Outriders

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a remarkably consistent experience in Outriders, with performance scaling that clearly demonstrates a GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions while maintaining exceptionally high frame rates even at 4K. The data shows this combination ranks in the 88th percentile (445th of 3710 tested combos) for this game, indicating strong overall capability, though the specific bottleneck shifts predictably as resolution increases. The 1080p results reveal the CPU’s headroom, while 4K results highlight the RTX 4070 SUPER’s raw throughput, making this a versatile pairing for both competitive and high-fidelity play.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K in Outriders reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, but with a twist: the RTX 4070 SUPER is so powerful that even at 4K High settings, the average frame rate stays above the 60 FPS threshold. Moving from 1920x1080 High (198 FPS) to 2560x1440 High (130 FPS) represents a 34% drop, while the jump from 1440p to 3840x2160 High (68 FPS) shows another 48% reduction. This steep decline is the signature of a graphics-card-limited workload, where the CPU’s 12 cores and 20 threads have ample headroom to feed frames.

At Low settings, the scaling pattern is even more revealing. The 1080p Low result (247 FPS) drops to 212 FPS at 1440p (a 14% decrease) and then to 124 FPS at 4K (a 42% decrease from 1440p). The relatively modest drop between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings suggests that the CPU is beginning to approach its limits at very high frame rates, but the i7-12700K’s 5.00 GHz boost clock keeps it from becoming a hard bottleneck. The 4K Low result still delivers 124 FPS, proving that even in the most demanding resolution, this combo never falls below a smooth playable threshold.

The Medium settings row provides the only complete min/max data in the measured results, offering insight into frame pacing. At 4K Medium, the average is 90 FPS with a minimum of 77 and maximum of 104, showing a tight frame-time distribution. The 1440p Medium result (173 FPS average, 147 min, 199 max) and 1080p Medium (220 FPS average, 187 min, 253 max) both demonstrate consistent performance without extreme spikes. This consistency suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle Outriders’ texture-heavy environments without stutter.

Ultra settings tell the most interesting story for resolution scaling. The 4K Ultra result (49 FPS) is the only sub-60 FPS measurement in the entire dataset, while 1440p Ultra (94 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (148 FPS) remain highly playable. The 47% drop from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is steeper than the 30% drop from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, indicating that the GPU’s 7168 shading units and 80 ROPs are the limiting factor at the highest resolution. This suggests that for 4K gaming, players should consider High settings (68 FPS) over Ultra (49 FPS) to maintain a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Outriders?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. The 4K High setting delivers 68 FPS average, which is above the 60 FPS target, while 4K Medium reaches 90 FPS. However, 4K Ultra drops to 49 FPS, so players seeking 4K should stick to High or Medium settings for optimal smoothness.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests partial CPU limitation at very high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 247 FPS, but the gap between Low and Medium (220 FPS) narrows compared to higher resolutions, indicating the CPU’s 3.60 GHz base clock and 5.00 GHz boost are approaching their limits around 250 FPS. Still, this is far beyond typical display refresh rates.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in raw performance?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 43223, which places it within 1% of the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (43262, -0.1% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (43268, -0.1% delta). It trails the RTX 4090 Mobile by 1% (43667), showing it sits at the top of the desktop GPU hierarchy.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play?

A: For maximum frame rates, 1080p Low delivers 247 FPS, while 1080p Medium still hits 220 FPS. Even 1440p Low (212 FPS) exceeds 200 FPS, making this combo suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors at both resolutions. The 1080p Ultra setting (148 FPS) remains competitive as well.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance affect Outriders?

A: The i7-12700K scores 19784 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 15790 in Geekbench multi-core, indicating strong threaded performance. Outriders benefits from this via consistent frame delivery, as seen in the tight min/max ranges at Medium settings (e.g., 187-253 FPS at 1080p), rather than through raw FPS gains alone.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra setting ever viable for this combo?

A: At 49 FPS average, 4K Ultra is borderline playable but not ideal for fast-paced combat. The data shows that dropping to High (68 FPS) provides a 39% performance increase, making High the practical ceiling for 4K gaming with this hardware.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 445 out of 3710 tested combinations puts it in the top 12% of all CPU-GPU pairings for Outriders specifically. This ranking is notable because it reflects the synergy between the i7-12700K and RTX 4070 SUPER in this particular title, rather than their individual benchmark standings. The CPU alone sits at the 84th percentile of all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 83rd percentile of all graphics cards, yet their combination performs better than either component’s individual percentile might suggest.

Compared to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the i7-12700K (average benchmark score 35287) is virtually tied with the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, -0.1% delta), Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, -0.2% delta), Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, -0.3% delta), and Intel Core 5 213PE (35428, -0.4% delta). This clustering shows that the 12700K is at the center of a dense performance tier, meaning any of these CPUs would likely produce similar results in Outriders when paired with the same GPU.

The GPU’s nearest rivals tell a similar story. The RTX 4070 SUPER’s average score of 43223 is within 1% of the Quadro M6000 24 GB (43262), RTX 5050 Mobile (43268), and Quadro M6000 (43301), while trailing the RTX 4090 Mobile (43667) by only 1%. This tight grouping suggests that the 4070 SUPER’s performance in Outriders is representative of a broad class of high-end GPUs, and the combo’s strong rank is more a function of the game’s optimization than of any unique hardware advantage.

