Outriders

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p experience in Outriders, but the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU’s six cores and 12 threads provide ample headroom, allowing the GPU to push frame rates above 150 FPS on Low settings. However, the 4K Ultra result of 39.2 FPS indicates that the GPU’s raw throughput becomes the primary constraint at higher fidelity settings, where the RDNA 4.0 architecture’s 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 performance is taxed heavily. The combo ranks 896th out of 1693 tested combinations, placing it in the 53rd percentile—a mid-pack standing that reflects a balanced pairing rather than an extreme one.

CPU Role

The Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from Intel’s Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz are modest by modern standards, yet the benchmark data shows it holds its own in Outriders. The CPU’s 3DMark scores—4,748 in the 16-thread test and 688 in single-thread—suggest it can handle the game’s multi-threaded workload, but the single-thread score is notably weaker relative to its multi-thread performance. In Outriders, this translates to a situation where the CPU rarely becomes the limiting factor at 1080p, as evidenced by the 153.9 FPS Low result, but its influence fades as resolution climbs.

The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (42.7 GB/s bandwidth) provide adequate data flow for a looter shooter’s asset streaming. Notably, the CPU’s PassMark multi-thread score of 12,115 and single-thread score of 2,541 place it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, indicating solid performance for its generation. In Outriders, the CPU’s role is most apparent in the gap between Low and Medium settings at 1080p—a 16.6 FPS drop from 153.9 to 137.3—which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently even at high frame rates. However, the CPU’s 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,350 is a weak point, and in scenes with heavy physics or AI, this could cause occasional stutters despite the overall high average FPS.

FAQ

Q: How does the i5-10400F compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-10400F’s average benchmark score of 14,168 is within a narrow band of its rivals: it sits 0.4% above the AMD EPYC 7552 (14,115), 0.8% below the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14,277), 1.1% below the Intel Core i5-8500 (14,332), and 1.2% below the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (14,336). This indicates that in raw computational power, the i5-10400F is effectively on par with these alternatives.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: The data shows that at 1440p, all four settings (Low 132.2, Medium 119.2, High 109.3, Ultra 81.9) exceed 60 FPS. At 4K, only Low (105.7) and Medium (76.7) achieve this, while High (59.4) is just below the threshold. Therefore, 1440p with Ultra settings (81.9 FPS) is the recommended target for a smooth experience with maximum fidelity.

Q: Does the RX 9070 bottleneck the i5-10400F at 1080p?

A: No, the opposite is true. At 1080p, the FPS spread from Low (153.9) to Ultra (110.7) is 43.2 FPS, which is the largest across all resolutions. This indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance, as lowering settings yields significant gains. The CPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution, as even the most demanding scenario (Ultra) stays well above 100 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 9070 rank among all GPUs?

A: The RX 9070’s average benchmark score of 34,780 places it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA A2 (34,866, 0.2% higher), the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 (34,677, 0.3% lower), the AMD Radeon HD 7970 (34,541, 0.7% lower), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (34,511, 0.8% lower). This shows the GPU is a strong performer, though not a top-tier outlier.

Q: Is the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 9070 sufficient for Outriders at 4K?

A: Yes, the 16 GB GDDR6 memory with a 644.6 GB/s bandwidth is more than ample for Outriders. The measured data shows that at 4K, the GPU is compute-bound rather than memory-bound; the drop from Medium (76.7 FPS) to High (59.4 FPS) is 17.3 FPS, which points to shading and texture throughput limits rather than VRAM capacity issues.

Q: What does the combo’s rank of 896 out of 1693 signify?

A: This rank places the combo in the 53rd percentile of all tested pairings, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of the combinations. This is a balanced result, indicating that neither component is drastically over- or under-powered relative to the other for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound curve, with the CPU’s influence diminishing as pixel count increases. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 126.4 FPS, which drops to 109.3 FPS at 1440p (a 13.5% decrease) and then to 59.4 FPS at 4K (a 45.7% decrease from 1440p). This steep 4K drop—53% below the 1080p result—indicates that the RX 9070’s 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are the limiting factors at this resolution.

