Outriders

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a robust Outriders experience across all resolution tiers, but the data reveals a clear sweet spot. For 1080p and 1440p gaming, the High preset is the optimal choice, offering a strong balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 1080p High, the combo produces 179.1 FPS, which is 54.3 FPS higher than Ultra while still looking substantially better than Medium. At 1440p High, it achieves 108.3 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. For 4K, the situation is different: Medium is the recommended preset, delivering 79.3 FPS, which is 20.8 FPS more than High and nearly double the 40.4 FPS of Ultra. The data suggests that Ultra is a visual showcase rather than a competitive setting for this GPU at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 yields 179.1 FPS average, which is 54.3 FPS higher than Ultra (124.8 FPS) and 55.1 FPS lower than Low (277.1 FPS). Given that High provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium (234.2 FPS) while maintaining a frame rate far beyond display refresh rates, it is the most practical choice for high-refresh monitors.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming at competitive frame rates?

A: Yes, but not at maximum settings. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset delivers 79.3 FPS, which is playable and smooth. High drops to 58.5 FPS, which is borderline for 60 Hz displays, and Ultra falls to 40.4 FPS, which is not recommended for action-heavy gameplay. The RTX 3080’s 10 GB GDDR6X memory is sufficient for Medium at 4K.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of FPS cost?

A: The performance penalty for Ultra is substantial across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra costs 54.3 FPS compared to High (124.8 vs 179.1). At 1440p, the gap widens to 27.9 FPS (80.4 vs 108.3). At 4K, Ultra is 18.1 FPS slower than High (40.4 vs 58.5). This indicates that Ultra settings include effects that heavily tax the GPU without proportional visual benefits.

Q: Is this CPU or GPU bottlenecked in Outriders?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 277.1 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU effectively. However, as resolution increases, the frame rate drops significantly: 202.9 FPS at 1440p Low and 103.3 FPS at 4K Low. This pattern shows the RTX 3080 becoming the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

Q: What is the expected frame rate at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 146.1 FPS. This is 37.8 FPS higher than High (108.3 FPS) and 65.7 FPS lower than Low (202.9 FPS). Medium at 1440p provides a high refresh rate experience, making it a viable option for competitive play or for users prioritizing frame rate over visual quality.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 306th out of 1693 tested combinations in Outriders, placing it in the top 18.1% of all configurations. This indicates a strong pairing that outperforms the majority of systems, though it is not in the top tier for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at the High preset reduces average FPS from 179.1 to 108.3, a drop of 70.8 FPS (39.5%). At 4K, the same settings yield 58.5 FPS, a further decline of 49.8 FPS from 1440p. This steep curve indicates that the RTX 3080’s 10 GB memory and 320-bit bus are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

The Low preset demonstrates the CPU’s capability. At 1080p Low, the system hits 277.1 FPS, but this falls to 202.9 FPS at 1440p and 103.3 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low figure is still higher than 1440p High (108.3 FPS), showing that resolution has a larger impact than settings tweaks. The i7-14700KF’s 20 cores and 28 threads are sufficient to keep up with the GPU at all tested resolutions, as the frame rate drops are proportional to pixel count rather than indicating a CPU stall.

Ultra settings exacerbate the scaling issue. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 40.4 FPS, which is a 67.6% reduction from 1080p Ultra (124.8 FPS). This suggests that Ultra enables ray-traced or high-fidelity effects that consume the GPU’s bandwidth and shading resources, making 4K Ultra impractical for this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 277.1 FPS
• Medium: 234.2 FPS
• High: 179.1 FPS
• Ultra: 124.8 FPS

At 1080p, the RTX 3080 has ample headroom. The gap between Low and Medium is 42.9 FPS, while the gap from Medium to High is 55.1 FPS. The most significant drop is from High to Ultra, costing 54.3 FPS. This indicates that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at lower resolutions.

2560x1440:

• Low: 202.9 FPS
• Medium: 146.1 FPS
• High: 108.3 FPS
• Ultra: 80.4 FPS

The 1440p results show a more balanced degradation. Low to Medium costs 56.8 FPS, Medium to High costs 37.8 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 27.9 FPS. The diminishing returns of Ultra are less severe here, but the absolute frame rates are still high enough to support 144 Hz monitors at High settings.

3840x2160:

• Low: 103.3 FPS
• Medium: 79.3 FPS
• High: 58.5 FPS
• Ultra: 40.4 FPS

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Low is the only preset that exceeds 100 FPS, and Medium is the only one that comfortably clears 60 FPS. High dips below 60 FPS, making it borderline for VRR displays. Ultra is unplayable for fast-paced combat, confirming that this resolution is best paired with Medium or lower settings for this GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

In the Outriders benchmark database, this combination of Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 holds the 306th rank out of 1693 tested combos. This places it in the 82nd percentile, meaning it outperforms roughly 82% of all recorded systems. The ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pair: the CPU’s high multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557) prevents it from bottlenecking the GPU at any resolution, while the RTX 3080’s 80th percentile standing among all GPUs provides solid rasterization power.

The rank is not higher because the RTX 3080, while capable, is now a previous-generation part. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which scores 0.9% higher on average, and the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile, which scores 1% lower. In Outriders specifically, the 306th rank suggests that newer GPUs with more VRAM or higher bandwidth achieve better 4K results. However, for 1080p and 1440p gaming, this combo’s performance is well above the median, making it a strong mid-to-high-tier option.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with 33 MB of shared L3 cache, provide strong single-thread and multi-thread capabilities. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 6290 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 44557 in multi-core, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs.

In Outriders, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 277.1 FPS, which is a clear indicator that the CPU can handle high frame rates without becoming the limiting factor. The 28 threads are more than sufficient for the game’s multi-threaded rendering and physics tasks. The CPU’s nearest rival in synthetic tests, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, scores 0.4% higher on average, while the Intel Core i7-14700K scores 0% different, showing that the 14700KF’s unlocked multiplier (enabling overclocking) does not translate to a significant performance edge in this game.

The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is particularly important for Outriders’ single-threaded game logic, as higher clocks reduce frame time variance. The 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide flexibility, though the data does not differentiate memory performance. Overall, the CPU is not the constraint; the RTX 3080’s 10 GB VRAM and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are what determine the frame rate ceilings at higher resolutions and settings.