Red Dead Redemption 2

Settings Recommendations

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the measured data shows a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 120 FPS on average, which is a strong result for a game of this scale. The Medium preset at the same resolution yields 146.8 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High costs about 26.8 FPS while providing noticeably better image quality. The Ultra preset drops to 84.4 FPS at 1080p, which is still playable but represents a significant 35.6 FPS penalty over High.

Moving to 2560x1440, High produces 88.3 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Medium at 1440p hits 108.7 FPS, while Ultra falls to 64.9 FPS. The data suggests that High is the balanced choice at 1440p, as it keeps frame rates high enough for responsive play while delivering the enhanced shadows, textures, and draw distances that the game's open world benefits from.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes substantially. High averages 59.5 FPS, which is just shy of a locked 60 FPS experience. Medium manages 71.1 FPS, while Low reaches 97 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 41.8 FPS, which is below the smoothness most players expect from an action-adventure title. The measured results indicate that High at 4K is the highest visual preset that remains viable, and even then, players with variable refresh rate displays will have more headroom than those on fixed 60 Hz monitors.

The overall pattern across all resolutions is that High provides the best experience per the measured rows. It avoids the steep performance hit of Ultra while offering a substantial visual upgrade over Medium. For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, Low at 1440p or 1080p delivers 146.6 and 194.9 FPS respectively, but the visual compromise is considerable in a game known for its atmospheric detail.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Red Dead Redemption 2's large textures and open-world streaming. The GPU's 10240 shading units and 112 ROPs handle the game's rasterization workload effectively, as evidenced by the strong frame rates at 1440p and 4K.

The memory configuration is particularly relevant at 3840x2160. The 16 GB capacity ensures that texture-heavy scenes do not cause stuttering or asset swapping, and the high bandwidth supports the game's tendency to load large environments quickly. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is clearly the limiting factor with 41.8 FPS, the frame rate remains stable rather than collapsing due to memory constraints.

Clock speeds of 2295 MHz base and 2550 MHz boost allow the RTX 4080 SUPER to sustain high throughput during extended play sessions. The GPU's 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is reflected in the measured results: at 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized, as frame rates scale almost linearly with settings changes. However, at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, with the gap between Low (97 FPS) and Ultra (41.8 FPS) demonstrating how much headroom the card has when settings are reduced.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's percentile ranking of 88 among all GPUs places it in the upper tier of available hardware. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores within 0.2% in average benchmarks, meaning the two cards are effectively interchangeable in synthetic tests. The RTX 4080 SUPER pulls ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700S by 2.1% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti by 2.9%, but these margins are small enough that game-specific optimizations matter more than raw score differences.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F provides six cores and twelve threads based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz give it strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for Red Dead Redemption 2's game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain smooth frame pacing in densely populated areas.

Single-threaded performance is the CPU's standout feature. The 3DMark single-thread score of 974 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218 indicate that the 7500F can keep up with the game's primary thread without becoming a bottleneck. This is confirmed by the measured FPS data: at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 194.9 FPS, which is well above what the GPU alone would deliver if the CPU were limiting.

Multithreaded performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and a Geekbench multicore score of 12686. The 7500F's 12 threads handle background tasks and the game's secondary threads effectively, as shown by the consistent scaling from 1080p to 1440p. At 1080p High, the CPU manages 120 FPS, and at 1440p High it delivers 88.3 FPS, suggesting that the CPU maintains its role even as resolution increases.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 24993 places it at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-11850H, scores within 0.1%, making them statistically equivalent. The AMD Ryzen 7 2700X and AMD Ryzen 5 8400F both trail by 0.3%, while the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX leads by 0.4%. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, meaning the 7500F's performance is well-matched to its price point.

At 1080p, the CPU is more involved in determining frame rates, especially at Low settings where the GPU has headroom. The 194.9 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests the CPU can sustain very high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes, as the GPU takes over as the primary constraint. The data indicates that the 7500F is never the bottleneck in this pairing, even at the highest frame rates measured.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 118th out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the top 7% of all configurations, which is a strong result for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU.

