Outriders

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a commanding performance profile in Outriders, with measured results placing this combination in the 88th percentile out of 1693 tested configurations. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong multi-threaded capabilities—evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a Passmark multithread score of 34404—ensure headroom even at 1080p. The RTX 4080 SUPER, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and a Passmark G3D score of 34245, provides the graphical muscle necessary to push frame rates well beyond playable thresholds across all tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data presents a clear hierarchy of performance across the four available presets. At 4K, the Ultra preset yields an average of 57.4 FPS, which is technically playable but sits close to the threshold where frame pacing inconsistencies become noticeable in a fast-paced looter shooter. The High preset at 4K is substantially better, delivering 78.1 FPS—a 36% improvement over Ultra—while maintaining the visual fidelity that makes the game's environments and effects stand out. This makes High the optimal choice for 4K displays, as it provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS without the steep performance cost of Ultra.

For 1440p users, the analysis shifts. The High preset achieves 148.6 FPS, while Medium reaches 185.7 FPS and Low peaks at 214 FPS. The gap between High and Medium is 25%, making Medium the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, especially those in the 144 Hz to 165 Hz range. The Ultra preset at 106.8 FPS is viable but sacrifices too much performance for marginal visual gains. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset manages 170.6 FPS, with High at 200 FPS and Medium at 220.8 FPS. Given that the jump from Medium to High costs only 9.4% performance at this resolution, High is the recommended preset for 1080p, as it delivers a smoother experience than Ultra while retaining most of the graphical enhancements. Across all resolutions, the Low preset is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rates—246.3 FPS at 1080p and 143.9 FPS at 4K—take priority over visual quality.

FAQ

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 53610 places it slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (53489, deltaPct 0.2) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (53414, deltaPct 0.4). It holds a more comfortable lead over the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (52505, deltaPct 2.1) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (52086, deltaPct 2.9).

Q: What is the performance gap between the i7-12700K and its closest CPU competitors?

A: The i7-12700K's average benchmark score of 35684 is nearly identical to its rivals. It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802) by 0.3% and the Intel Core i5-14500HX (35940) by 0.7%, while leading the Intel Core i7-13700T (35468) by 0.6% and the Intel Core i7-13800H (35416) by 0.8%.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Outriders at maximum settings?

A: The measured data shows that the GPU handles the Ultra preset at 4K with an average of 57.4 FPS and 170.6 FPS at 1080p. Given the 16 GB memory capacity and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth, the VRAM is not a bottleneck in these tests; the performance drop from High to Ultra is consistent with increased rendering load rather than memory limitations.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 148.6 FPS. This represents a 39% reduction compared to the Low preset at the same resolution (214 FPS), but it remains well above the refresh rate of most 1440p gaming monitors, ensuring smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance influence Outriders at 1080p?

A: The i7-12700K's 3DMark max-threads score of 9979 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 indicate strong parallel processing capability. At 1080p, where GPU load is lower, the system still achieves 246.3 FPS on Low settings, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU effectively without becoming a limiting factor.

Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU-GPU combination in the game's benchmark database?

A: This pairing ranks 88th out of 1693 tested combinations, placing it in the top 5.2% of all configurations evaluated for Outriders. This high percentile is consistent with the strong individual benchmark scores of both components.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant performance driver in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions. Its specifications are formidable: a boost clock of 2550 MHz, 10240 shading units, and 112 ROPs working in concert to produce a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Outriders' asset streaming demands.

The GPU's benchmark results reinforce its high-end positioning. Its Passmark G3D score of 34245 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 reflect substantial raw compute power. In the nearest-rival comparison, the RTX 4080 SUPER's average score of 53610 edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT by 0.2% and leads the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 2.9%. This GPU sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, confirming its status as a top-tier part.

In Outriders specifically, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rate difference between Low (246.3 FPS) and Ultra (170.6 FPS) is 75.7 FPS, showing that even the highest settings leave significant performance headroom. At 4K, however, the gap widens dramatically: Low produces 143.9 FPS while Ultra drops to 57.4 FPS—a 86.5 FPS swing. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra, while at 1080p, the CPU's capabilities allow the GPU to operate closer to its full potential.

The GPU's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, while not directly benchmarked in this game's data, contribute to the Ada Lovelace architecture's efficiency. The 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power ensures that even the most demanding particle effects and enemy density scenarios in Outriders are handled without stutter.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive picture of performance across twelve distinct configurations—three resolutions, each with four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 246.3 FPS on Low, 220.8 FPS on Medium, 200 FPS on High, and 170.6 FPS on Ultra. The progression shows a 30.8% reduction from Low to Ultra, with the most significant single-step drop occurring between Medium and High (9.4%).

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are 214 FPS on Low, 185.7 FPS on Medium, 148.6 FPS on High, and 106.8 FPS on Ultra. Here, the step from High to Ultra represents a 28.1% performance loss, which is the largest gap between consecutive settings at this resolution. The total reduction from Low to Ultra is 50.1%, indicating that 1440p is where the GPU starts to feel the pressure of higher pixel counts.

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 143.9 FPS on Low, 101.2 FPS on Medium, 78.1 FPS on High, and 57.4 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra span is 86.5 FPS, a 60.1% reduction. Notably, the gap between Medium and High at 4K is 23.1 FPS, while the High-to-Ultra drop is 20.7 FPS. These figures suggest that each settings tier at 4K imposes a nearly linear cost on the GPU, without any single preset causing a disproportionate collapse.

The data also reveals the consistency of the GPU's scaling. For instance, the High preset yields 200 FPS at 1080p, 148.6 FPS at 1440p, and 78.1 FPS at 4K. This translates to a 25.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47.5% drop from 1440p to 4K. These percentages align closely with the increase in pixel count, confirming that the GPU is scaling predictably with resolution rather than hitting a memory or bandwidth wall.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K provides critical insight into the system's bottleneck characteristics. At Low settings, the progression is 246.3 FPS at 1080p, 214 FPS at 1440p, and 143.9 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 13.1%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 32.8%. This non-linear scaling suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is still contributing to overall performance at 1080p, but by 4K, the GPU becomes the sole limiting factor.

The Medium settings tell a similar story: 220.8 FPS at 1080p, 185.7 FPS at 1440p (a 15.9% drop), and 101.2 FPS at 4K (a 45.5% drop from 1440p). The accelerated decline at 4K indicates that the GPU's rendering pipeline is being saturated by the 8.3 million pixels of 3840x2160 resolution.

At High settings, the scaling is 200 FPS at 1080p, 148.6 FPS at 1440p (a 25.7% drop), and 78.1 FPS at 4K (a 47.5% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset exhibits the most pronounced scaling: 170.6 FPS at 1080p, 106.8 FPS at 1440p (a 37.4% drop), and 57.4 FPS at 4K (a 46.3% drop from 1440p).

The pattern across all settings is clear: the transition from 1080p to 1440p incurs a smaller performance penalty than the transition from 1440p to 4K. This is particularly evident at Medium and High settings, where the 1440p-to-4K drop is roughly three times larger than the 1080p-to-1440p drop. This behavior is characteristic of a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p, the i7-12700K's strong single-threaded performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1043, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4128) helps keep frame rates elevated.

The data indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER has sufficient headroom at 1080p to render frames faster than the CPU can feed it in some scenarios, particularly at Low settings where the GPU's load is minimal. As resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity become the determining factor, leading to the steeper performance curve observed. For users targeting high refresh rates at 4K, the High preset (78.1 FPS) represents the practical ceiling, while 1440p users can comfortably enable Ultra (106.8 FPS) or High (148.6 FPS) depending on their display's refresh rate.