Red Dead Redemption 2

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces an average of 76.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops that to 56.6 FPS, a reduction of approximately 25.7% from the 1080p figure. At 3840x2160, the average falls further to 38.6 FPS, which is roughly 49.3% lower than the 1080p High result.

This scaling behavior points directly at the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The RTX 3070, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus and a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, is being pushed harder as pixel count grows. The Ryzen 5 3600's six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost up to 4.20 GHz, are likely not the limiting factor at 4K — the data suggests the graphics card is saturated.

Looking at the Low preset, the story becomes even more telling. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 128.2 FPS, which is nearly double the High preset at the same resolution. But at 4K Low, the average drops to 59.2 FPS. That is a 53.8% reduction from 1080p Low, a steeper drop than what High shows. This steeper decline at Low settings indicates that when the CPU has less graphics work to do, the GPU still becomes the wall — the RTX 3070 simply cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K even with reduced visual fidelity.

The Ultra preset tells a similar story but from the opposite end. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 54.6 FPS, which is already below the 60 FPS threshold many would consider playable. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 44.4 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 30.1 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is a 18.7% drop, while 1440p to 4K is a 32.2% drop — the GPU is clearly overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and heavy settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.20 GHz provide the raw frequency headroom needed for gaming workloads. The processor has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, which helps with data locality in open-world titles like Red Dead Redemption 2.

Benchmark data shows the Ryzen 5 3600 scores 15045 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2124 in single-core. These figures place it in the 76th percentile among all CPUs, according to the database. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11400, scores 18150 in average benchmark score, which is a delta of -0.1% — essentially a statistical tie. The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS scores 18101, a 0.2% difference, and the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 scores 18158, a -0.2% difference.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 128.2 FPS, which is likely close to the CPU's limit for this game. The fact that 1080p Medium produces 96.1 FPS and 1080p High produces 76.2 FPS suggests that the GPU is still doing significant work, but the CPU is not the primary constraint until frame rates get very high.

The Ryzen 5 3600's 3dmark single-thread score is 696, while the 4-thread score is 2579 and the max-thread score is 4603. These numbers indicate that while the processor has respectable single-thread performance, its multi-thread scaling is strong enough to handle the game's background tasks. Red Dead Redemption 2 is known for utilizing multiple cores, and the 12 threads of the Ryzen 5 3600 should be sufficient to avoid CPU-bound scenarios at most settings.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based solely on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 appears to be the sweet spot for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 96.1, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS target and leaves headroom for dips. The High preset at 1080p delivers 76.2 FPS, which is still playable but closer to the edge. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 54.6 FPS, which is below 60 and may feel less smooth.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset produces 69.4 FPS, which is again above 60 and represents a good balance. The High preset at 1440p yields 56.6 FPS, which is below 60 but could be acceptable for some players. The Low preset at 1440p hits 92.1 FPS, but the visual quality loss may not be worth the frame rate gain for most users.

For 4K resolution, the data suggests that even Low settings are marginal. At 4K Low, the combo averages 59.2 FPS, which is just under the 60 FPS mark. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 48.2 FPS, and High falls to 38.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended at 30.1 FPS. Given these numbers, the best experience at 4K would be Low settings, accepting the visual trade-off for playable frame rates.

The data implies that the RTX 3070, while a capable card, struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K in this game. The 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1440p gaming, but at 4K, the pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 766 out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. That places it in the middle of the pack, which is interesting given the individual component performance levels. The RTX 3070 sits in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, and the Ryzen 5 3600 sits in the 76th percentile among all CPUs, yet their combined performance in this game is only mid-tier.

The ranking suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings outperform this combo in this specific title. This could be due to the game's optimization patterns, which may favor certain architectures or memory configurations. The Ryzen 5 3600's nearest CPU rivals — the Intel Core i5-11400, AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, and AMD Ryzen 5 1600 — all have nearly identical average benchmark scores, with deltas of -0.1%, 0.2%, and -0.2% respectively. This means the CPU is not providing any unique advantage over its peers.

On the GPU side, the RTX 3070's nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro S7150 (delta -0.6%), AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (delta 0.9%), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (delta 1%). The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 28238, which is close to these rivals, indicating that its raw compute performance is not dramatically superior to older or lower-tier cards in synthetic tests. Yet in-game, the ranking suggests other combos achieve better results.

The rank of 766 out of 1687 means that roughly 54.6% of tested combos perform better, while 45.4% perform worse. This is a balanced position, not a top-tier one. The data implies that while this combo is capable, it is not exceptional for this game, and users might expect similar or better results from other pairings around the same performance tier.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture using an 8 nm process at Samsung, with a GA104 chip containing 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. Its base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The card has 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores.

The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 1750 MHz, which translates to 14 Gbps effective, across a 256-bit bus for a total bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a critical factor in the game's performance at higher resolutions. The data shows that at 4K, even the Low preset yields only 59.2 FPS, suggesting that the card's memory bandwidth is being taxed heavily.

The RTX 3070's passmark G3D score is 22214, and its passmark GPU compute score is 11195. These synthetic benchmarks place it in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD FirePro S7150, scores 28409 in average benchmark score, which is a -0.6% delta. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT scores 27985, a 0.9% delta, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti scores 27956, a 1% delta. This indicates that the RTX 3070 is not far ahead of these older or lower-tier cards in raw compute, which aligns with its mid-tier ranking in this game.

The pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s are respectable but not exceptional for 4K gaming. The FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS is sufficient for most titles, but Red Dead Redemption 2's heavy use of shaders and post-processing effects can push the card to its limits at 4K Ultra, where it manages only 30.1 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings for this combo?

A: The measured average FPS is 76.2 at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 48.2, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming according to the data?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 delivers 69.4 FPS, which is above 60 and represents the best balance of visual quality and performance among the measured settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 3600 compare to its nearest CPU rival, the Intel Core i5-11400?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400 has an average benchmark score of 18150, which is a delta of -0.1% compared to the Ryzen 5 3600's 18129 average, making them nearly identical in synthetic performance.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 766 out of 1687 tested combos, placing it in the middle of the field.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Low settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 128.2 at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the highest frame rate recorded for this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: 128.2 FPS
• Medium: 96.1 FPS
• High: 76.2 FPS
• Ultra: 54.6 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 92.1 FPS
• Medium: 69.4 FPS
• High: 56.6 FPS
• Ultra: 44.4 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 59.2 FPS
• Medium: 48.2 FPS
• High: 38.6 FPS
• Ultra: 30.1 FPS

At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is significant, with Low offering more than double the frame rate of Ultra (128.2 vs 54.6 FPS). The step from Low to Medium is a 25.0% drop, while Medium to High is a 20.7% drop, and High to Ultra is a 28.3% drop. This suggests that each settings tier has a meaningful performance cost.

At 1440p, the pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers. The drop from Low to Medium is 24.6%, Medium to High is 18.4%, and High to Ultra is 21.6%. The relative scaling is more consistent here, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor across all settings.

At 4K, the numbers are compressed further. The drop from Low to Medium is 18.6%, Medium to High is 19.9%, and High to Ultra is 22.0%. The absolute values are all below 60 FPS, with only Low approaching playable territory at 59.2 FPS. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the dominant constraint, and settings changes have a smaller relative impact on frame rate compared to lower resolutions.