Outriders

# Outriders with Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a performance spectrum in Outriders that spans from fluid 4K gameplay to extreme high-refresh 1080p output, with the benchmark data showing a clear progression across resolutions and settings. The Core i7-14700K, with 20 cores and 28 threads, boosts to 5.60 GHz, while the RTX 5090 brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, producing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This combination ranks 54th out of 3,710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 1.5% of all configurations measured. The measured FPS data reveals distinct scaling patterns that shift the bottleneck between GPU and CPU depending on the resolution and preset selected.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial but not catastrophic, indicating a system that remains GPU-bound at all tested resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 220 FPS at 1920x1080 to 168 FPS at 2560x1440, a 23.6% reduction, and then to 88 FPS at 3840x2160, a 60% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that has enough headroom at lower resolutions to be partially limited by CPU throughput, but which becomes increasingly constrained by pixel-pushing workloads as resolution climbs.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 275 FPS, which drops to 236 FPS at 1440p and 161 FPS at 4K. The relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p (14.2%) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (31.8%) suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is becoming a more significant factor in determining frame rate. The Core i7-14700K's 5.60 GHz boost clock and 33 MB of shared L3 cache help push high minimum frames, but even this processor cannot fully feed the RTX 5090's enormous compute throughput at the lowest settings.

Medium settings tell a similar story with a different starting point. The 1080p Medium average of 245 FPS drops to 210 FPS at 1440p and 117 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result includes a minimum FPS of 100 and maximum of 135, showing a narrow 35 FPS range that indicates stable frame pacing under load. This stability is notable because the RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient to handle Outriders' particle effects and geometry without significant frame-time spikes.

Ultra settings produce the steepest resolution scaling curve, with 193 FPS at 1080p falling to 122 FPS at 1440p and just 64 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result represents a 66.8% drop from 1080p Ultra, signaling that the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and 176 ROPs are being thoroughly exercised at this configuration. The data indicates that 4K Ultra is the only tested scenario where the GPU is fully saturated at all times, with the 64 FPS average suggesting that Outriders' Ultra preset includes effects that scale heavily with resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Outriders?

A: The highest measured average is 275 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 245 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 236 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Is 4K Ultra playable with this configuration?

A: Yes, but barely. The 3840x2160 Ultra preset produces an average of 64 FPS. This is playable on a 60 Hz display but will not fully utilize a 120 Hz or higher refresh rate monitor at 4K.

Q: How much does the Ultra preset cost in performance at 1440p compared to High?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra delivers 122 FPS average versus 168 FPS on High. That is a 46 FPS reduction, or approximately 27.4% lower performance, for the visual improvements Ultra provides.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 100 FPS at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. All other configurations either had no minimum recorded or showed higher minimums where data was available.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM affect Outriders performance?

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, which fully eliminates any VRAM capacity limits in Outriders. Even at 4K Ultra, the game's texture streaming requirements are far below this capacity, allowing the GPU to focus on compute rather than memory management.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate gaming with this combo?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 190 FPS on average, with Low reaching 275 FPS. At 2560x1440, High and Medium remain above 160 FPS, while Ultra drops to 122 FPS. For 240 Hz displays, 1080p Medium or Low is recommended; for 144 Hz displays, 1440p High or Medium is optimal.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K's architecture, code-named Raptor Lake-R, provides 20 cores and 28 threads with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This combination of high core count and high boost frequency is directly relevant to Outriders, which benefits from both multi-threaded asset streaming and single-threaded game logic. The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache reduce memory latency, which helps maintain consistent frame delivery in combat-heavy scenes with many AI entities.

The benchmark data shows that the CPU's influence is most visible at 1080p Low, where the average FPS of 275 is only 11.9% higher than at 1440p Low (236 FPS). This relatively small gain from reducing resolution by 1.78x suggests that the CPU is approaching its frame delivery ceiling around 275 FPS in Outriders. In comparison, the 4K Low result of 161 FPS is 41.5% lower than 1080p Low, clearly demonstrating that GPU workload becomes dominant at higher pixel counts.

The Core i7-14700K's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33,440.5 and single-core score of 2,160 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs tested. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, scores 69,515 in average benchmark score, a delta of -0.2% from the Core i7's 69,355. This near-parity in synthetic workloads translates to similar real-world game performance, though the Core i7's higher boost clock of 5.60 GHz gives it a slight edge in lightly-threaded scenarios that Outriders' main thread often presents.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory allow system builders flexibility, but the data shows that the processor is not the primary constraint in any tested configuration. Even at 1080p Low, the 275 FPS average is well below the CPU's theoretical frame generation limit, as evidenced by the PassMark multi-thread score of 52,392 and single-thread score of 4,472. The bottleneck in Outriders shifts decisively to the GPU as resolution increases, with the 4K Ultra result of 64 FPS representing a purely GPU-limited scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks 54th out of 3,710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 1.5% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the raw performance ceiling of both components, but the measured FPS data suggests that the combo's relative position varies by settings and resolution. At 1080p Low, the 275 FPS average would likely challenge higher-ranked combos that use faster CPUs, while at 4K Ultra, the 64 FPS result is more dependent on GPU architecture than on the CPU pairing.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 94th against all CPUs, combined with the GPU's 92nd percentile against all GPUs, indicates that this combo is not limited by either component being a weak link. The nearest CPU rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X with a delta of -0.2% and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX at -0.7%, demonstrate that the Core i7-14700K is positioned at the top of the consumer desktop heap. On the GPU side, the RTX 5090's nearest rivals are largely data center and workstation parts, with the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB showing a delta of 0.3% and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X at -1.4%.

