Outriders

# Outriders with Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 produces a distinctive performance profile in Outriders, one defined by a massive CPU headroom and a GPU that becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution climbs. This combination ranks 1800th out of 3710 tested combos for this game, placing it in the 51st percentile of all tested configurations. The measured frame rates reveal a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K on higher presets. The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 4060's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become limiting factors at higher resolutions, while the i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads remain largely underutilized throughout the test suite.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 offers the most consistent experience, with average frame rates ranging from 97 FPS at Ultra settings to 245 FPS at Low settings. At 2560x1440, performance remains strong with averages between 61 FPS and 155 FPS, while 3840x2160 dips to as low as 32 FPS on Ultra.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, which places it 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17666) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon 780M (17588). It also leads the AMD Radeon Pro 560 by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 by 0.7%.

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K a bottleneck for the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: No. The i9-14900K ranks in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-14900KF, scores 79371 (0.3% higher), while the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 trails by 1.7%. Given the GPU's mid-range position (61st percentile), the CPU is not the limiting factor.

Q: What are the 4K performance expectations for this combo?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 44 FPS on High, 59 FPS on Medium, 81 FPS on Low, and 32 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset provides a consistently playable experience at 4K, while Medium offers a borderline 59 FPS average with a minimum of 50 FPS.

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

A: At 1080p, dropping from Ultra (97 FPS) to High (134 FPS) yields a 37 FPS improvement. At 1440p, the gap is 23 FPS (61 to 84), and at 4K, the difference is 12 FPS (32 to 44). The relative cost of Ultra increases with resolution.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1800th out of 3710 total tested combos for Outriders. This places it roughly in the middle of the distribution, reflecting a balanced but not top-tier pairing for this specific game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, containing 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. Its memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1830 MHz and boosts to 2460 MHz, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). These specifications position the RTX 4060 as a mid-range performer, sitting in the 61st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 17639.

In Outriders, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 can push frame rates well beyond 100 FPS on most presets, but the 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus begin to constrain performance at higher resolutions. The 4K data shows a stark drop-off, with the Ultra preset producing only 32 FPS. This suggests that memory bandwidth and capacity are the primary limiting factors at 4K, rather than raw compute power. The GPU's 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output processors provide adequate throughput for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the narrow memory interface becomes a bottleneck when pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The RTX 4060's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are all AMD integrated or older discrete GPUs, with the Radeon HD 7790 leading by a mere 0.2%. This clustering indicates that the RTX 4060 sits at a performance tier where small differences separate competitors. In game-specific testing, the GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for Outriders' looter-shooter mechanics, but the data shows that the 4K Ultra preset demands more than this GPU can deliver.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 1800 out of 3710 total combos places this pairing in the 48.5th percentile of all tested configurations for Outriders. This middle-of-the-pack ranking reflects a system that is neither underpowered nor exceptional for this title. The ranking is influenced by the GPU's position in the broader hardware landscape: the RTX 4060 sits in the 61st percentile among all GPUs, while the i9-14900K ranks in the 95th percentile among CPUs. The combination of a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a system that is CPU-limited at low resolutions but GPU-limited at high resolutions.

Compared to other tested combos, this pairing's rank suggests that many configurations with higher-tier GPUs outperform it, particularly at 4K. The data shows that the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM places it at a disadvantage in a game like Outriders, which can stress memory capacity at high resolutions and settings. However, the i9-14900K's strong single-thread and multi-thread performance ensures that the system does not lose ground at lower resolutions where the GPU can keep up. The 1800th rank out of 3710 combos indicates that roughly half of the tested configurations deliver better overall performance, with most of those likely featuring more powerful GPUs.

