Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 pairing delivers a distinctive performance profile in Red Dead Redemption 2, where the CPU’s six-core architecture and the GPU’s large memory buffer interact in ways that become clear only when examining the measured frame rates across resolutions and settings. The data shows a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet the CPU still sets an upper ceiling at 1080p that prevents the RTX 4080 from reaching its full potential in this title.

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, using the Vermeer codename on a 7 nm process from TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, with 64 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 per core. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4, offering a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which is relevant for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 that streams large open-world assets.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 5600 scores 18,309 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,584 in single-core, while Geekbench multi-core is 9,158 and single-core is 1,936. The PassMark multithread score is 21,541, with a single-thread score of 3,256. Its average benchmark score is 20,468, placing it at the 74th percentile among all CPUs. Nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V with an average score of 20,454 (0.1% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 8500G at 20,425 (0.2% delta), and the AMD EPYC 9454P at 20,422 (0.2% delta). These close scores indicate that the 5600 sits in a tightly contested performance band, though its gaming relevance comes from having six full cores rather than from raw multi-threaded throughput.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the measured FPS data reveals that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 4K or even 1440p, but it does matter at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 194, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. This suggests that the CPU can push well over 190 frames per second when the GPU is not heavily taxed. However, at 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 87 FPS, which is a larger proportional drop than what the GPU alone would explain, indicating that the CPU’s six cores are being stressed by the Ultra preset’s increased draw calls and physics simulation. The 5600’s 12 threads help maintain playability, but the game’s engine appears to scale more with single-thread performance, where the 3,256 PassMark single-thread score is adequate but not exceptional.

The CPU’s role becomes more passive at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, the spread from Low (145 FPS) to Ultra (65 FPS) is primarily a GPU workload shift, as the CPU has more headroom. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only yields 96 FPS, which is far below the 1080p Low result, confirming that the RTX 4080 is the limiting factor at 4K. This pattern indicates that the Ryzen 5 5600 is sufficient for 1440p and 4K gaming in this title, but at 1080p with high frame rate targets, its performance ceiling becomes visible when paired with a GPU as fast as the RTX 4080.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The memory clock is 1400 MHz, with 22.4 Gbps effective data rate. The GPU has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with 9,728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. It also includes 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores, delivering 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In synthetic tests, the RTX 4080 scores 65,567 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 263,779 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 214,739 in Geekbench OpenCL. The PassMark G3D score is 34,457, with a GPU compute score of 20,671. Its average benchmark score is 54,247, placing it at the 86th percentile among all GPUs. Nearest rivals include the RTX 4080 SUPER at 54,209 (0.1% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54,828 (-1.1% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55,698 (-2.6% delta). The RTX 4080 is essentially tied with the 4080 SUPER in average score, showing that its performance class is well established.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s 16 GB VRAM is a significant asset. The game’s Ultra preset at 4K can consume large amounts of memory, and the measured 43 FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra indicates that the GPU is working near its limits. The 716.8 GB/s bandwidth helps maintain texture streaming, but the frame rate drop from Medium (72 FPS) to Ultra (43 FPS) at 4K suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU’s compute units, not just its memory. The boost clock of 2505 MHz provides the raw throughput needed for 1440p Medium at 108 FPS, but the scaling from 1440p to 4K is not linear, showing that the GPU’s pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s becomes a constraint at higher resolutions.

The GPU’s role is dominant in this pairing. At 1080p, the RTX 4080 is so fast that the CPU becomes the limiter at Low settings (194 FPS), but at any higher preset, the GPU still has headroom. At 1440p, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as evidenced by the fact that High (90 FPS) and Medium (108 FPS) are both respectable, while Ultra (65 FPS) shows the expected load increase. At 4K, the GPU is fully saturated, with even Low settings yielding only 96 FPS, which is still playable but far from the 144 FPS that higher refresh rate monitors could use.

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

Examining the measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 194 at 1080p to 145 at 1440p to 96 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 49 FPS (about 25% reduction), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is another 49 FPS (about 34% reduction). This is consistent with the GPU’s workload increasing with pixel count, as the RTX 4080’s compute resources are stretched thinner at each higher resolution.

At Medium settings, the FPS goes from 145 at 1080p to 108 at 1440p to 72 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 37 FPS (about 26% reduction), and from 1440p to 4K is 36 FPS (about 33% reduction). The proportional drops are similar to Low, indicating that the scaling is driven by resolution rather than by the specific settings. However, the absolute frame rates are lower at Medium, showing that the additional effects cost performance at every resolution.

At High settings, the FPS goes from 121 at 1080p to 90 at 1440p to 60 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 31 FPS (about 26% reduction), and the 1440p to 4K drop is 30 FPS (about 33% reduction). This pattern continues, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting component across all settings. The fact that 4K High produces exactly 60 FPS is notable, as it matches the common 60 Hz refresh rate target, but it also shows that there is no headroom for frame drops.