In the context of all 3,710 combos, the 54th ranking is notable because it places this pairing above the vast majority of configurations that might use older GPUs or lower-tier CPUs. The data shows that Outriders is not exceptionally demanding on either component, so the ranking is more a reflection of the absolute performance ceiling than of any specific optimization for this game. Combos ranked above this one likely use even higher-end server CPUs or multi-GPU setups that are impractical for gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results show a clear hierarchy across presets. Low settings produce an average of 275 FPS, Medium delivers 245 FPS with a minimum of 208 FPS and maximum of 281 FPS, High reaches 220 FPS, and Ultra drops to 193 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 82 FPS, or 29.8% of the Low result, indicating that visual quality has a moderate impact at this resolution. The Medium preset's 73 FPS range between minimum and maximum shows some frame-time variability, but the average remains high enough for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 236 FPS for Low, 210 FPS for Medium with a minimum of 178 and maximum of 241, 168 FPS for High, and 122 FPS for Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 114 FPS, or 48.3%, as the increased pixel count amplifies the GPU workload differences between presets. The Medium preset's frame range of 63 FPS is slightly narrower than at 1080p, suggesting more consistent performance at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results compress dramatically. Low delivers 161 FPS, Medium averages 117 FPS with a minimum of 100 and maximum of 135, High drops to 88 FPS, and Ultra falls to 64 FPS. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 97 FPS, representing a 60.2% reduction from Low to Ultra. This compression indicates that the GPU is the dominant factor at 4K, with the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth being fully utilized across all presets. The Medium preset's 35 FPS range is the tightest of any configuration, showing stable performance even under 4K load.

Settings Recommendations

For gamers prioritizing high refresh rates at 1080p, the Low preset at 275 FPS is the clear choice for 240 Hz displays, though Medium at 245 FPS offers a better visual experience with only an 11% FPS reduction. At 1440p, the High preset at 168 FPS provides an excellent balance for 144 Hz monitors, while Medium at 210 FPS supports 165 Hz displays with minimal visual compromise. The Ultra preset at 122 FPS is viable for 120 Hz 1440p monitors but offers diminishing returns over High.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 117 FPS is the recommended configuration for 120 Hz displays, as it maintains a minimum of 100 FPS and a maximum of 135 FPS, ensuring no frame drops below the refresh rate threshold. The High preset at 88 FPS is suitable for 60 Hz and some 90 Hz displays, but the 64 FPS Ultra preset is only recommended for 60 Hz monitors where visual fidelity is paramount. The data shows that 4K Medium provides the best combination of smoothness and image quality, with the 100 FPS minimum ensuring consistent frame pacing.

For users with variable refresh rate displays, the 1440p Medium preset at 210 FPS average with a 178 FPS minimum provides the widest safe operating range, accommodating refresh rates from 178 Hz down to the minimum without tearing. The 1080p Low preset, while highest in raw FPS, has no recorded minimum or maximum, suggesting that its frame delivery may be less predictable than Medium presets that include complete data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, provides 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs. Its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are the primary drivers of Outriders' visual performance, with the 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with its 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, make it exceptionally well-suited for the game's particle-heavy combat effects.

The GPU's influence on measured FPS is most apparent in the Ultra preset scaling. At 4K Ultra, the 64 FPS result represents a 66.8% drop from 1080p Ultra's 193 FPS, while the Low preset only drops 41.5% from 1080p to 4K. This disparity indicates that Ultra settings activate GPU-intensive features that scale non-linearly with resolution, likely including advanced shadow mapping, volumetric effects, and post-processing that heavily utilize the GPU's compute and texture units.

The RTX 5090's memory configuration of 32 GB GDDR7 is more than sufficient for Outriders at any resolution, as the game's largest texture sets are easily accommodated within this capacity. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and geometry data transfer do not become bottlenecks, even during rapid camera movements in dense environments. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking against all GPUs, with its PassMark G3D score of 39,650, confirms that it operates at the upper echelon of graphics hardware, though its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are primarily professional-grade parts like the Tesla P100 series.

The 4K Medium result of 117 FPS with a 100 FPS minimum shows that the RTX 5090 can maintain smooth performance even when memory bandwidth is heavily taxed. The 135 FPS maximum at 4K Medium suggests that the GPU has additional headroom that could be exploited with driver optimizations or game updates. The Ultra preset's 64 FPS at 4K, while low in absolute terms, is still above the 60 FPS threshold for standard displays, demonstrating that this GPU can handle even the most demanding settings Outriders offers.