Outriders

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER pairing in Outriders is heavily constrained by the graphics card, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at nearly every setting and resolution. The data shows that this combination is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p play, where it delivers strong frame rates, but it struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates demonstrate a classic GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the system achieves an average of 207 FPS, but this drops to 131 FPS at 1440p and further to 68 FPS at 4K. This represents a steep 67% performance loss when moving from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the RTX 2060 SUPER is being pushed to its limits as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 113 FPS at 1080p to 71 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction), and then to 37 FPS at 4K (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This steep drop-off at 4K suggests the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient for the combination of high resolution and detailed textures, causing the rendering pipeline to become saturated.

At Ultra settings, the situation is more critical. The 1080p Ultra average is 81 FPS, which drops to 51 FPS at 1440p and a barely playable 27 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is particularly telling: it is less than half of the 1080p Ultra frame rate, indicating that the GPU is completely overwhelmed by the combined demands of resolution and maximum visual fidelity. The frame rate curve suggests that the RTX 2060 SUPER's raw compute throughput (7.181 TFLOPS FP32) is the limiting factor, as the CPU's substantial multi-threaded capabilities (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29300) remain largely underutilized in this title.

The transition from Medium to High settings at each resolution also reveals the GPU's memory constraints. At 4K, the Medium preset yields 50 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, while High drops to 37 FPS. The relatively small gap between Medium and High at 4K, compared to the larger gap between Low and Medium, suggests that the card's 8 GB GDDR6 memory is nearly exhausted at 4K, and further quality increases yield diminishing returns as the card begins to hit memory bandwidth limits rather than pure shader throughput limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, with its 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs, is the decisive component in this pairing. Its 1470 MHz base clock and 1650 MHz boost clock, combined with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, provide a texture rate of 224.4 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 105.6 GPixel/s. These specifications explain the observed frame rates: the card delivers excellent performance at 1080p, where its pixel throughput is sufficient, but falls off sharply at 4K, where the pixel rate becomes the bottleneck.

The GPU's 62nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 18093, places it in the mid-range tier. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, which scores 18159 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at 18189 (0.5% higher). This tight clustering indicates that the RTX 2060 SUPER is competitive with these cards, but none of them are designed for 4K gaming at high settings.

The memory configuration is a key factor in Outriders performance. The 8 GB VRAM capacity, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p, becomes strained at 4K Ultra, where the game's high-resolution textures likely exceed the available memory. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is also relatively modest for 4K workloads, which explains why the 4K Medium (50 FPS) and 4K High (37 FPS) results show a larger relative drop than at lower resolutions. The card's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures it can handle the game's modern rendering features, but the architectural limitations of the Turing chip (12 nm process, 10,800 million transistors) prevent it from maintaining high frame rates at 4K.

The RTX 2060 SUPER's performance percentile of 62% versus all GPUs is reflected in the measured data. At 1080p Low, it produces 207 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but the 4K Ultra result of 27 FPS is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The card's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appears to be the primary constraint at 4K, as the 256-bit bus width cannot feed the GPU's 2176 shading units fast enough to maintain high frame rates at that resolution.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. At High settings, the system achieves 113 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS, and even at Ultra it maintains 81 FPS. At 1440p, High settings drop to 71 FPS, while 4K falls below 40 FPS at High, making 1080p the only resolution where all presets maintain playable frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093, which is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and 0.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189). It also trails the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373) by 1.5% and the Intel Arc A770M (18383) by 1.6%, indicating it sits at the lower end of this performance cluster.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 7900X bottlenecking the RTX 2060 SUPER in this game?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29300 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2617, are far higher than what Outriders requires. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent GPU-bound pattern, with the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads providing ample headroom.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 95 FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 109 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on a 1440p monitor with a 60-100 Hz refresh rate.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Outriders?*

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 68 FPS on average. At Medium, the average drops to 50 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS, which is borderline. High and Ultra settings produce 37 FPS and 27 FPS respectively, which are not smooth for a looter shooter requiring quick reactions.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: The performance loss depends on the preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 207 FPS to 68 FPS, a 67% reduction. At High settings, it drops from 113 FPS to 37 FPS, also a 67% reduction. At Ultra, the drop is from 81 FPS to 27 FPS, a 67% reduction, showing consistent scaling across all presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results. The Low preset produces an average of 207 FPS, which is the highest measurement in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 150 FPS on average, with a minimum of 128 FPS and a maximum of 173 FPS. High settings maintain 113 FPS, while Ultra drops to 81 FPS. All four presets at 1080p are fully playable, with even the lowest Ultra result exceeding 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are significant but still manageable. Low settings produce 131 FPS, Medium averages 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 109 FPS, and High delivers 71 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 51 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This resolution is viable for Medium and High settings, but Ultra sacrifices too much performance.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings achieve 68 FPS, which is playable. Medium settings average 50 FPS with a minimum of 42 FPS and a maximum of 57 FPS, which is marginal for a fast-paced game. High settings drop to 37 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27 FPS. The 4K results clearly show that this GPU is not designed for high-fidelity 4K gaming, as even the Medium preset struggles to maintain 60 FPS.

The complete data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is the sweet spot, 1440p requires settings compromises, and 4K is only viable at Low settings. The Medium preset at each resolution provides the most balanced experience, with 150 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is the recommended choice. It delivers 150 FPS on average, with a minimum of 128 FPS and a maximum of 173 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in intense combat scenarios. This preset offers a 33% performance improvement over High settings (113 FPS) while maintaining better visual quality than Low (207 FPS).

At 1440p, the Medium preset is also the optimal choice, providing 95 FPS average with an 81 FPS minimum. This keeps the frame rate above 60 FPS for most of the gameplay, while the High preset's 71 FPS is acceptable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 51 FPS is not recommended due to the risk of drops below 60 FPS.

For players with a 4K monitor, the Low preset at 68 FPS is the only viable option for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset's 50 FPS average and 42 FPS minimum will cause noticeable stuttering in a game that requires precise aiming and dodging. The High (37 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) presets are not recommended for 4K play.

The data suggests that the Medium preset provides the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, it offers a 33% frame rate advantage over High, while at 1440p it maintains a 34% advantage. This preset avoids the extreme compromises of Low settings while preventing the performance collapse seen at High and Ultra.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, provides far more processing power than Outriders requires. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29300 and single-core score of 2016.5, along with a Geekbench single-core score of 2617, place it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288. This positions it 0.2% above the AMD EPYC 7313P and 0.6% above the Intel Xeon 634, while trailing the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 0.3% and the Intel Core i7-14700F by 0.6%.

The CPU's high boost clock of 5.60 GHz and base clock of 4.70 GHz ensure that single-threaded performance is more than sufficient for the game's main simulation thread. The 64 MB of shared L3 cache provides ample fast memory for game assets, while the 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support eliminates any potential memory bottleneck. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and 2-thread score of 2137 confirm that the CPU can handle the lightly-threaded aspects of Outriders without issue.

The benchmark data indicates that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this pairing. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings, which is the hallmark of a GPU-bound system. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, particularly at Low settings where GPU load is minimized. Instead, the 207 FPS at 1080p Low drops to 131 FPS at 1440p and 68 FPS at 4K, demonstrating that the GPU is the sole constraint.

The 7900X's 24 threads and high instruction throughput (PassMark integer math score of 169273 and floating point math score of 103952) provide substantial headroom for background tasks and future game updates. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 53288, places it well above the requirements of Outriders, which is a relatively modest title in terms of CPU demand. The system's overall combo rank of 2514 out of 3710 combinations reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than any CPU limitation.