Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 presents a demanding open-world workload, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F with the Intel Arc B580 yields a measurable performance profile across resolutions. The data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions, yet shows surprising headroom at 1080p, where the CPU's capabilities become more relevant. The benchmark results indicate a configuration that prioritizes 1080p and 1440p gaming, with clear trade-offs in visual fidelity and frame rates as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent drop in performance as resolution scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 56 FPS at 1080p to 42 FPS at 1440p, and then further to 28 FPS at 4K. This represents a 25% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, with the Low preset dropping from 90 FPS at 1080p to 67 FPS at 1440p and 44 FPS at 4K.

This scaling behavior strongly suggests that the Intel Arc B580 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus width provide a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s, which is substantial but not sufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding settings. The data implies that at 4K, the GPU is saturated, and the frame rate is dictated almost entirely by its raw pixel throughput. The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, with the High preset losing 33% of its frame rate, indicating a nonlinear increase in rendering load that the B580 cannot keep pace with.

Conversely, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p is more moderate, suggesting that the system is better balanced in this range. The CPU has more room to feed the GPU frames, and the bottleneck shifts more toward the graphics card's capability to process the increased pixel count. The data shows that at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 5600F can push the B580 to its limits, but as resolution climbs, the GPU's workload becomes the dominant factor, and the CPU's influence on the final frame rate diminishes. The 4K results, particularly the Ultra preset dipping to just 20 FPS, make it clear that this combo is not suited for native 4K gaming with high visual quality.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, and its benchmark results show a Passmark single-thread score of 2872 and a multithread score of 19236. In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, a game known for its CPU-intensive scenes, these scores indicate a capable processor that can handle the game's simulation and AI workloads without becoming a major bottleneck at most resolutions.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache is a notable asset for gaming, as it helps reduce memory latency and improve performance in complex scenes. However, the data suggests that the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU in determining overall frame rates. At 4K, the 20 FPS Ultra result and the 28 FPS High result are far below what the CPU's single-thread performance would suggest as a limit. The bottleneck is clearly on the GPU side. The CPU's influence becomes more apparent at 1080p, where the Low preset achieves 90 FPS, a figure that approaches the limits of what the GPU can deliver in lighter scenes.

The processor's position in the broader market, with a percentile rank of 85 among all CPUs, puts it in the upper echelon, but its nearest rivals show marginal differences in average scores. For instance, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has a deltaPct of 0, meaning it is essentially tied, while the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% slower. This suggests that the 5600F is not a performance outlier in either direction; it provides a solid, mid-to-high-tier foundation for gaming. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's 12 threads allow for efficient scheduling of the game's background tasks, but the measured frame rates indicate that even a stronger CPU would not significantly improve results at 1440p or 4K due to the GPU constraint.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580, based on the Xe2-HPG architecture with the BMG-G21 chip, is the dominant component in this pairing for gaming performance. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both set at 2670 MHz, and its FP32 performance is rated at 13.67 TFLOPS. The benchmark data shows a Passmark G3D score of 15748, which places it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's role in Red Dead Redemption 2 is clearly the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K, ranging from 44 FPS on Low to 20 FPS on Ultra, demonstrates that the B580 is not powerful enough to maintain playable frame rates with high-quality settings at that resolution. The 12 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for the game's textures, but the raw compute power is insufficient for the pixel count at 4K. The data shows that the GPU's performance scales almost linearly with resolution, which is typical for a card that is not bandwidth or compute-limited at 1080p.

At 1080p, the B580 shows its strength, delivering 90 FPS on Low and 56 FPS on High. This indicates that the GPU has enough headroom to handle the game at this resolution, and the CPU can keep it fed. The comparison to its nearest rivals is telling: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 has a deltaPct of 0.6%, meaning the B580 is slightly faster in average benchmark score, while the RTX 3080 is 0.7% slower, and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP is 0.2% faster. This positions the B580 as a competitive mid-range card, but its performance in Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1440p (42 FPS on High) suggests it is better suited for 1080p gaming with high settings or 1440p with medium settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 5600F and the Intel Arc B580 ranks 2195 out of 2902 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is a surprising result given the individual component scores. The CPU's 85th percentile and the GPU's 68th percentile suggest that each part is above average, yet their combination yields a rank that is below the median. This indicates that the pairing may have some inefficiency or that the game is particularly demanding on a bottleneck.

