Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics within Red Dead Redemption 2. This combination ranks 166th out of 1,687 tested combos, placing it in the top 10% of all configurations evaluated. The ranking reflects a system where the GPU’s immense raw power is frequently constrained by the older CPU, yet the resulting frame rates remain highly playable across most settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s position of 166 out of 1,687 tested configurations indicates that this pairing performs better than roughly 90% of all combinations in the database. This is a strong result, but the ranking reveals the CPU’s limiting influence. The Ryzen 5 2600 sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 4090 ranks at the 91st percentile among all GPUs. The gap between these percentiles suggests the CPU is the weaker link in this pairing.

Benchmark data supports this interpretation. The Ryzen 5 2600’s average benchmark score of 19,616 places it within a tight cluster of rivals. It trails the Intel Core i5-11600KF (19,740 score, -0.6% delta) and the Intel Core i5-1345U (19,691 score, -0.4% delta). Conversely, it edges ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19,508 score, +0.6% delta) and the Intel Core i7-10700F (19,485 score, +0.7% delta). These deltas, all under 1%, show that the 2600’s computational throughput is essentially competitive with those modern parts, but its architectural age becomes apparent in gaming workloads.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 carries the bulk of the rendering load in this configuration. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Red Dead Redemption 2’s large textures. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory running at an effective 21 Gbps. These specifications allow the card to achieve a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database—the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733 avg score, -0.4% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097 avg score, -0.9% delta), and NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (67,320 avg score, -1.3% delta)—are all workstation-class cards. The RTX 4090’s average benchmark score of 66,473 places it slightly below these, but its gaming-oriented architecture with 16,384 shading units and 512 tensor cores provides advantages in real-time rendering that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how the CPU bottleneck diminishes as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 110.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p High yields 102.3 FPS, a drop of 7.3%. At 4K High, the frame rate falls to 66.1 FPS, a further 35.4% reduction from 1440p. The pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU limits performance, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint.

The Ultra settings tell a similar story with steeper declines. From 1080p Ultra at 97.1 FPS, the frame rate drops to 72.4 FPS at 1440p Ultra (-25.4%) and then to 48.8 FPS at 4K Ultra (-32.6%). The Low settings show the least scaling impact: 131.3 FPS at 1080p, 122.4 FPS at 1440p (-6.8%), and 103.4 FPS at 4K (-15.5%). This smaller drop at Low settings indicates that the CPU can maintain higher frame rates when the GPU workload is lighter, but the ceiling is still apparent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 131.3 FPS on Low, 122 FPS on Medium, 110.4 FPS on High, and 97.1 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 34.2 FPS, showing that even the most demanding settings remain playable. The 1080p Ultra figure of 97.1 FPS is notable because it is the only resolution where Ultra settings exceed 90 FPS, suggesting the CPU is not fully saturating the GPU at this level.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are 122.4 FPS on Low, 111.9 FPS on Medium, 102.3 FPS on High, and 72.4 FPS on Ultra. The jump from High to Ultra at 1440p represents a 29.2% performance penalty, which is the steepest single-setting drop in the entire dataset. This indicates that Ultra settings at 1440p push the GPU significantly harder, while the CPU still provides adequate support.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are 103.4 FPS on Low, 77.8 FPS on Medium, 66.1 FPS on High, and 48.8 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result of 103.4 FPS proves the RTX 4090 can deliver high refresh rates even at this resolution when settings are reduced. However, 4K Ultra at 48.8 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the only configuration where the combo fails to maintain smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: Does this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 4K High settings, the combo averages 66.1 FPS, which exceeds 60. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 48.8 FPS, falling short of the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: The data shows 1440p High delivers 102.3 FPS, offering a balance between visual quality and frame rate. The 1080p Ultra result of 97.1 FPS is also strong, but 1440p provides higher pixel density.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600’s average benchmark score of 19,616 is within 0.7% of the Intel Core i7-10700F and within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U. It trails the Intel Core i5-11600KF by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-1345U by 0.4%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low settings produce 131.3 FPS while Ultra produces 97.1 FPS, a difference of 34.2 FPS or a 26.1% reduction.

Q: Is the GPU the limiting factor at any resolution?

A: At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The 4K Ultra result of 48.8 FPS is substantially lower than the 1080p Ultra result of 97.1 FPS, showing that the GPU’s workload increases significantly at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 166th out of 1,687 tested combos, placing it in the top 10% of all configurations evaluated in the database.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen architecture, manufactured on a 12 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, drawing 65 W of power. The CPU features 16 MB of shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s.

In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 11,186 in multi-core and 1,579 in single-core. These figures are modest by modern standards, and the single-core score of 1,579 is particularly telling for gaming performance. Red Dead Redemption 2’s engine relies heavily on single-threaded performance for game logic and draw call submission. The 2600’s Passmark single-thread score of 2,239 and Passmark physics score of 673 indicate that the CPU can handle the game’s simulation load, but its age limits the maximum frame rate it can feed to the RTX 4090.

The evidence of CPU limitation is clear when comparing Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 131.3 FPS. At 1440p Low, it produces 122.4 FPS, and at 4K Low, it still achieves 103.4 FPS. The relatively small drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings—a 21.3% reduction—suggests the CPU is not the sole bottleneck at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s headroom at Low settings allows the CPU to become more relevant. Conversely, at Ultra settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 49.8% (from 97.1 FPS to 48.8 FPS), showing the GPU’s dominance when the workload is heavy.

The Ryzen 5 2600’s 12 threads and 16 MB of L3 cache provide adequate support for the game’s multi-threaded rendering tasks, but the CPU’s Zen architecture lacks the higher IPC of newer designs. This is reflected in its percentile rank of 77 among all CPUs, which, while above average, falls short of the RTX 4090’s 91st percentile. The result is a system that performs admirably in Red Dead Redemption 2, but leaves performance on the table at lower resolutions where the CPU cannot fully utilize the GPU’s capabilities.