Outriders

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Outriders with this AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Intel Arc B370 combination reveals a clear hierarchy across the four tested settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 104 FPS average, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that crosses the 100 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at the same resolution produces 75 FPS average, with a recorded minimum of 64 FPS and maximum of 87 FPS. High settings at 1080p yield 57 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 41 FPS average.

The step-down pattern is consistent: moving from Low to Medium costs roughly 28% of the frame rate, while Medium to High costs another 24%, and High to Ultra costs an additional 28%. This linear degradation suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at every quality level, as the CPU has ample headroom given its 16 cores and 32 threads.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset still manages 65 FPS average, which is playable for a looter shooter genre where fast reaction times matter. Medium at this resolution drops to 48 FPS average, with a minimum of 40 FPS and maximum of 55 FPS. High settings at 1440p produce 36 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS average. The 1440p Medium configuration offers the best balance of visual fidelity and responsiveness, sitting comfortably above the 30 FPS floor that many action games require for smooth gameplay.

The 3840x2160 results are uniformly poor for this combination. Low settings at 4K achieve 34 FPS average, Medium drops to 25 FPS average with a minimum of 21 FPS, High falls to 19 FPS average, and Ultra bottoms out at 13 FPS average. None of these 4K configurations provide a consistently playable experience, as even the best case (Low) dips into territory where input lag becomes noticeable during combat encounters.

For the best experience per the measured rows, the 1080p Medium preset stands out as the recommended starting point. It provides 75 FPS average with a minimum of 64 FPS, which keeps frame pacing stable during intense firefights. The 1440p Low preset at 65 FPS average is a viable alternative for users prioritizing resolution over detail. The data indicates that pushing to High or Ultra settings at any resolution sacrifices more frame rate than the visual improvements justify, given the GPU's measured performance ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combination in Outriders?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combination achieves consistently playable frame rates across all settings. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain 41 FPS average, while at 2560x1440 the Ultra preset drops to 26 FPS average and at 3840x2160 the best result is only 34 FPS average on Low settings.

Q: How does the Medium preset compare to Low at 1080p?

A: The Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers 75 FPS average with a minimum of 64 FPS and maximum of 87 FPS, whereas the Low preset achieves 104 FPS average. The 29 FPS difference represents a meaningful visual quality upgrade for roughly a 28% reduction in frame rate, making Medium the better choice for most players who prioritize both responsiveness and visual detail.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever worth using with this hardware?

A: The Ultra preset produces 41 FPS average at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Ultra result is technically playable but sits close to the threshold where frame pacing becomes inconsistent. Given that High settings at 1080p achieve 57 FPS average, the Ultra preset's additional visual effects do not justify the 16 FPS penalty.

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

A: The measured data shows 48 FPS average at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 40 FPS and maximum of 55 FPS. This configuration provides the smoothest experience at 1440p, though it falls short of the 60 FPS target that many players prefer for action-oriented gameplay.

Q: How does the 4K Low preset compare to 1440p Medium?

A: The 4K Low preset achieves 34 FPS average, while 1440p Medium achieves 48 FPS average. Despite the lower resolution, the 1440p Medium configuration provides both higher frame rates and better visual quality due to the Medium preset's enhanced effects, making it the superior choice between the two.

Q: Does the measured data include any minimum FPS information?

A: The FACT PACK includes minimum and maximum FPS values only for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 64 FPS and maximum is 87 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 40 FPS and maximum is 55 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 21 FPS and maximum is 29 FPS. All other settings have null values for minimum and maximum FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process node. Its memory configuration is listed as "System Shared" across size, type, and bus width, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This shared memory architecture means the GPU relies on the same DDR5 memory pool as the CPU, which has a measured bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s for the system.

The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz. Its compute resources include 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units. The rendering capabilities are modest: 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate, 96.00 GTexel/s texture rate, and 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. The GPU also includes 10 ray tracing cores, though the API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The benchmark data places this GPU at the 5th percentile among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1184 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. Its nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1186, delta -0.2%), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1190, delta -0.5%), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (score 1192, delta -0.7%), and AMD FirePro M2000 (score 1168, delta 1.4%). These comparisons illustrate that the Arc B370's raw graphics performance aligns with older discrete GPUs from over a decade ago.

In Outriders, the GPU's limitations become evident in the resolution scaling behavior. The measured FPS drops from 104 at 1080p Low to 65 at 1440p Low, a decrease of 37.5% when pixel count increases by 77.8%. This disproportionate FPS loss relative to pixel count indicates that the GPU is not purely fill-rate bound but also constrained by other factors such as memory bandwidth and shading throughput. The System Shared memory configuration likely contributes to this behavior, as the GPU competes with the CPU for memory access.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2679 out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders. This places the pairing in the bottom 8% of all configurations, reflecting the severe imbalance between the high-end CPU and the entry-level integrated GPU. The CPU alone sits at the 95th percentile among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 5th percentile among all graphics cards.

