Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 with AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER

The data for this combination shows a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet surprisingly CPU-limited at 1080p Low settings, where the frame rate ceiling appears to be reached. The measured FPS values across twelve resolution/settings combinations paint a picture of a high-end pairing that delivers playable performance at 4K but requires careful settings management to hit higher refresh rates. This analysis examines how the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER interact in Red Dead Redemption 2, a game from 2018 that remains demanding on modern hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling pattern reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, but with an interesting twist at the low end. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS drops from 121 to 90, a decline of approximately 25.6%. The further step to 3840x2160 at High settings yields 59 FPS, which represents another 34.4% reduction from the 1440p figure. This consistent degradation as resolution increases strongly indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the primary limiting component at these settings.

However, the Low settings row tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 193 FPS, but at 1440p Low it drops to 144 FPS, and at 4K Low it reaches 95 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings shows a 34.0% reduction, which is proportionally similar to the High settings scaling. Yet the jump from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings only costs 25.4% performance, suggesting that at 1080p Low, the CPU may be starting to limit the frame rate. The 193 FPS figure at 1080p Low is remarkably close to what one might expect from a CPU ceiling, especially considering the 5800XT's 8-core/16-thread configuration with a 4.80 GHz boost clock.

The Medium settings row provides the only min/max FPS data in the entire pack. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 144 FPS with a minimum of 123 and maximum of 166. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 108 FPS with min/max of 92/124. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 71 FPS with min/max of 61/82. The consistency of these ranges — roughly 20-30 FPS spread between min and max — suggests stable frame pacing without severe hitches, which is characteristic of a well-balanced system.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT brings 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. With a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz, this CPU demonstrates strong single-threaded performance in synthetic benchmarks, scoring 959 in 3dmark_single_thread and 3359 in cinebench_r23_singlecore. The multi-threaded scores are equally impressive, with cinebench_r23_multicore hitting 23794 and passmark_multithread reaching 28053.

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p Low settings result of 193 FPS. This figure is notably higher than the 144 FPS at 1080p Medium, suggesting that at Low settings, the game's graphical load is reduced enough that the CPU's ability to feed the GPU becomes a factor. The 5800XT's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 16 threads likely help maintain high frame rates in this open-world title, which features complex AI routines and physics calculations.

The CPU's percentile rank of 81 among all tested CPUs places it above the median, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H with an avgScore of 29868 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X at 29713 (0.6% delta). These close scores indicate that the 5800XT is competitively positioned in its performance class, though the data shows it does not have a significant advantage over these alternatives in general compute tasks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 4K Medium, the system delivers 71 FPS average with a minimum of 61, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is particularly notable because the 4K Ultra setting only manages 43 FPS, which would likely feel sluggish in action sequences.

For users targeting higher refresh rates, the 1440p Medium setting provides 108 FPS average with a minimum of 92, which is excellent for 100 Hz displays. The 1080p Medium setting achieves 144 FPS average with a minimum of 123, making it ideal for 144 Hz monitors. Interestingly, the Low preset at 1440p yields 144 FPS, which matches the 1080p Medium result — this indicates that at 1440p, the Low preset may be leaving performance on the table relative to what the hardware can deliver with higher quality settings.

The High preset represents a middle ground, offering 121 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is borderline for 60 Hz displays, and the 1440p High figure is suitable for 90 Hz panels. However, the data suggests that Medium settings provide the most consistent experience, with the smallest proportional performance drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p (25.0% decline) compared to High (25.6%) and Low (25.4%).

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 320 out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 8.6% of all tested configurations. This ranking reflects the strong performance of both components, though it is notably the GPU's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs is slightly higher than the CPU's percentile rank of 81 among all CPUs, suggesting that the graphics card is the more dominant contributor to this game's performance.