At Ultra settings, the FPS goes from 87 at 1080p to 65 at 1440p to 43 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 22 FPS (about 25% reduction), and the 1440p to 4K drop is 22 FPS (about 34% reduction). The 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS is the lowest measured, and it indicates that the Ultra preset at 4K is too demanding for this combo, at least for smooth 60 FPS gameplay. The consistent ~25% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and ~33% reduction from 1440p to 4K across all settings proves that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, and the CPU’s contribution is minimal beyond the 1080p Low case.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 260th out of 3,714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 7% of all configurations. This rank reflects the GPU’s strong performance, as the RTX 4080’s 86th percentile among all GPUs boosts the combo despite the CPU being only 74th percentile among all CPUs. The data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of this high ranking, as the 5600’s CPU performance is average but not exceptional.

The rank of 260 out of 3,714 means that there are 259 combos that achieve higher frame rates in this game, likely featuring faster CPUs like the Ryzen 7 or Core i7/i9 parts paired with the same or similar GPUs. However, the gap is not enormous, as the measured FPS at 4K High (60 FPS) is already a solid result. The combo’s rank benefits from the RTX 4080’s large VRAM and high memory bandwidth, which are particularly useful for Red Dead Redemption 2’s open world. The CPU’s 12 threads are sufficient to avoid becoming a major bottleneck, but at 1080p Low, the 194 FPS result suggests that a faster CPU could push even higher, though that is a synthetic scenario rather than a typical gaming setting.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers exactly 60 FPS average, which is the standard for 4K gaming on a 60 Hz display. The Medium preset at 72 FPS provides some headroom, while Low at 96 FPS is smoother but sacrifices visual quality. The Ultra preset at 43 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold and would result in noticeable stuttering on a 60 Hz panel. Thus, for 4K, High is the best balance, with Medium as a fallback if frame drops are a concern.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 90 FPS is excellent for 144 Hz monitors, while Medium at 108 FPS is even better for higher refresh rates. The Low preset at 145 FPS is the fastest, but it may not be worth the visual compromise. Ultra at 65 FPS is playable but not ideal for competitive latency, so High or Medium is recommended. For 1440p, Medium offers the best combination of visual fidelity and frame rate, as it stays above 100 FPS while still providing good detail.

At 1920x1080, the High preset at 121 FPS is solid for 120 Hz displays, and Medium at 145 FPS is excellent for 144 Hz panels. The Low preset at 194 FPS is the maximum, but it would only matter for 240 Hz monitors, and the visual downgrade is significant. Ultra at 87 FPS is acceptable but leaves performance on the table. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot at 1080p, as it provides high frame rates without the visual penalty of Low.

The overall recommendation is to use High at 4K, Medium at 1440p, and Medium or High at 1080p, depending on the monitor’s refresh rate. The Ultra preset is only suitable at 1080p, and even then, it sacrifices performance for marginal visual gains.

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

The measured FPS data is organized by resolution and settings, with average FPS values for each configuration. For 3840x2160, the results are: High at 60 FPS, Low at 96 FPS, Medium at 72 FPS (with min 61 and max 82), and Ultra at 43 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one with min and max values, showing a range of 61 to 82 FPS, which indicates some frame time variance but generally stable performance.

For 2560x1440, the results are: High at 90 FPS, Low at 145 FPS, Medium at 108 FPS (with min 92 and max 125), and Ultra at 65 FPS. The Medium preset again shows a range, from 92 to 125 FPS, which is a wider spread than at 4K, suggesting that the GPU is less consistently loaded at 1440p.

For 1920x1080, the results are: High at 121 FPS, Low at 194 FPS, Medium at 145 FPS (with min 123 and max 167), and Ultra at 87 FPS. The Medium preset has the largest absolute range (123 to 167 FPS), which reflects the CPU’s involvement at 1080p, as the frame rate can vary more when the CPU is occasionally the bottleneck.

The data shows that the Medium preset consistently provides stable frame rates with measurable min and max values, while the other presets only have average FPS. This suggests that Medium might be the most consistent setting, though the High and Ultra presets likely have similar variance patterns that were not recorded.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with High settings for this combo?

A: The average FPS is 60 at 3840x2160 with High settings.

Q: Does the Ultra preset at 1440p achieve a playable frame rate?

A: Yes, the average FPS at 2560x1440 Ultra is 65, which is playable but below the 90 FPS of High settings.

Q: Which resolution yields the highest average FPS in this game?

A: The highest average FPS is 194, measured at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 54,247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209, a 0.1% delta.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the 4K Medium preset?

A: The minimum FPS is 61 at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, with an average of 72.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600’s benchmark score close to any other CPU?

A: Yes, the 5600’s average score of 20,468 is within 0.1% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V at 20,454.