Outriders

The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination produces a consistently playable experience in Outriders, with the data indicating a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates reveal a configuration where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher visual presets, while the 12-core processor provides ample headroom for the game’s workload. The 1715th rank out of 2913 tested combos places this pairing firmly in the mid-range tier, a position reinforced by the substantial performance deltas observed between Low and Ultra settings.

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

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, fabricated on Intel’s 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, supported by a 25 MB shared L3 cache. In Outriders, the data shows that this processor is not the limiting factor at any tested resolution. At 1080p Low, the system delivers 218 FPS, which is the highest measured average in the entire dataset, suggesting the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU well beyond typical display refresh rates.

The processor’s benchmark scores substantiate its capability. In Cinebench R23, it achieves a multicore score of 19784 and a singlecore score of 1850.5, while Geekbench reports 15790 multicore and 2308 singlecore. The 3DMark suite shows a single-thread score of 1043 and a 16-thread score of 9276, with the max-threads score reaching 9979. These figures indicate strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and physics, and robust multi-threaded throughput for background tasks. The 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it above the majority of processors, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, has an average score difference of only -0.1%, indicating the 12700K is essentially tied with that chip in overall synthetic benchmarks.

For a looter shooter like Outriders, which features numerous on-screen enemies and particle effects, the CPU must handle entity updates and damage calculations efficiently. The 20 threads provide ample parallel processing capacity, yet the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K at the same settings shows the GPU, not the CPU, is dictating performance. For instance, dropping from 1080p High (119 FPS) to 1440p High (75 FPS) is a 37% reduction, a pattern that aligns with GPU-bound rendering rather than CPU limitations. The processor’s 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier indicate it has headroom for overclocking, though the measured data does not require such measures to achieve playable frame rates.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture (GB207 chip) using TSMC’s 5 nm process, with 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 2317 MHz with a boost clock of 2572 MHz, and it includes 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The 130 W TDP and PCIe 5.0 x8 interface position it as a mainstream card, and its 66th percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects a mid-tier standing.

In Outriders, the GPU’s role is decisive. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 28, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, while 4K Low reaches 72 FPS. This 44 FPS swing across settings at the same resolution highlights how heavily the game’s visual effects tax the rendering hardware. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p, but the data suggests that at 4K, the combination of higher resolution and Ultra settings overwhelms the memory subsystem and compute units, resulting in the lowest measured score of 28 FPS.

The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2502 and PassMark G3D score of 17326 place it in a competitive position. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, shows an average score delta of -0.6%, meaning the RTX 5050 is slightly ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is 1.6% behind. The 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and DLSS, though the measured FPS data in this pack does not include those features enabled. The FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS is moderate, and the 205.8 GTexel/s texture rate explains why High settings at 1440p (75 FPS) are achievable while Ultra at the same resolution drops to 54 FPS.

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

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling across resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 218 FPS at 1080p to 137 FPS at 1440p, a 37% decrease, and then to 72 FPS at 4K, a 47% decrease from 1440p. This aggressive drop with increasing pixel count is characteristic of a GPU that is saturated by fill-rate and shading demands, not a CPU bottleneck. For comparison, at High settings, the transition from 1080p (119 FPS) to 1440p (75 FPS) is a 37% reduction, and from 1440p to 4K (39 FPS) is a 48% reduction.

The Medium settings provide the most complete data, with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 158 FPS with a range of 135 to 182. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 100 FPS with a range of 85 to 115. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 52 FPS with a range of 44 to 60. The consistency of the drop-offs—roughly 36% from 1080p to 1440p and 48% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the RTX 5050’s rendering throughput is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show smaller differences between resolutions, especially at lower settings where CPU overhead is more prominent.

The 4K Ultra result of 28 FPS is particularly telling; it is only 39% of the 4K Low score, demonstrating that the Ultra preset’s added effects (likely shadows, reflections, and post-processing) impose a massive shader load that the GPU cannot sustain. The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where all settings exceed 60 FPS, with the lowest being Ultra at 86 FPS. This scaling behavior confirms that for this combo, the GPU is the primary constraint, and users targeting higher resolutions must sacrifice settings to maintain playability.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, all settings from Low to Ultra exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 86 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (137 FPS) and Medium (100 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while High (75 FPS) also stays above the threshold. At 4K, only Low (72 FPS) achieves over 60 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The measured average FPS at 1440p Low is 137, while at 1440p Ultra it is 54. This represents a 60.6% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset, indicating that Ultra settings impose a substantial rendering cost.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 the bottleneck in this game?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The frame rate drops by roughly 37% from 1080p to 1440p and another 48% from 1440p to 4K at the same settings, which is a pattern of GPU-bound performance rather than CPU limitation.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 4K Medium, the measured average FPS is 52, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 60. This range shows that while the average is playable, there are noticeable dips that could cause stuttering in intense combat scenes.

*Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations in Outriders?*

A: This pairing ranks 1715th out of 2913 tested combos. This places it in the bottom half of the database, which is consistent with the GPU’s 66th percentile ranking and the moderate frame rates observed at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM on the RTX 5050 cause issues at 4K?

A: The data does not directly measure VRAM usage, but the 4K Ultra average of 28 FPS suggests that the combination of high resolution and maximum settings severely reduces performance. The 128-bit memory bus and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth are likely strained by the 4K workload, though this is an inference from the FPS data rather than a direct measurement.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance depends on the target resolution. For 1080p, the Ultra preset is viable, as it delivers an average of 86 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 1080p offers 119 FPS, providing additional headroom for high-refresh-rate displays, but Ultra’s 86 FPS is still well within playable territory.

At 1440p, the Medium preset stands out as the recommended choice. It averages 100 FPS with a minimum of 85 and a maximum of 115, ensuring consistent performance without the steep drop to 54 FPS seen at Ultra. The High preset at 75 FPS is also acceptable, but the Medium setting provides a larger safety margin for demanding scenes. For 4K, the Low preset is the only option that exceeds 60 FPS, averaging 72 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 52 FPS, which may be tolerable for some players, but the data shows that 4K High (39 FPS) and 4K Ultra (28 FPS) fall below acceptable playability.

The data suggests that Medium settings provide the best experience for this combo when prioritizing frame rate stability, particularly at 1440p where the min FPS of 85 ensures no major stutters. At 1080p, users can afford to push to Ultra, but the performance curve indicates diminishing returns beyond High for resolutions above 1080p. The absence of min/max data for Low and High presets at most resolutions limits a full stability analysis, but the available figures for Medium settings show a narrow range, indicating consistent rendering.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are 218 FPS at Low, 158 FPS at Medium (with a min of 135 and max of 182), 119 FPS at High, and 86 FPS at Ultra. The progression shows a 39.4% drop from Low to Medium, a 24.7% drop from Medium to High, and a 27.7% drop from High to Ultra. This resolution provides the most headroom, with all presets clearing the 60 FPS mark, and even the lowest min FPS (135 at Medium) is well above that threshold.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 137 FPS at Low, 100 FPS at Medium (min 85, max 115), 75 FPS at High, and 54 FPS at Ultra. The drop from Low to Medium is 27%, from Medium to High is 25%, and from High to Ultra is 28%. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 85 is still comfortably above 60, but the Ultra preset falls below the threshold, indicating that this resolution is the dividing line between playable and unplayable settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 72 FPS at Low, 52 FPS at Medium (min 44, max 60), 39 FPS at High, and 28 FPS at Ultra. The reductions are 27.8% from Low to Medium, 25% from Medium to High, and 28.2% from High to Ultra. Only the Low preset maintains an average above 60 FPS, and the Medium preset’s min of 44 FPS shows significant dips. The 4K data confirms that this combo is not suited for high-fidelity 4K gaming, as even High settings produce less than 40 FPS.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently shows the most stable performance range, with the 1080p range spanning 47 FPS (135 to 182), the 1440p range spanning 30 FPS (85 to 115), and the 4K range spanning 16 FPS (44 to 60). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is becoming the sole limiting factor, reducing the variance that might come from CPU or memory bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination achieves a rank of 1715 out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 41st percentile of all configurations. This rank is consistent with the individual components’ positions: the CPU sits in the 84th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is in the 66th percentile among all graphics cards. The discrepancy between the CPU’s high ranking and the combo’s mid-tier placement underscores that the GPU is the performance limiter in this game.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the GPU’s average benchmark score of 21035 is slightly below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153, delta -0.6%) and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237, delta -1%), but above the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713, delta 1.6%). The CPU’s average score of 35287 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, delta -0.1%) and the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, delta -0.2%). These tight deltas indicate that the combo’s rank is driven more by the GPU’s mid-tier standing than any CPU deficiency.

The measured FPS data reinforces this ranking. At 1080p, the combo delivers excellent performance, but at 4K, it falls short of the 60 FPS target on all but the lowest settings. This pattern places it in the lower half of the database, as many competing combos with higher-end GPUs would achieve better 4K numbers. The 1715th rank is a fair assessment of its capabilities: it excels at 1080p and is adequate at 1440p with medium settings, but it is not designed for high-resolution, high-fidelity gaming. The data shows a system that is well-balanced for mainstream gaming, with the CPU providing ample headroom for future GPU upgrades, but the current configuration is clearly GPU-bound in Outriders.