Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a highly playable Red Dead Redemption 2 experience at 1080p, but the data shows a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. The measured FPS rows indicate this combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K reserved for those who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, settings scaling, and the role each component plays in this specific game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly points to the Medium preset as the optimal balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 82 FPS with a minimum of 70 FPS and a maximum of 95 FPS. This frame rate range is smooth enough for the vast majority of displays, and the jump from Low to Medium is significant (from 110 FPS to 82 FPS), suggesting that the Medium preset is capturing a meaningful amount of the game's visual detail. While Low at 1080p hits 110 FPS, the visual sacrifice is substantial for only a 28 FPS gain over Medium. The High preset at 1080p drops to 69 FPS, which is still playable but starts to introduce noticeable dips in more demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out. It produces an average of 61 FPS with a minimum of 52 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS. This is perfectly acceptable for a single-player action-adventure title, providing a stable experience. The High preset at this resolution drops to 51 FPS, which is on the lower edge of what most players would consider smooth, and the Ultra preset falls to 37 FPS, which is too choppy for comfortable play. The Low preset at 1440p (82 FPS) is viable for competitive play, but the visual downgrade is severe. Therefore, Medium is the clear recommendation for 1440p, as it offers a 10 FPS advantage over High while likely retaining most of the impactful visual effects.

For 3840x2160, the data presents a difficult choice. The Medium preset averages 41 FPS with a minimum of 35 FPS and a maximum of 47 FPS. This is borderline playable on a VRR display but will feel sluggish in fast-paced action. The High preset (34 FPS) and Ultra preset (24 FPS) are not recommended for a smooth experience. The Low preset (54 FPS) is the only one that approaches a comfortable frame rate, but it requires a heavy visual compromise. Given the data, 4K gaming with this combo should be considered a "screenshot" mode or for playing at Low settings if frame rate is the absolute priority. The sweet spot for this hardware is undeniably 1080p or 1440p on Medium.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Red Dead Redemption 2 with the Ryzen 7 9700F and RTX 4060?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the best resolution. It offers the widest range of playable settings, with Medium hitting 82 FPS and even Ultra achieving 49 FPS. 2560x1440 is the second-best option, as Medium preset maintains a solid 61 FPS average.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 perform at 4K with this game?

A: The RTX 4060 struggles to maintain high frame rates at 3840x2160. The data shows that only the Low preset achieves a comfortable average of 54 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 41 FPS, and the High and Ultra presets fall to 34 FPS and 24 FPS, respectively. 4K is not a strong suit for this GPU in this title.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F a bottleneck for the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is well-matched for this GPU. The game is known to be GPU-intensive, and the significant frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to 4K (from 82 FPS to 41 FPS at Medium settings) indicate that the graphics card is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The 8-core, 16-thread processor provides ample headroom.

Q: What is the difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The measured data shows a 20 FPS difference. The Ultra preset averages 49 FPS, while the High preset averages 69 FPS. This is a substantial performance hit for the extra visual effects, and the High preset is generally the more sensible choice unless you have a 60Hz display and prioritize maximum visual fidelity.

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

A: The combo ranks 1544th out of 2902 tested combinations. This places it in the 47th percentile, meaning it performs better than roughly half of the tested systems, but it is not a top-tier high-end configuration.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 support modern graphics APIs needed for this game?

A: Yes, the RTX 4060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Red Dead Redemption 2 can utilize these APIs, with Vulkan and DX12 often providing better performance than the older DX11 mode.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern that underscores the GPU-bound nature of Red Dead Redemption 2 at higher resolutions. Looking at the Medium preset, which is the most balanced option, the frame rate drops from 82 FPS at 1920x1080 to 61 FPS at 2560x1440, a decrease of 21 FPS. Moving further up to 3840x2160, the average plummets to 41 FPS, a further 20 FPS drop. This represents a total reduction of 50% from 1080p to 4K (82 FPS to 41 FPS).

