Outriders

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 presents a striking performance asymmetry in Outriders. The CPU is a high-end 20-core Raptor Lake part, while the GPU is a Polaris 20 chip that is now end-of-life. The measured data highlights how this combination behaves across resolutions and settings, with the GPU consistently acting as the primary constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and clearly illustrates that the RX 580 is the limiting component in this pairing. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 60 at 1920x1080 to 38 at 2560x1440, a 37% reduction. Pushing to 3840x2160 yields just 20 average FPS, which is a 67% drop from the 1080p result. This pattern is consistent with a GPU that is saturated by pixel throughput.

The data shows a similar steep curve at other settings. At Low settings, the 1080p average is 110 FPS, which drops to 70 at 1440p (a 36% reduction) and then to 36 at 4Kp (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This consistent scaling factor—roughly a 60-70% loss when moving from 1080p to 4K—indicates that the frame rate is not CPU-limited at these resolutions.

The Ultra preset, the curve steepens further. The 1080p average is 43 FPS, at 1440p it is 27 (a 37% drop), and at 4K it falls to 14 (a 67% drop from 1080p). This pattern is independent of the actual FPS level across the different presets.

The data suggests that the system's capacity at 1080p is already being stressed by the GPU. At Low 1080p, the average FPS of 110 is likely near the upper bounds of what the RX 580 can deliver. The scaling to 1440p and 4K is primarily a function of the GPU's throughput limits, not the CPU. The i7-14700K has ample headroom to feed the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

In Outriders, this specific combo ranks 3377 out of 3710 tested combinations. This places it in the lower percentiles, which is consistent with the GPU being the limiting factor. The i7-14700K is a high-end CPU with a percentile of 94 among all CPUs, but the RX 580 sits at only the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. The CPU's power cannot compensate for the GPU's age in this GPU-bound title.

The combos ranking in the bottom 10% of all tested configurations indicates that this pairing is not well-matched for a demanding game like Outriders. While the CPU is capable of handling the game's computational load, the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are simply not sufficient to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. The benchmark results show this is a balanced system from a pairing perspective.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the most balanced experience is at 1920x1080. At this resolution, the High preset achieves an average of 60 FPS. The Medium preset achieves 80 average FPS, which is a smoother experience. The Low preset achieves 110 average FPS on average. The Ultra preset is not recommended at this resolution as it drops to 43 average FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 70 average FPS, which is the only playable option. The Medium preset drops to 51 average FPS, and the High preset falls to 38 average FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution is not viable, with an average of 27 FPS. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only manages 36 average FPS, making this resolution not recommended.

For a consistent frame rate, the data suggests choosing the Low preset at 1080p or 1440p. The High and Medium presets at 1080p provide a smoother experience than the same settings at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete matrix across all four settings and three resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 110 FPS. Medium averages 80 FPS, with a minimum of 68 and a maximum of 92. High averages 60 FPS. Ultra averages 43 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is substantial: 110 down to 43, meaning Ultra has a 61% lower average FPS than Low.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 70 FPS. Medium averages 51 FPS (minimum 43, maximum 58). High averages 38 FPS. Ultra averages 27 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is significant across all settings.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 36 FPS. Medium averages 26 FPS (minimum 23, maximum 30). High averages 20 FPS. Ultra averages 14 FPS. This resolution is not playable with this combination.

The data shows that the RX 580 is most comfortable at 1080p, where it can deliver above 60 FPS on Medium and High presets. The frame times for the Medium preset at 1080p and 1440p are provided, showing the variance is between 68 and 92 FPS at 1080p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory bandwidth is 256.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1257 MHz and the boost clock is 1340 MHz. The memory clock is 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The GPU has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Its pixel rate is 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate is 193.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute of 6.175 TFLOPS.

In Outriders, the GPU's performance is the dominant factor at all resolutions. The data shows that the RX 580 is 53rd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the data set are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (0.1% lower average), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (0.4% lower average), the AMD Radeon 740M (0.5% higher average), and the AMD FirePro W5100 (0.6% higher average). This places the RX 580 in the mid-range of GPUs.

The 8 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor in Outriders at 1080p, as the game's memory usage is not specified in the data. However, at 4K, the GPU's 256.0 GB/s bandwidth and compute capacity is the bottleneck. The benchmark results show the frame rate collapses to 14-36 FPS at 4K, which is consistent with the GPU being the constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the measured frame rate for this combo at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 60.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Outriders?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combination achieves a 60 average FPS with the High preset. The Low preset at 1080p gives 110 average FPS.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in Outriders?

A: The data shows the GPU. The i7-14700K is a 94th percentile CPU, but the RX 580 is 53rd percentile. The FPS drops sharply as resolution increases, indicating the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 14, which is not playable.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 12928. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER has a score of 12986, which is 0.4% higher. The AMD Radeon 740M has a score of 12870, 0.5% lower.

Q: What is the combo's ranking in Outriders?

A: It is 3377 out of 3710 tested combinations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has a 33 MB shared L3 cache and uses a 10 nm process. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with a dual-channel memory bus. The i7-14700K is in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355.

In Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU. The benchmark results show that the i7-14700K is not the limiting factor. The CPU's multi-core performance is high, as shown by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160. In the game, the CPU can handle the simulation and physics, but the GPU cannot keep up at higher resolutions.

The i7-14700K's nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark are the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% higher average score), the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% lower). This confirms that the i7-14700K is a high-end CPU.

However, in Outriders, the CPU's power does not translate to high FPS at 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the 110 average FPS indicates that the CPU is not holding back the frame rate. At 4K with Low settings, the average is 36 FPS, which is a massive reduction from 110. This 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting factor, regardless of the CPU's capability.

The i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads are more than sufficient for the game. Its boost clock of 5.60 GHz helps with single-threaded performance, which is relevant for game logic. The data shows that the CPU's influence on the FPS is minimal, and the system's overall performance in Outriders is determined by the RX 580's capabilities.