Red Dead Redemption 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, but with an interesting twist at the lower settings. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average frame rate drops from 137 FPS to 102 FPS, a reduction of approximately 25.5%. Scaling further to 3840x2160 at High brings the average down to 68 FPS, which is another 33.3% drop from the 1440p result. This steep decline as resolution increases is the signature of a system where the graphics card is the primary performance limiter.

The pattern holds for Medium settings, where the frame rates step down from 164 FPS at 1080p to 123 FPS at 1440p, then to 81 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are roughly consistent with the pixel count increases, confirming that the rendering workload scales predictably with resolution. At Ultra settings, the progression is 99 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS is notably below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth gameplay, suggesting that this combination, while extremely powerful, still cannot fully saturate 4K Ultra in this title.

The Low settings row tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the average frame rate reaches 220 FPS, which is substantially higher than any other preset at that resolution. However, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p Low shows a drop from 220 FPS to 164 FPS (about 25.5%), and then to 108 FPS at 4K Low (a 34.1% drop from 1440p). The fact that even at Low settings the frame rate continues to scale downward with resolution indicates that the GPU remains the limiting factor even when the graphical load is reduced. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the 1080p Low result to plateau or show diminishing returns relative to higher resolutions.

What is particularly telling is the frame time consistency data available for Medium settings. At 3840x2160 Medium, the frame rate ranges from a minimum of 69 FPS to a maximum of 93 FPS, with an average of 81 FPS. The spread of 24 FPS between minimum and maximum suggests some scene-to-scene variability, but the minimum remains playable. At 2560x1440 Medium, the range is 104 to 141 FPS with an average of 123 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Medium the range is 140 to 189 FPS with an average of 164 FPS. These ranges show that the frame pacing is consistent enough to avoid major hitches, though the variability does increase slightly at higher resolutions relative to the average.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and the benchmark data reflects its capabilities. The GPU carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This vast memory pool and bandwidth are critical for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which is known for large open-world textures and detailed environments. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, effectively 28 Gbps, and the 32 GB capacity means that even at 4K with high-resolution texture packs, the VRAM buffer is unlikely to be exhausted. This is a meaningful advantage in a game that can consume significant video memory at higher settings.

The GPU's compute resources are substantial: 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. The boost clock of 2407 MHz and base clock of 2017 MHz provide the raw throughput needed to drive the frame rates observed in the measured data. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s indicate that the card can fill the screen with detailed pixels at high speed, which is consistent with the 4K Medium result of 81 FPS and the 1080p Low result of 220 FPS.

The RTX 5090's standing in the broader GPU landscape, as measured by its average benchmark score of 79,842, places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (avg score 79,605, delta 0.3%), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (avg score 79,396, delta 0.6%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (avg score 78,940, delta 1.1%). The RTX 5090 outperforms these by a small margin, but the delta percentages are all within 1.4%, indicating that in synthetic benchmarks, the card is closely matched with its nearest competitors. However, in actual game performance, the 32 GB memory capacity and Blackwell 2.0 architecture provide advantages that may not be fully captured by aggregate benchmark scores.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate for this specific hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 137 FPS on average, which is well above the refresh rate of most standard monitors. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 164 FPS, and Low reaches 220 FPS. Given that the CPU and GPU combination can comfortably exceed 100 FPS at 1080p across all presets, the choice comes down to visual fidelity versus raw speed. For players with high-refresh-rate displays (144 Hz or above), the Medium preset at 164 FPS provides a smooth experience, though High at 137 FPS may be preferable for those prioritizing image quality over maximum frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 102 FPS on average, which is still comfortably above 60 FPS and suitable for most gaming scenarios. The Medium preset at 1440p reaches 123 FPS, offering a good compromise for players with 120 Hz or 144 Hz monitors. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 74 FPS, which is playable but does not fully utilize high-refresh-rate panels. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot at 1440p, as it provides a significant visual upgrade over Medium while maintaining frame rates above 100 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The High preset averages 68 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 4K averages 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS, making it the most reliable option for maintaining frame rates above 60 FPS in all situations. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 49 FPS, which dips below the 60 FPS threshold and may result in noticeable stuttering in fast-paced scenes. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is recommended, as it delivers an average of 81 FPS and a minimum of 69 FPS, ensuring consistent performance without the visual degradation of Low settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combination of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in Red Dead Redemption 2 is as follows.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the Low preset achieves an average of 108 FPS, the Medium preset averages 81 FPS with a range of 69 to 93 FPS, the High preset averages 68 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 49 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a clear hierarchy, with each step up in quality costing approximately 20-30% in average frame rate. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 13 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 19 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a disproportionately heavy load on the GPU.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the Low preset averages 164 FPS, the Medium preset averages 123 FPS with a range of 104 to 141 FPS, the High preset averages 102 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 74 FPS. The 1440p results show a similar pattern to 4K but with higher absolute values. The difference between Medium and High at 1440p is 21 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 28 FPS. The minimum frame rate at Medium (104 FPS) is notably high, indicating that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate rarely dips below 100 FPS.

