Outriders

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 combination ranks near the bottom of tested configurations for Outriders, placing 1599th out of 1693 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 6% of all tested systems, a position driven almost entirely by the graphics card's severe performance ceiling. The data indicates this combo is not viable for modern, high-fidelity play in this title, though it remains functional at lower settings and resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 1599 out of 1693 tested configurations signals a fundamental hardware mismatch for Outriders' demands. The GTX 1650 sits in the 43rd percentile among all GPUs, while the i5-12400 achieves a much stronger 77th percentile among CPUs. This 34-point gap highlights that the graphics card is the primary constraint; the processor is capable of far more than the GPU can deliver. The measured frames per second (FPS) data confirms this bottleneck, with the GPU consistently limiting output across all tested settings. Even at its best case—1080p Low with 99.6 FPS—the system barely approaches the smoothness expected from a modern gaming rig, and that performance collapses quickly as visual fidelity increases.

GPU Role

The GTX 1650's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves insufficient for Outriders at higher settings. The GPU's base clock of 1485 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz are modest, translating to just 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The data shows a stark drop when moving from Low to Ultra at any resolution, with the 1080p Ultra result of 40.3 FPS being 59.5% lower than the 1080p Low result of 99.6 FPS. This indicates that the GPU's 896 shading units and 32 ROPs are overwhelmed by the game's effects and texture loads. The card's 12 nm Turing architecture, while supporting DirectX 12 (12_1), lacks the headroom needed for sustained high-frame-rate output. Benchmark scores reinforce this: a PassMark G3D score of 7880 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 305 show a card that is fundamentally entry-level.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling reveals a dramatic collapse in performance as pixel count increases. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 99.6 FPS, which drops to 60.9 FPS at 1440p Low—a 38.9% reduction. Moving to 4K Low yields 33.3 FPS, which is 66.6% below the 1080p figure. The pattern worsens at higher settings; 1080p Ultra runs at 40.3 FPS, but 1440p Ultra falls to 26.9 FPS, and 4K Ultra plummets to just 12.2 FPS. This scaling behavior indicates the GPU is the limiting component, as the i5-12400's six cores and 12 threads provide ample processing power for frame generation. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are not the constraint here. The GTX 1650 simply cannot feed the frame buffer fast enough at higher resolutions, making 4K play impractical across all settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to 1080p Low as the only configuration delivering a consistently playable experience, with 99.6 FPS. This setting provides a 39.5% improvement over 1080p Medium's 71.4 FPS and a 59.5% improvement over 1080p High's 54.5 FPS. For users willing to accept lower frame rates, 1080p Medium at 71.4 FPS offers a balanced compromise, but the jump to High at 54.5 FPS introduces noticeable stutter risk. At 1440p, only Low settings with 60.9 FPS approach acceptable playability; Medium drops to 47.4 FPS, which is borderline. 4K is not viable at any setting, with the highest result being Low at 33.3 FPS. The optimal experience per the measured rows is unequivocally 1080p Low, as it is the only configuration that clears 90 FPS and provides the smoothest gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 99.6 FPS on Low, 71.4 FPS on Medium, 54.5 FPS on High, and 40.3 FPS on Ultra. The spread of 59.3 FPS between Low and Ultra shows the GPU's sensitivity to settings. At 2560x1440, results are 60.9 FPS on Low, 47.4 FPS on Medium, 36.1 FPS on High, and 26.9 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p Low figure is nearly identical to 1080p High, confirming that resolution and settings trade-offs are roughly equivalent in cost. At 3840x2160, the card produces 33.3 FPS on Low, 24.5 FPS on Medium, 19.9 FPS on High, and 12.2 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is below the threshold for smooth motion, and even 4K Low falls short of 60 FPS by a significant margin. Notably, the gap between 1080p Low and 4K Low is 66.3 FPS, illustrating the severe impact of pixel throughput on this GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides a robust foundation that the GTX 1650 fails to utilize. With six cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.50 GHz, and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, this CPU is well-equipped for gaming workloads. Its benchmark scores confirm this capability: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and a single-core score of 2249 place it well above average. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and PassMark multi-thread score of 18747 indicate strong parallel performance. The CPU's nearest rivals—the Intel Core i7-9700 (0.1% faster), Intel Core i7-8700 (0.2% slower), AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (0.4% slower), and Intel Core i5-11600K (0.4% faster)—show that it sits in a tightly contested performance band. In Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed frames to the GPU, and the data shows it is never the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 99.6 FPS, but the GPU's limits prevent higher output; a more powerful GPU would likely unlock significantly higher frame rates with this CPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this system in Outriders?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers 99.6 FPS, the highest of any tested configuration. This is the only setting that exceeds 90 FPS; 1440p Low drops to 60.9 FPS, and 4K Low falls to 33.3 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Outriders?

A: No. The highest 4K result is 33.3 FPS on Low settings, which is below typical playability thresholds. 4K Ultra produces just 12.2 FPS, making it unusable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 43rd percentile. The FPS drops between settings and resolutions are consistent with GPU memory and compute limits, not CPU processing.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 1599th out of 1693 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 6%. This is primarily due to the GTX 1650's performance category, which is near the bottom of the GPU hierarchy.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low produces 99.6 FPS while Ultra produces 40.3 FPS, a difference of 59.3 FPS. This represents a 59.5% performance drop from Low to Ultra.

Q: Does the CPU's performance align with its rivals in this system?

A: The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 19850 is within 0.4% of its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and Intel Core i7-8700 (19894). This indicates the CPU performs as expected, but its capabilities are unused due to the GPU limitation.