Outriders

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

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It carries a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The processor is unlocked, meaning its multiplier can be adjusted, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus. The L3 cache is 25 MB shared, while L2 is 1.25 MB per core and L1 is 80 KB per core.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability. It scores 28,838 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 12,111 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Single-thread performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,071 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,043. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,282 and max-thread score of 9,983 indicate that the processor scales well across its core count. PassMark multi-thread score reaches 34,092, while PassMark single-thread sits at 3,984.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 85, meaning it outperforms the majority of desktop processors in general compute tasks. Its average benchmark score is 35,365, which places it within a tight cluster of rivals. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700T, scores 35,403, a delta of -0.1 percent. The Intel Core i5-13600T scores 35,305, a delta of +0.2 percent, while the Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35,428, a delta of -0.2 percent. The Intel Core i7-12700K scores 35,287, a delta of +0.2 percent. This shows the 12700KF is effectively tied with its closest competitors, with differences under one percent.

For Outriders, a looter shooter that relies on consistent frame delivery, the CPU's 20 threads and high boost clock help maintain frame pacing in scenes with many enemies and particle effects. The measured FPS data at 1080p shows high average frame rates across all settings, which suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at this resolution. At 1440p and 4K, the frame rates drop, but this is more attributable to GPU load, as discussed later. The processor's strong multi-thread scores, such as 14,367 in Geekbench multi-core, indicate it can handle the game's background simulation and physics without stalling the render thread.

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

The measured FPS rows cover four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions. The data shows clear trade-offs between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 218 average FPS, which is well above any display refresh rate in common use. Medium drops to 158 average FPS, still extremely high. High gives 119 average FPS, and Ultra provides 86 average FPS. All of these are playable, but the question is which preset offers the best balance.

At 1440p, Low delivers 137 average FPS, Medium 100, High 75, and Ultra 54. The Medium preset at 1440p offers a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, with a minimum of 85 FPS and maximum of 115 FPS. High at 1440p drops to 75 average, which is still smooth but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 1440p falls to 54 average, which is below the common 60 FPS target.

At 4K, the situation changes drastically. Low delivers 72 average FPS, Medium 52, High 39, and Ultra 28. Only the Low preset achieves a consistent 60+ FPS experience at 4K. Medium is marginal, with a minimum of 44 FPS and maximum of 60 FPS, meaning it will dip below smoothness thresholds in busy moments.

Based on the measured data, the recommended preset depends on resolution. For 1080p, the High preset at 119 average FPS offers a strong balance of visual quality and performance, with Ultra at 86 still being viable. For 1440p, the Medium preset at 100 average FPS is the sweet spot, as it maintains a minimum of 85 FPS and max of 115 FPS. For 4K, the Low preset at 72 average FPS is the only option that maintains a consistently smooth experience; Medium at 52 average FPS may be acceptable for those who prefer visuals over frame rate, but the minimum of 44 FPS indicates potential stutter in intense combat.

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

Examining the FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a pattern typical of a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 119 at 1080p to 75 at 1440p, a drop of 37 percent. From 1440p to 4K, it goes from 75 to 39, a drop of 48 percent. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is from 119 to 39, a reduction of 67 percent.

At Low settings, the scaling is steeper in absolute terms: 218 at 1080p, 137 at 1440p (a 37 percent drop), and 72 at 4K (a 47 percent drop from 1440p). The total from 1080p to 4K is from 218 to 72, a 67 percent reduction. This consistent percentage drop across settings strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would not scale nearly as dramatically when resolution increases, because the CPU work per frame stays roughly constant regardless of resolution.

The Medium preset shows the same trend: 158 at 1080p, 100 at 1440p (a 37 percent drop), and 52 at 4K (a 48 percent drop from 1440p). Ultra settings follow suit: 86 at 1080p, 54 at 1440p (a 37 percent drop), and 28 at 4K (a 48 percent drop). The uniformity of these percentage drops across all four presets is strong evidence that the rendering resolution is the primary variable driving frame rate, which is the hallmark of a GPU-limited workload.

Given the CPU's high multi-thread scores and the fact that even at 1080p Low, the frame rate reaches 218 FPS, the processor has ample headroom. The RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factors as resolution climbs, particularly at 4K where the pixel count quadruples relative to 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: The data shows that at 1440p with Medium settings, the average FPS is 100 with a minimum of 85. At 4K with Low settings, the average FPS is 72. For 1080p, all presets exceed 60 FPS, with Ultra at 86 average FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score is 21,035. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21,153, a delta of -0.6 percent. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21,237, a delta of -1 percent. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20,713, a delta of +1.6 percent. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21,379, a delta of -1.6 percent.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and what does it mean?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF ranks in the 85th percentile versus all CPUs. This means it performs better than 85 percent of processors in general benchmark tests, placing it among the higher-tier desktop CPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck in Outriders?

