Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a robust performance profile in Red Dead Redemption 2, demonstrating a clear balance between CPU and GPU capabilities across various resolutions and settings. The data shows a system that scales predictably, with the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of memory and 192-bit bus acting as the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions, while the Ryzen 5 8400F’s six Zen 4 cores provide sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking at lower settings. This combination ranks in the 889th position out of 3714 tested combos, placing it comfortably within the top quartile of systems measured for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a substantial dependency on pixel count, with the GPU becoming the clear limiting factor as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 152 FPS, which drops to 113 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 75 FPS at 3840x2160 — a 50.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound workload, as the RTX 4070’s rasterization throughput is increasingly taxed by the higher pixel count.

Moving from High to Ultra settings across all resolutions shows a similar trend, but the magnitude of the performance hit grows with resolution. At 1920x1080, the gap between Low and Ultra is 84 FPS (152 down to 68), while at 3840x2160, that same settings swing costs 41 FPS (75 down to 34). The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU has more influence on the lower-settings results, as the 152 FPS figure suggests the Ryzen 5 8400F’s 4.70 GHz boost clock can feed frames faster than the GPU can render at higher quality presets. However, at 4K, even the Low preset’s 75 FPS average shows the GPU is the bottleneck, since the pixel throughput demands exceed what the 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability can deliver at higher settings.

The Medium preset provides the only rows with min and max FPS data, offering insight into frame pacing. At 3840x2160 Medium, the system averages 56 FPS with a minimum of 48 and maximum of 64, indicating a relatively tight frame time distribution. The 2560x1440 Medium result shows an 85 FPS average with a 72 to 97 range, while 1920x1080 Medium hits 114 FPS average with 97 to 131 extremes. These ranges suggest that the combination maintains consistent performance without severe stutters, even when the GPU is heavily loaded.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the dominant component in this pairing, particularly at higher resolutions and quality settings. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is essential for Red Dead Redemption 2’s large textures and open-world streaming. The benchmark results show that at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS falls to 34, a figure that aligns with the GPU’s 64 ROPs and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate being saturated by the 8.3 million pixels at 4K.

The GPU’s clock behavior — base 1920 MHz and boost 2475 MHz — contributes to the scaling observed between Low and High presets. At 1080p Low, the 152 FPS average suggests the GPU is not the limiting factor, as the boost clock can sustain high throughput without hitting thermal or power ceilings (the card has a 200 W TDP). However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU’s texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s and 184 TMUs are likely fully utilized, causing the frame rate to drop to 34 FPS. This is consistent with the GPU’s 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, indicating it is a mid-to-high tier part that still struggles with the most demanding 4K presets in this game.

The RTX 4070’s memory configuration proves adequate but not excessive for this title. The 12 GB capacity is sufficient to avoid texture thrashing at 4K, as evidenced by the 47 FPS average at High settings, but the 192-bit bus width limits bandwidth compared to wider-memory competitors. The data shows a 28.6% performance drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K (56 to 34 FPS), which reflects the memory bandwidth demand scaling with quality settings. In contrast, the 1080p Medium to Ultra drop is 40.4% (114 to 68 FPS), suggesting that at lower resolutions, the GPU’s compute capabilities are more influential than memory bandwidth.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F provides a solid foundation for this configuration, with six cores and twelve threads operating at a 4.20 GHz base and 4.70 GHz boost clock. The CPU’s Zen 4 architecture on a 4 nm process delivers strong single-threaded performance, as shown by its 951 score in 3dmark_single_thread and 2943 in cinebench_r23_singlecore. These figures are critical for Red Dead Redemption 2, which relies heavily on a few main threads for game logic and physics.

The CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the 1080p Low settings result of 152 FPS. This frame rate exceeds what the GPU can render at higher presets, indicating the CPU is capable of feeding frames faster than the RTX 4070 can process them at low quality. The 12 threads allow for efficient distribution of background tasks, and the 16 MB of shared L3 cache helps maintain smooth data flow for the game’s streaming world. The 3dmark_max_threads score of 6165 shows the CPU maintains strong scaling across all threads, which prevents bottlenecks in CPU-intensive scenes.