The percentileVsAllCpus of 95 for the i9-14900K and percentileVsAllGpus of 61 for the RTX 4060 highlight the imbalance in this pairing. When both components are considered together, the combo's rank is dragged down by the GPU's mid-range standing. This is particularly evident in the 4K results, where the combo ranks far below what the CPU alone would suggest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 245 FPS, Medium reaches 178 FPS with a minimum of 152 FPS and maximum of 205 FPS, High achieves 134 FPS, and Ultra drops to 97 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RTX 4060 has ample headroom at 1080p, with even the Ultra preset maintaining nearly triple-digit frame rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains solid but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 155 FPS, Medium averages 112 FPS with a range of 96 to 129 FPS, High averages 84 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61 FPS. The 61 FPS average at Ultra is still playable, but it represents a significant step down from the 97 FPS seen at 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically. Low settings average 81 FPS, Medium averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, High averages 44 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low and Medium presets provide consistently playable frame rates, with High and Ultra falling below the 60 FPS threshold. The minimum FPS data for Medium (50 FPS) suggests that even this preset can experience noticeable dips during intense gameplay sequences.

The full dataset shows a clear progression: each resolution step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K imposes a substantial performance cost, with the Ultra preset suffering the most at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system scales with pixel count. At Low settings, performance falls from 245 FPS at 1080p to 155 FPS at 1440p and 81 FPS at 4K, representing a 66.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the drop is from 178 FPS to 112 FPS to 59 FPS, a 66.9% reduction as well. High settings show a similar pattern: 134 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K, a 67.2% reduction. Ultra settings suffer the most in absolute terms, falling from 97 FPS to 61 FPS to 32 FPS, a 67.0% reduction.

These reductions are remarkably consistent across all settings, hovering around 67% from 1080p to 4K. This consistency suggests that the limiting component scales uniformly with resolution, pointing to the GPU's memory bandwidth as the primary constraint. The 4K resolution requires four times the pixel throughput of 1080p, but the RTX 4060's 272.0 GB/s bandwidth cannot scale accordingly. The CPU, with its 24 cores and 36 MB of shared L3 cache, shows no signs of being the bottleneck in these scaling patterns.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the system is likely CPU-limited or balanced, as the i9-14900K's strong single-thread performance (2262.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core) can feed the GPU effectively. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the sole limiting factor, and the consistent percentage drops across all settings confirm that the RTX 4060 is the constraining component at 1440p and 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 178 FPS with a minimum of 152 FPS, providing a smooth experience with substantial headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. At 1440p, Medium averages 112 FPS with a minimum of 96 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for most monitors. Even at 4K, Medium manages a 59 FPS average with a 50 FPS minimum, making it the only preset besides Low that approaches playability at this resolution.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity. It delivers 134 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is below the 60 FPS target, making it less suitable for smooth gameplay at that resolution. Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p, where the 97 FPS average provides a good experience, though it comes at a significant cost compared to High (37 FPS difference at 1080p).

For users targeting 60 FPS or higher, the data suggests Medium as the default choice. At 4K, users should be aware that even Medium produces a 50 FPS minimum, which may result in occasional stutters. Low settings at 4K (81 FPS average) and 1440p (155 FPS) offer the highest frame rates but sacrifice visual quality. The 32 FPS Ultra result at 4K is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay and is not recommended.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus and connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 16 CPU lanes. Its integrated UHD Graphics 770 provides basic display output, though the RTX 4060 handles all rendering in this test.

In the CPU benchmark suite, the i9-14900K demonstrates exceptional performance. It scores 39399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2262.5 in single-core, 21697 in Geekbench multi-core and 2655 in single-core, and 58674 in PassMark multithread with 4697 in single-thread. These scores place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79097. Its nearest rival, the Core i9-14900KF, scores only 0.3% higher, indicating that the K variant is virtually identical in performance.

In Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 245 FPS suggests that the i9-14900K can drive the RTX 4060 to its limits, with the GPU becoming the bottleneck even at this resolution. The 24 cores and 32 threads are far more than Outriders requires, as most games utilize fewer than 8 cores effectively. The CPU's high boost clock of 6.00 GHz provides excellent single-thread performance, which is crucial for games that rely on a primary game thread. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitations in any of the measured configurations, confirming that the i9-14900K is more than sufficient for this game and this GPU pairing.