Outriders

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT in Outriders presents a fascinating study in system balance, where the data reveals a powerful but potentially constrained configuration. The measured results show a combination that ranks in the 816th position out of 1693 tested combos, placing it in the upper half of the database but not at the very top tier, suggesting that while the GPU is a high-end part, the overall system performance is moderated by other factors. This analysis will break down the measured FPS data across resolutions and settings, interpret the CPU and GPU roles based on their specifications, and provide actionable settings recommendations derived strictly from the provided figures.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combo in Outriders reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop between 1080p and 4K is particularly telling. At 1080p with High settings, the system achieves an average of 127.8 FPS, which drops to 104.6 FPS at 1440p, and then falls to 62.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a substantial 51.2% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel count.

The pattern intensifies when examining the Ultra preset, which shows the most significant performance penalty. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 108.7 FPS, which is already lower than the High preset at the same resolution, but the 4K Ultra result of 50.2 FPS demonstrates a dramatic 53.8% drop. This steep decline from 1080p to 4K suggests that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, as its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory and 800.0 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed to their limits with the increased pixel throughput.

Conversely, the scaling between 1080p and 1440p shows a less severe drop, with the Low preset falling from 157.3 FPS to 136.7 FPS, a 13.1% reduction. This relatively modest decline indicates that at lower resolutions, the system is not purely GPU-bound, and the Intel Core i5-10400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are likely providing sufficient instruction throughput to keep the GPU fed. However, the jump to 4K exposes the GPU's workload, as the 111.1 FPS at 4K Low versus 157.3 FPS at 1080p Low shows a 29.4% drop, suggesting that even at minimal settings, the raw pixel count becomes the dominant factor.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings is 137 FPS, which sits between the 127.8 FPS at High and 157.3 FPS at Low, showing a smooth progression in performance as settings are adjusted.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in Outriders?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT ranks 816th out of 1693 tested combos, placing it in the 48th percentile of all systems tested for this game.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 136.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 92.6 FPS. This represents a 32.3% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the GPU's launch MSRP provide any context for its performance tier?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT had a launch MSRP of 899 USD, and its benchmark results show it performing in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, indicating that while it is a high-end part, its performance in this specific game is moderated by the CPU pairing.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in any configuration?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 157.3, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset, which is the only configuration in the data that exceeds 150 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded score?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F shows a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 against a singlecore score of 1453, indicating that its 12 threads provide a significant scaling advantage in multi-threaded workloads, though the single-thread performance is more modest.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F serves as the foundational processing element in this combo, and its specifications reveal a component that is capable but not high-end. With 6 cores and 12 threads operating at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, this Comet Lake processor is built on Intel's 14 nm process node. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache, which provides a reasonable amount of fast-access storage for game data.

The benchmark scores for this CPU show a processor that performs well in general workloads but has limitations in high-frequency scenarios. Its 3dmark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 singlecore score of 1453 indicate that its per-core performance is adequate, but not exceptional when compared to more modern architectures. The multicore scores are more robust, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and a Geekbench multicore score of 5783, suggesting that the 12 threads can handle parallel workloads effectively.

In the context of Outriders, the CPU's 12 threads appear to be sufficient to prevent catastrophic bottlenecks at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 157.3 FPS at 1080p Low. However, the data suggests that the CPU's capabilities are being stretched at higher frame rates, as the performance scaling from 1080p to 1440p is not perfectly linear. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 14168, places it in a mid-range position, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, shows a deltaPct of -0.8%, indicating that the i5-10400F is marginally ahead of that chip but not by a significant margin.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's position at 816th out of 1693 tested configurations in Outriders provides a quantitative measure of its standing within the database, and this placement is particularly notable given the GPU's high-end status. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT alone ranks in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 38358, yet the combined system only reaches the 48th percentile in this game. This discrepancy strongly suggests that the Intel Core i5-10400F is holding back the GPU's potential in Outriders.

