Outriders

# Outriders Performance Analysis: Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

This combination pairs a quad-core Alder Lake processor with a high-end Ada Lovelace GPU, producing a dataset that reveals clear bottleneck behavior across resolutions and settings in Outriders. The measured frames per second span from a demanding 44 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 212 FPS at 1080p Low, with the CPU's four cores and the GPU's 12 GB of VRAM each taking turns as the limiting factor depending on the configuration. The data shows a system that is well-balanced at higher resolutions but increasingly CPU-bound as resolution drops and settings lighten.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling pattern in Outriders is textbook GPU-bound behavior at 4K, with the RTX 4070's workload dominating the frame time. Moving from 4K Ultra (44 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (84 FPS) yields a 91% improvement, while the jump from 1440p Ultra to 1080p Ultra (133 FPS) adds another 58% — a clear sign that the GPU is the primary constraint at these high-fidelity settings. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count at Ultra, suggesting the RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are fully engaged.

At Medium settings, the scaling flattens considerably. The 4K Medium result (81 FPS) rises to 155 FPS at 1440p, a 91% gain, but the 1080p Medium figure (189 FPS) is only 22% higher than 1440p Medium. This compression indicates that the Intel Core i3-12100F's four cores begin to limit performance below 1440p. The 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock provide solid single-thread performance — as evidenced by a 3dmark_single_thread score of 893 — but the 4-core/8-thread configuration cannot feed the RTX 4070 fast enough to maintain linear scaling at 1080p Medium.

The Low preset reveals the CPU ceiling most starkly. At 4K Low, the system produces 112 FPS, which is only 38% faster than 4K Medium. The 1440p Low result (182 FPS) is 61% above 4K Low, while 1080p Low (212 FPS) is just 16% higher than 1440p Low. The gap between 1440p Low and 1080p Low is the smallest of any resolution step in the dataset, reinforcing that the i3-12100F's multithreaded capacity (3dmark_max_threads score of 4023) is the bottleneck once shadow quality, textures, and post-processing are dialed back. The 1080p Low result of 212 FPS appears to be near the practical limit for this CPU in Outriders, regardless of GPU headroom.

CPU Role

The Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its 3.30 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock deliver strong single-thread performance, reflected in a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1932. These figures place the chip at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13494 — nearly identical to the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta) and just 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452).

In Outriders, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the Low preset across resolutions. The 4K Low result (112 FPS) is only 46% higher than the 4K Ultra result (44 FPS), while the 1080p Low result (212 FPS) is 59% higher than 1080p Ultra (133 FPS). This larger spread at 1080p indicates that the CPU has more headroom to express itself when the GPU is less loaded. The 3dmark_8_threads score of 4026 and 3dmark_max_threads score of 4023 show that the processor's 8 threads are effectively utilized, but the 4 physical cores limit parallel scaling — a constraint that becomes visible at 1080p Medium (189 FPS) where the GPU could likely push higher if fed more data.

The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide adequate data locality for a looter shooter's particle effects and enemy AI routines. However, the 58 W TDP and the absence of an unlocked multiplier mean there is no manual overclocking headroom to compensate for core-count limitations. The data suggests that for Outriders specifically, the i3-12100F's single-thread strength (PassMark single-thread score of 3444) is more valuable than its multithreaded throughput, as the game's frame pacing at 1080p relies heavily on the primary thread's ability to dispatch draw calls.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 4070 fully utilized at 1080p in Outriders?

A: No. The data shows diminishing returns below 1440p. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 189 FPS versus 155 FPS at 1440p Medium, a gain of only 22% despite a 56% reduction in pixel count. This indicates the Core i3-12100F's four cores become the limiting factor, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p offers the most balanced performance. At High settings, 1440p delivers 116 FPS, which is 68% of the 1080p High result (170 FPS) but with significantly sharper image quality. The 4K High result (61 FPS) falls below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making 1440p the sweet spot.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494, which is effectively tied with the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, 0% delta) and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452). It is 0.7% behind the Intel Core 5 120UL (13594) and 1.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13351).

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity matter in Outriders?

A: The RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth appears sufficient for all tested settings. The 4K Ultra preset (44 FPS) is the most demanding configuration, but the frame rate drop from 4K High (61 FPS) to 4K Ultra (44 FPS) is more attributable to compute workload than memory capacity, as the 192-bit bus width maintains consistent throughput.

Q: Why does the FPS gap between Low and Ultra shrink at higher resolutions?

A: At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, so preset changes have less relative impact. The 4K Low-to-Ultra spread is 68 FPS (112 vs 44), while at 1080p the spread is 79 FPS (212 vs 133). The CPU's ability to maintain higher frame rates at 1080p Low (212 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (133 FPS) shows that the i3-12100F has more influence at lower resolution and lower settings.

