Outriders

# Outriders Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a top-tier experience in Outriders, with the measured data showing excellent frame rates across all resolutions and settings. The combo ranks 74th out of 3,710 tested combinations, placing it in the upper 2% of all systems tested, though the data reveals some interesting scaling patterns worth examining.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this system shows a clear pattern: the Ultra preset provides the most consistent experience relative to the hardware's capability, particularly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 188 FPS average, which is only slightly below the 218 FPS of High and the 243 FPS of Medium, while providing the full visual feature set. The difference between Medium and Ultra at 1080p is 55 FPS, but the visual quality jump in Outriders justifies the cost for most users.

At 1440p, Ultra produces 119 FPS average, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The step down to High yields 165 FPS, a 46 FPS improvement, but the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects—including enhanced lighting and particle effects—are worth the trade-off on a system of this caliber. The data shows 1440p Ultra as the sweet spot for this hardware, balancing visual fidelity with frame rates that exceed the refresh rates of most monitors.

At 4K, the situation changes notably. Ultra drops to 62 FPS average, which is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. High at 4K produces 86 FPS, a substantial 24 FPS improvement over Ultra, while Medium reaches 115 FPS. For 4K displays, the High preset represents the best experience per the measured rows: it maintains the majority of visual enhancements while nearly eliminating the risk of drops below 60 FPS. The data shows 4K High as the recommended configuration for this resolution, as the Ultra preset's additional 24 FPS cost delivers diminishing returns on a 4K panel.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings substantial resources to Outriders, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units process Outriders' environments efficiently, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 273 FPS average. The chip operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz with a boost of 2520 MHz, and the data shows this configuration handles the game's geometry and texture streaming without bottlenecking at lower resolutions.

The GPU's RT cores and tensor cores, while not directly measured in Outriders' traditional rasterization pipeline, contribute to the system's ability to maintain high frame rates across all presets. The 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores are part of the Ada Lovelace architecture's feature set, but the measured FPS data focuses on standard rendering performance. The 450 W TDP and triple-slot design indicate the power delivery required to sustain these results, though the data does not include power consumption measurements.

At 4K Ultra, the 62 FPS average suggests the GPU is being pushed to its limits, as the 24 GB memory pool and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are taxed by the highest resolution and quality settings. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance becomes the limiting factor at this configuration, as the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are unlikely to bottleneck at 4K resolutions. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed for Outriders' dense particle effects and detailed environments.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a predictable pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Ultra settings, the system produces 188 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p, and 62 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 69 FPS (36.7%), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 57 FPS (47.9%). This accelerating decline indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting component as resolution increases, which is expected for a game like Outriders with heavy pixel shading.

At High settings, the pattern shows 218 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p, and 86 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 24.3% from 1080p to 1440p and 47.9% from 1440p to 4K. The 1440p to 4K drop is identical to the Ultra preset's percentage, suggesting that resolution scaling is consistent regardless of quality settings. Medium settings show 243 FPS at 1080p, 208 FPS at 1440p, and 115 FPS at 4K, with 4K representing 47.3% of the 1080p figure—again matching the other presets' scaling behavior.

Low settings produce 273 FPS at 1080p, 234 FPS at 1440p, and 158 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is 57.9% of the 1080p figure, which is notably higher than the other presets. This indicates that at Low settings, the system begins to approach CPU or memory bandwidth limits at lower resolutions, as the GPU has more headroom to render frames quickly. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and 96 MB of L3 cache become more relevant at these lower settings, where the GPU is not the sole bottleneck.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p Ultra provides 119 FPS average, which balances visual quality with frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, the Ultra preset drops to 62 FPS, while 1440p maintains a 57 FPS margin over 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 62 FPS while High averages 86 FPS, a 24 FPS difference. The High preset provides a 38.7% frame rate improvement over Ultra, making it the preferred choice for 4K displays where the additional visual effects of Ultra are less noticeable.

Q: Is this system capable of 240 Hz gaming in Outriders?

A: At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 243 FPS average with a minimum of 206 FPS, which exceeds 240 Hz. The Low preset reaches 273 FPS average, but the Medium preset's minimum frame rate of 206 FPS falls short of a 240 Hz display's refresh rate.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured data for 2560x1440 Medium shows an average of 208 FPS with a minimum of 177 FPS and maximum of 239 FPS. This 62 FPS range indicates some variance, but the minimum remains well above 144 Hz refresh rates.

