Red Dead Redemption 2

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 sits at rank 2290 out of 2902 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. That places this configuration in the 21st percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly four out of every five combos tested deliver higher average frame rates in this title. The combo's position reflects a fundamental imbalance: the RTX 2060, while a capable 1080p card in its era, is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, and the Ryzen 5 7400F's strong single-thread performance cannot compensate for the GPU's bandwidth and shading limitations.

The data reveals a system that is eminently playable at 1080p with tuned settings, but one that struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 1440p or 4K. The CPU's benchmark profile, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and a single-core score of 3072, places it in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs. This is a processor that has ample headroom for most gaming workloads. The GPU, however, sits in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with a Passmark G3D score of 14111. The delta between the CPU's percentile ranking and the GPU's percentile ranking is the core story here: the processor is significantly stronger than the graphics card, and in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, that strength goes untapped.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where this combo consistently delivers playable frame rates across all settings. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 85, and at 1080p High, it drops to 53. At 1440p, only the Low preset reaches 63 FPS average, while High and Medium dip to 39 and 47 FPS respectively. At 4K, even the Low preset only manages an average of 42 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7400F's average benchmark score is 32750, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707), 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697), and 0.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32662). It trails the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H by 0.2%, which scores 32812. These are marginal differences, indicating the 7400F is competitively positioned within its performance class.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for this game at high settings?

A: The RTX 2060 comes with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the measured results show that at 1440p High, the average FPS drops to 39, and at 4K High it falls to 26. While the data doesn't explicitly show VRAM capacity being exceeded, the sharp FPS declines at higher resolutions suggest the GPU's memory subsystem and overall bandwidth are under significant strain.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 85 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 38 FPS. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU's high single-thread score (3072 in Cinebench R23) and multi-core score (21765) suggest it has sufficient headroom, but the RTX 2060's Passmark G3D score of 14111 and its 58th percentile ranking indicate it cannot keep pace with the CPU's capabilities.

Q: What is the difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 85 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers an average of 38 FPS. This represents a 47 FPS drop, or roughly a 55% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset. The Medium preset sits in between at 63 FPS average, and High delivers 53 FPS average.

Q: How does this combo rank overall in the database?

A: The combo ranks 2290 out of 2902 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 21% of all tested systems for Red Dead Redemption 2. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's performance ceiling, as the CPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all CPUs is significantly higher than the GPU's 58th percentile ranking.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers an average of 53 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High, the average drops to 39 FPS, a 26% reduction. At 3840x2160 High, the average falls to 26 FPS, which is a 51% reduction from the 1080p High result. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU that has limited memory bandwidth (336.0 GB/s) and a 192-bit memory bus, which becomes increasingly insufficient as pixel count grows.

The Low preset tells a similar story. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 85 FPS average. At 1440p Low, it drops to 63 FPS (a 26% reduction), and at 4K Low, it falls to 42 FPS (a 51% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different presets suggests that the resolution scaling is primarily driven by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth limitations, not by CPU overhead or game engine quirks.

The Ultra preset data reinforces this interpretation. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 38 FPS average. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 28 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 19 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is essentially unplayable, and even the 1440p Ultra result is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The fact that the CPU's performance metrics (Cinebench scores, Passmark multithread score of 25645) are strong relative to the GPU's metrics (Passmark G3D score of 14111) further confirms that the GPU is the limiting component when resolution increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low preset delivers 42 FPS, Medium delivers 31 FPS (with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 36), High delivers 26 FPS, and Ultra delivers 19 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 23 FPS, with the Medium preset showing the only recorded minimum and maximum values in this resolution, indicating some frame time variance even at this demanding setting.

At 2560x1440, the averages improve notably: Low preset achieves 63 FPS, Medium delivers 47 FPS (with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54), High delivers 39 FPS, and Ultra delivers 28 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 35 FPS, and the Medium preset's recorded range of 40-54 FPS shows that this setting can be playable but with occasional dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1920x1080, the results are the most varied and playable: Low preset reaches 85 FPS average, Medium delivers 63 FPS (with a minimum of 54 and maximum of 73), High delivers 53 FPS, and Ultra delivers 38 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 54 FPS is close to the 60 FPS target, and the Low preset's 85 FPS average indicates that the system can push well beyond 60 FPS when settings are lowered.