At 1920x1080 resolution, the Low preset averages 220 FPS, the Medium preset averages 164 FPS with a range of 140 to 189 FPS, the High preset averages 137 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 99 FPS. The 1080p results show the highest frame rates across all presets, with the Low preset exceeding 200 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p provides a minimum of 140 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages just below 100 FPS, making it the only preset at this resolution that falls short of the 100 FPS mark.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds a rank of 88 out of 3,714 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the combo in the top 2.4% of all tested configurations, which is an exceptional result. The rank reflects the combined performance of both components working together in this particular game. The high rank is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show that the combo can handle 4K Medium at 81 FPS and 1080p Low at 220 FPS.

The ranking is particularly noteworthy because it takes into account the complete system, not just the individual components. While the RTX 5090 is in the 92nd percentile of GPUs and the Ryzen 5 9600X is in the 81st percentile of CPUs, their combined rank in this game is higher than either component's individual percentile. This suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for Red Dead Redemption 2, with neither component significantly bottlenecking the other. The combo's rank of 88 out of 3,714 means that only 87 other tested combinations achieve better performance in this title, placing it among the elite configurations for this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. While the GPU handles the bulk of the rendering workload in Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and settings where frame rates are highest.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for its performance capabilities. In Cinebench R23, it scores 17,528.5 in multi-core and 2,183.5 in single-core tests. In Geekbench, it scores 14,438 in multi-core and 2,923 in single-core. The 3DMark results show a single-thread score of 1,253 and a max-thread score of 7,590. The PassMark single-thread score is 4,570. These results indicate strong single-thread performance, which is important for games that rely heavily on a few cores for game logic and physics calculations.

The CPU's percentile standing at 81 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,713, places it slightly below its nearest rivals in the database. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE scores 29,656 (delta 0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H scores 29,868 (delta -0.5%), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT scores 29,879 (delta -0.6%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS scores 29,955 (delta -0.8%). The negative delta percentages for the rivals indicate that the Ryzen 5 9600X actually has a higher average score than some of these alternatives, but the differences are all within 1%, making them effectively equivalent in synthetic benchmarks.

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to feed the RTX 5090 at most settings. The fact that frame rates continue to scale with resolution at all settings presets indicates that the GPU remains the bottleneck even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would need to deliver frame rates above 200 FPS. The CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz provides the single-thread performance needed to handle game logic efficiently, while the 12 threads ensure that background tasks and multi-threaded game systems do not cause frame rate drops.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: At 3840x2160, both the Medium preset (81 FPS average, 69 FPS minimum) and High preset (68 FPS average) maintain above 60 FPS, while Ultra drops to 49 FPS. At 2560x1440 and 1920x1080, all presets including Ultra exceed 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605, which is 0.3% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940, which is 1.1% lower. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, which is 1.4% higher than the RTX 5090.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1080p Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the average frame rate is 164 FPS, with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 189 FPS. This represents a 49 FPS spread between the lowest and highest measured frame rates.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any settings?

A: The data shows that frame rates continue to scale downward as resolution increases at all settings presets, including Low. This indicates that the GPU remains the limiting factor even at 1080p Low with 220 FPS average, suggesting the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU in this game.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combination of AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 88th out of 3,714 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 2.4% of all tested systems.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 137 FPS at 1920x1080 to 102 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 68 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a total reduction of approximately 50.4% from 1080p to 4K.