The rank of 2195 implies that there are many other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in this specific game. This could be due to the GPU being a bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the data shows, or it could be that the game is optimized for other architectures. The fact that the combo ranks lower than the individual percentile scores might suggest that the CPU is underutilized when paired with this GPU. For example, a stronger GPU would likely push this combo higher in the rankings, as the CPU has the headroom to support more frames. Conversely, a weaker CPU might not change the rank much, as the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios.

The data implies that for this game, the combo is not an optimal pairing. It performs adequately at 1080p, but the rank suggests that users looking for higher frame rates at 1440p or 4K would need to consider a more powerful GPU. The combo's rank is a direct reflection of its measured FPS across all resolutions and settings, and it serves as a warning that component scores alone do not guarantee in-game performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS shows a clear progression across settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 90 FPS, which is the highest for this combo. Medium drops to 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 77 FPS. High is lower at 56 FPS, and Ultra is the most demanding, yielding just 40 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system can deliver smooth gameplay on Low and Medium, but High and Ultra require a compromise on frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low averages 67 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium averages 50 FPS with a range of 43 to 58 FPS. High averages 42 FPS, and Ultra averages just 30 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p is a viable resolution for this combo only if the user sticks to Low or Medium settings. The High preset at 42 FPS may be acceptable for some, but it is borderline for a smooth experience.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles. Low averages 44 FPS, which is the only playable result at this resolution. Medium drops to 33 FPS with a minimum of 28 FPS, High is at 28 FPS, and Ultra is at 20 FPS. These numbers confirm that 4K is not a practical resolution for this pairing, even on Low settings, as the 44 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target that many players prefer. The minimum FPS values for Medium at 4K (28 FPS) indicate that there are noticeable frame rate dips, which would be distracting in gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 90, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Is this combo capable of playing at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 44 FPS. At higher settings like High and Ultra, the average drops to 28 FPS and 20 FPS, respectively, which is not ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in this game?

A: It ranks 2195 out of 2902 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth, and does it affect performance?

A: The GPU has a memory bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor, likely due to compute limits rather than bandwidth.

Q: Does the CPU's performance vary significantly from its nearest rivals?

A: No, the Ryzen 5 5600F has a Passmark average score of 36945, and its nearest rivals have deltaPct values ranging from 0 to -0.5%, indicating a near tie in performance.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 28, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This is the only preset with a recorded minimum, but it indicates significant frame dips.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the only viable option is 1920x1080 with Low settings, which achieves 90 FPS, or Medium settings, which average 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a good balance, as it keeps the frame rate above 60 FPS for the most part while providing better visual quality than Low.

For users with a 1440p monitor, the data suggests that Low settings are necessary for a playable experience, averaging 67 FPS. Medium settings at 1440p average 50 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced games, but the minimum of 43 FPS could cause noticeable stuttering in action-heavy scenes. The High preset at 1440p averages 42 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra at 30 FPS is not recommended.

At 4K, the data is clear: only Low settings are viable, with an average of 44 FPS. However, even this is below the 60 FPS target, so users who prioritize resolution over frame rate may find it acceptable. Medium at 4K averages 33 FPS, and High and Ultra are too low to be enjoyable. The best experience per the measured rows is to play at 1080p with Medium settings, as it provides a frame rate above 60 FPS with improved visual fidelity over Low. If a higher resolution is a priority, 1440p with Low settings is the only sensible choice, while 4K should be avoided unless the user is willing to accept sub-50 FPS performance.