Outriders

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination delivers a playable 1080p experience in Outriders, but the data reveals a hard ceiling at higher resolutions. At 1920x1080, the combo averages 93 FPS on High settings and 67 FPS on Ultra, making it a solid 60+ FPS performer for most presets. However, the measured results show a steep drop-off at 2560x1440 and especially at 3840x2160, where even Medium settings struggle to maintain 60 FPS. The GTX 1070’s 8 GB VRAM and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s textures, but the GPU’s raw compute power (6.463 TFLOPS) becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. This pairing ranks 3138 out of 3710 tested combos, placing it in the lower half of the database but still within a usable range for 1080p gaming.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the only resolution where all settings exceed 60 FPS. Low settings hit 128 FPS, Medium hits 114 FPS, High hits 93 FPS, and Ultra hits 67 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (107 FPS) and Medium (78 FPS) stay above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1070’s VRAM affect performance at 4K?

A: The GTX 1070 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit bus and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth. At 3840x2160, High settings only reach 31 FPS, while Ultra drops to 22 FPS. The VRAM capacity is not the bottleneck; the GPU’s 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 compute is insufficient for 4K rendering.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a bottleneck for the GTX 1070 in this game?

A: The i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 6629 and single-core is 935. Given that the FPS drops are consistent with GPU load scaling across resolutions, the CPU appears adequate for 1080p, but the data does not isolate CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 107 FPS, while Ultra averages 42 FPS. This represents a 65 FPS drop (61% reduction). Medium sits at 78 FPS, and High at 58 FPS, showing a steep scaling curve as settings increase.

Q: Does this combo support ray tracing in Outriders?

A: No. The GTX 1070 is based on Pascal architecture with no ray tracing cores (RT cores are null in the data). The GPU supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but lacks hardware acceleration for ray-traced effects.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 3138 out of 3710 tested combos in Outriders. This places it in the 15th percentile of all tested systems, meaning 572 combos perform worse and 3137 perform better.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to a clear sweet spot: 1920x1080 with High settings. This preset delivers 93 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while still offering significant visual quality over Medium (114 FPS) or Low (128 FPS). The jump from High to Ultra costs 26 FPS (93 to 67 FPS), a 28% performance penalty that may not justify the visual gain, though 67 FPS remains playable.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation is Medium settings, which averages 78 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and maximum of 90 FPS. This is the only 1440p setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS in the measured data. High settings at 1440p drop to 58 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target, and Ultra at 42 FPS is not recommended for competitive play.

For 3840x2160, the data suggests Low settings as the only viable option, averaging 56 FPS. Medium drops to 41 FPS (minimum 35 FPS), and High falls to 31 FPS. Ultra at 22 FPS is essentially unplayable. Users targeting 4K should consider this combo only for Low settings and accept sub-60 FPS performance.

Across all resolutions, Ultra settings provide the worst FPS-to-quality ratio. The measured deltas show that Medium often provides a 15-20 FPS advantage over High with minimal visual compromise, while Low offers the highest FPS but sacrifices too much detail for most users.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the primary performance driver in this pairing. With 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, the GPU delivers 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s. The pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s directly impacts fill-rate-bound scenarios, which explains the steep FPS declines at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s memory subsystem consists of 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, providing 256.3 GB/s bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). For Outriders, a looter shooter with dense particle effects and large texture sets, the 8 GB capacity is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the FPS not collapsing due to VRAM swapping in the measured data.

The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a mid-range power envelope, with a suggested 450 W PSU. The card’s boost clock of 1683 MHz (base 1506 MHz) is modest by modern standards but consistent with Pascal architecture. Benchmark data shows the GPU scores 13498 in Passmark G3D and 1082 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 47th percentile of all GPUs.

The nearest rivals in the database include AMD FirePro W5000 (avg score 9803, -0.2% delta) and NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (avg score 9832, -0.5% delta). These are workstation-class cards, indicating the GTX 1070 sits near the boundary between gaming and professional workloads. The GTX 1070’s average benchmark score of 9780 is 2.4% above the AMD FirePro W5000 and 2.6% above the Quadro M2000M.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (Full HD):

The data shows excellent performance across all settings. Low settings average 128 FPS, Medium 114 FPS (minimum 97, maximum 131), High 93 FPS, and Ultra 67 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 61 FPS drop (48% reduction), but every preset clears the 60 FPS line. Medium offers the best balance with a minimum of 97 FPS, ensuring no noticeable stutter.