The pattern across all three resolutions shows that the Medium preset consistently provides a balanced experience, with the 1080p Medium result (63 FPS average) being the only setting-resolution combination that exceeds 60 FPS without dropping to the Low preset. The High preset, while delivering acceptable averages at 1080p (53 FPS), falls below 40 FPS at 1440p and below 30 FPS at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, manufactured 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 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, and it is built on the AMD Socket AM5 platform.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's performance metrics suggest it has ample headroom for this game. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and single-core score of 3072 indicate strong computational capability. The Passmark multithread score of 25645 and single-thread score of 3689 further confirm this. The CPU sits in the 83rd percentile among all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors on the market.

However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU's capabilities are not fully utilized in this game at higher resolutions. The consistent FPS drops from 1080p to 1440p to 4K follow a pattern that is typical of GPU-bound scenarios. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see less variation between resolutions, as the CPU's workload would remain relatively constant regardless of resolution. Instead, the FPS scales nearly linearly with pixel count, which is a hallmark of GPU limitations.

The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707, 0.1% lower), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697, 0.2% lower), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32662, 0.3% lower). The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H scores slightly higher at 32812, 0.2% above the 7400F. These near-identical scores suggest that swapping the 7400F for any of these rivals would likely yield negligible differences in Red Dead Redemption 2 performance, given that the GPU remains the bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the best balance, delivering an average of 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS and maximum of 73 FPS. This is the only setting at 1080p that consistently stays near or above the 60 FPS threshold while providing a quality level above Low. The High preset at 53 FPS average is playable but may exhibit noticeable dips in demanding scenes, while the Ultra preset at 38 FPS average is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset is the only viable option for playable frame rates, delivering 63 FPS average. The Medium preset at 47 FPS (minimum 40, maximum 54) is borderline playable, but the frequent dips below 60 FPS may be noticeable. The High preset at 39 FPS and Ultra at 28 FPS are below acceptable thresholds for most players. If 1440p is the target resolution, dropping to Low settings is necessary to maintain smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, none of the presets deliver consistently playable frame rates. The Low preset at 42 FPS average is the best option, but it still falls short of the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 31 FPS (minimum 27, maximum 36) and High at 26 FPS are not recommended, and Ultra at 19 FPS is effectively unplayable. For 4K gaming, this combo would require significant settings reductions beyond the Low preset, such as lowering resolution scale or disabling specific effects, though those options are not reflected in the measured data.

The data suggests that the best overall experience for this combo is at 1080p with Medium settings, where the system achieves 63 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS. This provides a good balance between visual quality and performance, and the minimum FPS indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 50 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is based on the TU106 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process by TSMC, and features the Turing architecture. It has 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, along with 30 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU is the clear limiting factor for this combo. The Passmark G3D score of 14111 places the RTX 2060 in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, which is significantly lower than the CPU's 83rd percentile. The GPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% difference), AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% lower), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% lower), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171, 0.8% lower). These near-identical scores indicate that the RTX 2060 is positioned in a highly competitive segment of the GPU market.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's performance degrades significantly as settings and resolution increase. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 85 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 38 FPS. This 47 FPS reduction across presets suggests that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are strained by the more demanding visual effects in the Ultra preset. The GPU's 6 GB VRAM capacity may also be a factor, as Red Dead Redemption 2's high-resolution textures can consume significant memory.

The GPU's compute performance, as measured by the Passmark GPU Compute score of 5488, indicates that it has some parallel processing capability, but this is not directly relevant to gaming performance. The FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s provide context for the GPU's raw throughput, but the measured FPS data is the most reliable indicator of real-world performance in this game.

The GPU's 58th percentile ranking, combined with the CPU's 83rd percentile ranking, creates a significant performance gap. This imbalance means that in Red Dead Redemption 2, the system's overall performance is capped by the GPU's capabilities, and the CPU's additional headroom goes unused. For players looking to improve performance, upgrading the GPU would yield the most significant gains, though the data does not include any upgrade path analysis.