Outriders

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a playable experience in Outriders, but the data clearly shows this is a GPU-bound configuration at higher resolutions. The measured frame rates reveal a system that excels at 1080p, becomes increasingly strained at 1440p, and struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K unless settings are drastically reduced. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, settings trade-offs, and the distinct roles the CPU and GPU play in shaping the final benchmark results.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160 shows a steep and consistent performance penalty that points directly at the GPU as the primary limiter. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 100.3 FPS at 1080p to 67.1 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of approximately 33%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the average falls further to 31.4 FPS, which is a 53% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a graphics card being pushed to its limits, as the workload per pixel increases dramatically with resolution.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 189.4 FPS, which drops to 116.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 60.2 FPS at 4K. While the 4K Low result is technically playable, the massive performance headroom at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU and GPU are not balanced at that setting; the system is likely idling on CPU resources and entirely dependent on the RTX 2060's fill rate. The data indicates that the RTX 2060's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p, but the demands of 4K resolution, even at Low settings, push the card near its compute and memory limits.

The most telling evidence of GPU limitation is the scaling between Medium and Ultra at 4K. At 3840x2160, the average frame rate drops from 43.4 FPS at Medium to 23.2 FPS at Ultra, a difference of nearly half. In contrast, the same settings change at 1080p only reduces performance from 137.5 FPS to 73.1 FPS, a 47% drop that is less severe in absolute terms but still significant. This shows that as resolution rises, the cost of enabling higher-quality effects becomes disproportionately expensive, confirming that the RTX 2060 is the bottleneck in this pairing.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 100.3 FPS offers the best balance, providing a smooth frame rate that exceeds the 60 FPS threshold while retaining visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 73.1 FPS is also viable for users prioritizing image quality, but the 27 FPS penalty compared to High is steep for the incremental visual gains typical of that preset. The Medium preset at 137.5 FPS is excessive for most displays and suggests the GPU has headroom to spare.

At 2560x1440, the High preset becomes the recommended choice, delivering 67.1 FPS. This is just above the 60 FPS target and represents the highest quality setting that maintains consistent playability. The Ultra preset at 47.3 FPS is too low for a smooth experience, and the Medium preset at 85 FPS is a solid fallback for users who want a higher frame rate buffer. For 3840x2160, the data shows that only the Low preset at 60.2 FPS provides an acceptable average frame rate. The Medium preset at 43.4 FPS is borderline, while High and Ultra at 31.4 FPS and 23.2 FPS respectively are too demanding for this GPU. The recommendation is clear: at 4K, users must sacrifice visual quality to Low to achieve playable performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the dominant component in this pairing for Outriders. Its specifications include a TU106 chip on the Turing architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The card features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, along with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The memory subsystem consists of 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The card's pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s, with an FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS.

The benchmark results indicate that this GPU configuration is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but the data suggests that at 4K Ultra, the memory bandwidth and capacity become strained, leading to the observed 23.2 FPS. The RTX 2060's percentile ranking among all GPUs is 58, and its average benchmark score is 16074. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S with a score of 15996 and a deltaPct of 0.5, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M with a score of 16351 and a deltaPct of -1.7. These comparisons show that the RTX 2060 is a mid-range performer, which aligns with its measured performance in Outriders where it handles 1080p with ease but struggles at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested hardware combinations for Outriders, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 1399 out of 1693 combos. This places it in the lower half of all tested configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's mid-range status. The rank reflects the overall performance across all resolutions and settings, and the data shows that while the combo is capable at 1080p, its 4K performance drags down its overall standing.

The Intel Core i5-12400F itself has a percentile ranking of 77 among all CPUs, indicating it is a strong processor that is not the bottleneck in this system. The GPU, however, has a percentile ranking of 58 among all GPUs, which is notably lower. This disparity confirms that the RTX 2060 is the weaker link in the pairing, and the combo's rank of 1399 out of 1693 is a direct result of the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and a single-core score of 2332, show it is more than capable of feeding the GPU, but the GPU cannot keep up with the demands of 4K rendering in this game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has a 65 W TDP and is built on Intel's 10 nm process. The cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, but the benchmark results do not indicate a significant memory bottleneck. Its average benchmark score is 19221, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-8700K with a score of 19210 and a deltaPct of 0.1, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS with a score of 19364 and a deltaPct of -0.7.

In Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows that the i5-12400F is not the limiting factor in this combo. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 189.4 FPS, which is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU can handle the workload without becoming a bottleneck. The single-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R20 single-core score of 979 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 909, is strong enough to support high frame rates. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518, ensures that the CPU does not struggle with background tasks or game engine threading. The conclusion from the data is that the i5-12400F provides ample headroom, and any performance issues in Outriders are attributable to the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combo are as follows. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 189.4 at Low settings to 73.1 at Ultra. The Medium preset delivers 137.5 FPS, and the High preset delivers 100.3 FPS. At 2560x1440, the performance drops, with Low delivering 116.9 FPS, Medium delivering 85 FPS, High delivering 67.1 FPS, and Ultra delivering 47.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, the results are significantly lower: Low delivers 60.2 FPS, Medium delivers 43.4 FPS, High delivers 31.4 FPS, and Ultra delivers 23.2 FPS.

The data reveals a clear pattern. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 116.3 FPS, while at 1440p it is 69.6 FPS, and at 4K it is 37 FPS. This shrinking gap indicates that the GPU is becoming the sole bottleneck as resolution increases. At 1080p, the settings have a larger impact because the GPU has more headroom, but at 4K, even the lowest settings cannot overcome the raw pixel count. The average FPS at 4K Low of 60.2 is the only playable result at that resolution, and it is barely above the 60 FPS threshold. The benchmark results confirm that this system is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being a viable secondary option at Medium or High settings, and 4K requiring significant compromises.