Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 — Benchmark Analysis

This pairing of AMD's eight-core Ryzen 7 5700X with NVIDIA's flagship-class RTX 4080 produces a compelling 1440p and 4K experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, though the data reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck as resolution climbs. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets show a system that comfortably handles high-refresh 1080p gaming, remains very playable at 1440p, and dips into challenging territory only at 4K Ultra. The dataset positions this combo at rank 260 out of 3,714 tested configurations, placing it in the top 7% of all recorded pairings for this title. What follows is a breakdown of how the CPU and GPU divide responsibilities, how resolution scaling affects performance, and which settings deliver the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The performance curve from 1080p to 4K tells a textbook story about where the bottleneck lives in this system. At 1080p with Low settings, the RTX 4080 pushes 194 FPS average, which is an exceptionally high ceiling that suggests the GPU is not fully saturated. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 145 FPS, a 25% reduction, and 4K Low produces 96 FPS, another 34% cut. These are steep drops that indicate the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count rises, though the CPU still has headroom to spare at the lower resolutions.

The High preset scaling is even more revealing. From 121 FPS at 1080p to 90 FPS at 1440p (a 26% decrease), then down to 60 FPS at 4K (a further 33% drop), the pattern is consistent: each resolution step costs roughly a quarter to a third of the previous frame rate. This linear degradation is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the RTX 4080's rendering workload scales predictably with pixel count. The 4K High result of exactly 60 FPS is notable—it hits the common 60 Hz display refresh target precisely, though with no headroom for demanding scenes.

Ultra settings amplify the GPU-bound nature of the system. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 87 FPS, which drops to 65 FPS at 1440p (a 25% reduction) and collapses to 43 FPS at 4K (a 34% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS is the weakest measured outcome in this entire dataset, and it falls below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider minimum for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset shows the same scaling pattern: 145 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1440p, and 72 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result including a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS.

What this scaling data indicates is that the RTX 4080 is the dominant performance driver across all tested configurations. The Ryzen 7 5700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, provides enough processing power to keep feeding the GPU even at 1080p Low, where the 194 FPS result demonstrates that the CPU is not creating a meaningful ceiling. The system's weakest performance appears only when both the GPU workload and quality settings are maximized simultaneously at 4K Ultra, where the 43 FPS average suggests the combination is pushed beyond its comfortable operating range.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 5700X is a Zen 3 architecture processor built on TSMC's 7 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz. It carries 32 MB of shared L3 cache, with 512 KB of L2 and 64 KB of L1 per core, and supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. The processor's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded capability—a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 13,184 and Geekbench multi-core of 10,779—but Red Dead Redemption 2's performance in this dataset suggests the game is not heavily reliant on raw CPU throughput.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 5700X sits at an average benchmark score of 27,578, which is statistically identical to the Intel Core i5-12600K (also 27,578, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27,535, 0.2% ahead). The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X scores 27,636, putting it 0.2% ahead, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H trails by 0.3% at 27,507. This tight grouping around the 27,500-27,650 range indicates that the 5700X is competitive with contemporary mid-range and upper-mid-range processors, though none of these rivals demonstrate a meaningful performance gap in either direction.

In the context of this game specifically, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The fact that 1080p Low produces 194 FPS—nearly double the 1080p Ultra result of 87 FPS—shows that the processor is capable of feeding the RTX 4080 at very high frame rates when graphical load is light. The 16 threads of the 5700X provide ample parallelism for the game's engine, and the 4.60 GHz boost clock ensures responsive single-thread performance where needed. The 3DMark scores support this interpretation: the processor achieves 921 in single-thread tests, 1,821 in 2-thread, 3,512 in 4-thread, and 5,768 in 8-thread tests, showing consistent scaling that suggests no thread-count bottlenecks in typical gaming workloads.

The percentile ranking of 79 for the CPU versus all processors indicates it outperforms roughly four-fifths of the market, which is a solid position for a desktop chip released in April 2022. Its 65 W TDP and AM4 socket compatibility make it an accessible option, though the benchmark data shows that in this game, the CPU's contribution to frame rate is largely passive—it simply needs to stay out of the GPU's way, which it does successfully at every resolution tested.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the clear star of this benchmark configuration, and its specifications explain why it dominates the performance picture. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, the GPU packs 45,900 million transistors into a 379 mm² die. It features 9,728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. The memory subsystem is substantial: 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, with memory clocked at 1,400 MHz or 22.4 Gbps effective.

The GPU's clock speeds are aggressive, with a base of 2,205 MHz and boost of 2,505 MHz. These clocks translate into substantial compute throughput: 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 48.74 TFLOPS of FP16, with a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s. The power envelope is equally substantial at 320 W TDP, requiring a 700 W suggested PSU and a single 16-pin power connector. The card occupies a triple-slot form factor measuring 310 mm in length, 140 mm in height, and 61 mm in width.