The rank disparity highlights that this combo is fundamentally GPU-limited. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D's benchmark scores demonstrate its capability: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42018, Geekbench multicore score of 26736, and Passmark multithread score of 70255. Yet in Outriders, these CPU strengths cannot compensate for the GPU's 5th percentile standing.

Within the dataset of 2913 combos, the 2679 rank means there are only 234 tested configurations that perform worse. These would presumably involve even older or more integrated graphics solutions paired with similarly powerful CPUs. The combo's position suggests that for Outriders specifically, the GPU choice dominates the performance outcome regardless of CPU capability.

The data indicates that this combination would be suitable for testing CPU-bound scenarios at low resolutions and settings, where the GPU can still render frames quickly enough to avoid becoming the sole bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 104 FPS average demonstrates that the combo can achieve playable frame rates when the GPU workload is minimized. However, any attempt to increase visual quality or resolution rapidly exposes the GPU's limitations, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra result of 13 FPS average.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a consistent pattern of degradation as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the progression from 1080p to 1440p to 4K yields 104, 65, and 34 FPS respectively. This represents a 37.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 67.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. The pixel count increases by 77.8% from 1080p to 1440p and by 300% from 1080p to 4K, meaning the FPS drops are proportionally smaller than the pixel count increases.

This non-linear relationship suggests that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound but also influenced by other bottlenecks. At 1080p Low, the 104 FPS result may be approaching a CPU or memory bandwidth ceiling, as the System Shared memory configuration limits how quickly data can be transferred between the CPU and GPU. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes more fill-rate bound, but the memory bandwidth constraint persists.

At Medium settings, the resolution scaling shows 75 FPS at 1080p, 48 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 36%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 47.9%. The 4K Medium result includes a minimum of 21 FPS and maximum of 29 FPS, indicating significant frame time variance. This variance is characteristic of a GPU operating near its memory bandwidth limit, where occasional stalls occur during texture fetches.

The High settings show 57 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The Ultra settings show 41 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K. Across all settings, the FPS roughly halves when moving from 1080p to 4K, which is less than the 4x pixel count increase would suggest for a purely fill-rate limited scenario. This indicates that the limiting component is likely the shared memory bandwidth, which constrains performance at all resolutions but becomes more pronounced as the GPU attempts to access larger textures and framebuffers.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 104, Medium 75 (minimum 64, maximum 87), High 57, and Ultra 41. The Medium preset provides the only complete frame time data, with a 23 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, suggesting moderate frame pacing stability.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are: Low 65, Medium 48 (minimum 40, maximum 55), High 36, and Ultra 26. The Medium preset's 15 FPS spread indicates tighter frame pacing than at 1080p, likely because the GPU is more consistently saturated and less prone to burst rendering.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values are: Low 34, Medium 25 (minimum 21, maximum 29), High 19, and Ultra 13. The Medium preset's 8 FPS spread is the narrowest across all resolutions, reflecting a GPU that is fully saturated and cannot accelerate beyond its sustained rendering rate.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic resolution scaling, from 104 FPS at 1080p down to 34 FPS at 4K, a 67.3% reduction. The Ultra preset shows the most consistent relative performance, from 41 FPS at 1080p to 13 FPS at 4K, a 68.3% reduction. This similarity across settings suggests that the resolution penalty is largely independent of the quality preset, reinforcing the memory bandwidth constraint hypothesis.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D provides exceptional processing capability that far exceeds the demands of Outriders. Its 16 cores and 32 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge codename), are manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process node. The CPU features a base clock of 4.30 GHz and boost clock of 5.70 GHz, with a 170 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 128 MB L3 total.

The CPU's benchmark performance places it at the 95th percentile among all processors. Its 3DMark scores show strong scaling: 1292 single-thread, 2549 for 2 threads, 4963 for 4 threads, 9259 for 8 threads, 16374 for 16 threads, and 17184 for max threads. This near-linear scaling up to 16 threads indicates excellent multi-core efficiency, with diminishing returns only beyond that point.

In the context of Outriders, the CPU's role is largely to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The game's looter shooter genre typically involves many concurrent entities, physics calculations, and inventory management, all of which benefit from high single-thread performance. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D's single-thread scores (1292 in 3DMark, 350 in Cinebench R15, 2259 in Cinebench R23, 3064 in Geekbench, 4737 in Passmark) indicate it can handle these tasks with minimal bottlenecking.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (score 75738, delta 0.1%), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (score 75716, delta 0.1%), AMD EPYC 8224P (score 75582, delta 0.3%), and Intel Core Ultra 9 285 (score 75488, delta 0.4%). These rivals are all within 0.4% of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D's average benchmark score of 75779, indicating that the CPU performance tier is extremely competitive at the top end.

Given that the GPU sits at the 5th percentile while the CPU sits at the 95th percentile, the data clearly shows that Outriders' frame rates are dictated by the GPU in nearly all tested configurations. The only scenario where the CPU might become relevant is at 1080p Low with 104 FPS average, where the CPU's ability to prepare frames quickly enough to sustain such frame rates could theoretically be tested. However, even at this setting, the GPU's 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 throughput appears sufficient to keep pace with the CPU's frame submission rate.