Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 pairs an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, a combination that places the workload firmly on the GPU at higher resolutions while exposing the CPU’s age at 1080p. The measured frame rates show a clear hierarchy: the RTX 5090 dominates at 4K, but the Ryzen 7 3700X becomes a limiting factor as resolution drops. This is a textbook case of a high-end graphics card being held back by an older mid-range processor, and the data quantifies exactly where that bottleneck begins to bite.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the pattern reveals more about the CPU than the GPU. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 158 FPS at 1920x1080 to 144 FPS at 2560x1440, then plunges to 108 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 31.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is steep but expected for a GPU-bound scenario. However, the 1080p Low result of 158 FPS is suspiciously close to the 1440p Low result of 144 FPS—only a 9.7% drop—suggesting that the CPU is already capping performance at 1080p, preventing the RTX 5090 from stretching its legs.

At High settings, the scaling is more linear: 134 FPS at 1080p, 102 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 23.9%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 33.3%. This indicates that as settings increase, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint, and the CPU bottleneck fades. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 99 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Ultra result of 99 FPS is notably lower than the 1080p High result of 134 FPS, showing that the GPU is now doing heavy lifting even at the lowest resolution tested.

The Medium preset offers the clearest view of the bottleneck. At 1080p Medium, the average is 142 FPS with a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 164 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 123 FPS (min 104, max 141), and at 4K Medium, it falls to 81 FPS (min 69, max 93). The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 13.4% is smaller than the 1440p-to-4K drop of 34.1%, reinforcing that the CPU is holding back the 1080p result. Had the GPU been the sole limiter, the 1080p Medium score would likely exceed the 144 FPS seen at 1440p Low, but it does not—a clear sign of CPU saturation.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3,714 tested combinations, this Ryzen 7 3700X + RTX 5090 pairing ranks 216th in Red Dead Redemption 2. That places it in the top 5.8% of all combos, which is strong in absolute terms, but the ranking undersells the GPU’s potential. The RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 3700X sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. The combo rank of 216 suggests that the CPU drags the overall result down relative to what the GPU could achieve with a faster processor.

The nearest CPU rivals illustrate the gap. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 scores 34,222 on average, a delta of 0.1% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X’s 34,260. The Intel Core i5-13450HX is 0.2% slower, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is 0.5% faster. These are all within a rounding error, meaning the CPU’s raw compute is not the issue—it is the per-core performance and memory latency that matter for this game’s engine. The GPU’s nearest rivals are equally close: the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB is 0.3% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X is 1.4% faster. This tells you the RTX 5090 is performing as expected in isolation, but the combo ranking reflects the pairing’s overall efficiency, not just component strength.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS target, the data suggests that High settings at 4K deliver 68 FPS on average, which is playable but not comfortable. Medium at 4K gives 81 FPS, offering a better safety margin, while Ultra at 4K drops to 49 FPS—below the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p, High hits 102 FPS, Medium hits 123 FPS, and Ultra hits 74 FPS, making Ultra the best option if you have a 144Hz monitor. At 1080p, High hits 134 FPS, Medium hits 142 FPS, and Low hits 158 FPS, but Ultra at 99 FPS is the only preset that fails to clear 100 FPS.

The sweet spot for this combo is 1440p Ultra, which delivers 74 FPS—above 60 FPS and close to 75 Hz refresh rates. If you prefer higher frame rates, 1440p High at 102 FPS is the better choice, as it sacrifices some visual fidelity for a 37.8% FPS boost. At 4K, Medium is the recommended preset: 81 FPS average with a minimum of 69 FPS, ensuring no dips below 60 FPS. Avoid 4K Ultra entirely, as the 49 FPS average will produce noticeable stutter on most displays. The 1080p Medium result of 142 FPS (min 121) is the best balance for competitive play, but the CPU bottleneck means you gain little from dropping below 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the results are as follows: Low averages 108 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS (min 69, max 93), High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 27 FPS (25% reduction), while the gap between Medium and High is 13 FPS (16% reduction). The step from High to Ultra is the largest, at 19 FPS (28% reduction), showing that Ultra settings impose a heavy cost on the GPU at 4K.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 144 FPS, Medium averages 123 FPS (min 104, max 141), High averages 102 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The scaling is more gradual here: Low to Medium drops 21 FPS (14.6%), Medium to High drops 21 FPS (17.1%), and High to Ultra drops 28 FPS (27.5%). The 1440p Ultra result of 74 FPS is only 6 FPS higher than the 4K High result of 68 FPS, which is surprising given the resolution difference—this suggests the CPU is starting to matter even at 1440p Ultra.

