Outriders

# Outriders with Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

The combination of Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a highly resolution-dependent experience in Outriders, a looter shooter released on 2021-03-31. The measured data spans four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions, revealing a system where the GPU becomes the dominant constraint as resolution climbs, while the CPU's substantial headroom keeps frame rates playable at lower resolutions. The RTX 2060, with its 6 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivers 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and the i7-14700KF's 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample processing capacity that never appears to bottleneck the frame delivery in this title. Benchmarks place this combo at rank 1383 out of 1693 tested combinations, indicating a mid-to-lower tier standing among all tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, clearly identifying the GPU as the limiting component. At Ultra settings, average frame rates fall from 75.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 45.3 FPS at 2560x1440, then further to 22.3 FPS at 3840x2160 — a reduction of roughly 40% from 1080p to 1440p, and another 51% from 1440p to 4K. This pattern repeats at High settings, where the average drops from 102.4 FPS at 1080p to 66.4 FPS at 1440p, and finally 34.2 FPS at 4K. The scaling suggests that the RTX 2060's rendering pipeline saturates quickly as pixel count increases, with the 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs struggling to maintain throughput at 4K resolutions.

At Low settings, the scaling is less severe in percentage terms but still pronounced: 186.3 FPS at 1080p falls to 120.5 FPS at 1440p (a 35% drop), then to 61.5 FPS at 4K (another 49% drop). The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution grows with pixel count — at 1080p, the difference is 110.8 FPS (186.3 vs 75.5), while at 4K it narrows to 39.2 FPS (61.5 vs 22.3). This narrowing indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that even lowering settings cannot fully compensate for the raw pixel throughput demands. The 6 GB VRAM capacity likely contributes to this ceiling, as Outriders' texture and geometry data at 4K may exceed the frame buffer, causing additional performance degradation beyond pure compute limits.

The data shows that 1440p represents a practical ceiling for this combo: High settings achieve 66.4 FPS, which is playable, while Ultra dips to 45.3 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings reach 61.5 FPS, making higher quality presets impractical for smooth gameplay. The RTX 2060's 160 W TDP and 1680 MHz boost clock appear insufficient for 4K Ultra, where the 22.3 FPS result falls below typical playability thresholds.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060's specifications directly explain its performance ceiling in Outriders. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory operating at 14 Gbps effective and a 192-bit bus delivering 336.0 GB/s, the card has moderate bandwidth that becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. The 1365 MHz base clock and 1680 MHz boost clock provide a reasonable frequency range, but the 1920 shading units and 120 TMUs must process Outriders' effects-heavy combat scenes, which include particle systems and environmental destruction typical of the looter shooter genre.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its standing: a Passmark G3D score of 14111 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242 place it at the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S (0.5% ahead), AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (1.7% behind), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (1.8% ahead), showing the RTX 2060 sits in a tightly packed performance band. The DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) API support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure the card is feature-complete for Outriders, but the raw throughput limits remain evident in the measured FPS data.

At 1080p Low, the GPU delivers 186.3 FPS, suggesting it can handle the game's lighter loads with significant headroom. However, the drop to 75.5 FPS at 1080p Ultra — a 59% reduction — shows how quickly the card's resources are consumed by higher-quality shadows, textures, and post-processing. The 48 ROPs are particularly stressed at 4K, where the 22.3 FPS Ultra result indicates fill-rate limitations. The 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die at 12 nm provide the computational foundation, but the 6 GB frame buffer and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot sustain high-resolution, high-quality rendering in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF presents a stark contrast to the GPU's constraints. With 20 cores (including performance cores) and 28 threads, running at a 3.40 GHz base clock and 5.60 GHz boost clock, the processor offers far more compute capacity than Outriders requires. The 33 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data locality for game logic, physics, and AI routines. The CPU's Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a single-core score of 6290, placing it at the 96th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's benchmark data shows it competes closely with the Intel Core i7-14700K (0.0% delta), AMD EPYC 9115 (0.3% ahead), and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (0.4% behind in the comparison direction). This places the i7-14700KF among the top-tier desktop processors, with a Passmark multi-thread score of 52425 and single-thread score of 4480. For Outriders, which typically scales across multiple threads for enemy AI and world simulation, the 28 threads ensure that CPU-side bottlenecks are unlikely at any resolution. The measured FPS data confirms this: even at 1080p Low where the GPU produces 186.3 FPS, the frame rate appears limited by the graphics card rather than the processor, as the CPU has demonstrated far higher capabilities in synthetic benchmarks.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory (dual-channel) provide flexible platform integration, though the memory bandwidth is not specified in the data. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 16 lanes (CPU only) ensures ample bandwidth for the RTX 2060's PCIe 3.0 x16 connection, with no interface bottleneck expected. The processor's boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly relevant for Outriders' single-threaded components, such as game logic and draw call submission, where higher frequencies directly translate to improved frame pacing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined system ranks 1383 out of 1693 tested combinations in Outriders, placing it in the lower 18% of all tested configurations. This rank reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities — the i7-14700KF is a top-tier processor (96th percentile), while the RTX 2060 sits at the 58th percentile among GPUs. The imbalance means the system's overall performance is heavily weighted toward the graphics card's output, which struggles at higher resolutions and settings.