Q: What does the combo rank tell us about this pairing?

A: This combination ranks 968th out of 3710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 74th percentile. This suggests that while the RTX 4070 is a capable GPU (81st percentile among all GPUs), the i3-12100F's 68th percentile CPU ranking drags the overall combo performance down from what the GPU alone might achieve.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 212 FPS, Medium averages 189 FPS (with a minimum of 160 and maximum of 217), High averages 170 FPS, and Ultra averages 133 FPS. The 79 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution represents the largest absolute difference in the dataset, highlighting the CPU's ability to push high frame rates when the GPU is less stressed.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show a wider relative spread. Low averages 182 FPS, Medium averages 155 FPS (minimum 132, maximum 178), High averages 116 FPS, and Ultra averages 84 FPS. The 98 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is the largest relative gap (116% improvement from Ultra to Low), indicating that the GPU's workload at 1440p Ultra begins to tax the 29.15 TFLOPS compute capacity.

At 3840x2160, performance drops significantly, especially at higher settings. Low averages 112 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS (minimum 69, maximum 93), High averages 61 FPS, and Ultra averages 44 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 69 FPS is notable — it is the only recorded minimum below 132 FPS in the dataset, suggesting that 4K Medium may occasionally dip below 60 FPS in intense combat scenarios, despite the 81 FPS average.

The complete dataset reveals a consistent pattern: the High preset at 1440p (116 FPS) is the highest fidelity setting that maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, while 4K High (61 FPS) is borderline and 4K Ultra (44 FPS) falls short of smooth playability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, based on the AD104 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture and TSMC's 5 nm process, delivers 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. Its 1920 MHz base clock and 2475 MHz boost clock, combined with 5888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, provide substantial rasterization throughput. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus yields 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, which proves adequate for Outriders' texture streaming at all tested resolutions.

The GPU's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but not heavily utilized in Outriders, as the game's looter-shooter mechanics prioritize standard rendering over ray tracing. The PassMark G3D score of 26927 places the RTX 4070 at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648 — nearly identical to the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628, 0.1% delta) and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507).

The GPU's role in this combo becomes most evident at 4K, where it is the clear bottleneck. The 4K Ultra result (44 FPS) is the lowest in the dataset, and the 4K High result (61 FPS) barely crosses the 60 FPS threshold. The scaling from 4K Ultra to 4K Medium (81 FPS) represents an 84% improvement, showing that the GPU's 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate is the limiting factor at the highest fidelity settings. At 1080p, however, the GPU has ample headroom — the 1080p Low result (212 FPS) is only limited by the CPU's ability to feed the 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing smooth frame rates, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance in this dataset. The 155 FPS average with a 132 FPS minimum ensures consistent performance above 120 Hz displays, while the 178 FPS maximum shows occasional headroom. The 1440p Medium result is 84% higher than the 4K Medium result (81 FPS) and only 18% lower than the 1080p Medium result (189 FPS), making it the most efficient use of the RTX 4070's capabilities relative to visual impact.

For maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing playability, 1440p High (116 FPS) is the recommended preset. This configuration maintains a healthy margin above 60 FPS while delivering significantly more detail than Medium. The 4K High preset (61 FPS) is technically playable but leaves no headroom for frame drops, and the data shows that 4K Medium (81 FPS) with its 69 FPS minimum is a safer choice for 4K displays.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p Ultra (133 FPS), the visual gains over High (170 FPS) come at a 22% performance cost, while at 1440p Ultra (84 FPS) the cost is 28% versus High (116 FPS). At 4K Ultra (44 FPS), the preset falls below playable thresholds. Players seeking the highest frame rates should use Low, which delivers 212 FPS at 1080p and 182 FPS at 1440p, but the visual degradation is substantial.

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 968th out of 3710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 74th percentile of all configurations. The ranking reflects a system that performs well above average but is held back by the CPU's modest core count relative to the GPU's high-end positioning.

The GPU alone sits at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs. This 13-percentage-point gap between components explains the combo's 74th percentile ranking — the i3-12100F's 4-core architecture (3dmark_4_threads score of 2859) does not fully complement the RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS of compute throughput in Outriders' engine.

The measured frame rates confirm this imbalance. At 1080p Low (212 FPS) and 1440p Low (182 FPS), the system performs near the top of what the CPU can deliver, but the GPU's PassMark G3D score of 26927 suggests it is capable of more. Conversely, at 4K Ultra (44 FPS), the GPU is the clear limiter, and the CPU's 8 threads (3dmark_8_threads score of 4026) are sufficient to keep up. The combo's ranking in the 74th percentile indicates that for Outriders specifically, a stronger CPU would likely push this GPU into higher percentile territory, particularly at 1080p and 1440p where the CPU bottleneck is most pronounced.