Outriders

Outriders, a looter shooter built around rapid ability use and dense enemy encounters, presents a demanding workload that clearly separates component responsibilities. The pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F with the AMD Radeon RX 570 produces a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics card, as the benchmark data reveals a consistent pattern where the CPU’s substantial headroom is never fully utilized. This analysis examines the measured performance across three resolutions and four quality presets, interpreting what the numbers indicate about the bottleneck and the optimal way to experience the game on this hardware.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is a modern desktop processor built on the Zen 5 architecture, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz can boost up to 5.50 GHz, and it carries a 65 W TDP. This CPU sits in the 94th percentile of all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 69,996. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (score 69,875, delta 0.2%), the Intel Core i7-14700KF (score 70,163, delta -0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (score 69,515, delta 0.7%), and the Intel Core i7-14700K (score 69,355, delta 0.9%). These margins are all within a single percentage point, placing the 9700F in a very tight competitive band among high-end desktop and mobile chips.

For Outriders, the CPU’s role is to manage the game’s simulation, AI, and physics, which this processor handles with evident ease. The measured frame rates, however, tell a story of a component that is never the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combination reaches 99 FPS average, and at 1080p Medium it achieves 72 FPS. These figures are far below what the 9700F’s PassMark multithread score of 36,470 would suggest as a ceiling for a looter shooter. The single-thread performance, measured at 4,691 on PassMark, is similarly strong, yet the game’s frame rate does not scale with the CPU’s capabilities. Instead, the data implies that Outriders on this system is entirely GPU-bound, with the Ryzen 7 9700F providing more than enough computational headroom to feed the Radeon RX 570 at every setting and resolution tested.

The 9700F’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB per-core L2 cache contribute to its strong performance in synthetic benchmarks, but these advantages do not translate into higher frame rates here because the GPU’s output is the hard ceiling. The processor’s 5.50 GHz boost clock is particularly notable for a 65 W part, yet even this high-frequency capability is underutilized in Outriders, as the graphics card cannot produce frames quickly enough to demand more CPU work. The data across all 12 measured scenarios shows a maximum average FPS of 99, which is a modest figure for a CPU of this caliber. This suggests that any upgrade to the graphics card would yield substantial improvements, while the CPU would remain a stable, non-restrictive foundation.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is an older graphics card based on the GCN 4.0 architecture, using the Polaris 20 chip on a 14 nm process. It features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s base clock is 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (or 7 Gbps effective). With 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, it delivers 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The card’s pixel rate is 39.81 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 159.2 GTexel/s. Despite its age, it holds a 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28,766.

In Outriders, the RX 570’s 4 GB VRAM is a critical constraint. The benchmark results show a dramatic drop in performance when moving from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K, which is typical of a card with limited memory bandwidth and capacity. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 99, but this falls to 63 at 1440p Low and 33 at 4K Low. The pattern is consistent across all settings: each resolution increase imposes a severe penalty, indicating that the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The card’s nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (score 28,874, delta -0.4%), the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (score 28,580, delta 0.7%), the AMD Radeon RX 470 (score 28,996, delta -0.8%), and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (score 28,421, delta 1.2%). These comparisons show that the RX 570 performs in line with its direct predecessor and some mobile parts, but its age shows in modern titles.

The 4 GB VRAM is particularly problematic for Outriders at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 13, which is unplayable, while 4K High yields only 18 FPS. Even at 1440p Ultra, the card manages just 25 FPS, suggesting that the memory capacity is insufficient for the game’s texture and asset demands at these resolutions. The RX 570’s 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is also modest by modern standards, and the data indicates that the card is overwhelmed by Outriders’ visual complexity. The GPU’s boost clock of 1244 MHz is not the limiting factor; rather, it is the combination of limited VRAM and raw compute throughput that prevents higher frame rates. For this pairing, the GPU is unequivocally the performance ceiling, and any settings adjustments must work within its constraints.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS across all resolutions and presets, the optimal balance between visual quality and playability is found at 1080p with the Medium preset. This configuration delivers an average of 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. The minimum of 61 FPS is crucial, as it ensures that the frame rate stays comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, even in demanding combat scenes. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 99 FPS average, which is smoother but sacrifices significant visual fidelity. High at 1080p drops to 54 FPS average, which might be acceptable but risks dips below 60 FPS in heavy action. Ultra at 1080p falls to 39 FPS, which is too low for a responsive looter shooter experience.

At 1440p, the Medium preset yields an average of 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. This is playable but noticeably less smooth than 1080p Medium, and the minimum FPS of 39 could cause perceptible stutter. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 63 FPS average, which is viable, but the Medium preset provides a better visual experience at the cost of some smoothness. For users with a 1440p monitor, Low is the recommended choice because it stays above 60 FPS, whereas Medium dips too low. At 4K, no preset is playable, with the highest average being 33 FPS at Low, which is far below acceptable levels.

The data strongly suggests that 1080p Medium is the sweet spot for this hardware combination. It offers a significant improvement over Low in visual terms, while maintaining a frame rate that is consistently above 60 FPS. The 61 FPS minimum recorded for 1080p Medium indicates that the system can handle the game’s busiest moments without dropping below playable thresholds. High at 1080p is a close alternative if visual quality is prioritized over absolute smoothness, but the 54 FPS average and lack of recorded minimum data suggest it may be less stable. Ultra should be avoided, as the 39 FPS average makes the game feel sluggish. For those who must play at 1440p, Low is the only preset that keeps the average above 60 FPS, but it represents a substantial downgrade from the 1080p Medium experience.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 2,784 out of 2,913 tested combos in Outriders. This places it in the bottom percentile of all configurations, which is a direct reflection of the GPU’s limitations. The CPU’s high percentile ranking (94th) is irrelevant to this game’s performance because the GPU holds the system back so severely. The combo rank of 2,784 out of 2,913 means that only 129 tested combinations perform worse, indicating that this pairing is near the bottom of the performance stack for Outriders.