2560x1440 (Quad HD):

Performance degrades predictably. Low averages 107 FPS, Medium 78 FPS (minimum 66, maximum 90), High 58 FPS, and Ultra 42 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium costs 29 FPS, while Medium to High costs 20 FPS. High and Ultra fall below 60 FPS, making Medium the highest playable preset. The minimum FPS of 66 on Medium indicates occasional dips but no sustained drops.

3840x2160 (4K UHD):

This resolution is largely unplayable except on Low. Low averages 56 FPS, Medium 41 FPS (minimum 35, maximum 47), High 31 FPS, and Ultra 22 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 15 FPS, and between Medium and High is 10 FPS. Ultra’s 22 FPS average is a 61% reduction from Low, showing that the GPU cannot handle 4K’s pixel workload at high quality.

Settings Scaling Analysis:

Across all resolutions, the FPS delta between Low and Medium is approximately 12-15 FPS, Medium to High is 15-20 FPS, and High to Ultra is 25-26 FPS. This indicates that Ultra settings impose a disproportionate cost, likely due to shadows and post-processing effects. The 1080p Medium data (min 97, max 131) shows a 34 FPS variance, suggesting some scene-dependent complexity in Outriders.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination ranks 3138 out of 3710 tested combos in Outriders. This places it in the bottom 15.4% of all tested systems, a lower-mid-tier position. The rank reflects the GPU’s age and the CPU’s limited thread count, but the measured FPS shows the combo is still viable for 1080p gaming.

The GPU alone sits in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 9780. Its nearest rivals are the AMD FirePro W5000 (9803 score, -0.2% delta) and NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9832 score, -0.5% delta), meaning the GTX 1070 is statistically tied with these workstation cards. The CPU, in the 47th percentile with an average score of 2254, has nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259, -0.2% delta) and Intel Core i3-10305 (2264, -0.4% delta).

The combo’s rank of 3138 indicates that 572 tested systems perform worse. This is not a bottom-tier system, but it is far from competitive. For Outriders specifically, the data shows the combo excels at 1080p but fails to maintain 60 FPS at 1440p High or 4K Medium. The rank is consistent with the measured FPS: it is a capable 1080p machine that struggles at higher resolutions.

Comparatively, the GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 13498 and the CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 suggest balanced components. However, the combo rank in-game is lower than the individual percentiles might imply, indicating that Outriders’ engine is particularly demanding on the GPU at higher settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides 6 cores and 6 threads, a configuration that is sufficient but not exceptional for Outriders. The base clock of 2.90 GHz boosts to 4.10 GHz, and the CPU has 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 42.7 GB/s bandwidth.

Benchmark data shows the CPU scores 2784 in Cinebench R20 multi-core and 392 in single-core. The Cinebench R23 scores are 6629 multi-core and 935 single-core, while Geekbench scores are 5141 multi-core and 1389 single-core. These scores place the CPU in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254.

The nearest CPU rivals include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259 score, -0.2% delta) and Intel Core i7-10710U (2248 score, 0.3% delta), showing the i5-9400 is statistically equivalent to these mobile parts. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246 score, 0.4% delta) is also a close match. This indicates the i5-9400 performs at the level of a mid-range 2018 desktop CPU.

In Outriders, the CPU’s role is to feed the GTX 1070 with draw calls and physics data. The 6-thread configuration is adequate for the game’s core utilization, but the lack of hyper-threading means 6 threads must handle all background tasks. The measured FPS data does not show CPU bottlenecking at 1080p, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution, suggesting GPU-bound performance.

The CPU’s 14 nm process node and 65 W TDP are modest, and the L3 cache of 9 MB is sufficient for the game’s data working set. The memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s is not a limiting factor at 1080p, but at higher resolutions, the CPU’s inability to pre-fetch data quickly enough could contribute to the FPS drops. However, the dominant factor remains the GPU’s 6.463 TFLOPS compute ceiling.