At 1920x1080, Low averages 158 FPS, Medium averages 142 FPS (min 121, max 164), High averages 134 FPS, and Ultra averages 99 FPS. The Low-to-Medium drop is 16 FPS (10.1%), Medium-to-High is 8 FPS (5.6%), and High-to-Ultra is 35 FPS (26.1%). The 1080p Low result of 158 FPS is the highest of any resolution, but it is only 9.7% higher than the 1440p Low result of 144 FPS, which is a much smaller gain than the 33.3% GPU-bound scaling would predict. This is the clearest evidence of the CPU bottleneck.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This is crucial for Red Dead Redemption 2, which is known for large texture pools and open-world streaming. The 32 GB capacity means VRAM is never a constraint, even at 4K Ultra, which would otherwise be a concern with lesser cards. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), and the GPU boosts to 2407 MHz from a base of 2017 MHz. These clocks are not the story here—the story is the massive compute headroom.

The GPU’s FP32 throughput is 104.8 TFLOPS, with 21,760 shading units and 176 ROPs. The pixel rate is 423.6 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 1,636.8 GTexel/s. These numbers explain why the RTX 5090 can push 108 FPS at 4K Low, but they also highlight the CPU’s inability to feed it enough frames at 1080p. The 1080p Low result of 158 FPS is only 9.7% higher than the 1440p Low result, despite the GPU having 2.25 times fewer pixels to render. If the CPU were not the limit, that gap should be closer to 30-40%.

The GPU’s benchmark scores confirm its position: it ranks in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rival, the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, is 0.3% slower, while the Radeon Pro Vega 64X is 1.4% faster. In Red Dead Redemption 2 specifically, the GPU is not the weak link—the data shows that the Ryzen 7 3700X’s 8 cores and 16 threads at 3.6 GHz base (4.4 GHz boost) simply cannot keep up with the RTX 5090’s frame generation potential at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5090 overkill for this CPU?

A: At 4K, no—the combo delivers 68 FPS on High and 81 FPS on Medium, which are solid results. At 1080p, yes, because the CPU limits the average to 158 FPS on Low, which is only 9.7% higher than 1440p Low, despite the GPU having far fewer pixels to process.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1440p Ultra at 74 FPS is the sweet spot, as it balances visual quality with playable frame rates. High at 1440p gives 102 FPS if you prefer higher refresh rates. At 4K, stick to Medium (81 FPS) or High (68 FPS), but avoid Ultra (49 FPS).

Q: How does the CPU bottleneck manifest in the data?

A: The 1080p Low result of 158 FPS is only 9.7% higher than the 1440p Low result of 144 FPS. In a GPU-bound scenario, the 1080p score should be substantially higher. The 1080p Medium minimum of 121 FPS is also suspiciously close to the 1440p Medium minimum of 104 FPS, indicating CPU headroom is exhausted.

Q: Should I use Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: Only if you have a 100 Hz monitor. The Ultra preset averages 99 FPS at 1080p, which is below 100 FPS. High at 134 FPS or Medium at 142 FPS are better choices for smoother gameplay.

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: Not directly, but it ensures no texture pop-in or stutter at 4K Ultra, where the game can exceed 16 GB of VRAM usage. The 1.79 TB/s bandwidth also helps with streaming large textures in the open world.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested systems?

A: It ranks 216th out of 3,714 combos, placing it in the top 5.8%. The CPU’s nearest rivals (Ryzen AI 7 350, EPYC 4244P, Core i5-13450HX) are all within 0.5% of its average score, meaning the CPU is not the differentiator—the GPU’s 92nd percentile performance is what carries the combo.