Outriders

Outriders is a looter shooter that scales heavily with both GPU and CPU, and the combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces a distinct performance profile. This pairing ranks 283rd out of 2913 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 10% of all tested systems. The data shows a system that delivers high frame rates across all resolutions, but the relationship between the CPU's six cores and the GPU's massive 32 GB frame buffer creates interesting bottlenecks at lower resolutions and headroom at higher ones.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Outriders with this combination?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the system averages 147 FPS, which provides a smooth experience. However, at 1920x1080 with High settings, the average jumps to 171 FPS, indicating that the lower resolution allows the CPU to feed the GPU more effectively, making 1080p the most responsive option for competitive play.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of VRAM impact Outriders?

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with a 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor in Outriders. Even at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS of 68 is constrained by the GPU's compute capabilities rather than memory allocation, as the game's texture streaming demands are far below this card's capacity.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 214, but at 3840x2160 with Low settings, it drops to 148. This 66 FPS difference shows that while the GPU is heavily utilized at 4K, the CPU's six cores and 12 threads (with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz) can only push so many frames at 1080p, limiting the GPU's full potential.

Q: What is the most balanced settings preset for 1440p gameplay?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 163 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 187 FPS. This provides a smoother frame time experience than High settings (147 FPS average) and avoids the diminishing returns of Ultra settings (130 FPS average), making it the most consistent choice for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 283rd out of 2913 tested combinations, placing it in the 90th percentile of all systems tested for Outriders. This high ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's performance, as the RTX 5090 D sits in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, while the i5-12400 sits in the 72nd percentile against all CPUs.

Q: Does the game benefit more from CPU single-thread or multi-thread performance?

A: The data suggests single-thread performance is more critical. The i5-12400 scores 910 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2257 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, which are strong scores. In contrast, its multi-thread scores (5890 in 3dmark_max_threads) are solid but not exceptional, and the game's frame rates scale more predictably with resolution changes than with core count, indicating Outriders is not heavily multi-threaded.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why it performs so well in Outriders. The card features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This massive memory pool is paired with 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, allowing the card to process geometry and textures at extreme rates. The boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz drive a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, which are directly relevant to Outriders' fast-paced combat and particle effects.

The GPU's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS is the key metric for this game's rendering workload. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the card averages 94 FPS, which drops to 68 FPS at Ultra settings. The difference between Low (148 FPS) and Medium (125 FPS) at 4K shows that each settings tier adds meaningful GPU work, but the card never falls below playable thresholds. The 32 GB VRAM is overkill for Outriders, as even at 4K Ultra, the game does not approach capacity limits, but the bandwidth ensures texture streaming is never a stutter source.

The RTX 5090 D's benchmark scores reflect its dominance. It scores 14326 in 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12, 44065 in passmark_g3d, and 310674 in geekbench_opencl. These scores place it in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% slower) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% slower). This indicates the desktop-class 5090 D is significantly faster than mobile and older datacenter parts, which translates directly to Outriders' high frame rates. The card's 176 ROPs ensure that fill-rate-bound scenarios, such as the game's dense particle effects, are handled without issue.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides the foundation for this system, and its specifications show a capable mid-range processor that occasionally limits the GPU. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the CPU has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, running on the Alder Lake architecture. It features 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, which helps with the game's streaming assets. The 65 W TDP indicates efficient power draw, but the CPU's performance ceiling is defined by its single-thread capabilities rather than its core count.

The CPU's benchmark results show a processor that is strong in single-threaded tasks but average in multi-threaded workloads. It scores 910 in 3dmark_single_thread and 2257 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, which are respectable numbers. However, its multi-thread scores (5890 in 3dmark_max_threads, 15989 in cinebench_r23_multicore) place it in the 72nd percentile against all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% slower) and the Intel Core i3-14100F (0.9% faster). This suggests that in Outriders, which does not heavily utilize all 12 threads, the CPU's performance is adequate but not exceptional.

