Outriders

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 to form a system that lands in the 127th spot out of 3,710 tested combinations for Outriders, placing it in the top 3.4% of all recorded configurations. This pairing of a 14-core Arrow Lake desktop processor with an Ada Lovelace flagship GPU produces frame rates that range from a playable 56 FPS at 4K Ultra to a blistering 278 FPS at 1080p Low, demonstrating that the combination is capable of handling both high-fidelity visuals and competitive refresh rates depending on the user's priority.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is built on the Arrow Lake-S architecture using a 3 nm process from TSMC, and it features 14 cores with 14 threads. This configuration is notable because it lacks hyper-threading, meaning each core corresponds to a single thread, which is a design choice that prioritizes physical core count over logical thread count. The processor runs at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and can boost up to 5.00 GHz, providing a wide operating range that allows it to scale from power-efficient workloads to demanding gaming sessions.

In Outriders, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and game logic updates. The Core Ultra 5 235's single-thread performance is strong, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085 points. This is crucial for a looter shooter where enemy AI, projectile tracking, and environmental interactions all rely on consistent single-threaded execution. The processor's multi-core capabilities, demonstrated by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 points, ensure that background tasks and the game's various systems do not bottleneck the primary game thread.

The L3 cache is 24 MB shared, which is allocated across the 14 cores, and each core has 192 KB of L1 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache. This cache hierarchy is designed to reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for a fast-paced game where frame pacing matters. The processor supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration and a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s, ensuring that the CPU can quickly access game assets and streaming data without waiting on slower storage or memory subsystems.

When compared to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 5 235 sits remarkably close to the pack. Its average benchmark score of 46,062 places it just 0.1% above the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030) and 0.1% below the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098). The deltaPct values are minimal, indicating that the CPU's raw processing power is nearly identical to these competing chips. In gaming scenarios, this means the Core Ultra 5 235 is unlikely to be the limiting factor in Outriders; instead, the GPU and resolution settings will dictate the final frame rates.

The processor's 65 W TDP is modest for a desktop chip, and it uses a PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes available from the CPU. This modern connectivity ensures that the RTX 4080 can communicate with the processor without bandwidth constraints. The 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs tested further confirms that this is a high-performing processor that can keep up with the demands of modern gaming, though its 14-thread count may be a slight drawback in heavily multi-threaded titles that expect more logical processors.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the AD103 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It houses 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 121.1 million per square millimeter. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with memory running at 1400 MHz effective (22.4 Gbps). This clock configuration allows the card to deliver substantial raw compute performance, with FP32 throughput rated at 48.74 TFLOPS.

For Outriders, the GPU is the dominant component in determining frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions. The card comes equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. This ample VRAM capacity means that even at 4K resolution with Ultra settings, the game's textures and geometry can be stored locally without spilling into slower system memory. The 16 GB allocation is especially relevant for a looter shooter where environments are densely packed with items, enemies, and particle effects that all consume video memory.

The RTX 4080 achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567, which is a strong indicator of its DirectX 12 performance—the API used by Outriders. Its Passmark G3D score of 34,457 further corroborates its high-end positioning)Skip. The GPU's 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards, though its nearest rivals show how tight the competition is. The RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209 (0.1% higher), while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54,828 (1.1% higher). The RTX 4080's average benchmark score of 54,247 is just 2.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB and 2.7% below the AMD Radeon 8060S, showing that synthetic benchmarks place it in a crowded field of high-performance options.

In practical terms, the GPU's 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for visual effects that Outriders may employ, though the game's primary workload remains traditional rasterization. The 112 ROPs and 304 TMUs ensure that pixel fill rates and texture filtering are not bottlenecks. The card's pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for the game's art style, which favors detailed environments and expansive battlegrounds.

The RTX 4080 is a triple-slot card with a 320 W TDP, requiring a 700 W suggested PSU and a single 16-pin power connector. Its end-of-life production status and predecessor/successor relationship with the GeForce 30 and GeForce 50 series indicate that it is a mature product, with drivers well-optimized for current titles. The GPU's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is fully compatible with the Core Ultra 5 235's PCIe Gen 5 capability, ensuring no bandwidth limitations in data transfer between the two components.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for smooth 4K gameplay?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the system achieves an average of 104 FPS with minimums of 88 and maximums of 119, which provides a smooth experience. High settings at 4K yield 78 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 56 FPS average, which may be too low for some players.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-core performance for this game?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 scores 2,085 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 14,769 in multi-core, indicating a single-core-to-multi-core ratio of roughly 1:7. This suggests the processor is well-balanced for Outriders, which relies more on single-thread performance for game logic than on multi-threading.

Q: Is 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for Outriders at high resolutions?

A: Yes, the 16 GB GDDR6X memory on the RTX 4080 is more than adequate, as evidenced by the game running at 4K Ultra settings (56 FPS average) without any reported stutter. The 716.8 GB/s bandwidth ensures fast texture streaming for large open areas.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the system averages 223 FPS, while at 2560x1440 High, it averages 149 FPS. This represents a 33% decrease in frame rate when moving to the higher resolution, indicating that the GPU is becoming more stressed as pixel count increases.

