Outriders

# Outriders with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B390

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics produces a combination that ranks 2582nd out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. This is a desktop CPU with 14 cores and 14 threads, boosted by an integrated GPU that delivers only 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, a figure that the benchmark data shows is simply insufficient for smooth gameplay at higher resolutions. The measured frames per second reveal a system that can handle 1080p Low at 115 FPS but collapses to 15 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating a GPU-bound experience where the processor's capabilities are largely irrelevant to the final outcome.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 115, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the data that exceeds 100 FPS, with the next closest being 83 FPS at 1080p Medium.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Outriders?

A: The combination ranks 2582nd out of 2913 total combos tested for this game. This places it in the 11th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 89% of configurations deliver better performance.

Q: What is the lowest FPS recorded in the benchmark data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 15, measured at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This represents a 87% drop from the best-case 1080p Low result, making 4K Ultra essentially unplayable.

Q: Does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 benchmark well against its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The CPU scores 46062 in average benchmark, sitting within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, Intel Core i9-13900HX, AMD EPYC 4364P, and AMD EPYC 7303. The largest delta is only 0.2%, meaning the processor is statistically tied with all four rivals.

Q: What is the Intel Arc B390's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The GPU sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and GeForce 800M, which score within 1.5% of it.

Q: Is there a configuration where this combo achieves 60 FPS or higher?

A: Yes, two configurations cross the 60 FPS threshold: 1080p Low at 115 FPS and 1080p High at 63 FPS. The 1440p Low setting comes close at 72 FPS, but all other measured settings fall below 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor built on Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process node from TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, drawing a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 24 MB shared L3 cache, with dual-channel DDR5 memory support delivering 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU shows strong multi-threaded performance: it scores 14769 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 6202 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 1488 in Cinebench R15 multi-core. Single-thread scores are 2085 in R23 and 875 in R20. The PassMark multi-thread score is 37816, with a single-thread score of 4516. The CPU's average benchmark score is 46062, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

The nearest CPU rivals show how tightly clustered this processor is: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030 (0.1% lower), the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (0.1% higher), and both the AMD EPYC 4364P and EPYC 7303 score 45970 and 45960 respectively (0.2% lower). These deltas are negligible, meaning the Core Ultra 5 235 is functionally equivalent to those processors in raw compute.

However, in Outriders, the CPU role is largely secondary. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 115 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 45 FPS. This 61% reduction from Low to Ultra at the same resolution is far too large to be explained by CPU workload differences, which typically scale minimally with graphics settings. The 14 cores and 14 threads are more than sufficient for a game like Outriders, which is a looter shooter genre title that does not typically stress high-core-count processors. The PassMark physics score of 2570 and integer math score of 87948 indicate solid computational headroom that the game's engine likely cannot fully utilize given the GPU bottleneck.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture with a Panther Lake chip, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. The GPU includes 12 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The memory configuration is entirely system shared, meaning the GPU uses the CPU's DDR5 memory rather than dedicated VRAM. The bus width is system shared, and bandwidth is system dependent. This is a critical limitation: the GPU cannot rely on high-bandwidth dedicated memory, and its performance is tied to the CPU's dual-channel memory subsystem. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS and FP16 of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The TDP is 80 W, and it draws power as an integrated graphics processor with no discrete power connectors.

The GPU's benchmark presence is minimal: it has only one recorded benchmark, a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, a very low position. Its nearest rivals are all older or entry-level NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% lower), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% lower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% lower), and the GeForce GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% lower). The B390 is the top performer in this group but only by a narrow margin.

In Outriders, the GPU is clearly the limiting component. The measured FPS scales dramatically with resolution and settings, which is the signature of a GPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 115 FPS result suggests the GPU can keep up with modest demands. But at 1440p Low, FPS drops to 72, and at 4K Low it falls to 38. This scaling pattern indicates the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are insufficient for higher pixel counts. The 24 ROPs and 7.680 TFLOPS are simply too low for 4K rendering, as evidenced by the 15 FPS Ultra result at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2582 out of 2913 total combinations places this system in the bottom 11.4% of all tested configurations in Outriders. This is a very low ranking that reflects the GPU's 9th percentile position rather than the CPU's 89th percentile standing. The data implies that the CPU is not the constraining factor; if it were, the combo would rank much higher given the processor's competitive benchmark scores.

The gap between the CPU's strong performance and the combo's weak game performance is instructive. The Core Ultra 5 235 matches processors like the Core i9-13900HX and Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 within 0.2%, yet those CPUs would typically be paired with discrete GPUs in real systems. Here, the integrated Arc B390 holds the entire configuration back. The 24 ROPs and system-shared memory create a ceiling that no amount of CPU compute can overcome.