The ranking reflects the balance between the two components. The 7500F's strong single-thread performance ensures that the RTX 4080 SUPER is not held back at lower resolutions, while the GPU's raw power drives the high frame rates at 1440p and 4K. Combos ranked above this pairing likely feature higher-tier CPUs such as the Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 series, which provide marginal gains in CPU-bound scenarios but do not meaningfully improve the GPU-bound results at higher resolutions.

In the context of all tested combinations, this combo's position is commendable. The 7500F is not a flagship processor, yet the pairing achieves frame rates that rival systems with much more expensive CPUs. The data suggests that for Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU matters more than the CPU, and this combo allocates its budget accordingly.

The ranking also indicates that the combo is well-suited for 1440p and 4K gaming, where the GPU's capabilities are fully utilized. At 1080p, the combo may be slightly overkill for the GPU's potential, but the high frame rates ensure that even the most demanding scenes remain fluid.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how the combo's performance scales from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 120 FPS at 1080p to 88.3 FPS at 1440p, a 26.4% reduction, and then to 59.5 FPS at 4K, a 50.4% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the workload.

At Low settings, the drop is more pronounced: from 194.9 FPS at 1080p to 146.6 FPS at 1440p (24.8% reduction) and then to 97 FPS at 4K (50.2% reduction). The consistent percentage drops across settings indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions, even at Low where the CPU has more influence. The 7500F's strong single-thread performance keeps the CPU from becoming a bottleneck, allowing the GPU's scaling to dominate.

The scaling behavior reveals that the combo is most efficient at 1440p. At this resolution, the GPU is sufficiently loaded to deliver high frame rates without exceeding its limits, and the CPU maintains its role without causing stutters. At 4K, the GPU is pushed to its maximum, as evidenced by the 59.5 FPS at High and 41.8 FPS at Ultra. At 1080p, the GPU has excess capacity, but the frame rates are already so high that the extra headroom is not practically useful.

The data suggests that players targeting 60 FPS should use High at 4K, Medium at 1440p for higher frame rates, or High at 1080p for a balanced experience. The scaling also indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the component that determines the ceiling, while the 7500F ensures the floor is high enough to avoid CPU-induced frame drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average frame rates by preset:

• Low: 194.9 FPS
• Medium: 146.8 FPS
• High: 120 FPS
• Ultra: 84.4 FPS

The spread from Low to Ultra is 110.5 FPS, with each step up in settings costing between 26.8 and 35.6 FPS. The Medium to High transition is the smallest penalty at 26.8 FPS, while the High to Ultra transition costs 35.6 FPS. This suggests that High is the sweet spot at 1080p, as it retains most of the visual improvements over Medium without the severe hit from Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 146.6 FPS
• Medium: 108.7 FPS
• High: 88.3 FPS
• Ultra: 64.9 FPS

The gap between Low and Medium is 37.9 FPS, while Medium to High costs 20.4 FPS and High to Ultra costs 23.4 FPS. The 1440p results show that High remains above 60 FPS, making it the recommended preset for this resolution. Ultra dips to 64.9 FPS, which is borderline for smooth play on standard displays.

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are:

• Low: 97 FPS
• Medium: 71.1 FPS
• High: 59.5 FPS
• Ultra: 41.8 FPS

The 4K results are the most demanding. Low delivers 97 FPS, which is excellent for 4K, while Medium stays above 70 FPS. High falls just short of 60 FPS, and Ultra is below playable thresholds for most users. The drop from Medium to High at 4K is 11.6 FPS, which is smaller than the 23.4 FPS drop from High to Ultra, indicating that Ultra introduces disproportionately heavy effects.

Across all resolutions, the data shows a consistent pattern: High is the most efficient preset for balancing visual quality and frame rate. The combo's performance at 1440p High (88.3 FPS) is particularly strong, offering a high-refresh experience in a demanding open-world title. At 4K, players must choose between High at 59.5 FPS or Medium at 71.1 FPS, depending on their preference for visual fidelity versus smoothness.