Outriders

# Outriders Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-12600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a thoroughly playable Outriders experience across most resolution and settings combinations, with the data showing a clear GPU-bound profile at higher resolutions and a more balanced workload at 1080p. The combo ranks 1827th out of 3710 tested configurations for this game, placing it in the upper half of all systems. At 1440p High, the system produces 84 FPS average, which is smooth for a looter shooter, while 4K Ultra drops to 32 FPS, making that preset effectively unplayable. The measured results reveal that the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface become the primary limiting factors at 4K, while the i5-12600KF's 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for the game's CPU demands.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, indicating that the RTX 4060 is the dominant bottleneck as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the system delivers 242 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K — that represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 48% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern at Medium settings is similar: 178 FPS at 1080p, 112 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p-to-4K drop being 47%. High settings show 134 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K, while Ultra settings produce 97 FPS, 61 FPS, and 32 FPS respectively.

This scaling behavior strongly suggests the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors at 4K. The RTX 4060's 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 128-bit bus width are modest for 4K rendering, and the data reflects this: at 4K Ultra, the system only manages 32 FPS, which is 67% lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 97 FPS. The fact that 4K Low (81 FPS) still cannot reach the 1080p Ultra figure (97 FPS) further confirms that resolution-dependent overheads—likely pixel throughput and memory pressure—cap performance well below what the CPU could otherwise support.

The 1080p-to-1440p scaling is more moderate, with average drops of 36% at Low, 37% at Medium, 37% at High, and 37% at Ultra. This consistency across presets indicates that the resolution change itself, rather than specific settings, drives the performance cost. At 1440p High, the system sustains 84 FPS, which is 37% lower than 1080p High's 134 FPS; this suggests that 1440p is a reasonable target for high-refresh gaming, while 4K requires significant settings compromises to remain playable. The data shows that Outriders at 4K with this hardware is only viable at Low (81 FPS) or Medium (59 FPS) presets, with High and Ultra falling below 50 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, provides the graphical foundation for this system. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, and the card operates at a base clock of 1830 MHz with a boost clock of 2460 MHz. The GPU's 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units work together to produce the measured frame rates, and its 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance places it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's role in Outriders becomes evident when examining the 4K results. At 4K Medium, the system produces 59 FPS average with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS; this 18 FPS spread between minimum and maximum suggests inconsistent frame pacing, likely due to memory bandwidth saturation. The 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS is particularly telling—this is below the 30 FPS threshold for playability, and the 12 FPS gap between 4K Medium and 4K Ultra (59 vs 32) demonstrates that the Ultra preset's additional effects overwhelm the GPU's capabilities. In contrast, the 1080p Medium result shows a minimum of 152 FPS and a maximum of 205 FPS, a 53 FPS range that still maintains high playability.

The RTX 4060's nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (average score 17666, delta -0.2%), AMD Radeon 780M (17588, delta 0.3%), AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, delta 0.5%), and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (17509, delta 0.7%). These deltas are all within 1% of the RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 17639, meaning that in synthetic tests, the card is essentially on par with these older or integrated solutions. However, in Outriders specifically, the measured FPS data shows the RTX 4060 performing capably at 1080p and 1440p, with the 8 GB VRAM capacity being sufficient for those resolutions but marginal at 4K where texture and geometry demands increase.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p High (84 FPS) as the sweet spot, balancing visual quality and smoothness. 1080p High delivers 134 FPS for high-refresh monitors, while 4K is only playable at Low (81 FPS) or Medium (59 FPS) settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4060's VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth appears insufficient for 4K Ultra, which produces only 32 FPS. The steep drop from 4K Medium (59 FPS) to 4K Ultra (32 FPS) suggests memory capacity or bandwidth saturation at the highest preset.

Q: Is the i5-12600KF a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and 16-thread score of 7956 indicate strong processing power. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 242 FPS, which is likely near the GPU's maximum output; the CPU does not appear to limit performance in the measured rows.

Q: What settings preset provides the most consistent frame times?

A: The Medium preset shows the only measured minimum and maximum FPS values across all resolutions: 152-205 FPS at 1080p, 96-129 FPS at 1440p, and 50-68 FPS at 4K. This indicates more predictable frame pacing compared to other presets.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems in the database?