This ranking is not surprising given the RX 570’s age and 4 GB VRAM, but it underscores the imbalance of this pairing. A system with a Ryzen 7 9700F would typically be paired with a much more powerful GPU to take advantage of the CPU’s capabilities. The data shows that the CPU’s strength is wasted in this configuration, as the GPU cannot produce frame rates that would stress the processor. The combo rank is a holistic measure that combines both components, and the low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU. This suggests that users with this pairing would see dramatic improvements by upgrading the graphics card, while keeping the CPU unchanged.

The fact that this combo ranks 2,784 out of 2,913 also implies that many other pairings, even those with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs, will outperform it in Outriders. The game is clearly GPU-bound for this system, and the CPU’s 8-core, 16-thread design and high clock speeds offer no advantage when the graphics card is the bottleneck. The benchmark data confirms that no settings or resolution changes can overcome this fundamental imbalance; the only meaningful improvement would come from replacing the GPU. This ranking serves as a cautionary note about pairing a high-end CPU with a low-end GPU for graphically intensive titles.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions provides clear evidence of the limiting component. At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 72 FPS at 1080p to 46 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 26 FPS, and then to 24 FPS at 4K, a further drop of 22 FPS. This represents a 33% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 67% decrease from 1080p to 4K. Such a steep scaling curve is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where increasing pixel count directly taxes the graphics card’s fill rate and memory bandwidth. The CPU’s performance is unaffected by resolution, so if the CPU were the bottleneck, frame rates would remain similar across resolutions.

The Low preset shows the same pattern: 99 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 33 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are nearly identical to Medium, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting factor. High settings display a similar trend, with 54 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings are the most demanding, dropping from 39 FPS at 1080p to 25 FPS at 1440p and 13 FPS at 4K. The consistency of these drops across all presets is a strong indicator that the RX 570’s compute and memory resources are exhausted at higher resolutions, regardless of quality level.

This scaling behavior also highlights the 4 GB VRAM limitation. At 1080p, the game fits within the GPU’s memory, allowing for reasonable performance. At 1440p and especially 4K, the higher resolution textures and buffers likely exceed the 4 GB capacity, causing the card to thrash or fall back to slower memory handling. The result is the dramatic FPS collapse seen in the data. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would not drop so steeply with resolution; it would remain relatively flat. The data therefore confirms that the Radeon RX 570 is the sole limiting component, and that the Ryzen 7 9700F has ample headroom for any resolution or setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete measured FPS data for this pairing is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 39 FPS, with no minimum or maximum recorded. The High preset averages 54 FPS. Medium achieves an average of 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. Low produces the highest average of 99 FPS, with no range data. This resolution offers the only playable experience, with Medium being the best balance and Low being the smoothest.

Moving to 2560x1440, Ultra drops to an average of 25 FPS. High averages 34 FPS. Medium reaches 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. Low is the strongest at this resolution, averaging 63 FPS. None of these presets provide the consistency of 1080p, but Low offers acceptable performance for users willing to sacrifice visuals.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes largely unplayable. Ultra averages 13 FPS. High averages 18 FPS. Medium averages 24 FPS, with a minimum of 20 FPS and a maximum of 27 FPS. Low is the best at this resolution, averaging 33 FPS. Even the lowest preset fails to reach 35 FPS, making 4K impractical for this hardware.

The data also shows that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the 61 FPS minimum ensures stability, while at 1440p Medium, the 39 FPS minimum indicates potential stutter. At 4K Medium, the 20 FPS minimum is far below playable thresholds. These ranges suggest that Medium is the most thoroughly tested preset, but its performance outside 1080p is insufficient for a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: Is this CPU-GPU combination capable of running Outriders at 1080p?

A: Yes, at 1080p the combination achieves playable frame rates. The Low preset averages 99 FPS, Medium averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, and High averages 54 FPS. Ultra averages 39 FPS, which is less desirable. The Medium preset is recommended for a balance of quality and smoothness.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this system in Outriders?

A: The 1080p Medium preset is the best option. It delivers an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, ensuring consistent performance above 60 FPS. Higher presets at this resolution drop below 60 FPS, and lower presets reduce visual quality without significant benefit.

Q: Why is the frame rate so low at 4K resolution?

A: The Radeon RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit bus, which is insufficient for 4K rendering in Outriders. The data shows the highest 4K average is 33 FPS at Low settings, with Ultra dropping to 13 FPS. The GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom.

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

A: This pairing ranks 2,784 out of 2,913 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 5% of all configurations. This low ranking is due to the GPU’s age and limited VRAM, which severely restricts performance in a GPU-bound game like Outriders.

Q: What does the FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p indicate about the bottleneck?

A: The FPS drops by roughly 33% to 36% across all presets when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then by another 48% to 50% from 1440p to 4K. This steep scaling with resolution proves the GPU is the bottleneck, as CPU-bound systems would show minimal FPS changes with resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F holding back the Radeon RX 570 in this game?

A: No, the data indicates the opposite. The CPU is not the limiting factor, as the GPU’s performance caps all frame rates well below what the CPU can support. The Ryzen 7 9700F’s high single-thread score of 4,691 and multithread score of 36,470 suggest it could drive much higher FPS with a stronger GPU.