Outriders

# Outriders with AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a thoroughly playable Outriders experience across most settings, but the data clearly identifies the 1440p High preset as the sweet spot, balancing a 90 FPS average with visual fidelity. At 1080p, the combination is exceptionally strong, with even the demanding Ultra preset holding a 103 FPS average, while 4K remains a compromise scenario where only Low settings approach high-refresh territory. The measured FPS rows show a system that is GPU-limited at higher resolutions but increasingly CPU-capable at lower ones, with the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen processor providing ample headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for Outriders, measured across three resolutions and four quality presets, points decisively to High settings at 2560x1440 as the best overall experience. This preset delivers a 90 FPS average, which sits comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth action in a looter shooter, while maintaining enough graphical detail to appreciate the game's environments. Dropping to Medium at the same resolution yields 120 FPS, a 33% improvement, but the visual trade-off is unnecessary given that High already clears the playability bar with room to spare.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low settings at 1920x1080 produces a 261 FPS average, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the jump from Medium (190 FPS) to Low (261 FPS) represents a 37% performance gain, suggesting that Low removes substantial rendering work that many players would prefer to keep. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 103 FPS, is the most demanding option tested and still remains fluid, but the 28% drop from High (143 FPS) to Ultra (103 FPS) is a steep price for the extra effects.

At 4K, the choices become more constrained. High settings yield only 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for comfortable play, while Medium achieves 63 FPS with a measured minimum of 53 FPS, indicating occasional dips that could feel stuttery in combat. Low settings at 4K produce 86 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that offers both smoothness and headroom. Given these numbers, the recommendation is to run High at 1440p as the primary configuration, with Low at 1080p reserved for competitive play or high-refresh displays. The Ultra preset is best avoided entirely, as its performance penalty is substantial at every resolution without a correspondingly large visual benefit in the data.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Outriders at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at reduced settings. The data shows 86 FPS at 4K Low and 63 FPS at 4K Medium, with the Medium preset's minimum frame rate dipping to 53 FPS. High settings at 4K fall to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for consistently smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor at 1080p?

A: Medium settings at 1920x1080 deliver a 190 FPS average with a minimum of 162 FPS, which keeps the experience above 144Hz for the vast majority of scenes. Low settings reach 261 FPS, but Medium provides a better balance of visual quality and performance headroom.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The scaling is consistent across presets. High settings drop from 143 FPS to 90 FPS, a 37% reduction; Medium drops from 190 FPS to 120 FPS, a 37% reduction; Low drops from 261 FPS to 165 FPS, a 37% reduction; and Ultra drops from 103 FPS to 65 FPS, a 37% reduction. This uniform scaling indicates a GPU-bound scenario.

Q: Is the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Outriders?

A: The measured results suggest yes, as all presets at all resolutions completed with playable frame rates. The 8 GB GDDR7 memory, paired with a 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 128-bit bus, proved adequate even at 4K Ultra, which produced a 34 FPS average, though the low score suggests the GPU's compute limits, not memory capacity, are the constraint.

Q: How does this system compare to other GPUs in the benchmark database?

A: The RTX 5060 holds the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26331. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 860M, scores 26401, a negligible 0.3% difference, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26011, placing it 1.2% behind.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution or setting?

A: The data indicates the CPU is not a limiting factor in Outriders. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 261 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would expose CPU limitations if they existed. Given the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's benchmark performance, including a 41318 Passmark multithread score and 4704 single-thread score, the processor has substantial headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB206 chip, is the primary determinant of Outriders' performance at higher resolutions. The GPU's 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs are supported by a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, with the memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) across an 8 GB GDDR7 interface. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is a critical specification for a game like Outriders, which streams large texture sets and particle effects during combat.

The measured FPS data strongly indicates GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p, the system achieves 261 FPS on Low settings, which is a demanding workload for any GPU, yet the frame rate drops by exactly 37% when moving to 1440p across all presets, a signature of a GPU that is saturated rather than a CPU that is stalling. The 4K results reinforce this: Ultra settings produce only 34 FPS, while Low settings produce 86 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU's compute throughput, not the CPU or memory subsystem, limits the experience.