Q: How does the system perform at 1080p Ultra compared to 1440p High?

A: 1080p Ultra averages 188 FPS while 1440p High averages 165 FPS. The resolution increase costs 23 FPS (12.2%), but the higher pixel density of 1440p provides a sharper image, making it a worthwhile trade-off for most users.

Q: Does the system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: The 3840x2160 Ultra preset averages 62 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target. The lack of a minimum FPS measurement in the data means there is no confirmation of consistent performance below the average, but the margin is slim.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D provides 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.20 GHz. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a defining feature for gaming performance, as Outriders' gameplay involves frequent asset loading and physics calculations that benefit from large cache capacity. The CPU's 3DMark scores show strong multi-threaded performance: 10,081 in 16-thread tests and 10,067 in max-thread tests, with a single-thread score of 1,212.

The CPU's benchmark results in Cinebench R23 show 23,230 multi-core and 2,080 single-core scores, indicating balanced performance across both single and multi-threaded workloads. This is relevant to Outriders, which uses multiple threads for enemy AI, particle physics, and world streaming. The Geekbench scores of 18,696 multi-core and 2,964 single-core further confirm the CPU's capability to keep up with the RTX 4090 at lower resolutions.

At 1080p Low, the system reaches 273 FPS average, and the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 14.3% (39 FPS drop), which is the smallest percentage drop among all presets. This suggests the CPU is beginning to become a limiting factor at 1080p Low, as the GPU has ample headroom but the 8 cores are handling the game's simulation and draw call processing. The PassMark multi-thread score of 40,009 and single-thread score of 4,430 support this interpretation, as the CPU's per-core performance is sufficient but not unlimited.

The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR5 support provide the data throughput necessary for Outriders' streaming environments. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it in the top tier, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (0.8% lower average score) and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS (0.4% lower), showing the 9800X3D is closely matched with other high-end desktop parts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured data for this system shows the following averages:

1920x1080: Low 273 FPS, Medium 243 FPS (min 206, max 279), High 218 FPS, Ultra 188 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 31.1% reduction in frame rate, with each preset step costing between 25 and 30 FPS.

2560x1440: Low 234 FPS, Medium 208 FPS (min 177, max 239), High 165 FPS, Ultra 119 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 50.9% of the Low preset's frame rate, showing the increased GPU load from higher resolution combined with maximum settings.

3840x2160: Low 158 FPS, Medium 115 FPS (min 97, max 132), High 86 FPS, Ultra 62 FPS. At 4K, the Ultra preset produces 39.2% of the Low preset's frame rate, and the Medium preset's minimum of 97 FPS shows the system can maintain high frame rates even at 4K with reduced settings.

The Medium preset is the only one with min/max data across all resolutions, providing insights into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 206-279 FPS (73 FPS spread); at 1440p Medium, the range is 177-239 FPS (62 FPS spread); and at 4K Medium, the range is 97-132 FPS (35 FPS spread). The narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame times when the GPU is more fully utilized.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 74th out of 3,710 tested combinations in Outriders, placing it in the top 2% of all systems. This ranking reflects the synergy between the CPU's 8 cores with 96 MB L3 cache and the GPU's 24 GB memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. The CPU's 87th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 88th percentile among all GPUs indicate both components are near the top of their respective categories.

The GPU's nearest rivals show interesting comparisons: the Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60,326 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60,140 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58,657 (2.9% lower). The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60,347 is closely matched by these professional-grade GPUs, but the 4090's gaming-specific features provide an advantage in Outriders.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS (0.4% higher average score), AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 (0.7% higher), and AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (0.8% higher). The 9800X3D's average benchmark score of 39,768 is within 1% of these competitors, showing that while the CPU is strong, its advantage in gaming comes largely from the 3D V-Cache architecture rather than raw benchmark scores.

Given the 3,710 tested combinations, a rank of 74 means there are 3,636 systems that score lower and 73 that score higher. The data shows this system is at the upper edge of what is achievable, with only a small fraction of combinations—likely featuring more specialized hardware or overclocking—surpassing it. For Outriders specifically, this translates to the ability to play at 1440p Ultra with frame rates above 119 FPS and 4K High with 86 FPS, both well within the playable range for competitive and casual play.