This scaling behavior is classic for a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck. At 1080p, the CPU can feed frames quickly, allowing the GPU to push high frame rates. As the resolution increases, the number of pixels the GPU must render grows exponentially. The RTX 4060's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become increasingly stressed, causing the average frame rate to fall in near-linear proportion to the pixel count increase.

The data also shows that the gap between presets widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (110 FPS) and Ultra (49 FPS) is 61 FPS. At 4K, the same comparison yields a difference of only 30 FPS (54 FPS for Low vs 24 FPS for Ultra). This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that the specific settings have less of an impact on the absolute frame rate; the pixel fill rate is the dominant constraint. The minimum FPS data for the Medium preset also supports this, with a 35 FPS minimum at 4K versus a 70 FPS minimum at 1080p, indicating a less stable frame time experience at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following breakdown details the exact average FPS figures from the FACT PACK for every resolution and settings combination tested.

1920x1080:

• Low: Average FPS of 110, the highest of any tested configuration.
• Medium: Average FPS of 82, with a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 95. This is the most balanced setting.
• High: Average FPS of 69, a solid 60+ FPS experience.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 49, dipping below the 60 FPS threshold.

2560x1440:

• Low: Average FPS of 82, showing that the CPU can still drive high frame rates at this resolution.
• Medium: Average FPS of 61, with a minimum of 52 and a maximum of 71. This is the recommended setting for 1440p.
• High: Average FPS of 51, playable but not ideal for fast-paced moments.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 37, below the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays.

3840x2160:

• Low: Average FPS of 54, the only 4K setting that approaches a playable frame rate.
• Medium: Average FPS of 41, with a minimum of 35 and a maximum of 47, indicating significant frame dips.
• High: Average FPS of 34, a challenging experience even for slower-paced exploration.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 24, which is effectively a slideshow and not recommended for actual gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 achieves a rank of 1544 out of 2902 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the lower half of all tested systems, specifically in the 47th percentile. This ranking is a direct result of the RTX 4060's performance tier; it is a capable mainstream GPU, but it is not designed to compete with high-end cards that can dominate this game at 4K with maximum settings.

The ranking makes sense when considering the components' individual benchmark scores. The CPU, Ryzen 7 9700F, is a strong performer, sitting in the 94th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 69996. It is within 1% of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX and Intel Core i7-14700KF in average score. The GPU, however, is less dominant. It sits in the 61st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 17639, placing it right next to older or integrated graphics solutions like the AMD Radeon HD 7790 and AMD Radeon 780M.

This combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range GPU means the system's overall gaming performance is capped by the RTX 4060. The data confirms this: the game's average FPS is heavily dependent on resolution, a hallmark of a GPU-limited scenario. While the CPU ensures there is no processing bottleneck, the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and bandwidth limit the experience at higher resolutions, pulling the combo's overall rank down. For 1080p gaming, this ranking is more than adequate, but for 4K, the system will struggle to climb the leaderboard.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) and manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This configuration provides substantial multi-threaded and single-threaded horsepower, which is reflected in its Passmark scores: a 4691 single-thread score and a 36470 multi-thread score. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory with 89.6 GB/s of bandwidth ensure the CPU can feed data to the GPU without becoming a limiting factor.

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls. The data strongly suggests that the 9700F performs this role admirably. The most compelling evidence is the frame rate scaling with resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 110 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would see the frame rate plateau at a certain level regardless of resolution or settings. Instead, we see a steady decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU bottleneck.

The 8-core, 16-thread design is also beneficial for modern games like Red Dead Redemption 2, which can utilize multiple cores. The high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures that even lightly-threaded tasks are handled with minimal latency. The CPU's percentile rank (94th) and its proximity to rivals like the Intel Core i7-14700KF (within 0.2% in average score) confirm that it is a high-end processor. The system's overall rank of 1544th in this game is not due to CPU limitations; it is a direct consequence of the RTX 4060's performance ceiling. The 9700F provides a stable, high-performance foundation, and the RTX 4060 is the component that determines the ultimate frame rate, especially at 1440p and 4K resolutions.