Outriders

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread desktop processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1151 platform. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a shared 9 MB L3 cache. In synthetic multi-threaded workloads, the processor scores 6,629 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 points in the single-core test, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs tested. Its average benchmark score of 2,254 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (0.2% faster) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (0.4% faster). For a game like Outriders, a looter shooter that often relies on sustained CPU throughput for enemy AI and physics, this processor provides a baseline that is adequate but not exceptional; its position near the 50th percentile suggests it will not be the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, but it may limit peak frame rates at lower settings where the GPU has headroom to render faster than the CPU can feed it.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 6,144 shading units, 48 RT cores, and 192 tensor cores. It features 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering a memory bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s, with base and boost clocks of 2325 MHz and 2512 MHz respectively. The GPU’s raw compute capability is 30.87 TFLOPS for FP32 operations, and it posts a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077hol, placing it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (0.1% faster) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 (0.8% faster), showing that this GPU sits in a solid mid-to-high tier for rasterization performance. In Outriders, the RTX 5070’s high memory bandwidth and large frame buffer are directly relevant: the game’s detailed environments and particle effects benefit from the 672.0 GB/s throughput, and 12 GB of VRAM is sufficient to handle the game’s texture loads without swapping at 4K, as evidenced by the measured frame rates.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Core i5-9400’s 6 cores and 6 threads are the minimum modern baseline for gaming, and its 4.10 GHz boost clock provides reasonable single-thread performance. In Cinebench R20, the processor scores 2,784 points multi-core and 392 points single-core, which aligns with its 47th percentile ranking. For Outriders, which typically scales with thread count but also requires strong single-thread performance for game logic, this CPU is a capable partner for the RTX 5070 at higher resolutions. At 4K High settings, the combo averages 65 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 88 FPS, indicating that even when GPU load is varied, the CPU does not completely throttle performance. However, the data suggests a ceiling: at 1080p Low, the system hits 128 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 91 FPS, a 37 FPS swing that is more attributable to GPU settings than CPU limits. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are modest, but they do not appear to starve the GPU in this title, as the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is largely linear with GPU resolution scaling.

The processor’s benchmark position relative to rivals—being essentially tied with the Core i7-1068NG7 and Ryzen 5 PRO 1500—suggests that any bottleneck would be consistent across similar CPUs. In practice, the measured FPS at 1440p Medium (98 FPS) and 4K Medium (79 FPS) show that the CPU can maintain playable frame rates even when the GPU is pushed. The lack of hyper-threading (6 threads vs. 12 on some rivals) could theoretically cause stutter in heavy scenes, but the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium is 83 FPS, which is high enough to avoid noticeable hitches. Overall, the CPU’s role here is to provide a stable foundation that allows the RTX 5070 to express its performance, rather than to push frame rates to extreme heights at low resolutions.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The RTX 5070’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are the key specifications for Outriders, a game known for dense visual effects and high-resolution textures. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 47 FPS, which is the lowest measured score, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiter at maximum settings. The GPU’s boost clock of 2512 MHz and 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are sufficient to drive 4K Medium at 79 FPS and 4K High at 65 FPS, showing a clear scaling curve as settings increase. The 82nd percentile GPU ranking, with rivals like the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (0.1% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (1.2% slower), places this card in a competitive position for 1440p and 4K gaming.

At 1440p, the GPU demonstrates its strength: High settings yield 88 FPS, while Low settings reach 110 FPS, and Ultra still maintains 78 FPS. The 12 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor, as the game’s memory footprint at 4K Ultra does not cause a drop that would indicate swapping; the 47 FPS result is consistent with compute-bound rendering rather than memory exhaustion. The GPU’s memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) provides the bandwidth needed for high-resolution rasterization, and the 192-bit bus width is adequate for this workload. The measured data shows that the RTX 5070 is a strong performer for this title, with the caveat that 4K Ultra is demanding enough to push it below the 60 FPS threshold, while 4K High remains playable.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 102 at 1080p to 88 at 1440p (a 13.7% reduction) and then to 65 at 4K (a 26.1% reduction from 1440p). This progressive decline indicates that the RTX 5070 is the limiting component, as the CPU’s performance is constant across resolutions. At Low settings, the scaling is steeper: 128 FPS at 1080p, 110 FPS at 1440p (14.1% drop), and 88 FPS at 4K (20% drop from 1440p). The fact that 4K Low (88 FPS) is nearly identical to 1440p High (88 FPS) suggests that the GPU is still the bottleneck even at lower settings, as the resolution increase demands more fill rate and memory bandwidth.

At Medium settings, the FPS values are 114 at 1080p, 98 at 1440p, and 79 at 4K, with minimum FPS values of 97, 83, and 67 respectively. The maximum FPS at each resolution (131, 112, and 90) shows a consistent spread, indicating stable frame pacing. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is the outlier, showing a 40% drop from 4K High (65 FPS), which is a larger jump than the 20-26% drops seen between other settings steps. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce rendering features that are disproportionately expensive on the GPU, such as higher shadow quality or post-processing effects. Overall, the data confirms that the Core i5-9400 is not the limiting factor in this combo for Outriders; the RTX 5070’s performance scales predictably with resolution, and the CPU’s 6-core design is sufficient to keep up at all tested settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K in Outriders?

