Red Dead Redemption 2

The pairing of AMD’s six-core Ryzen 5 2600 with NVIDIA’s flagship RTX 5090 creates one of the most lopsided combinations in the database, and Red Dead Redemption 2 highlights exactly where that imbalance sits. The data shows this combo ranks 388th out of 3714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 11% of all pairings, but the frame rate curve reveals that the CPU is the limiting factor long before the GPU runs out of headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values show a clear pattern: as resolution drops, the gains from the RTX 5090 shrink dramatically, indicating that the Ryzen 5 2600 becomes the bottleneck at lower pixel counts. At 4K with High settings, the combo delivers 68 FPS. Dropping to 1440p High raises that to 102 FPS, a 50% improvement, and 1080p High hits 113 FPS, only 11% above the 1440p figure. This compression of gains from 1440p to 1080p is the signature of a CPU-limited system—the GPU is waiting on the processor to feed it frames.

The Low preset tells an even more revealing story. At 4K Low, the system produces 105 FPS. At 1440p Low, it reaches 121 FPS, and at 1080p Low, it tops out at 133 FPS. The jump from 4K to 1440p is 15%, but from 1440p to 1080p it’s only 10%. If the RTX 5090 were the constraint, 1080p Low would show a much larger margin over 1440p Low, since the GPU would have far fewer pixels to render. Instead, the Ryzen 5 2600’s single-thread performance, which scores 2239 in Passmark’s single-thread test, caps the frame rate.

The Medium preset reinforces this. At 4K Medium, the average is 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 and maximum of 93. At 1440p Medium, it climbs to 109 FPS (min 92, max 125), and at 1080p Medium it’s 120 FPS (min 102, max 138). Notice that the spread between minimum and maximum FPS stays proportionally similar across resolutions—around 24-30 FPS—which suggests the CPU is creating consistent frame pacing issues regardless of GPU load.

Ultra settings flip the script, though. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 49 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it’s 74 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it’s 99 FPS. Here, the GPU finally becomes the limiting factor, because the RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are being saturated by the game’s highest-quality textures and effects. The scaling from 1440p to 1080p at Ultra is 34%, which is much closer to what you’d expect from a GPU-bound scenario.

The takeaway from resolution scaling is that this combo behaves like two different systems. Below Ultra, the Ryzen 5 2600’s 6 cores and 12 threads, running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost of 3.90 GHz, hold back the RTX 5090. At Ultra, the GPU’s raw compute—104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance—takes over, but the overall experience is still capped by the CPU’s inability to push higher frame rates at lower settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 388 out of 3714 places this pairing in the 89.5th percentile of all tested combinations. That’s a strong overall position, but it’s worth unpacking what that rank means given the hardware involved. The RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79842. The Ryzen 5 2600, by contrast, ranks in the 75th percentile among CPUs with an average score of 21484.

The gap between the GPU’s percentile and the combo’s percentile—92nd versus 89.5th—shows that the CPU is dragging the pairing down. In Red Dead Redemption 2 specifically, the measured FPS numbers confirm this. The RTX 5090’s nearest rivals in the database are the Tesla P100 variants and AMD’s Radeon RX 6850M XT, with score differences of only 0.3-1.4%. But those comparisons are for the GPU alone; in-game, the CPU becomes the deciding factor.

The Ryzen 5 2600’s nearest CPU rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% higher score), Intel Core i9-11900H (0.5% higher), and Intel Xeon D-1746TER (0.7% lower). These are all relatively modern chips, and the fact that the 2600 holds its own in synthetic benchmarks—like scoring 1248 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 157.3 in single-core—doesn’t translate to gaming performance where per-core speed matters more.

In practical terms, a rank of 388 means there are 387 other combos that deliver better frame rates in this game. Most of those will pair a stronger CPU with a similar or weaker GPU. The data suggests that if you were to swap the Ryzen 5 2600 for something with higher single-thread performance, the combo rank would improve substantially, because the RTX 5090 has plenty of headroom left at 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K at Low settings (133 to 105 FPS)?

A: The 26% drop is less than the pixel-count increase would suggest, indicating the CPU is limiting the frame rate. The Ryzen 5 2600’s single-thread score of 2239 in Passmark caps how fast it can process game logic, so even at 4K Low, the GPU isn’t the constraint.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 being fully utilized in this combo?

A: Not at lower settings. The benchmark results show that at 1080p High, the system only hits 113 FPS, while the RTX 5090 is capable of far more given its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 32 GB of GDDR7 memory. The CPU becomes the bottleneck below Ultra settings.

Q: What setting should I use for the best experience at 4K?

