Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2: AMD Ryzen 5 5600F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a broad performance envelope in Red Dead Redemption 2, ranging from 49 FPS at 4K Ultra to 167 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination ranks 145th out of 2,902 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations. The data reveals a system where the CPU becomes the primary constraint at lower resolutions, while the GPU's massive 32 GB VRAM buffer and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth keep frame rates playable even at 4K with demanding presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Red Dead Redemption 2 with this combo?

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p High provides the best balance, delivering 102 FPS average. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining visual fidelity, and it uses only 74% of the GPU's capacity compared to 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's 32 GB VRAM affect performance in this game?

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 512-bit bus width and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensures that VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor at any resolution tested. The game's highest VRAM demand at 4K Ultra still leaves substantial headroom, as evidenced by the consistent frame times across all settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this title?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes the limiting factor at 1080p, where frame rates plateau between 99 and 167 FPS across settings. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary constraint, with frame rates scaling more predictably with resolution changes.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 108 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 49 FPS — a 59 FPS difference. This represents a 120% performance penalty for the highest preset, indicating that Ultra is only suitable for 60 Hz displays if the user accepts the lower frame rate.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 145th out of 2,902 tested combinations for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the top 5% of all systems tested, reflecting the high-end nature of the RTX 5090 paired with a capable mid-range CPU.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 104, with an average of 123 FPS and a maximum of 141 FPS. This narrow frame time distribution indicates stable performance without significant dips.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1080p, Medium settings deliver 150 FPS average with a minimum of 128 FPS, making this the sweet spot for high refresh rate displays. High settings at 1080p drop to 137 FPS, still excellent, but the 13 FPS gain from choosing Medium over High is minimal for most users. Ultra at 1080p yields 99 FPS, which is playable but represents a significant 34% reduction from Medium.

At 1440p, Medium settings provide 123 FPS average with a 104 FPS minimum, ideal for 120 Hz monitors. High settings reduce this to 102 FPS, still smooth for 100 Hz displays. Ultra at 1440p drops to 74 FPS, which is acceptable for 60-75 Hz screens but not optimal for competitive play. The 1440p Medium preset offers the best frame time consistency, with the 104-141 FPS range showing minimal variance.

For 4K gaming, the data tells a different story. Medium settings produce 81 FPS average with a 69 FPS minimum, making this the only 4K preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS. High settings at 4K yield 68 FPS, which is borderline for 60 Hz displays but may experience occasional drops below the refresh rate. Low settings at 4K achieve 108 FPS, but this sacrifices too much visual quality for most users. Ultra at 4K drops to 49 FPS, which is only suitable for 48 Hz displays or users who prioritize image quality over frame rate.

The overall recommendation is to use Medium settings at any resolution for the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 1440p Medium preset offers the most compelling experience, combining 123 FPS average with a minimum of 104 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. For users with 4K displays, Medium settings provide the only preset that maintains playable frame rates without compromising too heavily on visual fidelity.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 brings substantial hardware resources to Red Dead Redemption 2. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for the game's large open-world textures and draw distances. The GPU's 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units process the game's geometry and lighting effects with minimal overhead, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling across resolutions.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz. In the measured data, the RTX 5090 demonstrates its capability by maintaining playable frame rates even at 4K with High settings (68 FPS average). The GPU's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance provides ample compute headroom for the game's physics and particle effects, while the 170 ray tracing cores handle any RT effects without significant performance penalties.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 92nd among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842, places it among the top tier of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605 (0.3% higher), while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.1% higher). These comparisons highlight that the RTX 5090's performance in this game is consistent with its synthetic benchmark scores, though the measured FPS data shows it is more than sufficient for Red Dead Redemption 2's requirements.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant for this game. The 32 GB VRAM capacity ensures that even at 4K Ultra, texture streaming never causes stuttering or frame drops due to memory pressure. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth allows the GPU to quickly load and swap textures as the player moves through the open world, contributing to the smooth frame times observed in the Medium settings across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 145th out of 2,902 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the system in the top 5% of all configurations tested, which is notable given that the CPU is a mid-range part from the Ryzen 5000 series. The ranking reflects the GPU's dominance in this title, as the RTX 5090's performance largely determines the frame rates at higher resolutions.

The CPU's individual benchmark scores provide context for this ranking. The Ryzen 5 5600F scores 19,236 in Passmark's multithread test and 2,872 in single-thread, with an average benchmark score of 36,945. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 225, scores 36,938 (0% difference), while the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37,018 (-0.2% difference). These close scores indicate that the 5600F performs comparably to its direct competitors, but the CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs shows it is not a top-tier processor.

The GPU's ranking is significantly higher. The RTX 5090 scores 39,650 in Passmark's G3D test and 18,355 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. The GPU's nearest rival, the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605 (0.3% higher), while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959 (-1.4% higher).

