Outriders

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination delivers a versatile 1080p and 1440p experience in Outriders, with 4K requiring significant settings compromises. The data shows a clear progression where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for the game’s physics and AI workloads at lower resolutions. This pairing sits in the 1236th position out of 2913 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, and the measured frames per second (FPS) values reveal a component balance that favors high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic performance curve as resolution increases, highlighting how the AMD Radeon RX 7700 scales under load. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 229 FPS, which drops to 189 FPS at Medium and 142 FPS at High. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces an average of 102 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the same settings progression yields 164 FPS at Low, 119 FPS at Medium, 89 FPS at High, and 65 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, the numbers compress significantly: 86 FPS at Low, 62 FPS at Medium, 47 FPS at High, and 34 FPS at Ultra.

The scaling pattern between 1080p and 1440p shows a roughly 25-30% performance reduction across most settings, which is consistent with a GPU that has sufficient bandwidth and compute resources. The RX 7700’s 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth and 256-bit bus width help maintain playable frame rates at 1440p, even on the High preset where 89 FPS average is solidly in smooth territory. The gap between 1440p and 4K is more punishing: High settings drop from 89 FPS to 47 FPS, a 47% reduction, while Ultra falls from 65 FPS to 34 FPS, a 48% loss. This indicates that 4K pushes the GPU into a state where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, and the 25.18 TFLOPS FP32 compute rating is insufficient for maxed-out 4K in Outriders.

The transition from Low to Ultra at each resolution also reveals scaling efficiency. At 1080p, the spread from Low (229 FPS) to Ultra (102 FPS) is 127 FPS, showing that the CPU can feed the GPU well even at high frame rates. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 99 FPS (164 to 65), and at 4K it compresses further to 52 FPS (86 to 34). This tightening spread at higher resolutions is a classic sign of GPU limitation—the rendering workload grows faster than the CPU-related overhead, so the frame rate differences shrink as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. For 4K gaming, the data suggests that Medium settings (62 FPS) are the practical ceiling for a consistently smooth experience, while Low (86 FPS) provides a better margin for action-heavy scenes.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, which are the frequencies that appear in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark score of 2865. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a substantial pool for Outriders’ detailed environments and particle effects. The card’s 40 ray accelerators and 96 ROPs contribute to its DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support, and the 12_2 feature level aligns with the game’s modern rendering requirements.

In the context of Outriders, the GPU’s memory capacity is more than adequate—the game does not appear to exceed 16 GB at any tested settings, even at 4K Ultra where the average FPS falls to 34. The performance degradation from High to Ultra at 4K (47 to 34 FPS, a 28% drop) suggests that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that heavily tax the GPU’s compute units rather than memory bandwidth. The RX 7700’s 2560 shading units and 160 TMUs handle texture-heavy scenes well, but the 4K Ultra result indicates that the card’s raw fillrate limits are reached when combined with high-resolution rendering.

The GPU’s benchmark percentile of 58 among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, and its nearest rivals in the database—the AMD Radeon R9 370X (0.1% lower average score), AMD Radeon RX 9060 (1% higher), AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.1% lower), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% higher)—show that it competes closely with older and newer mid-range cards. In Outriders specifically, the measured FPS at 1440p High (89 FPS) and 4K Medium (62 FPS) demonstrate that the GPU has enough headroom for smooth gameplay at mainstream resolutions, but the 4K Ultra result of 34 FPS makes it clear that this card is not intended for maximum 4K settings in this title. The 200 W TDP and 2x 8-pin power connectors are consistent with this performance class, and the 550 W suggested PSU aligns with typical mid-range system builds.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings profile for this combo depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, the High preset (142 FPS average) offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as it stays well above 100 FPS while providing enhanced textures and lighting compared to Medium (189 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1080p (102 FPS) is still playable, but the 28% performance cost over High yields diminishing visual returns in a fast-paced looter shooter where consistent frame pacing matters more than minor shadows and reflections.

For 1440p, the High preset (89 FPS) is the recommended choice for most players, as it provides a smooth experience on 1440p monitors with refresh rates up to 90 Hz. The Medium preset (119 FPS) is the better option for competitive players with 120 Hz or 144 Hz displays, since it maintains a higher frame rate while sacrificing some ambient occlusion and volumetric effects. The Ultra preset at 1440p (65 FPS) is only suitable for players who prioritize image quality over responsiveness, and the Low preset (164 FPS) is reserved for maximum frame rate in competitive modes where visual clutter can be a distraction.

At 4K, the Medium preset (62 FPS) is the sweet spot, as it delivers a frame rate that is high enough for most console-style gaming experiences without the severe dips seen at High (47 FPS). The Low preset (86 FPS) provides a smoother experience but with noticeably reduced texture detail and draw distances, which can impact gameplay readability in Outriders’ dense environments. The Ultra preset at 4K (34 FPS) is effectively unplayable for action sequences, as the frame rate falls below the 40 FPS threshold where input lag becomes noticeable. The min FPS values recorded for Medium settings—53 FPS at 4K, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 161 FPS at 1080p—show that the Medium preset maintains a stable frame buffer, making it the safest choice for consistent performance across all resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Outriders at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only with reduced settings. The measured data shows 86 FPS at Low, 62 FPS at Medium, 47 FPS at High, and 34 FPS at Ultra at 3840x2160. For a consistently smooth experience, Medium is the highest recommended preset, as it maintains a 62 FPS average with a 53 FPS minimum.