Given the CPU's performance class, this combo's rank would likely improve substantially if paired with a faster GPU — the processor's headroom suggests it could support significantly higher frame rates in Outriders. Conversely, the RTX 2060's rank among GPUs (58th percentile) is the primary driver of the combo's mid-to-low standing. The data indicates that users seeking higher rankings would need to prioritize GPU upgrades over CPU changes, as the i7-14700KF is unlikely to be the limiting factor in any scenario. The 1693 total tested combos include a wide range of pairings, and this specific configuration falls in the lower quartile, consistent with the GPU's mid-range positioning and the game's demanding visual effects.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Outriders at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it achieves 61.5 FPS average. At Medium, High, and Ultra settings, the averages drop to 44.1, 34.2, and 22.3 FPS respectively, with Ultra being largely unplayable.

Q: What is the best settings/resolution balance for smooth gameplay?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo delivers 66.4 FPS, which is a reasonable balance. At 1920x1080, High settings achieve 102.4 FPS, and Low settings reach 186.3 FPS, providing smooth performance across most quality levels.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The data clearly indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The i7-14700KF ranks at the 96th percentile among CPUs, while the RTX 2060 ranks at the 58th percentile among GPUs. The FPS scaling across resolutions matches typical GPU-bound behavior.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In aggregate benchmarks, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S is 0.5% faster, the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is 1.8% faster, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and Pro 5700 are 1.7% slower. These are tight margins, indicating the RTX 2060 sits in a competitive mid-range band.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with different settings?

A: At 1920x1080, the measured averages are 186.3 FPS (Low), 135.6 FPS (Medium), 102.4 FPS (High), and 75.5 FPS (Ultra). All settings provide playable frame rates, with even Ultra exceeding 60 FPS.

Q: Does the CPU's performance vary significantly from its closest rivals?

A: The i7-14700KF's average benchmark score of 70104 is nearly identical to the i7-14700K (70074, 0.0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70420, 0.4% difference). The AMD EPYC 9115 is 0.3% faster, and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 is 1.3% faster. These differences are negligible in gaming scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 2060 and i7-14700KF combination produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings deliver 186.3 FPS average, which drops to 135.6 FPS at Medium, 102.4 FPS at High, and 75.5 FPS at Ultra. The progression shows a consistent 25-35% reduction for each quality tier increase, with the gap between Low and Ultra totaling 110.8 FPS. These results suggest that 1080p is well within the GPU's comfortable operating range, and the CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock helps maintain high frame pacing even during intense combat sequences.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally but remains playable for most settings. Low settings achieve 120.5 FPS, Medium reaches 87.3 FPS, High produces 66.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 45.3 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 35% at Low to 40% at Ultra, indicating that the GPU's pixel throughput is becoming a factor but still manageable at lower quality presets. The 6 GB VRAM appears sufficient for 1440p workloads, as the frame rate drops are consistent with compute limitations rather than memory overflow.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become pronounced. Low settings yield 61.5 FPS, which is the only setting above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 44.1 FPS, High to 34.2 FPS, and Ultra to 22.3 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K ranges from 49% at Low to 51% at Ultra, showing that the RTX 2060's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 48 ROPs cannot sustain 4K rendering at acceptable quality levels. The 22.3 FPS at Ultra represents a 70% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result, demonstrating the steep cost of 4K rendering on this mid-range GPU. For users targeting 4K, Low settings are the only viable option, while 1440p High offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate.