Outriders

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 pairing delivers a solid 1080p and 1440p experience in Outriders, though 4K Ultra proves too demanding. The data shows the combination is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p with High settings, or a balanced 1440p experience on Medium. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across all resolutions and settings.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the High preset at 1920x1080 is the optimal configuration for this combo, delivering an average of 119 FPS. This frame rate comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold and approaches the 144 Hz refresh rate that many modern displays target, making it the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. The jump from High to Ultra at this resolution costs 33 FPS (from 119 to 86), a 27.7% performance penalty that yields diminishing visual returns in a fast-paced looter shooter where responsiveness matters more than marginal texture improvements.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 produces an exceptional 218 FPS average. This configuration is ideal for competitive play or for users with 240 Hz monitors, though the visual downgrade is significant. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a middle ground at 158 FPS, which is still excellent and provides a meaningful visual upgrade over Low while maintaining high frame rates.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset emerges as the sweet spot, delivering 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS. This ensures smooth gameplay even during intense combat sequences with multiple enemies and particle effects. The High preset at 1440p drops to 75 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The data suggests that 1440p users should stick with Medium to maintain consistency, as the minimum frame rate of 85 FPS on Medium provides a much safer buffer than the unmeasured minimums on High.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p it yields 86 FPS, at 1440p it falls to 54 FPS, and at 4K it drops to an unplayable 28 FPS. The performance cost of Ultra settings is disproportionately high across the board, making it a poor choice for this hardware combination. For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option at 72 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial; the Medium preset at 4K produces only 52 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 4K is only playable on Low settings, yielding 72 FPS average. Medium drops to 52 FPS, High to 39 FPS, and Ultra to 28 FPS. For a consistently smooth experience, 1080p or 1440p are the recommended resolutions.

Q: What is the best setting for maximum FPS at 1080p?

A: The Low preset produces the highest measured average at 218 FPS. However, the High preset at 119 FPS offers a better visual experience while still maintaining high frame rates suitable for most displays.

Q: How does the RTX 5050's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 21035, placing it slightly below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153, 0.6% slower) and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237, 1% slower). It outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713) by 1.6%.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this GPU in Outriders?

A: The CPU scores in the 77th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 25292. Its performance is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (25284, 0% difference) and AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (25201, 0.4% faster), suggesting it provides ample processing power for the RTX 5050.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 FPS and a maximum of 115 FPS. This provides a consistent and smooth gaming experience at 1440p.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide acceptable performance?

A: Only at 1080p, where it achieves 86 FPS. At 1440p it drops to 54 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 28 FPS, both of which are below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the primary determinant of frame rates in Outriders, as evidenced by the dramatic performance swings when adjusting settings. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the data suggests it struggles with the higher memory demands of 4K Ultra settings, where average FPS collapses to 28.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2317 MHz base and 2572 MHz boost, with memory running at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 2560 shading units and 80 texture mapping units, produce a texture fill rate of 205.8 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s. The FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS indicates the card's raw compute capability, which translates to the measured frame rates across resolutions.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor at higher resolutions. The transition from 1440p to 4K on High settings results in a 48% performance drop (from 75 to 39 FPS), which is more severe than the resolution scaling alone would suggest. This indicates the GPU is hitting memory bandwidth or capacity limits at 4K, particularly with higher quality textures. The RTX 5050's 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured data does not include these features enabled.

In terms of overall GPU performance, the RTX 5050 sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 21035. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, scores 21153, a mere 0.6% difference. The card's passmark G3D score of 17326 and DirectX 12 score of 66 provide additional context for its gaming capabilities. The GPU's 130 W TDP and single 8-pin power connector suggest it is a power-efficient option that pairs well with the 65 W TDP CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F and RTX 5050 combination ranks 1715 out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 41st percentile of all system configurations. This ranking reflects a mid-pack position, indicating that while the combo is capable of smooth 1080p and 1440p gaming, it is not among the top-tier configurations for this title. The rank is influenced by the GPU's modest standing in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, which limits performance at higher resolutions and settings.

The CPU's strong showing in the 77th percentile of all CPUs (average score 25292) helps boost the combo's ranking. The i5-13400F's 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, provide robust multi-threaded performance that prevents CPU bottlenecks in Outriders' enemy-dense encounters. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604 and single-core score of 3191 demonstrate its capability to feed the GPU with sufficient frame data.

The combo's ranking is more heavily weighted by GPU performance, as evidenced by the significant frame rate differences between settings. The RTX 5050's nearest rivals in benchmark scores are all within a 1.6% margin, showing that this GPU sits in a highly competitive performance band. The combination's rank of 1715 suggests that users seeking higher frame rates at 4K or with Ultra settings would need to consider a more powerful GPU, while the current setup is well-optimized for 1080p High and 1440p Medium gaming.

Compared to the combined performance of the individual components, the combo performs as expected. The CPU's performance is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (25284 vs 25292, 0% difference) and slightly behind the Intel Core 5 120 (25362, -0.3% difference). This indicates the CPU is not a limiting factor in the combo's ranking. The GPU's performance, while adequate for mainstream gaming, prevents the combo from achieving a higher rank in Outriders, where Ultra settings and 4K resolution demand more graphics horsepower.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals distinct scaling patterns across resolutions. At 1080p, the High preset achieves 119 FPS, which drops to 75 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and further to 39 FPS at 4K (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load increases proportionally with pixel count. The RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly taxed as resolution increases.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 218 FPS at 1080p, 137 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 72 FPS at 4K (67% drop). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the GPU's compute capability, rather than memory bandwidth, is the primary limiting factor. The Medium preset follows the same pattern: 158 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 52 FPS at 4K (67% drop).

The Ultra preset exhibits slightly different scaling behavior: 86 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 28 FPS at 4K (67% drop). The consistent 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings indicates that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count uniformly, without hitting memory capacity limits at 1440p. However, the 4K performance on Ultra (28 FPS) and High (39 FPS) suggests that 8 GB of VRAM is insufficient for 4K with high-quality textures, as the performance degradation exceeds what pure pixel count scaling would predict.

The data clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting component in this combo. The CPU's strong single-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3191) and multi-threaded capability (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604) are more than sufficient for Outriders at any resolution. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering workload, with no evidence of CPU bottlenecks even at 4K Low where the GPU produces 72 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5050 delivers its strongest performance. The Low preset produces the highest average at 218 FPS, followed by Medium at 158 FPS (with a minimum of 135 and maximum of 182). The High preset achieves 119 FPS, while Ultra drops to 86 FPS. These results show a clear hierarchy, with each settings tier providing a substantial frame rate increase over the next.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low remains the fastest at 137 FPS, followed by Medium at 100 FPS (minimum 85, maximum 115). High achieves 75 FPS, and Ultra falls to 54 FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 100 FPS is particularly noteworthy, as it provides an excellent balance of visual quality and smoothness for users with 1440p 144Hz monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low is the only setting that maintains playable frame rates at 72 FPS. Medium drops to 52 FPS (minimum 44, maximum 60), High falls to 39 FPS, and Ultra is essentially unplayable at 28 FPS. The 4K results indicate that the RTX 5050 is not designed for high-fidelity 4K gaming in Outriders, as even Medium settings struggle to maintain 60 FPS consistently.

The complete FPS breakdown shows a consistent pattern across all resolutions: Low provides roughly twice the frame rate of Ultra, with Medium and High falling in between. The measured minimum and maximum values for Medium settings (135-182 at 1080p, 85-115 at 1440p, 44-60 at 4K) provide valuable insight into frame time consistency, showing that the 1440p Medium configuration offers the most stable experience relative to its average.