In benchmark comparisons, the RTX 4080 achieves an average score of 54,247, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals show remarkably tight competition: the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209 (0.1% behind), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54,828 (1.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55,698 (2.6% ahead), and the AMD Radeon 8060S scores 55,757 (2.7% ahead). This clustering within 3% suggests that the RTX 4080's raw compute performance is well-matched against its immediate competitors, though it falls slightly short of the Radeon options in synthetic benchmarks.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's massive memory pool and bandwidth are directly relevant. The game is known for large textures and detailed environments, and 16 GB of GDDR6X at 716.8 GB/s provides ample headroom even at 4K Ultra settings. The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the primary determinant of performance: at 4K Ultra, the system drops to 43 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 194 FPS. This 4.5x spread across settings and resolutions is entirely attributable to GPU workload, as the CPU remains constant throughout.

The RTX 4080's ray tracing cores and tensor cores are also relevant to this title, though the measured data does not separate ray-traced from rasterized performance. The GPU's 76 RT cores and 304 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for advanced lighting effects and DLSS upscaling, which could improve performance in scenarios not captured by this dataset. The PassMark G3D score of 34,457 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,567 further substantiate the GPU's strong directX 12 performance, which is the API used by Red Dead Redemption 2.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p High as the sweet spot, delivering 90 FPS average with strong visual quality. At 4K High, performance drops to 60 FPS exactly, which is playable but leaves no margin for demanding scenes.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K Medium, the average is 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS, which is smooth. At 4K High, it drops to 60 FPS average, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 43 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700X compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 5700X scores 27,578 in average benchmarks, which is exactly tied with the Intel Core i5-12600K at 0% delta. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800 is 0.2% behind, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is 0.2% ahead, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is 0.3% behind.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 significantly better than its nearest GPU competitors?

A: No. The RTX 4080 scores 54,247, while the RTX 4080 SUPER scores 54,209 (0.1% lower), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54,828 (1.1% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55,698 (2.6% higher). These are all within a 3% band.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 121 FPS at 1080p High. For comparison, 1080p Low yields 194 FPS, 1080p Medium yields 145 FPS, and 1080p Ultra yields 87 FPS.

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

A: No. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation. Even at 1080p Low, the system reaches 194 FPS, indicating the Ryzen 7 5700X can feed the RTX 4080 well beyond typical display refresh rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured frame rate data for this configuration is as follows:

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 96 FPS average
• Medium: 72 FPS average, with minimum 61 FPS and maximum 82 FPS
• High: 60 FPS average
• Ultra: 43 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 145 FPS average
• Medium: 108 FPS average, with minimum 92 FPS and maximum 125 FPS
• High: 90 FPS average
• Ultra: 65 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 194 FPS average
• Medium: 145 FPS average, with minimum 123 FPS and maximum 167 FPS
• High: 121 FPS average
• Ultra: 87 FPS average

Reading across the data, the Medium preset shows the most complete picture because it includes minimum and maximum frame times. At 4K Medium, the 61-82 FPS range with a 72 FPS average suggests reasonable frame pacing, while at 1440p Medium (92-125 FPS, 108 average) and 1080p Medium (123-167 FPS, 145 average), the experience is consistently smooth. The absence of min/max data for Low, High, and Ultra presets means those results represent only average performance, which may hide occasional dips or spikes.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent step-down: at 4K, the drops are 96→72→60→43 FPS across Low/Medium/High/Ultra; at 1440p, 145→108→90→65 FPS; at 1080p, 194→145→121→87 FPS. The relative cost of Ultra versus Low is substantial—at 4K, Ultra delivers only 45% of Low's frame rate, and at 1080p, Ultra delivers 45% of Low as well. This consistency suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a roughly uniform 55% performance penalty regardless of resolution, which is characteristic of settings that scale with pixel count and shading complexity.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting a 60 FPS experience, the data points to 4K High as the exact match—60 FPS average, though with no headroom for volatile scenes. For those with a 144 Hz display at 1440p, the High preset at 90 FPS is the optimal choice, as it provides a significantly better visual experience than Medium (108 FPS) while staying above the 60 FPS minimum threshold. The Ultra preset at 1440p (65 FPS) is also viable for those prioritizing image quality over frame rate, as it remains above 60 FPS.

The most balanced configuration in this dataset is 1440p High, offering 90 FPS average with the visual fidelity of the High preset. This sits in a comfortable middle ground: it's 25 FPS faster than 4K High while providing a higher pixel density than 1080p. For competitive or fast-paced play, 1080p Medium at 145 FPS is excellent, though the 1080p Low result of 194 FPS demonstrates the system's ceiling for maximum frame rate.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 72 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains a 12 FPS buffer above the 60 FPS target and includes a minimum of 61 FPS, ensuring the experience stays smooth even during demanding moments. The 4K Ultra preset at 43 FPS is not recommended for standard play, as it falls well below the smoothness threshold; however, it may suit players with 40-50 Hz displays or those who prioritize graphical fidelity above all else. The data suggests that the Ultra preset's visual gains over High come at a steep performance cost—at 4K, the difference is 43 FPS versus 60 FPS, a 28% reduction—making High the better trade-off for most users.