTX 4080 to deliver its full performance.