The RTX 4080 SUPER's average benchmark score of 54209 places it very close to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which scores 54247 (a delta of -0.1%). This means the SUPER variant offers essentially identical performance to the non-SUPER version in synthetic benchmarks, which is relevant when interpreting game performance. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828 (-1.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698 (-2.7% delta), indicating that the 4080 SUPER is competitive within its segment.

Given that the combo rank of 320 out of 3714 represents the 91.4th percentile, the data suggests this pairing is well-suited for high-resolution gaming in Red Dead Redemption 2. The 4K Medium result of 71 FPS is particularly impressive when considering that only 8.6% of tested combinations perform better overall in this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It features 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2550 MHz, with memory running at 1438 MHz effective 23 Gbps. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings shows a dramatic reduction from 87 FPS to 43 FPS, a 50.6% drop. This severe scaling indicates that the game's Ultra preset places an enormous load on the graphics card, likely due to advanced shading techniques and high-resolution textures that stress the GPU's compute capabilities. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is likely sufficient for this game's texture requirements, as no VRAM-related stuttering is evident in the min/max FPS data for Medium settings.

The GPU's pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s help explain its strong performance at 4K, where fill rate becomes critical. The 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance is substantial, though the game's performance at Ultra settings suggests that even this level of compute power is challenged by the most demanding presets. The passmark_g3d score of 34245 and geekbench_vulkan score of 260075 demonstrate the GPU's overall capability, though these synthetic benchmarks do not directly translate to game performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 121 FPS on High, 193 FPS on Low, 144 FPS on Medium (min 123, max 166), and 87 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 55.0% performance drop, indicating that the Ultra preset roughly halves performance compared to Low. The 1080p Medium result of 144 FPS is particularly interesting because it exactly matches the 1440p Low result, suggesting that the Medium preset at 1080p provides a similar experience to Low at 1440p.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 90 FPS on High, 144 FPS on Low, 108 FPS on Medium (min 92, max 124), and 65 FPS on Ultra. The 1440p Ultra result of 65 FPS is the only Ultra setting that exceeds 60 FPS, making it viable for 60 Hz displays. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings shows a 25.0% reduction (144 to 108 FPS), which is consistent with the resolution's pixel count increase of 78%.

At 3840x2160, the system achieves 59 FPS on High, 95 FPS on Low, 71 FPS on Medium (min 61, max 82), and 43 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Low result of 95 FPS is impressive for a game as demanding as Red Dead Redemption 2, though the 4K Ultra figure of 43 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Medium result of 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 suggests that this is the most playable 4K configuration, as the minimum frame rate stays above 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The data indicates that 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides the best balance, delivering 108 FPS average with a minimum of 92 FPS. This combination offers smooth gameplay while maintaining quality, and it is the highest resolution/settings pairing that keeps the minimum frame rate above 90 FPS.

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

A: Yes, at 4K Medium settings the system averages 71 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, which is playable. However, 4K High (59 FPS) and 4K Ultra (43 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold, so 4K gaming requires Medium settings for consistent performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p resolution?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 193 FPS, which is likely near the CPU ceiling for this pairing. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads with a 4.80 GHz boost clock appear to limit frame rates above this level, making the 5800XT the bottleneck at low graphical settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to the RTX 4080 in this context?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54209, which is essentially identical to the RTX 4080's 54247 score (a delta of -0.1%). This suggests that game performance between these two GPUs would be nearly indistinguishable in Red Dead Redemption 2.

Q: What is the Ultra preset performance penalty compared to Medium?

A: At 4K, the Ultra preset averages 43 FPS compared to 71 FPS on Medium, representing a 39.4% performance reduction. At 1440p, Ultra averages 65 FPS versus 108 FPS on Medium, a 39.8% drop. At 1080p, Ultra averages 87 FPS versus 144 FPS on Medium, a 39.6% reduction.

Q: How does this system rank relative to other tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 320 out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 8.6% of all tested systems. The GPU's percentile rank of 86 among all GPUs is higher than the CPU's rank of 81 among all CPUs, indicating the graphics card is the stronger component in this pairing.