Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 pairing in Outriders produces a CPU-heavy result at lower resolutions, but the data clearly shows the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as resolution climbs to 4K. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost up to 5.50 GHz, provide enough headroom to push high frame rates at 1080p, where the RTX 2060’s 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus become the limiting factor. Benchmark results indicate that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 189 FPS, which far exceeds the 74 FPS at 1080p Ultra, illustrating that the GPU’s shading units (1920) and texture rate (201.6 GTexel/s) are the primary bottleneck when graphical load increases. At 4K, the frame rates collapse to 24 FPS on Ultra, confirming that the RTX 2060, with its 6.451 TFLOPS FP32 performance, cannot sustain high-fidelity rendering at that resolution for this looter shooter.

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

The Ryzen 7 9700F is built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process from TSMC, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, combined with a 32 MB shared L3 cache, make it a strong contender for CPU-bound scenarios. In Outriders, the data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 189 FPS, which is nearly triple the 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS. This disparity indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is capable of feeding frames faster than the GPU can render them, but the GPU’s limits emerge quickly.

The CPU’s PassMark multithread score of 36470 and single-thread score of 4691 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms most processors in both threaded and single-core workloads. This is relevant because Outriders, as a looter shooter, relies on consistent frame pacing and physics calculations, which benefit from strong single-thread performance. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, scores 0.2% higher (69875 vs 69996), while the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 0.2% lower (70163 vs 69996), showing that the 9700F sits in a tight cluster of high-end processors where minor clock differences matter little.

However, the CPU’s role in this combo is secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. At 1440p High, the combo delivers 65 FPS, while at 1080p High it reaches 103 FPS, a 58% increase. This scaling pattern suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor until the GPU becomes saturated. The RTX 2060, with a PassMark G3D score of 14111 and a percentile of 58, is the weaker link. Its nearest rival, the GTX 580, scores 15283 (0% delta), and the RX 7600 scores 15171 (0.8% higher), indicating that the RTX 2060 is near the bottom of its performance class. For Outriders, this means the CPU provides ample compute for AI and game logic, but the GPU’s 6 GB memory capacity and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth restrict texture streaming and shader complexity at higher settings.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution for achieving 60 FPS or higher with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1440p Low delivers 119 FPS, 1440p High delivers 65 FPS, and 1080p Medium delivers 137 FPS. Only 4K Medium (45 FPS) and 4K High (34 FPS) fall below 60 FPS, so any 1080p or 1440p setting except 1440p Ultra (47 FPS) maintains playable frame rates.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700F compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69996, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875) and 0.7% higher than the Ryzen 9 7950X (69515). It trails the Intel Core i7-14700KF by 0.2% (70163) and the i7-14700K by 0.9% (69355), placing it in the top 6% of all CPUs.

Q: What is the impact of Ultra settings on frame rate compared to Low?

A: At 1080p, Ultra produces 74 FPS versus 189 FPS on Low, a 61% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 47 FPS from 119 FPS, a 60% reduction. At 4K, Ultra yields 24 FPS versus 62 FPS on Low, a 61% reduction, showing a consistent penalty regardless of resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 the bottleneck in this combo?

A: Yes. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 14111 (58th percentile) is much lower than the CPU’s 94th percentile. At 4K Ultra, the combo only achieves 24 FPS, while at 1080p Low it hits 189 FPS, indicating that the GPU saturates before the CPU can reach its limits.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 2257 out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the bottom 22% of all configurations. This is consistent with the RTX 2060’s mid-range GPU classification and the CPU’s high-end standing.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 117, with an average of 137 and a maximum of 158. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 74, with an average of 87 and a maximum of 99. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 38, with an average of 45 and a maximum of 52.

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

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 189 FPS, but this drops to 119 FPS at 1440p Low (a 37% reduction) and then to 62 FPS at 4K Low (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K is a clear indicator that the RTX 2060’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint. The GPU’s pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are insufficient for 4K workloads, even at Low settings.

For High settings, the progression is 103 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 37%, similar to Low, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 48%, showing that the GPU’s fill rate limits become more pronounced at higher resolutions. At Medium settings, the averages are 137 FPS (1080p), 87 FPS (1440p), and 45 FPS (4K), with the 1080p to 1440p drop being 36% and the 1440p to 4K drop being 48%. This consistent pattern across settings confirms that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU.