The GPU's benchmark profile is modest relative to its contemporaries. With a Passmark G3D score of 20891 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3628, the RTX 5060 sits at the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon 860M (0.3% ahead) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (1.2% behind), which contextualizes its Outriders performance as mid-range. The RTX 5060's 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 299.6 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for 1440p High in Outriders, but the 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS shows that the GPU's 48 ROPs and 128-bit memory bus struggle with the game's highest fidelity settings at resolution extremes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Outriders with this combination is comprehensive, covering three resolutions and four presets. At 1920x1080, the results are consistently strong: Low settings average 261 FPS, Medium averages 190 FPS with a minimum of 162 FPS and maximum of 219 FPS, High averages 143 FPS, and Ultra averages 103 FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 47 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 40 FPS, showing a relatively even distribution of performance cost across the preset ladder.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low settings average 165 FPS, Medium averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS, High averages 90 FPS, and Ultra averages 65 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 102 FPS is noteworthy, as it indicates that even during demanding scenes, the system stays above 100 FPS, which is a smooth experience on most displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p, at 65 FPS, is just above the 60 FPS threshold, making it viable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over headroom.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low settings average 86 FPS, which is playable, while Medium averages 63 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS, indicating occasional stutters in heavy combat. High settings drop to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra settings fall to 34 FPS, which is not recommended for action-oriented gameplay. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 52 FPS, the largest of any resolution, highlighting the GPU's diminishing ability to handle increased shading and texture workloads as pixel count rises.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is remarkably consistent across all presets, which provides insight into the system's bottleneck characteristics. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, every preset loses exactly 37% of its frame rate: High drops from 143 to 90 FPS, Medium from 190 to 120 FPS, Low from 261 to 165 FPS, and Ultra from 103 to 65 FPS. This uniform percentage reduction is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count and the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU without becoming a constraint.

Moving from 1440p to 4K, the scaling is slightly less uniform but still consistent. High settings drop from 90 to 47 FPS, a 48% reduction; Medium drops from 120 to 63 FPS, a 48% reduction; Low drops from 165 to 86 FPS, a 48% reduction; and Ultra drops from 65 to 34 FPS, a 48% reduction. The larger percentage drop at 4K compared to 1440p is expected, as the pixel count increases by 2.25x from 1440p to 4K, versus 1.78x from 1080p to 1440p. The fact that the scaling remains uniform across presets, even at 4K, confirms that the RTX 5060's compute resources, not its 8 GB VRAM or the CPU, are the limiting factor.

The data also shows that resolution scaling has a more pronounced effect on the minimum frame rates. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 162 FPS (85% of the average), while at 1440p Medium, the minimum is 102 FPS (85% of the average), and at 4K Medium, the minimum is 53 FPS (84% of the average). This consistent ratio suggests that Outriders' frame time variance scales proportionally with resolution, meaning that players at 4K will experience the same relative stutter frequency as those at 1080p, just at lower absolute frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, with its 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), provides more than enough processing power for Outriders. The CPU's base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz are high for a desktop processor, and its 96 MB shared L3 cache is a significant asset for gaming workloads that exhibit spatial and temporal locality in data access patterns. The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capability: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807, a single-core score of 2228, and a Passmark single-thread score of 4704 place it at the 92nd percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and game logic updates. The measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck even at the highest frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 261 FPS, which is a frame rate that would expose CPU limitations in many games, yet the Ryzen 7 9850X3D sustains it without issue. The uniform 37% FPS drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p across all presets is further evidence that the GPU is the limiting component, as a CPU bottleneck would manifest as a smaller FPS drop at higher resolutions due to reduced GPU load per frame.

The CPU's performance relative to its rivals in the database is competitive. Its average benchmark score of 58386 is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58323, 0.1% ahead) and the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58504, 0.2% behind), while the Intel Core i9-14900 scores 58115, placing it 0.5% behind the Ryzen. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 scores 58826, which is 0.7% ahead. These close margins indicate that the 9850X3D is a top-tier processor, and its 96 MB L3 cache likely provides an advantage in gaming scenarios like Outriders that benefit from large, fast caches, even if the synthetic benchmarks show near-parity with competing Xeon and Core i9 parts.