The i5-12400's impact on frame rates is most visible at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 214 FPS, but this drops to 183 FPS at 2560x1440 and 148 FPS at 3840x2160 with the same settings. This scaling pattern indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p, as the GPU has headroom that cannot be utilized due to the CPU's frame submission rate. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's 4.40 GHz boost clock is sufficient to keep the GPU fed. The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 allows for flexible system builds, though the dual-channel memory bus is standard for this class of processor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i5-12400 and RTX 5090 D ranks 283rd out of 2913 tested combos for Outriders, placing it in the top 9.7% of all tested systems. This high ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU, which sits in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 72nd percentile. The disparity between these two percentiles suggests that the combo's ranking could be even higher with a more powerful CPU, but the current configuration still delivers excellent performance.

The ranking becomes more meaningful when compared to the combo's constituent parts. The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals in the GPU benchmarks are the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% slower) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% slower), but these are mobile and datacenter parts, not desktop gaming GPUs. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% slower) and the Intel Core i7-1355U (0.3% slower), which are server and mobile parts, respectively. This indicates that the combo's rank is driven by the GPU's exceptional performance relative to other tested cards, even when paired with a mid-range CPU.

The 283rd rank out of 2913 combos means this system outperforms approximately 90% of tested configurations in Outriders. This is a strong result, but the data shows that the system is not in the top 100, suggesting that CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions prevent the GPU from fully stretching its legs. For a system targeting high-refresh-rate 1440p or 4K gaming, this rank is more than adequate, as the measured FPS data shows playable performance across all settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. At 3840x2160 (4K), the system averages 94 FPS on High settings, 148 FPS on Low, 125 FPS on Medium, and 68 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 144 FPS, showing a 38 FPS variance that indicates consistent frame pacing. The Ultra preset's 68 FPS average is the only sub-60 result in the entire dataset, making it the only setting where the system falls below typical high-refresh-rate thresholds.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), performance improves significantly. High settings average 147 FPS, Low averages 183 FPS, Medium averages 163 FPS, and Ultra averages 130 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 187 FPS, which is the tightest frame time range in the dataset, making it the most stable experience for competitive play. The difference between 4K High (94 FPS) and 1440p High (147 FPS) is 53 FPS, showing the expected scaling as pixel count decreases.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the system reaches its highest frame rates. High settings average 171 FPS, Low averages 214 FPS, Medium averages 190 FPS, and Ultra averages 151 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p has a minimum of 161 FPS and a maximum of 218 FPS, with a 57 FPS variance that is the highest in the dataset. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU begins to limit performance, as the difference between Low (214 FPS) and High (171 FPS) is only 43 FPS, compared to the 80 FPS difference between 4K Low (148 FPS) and 4K High (94 FPS).

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing Outriders with this combo. For 3840x2160 displays, the High preset at 94 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as the Ultra preset's 68 FPS average is too low for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 125 FPS is also viable, but High provides better visuals with only a 31 FPS penalty. The Low preset at 148 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution, as the GPU has enough headroom to handle higher settings.

For 2560x1440 displays, the Medium preset at 163 FPS is the recommended choice. It provides the tightest frame time range (138-187 FPS) of any 1440p setting, ensuring consistent pacing for fast-paced combat. The High preset at 147 FPS is a close second, but the Medium preset's lower variance makes it more suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset at 130 FPS is acceptable for those prioritizing visuals, but the 33 FPS drop from Medium is not worth the marginal visual improvement.

For 1920x1080 displays, the High preset at 171 FPS is the best option. The Ultra preset at 151 FPS provides slightly better visuals but drops 20 FPS, while the Medium preset at 190 FPS offers higher frame rates but with a wider 57 FPS variance (161-218 FPS) that can introduce micro-stutters. The Low preset at 214 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount, as the visual quality loss is significant.

The overall recommendation is to use the Medium preset at 2560x1440 for the best combination of visual quality, frame rate, and consistency. This setting leverages the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM and high bandwidth while staying within the i5-12400's ability to feed the GPU. For 4K users, High at 94 FPS is the sweet spot, while 1080p users should stick with High at 171 FPS to avoid the CPU bottleneck that appears at lower settings.