Outriders

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a mid-tier experience in Outriders, securing a combo rank of 1410 out of 1693 tested combinations. This placement in the lower 17% of the database indicates that while the pairing is functional for the game, it sits behind the majority of competing systems in overall performance. The data suggests this is a combination that prioritizes accessibility over raw frame rates, with the GPU taking on the primary workload at lower resolutions and the CPU becoming a more significant factor as pixel count rises.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1410 out of 1693 places it firmly in the lower quartile of tested configurations. This is not a top-tier result, but it reflects a system that can play Outriders with adjustments. The ranking is a composite of both components’ capabilities, and the data shows that neither part carries the other to a higher standing. The CPU, scoring an average benchmark of 2305, sits at the 50th percentile among all processors, indicating a perfectly average part. The GPU, with an average score of 20258, reaches the 63rd percentile among all graphics cards, which is a slightly stronger relative position.

The nearest rivals for the CPU provide context for its mid-pack status. The Intel Core i3-10305 and i3-1125G4 are essentially tied with the i5-9400, scoring 2300 and 2299 respectively, with deltaPct values of 0.2%. The Intel Xeon E-2134 is also within a hair, scoring 2295 and a 0.4% delta. On the other side, the Intel Core i7-8809G scores 2319, which is a 0.6% delta, showing the i5-9400 is not significantly outclassed by its immediate neighbors. This close grouping reinforces the notion that the CPU is a solid, if unspectacular, foundation.

For the GPU, the rivals are equally telling. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 20146, a 0.6% delta, and the RX 460 scores 20088, a 0.8% delta, meaning they are effectively identical to the RX 7600 in aggregate benchmarks. Conversely, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (-1.3%) and the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556 (-1.5%), both slightly ahead. This suggests the RX 7600 is a competent mid-range card, but its performance in Outriders is likely constrained by the CPU in certain scenarios, dragging the overall combo rank down.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the more capable half of this pairing, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 33 chip. It operates at a base clock of 1720 MHz and a boost clock of 2655 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz, allowing it to handle Outriders’ demands when given sufficient data. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a crucial factor for texture-heavy scenes in a looter shooter. Its 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs contribute to a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s, giving it enough throughput for the game’s effects.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is 21.75 TFLOPS, which is a strong figure for rasterization. The data shows that at 1080p, the card is the primary driver of performance, with frame rates scaling directly with settings. At 1440p, it remains dominant, but the gap between low and high settings narrows. However, at 4K, the GPU’s limitations become clear, as it struggles to maintain high frame rates on higher settings. The card’s performance percentile of 63, compared to the CPU’s 50, indicates that the GPU is the stronger link in this chain, yet it is not powerful enough to fully compensate for the CPU’s older architecture at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, running on a 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, boosting to 4.10 GHz, which provides adequate single-thread performance for Outriders. The CPU has 9 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. Its Cinebench R23 scores of 7969 multi-core and 1125 single-core place it as an average performer, which is reflected in its 50th percentile standing.

In Outriders, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates are higher and the GPU can push more frames. At 128.2 FPS on low settings, the system is likely nearing the CPU’s limit, as the GPU has headroom but the processor cannot feed it faster. The CPU’s six threads are sufficient for the game’s core logic, but the data indicates that higher thread counts would provide a benefit in this scenario. As resolution increases, the CPU’s load decreases relative to the GPU, making it less of a bottleneck at 1440p and 4K. The CPU’s performance against rivals, such as the i3-10305 with a 0.2% delta, shows it is not trailing modern counterparts by a wide margin, but it lacks the headroom of newer designs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of this combo’s capabilities across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1080p, the system is capable of high frame rates: it achieves 128.2 FPS on low settings, 116.4 FPS on medium, 99.9 FPS on high, and 80.2 FPS on ultra. These numbers show a smooth scaling, with about a 20 FPS drop from low to high, and a further 20 FPS drop to ultra.

Moving to 1440p, the performance remains respectable but shows the GPU’s increasing load. The average FPS is 108.2 on low, 92.7 on medium, 71.8 on high, and 49.9 on ultra. The drop from low to ultra is over 58 FPS, indicating that the GPU is now the limiting factor, as the CPU’s influence wanes. At 4K, the system struggles on higher settings: 71.2 FPS on low, 49.3 FPS on medium, 36.3 FPS on high, and 26.9 FPS on ultra. The ultra preset’s result is below the 30 FPS threshold, making it not viable for smooth play, while high settings are marginal.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a significant shift in the system’s bottleneck. From 1080p to 4K, the FPS drops are substantial, but they are not uniform across settings. At low settings, the drop from 128.2 FPS at 1080p to 71.2 FPS at 4K is a 44% reduction, showing that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count with some efficiency. At high settings, the drop from 99.9 FPS to 36.3 FPS is a 64% reduction, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading power are overwhelmed.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less severe: at medium settings, the drop from 116.4 FPS to 92.7 FPS is a 20% reduction, which is manageable. However, the jump to 4K is where the combo breaks down. At ultra settings, the 4K result of 26.9 FPS is a 66% drop from the 1080p result of 80.2 FPS, making the game unplayable at that preset. This data points to the GPU being the primary limiter at 4K, as the CPU’s relative load decreases with resolution. Conversely, at 1080p, the smaller FPS gap between low and high settings (128.2 vs. 99.9) suggests the CPU is starting to cap the system’s output, as the GPU has enough power to render frames faster than the processor can issue draw calls. The data shows that this combination is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings compromises.