Outriders

The pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in Outriders produces a dataset that clearly separates the workload between CPU and GPU depending on resolution and preset. At 1080p, the frame rates are exceptionally high, but the scaling curve suggests the processor is setting the ceiling; at 4K, the GPU takes over as the dominant factor. The measured results show a system capable of 214 FPS at 1080p Low but dropping to 62 FPS at 4K Ultra, illustrating the heavy graphical demands of the looter shooter at higher definitions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a predictable decline in performance, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 214 at 1080p to 183 at 1440p, and then to 148 at 4K. This represents a 31% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is relatively modest and indicates that at Low settings, the system is not entirely GPU-bound, as the CPU can still feed frames efficiently.

For High settings, the scaling is steeper: 171 FPS at 1080p, 147 at 1440p, and 86 at 4K. The 4K figure is a 50% drop from 1080p, showing that the GPU is beginning to struggle with the increased pixel count. Medium settings follow a similar pattern, with 190 FPS at 1080p, 163 at 1440p, and 115 at 4K, a 39% decline. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, dropping from 151 FPS at 1080p to 119 at 1440p and finally to 62 at 4K, a 59% reduction.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited, especially at lower presets where the GPU has more headroom. The i5-12400’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, appear sufficient to drive high frame rates, but the scaling to 4K shows the RTX 4090 becoming the limiting component. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is notably low for this GPU, indicating that Outriders’ Ultra settings impose a significant rendering burden that even the 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance cannot overcome at that resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate monitors?

A: At 2560x1440, the system achieves 183 FPS on Low and 147 FPS on High, making it suitable for 144Hz displays. The 1920x1080 results are higher, but the 1440p figures offer a better balance of visual quality and speed.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 perform at 4K in Outriders?

A: The GPU delivers 148 FPS on Low, 115 FPS on Medium, and 86 FPS on High at 3840x2160. Ultra settings drop the average to 62 FPS, which is the lowest measured result in the dataset.

Q: Is the Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 4090?

A: Benchmark results indicate that at 1080p, the CPU is likely a limiting factor, as the gap between Low and Ultra settings is smaller (214 vs 151 FPS) compared to 4K. The processor’s single-thread score of 910 in 3DMark suggests adequate performance, but the 12-thread configuration may cap extreme frame rates.

Q: What is the frame time variance like at Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum of 161 FPS and a maximum of 218 FPS, with an average of 190. At 1440p, the range is 138 to 187 FPS, and at 4K, it narrows to 97 to 132 FPS, indicating more consistent performance at higher resolutions.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other systems?

A: The combination of the i5-12400 and RTX 4090 ranks 449 out of 3710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 12% of configurations for this game.

Q: Should I use High or Ultra settings?

A: The data shows a significant drop from 86 FPS at 4K High to 62 FPS at 4K Ultra. At 1440p, High delivers 147 FPS versus 119 FPS for Ultra, making High the better choice for maintaining smooth gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions and settings in Outriders. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, the card offers 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth, which is crucial for the high-resolution textures and effects in this looter shooter. The GPU’s 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units provide substantial raw compute power, as evidenced by its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 rating.

The clock speeds of the RTX 4090 are notably high, with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz. These clocks allow the GPU to maintain high utilization even when the CPU is under load. However, the measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the card drops to 62 FPS, which is surprisingly low for a GPU that ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. This suggests that Outriders’ Ultra preset may include effects that are particularly demanding on the memory subsystem or the 128 RT cores.

The GPU’s performance in synthetic benchmarks correlates with the game results. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and the Passmark G3D score of 38194 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which aligns with the game’s engine requirements. The GPU’s 176 ROPs handle pixel output efficiently, but the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS indicates a rendering bottleneck that may be related to the game’s specific shader complexity rather than raw bandwidth.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates, with Low settings averaging 214 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 190 FPS, with a minimum of 161 and a maximum of 218 FPS. High settings average 171 FPS, while Ultra drops to 151 FPS. These figures show that at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 63 FPS, or about 29%, which is relatively modest and suggests the CPU is limiting the upper ceiling.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show GPU influence. Low settings average 183 FPS, Medium averages 163 FPS with a range of 138 to 187 FPS, and High averages 147 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 119 FPS, which is a 35% reduction from Low. The 1440p results indicate that the RTX 4090 is still capable of high refresh rates, but the Ultra preset is starting to tax the GPU more heavily.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 148 FPS, which is still excellent, but Medium drops to 115 FPS with a minimum of 97 and a maximum of 132 FPS. High settings average 86 FPS, and Ultra falls to 62 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 86 FPS, or 58%, demonstrating that the resolution increase has a much larger impact on performance than at 1080p. The data shows a clear trend: as resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows exponentially, reducing the CPU’s influence on the final frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores are solid for a mid-range desktop chip, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,989 and a single-core score of 2,257. The Geekbench multi-core score of 8,564 and single-core score of 1,848 further illustrate its capabilities.

In Outriders, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates are highest. The Passmark single-thread score of 3,456 and the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,692 suggest that the processor can handle the game’s main thread efficiently. However, the 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,873 indicates that multi-threaded scaling is limited, which may be why the 1080p Low result of 214 FPS is not higher.

The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate memory hierarchy for game data, but the processor’s DDR4 and DDR5 memory support means the actual bandwidth depends on the installed memory. The i5-12400 ranks in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18,697, which is only 0.1% higher. This indicates that the CPU is well-matched to the RTX 4090 for most gaming scenarios, but the 4K results show that the GPU is the primary limiter.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 4K, High delivers 86 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while Ultra drops to 62 FPS, which may cause stuttering on high refresh rate displays. The 1440p High result of 147 FPS is ideal for 144Hz monitors, providing a 28 FPS advantage over Ultra.

For players with 1080p monitors, the Medium preset is recommended, as it averages 190 FPS with a minimum of 161 FPS, ensuring consistent performance even in demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 151 FPS, but the 39 FPS difference from Low suggests that the CPU is not fully utilized, making the extra graphical features less impactful relative to the performance cost.

At 4K, the Low preset is surprisingly effective, averaging 148 FPS, which is higher than the High preset at 86 FPS. This suggests that players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity can achieve excellent performance by reducing settings. The Medium preset at 4K offers a middle ground at 115 FPS, with a minimum of 97 FPS, which is still smooth on most displays. Overall, the data indicates that High settings are the sweet spot for this combination, providing a significant visual upgrade over Medium without the steep performance penalty of Ultra.