Outriders

The pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 in Outriders produces a performance profile that is heavily dictated by graphics settings, with the CPU showing remarkable headroom at lower presets. The measured data reveals a system that can deliver high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K Ultra, placing it in the 1260th position out of 3710 tested combinations.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results across all three resolutions clearly indicate that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, Medium settings produce an average of 202 FPS, which is 50 FPS higher than High settings while still maintaining a respectable minimum of 172 FPS. The jump from Medium to High costs 50 FPS, while the jump from Low to Medium costs 70 FPS, suggesting that Medium represents the sweet spot where visual quality and performance intersect most favorably.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset delivers 128 FPS average with a minimum of 108 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High settings at this resolution drop to 96 FPS, which remains playable but offers less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 69 FPS, which is still technically playable but leaves little margin for frame time spikes.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the only viable option besides Low, producing 67 FPS average with a minimum of 57 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 50 FPS, which begins to feel sluggish, while Ultra at 4K collapses to 36 FPS. The data suggests that players targeting 4K should either accept Medium settings or consider lowering resolution, as the performance cliff between Medium and High at this resolution is substantial.

The Low preset consistently delivers the highest frame rates across all resolutions, reaching 272 FPS at 1080p, 175 FPS at 1440p, and 92 FPS at 4K. However, the visual compromise inherent in Low settings likely undermines the experience in a looter shooter where enemy visibility and environmental detail matter. Medium settings provide the best compromise between the extremes, and the data supports this conclusion across all three tested resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, built on the Ampere architecture with 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs. These specifications position the RTX 3070 at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208.

The VRAM capacity appears to be a limiting factor at higher settings and resolutions. The transition from Medium to High settings causes a significant frame rate drop across all resolutions, with the most dramatic decrease occurring at 4K where the average FPS falls from 67 to 50. This 25% performance loss suggests that the 8 GB frame buffer becomes strained when texture quality and other memory-intensive features are increased, potentially forcing the GPU to spill over into slower memory operations.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT with a deltaPct of 0.7, indicating near-identical performance, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 with a deltaPct of 1.0. The RTX 3070 also sits close to the AMD Radeon HD 7970M and NVIDIA Tesla K40c, though these comparisons reflect synthetic benchmarks rather than gaming-specific performance. The GPU's computational capabilities, including 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, suggest adequate raw power for Outriders, but the memory subsystem appears to be the bottleneck when settings are pushed higher.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation at higher resolutions. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 202 at 1080p to 128 at 1440p, a 37% reduction, and then to 67 at 4K, a further 48% reduction from the 1440p figure. This scaling behavior indicates that the RTX 3070 becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count grows, with the 4K resolution demanding nearly three times the pixel throughput of 1080p.

The High settings show a similar pattern, with 152 FPS at 1080p dropping to 96 FPS at 1440p and then to 50 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is 48%, which is nearly identical to the Medium preset's drop, suggesting that the GPU's performance ceiling scales consistently regardless of settings. This consistency implies that the RTX 3070's raw rasterization throughput, not memory capacity, is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

The Low settings exhibit the most dramatic scaling, from 272 FPS at 1080p to 175 FPS at 1440p and 92 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure still exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, confirming that the GPU can handle 4K when graphical demands are minimal. However, the fact that Low settings at 4K perform better than Ultra settings at 1440p (92 vs 69 FPS) highlights how much performance is consumed by higher quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1260th out of 3710 tested combinations in Outriders, placing it in the 34th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects a mid-tier position that is consistent with the individual component performance levels, as the CPU sits at the 85th percentile while the GPU rests at the 61st percentile.

The combo's ranking suggests that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU in most scenarios, the GPU's performance ceiling limits the overall system to mid-pack standing. The gap between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the GPU's lower ranking indicates that this system is GPU-bound in Outriders, particularly at higher settings and resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 272 FPS, which is likely beyond the display refresh rate of most monitors, confirming that the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower graphical loads.

The rank of 1260 out of 3710 means that approximately one-third of tested configurations outperform this combo, while two-thirds perform worse. This positioning makes sense given the RTX 3070's age and mid-range status, as newer GPUs with higher VRAM capacities and faster memory bandwidth would naturally achieve better results in Outriders' demanding scenes.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Outriders at 4K 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, where the average FPS is 67 with a minimum of 57. At High settings, the average drops to 50 FPS, and at Ultra, it falls to 36 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, delivering 128 FPS average with a minimum of 108 FPS. This resolution and preset combination offers high frame rates while maintaining visual quality, with 1440p High also viable at 96 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 17208 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which has a deltaPct of 0.7, meaning the RTX 3070 is approximately 0.7% faster in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Is the CPU bottlenecking the GPU in Outriders?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck, as the system achieves 272 FPS at 1080p Low settings. The CPU's performance percentile of 85% is significantly higher than the GPU's 61%, suggesting the GPU is the limiting component in most scenarios.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with high refresh rate monitors?

A: At 1080p Medium, the system averages 202 FPS, which supports high refresh rate displays up to 200 Hz. At 1080p High, the average is 152 FPS, still sufficient for most 144 Hz monitors.

Q: How much performance is lost when enabling Ultra settings?

A: Compared to Medium settings, Ultra reduces average FPS by 46% at 1080p (from 202 to 109), 46% at 1440p (from 128 to 69), and 46% at 4K (from 67 to 36). The consistent 46% penalty across resolutions suggests a fixed performance cost for Ultra quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 272 FPS on Low settings, 202 FPS on Medium with a minimum of 172 and maximum of 232, 152 FPS on High, and 109 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's frame time consistency, evidenced by the 172-232 FPS range, indicates stable performance without major stutters.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 175 FPS, Medium delivers 128 FPS with a range of 108-147, High achieves 96 FPS, and Ultra drops to 69 FPS. The 1440p Medium range of 39 FPS (108 to 147) suggests some scene-dependent variance but remains well within playable territory.

At 3840x2160, Low settings yield 92 FPS, Medium produces 67 FPS with a range of 57-77, High manages 50 FPS, and Ultra falls to 36 FPS. The 4K Medium range of 20 FPS (57 to 77) is the tightest of any resolution, indicating that the GPU is consistently saturated at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 features 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture CPU has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration providing 102.4 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and multi-core score of 25891.

In Outriders, the CPU's role appears to be providing sufficient throughput to avoid bottlenecking the GPU. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 272 FPS, which would require the CPU to process a substantial number of draw calls and game logic updates per second. The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4412 and multi-thread score of 30459 indicate robust performance that aligns with its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, has an average score of 36945 with a deltaPct of 0, indicating essentially identical performance. The Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 with a deltaPct of -0.5, meaning the Ultra 5 225 is approximately 0.5% slower. These comparisons suggest that the CPU's performance is well-matched to the RTX 3070's capabilities, with neither component dramatically outperforming the other in a way that would create an imbalance in Outriders.