The CPU’s role in this scaling is minimal because its single-thread score of 4691 and multithread score of 36470 are more than sufficient for Outriders’ engine at any resolution. The data shows that if the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain similar across resolutions, but instead they halve from 1080p to 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS is particularly telling, as it falls below the 30 FPS threshold for playability, and the RTX 2060’s 6 GB memory is likely overwhelmed by the high-resolution textures and effects, causing the performance collapse.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo ranks 2257 out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, which places it in the 22.5th percentile of all configurations. This low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU, as the CPU is in the 94th percentile. The ranking suggests that most other combos in the database feature stronger GPUs, which are better suited to Outriders’ demanding rendering. The RTX 2060’s nearest GPU rivals — the GTX 580, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and RX 7600 — all have similar average scores (15283, 15270, 15199, and 15171 respectively), but none of these are paired with a CPU as powerful as the 9700F in this test.

The combo’s rank implies that for Outriders, the user would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade. The CPU’s benchmark scores are close to the top of the chart, with a percentile of 94, while the GPU’s percentile of 58 is middling. The data shows that the combo’s performance at 1080p Ultra (74 FPS) is playable, but at 4K Ultra (24 FPS) it is not. This is consistent with a system where the GPU is the limiting factor, and the CPU has excess capacity that is underutilized.

Compared to other combos, the 2257 rank suggests that most tested systems achieve higher average frame rates across the board. However, the combo does offer a unique advantage: at 1080p Low, it achieves 189 FPS, which is in the top tier of frame rates for competitive play. This indicates that the combo can excel in scenarios where the user prioritizes high refresh rates over visual fidelity, but it struggles in 4K scenarios where GPU compute is paramount.

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

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance. Low settings produce an average of 189 FPS, with no min or max recorded. Medium settings average 137 FPS, with a minimum of 117 and a maximum of 158. High settings average 103 FPS, and Ultra settings average 74 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra is a 61% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU’s shading units and texture units are heavily taxed by the higher settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 119 FPS on Low, 87 FPS on Medium (min 74, max 99), 65 FPS on High, and 47 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, with Low falling by 37%, Medium by 36%, High by 37%, and Ultra by 36%. This uniformity suggests that the GPU is scaling linearly with resolution, which is expected for a fill-rate-limited scenario.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 62 FPS on Low, 45 FPS on Medium (min 38, max 52), 34 FPS on High, and 24 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe for Medium (48% reduction) and High (48% reduction) than for Low (48% reduction as well), indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s becomes a critical constraint at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS is below the 30 FPS playability threshold, making it unsuitable for gameplay.

The data also shows that the RTX 2060’s 6 GB memory is a limiting factor at 4K, as the high-resolution textures likely exceed the available VRAM, causing stuttering and reduced frame rates. The measured min FPS for Medium settings at 4K is 38, which is close to the average of 45, indicating that frame pacing is relatively stable but the overall performance is low.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this combo is achieved at 1440p Medium, which delivers an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS. This setting provides a good balance between visual quality and performance, as the minimum FPS stays above 60, ensuring smooth gameplay. The 1440p High setting averages 65 FPS, but the lack of min/max data makes it harder to assess stability, though the average is still playable.

For users with 1080p monitors, the 1080p High setting at 103 FPS is recommended, as it offers high frame rates with better visual fidelity than Medium. The 1080p Ultra setting at 74 FPS is also viable, but the 61% drop from Low to Ultra suggests that the GPU is heavily taxed, and the experience may not be worth the visual improvement. For competitive play, the 1080p Low setting at 189 FPS is the best choice, as it maximizes frame rate for responsiveness.

At 4K, the data shows that no setting provides a consistently playable experience. The 4K Low setting averages 62 FPS, which is borderline, but the 4K Medium average of 45 FPS and 4K High average of 34 FPS are below the 60 FPS target. The 4K Ultra setting at 24 FPS is unplayable. Therefore, users should avoid 4K with this combo unless they are willing to accept Low settings and frame rates below 60 FPS.

In summary, the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p Medium or 1080p High, where the GPU is sufficiently utilized without exceeding its limits. The CPU’s high performance ensures that frame rates remain stable, but the GPU’s mid-range capabilities dictate that Ultra settings and 4K resolutions are not recommended. The data indicates that a GPU upgrade would yield larger gains than a CPU upgrade, as the 9700F already sits in the 94th percentile of CPUs.