Outriders

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the Intel Arc B390 integrated GPU produces a very specific performance envelope in Outriders. The data indicates that this combination is firmly entry-level, with playability heavily dependent on resolution and settings. While the CPU is a modern 14-core part with strong synthetic scores, the GPU’s integrated nature severely limits frame rates, placing the system in the 2582nd percentile rank out of 2913 tested combos in this game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across the four settings presets shows a clear hierarchy, but the playability threshold dictates the choices. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 115 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches high-refresh-rate territory. This is the definitive recommendation for competitive or smooth play, as the Medium preset drops to 83 FPS, and High falls further to 63 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 45 FPS, which dips below the 60 FPS standard many players target.

For 1440p, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset is the only viable option for fluid gameplay, producing an average of 72 FPS. Moving to Medium reduces the average to 53 FPS, with a minimum recorded at 45 FPS, indicating noticeable frame pacing issues during intense scenes. High at 1440p produces 40 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29 FPS, making both presets unsuitable for a consistent experience.

At 4K, the data suggests that this hardware combination is not intended for high-fidelity gaming. Even the Low preset achieves only 38 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most action-oriented titles. The Medium preset averages 28 FPS with a minimum of 23 FPS, while High and Ultra are effectively slideshows at 21 FPS and 15 FPS, respectively. Given these numbers, the best experience is unequivocally found at 1080p with the Low preset, where the system can maintain a comfortable frame rate without severe dips.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) built on the Xe3-LPG architecture, and its role in Outriders is the primary bottleneck. Its memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it draws from the main system DDR5 memory rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth that is "System Dependent." This is a critical limitation for a game like Outriders, which streams assets and textures.

The GPU’s clock speeds show a significant range, from a 300 MHz base to a 2500 MHz boost. This dynamic range suggests that the chip is thermally and power-constrained, ramping up for short bursts but likely throttling under sustained gaming loads. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark score of 1482 places this GPU in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, which is a very low standing. The nearest rivals in this benchmark are legacy parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% faster) and the GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% faster). This context is essential: the Arc B390 is not competing with modern discrete graphics cards but with decade-old entry-level mobile and OEM parts.

The GPU’s raw specifications include 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs. It also has 12 ray tracing cores, though the 15 FPS average at 4K Ultra suggests that ray tracing features are not practically usable here. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s. These figures are modest, and the FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS is low for modern gaming. The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in Outriders, as the frame rates scale dramatically with resolution, which is a classic sign of a GPU-bound scenario.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the system's limiting component. At the Low preset, the average frame rate falls from 115 FPS at 1080p to 72 FPS at 1440p, a 37.4% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K Low, the average drops from 72 FPS to 38 FPS, a further 47.2% decrease. This steep decline indicates that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are overwhelmed by the pixel count.

The scaling at Medium settings is similar. The average FPS goes from 83 at 1080p to 53 at 1440p, then down to 28 at 4K. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 45, but at 4K Medium it drops to 23. This consistent halving of performance with each resolution step is a clear indicator of a GPU that is running out of processing power and memory bandwidth. In contrast, if the system were CPU-bound, we would expect the frame rates to remain relatively stable across resolutions, as the CPU workload does not change with resolution.

The data shows that the gap between 1080p and 1440p is significant, but the gap between 1440p and 4K is even more punishing. For instance, at High settings, the average is 63 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and just 21 FPS at 4K. The system is simply not capable of driving 4K in this game, regardless of the settings. The performance scaling strongly suggests that the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has ample headroom, but the integrated GPU cannot keep up with the demands of the game at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is this system capable of running Outriders at 4K?

A: No. The data shows that even at the Low preset, the average frame rate at 3840x2160 is only 38 FPS. At Medium, it falls to 28 FPS, and at Ultra, it drops to 15 FPS. These results are below the threshold for a smooth gaming experience.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this hardware at 1080p?

A: The Low preset is the best choice for gameplay. It produces an average of 115 FPS, which is significantly higher than the Medium preset's 83 FPS and the High preset's 63 FPS. The Ultra preset is not recommended, as it averages only 45 FPS.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the Intel Arc B390 scores 1482. This puts it just 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and 2.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443). These rivals are all legacy low-end parts.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this system?

A: The only configurations with recorded minimum FPS values are the Medium presets. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 71 FPS. At 2560x1440, it is 45 FPS. At 3840x2160, it is 23 FPS. Other presets did not report minimum FPS data.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in Outriders?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. This is evident from the resolution scaling, where frame rates drop by nearly half with each step up in resolution. The CPU, which has a 90th percentile ranking, is not the bottleneck.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic performance ranking?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.4% slower than the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and 0.5% slower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, with a theoretical memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU performs strongly. It scores 32924 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4648 in Cinebench R23 single-core. Its PassMark multithread score is 38706, and its single-thread score is 4394. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 48995, which places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, 0.4% faster) and the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, 0.8% slower). This indicates that the CPU has substantial processing power for gaming and general tasks.

However, in Outriders, this CPU power is largely unused. The measured FPS data shows that the system is consistently GPU-bound. For example, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 115 FPS, but this is not a reflection of CPU capability; it is the maximum output of the integrated GPU. The CPU’s high single-core performance is beneficial for game logic and physics, but the render thread is entirely dependent on the Arc B390. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a discrete GPU would yield vastly different results, but with the current configuration, the CPU sits idle waiting for the GPU to complete its work.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all settings and resolutions.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average 115 FPS.
• Medium: Average 83 FPS, with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 96 FPS.
• High: Average 63 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 45 FPS.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average 72 FPS.
• Medium: Average 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 61 FPS.
• High: Average 40 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 29 FPS.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average 38 FPS.
• Medium: Average 28 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS.
• High: Average 21 FPS.
• Ultra: Average 15 FPS.

The data reveals a clear pattern. At 1080p, the Low preset is the only one that breaks the 100 FPS barrier. The Medium preset at 1080p provides a solid 83 FPS average, but the variance is notable, with a 25 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. At 1440p, the Low preset remains playable at 72 FPS, but any higher settings push the average below 60 FPS. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with no preset achieving an average above 38 FPS. The minimum FPS values are only provided for the Medium presets, but they indicate that the frame pacing becomes unstable as resolution increases, with the 4K Medium minimum of 23 FPS being particularly low. The overall system rank is 2582 out of 2913 combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of tested hardware configurations for Outriders.