Outriders

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers a surprisingly capable Outriders experience, though the data reveals a system that is heavily skewed toward CPU performance. The 14-core, 20-thread processor sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, while the 6 GB Turing-based GPU lands in only the 58th percentile of all GPUs. This imbalance manifests clearly in the measured frame rates, where the CPU can push the GPU to its absolute limits at lower resolutions, but the graphics card becomes the definitive bottleneck as resolution and settings increase. The benchmark results show a combo that ranks 1396th out of 1693 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of systems for this specific looter shooter.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution/settings combination for this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1080p High produces an average of 100.2 FPS, while 1440p High drops to 62.8 FPS. For a balanced experience, 1440p Medium at 86.5 FPS offers a strong compromise between visual quality and smoothness.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49367, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K (49166) and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (49062). It trails the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.5% (49595).

Q: Is the RTX 2060 still relevant for modern gaming?

A: In this title, the 6 GB GPU delivers playable results at 1080p and 1440p. It averages 75.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 46 FPS at 1440p Ultra, making it viable for high-refresh 1080p play but struggling at 4K Ultra, where it only manages 25.8 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors?

A: The RTX 2060's average benchmark score is 16074, which is 0.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (15996) and 1.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15786). It trails both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Radeon Pro 5700 by 1.7% (both at 16351).

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance like?

A: The i5-14600KF scores 32889 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 13813 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Its PassMark multithread score is 38697, indicating strong parallel processing capability that helps maintain high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: Does the GPU support modern graphics APIs?

A: Yes, the RTX 2060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. This ensures compatibility with Outriders' modern rendering requirements.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 contributes 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's Turing architecture operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications place the GPU in the 58th percentile of all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 16074.

In Outriders, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales. At 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to keep pace with the powerful CPU, but the 6 GB memory capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher settings. The data shows a stark contrast between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution: at 4K, the RTX 2060 averages 60.3 FPS on Low but drops to 25.8 FPS on Ultra. This 34.5 FPS gap indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading units are quickly saturated by the game's visual effects.

The GPU's 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s. These figures suggest the card can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming well, but the 6 GB VRAM capacity is the primary constraint at 4K Ultra, where the game likely exceeds the available memory, causing severe frame rate drops.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the system averages 100.2 FPS, which drops to 62.8 FPS at 1440p High, a 37.4% reduction. Moving to 4K High further reduces performance to 32 FPS, a 49% drop from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 2060 becomes the limiting component as pixel count rises.

The Low settings tell a different story. At 1080p Low, the system hits 187.3 FPS, demonstrating that the i5-14600KF can feed the GPU exceptionally well when graphical load is minimal. At 1440p Low, the frame rate remains high at 118.7 FPS, but 4K Low drops to 60.3 FPS. The transition from 1080p Low to 1440p Low represents a 36.6% decrease, while 1440p Low to 4K Low shows a 49.2% decrease.

The Ultra preset amplifies the GPU bottleneck. The system achieves 75.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra, but this falls to 46 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 39.4% drop) and 25.8 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 43.9% drop from 1440p). The data suggests that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor in this configuration; instead, the GPU's compute throughput and memory bandwidth dictate performance at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration shows strong performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 187.3 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates the CPU is capable of driving well over 180 frames per second when the GPU load is light. Medium settings reduce this to 134.6 FPS, while High settings yield 100.2 FPS. Ultra settings bring the average down to 75.9 FPS, still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain playable but show the GPU's growing influence. Low settings still manage 118.7 FPS, demonstrating that the CPU can maintain high throughput. Medium settings drop to 86.5 FPS, High to 62.8 FPS, and Ultra to 46 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result falls below 60 FPS, suggesting that players seeking a consistent 60 FPS experience should stick to High settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2060 struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 60.3 FPS, which is just at the edge of acceptability. Medium settings drop to 45.5 FPS, High to 32 FPS, and Ultra to 25.8 FPS. These results clearly indicate that 4K gaming is only viable with Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is barely playable for a fast-paced looter shooter.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 1396th out of 1693 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 17.5th percentile of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily due to the GPU's limited performance relative to the CPU. The i5-14600KF's synthetic benchmarks show it outperforming the Intel Core i5-14600K by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X by 0.6%, but the RTX 2060's performance is only 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S.

The disparity between CPU and GPU performance is stark. The processor's average benchmark score of 49367 places it in the 93rd percentile, while the graphics card's score of 16074 sits in the 58th percentile. This 35-percentage-point gap explains why the combo ranks poorly overall: the system is bottlenecked by the GPU in almost every gaming scenario. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system can reach 187.3 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 25.8 FPS, illustrating how the GPU holds back the otherwise powerful CPU.

The ranking suggests that users with this combo would benefit from a GPU upgrade to better match the i5-14600KF's capabilities. However, for 1080p gaming, the current configuration performs admirably, delivering over 100 FPS on High settings and nearly 76 FPS on Ultra, making it a viable option for competitive play where high refresh rates matter more than absolute visual fidelity.