Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 presents a compelling but resolution-sensitive combination in Red Dead Redemption 2. The collected data shows a system that scales predictably with graphical load, but the balance between CPU and GPU shifts dramatically as pixel count increases. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 is clearly the dominant factor in determining frame rates, while at 4K, the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute capacity become the absolute ceiling. The measured performance across all settings and resolutions indicates a configuration optimized for 1080p and capable at 1440p, but one that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas across resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, particularly at higher quality presets. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 70.0 at 1920x1080 to 51.7 at 2560x1440, a 26% reduction, and then further to 35.2 at 3840x2160, a 50% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4060’s rendering pipeline is saturated by the increasing pixel workload, with the 8 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and 128-bit bus becoming limiting factors at 4K.

The scaling is even more pronounced at Ultra settings. The system delivers 51.2 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 35.3 FPS at 1440p (a 31% loss) and plummets to 26.9 FPS at 4K (a 47% loss). These numbers suggest that Ultra presets push the GPU beyond its comfortable operating envelope, especially at higher resolutions. Conversely, at Low settings, the performance scaling is much flatter: 112.4 FPS at 1080p, 83.2 FPS at 1440p, and 52.6 FPS at 4K. The smaller relative drop from 1080p to 1440p (26%) compared to the drop from 1440p to 4K (37%) hints that even with minimal graphical load, the GPU’s memory bandwidth is still a bottleneck at 4K.

The data strongly suggests that the RTX 4060 is the limiting component across all tested configurations. The Ryzen 7 7700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, does not appear to constrain performance, as the FPS scales consistently with pixel count rather than showing signs of CPU stutter or plateauing at lower resolutions. The 4K results, in particular, highlight the GPU’s 272.0 GB/s memory bandwidth as a critical constraint, as even Low settings fail to exceed 53 FPS.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 112.4, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This drops to 70.0 FPS at High settings and 51.2 FPS at Ultra.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the system delivers 52.6 FPS on Low, 43.2 FPS on Medium, 35.2 FPS on High, and 26.9 FPS on Ultra. Only the Low preset approaches a consistently playable frame rate.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 23181, placing it in the 66th percentile. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 6600M by 0.6% and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti by 0.7%, while leading the Intel Arc B580 by 0.7% and the AMD Radeon 760M by 0.8%.

Q: What is the best resolution-to-settings balance for this hardware?

A: The data suggests 2560x1440 on Medium settings (61.3 FPS) or High settings (51.7 FPS) offers a solid balance. At 1080p, High settings (70.0 FPS) provide a smooth experience, while Ultra (51.2 FPS) remains playable.

Q: How much faster is the Ryzen 7 7700X than its nearest rival?

A: The 7700X has an average benchmark score of 34313, placing it in the 89th percentile. It is 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13500 and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i7-12800HX, but 0.8% behind both the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and AMD EPYC 4244P.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more responsible for the 4K performance drop?

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU’s synthetic scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30325, show substantial headroom, while the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus cannot sustain high frame rates at 4K Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is the primary driver of the measured results, and its specifications explain the performance ceiling observed in the data. The GPU features 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, operating at a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz. This configuration yields a peak FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but falls short at 4K.

The memory subsystem is the most critical constraint. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Red Dead Redemption 2, a game with vast draw distances and high-resolution textures, this bandwidth is insufficient for 4K Ultra settings, which require massive data throughput. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (26.9 FPS) versus 1080p Ultra (51.2 FPS) quantifies this limitation. Even at Low settings, the 4K result (52.6 FPS) is barely half of the 1080p result (112.4 FPS), indicating that memory bandwidth, not shader compute, is the bottleneck.

The GPU’s Ada Lovelace architecture and 5 nm process node (TSMC) contribute to its efficiency, as evidenced by the 115 W TDP. However, the data shows that efficiency does not translate to high-resolution dominance. The GPU’s percentile rank of 66 versus all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, and its nearest rivals—the RX 6600M, GTX 780 Ti, Arc B580, and Radeon 760M—all have average scores within 1% of the RTX 4060. This tight clustering suggests that the RTX 4060 is a solid mainstream performer, but not a high-end solution. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (26.9 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (35.3 FPS) confirms this classification.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 112.4 FPS on Low, 80.5 FPS on Medium, 70.0 FPS on High, and 51.2 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 61.2 FPS, showing that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to scale with settings. The jump from High to Ultra (70.0 to 51.2 FPS) is a 27% reduction, indicating that Ultra settings introduce significant additional load, likely from increased shadow quality and draw distances.

At 2560x1440, the results are 83.2 FPS (Low), 61.3 FPS (Medium), 51.7 FPS (High), and 35.3 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings: 26% for Low, 24% for Medium, 26% for High, and 31% for Ultra. This uniformity suggests that the GPU’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are scaling linearly with resolution, with no sudden CPU-induced stutter. The 1440p Ultra result of 35.3 FPS is marginal for smooth gameplay, but the High preset at 51.7 FPS offers a viable experience.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses: 52.6 FPS (Low), 43.2 FPS (Medium), 35.2 FPS (High), and 26.9 FPS (Ultra). The Low preset is the only one that remains above 30 FPS, and even that is a 53% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The Ultra preset at 26.9 FPS is nearly unplayable, and the High preset at 35.2 FPS is borderline. The data shows that 4K is not a viable target for this GPU, regardless of settings, due to the memory bandwidth and capacity limitations of the 8 GB frame buffer. The system’s overall rank of 938 out of 1687 combos in this game reflects this mid-tier performance profile.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X plays a supporting role in this configuration, and the benchmark data confirms it is not a bottleneck in Red Dead Redemption 2. The CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael), with a base clock of 4.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. This processing power is reflected in synthetic scores such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 30325 and a single-core score of 4281, both of which place the 7700X in the 89th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU’s performance relative to its nearest rivals is remarkably tight. Its average benchmark score of 34313 is just 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-13500 (34175) and 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i7-12800HX (34136). It sits 0.8% below the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (34584) and AMD EPYC 4244P (34599). This clustering indicates that the 7700X is well-matched to its contemporaries, and any of these CPUs would yield similar results in a GPU-bound scenario.

The measured FPS data supports the CPU’s non-limiting role. At 1080p Low, the system hits 112.4 FPS, which approaches the practical limit for many games without a high-end GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rate plateaus across different settings at the same resolution. Instead, the FPS scales consistently with GPU load, from 112.4 FPS at Low to 51.2 FPS at Ultra. The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide ample bandwidth for feeding the GPU. The 105 W TDP and 5 nm process node ensure sustained boost clocks, as evidenced by the CPU’s Geekbench multi-core score of 15538. In this game, the Ryzen 7 7700X is a silent partner, providing all the computational headroom the RTX 4060 needs without ever becoming the limiting factor.