Outriders

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 produces a clear scaling pattern in Outriders, where performance degrades significantly as resolution increases. At 1080p, the combination is highly capable, delivering 212 FPS on Low settings and 84 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, those figures drop to 134 FPS on Low and 53 FPS on Ultra, representing a 37% and 37% reduction respectively. The jump to 4K is more punishing: Low settings yield 70 FPS, while Ultra falls to just 28 FPS, a 67% drop from the 1080p Ultra result. This scaling curve indicates that the RTX 5060 becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate differences between 1080p and 1440p are substantial but the 4K results show the GPU struggling to maintain playable framerates on demanding presets. The data suggests that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with 1440p still viable for competitive play on lower settings, while 4K is only feasible on Low preset where the 70 FPS average remains fluid.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable yet steep decline as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU with 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit memory interface. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by roughly 37-40%, indicating that the GPU's fillrate and bandwidth are being taxed more heavily. From 1440p to 4K, the decline accelerates: High settings fall from 73 FPS to 38 FPS (a 48% reduction), Medium from 97 FPS to 51 FPS (a 47% reduction), and Low from 134 FPS to 70 FPS (a 48% reduction). This consistent pattern across presets confirms that the RTX 5060's pixel throughput, rated at 119.9 GPixel/s, is the bottleneck at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 28 FPS is particularly telling—it is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for a playable experience, and it shows that the combination of high resolution and maximum settings overwhelms the GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. At 1080p, however, the scaling is much gentler, with even Ultra settings maintaining 84 FPS, which suggests that the CPU and memory subsystem are not limiting factors at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB206 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, with 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) across an 8 GB GDDR7 interface on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. In Outriders, this configuration delivers a PassMark G3D score of 20891, placing it at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the AMD Radeon 860M (deltaPct -0.3), NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (deltaPct -0.3), and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (deltaPct -0.8), with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT trailing by 1.2%. These small deltas indicate that the RTX 5060's raw compute is competitive with those parts, but the game's performance is more dependent on memory bandwidth and VRAM capacity. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the playable framerates, but at 4K Ultra the 28 FPS result suggests that memory pressure or bandwidth constraints are causing severe drops. The GPU's 145 W TDP and dual-slot design are modest for a 50-series part, and the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for the measured results, but the 4K data clearly shows the limits of this configuration.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 154 FPS with a minimum of 131 FPS and a maximum of 177 FPS, providing a smooth and consistent framerate that exceeds the refresh rate of most displays. At 1440p, Medium still achieves 97 FPS (min 83, max 112), which is well above the 60 FPS target for most monitors. Even at 4K, Medium manages 51 FPS (min 43, max 58), which is borderline but playable for a slower-paced looter shooter. In contrast, Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p, where the 84 FPS average is acceptable, but at 1440p the 53 FPS result dips below the ideal threshold, and at 4K the 28 FPS is unplayable. High settings are a reasonable middle ground: 116 FPS at 1080p, 73 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K, but the 4K High result is too low for consistent gameplay. Low settings, while offering the highest framerates (212 FPS at 1080p, 134 FPS at 1440p, 70 FPS at 4K), sacrifice visual fidelity to a degree that may not be necessary given the Medium preset's strong performance. For most users, Medium at 1440p or 1080p provides the best combination of visual quality and framerate stability, as the data shows only a 37% drop from Low to Medium at 1080p (212 to 154 FPS), which is a reasonable trade-off for improved graphics.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Outriders?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 212, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next highest is 154 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 134 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Can this combo run Outriders at 4K with playable framerates?

A: At 4K, only the Low preset achieves a playable average of 70 FPS. Medium averages 51 FPS (min 43, max 58), which is borderline, while High (38 FPS) and Ultra (28 FPS) are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060 has an average benchmark score of 26331, which is 0.3% lower than the AMD Radeon 860M (26401) and NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421), 0.8% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (26553), and 1.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011).

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 1440p on High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 116, while at 1440p High it drops to 73 FPS. This represents a 37% reduction in performance when moving to the higher resolution.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this GPU in Outriders?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at 1080p, where the GPU is fully utilized. The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H has 16 cores and 22 threads with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5 places it at the 85th percentile, indicating sufficient headroom for this game.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1849 out of 2913 tested combinations in Outriders, placing it in the lower-middle tier of all tested hardware pairings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor from the Meteor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 24 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support providing 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth. In Outriders, the CPU's role is evident from the 1080p results, where the GPU is not fully stressed. At 1080p Low, the 212 FPS average indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently, and even at 1080p Ultra, the 84 FPS result shows no signs of CPU throttling. The processor's PassMark multi-thread score of 29376 and single-thread score of 3697 place it at the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35670. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (deltaPct -0.1), Intel Core 7 250H (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (deltaPct -0.4), and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (deltaPct -0.7), all of which are within 1% of the Core Ultra 9's performance. This tight grouping suggests that the CPU is not a differentiator in this game, as the framerate scaling from 1080p to 4K is primarily driven by the GPU. The 22 threads are more than sufficient for Outriders, which is not a heavily multithreaded title, and the 5.10 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded performance is adequate for the game's logic. The CPU's 45 W TDP is typical for a mobile part, and the integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 128EU is not relevant when a discrete GPU is present.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 212 FPS, which is the highest result in the entire dataset. Medium reduces this to 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 FPS and a maximum of 177 FPS, indicating a stable framerate with minimal variance. High settings yield 116 FPS, while Ultra drops to 84 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 134 FPS, Medium averages 97 FPS (min 83, max 112), High averages 73 FPS, and Ultra averages 53 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a 37% drop for Low (212 to 134), a 37% drop for Medium (154 to 97), a 37% drop for High (116 to 73), and a 37% drop for Ultra (84 to 53). This uniform percentage reduction suggests that the GPU's scaling is consistent across settings. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 70 FPS, Medium averages 51 FPS (min 43, max 58), High averages 38 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The 4K results show a much steeper decline, with Low losing 48% of its 1440p performance (134 to 70), Medium losing 47% (97 to 51), High losing 48% (73 to 38), and Ultra losing 47% (53 to 28). These figures highlight the GPU's memory bandwidth limitation at 4K, where the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient to maintain the same scaling as lower resolutions. The minimum FPS values, only recorded for Medium settings, show that the 1% lows are within 15-16% of the average, indicating generally smooth performance even at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1849 out of 2913 tested combos in Outriders, placing it in the 63rd percentile of all configurations (calculated from the rank and total). This puts the combo in the lower-middle portion of the ranking, which is consistent with the measured FPS data showing strong 1080p performance but weak 4K Ultra results. The rank is likely influenced by the GPU's 72nd percentile among all GPUs and the CPU's 85th percentile among all CPUs, but the combination's overall ranking is dragged down by the 4K results where the GPU struggles. Compared to other combos that might feature higher-end GPUs, this pairing is not competitive at 4K, but at 1080p and 1440p it performs admirably, as evidenced by the FPS data. The combo's rank of 1849 suggests that there are 1064 tested combinations that perform worse, which is a significant portion of the database. However, the 2913 total combos mean that the majority of configurations (64%) outperform this one, indicating that the RTX 5060 is not a top-tier GPU for this game. The CPU's strong synthetic benchmarks do not translate to a high combo rank because Outriders is GPU-bound at higher resolutions, and the 8 GB VRAM limit becomes apparent in the 4K results. For users targeting 1080p or 1440p gaming, this combo offers solid performance, but for 4K enthusiasts, the ranking reflects the hardware's limitations.