A: The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows consistent percentage drops of roughly 37 percent from 1080p to 1440p and 48 percent from 1440p to 4K across all settings. This pattern indicates the GPU is the limiting component, as CPU workload does not scale with resolution.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 52, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 60. This means the frame rate can dip below 45 FPS in demanding scenes.

Q: How close is the 12700KF to the 12700K in performance?

A: The 12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35,365, while the 12700K scores 35,287. The delta is +0.2 percent, meaning the 12700KF is essentially identical in performance to the 12700K.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB207 chip, built on TSMC's 5 nm process. It has 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die, with a transistor density of 113.4 million per mm². The GPU has 2,560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. It also includes 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores.

The memory configuration is 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. The memory clock is 2500 MHz, which translates to 20 Gbps effective. The base clock is 2317 MHz, and the boost clock is 2572 MHz. The GPU's FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance is also 13.17 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 82.30 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 205.8 GTexel/s.

The GPU's TDP is 130 W, and it requires a 300 W power supply. It connects via PCIe 5.0 x8 and has a dual-slot cooler with a single 8-pin power connector. The display outputs include one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1b connectors. The RTX 5050 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5050 scores 25,02 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 90,334 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 89,381 in Geekbench Vulkan. PassMark G3D score is 17,326, and PassMark GPU Compute is 9,184. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 66, and its average benchmark score is 21,035.

The nearest GPU rivals show a tight grouping. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21,153, a delta of -0.6 percent. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21,237, a delta of -1 percent. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20,713, a delta of +1.6 percent. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21,379, a delta of -1.6 percent. This means the RTX 5050 performs within roughly two percentage points of all its listed rivals.

In Outriders, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at most settings, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of high-resolution textures and heavy post-processing may push against the VRAM limit. The 320.0 GB/s bandwidth also becomes a constraint at 4K, where the pixel fill rate demand is highest. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 28 average, which is below playable thresholds, and 4K High at 39 average is also low. The GPU's 32 ROPs may be a limiting factor for fill-rate-heavy scenes at high resolutions.

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

The measured FPS data is presented below. All values are average FPS unless otherwise noted.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 218 average FPS
• Medium: 158 average FPS (minimum 135, maximum 182)
• High: 119 average FPS
• Ultra: 86 average FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 137 average FPS
• Medium: 100 average FPS (minimum 85, maximum 115)
• High: 75 average FPS
• Ultra: 54 average FPS

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 72 average FPS
• Medium: 52 average FPS (minimum 44, maximum 60)
• High: 39 average FPS
• Ultra: 28 average FPS

The data shows a clear progression. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset exceeds 60 FPS, making this resolution fully playable at any setting. The jump from Ultra to Low at 1080p is from 86 to 218 FPS, a 153 percent increase. At 1440p, the Low preset is the only one above 100 FPS, while Medium stays above 60 with a minimum of 85. High at 1440p is 75 average, which is playable but with less headroom. Ultra at 1440p at 54 average is borderline.

At 4K, only Low achieves 60+ FPS with 72 average. Medium drops to 52 average, and its minimum of 44 FPS indicates noticeable stutter during heavy combat. High at 4K is 39 average, and Ultra is 28 average, both of which are below acceptable playability for a fast-paced looter shooter.

The minimum FPS values are only provided for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the minimum is 135 FPS and maximum is 182 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the minimum is 85 FPS and maximum is 115 FPS. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 44 FPS and maximum is 60 FPS. This indicates that the Medium preset has a tighter frame time distribution at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the variance becomes significant.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1,715 out of 2,913 tested combos in Outriders. This places it in the 41st percentile of all tested combinations, meaning roughly 41 percent of tested combos perform worse and 59 percent perform better.

This ranking is relatively low for a combo that includes a high-end CPU and a mid-range GPU. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking suggests it is not the limiting factor. The GPU's 66th percentile ranking is more modest, and its benchmark scores place it near older or lower-tier cards like the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M.

The rank of 1,715 out of 2,913 indicates that the RTX 5050 is the weaker link in this pairing for Outriders. The game's performance is heavily GPU-bound, as shown by the resolution scaling analysis. A stronger GPU would likely push this combo significantly higher in the rankings, given that the CPU has demonstrated it can deliver high frame rates at 1080p Low (218 FPS) when the GPU is not the bottleneck.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, which are all within 0.2 percent performance, the GPU's rivals show more variance, with deltas from -1.6 percent to +1.6 percent. This suggests that GPU selection has a larger impact on the combo's ranking than CPU selection in this game. The data supports this conclusion: the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU at all tested settings and resolutions, but the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth limit performance at higher resolutions and settings.