Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 produces a dataset for Outriders that is defined by massive frame-rate headroom at lower resolutions, a steep drop-off at 4K, and a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as settings change. The combo ranks in the top 15.8% of all tested configurations, but the measured FPS reveals that the RTX 3080 is the primary limiting factor at 4K Ultra, while the CPU’s strength becomes evident only when the GPU is less burdened.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 177 at 1920x1080 to 112 at 2560x1440, a 36.7% reduction, and then falls further to 58 at 3840x2160, a 67.2% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the rendering load is scaling almost entirely with pixel count, placing the onus on the graphics card.

The scaling pattern becomes more telling when examining the Low settings. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 292 FPS, which drops to 204 at 1440p and 107 at 4K. The 4K Low result is 63.4% lower than the 1080p Low figure, which is a larger percentage drop than the High setting’s 67.2% decline. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p, but at 4K the GPU’s raw shading and memory bandwidth become the hard limit, preventing the frame rate from scaling down linearly with the reduced workload.

The Medium settings data provides the only min/max FPS values, which show that the 1440p Medium average of 149 FPS has a minimum of 126 and a maximum of 171, a variance of 45 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average of 236 FPS has a minimum of 200 and a maximum of 271, a variance of 71 FPS. The wider variance at 1080p suggests frame pacing becomes less consistent when the CPU is feeding a very high frame rate, while the tighter variance at 1440p indicates a more stable GPU-limited workload. The 4K Medium average of 78 FPS sits between the High and Low results, confirming that the GPU’s compute units are the dominant constraint at this resolution, regardless of the graphics preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 9850X3D and RTX 3080 achieves a rank of 461 out of 2,913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 84.2nd percentile of all configurations. This is a strong result, but the rank is not a reflection of the CPU’s exceptional synthetic scores, which are discussed later. Instead, it reflects the balanced pairing of a high-end 2020 GPU with a top-tier 2026 CPU.

Looking at the GPU’s individual performance, the RTX 3080 sits at the 68th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23,172. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA P106-100 (23,249, a 0.3% higher score), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23,250, 0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23,273, 0.4% higher). The RTX 3080’s score is essentially tied with these parts, which are all dramatically older or lower-tier products, indicating that the 3080’s raw compute has been surpassed by newer mid-range offerings. The 4K Ultra result of 42 FPS confirms this, as it is below the 60 FPS target that many modern GPUs achieve in this title.

The CPU’s synthetic benchmarks are far more impressive. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D scores 22,807 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,228 in single-core, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 41,318. Its average benchmark score of 58,386 places it at the 92nd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58,323, 0.1% lower), the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58,504, 0.2% higher), and the Intel Core i9-14900 (58,115, 0.5% lower). This places the 9850X3D in elite company, yet the Outriders combo rank of 461 suggests that the game does not fully leverage the CPU’s multi-threaded capability, as the 4K Ultra frame rate is not far off from what an older, slower CPU might produce with the same GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, produced on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It features 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. The card’s memory configuration is a 10 GB GDDR6X pool on a 320-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. The base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz, and the memory runs at 1188 MHz, effectively 19 Gbps.

In Outriders, the GPU’s role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra average of 42 FPS is the lowest result in the entire dataset, and the 4K High average of 58 FPS is only slightly better. The RTX 3080’s 10 GB VRAM is a potential concern at 4K, especially with Ultra textures, but the data shows that the frame rate drops from 78 at Medium to 42 at Ultra, a 46.2% reduction. This suggests that the additional shading and rasterization workload, rather than a memory capacity limit, is the primary cause, as the Medium setting uses less demanding effects but still produces a playable 78 FPS.

The GPU’s compute performance, as measured by Passmark G3D at 25,086, is below its closest rivals in the database, which all score above 23,200. This confirms that the 3080 is not a top-tier performer in 2026, but its 68th percentile ranking indicates it remains capable. The 4K Low result of 107 FPS demonstrates that when the graphics workload is minimized, the GPU can still produce high frame rates, but the 1080p Low result of 292 FPS is not limited by the GPU at all, as the CPU is able to feed it faster than it can render.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers extreme frame rates across all settings. Low produces 292 FPS, Medium 236 FPS (min 200, max 271), High 177 FPS, and Ultra 128 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 164 FPS, or 56.2% lower. This indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low, as the GPU is not being fully utilized, but the Ultra setting brings the GPU back into play, reducing the frame rate to a level where the CPU has more headroom.

At 2560x1440, the results are 204 FPS on Low, 149 FPS on Medium (min 126, max 171), 112 FPS on High, and 81 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 123 FPS lower, a 60.3% reduction. This resolution is where the balance begins to shift, with the GPU becoming the bottleneck at Ultra, but the CPU still providing enough throughput for High and below to remain above 100 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are 107 FPS on Low, 78 FPS on Medium (min 66, max 89), 58 FPS on High, and 42 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is the only one in the dataset that falls below 60 FPS, making it the least playable configuration. The drop from 4K Medium to 4K Ultra is 36 FPS, or 46.2%, which is the largest percentage drop for any single setting change across all resolutions. This suggests that the Ultra preset adds a disproportionate load that the RTX 3080 cannot handle at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, and manufactured on TSMC’s 4 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 96 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth. Its synthetic benchmarks are exceptional, with a Passmark single-thread score of 4,704 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,228.

In Outriders, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the frame rate of 292 FPS is likely limited by the game’s engine or the CPU’s single-thread performance, rather than the GPU. The 1080p Medium result of 236 FPS is also CPU-bound, as the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates in less demanding scenes. The 4K Low result of 107 FPS, however, is entirely GPU-bound, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the graphics card at that resolution.

The CPU’s 92nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average score of 58,386, puts it ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900 by 0.5%, but the Outriders data does not show a correspondingly large advantage over what a cheaper CPU might achieve with the same GPU. The 1440p High result of 112 FPS is a good example, as it is only slightly higher than the 4K Medium result of 78 FPS, which is a much heavier GPU load. This indicates that the 9850X3D’s high core count and large cache do not translate into a proportional frame rate advantage in this game, which appears to be more dependent on GPU rasterization throughput.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p High produces an average of 112 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a good balance between visual quality and performance. The 4K High result of 58 FPS is just below 60 FPS, making it borderline, while the 4K Ultra result of 42 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 a bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra average of 42 FPS and the 4K High average of 58 FPS indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor. The 4K Low result of 107 FPS shows that reducing the graphics load improves performance, but the GPU cannot maintain 60 FPS at the highest settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9850X3D compare to its rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score of 58,386 is 0.1% higher than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i9-14900, and 0.2% lower than the Intel Xeon w5-2545. It ranks at the 92nd percentile of all CPUs.

*Q: Does the 10 GB VRAM of the RTX 3080 cause issues in Outriders?*

A: The data does not show a specific VRAM limitation. The 4K Medium result of 78 FPS and the 4K Ultra result of 42 FPS suggest that the frame rate drop is due to the increased compute load, not a memory capacity limit, as the Medium setting uses less memory but still achieves a playable frame rate.

Q: What is the frame rate variance at 1080p Medium?

A: The 1080p Medium setting has a minimum FPS of 200, a maximum of 271, and an average of 236. This 71 FPS variance is larger than the 1440p Medium variance of 45 FPS, indicating less consistent frame pacing at the higher frame rates.

Q: How does this combo’s ranking compare to other tested combos?

A: The combo ranks 461st out of 2,913 tested configurations, placing it in the 84.2nd percentile. This is a strong rank, but it is not in the top tier, as the GPU’s 68th percentile ranking holds back the overall performance compared to combos with newer graphics cards.