A: Yes, at 4K High settings the average FPS is 65, and at 4K Medium it is 79, both above the 60 FPS threshold. However, at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 47, which is below 60.

Q: What is the best resolution for a balance of visual quality and frame rate?

A: 1440p Ultra provides an average of 78 FPS, which is a strong balance between the 4K Ultra (47 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (91 FPS) results. The 1440p Medium setting offers 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS, which is also a solid choice.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2,254, which is 0.2% slower than the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2,259) and 0.4% faster than the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2,246). It is essentially tied with these processors, indicating similar gaming headroom.

Q: Is the RTX 5070’s 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Outriders at 4K?

A: The measured data shows no evidence of VRAM limitation; 4K High runs at 65 FPS and 4K Medium at 79 FPS, suggesting that the 12 GB capacity is adequate for the game’s texture loads at these settings.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low settings average 128 FPS, while Ultra averages 91 FPS, a difference of 37 FPS. The Medium setting sits at 114 FPS, and High at 102 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 2,453 out of 3,710 tested combinations, placing it in the lower third of all configurations for this game, which is consistent with the CPU’s mid-range positioning.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: Average 128 FPS
• Medium: Average 114 FPS, minimum 97 FPS, maximum 131 FPS
• High: Average 102 FPS
• Ultra: Average 91 FPS

At 1080p, the system is never below 91 FPS, making it highly playable across all settings. The spread from Low to Ultra is 37 FPS, with the largest drop occurring between Medium (114) and High (102), a 12 FPS reduction. The minimum FPS at Medium (97) indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 90 FPS.

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: Average 110 FPS
• Medium: Average 98 FPS, minimum 83 FPS, maximum 112 FPS
• High: Average 88 FPS
• Ultra: Average 78 FPS

1440p results show a tighter scaling, with a 32 FPS difference between Low and Ultra. The Medium setting’s minimum of 83 FPS is the lowest recorded at this resolution, but it remains above 60 FPS. The High setting (88 FPS) is identical to the 4K Low result, demonstrating that resolution has a larger impact than settings at this level.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: Average 88 FPS
• Medium: Average 79 FPS, minimum 67 FPS, maximum 90 FPS
• High: Average 65 FPS
• Ultra: Average 47 FPS

At 4K, the Ultra setting falls below 60 FPS, while High and Medium remain playable. The jump from High (65) to Ultra (47) is an 18 FPS drop, which is the largest single-step reduction across all resolutions. The Minimum FPS at Medium (67) is still above the 60 FPS threshold, but Ultra has no recorded minimum, suggesting it may dip lower.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a consistent 60+ FPS experience at 4K, the Medium preset is the best choice, with an average of 79 FPS and a minimum of 67 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS line. High settings at 4K also work, averaging 65 FPS, but the minimum is not recorded, so there is a risk of drops below 60 in heavy scenes. At 1440p, Ultra is the recommended preset, delivering 78 FPS average with no minimum recorded, which is a good balance of visual fidelity and performance. The 1440p Medium setting offers a higher average (98 FPS) and a recorded minimum of 83 FPS, making it the safest choice for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1080p, all presets exceed 90 FPS, so the choice comes down to preference; Ultra at 91 FPS is the most visually rich option that still maintains high frame ratesikuha. The Low preset at any resolution does not offer a meaningful advantage over Medium, as the FPS gains are modest (e.g., 128 vs. 114 at 1080p, 110 vs. 98 at 1440p, 88 vs. 79 at 4K), while the visual quality reduction is significant. Therefore, the Medium preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, providing the best balance of frame rate stability and image quality, especially since it is the only preset at 4K that records a minimum FPS above 60.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 2,453 out of 3,710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 34th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the CPU’s mid-range status (47th percentile among all CPUs) despite the GPU’s higher standing (82nd percentile among all GPUs). The data indicates that the CPU is the limiting factor for this combo’s overall ranking, as the GPU is capable of higher performance than what the CPU can feed it in some scenarios. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 128 FPS, but this is not a top-tier result compared to combos with higher-end CPUs that can push beyond 200 FPS. However, at 4K High (65 FPS) and 4K Medium (79 FPS), the combo performs respectably, suggesting that the CPU bottleneck diminishes at higher resolutions where the GPU is more heavily loadedhol. The ranking of 2,453 out of 3,710 means there are 1,257 combos that perform worse, which includes systems with older GPUs or CPUs. This combo’s position is consistent with a balanced mid-range build that prioritizes GPU investment over CPU, resulting in strong 1440p and playable 4K performance, but not class-leading frame rates. The nearest rival CPUs in synthetic benchmarks (Core i7-1068NG7, Ryzen 5 PRO 1500) would likely yield similar in-game results, confirming that the CPU is not a differentiator here.