Q: How does the RTX 4080's performance compare to its direct successor?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54,247, while its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54,209. The deltaPct is 0.1%, meaning the RTX 4080 is essentially identical in performance to the SUPER variant, with differences well within margin of error.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for this combo in Outriders?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate is 88 FPS, observed at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. For all other resolution and settings combinations, minimum frame rates are not reported, but the Medium settings at 1440p and 1080p show minimums of 169 and 210 FPS, respectively.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination holds the 127th rank out of 3,710 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 3.4% of all configurations. This ranking puts the system in an elite tier, though it is notably not in the absolute top tier—there are 126 other combinations that deliver higher average frame rates across the tested scenarios. The rank suggests that while the RTX 4080 is a high-end GPU, its performance is not the absolute fastest available, and other combinations with faster GPUs or more optimized CPUs may edge it out.

The 3,710 combos include a wide range of hardware, from budget CPUs paired with integrated graphics to flagship processors with multi-GPU setups. Achieving the 127th spot means the combo outperforms roughly 96.6% of all other configurations tested, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The ranking also implies that the Core Ultra 5 235 is not holding back the RTX 4080 significantly, as the combo's rank is higher than what would be expected if the CPU were a severe bottleneck.

When interpreting this rank, it is essential to consider that the combo's performance is measured across all settings and resolutions, with lower resolutions like 1080p favoring high frame rates that push the GPU to its limits. At 1080p Low, the system hits 278 FPS average, which is a result that would contribute positively to the overall ranking. However, at 4K Ultra with 56 FPS average, the combo falls behind some other high-end systems that may achieve higher minimum frame rates.

The rank of 127 out of 3,710 also places the combo in the same league as systems featuring the RTX 4080's nearest rivals, such as the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks. The deltaPct of 0.1% between the two GPUs suggests that swapping to the SUPER variant would not meaningfully change the combo's rank in Outriders. Similarly, the CPU's proximity to rivals like the Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% difference) means that the combo's position is stable relative to other CPUs in its class.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a clear trend: as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, average frame rates drop consistently across all settings, but the magnitude of the drop varies. At High settings, the system produces 223 FPS at 1080p, 149 FPS at 1440p, and 78 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 48% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 65%, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the pattern is similar but with higher absolute numbers: 278 FPS at 1080p, 239 FPS at 1440p, and 143 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 49%, which is less severe than at High settings, suggesting that the GPU is still the bottleneck but that the reduced graphical load allows the CPU to keep up better. The 1080p Low result of 278 FPS is likely approaching the CPU's maximum frame generation capability, as the RTX 4080 is capable of far higher frame rates in less demanding scenarios.

Medium settings show the most complete data with minimum and maximum frame rates recorded. At 1080p, the average is 248 FPS with a range of 210 to 285. At 1440p, the average drops to 198 FPS (range 169-228), and at 4K, it falls to 104 FPS (range 88-119). The minimum frame rates at each resolution are 210, 169, and 88, respectively, showing that the worst-case performance scales proportionally with resolution. This consistency indicates that the frame rate drops are primarily due to increased pixel count and shading workload, not random stutters or CPU hiccups.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board: 170 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 67%, which is the largest percentage decrease among all settings. This suggests that at Ultra, the game's additional effects (shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion) place a heavy load on the GPU's compute and memory subsystems, making it the clear bottleneck. The CPU's involvement is minimal at Ultra settings, as the GPU is saturated with work.

The scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 4080 is the limiting component in this combo, particularly at 1440p and above. At 1080p, the CPU may start to become a factor at Low settings, but the 278 FPS average still exceeds the refresh rates of most monitors. The data suggests that users looking to maximize frame rates should play at 1080p or 1440p with Medium to High settings, while 4K is viable only at Medium settings for a smooth experience above 100 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 278 FPS, which is the highest recorded for any configuration, indicating that the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. Medium settings average 248 FPS with a range of 210 to 285 FPS, showing excellent consistency and headroom. High settings average 223 FPS, and Ultra settings average 170 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 39% reduction in frame rate, reflecting the increasing GPU workload from graphical effects.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's limitations. Low settings average 239 FPS, which is a 14% drop from 1080p Low. Medium settings average 198 FPS with a range of 169 to 228 FPS, where the minimum frame rate of 169 suggests occasional dips but still smooth gameplay. High settings average 149 FPS, and Ultra settings average 108 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 55%, which is steeper than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is under more pressure at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly, and the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 143 FPS, which is still high enough for fast-paced gameplay. Medium settings average 104 FPS with a range of 88 to 119 FPS, providing a playable experience with some dips below 90 FPS. High settings average 78 FPS, which is on the edge of smoothness for many players. Ultra settings average 56 FPS, which is the lowest recorded and may be too low for competitive play, though it remains technically playable for slower-paced exploration.

The data reveals that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can push frame rates well above 100 FPS even at Ultra settings. At 4K, the system requires Medium settings to maintain an average above 100 FPS, while High settings are playable at 78 FPS and Ultra drops to 56 FPS. The measured frame rates also show that the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor at any resolution, as even the lowest frame rates are due to GPU compute limits rather than memory capacity. The Core Ultra 5 235's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock provide sufficient headroom to keep up with the GPU at all settings, with the 1080p Low result of 278 FPS being evidence of the CPU's ability to drive high frame rates.