The rank also suggests that most other tested combos include discrete graphics cards, which dominate the upper end of the 2913-combo list. The B390's 9th percentile GPU score means that 91% of GPUs tested in this database outperform it. In a game like Outriders, which demands sustained GPU throughput for its looter shooter combat and particle effects, this low GPU percentile directly translates to the bottom-quartile combo ranking.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a steep performance curve that identifies the GPU as the bottleneck. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, FPS drops from 115 to 72, a 37.4% reduction. Moving further to 4K Low, FPS falls to 38, a 67% drop from 1080p Low. This scaling is nearly linear with pixel count: 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 4 times the pixels. The observed FPS ratios are 0.63 for 1440p/1080p and 0.33 for 4K/1080p, which closely match the inverse pixel ratios.

At High settings, the same pattern holds. 1080p High runs at 63 FPS, 1440p High at 40 FPS, and 4K High at 21 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36.5%, nearly identical to the Low setting drop. This consistency across settings indicates that the GPU is pixel-bound rather than shader-bound; the limiting factor is the rasterization and fill rate, not the complexity of the shading work.

The Medium settings data includes min and max FPS values, which provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 83 FPS with a min of 71 and max of 96. At 1440p Medium, the average is 53 FPS with a min of 45 and max of 61. At 4K Medium, the average is 28 FPS with a min of 23 and max of 32. The min-to-max spread is roughly 25-30 FPS at each resolution, suggesting consistent frame pacing without severe spikes. However, the 4K Medium min of 23 FPS is below playable thresholds.

The resolution scaling data implies that the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see FPS plateau at higher resolutions, not continue dropping proportionally with pixel count. The near-linear scaling confirms this is a GPU-limited scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 115 FPS, which is the highest FPS in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 83 FPS with a min of 71 and max of 96. High settings average 63 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 45 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression: each settings tier costs roughly 20-30 FPS, with Low to Medium being a 32 FPS drop, Medium to High a 20 FPS drop, and High to Ultra an 18 FPS drop.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly. Low settings average 72 FPS, which is the only 1440p result above 60 FPS. Medium settings average 53 FPS with a min of 45 and max of 61. High settings average 40 FPS. Ultra settings average 29 FPS. The 1440p results show that even Low settings cannot maintain the 1080p High experience, and Ultra is less than half the 1080p Ultra performance.

At 3840x2160, performance is largely unplayable. Low settings average 38 FPS, Medium averages 28 FPS with a min of 23 and max of 32, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 15 FPS. The 4K results show that even the lowest settings cannot reach 40 FPS, making 4K gaming impractical for this combo.

The complete dataset shows that the combo is only viable at 1080p, and even there, only Low and Medium settings provide smooth gameplay above 60 FPS. The 1080p High result of 63 FPS is marginal, and Ultra at 45 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider necessary for responsive action in a looter shooter.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal configuration for this combo is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which delivers 115 FPS. This is the only setting that provides a significant FPS buffer above 60, allowing for consistent frame delivery without drops. The 1080p Medium setting at 83 FPS is also viable, with a min FPS of 71 that stays above the 60 FPS threshold, but it sacrifices 32 FPS compared to Low.

For players who prefer visual fidelity over raw FPS, the 1080p High setting at 63 FPS is the highest quality option that still maintains playable performance. However, the 45 FPS Ultra setting at 1080p is not recommended, as it drops below the 60 FPS target and offers diminishing visual returns for a 28% FPS loss compared to High.

At 1440p, only the Low setting at 72 FPS is recommended, and even then, the margin above 60 FPS is thin. The 1440p Medium setting at 53 FPS is playable but may feel less responsive, and the 40 FPS High and 29 FPS Ultra results are not suitable for a game that requires quick reactions to enemy attacks and environmental hazards.

The 4K resolution is not viable for this combo under any settings. The best 4K result is 38 FPS at Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and would result in noticeable stuttering in combat. Players with 4K displays should either reduce the resolution to 1080p or consider that this combo cannot handle Outriders at native 4K.

The data suggests a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low for maximum FPS, 1080p Medium as a balanced choice, and 1080p High for those who prioritize visuals while accepting 63 FPS. Anything above 1080p should use Low settings at 1440p, and 4K should be avoided entirely. The min FPS values at Medium settings (71 at 1080p, 45 at 1440p, 23 at 4K) indicate that the Medium preset provides the most consistent frame pacing relative to its average, making it the best choice for players who cannot tolerate FPS dips.