A: Medium at 4K delivers 81 FPS average with a minimum of 69 FPS, which is the only preset at that resolution that stays above 60 FPS consistently. High drops to 68 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 49 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 5090’s typical performance?

A: The GPU alone ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, but the combo ranks in the 89.5th percentile. That 2.5-percentage-point gap represents the performance lost due to the Ryzen 5 2600’s limitations, particularly at 1080p and 1440p resolutions.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 2600’s 16 MB of L3 cache affect gaming performance?

A: The benchmark data shows the CPU’s Passmark multi-thread score of 13160 and single-thread score of 2239 are the relevant metrics. The 16 MB shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards, but the measured FPS scaling indicates that raw single-thread speed, not cache size, is the primary limiter in this game.

Q: Is there any resolution where this combo performs optimally?

A: The data shows 4K Medium at 81 FPS average is the sweet spot for visual quality versus frame rate. At 1440p, Ultra hits 74 FPS, which is also viable. At 1080p, all presets exceed 99 FPS, but the CPU prevents the higher frame rates that the GPU could theoretically deliver.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for Red Dead Redemption 2 with this combo is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Low preset produces 105 FPS average. Medium produces 81 FPS average, with a minimum of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS. High produces 68 FPS average. Ultra produces 49 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 53% performance drop, which is substantial but expected given the graphical demands of the Ultra preset.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), Low produces 121 FPS average. Medium produces 109 FPS average, with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 125 FPS. High produces 102 FPS average. Ultra produces 74 FPS average. The drop from Low to Ultra here is 39%, less severe than at 4K, which again points to CPU limitation at the lower settings.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), Low produces 133 FPS average. Medium produces 120 FPS average, with a minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS. High produces 113 FPS average. Ultra produces 99 FPS average. The drop from Low to Ultra is only 26%, the smallest of any resolution, confirming that the CPU is the hard ceiling at 1080p.

The minimum and maximum FPS data for Medium settings shows the frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range is 102-138 FPS, a 36 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, it’s 92-125 FPS, a 33 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, it’s 69-93 FPS, a 24 FPS spread. The tightening of the range at higher resolutions suggests that GPU load is stabilizing frame times, while at lower resolutions the CPU’s variable processing times create more fluctuation.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 brings specifications that are overkill for this game at most settings. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is far more than Red Dead Redemption 2 requires even at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz, combined with 21760 shading units, provides 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In the measured results, the GPU’s role only becomes dominant at Ultra settings. At 4K Ultra, the 49 FPS average is the only point where the RTX 5090’s compute limits are clearly visible. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 39650 and its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs suggest it should handle this game easily, but the CPU prevents it from doing so at lower presets.

The VRAM capacity is irrelevant in this scenario—32 GB is far more than any current game needs, and Red Dead Redemption 2 from 2018 certainly doesn’t approach that limit. The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s also goes largely unused at 1080p and 1440p, where the CPU is the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the bandwidth and texture throughput (1636.8 GTexel/s) finally matter, but the frame rate still falls below 60 FPS.

The RTX 5090’s nearest rivals in the database—the Tesla P100 variants and Radeon RX 6850M XT—have similar average scores, but none of those comparisons account for the CPU pairing. The data shows that the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates in this game if paired with a stronger processor, as evidenced by the fact that at 1080p Low, the 133 FPS average is likely still CPU-capped.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience for this combo depends on your resolution and tolerance for frame rate dips. At 4K, Medium is the clear choice. The 81 FPS average with a 69 FPS minimum stays above the 60 FPS threshold, and the visual quality is a reasonable compromise between Low’s 105 FPS and High’s 68 FPS. High at 4K is borderline—68 FPS average means you’ll likely see drops below 60 FPS in demanding scenes.

At 1440p, Ultra is viable. The 74 FPS average provides a smoother experience than 4K Medium, and the higher settings make better use of the RTX 5090’s capabilities. If you prefer higher frame rates, High at 102 FPS is excellent, but Ultra’s visual fidelity is worth the 28 FPS trade-off given the GPU has headroom to spare.

At 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor, so there’s little reason to drop below High. The 113 FPS average at High is solid, and Ultra at 99 FPS is still very playable. Low at 133 FPS and Medium at 120 FPS offer marginal gains that won’t be noticeable on most monitors, and the visual degradation isn’t worth the 20-34 FPS improvement.

For overall consistency, Medium at 4K or Ultra at 1440p are the recommended presets. Both keep the average FPS above 75, and the minimum frame rates (69 and 92 respectively) provide stable experiences. Avoid 4K Ultra entirely—49 FPS average is below the playable threshold for a game with this much movement and detail. The data suggests that this combo is best used at 1440p Ultra, where the GPU’s strengths are finally utilized without the CPU completely bottlenecking the system.