The disparity between the CPU and GPU rankings explains the combo's 145th position. At 1080p, the CPU's limitations cap frame rates, preventing the system from achieving the very top rankings. At 4K, the GPU takes over, but the CPU still influences minimum frame rates and frame time consistency. The combo's rank of 145 out of 2,902 indicates that while the GPU is exceptional, the CPU prevents this system from reaching the absolute top tier of tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals distinct scaling patterns across resolutions. From 1080p to 1440p, High settings drop from 137 FPS to 102 FPS, a 25.5% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, High settings drop from 102 FPS to 68 FPS, a 33.3% reduction. This worsening scaling at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more constrained as pixel count increases.

For Medium settings, the scaling is more gradual. 1080p delivers 150 FPS, 1440p delivers 123 FPS (18% reduction), and 4K delivers 81 FPS (34.1% reduction from 1440p). The consistent scaling pattern suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at Medium settings across all resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom even at 1080p.

Low settings show the most interesting pattern. 1080p Low achieves 167 FPS, 1440p Low achieves 152 FPS (9% reduction), and 4K Low achieves 108 FPS (28.9% reduction from 1440p). The relatively small drop from 1080p to 1440p (15 FPS) suggests that at Low settings, the CPU begins to limit performance at 1080p, as the GPU has enough headroom to render the game quickly but the CPU cannot feed it fast enough.

Ultra settings exhibit the steepest scaling curve. 1080p Ultra delivers 99 FPS, 1440p Ultra delivers 74 FPS (25.3% reduction), and 4K Ultra delivers 49 FPS (33.8% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS indicates that this preset is too demanding for consistent 60 FPS gameplay, even with the RTX 5090's capabilities.

The scaling analysis indicates that the CPU becomes a limiting factor at 1080p, particularly with Low and Medium settings where frame rates exceed 150 FPS. The Ryzen 5 5600F's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, provide sufficient performance for most gaming scenarios, but at very high frame rates, the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the bottleneck. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU's workload increases sufficiently to shift the bottleneck back to the graphics card.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low settings deliver 108 FPS average, Medium settings deliver 81 FPS with a range of 69 to 93 FPS, High settings deliver 68 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 49 FPS. The 59 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K demonstrates the significant impact of settings on GPU load at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the data shows improved performance across all presets. Low settings achieve 152 FPS, Medium settings achieve 123 FPS with a range of 104 to 141 FPS, High settings achieve 102 FPS, and Ultra settings achieve 74 FPS. The Medium settings show the most consistent frame times, with the 37 FPS range between minimum and maximum being the tightest of any resolution.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates reach their peak. Low settings deliver 167 FPS, Medium settings deliver 150 FPS with a range of 128 to 173 FPS, High settings deliver 137 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 99 FPS. The 45 FPS range at Medium settings (128 to 173 FPS) indicates some variability, but the minimum of 128 FPS remains well above the 60 FPS threshold.

The complete data set shows that the RTX 5090's performance scales predictably with settings at each resolution. The Medium preset consistently provides the best frame time consistency, with the narrowest range between minimum and maximum FPS at both 1440p and 4K. The Low preset provides the highest frame rates but sacrifices visual quality, while Ultra provides the lowest frame rates with the most demanding visual load.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F plays a crucial role in this system's performance in Red Dead Redemption 2. With 6 cores and 12 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename), this CPU provides a base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.00 GHz. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain smooth frame times in the game's open-world environment, where assets are constantly streamed.

The CPU's benchmark performance shows it is a solid mid-range processor. Its Passmark multithread score of 19,236 and single-thread score of 2,872 place it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs. The average benchmark score of 36,945 puts it in direct competition with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36,938, 0% difference), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37,018, -0.2% difference), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37,093, -0.4% difference).

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the system achieves 167 FPS. This represents the practical ceiling for this CPU-GPU combination, as the frame rate does not increase significantly when settings are lowered further. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU provides sufficient headroom for the GPU to operate without being starved of data, as evidenced by the scaling patterns discussed earlier.

The CPU's 65W TDP and 7 nm process node (TSMC) contribute to its efficiency, though this is not directly reflected in the gaming performance data. The DDR4 memory support with dual-channel configuration provides 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for the game's data streaming requirements. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes ensures the GPU has sufficient bandwidth for data transfer, though the RTX 5090's PCIe 5.0 x16 interface operates at Gen 4 speeds without significant performance loss in this title.

The data indicates that the Ryzen 5 5600F is a capable partner for the RTX 5090 in Red Dead Redemption 2, though it does limit performance at 1080p with lower settings. For users prioritizing high refresh rates at 1080p, a more powerful CPU would extract additional performance from the RTX 5090. However, at 1440p and 4K, the CPU provides adequate performance, allowing the GPU to deliver the frame rates shown in the measured data.