The Low settings tell a different story: 153.9 FPS at 1080p falls to 132.2 FPS at 1440p (14.1% drop) and then to 105.7 FPS at 4K (20.0% drop). The smaller 4K penalty at Low settings suggests that the GPU still has headroom when texture and shading loads are reduced, but the CPU begins to play a larger role. Conversely, the Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling: 110.7 FPS at 1080p, 81.9 FPS at 1440p (26.0% drop), and 39.2 FPS at 4K (52.1% drop). This near-linear decline at Ultra confirms that the GPU’s ROPs (128) and texture units (224) are the primary constraints, not the CPU’s 12 threads.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 896 out of 1,693 tested combinations, this pairing sits just above the median. This is a reasonable outcome given the hardware: the i5-10400F is a mid-range CPU from 2020, while the RX 9070 is a current-generation GPU. The rank suggests that in Outriders, the pairing performs as expected—neither component holds the other back to a significant degree, but the combination does not reach the upper echelons of performance. The CPU’s 73rd percentile standing and the GPU’s 79th percentile standing are close, which indicates a balanced match. However, the combo’s 53rd percentile rank in-game is lower than either component’s individual percentile, implying that Outriders’ specific workload does not fully utilize the strengths of both parts simultaneously, likely due to the game’s engine scaling with resolution more than thread count.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the Medium preset is the optimal choice across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 137.3 FPS, which is 11.1 FPS higher than High (126.4) but only 16.6 FPS lower than Low (153.9). At 1440p, Medium (119.2 FPS) is only 13 FPS below Low (132.2) while offering superior visuals. At 4K, Medium (76.7 FPS) is the highest setting that maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, whereas High (59.4 FPS) falls short. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p (110.7 FPS) or 1440p (81.9 FPS) play, as the 4K Ultra result of 39.2 FPS is below the playable threshold. For 4K users, Low (105.7 FPS) is the only settings level that provides both high frame rates and a smooth experience, though it sacrifices visual fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of performance across all settings and resolutions:

• 1080p Low: 153.9 FPS
• 1080p Medium: 137.3 FPS
• 1080p High: 126.4 FPS
• 1080p Ultra: 110.7 FPS

At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 43.2 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom and settings can be maximized without dropping below 100 FPS.

• 1440p Low: 132.2 FPS
• 1440p Medium: 119.2 FPS
• 1440p High: 109.3 FPS
• 1440p Ultra: 81.9 FPS

The 1440p results show a tighter spread (50.3 FPS from Low to Ultra), but all settings remain above 80 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for the combo.

• 4K Low: 105.7 FPS
• 4K Medium: 76.7 FPS
• 4K High: 59.4 FPS
• 4K Ultra: 39.2 FPS

At 4K, the performance cliff is evident: High drops below 60 FPS, and Ultra becomes nearly unplayable. The 66.5 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K (compared to 43.2 FPS at 1080p) underscores the GPU’s workload at this resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, based on the Navi 48 chip and RDNA 4.0 architecture, is the dominant performance driver in this pairing. With 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, the GPU’s compute capabilities are substantial. Its boost clock of 2520 MHz and game clock of 2070 MHz, combined with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus (644.6 GB/s bandwidth), allow it to handle Outriders’ high-resolution textures and effects. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,290 and PassMark G3D score of 25,381 place it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, making it a strong performer.

In Outriders, the GPU’s role is most evident in the 4K results, where the 53.9% FPS drop from Low (105.7) to Ultra (39.2) highlights the impact of its 36.13 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. The GPU’s 56 ray tracing cores are present, but the game’s measured data does not show a significant ray tracing workload, as the focus is on rasterization. The 220W TDP and PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensure the GPU is not bandwidth-limited, but the 4K Ultra result indicates that the ROPs are saturated when all settings are maxed. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA A2, scores 0.2% higher in average benchmark, but in Outriders, the RX 9070’s 16 GB VRAM and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth provide a clear advantage in texture-heavy scenarios, as evidenced by the 4K Medium result of 76.7 FPS being well above the 60 FPS target.