Outriders

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER in Outriders produces a system that is heavily influenced by the selected image quality preset. The measured data across four settings levels at three resolutions reveals a component dynamic where the GPU’s capabilities are the primary constraint at higher fidelity settings, while the CPU’s six-core architecture provides a solid foundation for high frame rates when graphical load is reduced. This analysis examines the benchmark rows to determine the optimal configuration and the role each component plays in the game’s performance profile.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and playable frame rates, the Medium preset emerges as the most effective choice across all tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 160.3 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the High preset’s 125 FPS and the Ultra preset’s 91.7 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is relatively modest in cost, dropping from 185.1 FPS to 160.3 FPS, a reduction of 24.8 FPS, but the visual quality gain is typically significant in a looter shooter where environmental detail matters. At 2560x1440, Medium maintains a highly playable average of 105.8 FPS, which is only 36.1 FPS below the Low preset’s 141.9 FPS but provides a much richer visual experience. Even at 3840x2160, Medium achieves an average of 52.6 FPS, which is above the threshold for acceptable smoothness on many displays, whereas High drops to 43.3 FPS and Ultra falls to a stutter-prone 26.9 FPS.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination. The performance cost is severe at every resolution, with the 3840x2160 result of 26.9 FPS being particularly problematic for a game that requires quick reactions. The data indicates that the gap between Medium and Ultra is larger than the gap between Low and Medium, suggesting that Ultra introduces rendering features that disproportionately tax the RTX 2070 SUPER. Consequently, the High preset serves as a compromise for users with 1440p monitors who prioritize image quality, delivering 80.2 FPS at that resolution, but Medium is the only setting that offers a consistent high-refresh-rate experience across the board. For competitive play at 1080p, the Low preset’s 185.1 FPS is the maximum achievable, but the 160.3 FPS from Medium is close enough that most users will prefer the enhanced detail.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, operating with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. In Outriders, the CPU’s role becomes apparent when observing the frame rate scaling at lower graphical settings. At 1920x1080 with the Low preset, the system produces 185.1 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. This indicates that the processor is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain very high frame rates, and it is not a limiting factor at this resolution. The processor’s 3DMark benchmarks support this, with a max threads score of 5652 and a single-thread score of 868, showing balanced multi-threaded and single-threaded performance that suits a game engine which typically scales well with multiple cores.

However, the CPU’s influence wanes as the resolution increases. At 2560x1440 with Low, the average drops to 141.9 FPS, and at 3840x2160 with Low, it falls to 77.7 FPS. This decline is not due to the CPU but rather the increased pixel count demanding more from the GPU. The processor’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s provide adequate bandwidth for the game’s data streams. The benchmark data shows that the i5-11400F sits in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17181, placing it in a competitive position against its nearest rivals. For instance, it trails the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U by 0% in average score, and is 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-1260P, indicating that its computational throughput is well-matched to the demands of modern games like Outriders. The CPU is not the bottleneck in this system; the data shows that even at Ultra settings, where the GPU is struggling, the frame rates are still limited by the graphics card rather than the processor’s ability to issue draw calls.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the dominant factor in this configuration’s performance, particularly at higher settings and resolutions. Equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, the GPU has sufficient memory capacity for Outriders at 1080p and 1440p, but the 3840x2160 results suggest that the memory bandwidth and compute resources are stretched thin. The GPU’s boost clock of 1770 MHz and its 2560 shading units deliver a FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS, which is the raw compute power that determines the frame rate at high fidelity settings. This is evident in the measured data: at 1920x1080 Ultra, the average is 91.7 FPS, which drops to 59.1 FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra, and then plummets to 26.9 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 35.6% reduction in frame rate, and from 1440p to 4K is a 54.5% reduction, demonstrating the GPU’s inability to maintain playable performance at 4K with maximum settings.

The RTX 2070 SUPER’s position in the market is reflected in its percentile rank of 65 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 22206. Its nearest rivals show a tight grouping, with the NVIDIA RTX A400 being 0.5% faster and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 being 2.5% slower. This indicates that the GPU is a mid-to-high-end part from its generation, but it is not designed for 4K gaming at maximum settings. The 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, but Outriders does not appear to leverage ray tracing heavily in the measured presets, as the performance drop from High to Ultra is more indicative of traditional rasterization load. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is likely a contributing factor to the 4K Ultra performance, as the higher resolution textures and effects can exceed the memory capacity, leading to the severe frame rate collapse. Overall, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck in this system, and the settings recommendations must account for its limitations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i5-11400F and RTX 2070 SUPER achieves a rank of 1018 out of 1693 tested combos for Outriders, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component performance, but it reflects the reality that many other combos feature more powerful GPUs. The combo’s position suggests that while the CPU is adequate, the GPU holds the overall system back from competing with higher-tier configurations. In the context of the database, this rank means that roughly 60% of tested combos perform better than this specific pairing in Outriders. This is not a condemnation of the hardware, but rather an indication that for a game of this type, the GPU is the primary differentiator.

The data shows that the combo’s best performance is at 1080p, where it can achieve frame rates well above 90 FPS on all settings except Ultra, which still manages 91.7 FPS. At 1440p, the combo is viable for High and Medium settings, but Ultra dips below 60 FPS. The 4K results are the weakest, with only the Low preset providing a playable frame rate. This rank of 1018 is a reflection of the system’s inability to handle 4K gaming, which is a common trait for GPUs in this class. The CPU’s performance is not a contributing factor to the low rank, as its benchmark scores are competitive with its peers. Rather, the GPU’s 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the game’s demands, dictates that this combo will not be a top performer. Users with this combo should expect to play at 1080p or 1440p with medium to high settings to achieve a satisfactory experience, and the rank serves as a warning that 4K gaming is not a realistic expectation.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K provides clear evidence of the GPU-bound nature of this system. Starting at 1920x1080 with the High preset, the average is 125 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the average drops to 80.2 FPS, a reduction of 44.8 FPS or 35.8%. Further scaling to 3840x2160 yields an average of 43.3 FPS, a drop of 36.9 FPS from 1440p, or 46% reduction. This pattern is consistent across all settings, but the absolute differences vary. For the Low preset, the scaling is from 185.1 FPS at 1080p to 141.9 FPS at 1440p, and then to 77.7 FPS at 4K. The proportional decline from 1080p to 4K is 58% for Low, 65% for High, and 71% for Ultra. This increasing percentage loss at higher settings indicates that the GPU’s compute and memory subsystems are being saturated more quickly at higher resolutions.

The limiting component is unequivocally the GPU. The CPU’s performance is constant across resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that the frame rate decline is directly proportional to the pixel count increase. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the data shows a linear decline with resolution. For instance, at 1080p Medium, the system produces 160.3 FPS, which is a very high frame rate that would require significant CPU involvement. If the CPU were limiting, the 1440p Medium result of 105.8 FPS would be much closer to the 1080p result. Instead, the 34% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p mirrors the 78% increase in pixel count, confirming that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary constraint. The 4K results, particularly the 26.9 FPS at Ultra, are the clearest indication that the GPU is overwhelmed, and the system is not suitable for 4K gaming outside of low settings. This scaling analysis reinforces that the i5-11400F provides ample headroom, and any future GPU upgrade would yield significant performance gains at all resolutions.