Outriders

# Outriders with Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

The measured frame rates for this combination reveal a system that is heavily balanced toward GPU limitation at higher resolutions, with the Intel Core i5-12400 providing ample headroom even at 1080p. Across the twelve tested configurations, the data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 2060 becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution climbs, while the CPU's six-core, twelve-thread design keeps minimum performance from ever becoming the limiting factor. The combo ranks 1348th out of 1693 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, a position that reflects the GPU's mid-range standing rather than any CPU deficiency.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, confirming that Outriders scales predictably with pixel count. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 104.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 64.2 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 36.7 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 64.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K, a decline that points squarely at the GPU's rendering throughput. The RTX 2060's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are simply insufficient to maintain fluid frame rates at 4K, where the pixel workload overwhelms the Turing architecture's capabilities.

Low settings show the same trend but with higher absolute numbers: 189.4 FPS at 1080p, 120.5 FPS at 1440p, and 62.3 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K here is 67.1%, nearly identical in percentage terms to High settings, which indicates that the scaling penalty is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. Medium settings follow the pattern with 136.9 FPS at 1080p, 88 FPS at 1440p, and 43.4 FPS at 4K, a 68.3% reduction. Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers—76.6 FPS at 1080p, 44.8 FPS at 1440p, and 22.2 FPS at 4K—with the 4K result falling below playable thresholds.

The interesting nuance appears at 1440p, where the system delivers 64.2 FPS on High and 88 FPS on Medium, both within acceptable ranges for a looter shooter. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS; the closest is Low at 62.3 FPS, which is barely playable but comes with significant visual compromises. The data suggests that the limiting component at 4K is unambiguously the GPU, as the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and multi-thread score of 5890 indicate it can feed frames far faster than the RTX 2060 can render them.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers strong single-thread performance that is crucial for game logic and draw call submission. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 15935 in multi-core, positioning it well above the minimum requirements for Outriders' CPU-bound tasks.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the i5-12400's average benchmark score of 19850 sits within 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.2% below the Intel Core i7-8700 (19894). It is also 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771). This tight clustering means that in CPU-bound scenarios, the i5-12400 performs essentially identically to several older high-end parts, which is notable given its lower core count compared to the i7-9700's eight cores.

In Outriders specifically, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p Low preset, where the system reaches 189.4 FPS. At that resolution and settings level, the GPU workload is reduced enough that the CPU must work harder to feed frames. The fact that the system still achieves nearly 190 FPS indicates the i5-12400 is not a bottleneck even in this favorable scenario. The L3 cache of 18 MB shared across the six cores helps maintain consistent frame delivery, and the dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provides adequate bandwidth for the game's streaming needs.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 104.3 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at this resolution produces 76.6 FPS, still playable but with diminishing returns for the visual quality uplift. The Medium preset at 136.9 FPS offers a solid middle ground, but the High preset's combination of 104.3 FPS and improved visuals makes it the best experience per the measured rows.

At 2560x1440, the High preset drops to 64.2 FPS, which remains playable but begins to show the GPU's limits. Medium at 88 FPS is the better choice for maintaining smooth gameplay, while Ultra at 44.8 FPS falls below the ideal playability threshold. For 1440p users, Medium appears to be the sweet spot, offering a 37% performance increase over High while still providing acceptable visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. Low settings produce 62.3 FPS, which is the only preset that breaks 60 FPS, but it comes with substantial visual quality sacrifices. Medium at 43.4 FPS and High at 36.7 FPS are both below the playable threshold for most users, and Ultra at 22.2 FPS is essentially unusable. The data indicates that 4K gaming with this combo requires either Low settings or a reduction in resolution; no other option exists within the measured rows.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 1348th out of 1693 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 20th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the RTX 2060's position as a mid-range GPU—it sits in the 58th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 16074—combined with the i5-12400's stronger 77th percentile standing among CPUs. The GPU is clearly the limiting factor in this pairing, as the CPU's average score of 19850 places it among much more capable parts.

Relative to its GPU rivals, the RTX 2060's average score of 16074 is 0.5% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700, both scoring 16351, by 1.7%. This narrow clustering means the RTX 2060 performs within a few percentage points of several competing parts, and the ranking in Outriders is consistent with that narrow band.

The combo's rank of 1348 suggests that while the CPU is overqualified for the GPU, the overall system is still competitive with other mid-range configurations. The fact that the CPU's nearest rivals include the i7-9700 and i7-8700—both older but capable parts—indicates that the i5-12400 is not the weak link in this pairing. The bottleneck is entirely at the GPU level, which is confirmed by the resolution scaling data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on TSMC's 12 nm process. It features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster operation units, along with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores for ray tracing and AI workloads. The GPU's base clock runs at 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s provide a baseline for understanding its Outriders performance. At 1080p High, the 104.3 FPS result indicates the GPU is handling the game's effects and geometry without excessive strain. However, the drop to 36.7 FPS at 4K High shows that the memory bandwidth and fill rate are insufficient for the pixel workload at that resolution. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is also a factor; at 4K, texture requirements can exceed this capacity, leading to performance degradation.

The RTX 2060's percentile rank of 58th among all GPUs places it in the lower-middle tier, and its average benchmark score of 16074 is just 0.5% above the RX 7600S. In Outriders, the GPU's role is dominant: the difference between Low and Ultra settings at any resolution is primarily a GPU workload change, and the data shows that the GPU's performance envelope is the deciding factor in whether the system can maintain 60 FPS. The 45% performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (189.4 vs 76.6 FPS) and the 64% gap at 4K (62.3 vs 22.2 FPS) both stem from the GPU's rendering capabilities under varying load.