Outriders

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a performance profile in Outriders that is heavily dictated by the selected resolution and graphical preset. The measured frame rates reveal a system with substantial headroom at lower resolutions, yet one that becomes increasingly constrained as pixel count and visual fidelity rise. This analysis breaks down the measured data to understand where the bottleneck lies and how the hardware responds to different settings.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic shift in performance, but the pattern is not uniform across all settings. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 242.9 FPS at 1080p to 143.1 FPS at 4K, a reduction of approximately 41%. This indicates that even at the lowest visual load, the GPU is still the primary driver of performance, though the CPU remains capable of feeding it enough data to maintain high triple-digit frame rates.

When moving to High settings, the scaling is more aggressive. The 197.2 FPS average at 1080p falls to 146.5 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 77.6 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure represents a 61% drop from the 1080p result. This steep decline suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are being heavily taxed by the higher resolution, moving the system into a clearly GPU-limited state.

The Ultra preset shows the most extreme scaling. At 1080p, the system still manages 169.5 FPS, but this falls to 106.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 56.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable for a fast-paced looter shooter, indicating that the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution is too demanding for even this high-end GPU. The data implies that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting component at 4K, while at 1080p, the Core i7-12700KF’s 3.60 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clocks are sufficient to keep the GPU well-fed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows suggest that the High preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience. The 146.5 FPS average is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on gaming monitors, while the visual quality is significantly better than Low or Medium. Pushing to Ultra at this resolution yields 106.9 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 27% performance penalty for what is likely a marginal visual improvement.

At 1920x1080, Ultra is the sensible choice for users with high-refresh-rate displays. The 169.5 FPS average is high enough to take advantage of 165 Hz or 180 Hz panels, and the performance headroom is sufficient to avoid major frame-time spikes. The Low preset at 1080p produces 242.9 FPS, but this is excessive for most displays and sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a game that relies on atmospheric environments.

For 4K gaming, the data points to Medium as the practical ceiling. The 104.5 FPS average at 3840x2160 with Medium settings is the only 4K result that exceeds 100 FPS. High at 4K drops to 77.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 56.1 FPS, both of which are below the 90 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for a responsive shooter. The recommendation is clear: prioritize Medium or High at 1440p for the best combination of fluidity and detail, and reserve 4K for Medium settings.

GPU Role

The RTX 4080 SUPER’s specifications are directly reflected in these results. The GPU’s 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with 736.3 GB/s bandwidth is a key factor in the 4K performance. The steep drop from 143.1 FPS at 4K Low to 104.5 FPS at 4K Medium suggests that memory bandwidth and capacity become critical as texture detail and shadow quality increase.

The Ada Lovelace architecture’s 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the engine driving the high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p. The boost clock of 2550 MHz allows the GPU to sustain high utilization across all settings. Notably, the gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 40.3 FPS (186.8 vs. 146.5), while the gap between High and Ultra is also 39.6 FPS (146.5 vs. 106.9). This near-linear scaling indicates that the GPU’s shading units and texture units are being progressively taxed, but not saturated until the Ultra preset is applied.

The GPU’s 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but not directly relevant to Outriders, which does not heavily utilize ray tracing or DLSS in the measured data. The 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die provide the raw horsepower, but the benchmark results show that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as evidenced by the performance collapse from 143.1 FPS at Low to 56.1 FPS at Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 144 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the system averages 212.2 FPS, and with High settings it reaches 146.5 FPS. The 1920x1080 resolution with Ultra settings also hits 169.5 FPS, making both viable for 144 Hz displays.

Q: Why does 4K Ultra perform so poorly?

A: The 56.1 FPS average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings indicates that the GPU’s 16 GB memory and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are saturated by the combination of high resolution and maximum texture/shadow quality. This is a clear GPU limitation.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, the 242.9 FPS Low result suggests the CPU is still keeping up, but the 27% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p (242.9 to 169.5) implies the GPU is starting to become the constraint even at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its nearest rival in this game?

A: The data shows the RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 53610, which is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and 2.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, based on the provided deltaPct values.

Q: What settings allow for 4K gaming above 100 FPS?

A: Only the Medium preset at 3840x2160 achieves this, with an average of 104.5 FPS. Low settings at 4K produce 143.1 FPS, but High drops to 77.6 FPS.

Q: Does the 12700KF’s cache configuration impact gaming performance?

A: The CPU’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent frame pacing, but the measured FPS deltas across settings are more strongly correlated with GPU workload than CPU cache size.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 93rd out of 1693 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 5.5% of all configurations. This high ranking is expected given the hardware, but the specific data reveals that the ranking is not uniform across all settings. At 1080p Ultra, the 169.5 FPS average is exceptional, but at 4K Ultra, the 56.1 FPS result would likely rank much lower against other high-end combos that may have more GPU headroom.

This rank of 93 suggests that while the combo is powerful, there are 92 other configurations that achieve better overall performance in this specific title. Given that the RTX 4080 SUPER is only 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT in the average benchmark score, the ranking difference may be more attributable to the CPU’s 89th percentile standing versus the GPU’s 88th percentile. The data implies that the combo is well-balanced for most resolutions, but the 4K Ultra performance is the weakest link.

CPU Role

The Core i7-12700KF’s 12 cores and 20 threads, based on the Alder Lake architecture, provide ample processing power for Outriders. The 3.60 GHz base clock and 5.00 GHz boost clock ensure that the CPU does not become a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and single-core score of 4091 indicate strong raw performance, which translates to consistent frame delivery.

At 1080p Low, the 242.9 FPS average shows the CPU can feed the GPU at very high rates. However, the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p (242.9 to 169.5 FPS) suggests that the CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU becomes more heavily loaded. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and max-thread score of 9983 demonstrate that the CPU has headroom for multi-threaded workloads, but Outriders appears to be primarily GPU-bound beyond Medium settings.

The CPU’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache is a significant asset for game data access. The PassMark data compression score of 441960 and integer math score of 113521 indicate strong processing capabilities that help maintain stable frame times, particularly in scenes with many enemies or particle effects. The 0.1% deltaPct versus the Intel Core i5-14400 and 0.2% versus the Intel Core i9-12900HX in average CPU benchmarks confirms that the 12700KF is a solid, mid-pack performer in the current CPU landscape.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 242.9 FPS average
• Medium: 217.8 FPS average
• High: 197.2 FPS average
• Ultra: 169.5 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 212.2 FPS average
• Medium: 186.8 FPS average
• High: 146.5 FPS average
• Ultra: 106.9 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 143.1 FPS average
• Medium: 104.5 FPS average
• High: 77.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 56.1 FPS average

The data shows a consistent pattern: the performance gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the gap is 73.4 FPS (242.9 to 169.5). At 1440p, it grows to 105.3 FPS (212.2 to 106.9). At 4K, the gap expands to 87.0 FPS (143.1 to 56.1). This scaling confirms that the GPU is the dominant factor in performance, with the CPU providing a stable foundation that does not introduce significant variance across the tested configurations.