However, the CPU’s influence diminishes as resolution increases. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset’s 75 FPS average is well below the CPU’s potential frame output, confirming that the GPU becomes the sole limiting factor. The Ryzen 5 8400F’s 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it in a competitive position, but the data shows that in this game, the CPU is rarely the constraint — only at 1080p Low does it approach its limits, and even then, it sustains 152 FPS without issue. The CPU’s 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide ample headroom for sustained performance, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across all tested configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 8400F and RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 889 out of 3714 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the 76th percentile of all systems measured. This ranking is primarily driven by the GPU’s strong performance, as the RTX 4070’s 37648 average benchmark score and 81st percentile ranking significantly boost the combo’s position. The CPU’s 25005 average benchmark score and 77th percentile ranking are complementary, ensuring the GPU is not held back by insufficient processing power.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 outperforms the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 by 0.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla P4 by 0.1% in average benchmark scores, while trailing the RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3%. This indicates the desktop RTX 4070 is positioned slightly below the mobile 4080 in raw compute, which aligns with the in-game results where 4K Ultra yields 34 FPS. The CPU side shows the Ryzen 5 8400F is nearly identical to the Ryzen 5 7500F (0.2% difference) and Intel Core i7-11850H (0.3%), with the EPYC 9474F being 0.4% ahead. This tight grouping means the combo’s ranking is less about CPU differentiation and more about GPU capabilities.

The 889th rank out of 3714 combos suggests that this system is well above average for this game, but not at the extreme high end. The data shows that while the combo can handle 1440p High settings at 71 FPS, it falls short of 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is a common target for enthusiast systems. The ranking reflects a balanced mid-to-high-tier configuration that excels at 1080p and 1440p, with acceptable 4K performance only at lower presets.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 152 at 1920x1080 with Low settings, indicating the system can deliver very high frame rates when GPU load is minimal.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, where it averages 75 FPS. At Medium settings, it drops to 56 FPS, and at High it falls to 47 FPS, so 4K 60 FPS requires Low preset.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of driving 152 FPS, which is higher than the GPU can render at most other settings. This indicates the Ryzen 5 8400F is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate range for Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system averages 85 FPS, with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS, showing consistent performance.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 889th out of 3714 combos, placing it in the top 24% of all systems tested for this game.

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

A: At 1920x1080, the difference is 84 FPS, with Low averaging 152 FPS and Ultra averaging 68 FPS, representing a 55.3% reduction in performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 152 FPS on Low, 114 FPS on Medium, 95 FPS on High, and 68 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS, indicating excellent frame pacing with no significant drops. The 1080p results demonstrate that this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate monitors at lower settings, with even Ultra exceeding 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably: 113 FPS on Low, 85 FPS on Medium, 71 FPS on High, and 51 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset’s range of 72 to 97 FPS shows a slightly wider spread than at 1080p, but still maintains a playable experience. The 1440p High setting at 71 FPS is particularly notable, as it offers a good balance between visual quality and smoothness for most users.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the primary constraint: 75 FPS on Low, 56 FPS on Medium, 47 FPS on High, and 34 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset’s 48 to 64 FPS range indicates that even with the 12 GB frame buffer, 4K rendering stresses the memory subsystem. The data shows a clear trend: each settings tier at 4K costs roughly 10-20 FPS, with the jump from Low to Ultra representing a 54.7% reduction. This breakdown confirms that the RTX 4070 is a capable 1440p card and a passable 4K card only at lower presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1920x1080, the High preset at 95 FPS offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as it provides a smooth experience well above 60 FPS while maintaining significant graphical enhancements over Medium. Users prioritizing maximum frame rates can use Low at 152 FPS, but the visual trade-off is substantial; Ultra at 68 FPS is playable but may not justify the 28% performance hit over High.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 71 FPS is the recommended choice, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold while delivering strong image quality. The Medium preset at 85 FPS is an alternative for those who prefer higher headroom, but the jump to Ultra at 51 FPS drops below 60, making it less desirable for competitive play. The data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot for this combo, offering a 40% improvement over Ultra while maintaining a playable frame rate.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset at 75 FPS is the only configuration that consistently exceeds 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming. The Medium preset at 56 FPS is borderline, with a minimum of 48 FPS that may cause noticeable stutters in fast-moving scenes. High at 47 FPS and Ultra at 34 FPS are best avoided unless visual fidelity is prioritized over smoothness. Overall, the data indicates that this combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with High settings, with 4K reserved for users who can tolerate lower presets or are willing to accept reduced frame rates.