Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the Intel Arc B390 in Red Dead Redemption 2 produces a heavily GPU-bound experience, with frame rates that fall far below playable thresholds at every tested resolution and settings preset. The data places this combination at rank 2568 out of 2902 tested combos, indicating that while the CPU is a strong performer, the integrated graphics solution severely limits the game's output.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 51, which occurs at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

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

A: It ranks 2568 out of 2902 tested combos, placing it in the lower percentile of all systems tested.

Q: Does the Intel Arc B390 have dedicated VRAM?

A: No, the memory size is listed as "System Shared," with bandwidth described as "System Dependent," meaning it uses the system's main memory rather than dedicated graphics memory.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock speed?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D has a base clock of 4.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz.

Q: Is there any resolution and settings combination that reaches 60 FPS?

A: No. The maximum average FPS recorded is 51 at 1920x1080 Low; no tested preset reaches 60 FPS at any resolution.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M, 2.5% ahead of the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% ahead of the GT 710.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 2568 out of 2902 tested combinations, which places it in the bottom 12% of all systems. This ranking is a direct reflection of the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. The Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, meaning 91% of graphics cards outperform it in synthetic benchmarks. The measured FPS data confirms this: at no point does this system approach the 60 FPS target that most players consider the baseline for smooth gameplay.

The disparity between the CPU and GPU performance is stark. The Ryzen 5 7500X3D holds the 89th percentile among all CPUs, placing it in the top 11% of processors tested. In contrast, the GPU's 9th percentile ranking means the system's overall position is dragged down almost entirely by the graphics solution. The nearest CPU rivals — the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, Intel Core i9-13950HX, AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, and Intel Core i5-14600 — all have average scores within 0.7% of the 7500X3D, indicating the CPU is competitive with much more expensive processors. The GPU's nearest rivals, however, are all ancient low-end NVIDIA parts like the GT 520MX and GT 710, which underscores how far behind the Arc B390 is for modern gaming.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture using TSMC's 5nm process. It runs at 4.00 GHz base and boosts to 4.50 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's PassMark multi-thread score is 25047, with a single-thread score of 3494, and its average benchmark score of 44573 places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is largely underutilized because the GPU becomes the bottleneck at every resolution. At 3840x2160, the difference between Low and High settings is only 9 FPS (25 vs 16), and at 2560x1440 it's 14 FPS (38 vs 24). At 1920x1080, the gap narrows to 19 FPS (51 vs 32). This pattern shows that even at the lowest settings, where the CPU would typically be taxed more relative to the GPU, the system still cannot produce high frame rates. The 7500X3D's strong single-thread performance and large L3 cache are wasted in this configuration because the GPU cannot render frames fast enough to take advantage of the CPU's headroom.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s over DDR5 dual-channel is more than sufficient for this game, and the 96 MB L3 cache helps with data-heavy scenes. However, benchmark results indicate that the limiting factor is never the processor. The CPU's nearest rivals all score within a fraction of a percent, confirming that the 7500X3D is not the weak link. The data suggests that swapping in a weaker CPU would yield nearly identical FPS in this game, while upgrading the GPU would produce dramatic improvements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the system produces the following average FPS: Low settings yields 25 FPS, Medium yields 19 FPS (with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 22), High yields 16 FPS, and Ultra yields 11 FPS. All of these are far below playable thresholds, and even the Low preset cannot maintain a stable 30 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 14 FPS, which indicates the GPU is overwhelmed at 4K regardless of settings.

At 2560x1440, performance improves but remains inadequate. Low settings produce 38 FPS, Medium produces 29 FPS (min 24, max 33), High produces 24 FPS, and Ultra produces 17 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 9 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 7 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium (24) suggests that even the "playable" Low preset would see drops below 30 FPS in demanding scenes, though no minimum is recorded for Low.

At 1920x1080, the best-case scenario is still not good enough. Low settings achieve 51 FPS, Medium achieves 39 FPS (min 33, max 44), High achieves 32 FPS, and Ultra achieves 23 FPS. The 51 FPS at Low is the only measured result above 50 FPS, and it still falls short of 60 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 33 FPS means that even this mid-range setting will experience noticeable stuttering during intense action. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 28 FPS, showing that the GPU's performance drops roughly in half when moving from the lowest to highest quality settings.

Across all resolutions, the pattern is consistent: Low settings are the only way to approach acceptable frame rates, and even then, only at 1080p does the system come close to 60 FPS. The measured data shows no min or max values for most presets, but the Medium presets at each resolution include frame ranges that reveal the GPU's instability — at 4K Medium, frames swing from 16 to 22, and at 1440p Medium from 24 to 33.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3nm process. It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 300 MHz and boosts to 2500 MHz. Its FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The GPU's TDP is 80W, and it uses system-shared memory with no dedicated VRAM.

The GPU's benchmark score is 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which places it at the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA parts from a decade ago: the GT 520MX (1.3% behind), GeForce 800M (1.5% behind), GT 625 OEM (2.5% behind), and GT 710 (2.7% behind). This positioning makes it clear that the Arc B390 is not designed for gaming at any modern standard. The shared memory architecture means the GPU competes with the CPU for system memory bandwidth, and the "System Dependent" bandwidth figure means performance can vary significantly based on the rest of the system.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU is the sole bottleneck. The FPS scaling with resolution is consistent with a GPU that runs out of pixel fillrate and memory bandwidth. At 1080p Low, the system hits 51 FPS, but doubling the resolution to 1440p drops that to 38 FPS, and 4K Low falls to 25 FPS. This near-linear scaling indicates the GPU is compute-bound, not CPU-bound. The 24 ROPs and 60 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which features dense foliage, long draw distances, and complex lighting. The 12 ray tracing cores are present but largely irrelevant here, as enabling any RT would drop performance below the already-low baseline.

The GPU's 80W TDP and IGP form factor are notable — this is an integrated part, not a discrete card. The data shows that even at its best, this GPU delivers performance comparable to entry-level discrete cards from over a decade ago. The "System Shared" memory means there is no dedicated VRAM allocation, so texture-heavy scenes at High or Ultra settings will likely cause the system to swap to slower storage, explaining the particularly poor performance at those presets.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured FPS data, the only viable settings preset is Low, and even then, only at 1920x1080. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 51 FPS average, which is the closest to playable among all tested configurations. However, the lack of a recorded minimum FPS for this preset means there could be dips below 40 FPS in heavy scenes, making the experience marginal. The Medium preset at 1080p drops to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, which is still below the 40 FPS threshold many players consider the floor for acceptable action gameplay.

At 1440p, Low settings produce 38 FPS, which is playable only if the player is willing to accept significant compromises in visual quality and occasional frame drops. The Medium preset at 1440p drops to 29 FPS, which is unplayable for most action sequences. At 4K, all settings produce average FPS below 25, making this resolution effectively unusable for this game with this hardware.

The data suggests that players should run the game at 1920x1080 with Low settings and accept that this combo is not suited for Red Dead Redemption 2 beyond basic playability. The High and Ultra presets at any resolution are not recommended — the performance penalty is severe, with Ultra at 1080p delivering only 23 FPS. If the goal is to experience the game's story without constant stutter, 1080p Low is the only option. For anything approaching a smooth 60 FPS experience, a different GPU is required; the CPU is more than capable, as its 89th percentile ranking demonstrates. The measured data shows no settings combination that achieves even 55 FPS, so expectations should be set accordingly.