Outriders

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a performance curve in Outriders that is heavily dictated by resolution and preset. At 1080p, the combination is overwhelmingly GPU-bound only at the highest settings, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the clear and consistent limiting factor across all presets. The data shows a predictable scaling pattern: as resolution increases, the average frame rate drops, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly depending on the quality preset selected.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a stark contrast in performance scaling. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 307 FPS at 1080p to 112 FPS at 4K, representing a 63.5% reduction in throughput. This steep drop indicates that even at Low settings, the 4K resolution places an immense load on the GPU, overwhelming its 12 GB of VRAM and 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The RTX 4070, with its 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs, simply cannot sustain the raw pixel throughput required at 4K without a corresponding reduction in frame rate.

Medium settings show a similar but slightly less dramatic scaling pattern. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 246 FPS, which drops to 155 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 81 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). This nonlinear scaling suggests that the GPU is nearing its effective limit at 4K Medium, where the minimum frame rate of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS indicate frame time variance that could be perceptible in fast-paced combat scenarios.

High settings present the most interesting scaling behavior. The system hits 184 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 61 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 37%, while the 1440p to 4K drop is 47.4%. This pattern indicates that the GPU is progressively becoming the bottleneck as resolution increases, with the CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads providing ample headroom even at 1080p High.

Ultra settings exhibit the most constrained scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 133 FPS, which drops to 84 FPS at 1440p and 44 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, and the scaling from 1440p to 4K (a 47.6% reduction) mirrors the High preset's behavior, confirming that the GPU is the dominant limiting component in all resolutions above 1080p. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU has enough performance headroom to feed the GPU at all presets, but the GPU's raw compute capability becomes the primary constraint as pixel count increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 3 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz provide substantial single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2439 and multicore score of 44253. The processor also demonstrates strong synthetic performance in PassMark multithread testing with a score of 68574, placing it in the 96th percentile among all tested CPUs.

In Outriders, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The benchmark results indicate that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 307 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution, as the 24 threads can distribute the game's workload effectively. The processor's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 115.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for the game's asset streaming requirements.

However, the CPU's influence becomes more apparent when examining the frame rate differences between presets at the same resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (307 FPS) and Ultra (133 FPS) is 174 FPS, which is a 56.7% reduction. This gap is primarily attributable to the GPU's increased workload at higher settings, but the CPU must also handle more complex scene geometry and physics calculations. The processor's 5.50 GHz boost clock helps maintain consistent performance in CPU-bound scenarios, though the data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck even at 1080p Ultra.

The processor's position relative to its nearest rivals is noteworthy. Its average benchmark score of 93785 is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P (93786, 0% delta), while it trails the AMD EPYC 4564P by 1.5% and the AMD EPYC 9175F by 1.9%. This indicates that the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus offers competitive compute performance, though its gaming-specific capabilities are better measured by the actual Outriders frame rates rather than synthetic benchmarks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K with higher quality presets. The GPU's base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz allow it to reach a peak FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS.

The GPU's role in Outriders is decisive across all resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 44 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This poor performance is directly attributable to the GPU's 64 ROPs and 455.4 GTexel/s texture fill rate being insufficient for the pixel and texture demands of 4K Ultra. The RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM also becomes a constraint at 4K, as the game's high-resolution textures can exceed this capacity, causing texture streaming issues that manifest as frame rate drops.

At 1440p, the GPU demonstrates more balanced performance. The RTX 4070 achieves 116 FPS at High settings and 213 FPS at Low settings, indicating that the GPU has enough headroom for most gaming scenarios at this resolution. The 155 FPS at Medium settings with a minimum of 132 FPS shows that the GPU can maintain consistent frame delivery, though the 178 FPS maximum suggests some variance in demanding scenes.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores support its gaming performance profile. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and Passmark G3D score of 26927 place it in the 81st percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, has an average score of 37628 (0.1% delta), while the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 trails by 0.4%. This positioning indicates that the RTX 4070 is a solid mid-to-high-end GPU, but its performance in Outriders at 4K Ultra reveals its limitations when pushed to maximum settings at high resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 331st out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the top 11.4% of all systems tested. This rank reflects the overall performance across all resolutions and settings, weighted toward the game's typical usage patterns. The high rank is primarily driven by the excellent 1080p and 1440p performance, where the combo excels at maintaining high frame rates even at Ultra settings.

