Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 is a combination that produces a severely GPU-bound experience in Red Dead Redemption 2. The data shows this is not a playable configuration at high settings for modern standards, but understanding where its limits lie can help you extract the best possible experience. The Arc B390, with its integrated graphics architecture, operates at a performance percentile of just 9% among all GPUs, and this is reflected in the measured frame rates across all resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific hardware pairing, the Low preset is the only viable option for achieving a playable frame rate, and even then, it is only acceptable at 1080p. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 51, which is the only measured scenario that clears the 30 FPS threshold comfortably. The Medium preset at 1080p drops the average to 39 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 24% performance hit compared to Low (from 51 to 39 FPS) for a visual quality improvement that may not be worth it on a display of this size.

At 1440p, the Low preset yields an average of 38 FPS, which is borderline playable for a slow-paced action adventure title, but the Medium preset at 29 FPS falls below the 30 FPS line, making it a less desirable choice. The High preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it produces averages of 32 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K—all of which are too low for a smooth experience. The Ultra preset is effectively a slideshow, with averages ranging from 23 FPS at 1080p down to 11 FPS at 4K.

The data suggests a clear strategy: if you must play this game on this hardware, use Low settings at 1080p for a stable experience. If you prefer visual fidelity over frame rate, Medium at 1080p is the highest you should go, as it maintains a 33 FPS minimum. Avoid High and Ultra entirely, as they offer diminishing returns and push the frame rate into unplayable territory. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is a 55% performance loss (from 51 to 23 FPS), which demonstrates that the GPU cannot handle the increased shading and texture workloads.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this system. Its specifications reveal why: it is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 3 nm Panther Lake chip, utilizing the Xe3-LPG architecture. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz. Its memory is "System Shared," meaning it uses the system's DDR5 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM, and the bandwidth is "System Dependent" on the CPU's memory controller.

The performance data reflects these specifications. The GPU's only benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, scores 1482 points, placing it at the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are ancient NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% faster), the GeForce 800M (1.5% faster), and the GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% faster). This puts the Arc B390 in the same league as decade-old entry-level discrete GPUs, which explains its inability to push high frame rates in a demanding title like Red Dead Redemption 2.

The shared memory architecture is a critical factor. With no dedicated VRAM, the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which is limited to 83.2 GB/s on the Ryzen 5 7400F's dual-channel DDR5 controller. In a game with large textures and open-world streaming, this creates a significant bottleneck. The measured FPS drops are not linear with resolution scaling, which indicates the GPU is hitting its computational limits, not just its memory bandwidth limits, but the shared memory exacerbates the issue by adding latency.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a classic GPU-bound pattern, but with an unusually steep drop-off. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 51 at 1080p to 38 at 1440p (a 25% drop) and then to 25 at 4K (a 51% drop from 1440p). This is a total loss of 51% from 1080p to 4K (from 51 to 25 FPS), which is steeper than the theoretical pixel count increase suggests, indicating that the GPU is not just fill-rate limited but also shader-limited.

At High settings, the progression is 32 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 25%, and from 1440p to 4K it is 33%. This relatively consistent percentage drop suggests that the GPU is scaling with the pixel workload, but the absolute numbers are so low that it doesn't matter—even the best case (1080p High) is below 30 FPS.

The limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. The Ryzen 5 7400F is a modern 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture, with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,765 and single-core score of 3,072 place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. It is not the bottleneck in this scenario. The fact that FPS drops so significantly with resolution changes, even when the CPU load should remain relatively constant, confirms that the Arc B390 is the sole limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: Is this combination capable of running Red Dead Redemption 2 at 60 FPS?

A: No. The measured data shows no configuration achieves 60 FPS. The highest average FPS recorded is 51 at 1080p with Low settings. All other settings and resolutions yield averages below 40 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a balance of visual quality and performance?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset offers a 39 FPS average with a 33 FPS minimum, which is the highest visual quality setting that maintains a playable frame rate. At 1440p, the Low preset is required for a 38 FPS average, as Medium drops to 29 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), the GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), and the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower). The Arc B390 is marginally faster than all of them, but they are all in the same low-performance tier.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much when going from 1080p to 4K?

A: The frame rate drops by approximately 51% at Low settings (from 51 to 25 FPS) and 50% at High settings (from 32 to 16 FPS) when moving from 1080p to 4K. This indicates the GPU is overwhelmed by the increased pixel workload, confirming it as the limiting component.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7400F holding back the Arc B390?

A: No. The CPU's benchmark scores (e.g., Cinebench R23 multi-core of 21,765 and single-core of 3,072) place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, far above the GPU's 9th percentile. The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU.

Q: Can I use the Ultra preset at any resolution?

A: Technically, yes, but the performance is not usable. The Ultra preset yields an average of 23 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K. These frame rates are too low for a playable experience, so it is not recommended.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a strong processor that is wasted in this pairing. It features 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 4 (Raphael) architecture, built on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a 32 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a theoretical bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its capability. It achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,765 and a single-core score of 3,072. In PassMark tests, it scores 25,645 in multi-thread and 3,689 in single-thread. These scores place it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32,750. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600T (0.1% slower), the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (0.2% slower), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (0.3% slower), putting it in a competitive mid-range position.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls, but the measured FPS data shows it is not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough frames to reach 51 FPS, but the GPU cannot do better. If you were to pair this CPU with a stronger GPU, the FPS would likely increase significantly. The data shows that the CPU has headroom, as evidenced by the fact that FPS scales almost entirely with resolution and settings changes, which are GPU-bound workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across all settings and resolutions.

1920x1080:

• Low: Average 51 FPS. This is the best performance recorded for this combo.
• Medium: Average 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS. This is the highest playable setting.
• High: Average 32 FPS. This is below the 30 FPS threshold and not recommended.
• Ultra: Average 23 FPS. This is not playable.

2560x1440:

• Low: Average 38 FPS. This is the only playable option at this resolution.
• Medium: Average 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS. This is borderline unplayable.
• High: Average 24 FPS. This is not playable.
• Ultra: Average 17 FPS. This is not playable.

3840x2160:

• Low: Average 25 FPS. This is not playable.
• Medium: Average 19 FPS, with a minimum of 16 FPS and a maximum of 22 FPS. This is not playable.
• High: Average 16 FPS. This is not playable.
• Ultra: Average 11 FPS. This is not playable.

The pattern is consistent: the combo only achieves a playable frame rate (above 30 FPS) at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, and at 1440p with Low settings. The 4K resolution is uniformly unplayable, with the best average being 25 FPS on Low. The combo's overall rank in this game is 2568 out of 2902 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 12% of all tested systems. This is a direct reflection of the GPU's low performance percentile of 9%, while the CPU's 83rd percentile ranking shows it is not the cause of the low rank.