A: The combination ranks 1827th out of 3710 tested configurations for Outriders. The CPU's average benchmark score of 27799 places it in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU's average score of 17639 places it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

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

A: Yes, but only at reduced settings. The data shows 81 FPS at 4K Low and 59 FPS at 4K Medium, both of which are playable. 4K High (44 FPS) and 4K Ultra (32 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold and are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results across all presets. Low settings produce 242 FPS average, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings achieve 178 FPS average with a minimum of 152 FPS and maximum of 205 FPS, providing a wide but consistently high frame range. High settings drop to 134 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 97 FPS average. All 1080p presets exceed the 60 FPS threshold, and even the lowest measured minimum (152 FPS at Medium) is well above what most displays can show.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected reduction from 1080p. Low settings deliver 155 FPS average, Medium achieves 112 FPS with a minimum of 96 FPS and maximum of 129 FPS, High produces 84 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 96 FPS means that even the worst-case frame times stay above 60 FPS, while the Ultra preset's 61 FPS average is borderline for smooth gameplay. High settings at 84 FPS offer a good balance for 1440p monitors with refresh rates up to 144 Hz.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings achieve 81 FPS average, which is playable but below the 100 FPS mark seen at lower resolutions. Medium settings produce 59 FPS average with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, meaning frame times can dip below the 60 FPS threshold. High settings drop to 44 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32 FPS. The 4K results show a clear hierarchy: only Low and Medium presets are viable for comfortable gameplay, with High and Ultra requiring significant compromises or frame rate tolerance.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at each preset is consistent: Low drops from 242 to 81 FPS (a 66% reduction), Medium from 178 to 59 FPS (67% reduction), High from 134 to 44 FPS (67% reduction), and Ultra from 97 to 32 FPS (67% reduction). This uniform scaling pattern indicates that pixel count, rather than specific settings, is the primary driver of performance loss at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF, based on the Alder Lake architecture, provides substantial processing power for Outriders. Its 10 cores and 16 threads run at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost to 4.90 GHz, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark results are strong: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 23391 and single-core scores 3302, while Geekbench multicore scores 12137 and single-core scores 2157. These figures place the CPU in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27799.

In the context of Outriders, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 242 FPS, which is likely near the maximum output of the RTX 4060 at that resolution and settings level. The CPU's 3DMark 2-thread score of 1995 and 4-thread score of 3806 suggest that single-threaded and lightly-threaded workloads are well-handled, which is relevant for a game like Outriders that may not fully utilize all 16 threads. The near-identical 3DMark 16-thread (7956) and max-thread (7952) scores indicate that the CPU's scaling plateaus beyond 16 threads, but this is unlikely to affect gaming performance.

Comparing to the CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-12600KF's average score of 27799 is 0.3% below the Intel Core i9-10900K (27872), 0.3% above the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (27712), 0.3% below the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (27887), and 0.3% below the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27896). These deltas are negligible, meaning that in synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12600KF performs essentially on par with these other processors. In Outriders specifically, the CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core 3302) ensures that the game's core logic and physics calculations are handled without bottlenecking the GPU at most settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best overall experience across all resolutions, as it is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating more predictable frame pacing. At 1080p, Medium delivers 178 FPS average with 152 FPS minimum, which is far above the 60 FPS threshold and suitable for high-refresh displays. At 1440p, Medium produces 112 FPS average with 96 FPS minimum, maintaining smooth gameplay even during demanding sequences. At 4K, Medium achieves 59 FPS average with 50 FPS minimum, which is playable but with occasional dips below 60 FPS.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, High settings at 1080p (134 FPS) or 1440p (84 FPS) are viable, but 4K High (44 FPS) falls below playable thresholds. The Ultra preset is only recommended at 1080p, where it achieves 97 FPS; at 1440p (61 FPS) it is borderline, and at 4K (32 FPS) it is not recommended. The Low preset, while achieving the highest frame rates (242 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p, 81 FPS at 4K), sacrifices visual quality and should be reserved for competitive play or when maximum frame rates are needed.

The data suggests that the optimal configuration for this system is 1440p with Medium settings, as it provides a 112 FPS average with a 96 FPS minimum, ensuring consistent performance above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining playable visual quality. For 4K users, Medium settings at 59 FPS is the highest playable preset, though users sensitive to frame drops may prefer Low at 81 FPS. At 1080p, any preset from Medium to Ultra provides a smooth experience, with Medium offering the best balance of quality and performance given its predictable frame times.