The rank data also implies that Outriders is well-optimized for this hardware generation. With 3710 tested combos, the 445th rank means this pairing outperforms 3265 other combinations, including many with higher-end GPUs that may be bottlenecked by weaker CPUs. The measured FPS results across all resolutions and settings are uniformly high, with even the worst case (4K Ultra at 49 FPS) being playable, which reinforces the combo’s balanced design.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4070 SUPER and i7-12700K combination delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves 247 FPS average, which is the highest measurement in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 and maximum of 253, showing a 27 FPS spread. High settings produce 198 FPS, while Ultra still maintains 148 FPS, making even the most demanding preset comfortably exceed 144 Hz refresh rates. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 40% performance cost for maximum visual fidelity at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scaling is consistent but with larger percentage drops. Low settings deliver 212 FPS, which is a 14% decrease from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 173 FPS (147 min, 199 max), representing a 21% drop from 1080p Medium. High settings hit 130 FPS, a 34% reduction from 1080p High, while Ultra produces 94 FPS, a 36% decrease from 1080p Ultra. All 1440p results remain above 90 FPS, indicating that this resolution is the sweet spot for combining high refresh rates with better visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s workload becomes the dominant factor. Low settings still achieve 124 FPS, which is 42% lower than 1080p Low but remains highly playable. Medium settings average 90 FPS (77 min, 104 max), providing a smooth experience with good visual fidelity. High settings drop to 68 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS baseline, while Ultra falls to 49 FPS, making it the only setting below playable standards. The 4K results clearly show that the RTX 4070 SUPER’s 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 554.4 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for High settings but not Ultra.

The Medium settings row deserves special attention because it is the only one with complete min/max data at all three resolutions. The frame consistency is excellent: 187-253 FPS at 1080p, 147-199 FPS at 1440p, and 77-104 FPS at 4K. This tight distribution indicates that the combo avoids frame-time spikes, which is critical for a looter shooter where smooth aiming and dodging are essential. The 12-core CPU with 20 threads ensures that background tasks and game logic never cause hitches.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K’s role in Outriders is best understood through its benchmark scores and how they translate to frame delivery. With a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and single-core score of 1850.5, the CPU demonstrates strong parallel and single-threaded performance. The Geekbench results (15790 multi-core, 2308 single-core) reinforce this, showing that the Alder Lake architecture with its 12 cores (8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores) and 20 threads is well-suited for modern game engines that utilize multiple threads for physics, AI, and streaming.

The CPU’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core provide the low-latency memory access that Outriders’ fast-paced combat requires. The 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded game logic runs at maximum speed, while the 3.60 GHz base clock provides a solid foundation for sustained loads. The benchmark data shows the CPU scores 9276 in 3DMark 16-thread tests and 9979 in max-thread tests, indicating that it can scale well with the game’s thread utilization.

In Outriders specifically, the CPU’s influence is most visible at 1080p Low settings, where the 247 FPS result approaches the limits of what the processor can feed to the GPU. The relatively small gap between Low (247 FPS) and Medium (220 FPS) at 1080p compared to the larger gap at 1440p (212 vs 173 FPS) suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at very high frame rates. However, this is not a deficiency—it simply means that the i7-12700K maxes out around 250 FPS in this game, which is far beyond what most displays can show.

The CPU’s PassMark scores provide additional context: a multi-thread score of 34404 and single-thread score of 4013 place it in the top 16% of all CPUs. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2065 and 4-thread score of 4011 show that even lightly threaded workloads benefit from the high boost clocks. For Outriders, this means that the CPU never becomes a bottleneck at standard gaming resolutions, allowing the RTX 4070 SUPER to operate at its full potential.

Settings Recommendations

For players using a 1080p display, the High preset (198 FPS) offers the best balance between visual quality and performance, as it delivers nearly double the refresh rate of most monitors while maintaining good detail. Those with 240 Hz displays should consider Medium (220 FPS) or Low (247 FPS) to maximize frame rates, though the visual tradeoff may not be worth it for most players. The Ultra preset at 148 FPS is still viable for 144 Hz monitors, providing the best image quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, the Medium preset (173 FPS) is the recommended choice for high-refresh-rate gaming, as it exceeds 144 Hz while offering a significant visual upgrade over Low (212 FPS). Players with 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors should opt for Low to push frame rates higher, while those prioritizing image quality can use High (130 FPS) without dropping below the 120 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset (94 FPS) is suitable for 60-100 Hz displays but may feel less responsive in fast-paced combat.

For 4K gaming, the High preset (68 FPS) is the clear recommendation, as it provides a playable experience above 60 FPS with good visual fidelity. The Medium preset (90 FPS) is even better for players with VRR displays, offering a 32% performance boost over High with minimal visual compromise. The Low preset (124 FPS) is excellent for players who prioritize frame rate over resolution, while the Ultra preset (49 FPS) should be avoided unless the player is willing to accept sub-60 FPS performance for maximum visual quality.

The measured data shows that the Medium preset offers the most consistent frame pacing across all resolutions, with the only complete min/max data in the dataset. This suggests that Medium is the most stable setting for this combo, avoiding the potential frame-time spikes that can occur at Ultra due to the GPU’s 12 GB memory being pushed to its limits. For the best overall experience, Medium at 1440p (173 FPS) or High at 4K (68 FPS) represents the optimal balance of visual fidelity, performance, and stability.