Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces an exceptionally high-performance configuration for Outriders, placing 45th out of 3,710 tested combos. The benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy among the four graphics presets, with the optimal choice depending entirely on the user's display resolution and refresh rate.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three tested resolutions, though the best choice varies by target display. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 115 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that maintains a frame rate comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold while keeping visual quality reasonable. The High preset at 4K drops to 86 FPS, still playable but with a 25% reduction in average frame rate compared to Medium. The Ultra preset at 4K falls to 62 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes, and the Low preset at 4K reaches 158 FPS but sacrifices the visual fidelity that the RTX 4090 can easily handle.

For 2560x1440 displays, the High preset becomes the standout recommendation, delivering 165 FPS average. The Medium preset at 1440p reaches 219 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the jump from Medium to High only costs 54 FPS while providing substantially better image quality. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 119 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 28% drop from High. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 229 FPS is the best all-around choice for competitive play and visual quality, though users with 240Hz or higher refresh panels should consider the Medium preset at 255 FPS. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 287 FPS, which maximizes frame rates but is unnecessary given the hardware's capabilities.

The optimal experience across all resolutions is the Medium preset, which provides the only 4K configuration with a minimum frame rate above 90 FPS and scales exceptionally well at lower resolutions. The data shows that Medium at 1440p produces 219 FPS, which is 32% higher than High at the same resolution, while the visual difference between Medium and High in a fast-paced looter shooter is often imperceptible during combat.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process and features 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation processors. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz for 21 Gbps effective speed. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Outriders' detailed environments and particle effects at high resolutions.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities are substantial, with FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS and FP16 performance at the same 82.58 TFLOPS figure. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s explain why the RTX 4090 maintains high frame rates even at 4K resolution. The 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores are present but Outriders does not heavily utilize ray tracing, so these resources primarily contribute to overall compute throughput. The GPU's 450 W TDP and triple-slot cooling solution allow for sustained boost clocks during extended gaming sessions.

The benchmark results show that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance at 4K resolution, where the frame rate scales predictably with settings changes. At 3840x2160, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 96 FPS (158 versus 62), which is a massive 155% variation that demonstrates the GPU is fully utilized at this resolution. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Outriders at any settings combination, as the game does not approach memory capacity limits even at 4K Ultra. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s ensures that texture streaming and geometry processing do not become bottlenecks at high resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture with a 4 nm process from TSMC. The CPU runs at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosts up to 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP that is remarkably efficient for its performance class. The processor includes 32 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 80 KB L1 and 1 MB L2 cache per core, and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration providing 89.6 GB/s bandwidth.

In Outriders, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the limiting factor. At 1920x1080, the frame rate differences between settings are compressed: Low produces 287 FPS, Medium produces 255 FPS, High produces 229 FPS, and Ultra produces 188 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 99 FPS, which is smaller than the 96 FPS spread at 4K but occurs at much higher absolute frame rates, suggesting the CPU is beginning to constrain performance at 1080p. The CPU's single-thread performance is excellent, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2211 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 1280.

The 8-core, 16-thread configuration provides adequate parallelism for Outriders' game logic and physics, though the game does not heavily multithread. The CPU's multicore performance is strong, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20485 and a Passmark multithread score of 37161, but these figures are less relevant for gaming than the single-thread results. The Ryzen 7 9700X sits at the 86th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37943, placing it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14901E and 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 45 out of 3,710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 1.2% of all configurations. This ranking is expected given that both components are near the top of their respective performance hierarchies. The CPU's 86th percentile ranking and the GPU's 88th percentile ranking suggest that neither component is significantly bottlenecking the other, though the GPU's higher percentile indicates it is the stronger contributor to overall gaming performance.

The combo's ranking is particularly impressive considering that Outriders is a looter shooter that benefits from high frame rates for smooth gameplay. The 45th position out of 3,710 combos means there are only 44 configurations that perform better, likely involving higher-end CPUs or more specialized gaming processors. The delta between this combo and the top performers is likely small, given that the RTX 4090 is the fastest consumer GPU in the database with an average benchmark score of 60347. The combo's placement suggests that Outriders is slightly more GPU-bound than CPU-bound, as the RTX 4090's performance ceiling is the primary constraint at 4K resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming in Outriders?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 provides the best 4K experience with 115 FPS average and a 97 FPS minimum. The High preset drops to 86 FPS, and Ultra falls to 62 FPS, making Medium the only 4K setting that maintains a minimum frame rate well above 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to Low?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra delivers 188 FPS versus 287 FPS on Low, a 99 FPS difference. At 2560x1440, the gap is 127 FPS (119 versus 246), and at 3840x2160, the gap is 96 FPS (62 versus 158). The Ultra preset costs roughly one-third of the Low preset's frame rate across all resolutions.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes more relevant at 1920x1080, where the frame rate spread between settings is compressed compared to higher resolutions. The RTX 4090 is powerful enough that the Ryzen 7 9700X's single-thread performance becomes a factor at high frame rates.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM necessary for Outriders?

A: The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Outriders at any settings combination. The game does not approach memory capacity limits even at 4K Ultra, so the VRAM headroom is not a factor in this game's performance.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 45th out of 3,710 tested combos, placing it in the top 1.2% of all configurations. The RTX 4090's 88th percentile ranking and the Ryzen 7 9700X's 86th percentile ranking indicate a well-matched pair.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium produces 219 FPS average with a 186 FPS minimum, while High produces 165 FPS average. The 54 FPS difference represents a 33% improvement for Medium, making it the recommended choice for high-refresh-rate displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4090 with Ryzen 7 9700X produces its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 287 FPS, which is the maximum measured in this dataset. Medium averages 255 FPS with a minimum of 217 FPS and a maximum of 293 FPS. High averages 229 FPS, and Ultra averages 188 FPS. The 1080p results show that even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains a frame rate above 180 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

At 2560x1440, performance remains exceptionally high. Low averages 246 FPS, Medium averages 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 FPS and a maximum of 252 FPS, High averages 165 FPS, and Ultra averages 119 FPS. The 1440p results demonstrate that the Medium preset provides a minimum frame rate above 180 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz displays, while High still delivers a smooth 165 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases substantially. Low averages 158 FPS, Medium averages 115 FPS with a minimum of 97 FPS and a maximum of 132 FPS, High averages 86 FPS, and Ultra averages 62 FPS. The 4K results show that only Medium maintains a minimum frame rate above 90 FPS, while Ultra sits at the edge of playability with 62 FPS average. The 4K Medium preset is the only configuration that provides both high visual quality and smooth gameplay, as the 97 FPS minimum ensures consistent performance during intense combat sequences.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system's components respond to increasing pixel counts. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 287 FPS at 1080p to 246 FPS at 1440p (a 14% reduction) and then to 158 FPS at 4K (a 36% reduction from 1440p). The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low is a 45% reduction in frame rate.

At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 255 FPS at 1080p to 219 FPS at 1440p (a 14% reduction) and then to 115 FPS at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at Medium is a 55% reduction. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 229 FPS at 1080p to 165 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 86 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at High is a 62% reduction.

At Ultra settings, the frame rate drops from 188 FPS at 1080p to 119 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 62 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). The total scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 67% reduction. The scaling pattern indicates that the system becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution increases, with the 1080p to 1440p transition showing smaller frame rate drops than the 1440p to 4K transition. This is particularly evident at Ultra settings, where the 1080p to 1440p drop is 37% compared to a 48% drop from 1440p to 4K. The data suggests that the RTX 4090 is the primary limiting factor at 4K, while the Ryzen 7 9700X provides sufficient headroom at lower resolutions to keep frame rates high.