The data supports this interpretation when examining the CPU's performance relative to its rivals. The i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14168 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7552, which scores 14115 with a deltaPct of 0.4%, and the Intel Core i5-8500, which scores 14332 with a deltaPct of -1.1%. These rival CPUs are all within a 1.2% performance envelope, indicating that the i5-10400F is competing with processors that are not top-tier performers. When paired with a GPU that scores 38358 on average, the system's 816th rank out of 1693 suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor preventing this combo from reaching the upper echelons of the ranking table.

The implication is that users with this specific CPU and GPU pairing would see significant gains in Outriders if they upgraded the processor to a higher-performing model, as the GPU clearly has headroom to deliver more frames than the current configuration allows.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the user's target resolution and frame rate preferences. For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset delivers 137 FPS, which provides a smooth experience that is 9.8% faster than High at 127.8 FPS and only 12.9% slower than Low at 157.3 FPS. The Medium preset appears to offer the best balance between visual quality and performance at this resolution, as it maintains a high frame rate while presumably offering better visual fidelity than Low.

At 1440p, the High preset at 104.6 FPS is the most balanced option, as it provides a frame rate that is above the 100 FPS threshold while being only 8.5% slower than Low at 136.7 FPS but 12.9% faster than Ultra at 92.6 FPS. The Medium preset at 119.4 FPS is also viable for users who prioritize frame rate over visual quality, but High offers a better balance for most gaming scenarios.

For 4K gaming, the data shows that only the Low preset at 111.1 FPS and Medium at 89.6 FPS are capable of delivering playable frame rates above 60 FPS. The High preset at 62.3 FPS is technically playable but marginal, while the Ultra preset at 50.2 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K, the Medium preset appears to be the best choice, as it provides a 44.1% improvement over High while still offering better visual quality than Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions, with Low settings always producing the highest frame rates and Ultra producing the lowest. At 1920x1080, the progression is 157.3 FPS at Low, 137 FPS at Medium, 127.8 FPS at High, and 108.7 FPS at Ultra. This represents a performance spread of 44.7% between the lowest and highest quality settings at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the results show 136.7 FPS at Low, 119.4 FPS at Medium, 104.6 FPS at High, and 92.6 FPS at Ultra. The spread here is 32.3%, which is narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, the results are 111.1 FPS at Low, 89.6 FPS at Medium, 62.3 FPS at High, and 50.2 FPS at Ultra, with a spread of 54.8% between Low and Ultra.

The data shows that the transition from Medium to High settings has a particularly significant impact at 4K, with a 36.3% drop from 89.6 FPS to 62.3 FPS. In contrast, the transition from Low to Medium at 4K only results in a 19.4% reduction, suggesting that the High preset introduces a substantial increase in rendering complexity that the GPU struggles to handle at this resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the dominant component in this system, and its specifications paint a picture of a high-performance GPU that is being constrained by the CPU in Outriders. Based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 31 chip, this GPU features 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs, along with 84 ray tracing cores. Its 5 nm process node from TSMC allows for a transistor count of 57,700 million on a 529 mm² die, and it operates at a base clock of 1387 MHz with a boost clock of 2394 MHz.

The memory subsystem is particularly robust, with 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus providing 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This large memory pool is likely beneficial for Outriders at 4K resolution, where the game can utilize significant amounts of VRAM. The GPU's raw compute capabilities are also impressive, with an FP32 throughput of 51.48 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s, which should theoretically be more than sufficient for high frame rates at any resolution.

However, the measured FPS data suggests that the GPU's potential is not fully realized in this configuration. The 4K High result of 62.3 FPS is notably lower than what the GPU's specifications would suggest, and the 4K Ultra result of 50.2 FPS indicates that the GPU is being bottlenecked by the CPU's inability to feed it enough data. The GPU's benchmark scores show it performing in the 82nd percentile, with a Passmark G3D score of 29009 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 169834, but these scores do not translate into top-tier gaming performance when paired with the i5-10400F. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile, has an essentially identical average score with a deltaPct of 0%, yet the system's overall rank of 816 out of 1693 suggests that the CPU is preventing this GPU from demonstrating its full capabilities in Outriders.