However, the rank also captures the combo's weakness at 4K Ultra, where the 44 FPS result drags down the overall score. The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it consistently delivers frame rates above 84 FPS across all settings. At 4K, the combo can only achieve playable frame rates at Medium settings (81 FPS) or below, with Low settings providing 112 FPS.

The rank of 331 out of 2913 suggests that while this combo is powerful, there are 330 other combinations that perform better in Outriders. These higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4080 or higher, which can handle 4K Ultra settings more effectively. The CPU's contribution to the rank is less significant, given that the processor's 96th percentile standing among all CPUs provides ample headroom for this game.

When comparing to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 4070's performance is closely matched with the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% delta) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% delta). This suggests that in synthetic benchmarks, these GPUs are nearly equivalent, but in Outriders specifically, the RTX 4070's architecture and VRAM configuration provide better real-world performance. The combo's rank reflects this nuanced performance profile, rewarding its strengths at lower resolutions while penalizing its 4K Ultra weakness.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the user's resolution and performance priorities. At 1920x1080, the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, delivering 184 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p still provides a very playable 133 FPS, making it a viable option for users with high-refresh-rate monitors who prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset stands out as the best recommendation. It delivers a smooth 155 FPS average with a minimum of 132 FPS, ensuring consistent gameplay without frame drops. The High preset at 1440p (116 FPS) is also acceptable, but the Medium preset's higher minimum frame rate makes it more reliable for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 1440p (84 FPS) is playable but falls below the 100 FPS threshold that many gamers prefer, making it a secondary option.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only viable option for a consistent experience, delivering 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS. The High preset at 4K (61 FPS) is marginally playable but risks dipping below 60 FPS in demanding scenes. The Low preset at 4K (112 FPS) offers the highest frame rate but sacrifices significant visual quality. The Ultra preset at 4K (44 FPS) is not recommended, as it falls well below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

For users with variable refresh rate monitors, the Medium preset at 1440p or 4K provides the best experience, as the minimum frame rates (132 FPS and 69 FPS, respectively) stay within a reasonable range of the averages. The High preset at 1080p is the best overall choice for users who want high visual quality without compromising performance, while the Low preset at 1440p (213 FPS) is ideal for competitive players seeking maximum frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured frame rate data for this combo in Outriders is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 307 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 246 FPS average, with a minimum of 209 FPS and maximum of 283 FPS. The High preset reaches 184 FPS average. The Ultra preset provides 133 FPS average. All 1080p results are well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this resolution is fully playable at all settings.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 213 FPS average. The Medium preset delivers 155 FPS average, with a minimum of 132 FPS and maximum of 178 FPS. The High preset reaches 116 FPS average. The Ultra preset provides 84 FPS average. The 1440p results show a clear progression from Low to Ultra, with all settings except Ultra maintaining frame rates above 100 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 112 FPS average. The Medium preset delivers 81 FPS average, with a minimum of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS. The High preset reaches 61 FPS average. The Ultra preset provides 44 FPS average. The 4K results demonstrate the GPU's limitations at this resolution, with only the Low and Medium presets providing consistently playable frame rates.

The data shows that the combo's performance scales predictably with resolution and settings. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 174 FPS (307 to 133), while at 4K the same comparison shows a 68 FPS difference (112 to 44). This indicates that the GPU's performance headroom is significantly reduced at higher resolutions, making the choice of preset more critical at 4K than at 1080p. The Medium preset at each resolution provides the most balanced performance, with frame rates of 246 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p, and 81 FPS at 4K, all of which are playable with good visual quality.