Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination delivers a highly capable 1080p and 1440p experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K with higher presets. The data shows a clear progression where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU provides ample headroom for the game's simulation and draw-call workloads. This pairing ranks in the 55th percentile of tested combos for this title, indicating solid mid-to-upper tier performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The data shows the sweet spot is 2560x1440 with High settings, delivering 60.3 FPS average, which is exactly at the standard 60 FPS target. At 1920x1080, High settings reach 79.9 FPS, providing substantial headroom for higher refresh rates, while 3840x2160 at any preset fails to maintain 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU perform against its direct rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 has an average benchmark score of 27220, placing it 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K and 0.8% ahead of both the Intel Core i7-12700H and Intel Core i7-1370P. It also leads the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 by 1.2%. This places the CPU in the 84th percentile of all processors.

Q: Is the RTX 3070's 8GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate that at 3840x2160, the Ultra preset yields only 29.5 FPS, while dropping to Low yields 63.2 FPS. This spread suggests that memory capacity and bandwidth constraints are less significant than raw compute throughput, as the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8GB GDDR6 memory are clearly overwhelmed more by shading load than by capacity at high resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1920x1080?

A: The measured data shows a massive 72.9 FPS gap: Low settings produce 127.6 FPS average, while Ultra produces only 54.7 FPS. This represents a 133% performance penalty for the highest preset, indicating that Ultra is not recommended for this combo at any resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific CPU/GPU pairing ranks 752nd out of 1687 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in roughly the 55th percentile. This indicates that while it is not a top-tier configuration, it outperforms a majority of tested systems.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance relative to its multi-threaded score?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700 scores 2916 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 20655 in multicore, giving a ratio of roughly 7.1x scaling across its 8 cores and 16 threads. This scaling suggests the game can effectively utilize multiple cores, as the 3DMark scores show 6628 for 16 threads versus 901 for single-thread, a 7.4x improvement.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 provides 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. For Red Dead Redemption 2, this processing power is substantial, as the game's open world requires continuous handling of physics, AI, and streaming. The 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth help maintain consistent data flow to the GPU.

Benchmark results show this CPU excels in multi-threaded workloads, scoring 20655 in Cinebench R23 multicore versus 2916 in single-core. The 3DMark scores reinforce this: 6628 with 16 threads versus 901 with a single thread, demonstrating near-linear scaling. This indicates that Red Dead Redemption 2 can leverage the full thread count, preventing CPU bottlenecks even when the GPU is stressed at lower resolutions.

At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 127.6 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's practical limit for this game. However, the measured frame rates at higher presets (93.9 FPS at Medium, 79.9 FPS at High) suggest the CPU is not the limiting factor until the GPU becomes saturated. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking against all processors, with an average benchmark score of 27220, places it just ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K (0.7% delta) and Intel Core i7-12700H (0.8% delta), confirming it has sufficient headroom for this title.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data points to 2560x1440 with High settings as the optimal balance, delivering 60.3 FPS average. This achieves the standard 60 FPS target while maintaining visual fidelity. At 1920x1080, High settings provide 79.9 FPS, which is ideal for 75Hz or 144Hz displays if you prioritize smoothness over resolution.

The Medium preset at 2560x1440 yields 70.5 FPS, offering a 10.2 FPS improvement over High but with reduced visual quality. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 93.9 FPS, which may be preferable for competitive play or high-refresh displays. The Low preset at 2560x1440 reaches 92.2 FPS, but this sacrifices significant visual detail.

Ultra settings are not recommended for this combo. At 1920x1080, Ultra drops to 54.7 FPS, below the 60 FPS threshold, and at 2560x1440 it falls to 44.9 FPS. The 3840x2160 resolution is only playable at Low settings (63.2 FPS), while Medium (45.3 FPS), High (35.7 FPS), and Ultra (29.5 FPS) all fail to provide a smooth experience. For 4K users, the data suggests either lowering to 1440p or accepting Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 752nd out of 1687 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. This position places it in the 55th percentile, meaning it outperforms 55% of all tested configurations. Given that this is a mid-range CPU paired with a upper-mid-range GPU, this ranking is consistent with expectations.

The GPU's performance relative to its rivals shows why this combo lands where it does. The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 28238, which is 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (27985) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (27956). However, it trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% (28409) and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1% (28541). This tight clustering means the RTX 3070's position is heavily dependent on game-specific optimization.

The CPU's 84th percentile ranking is notably higher than the GPU's 72nd percentile, suggesting that the processor is not the limiting factor in this pairing. The combo ranking of 752/1687 reflects the GPU's relative weakness at higher resolutions, where the measured FPS drops significantly. At 1080p, the combo ranks higher due to the CPU's ability to feed the GPU effectively, but at 4K, the GPU's 8GB memory and compute limits become apparent.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. It operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is substantial for rasterization but also supports ray tracing through 46 RT cores and AI acceleration via 184 tensor cores. In Red Dead Redemption 2, which does not heavily utilize ray tracing, the raw FP32 throughput is the primary driver of performance.

Benchmark results show the RTX 3070 scoring 22214 in Passmark G3D and 11195 in Passmark GPU Compute, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 28238 is closely matched by rivals, with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT just 0.9% behind. The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions: at 3840x2160, the frame rate drops from 63.2 FPS at Low to 29.5 FPS at Ultra, a 53% reduction. This indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading units are overwhelmed by the game's high-resolution textures and effects.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce 127.6 FPS average, which is excellent for high-refresh displays. Medium settings yield 93.9 FPS, High produces 79.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 72.9 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to show strain. Low settings achieve 92.2 FPS, Medium reaches 70.5 FPS, and High hits 60.3 FPS, exactly at the 60 FPS target. Ultra falls to 44.9 FPS, which is noticeably below the smoothness threshold. The transition from High to Ultra at this resolution costs 15.4 FPS, a 25.5% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain playable frame rates except at Low settings. Low produces 63.2 FPS, which is acceptable, but Medium drops to 45.3 FPS, High falls to 35.7 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 29.5 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings shows a 40.8% reduction in frame rate (60.3 to 35.7 FPS), highlighting the GPU's inability to handle 4K rendering with this game's high-quality assets. The data clearly shows that this combo is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p with Medium or High settings for the optimal balance of visual quality and smoothness.