Q: How does the RX 7700 compare to its closest rivals in the database?

A: The RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Radeon R9 370X, 1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060, 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500, and 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. These deltas are within a narrow band, indicating near-identical average performance.

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

A: The data indicates that 1440p is the sweet spot. At High settings, the combo delivers 89 FPS, which is smooth for most monitors, while 1440p Medium reaches 119 FPS for higher refresh rate displays. At 1080p, the combo can exceed 140 FPS on High, but the visual fidelity improvement at 1440p is worth the frame rate trade-off.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 229 FPS, which is well above the GPU’s capability at higher settings. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 25-30% drop, which is typical of GPU-bound scenarios. The CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads provide enough headroom to avoid bottlenecking, even at 1080p Ultra where 102 FPS is achieved.

Q: How much performance is lost between Medium and High settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, High (142 FPS) is 25% lower than Medium (189 FPS). At 1440p, High (89 FPS) is 25% lower than Medium (119 FPS). At 4K, High (47 FPS) is 24% lower than Medium (62 FPS). The consistent reduction shows that High settings impose a similar relative cost across resolutions.

Q: Is the 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Outriders?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is more than enough for all tested settings. The highest preset (4K Ultra) still delivers 34 FPS average, indicating that the frame rate is limited by compute performance rather than memory capacity. The 624.1 GB/s bandwidth also supports high-resolution textures without stutter.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 combination ranks 1236th out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 42.4th percentile of all systems in the database. This rank indicates that the combo outperforms a majority of tested configurations, but it sits below the top tier where high-end CPUs and GPUs dominate. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 32279 places it in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU’s average score of 15852 places it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs. The gap between these percentiles suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, as the CPU has more relative headroom than the graphics card.

The combo rank of 1236 out of 2913 means that roughly 1677 other combinations deliver higher frame rates in Outriders, which is expected given that the RX 7700 competes with mid-range cards like the RTX 3060 Ti (1.7% higher average GPU score). The i5-14400F’s nearest CPU rivals—the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (0.1% higher score), Intel Core i9-11900 (0.2% higher), AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS (0.2% lower), and Intel Core i7-12800H (0.5% higher)—all fall within a 0.7% band, showing that the CPU’s processing power is on par with a wide range of mobile and desktop chips. This means that swapping the CPU for any of these rivals would yield negligible changes in Outriders performance, as the GPU remains the primary constraint.

For context, the combo’s position in the 42nd percentile of all tested systems means it sits near the median of the database, but this includes many high-end configurations with flagship GPUs. Among combos with similar GPU-class hardware, the ranking would be higher, as the i5-14400F’s strong single-threaded performance (3055 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures that the CPU does not drag down the GPU’s capabilities. The measured FPS data confirms this balance: at 1440p High, the 89 FPS result is competitive with what other mid-range GPUs would achieve, and the 4K Medium result of 62 FPS shows that the combo can handle high-resolution gaming with settings adjustments. Overall, this rank reflects a solid mid-range pairing that excels at 1080p and 1440p, with 4K as a secondary consideration.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F features 10 cores and 16 threads, combining 6 performance cores and 4 efficient cores in a Raptor Lake architecture. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz provide strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3055 and the Geekbench single-core score of 2058. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency in gaming workloads, and the CPU’s support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory gives builders flexibility in system configuration.

In Outriders, the CPU’s role is most apparent at lower resolutions where frame rates are high. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 229 FPS, which requires the CPU to process game logic and draw calls rapidly enough to feed the GPU. The i5-14400F’s 16 threads handle this workload effectively, as the frame rate at 1080p Low is 33% higher than at 1440p Low (164 FPS), indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor at these settings. The CPU’s Passmark multithread score of 25470 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21645 demonstrate substantial parallel processing capability, which is useful for Outriders’ enemy AI and particle calculations.

The CPU’s benchmark percentile of 83 among all CPUs places it well above the GPU’s 58th percentile, confirming that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card. This is reflected in the frame rate scaling: from 1080p to 4K at High settings, the FPS drops from 142 to 47, a 67% reduction that is almost entirely attributable to GPU load. The CPU’s nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U and Intel Core i9-11900, all score within 0.5% of the i5-14400F’s average, meaning that any of these processors would produce nearly identical results in Outriders. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility make it a straightforward upgrade path, and the lack of integrated graphics means a discrete GPU is mandatory, which is already accounted for in this pairing. For Outriders specifically, the CPU provides more than enough performance for 1440p and 4K gaming, and its single-threaded strength ensures consistent frame pacing in combat-heavy scenarios.