Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a top-tier experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, landing at rank 76 out of 2,902 tested combos. This places the pairing in the top 3% of all configurations, showing that the combination of AMD's Zen 5 architecture and NVIDIA's Blackwell flagship is more than capable of handling this 2018 Action Adventure title. The data indicates a system that delivers playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra, though the scaling between resolutions reveals where the bottlenecks lie.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 76 out of 2,902 tested combinations is a strong showing, placing this setup in the 97.4th percentile of all tested hardware pairings. This is not a marginal result; it reflects a system that is decisively above the median experience for Red Dead Redemption 2. To contextualize, the CPU itself sits at the 94th percentile vs all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 92nd percentile vs all GPUs. When combined, the system outperforms what those individual percentile scores might suggest, indicating that the pairing is well balanced for this specific workload.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 9700F's average benchmark score of 69,996 is virtually identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69,875, +0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-14700KF (70,163, -0.2%). This means the 9700F is trading blows with these heavyweights, offering performance within a fraction of a percent. The delta against the Ryzen 9 7950X (+0.7%) and i7-14700K (+0.9%) is similarly negligible. In practical terms, these rivals will not create a discernible difference in Red Dead Redemption 2 frame rates, as the game's engine appears to be far more reliant on GPU throughput at the settings tested.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 puts it slightly ahead of the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, +0.3%) and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, +0.6%), while trailing the Radeon Pro Vega 64X by a small margin (-1.4%). These rivals are professional-grade or mobile parts, so the 5090's lead in gaming-specific workloads is likely more substantial than the raw average scores suggest. The combination of a high-percentile CPU and GPU results in a system that ranks well above the 2,900+ other combos tested, confirming that this is a high-end pairing capable of pushing this game to its limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Red Dead Redemption 2 with this combo?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 on High settings yields 102 FPS, while 1920x1080 on High yields 137 FPS. If you prioritize smoothness over pixel count, 1080p High is excellent. For a balance of visual fidelity and performance, 1440p High is the sweet spot, as it maintains over 100 FPS while offering significantly more detail than 1080p.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average FPS for 3840x2160 Ultra is 49 FPS. This is playable but not ideal for a smooth experience, especially in a game with fast-paced action. The 4K High preset (68 FPS) is the better choice for 4K gaming, offering a much more comfortable frame rate.

Q: How much of a performance drop is there from 1080p to 4K?

A: The drop is substantial. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 220 at 1080p to 108 at 4K, a reduction of 51%. At High settings, the drop is from 137 FPS to 68 FPS, a 50% reduction. This halving of frame rates indicates a heavy GPU load at higher resolutions, as expected with a game like this.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9700F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The frame rate drops consistently by roughly half when moving from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU's performance is sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested settings, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low (220 FPS).

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: The difference is massive. Low settings average 164 FPS, while Ultra averages 74 FPS. That is a 90 FPS difference, or about a 55% reduction in frame rate for the maximum visual quality. The Medium preset (123 FPS) offers a middle ground.

Q: Does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: Given that the game was released in 2018, its VRAM requirements are modest. The 32 GB of VRAM on the RTX 5090 is far beyond what is needed for Red Dead Redemption 2 at any of the tested settings. The bottleneck is the GPU's compute power, not its memory capacity, as shown by the FPS drops at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing for Red Dead Redemption 2. The GPU's architecture is Blackwell 2.0, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with a massive 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its clock speeds are a base of 2017 MHz and a boost of 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s, which is more than sufficient to feed the 21,760 shading units at any resolution.

In the context of this game, the GPU's role becomes clear when examining the measured FPS. The RTX 5090's performance scales almost linearly with resolution, which is typical for a GPU-bound title. The 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is the primary driver of frame rates in Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that relies heavily on rasterization rather than ray tracing. The GPU's 170 RT cores and 680 Tensor cores are present, but the game's visual effects do not appear to leverage them significantly in the tested presets, as the performance drop from High to Ultra is consistent with traditional rendering costs.

The GPU's memory configuration is also a non-issue. The 32 GB frame buffer is overkill for a game from 2018, ensuring that there is no texture swapping or stuttering at 4K Ultra. The measured minimum FPS of 69 at 4K Medium (with an average of 81) shows that even in demanding scenes, the GPU maintains a playable frame rate. The RTX 5090 is clearly the component that dictates the performance ceiling in this system, and the data indicates it is being fully utilized across all resolution and settings combinations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how this combo performs across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. Low settings produce an average of 220 FPS, Medium averages 164 FPS (with a min of 140 and max of 189), High averages 137 FPS, and Ultra drops to 99 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is often CPU-bound or hitting engine limits, as the gap between Medium and High is smaller than the gap between Low and Medium.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the GPU starting to work harder. Low averages 164 FPS, Medium averages 123 FPS (min 104, max 141), High averages 102 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The progression here is more linear than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming the primary limiter. The 1440p High setting is particularly notable, as it offers a 102 FPS average, which is an excellent balance of visual quality and smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. Low averages 108 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS (min 69, max 93), High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS. The 4K Medium and High presets are the most playable, offering 81 and 68 FPS respectively. The 4K Ultra preset at 49 FPS is technically playable but will feel less smooth, especially in scenes with heavy foliage or particle effects. The data shows a clear trend: the RTX 5090 is powerful enough for 4K, but only at Medium or High settings if you desire a consistent 60+ FPS experience.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling of this combo is a textbook example of GPU-bound performance. When moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by approximately 25-30%. Specifically, Low goes from 220 to 164 FPS (a 25% drop), Medium from 164 to 123 (a 25% drop), High from 137 to 102 (a 26% drop), and Ultra from 99 to 74 (a 25% drop). This consistent reduction indicates that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count without any CPU interference.

The jump from 1440p to 4K is more severe, as expected due to the 2.25x increase in pixel count. Low goes from 164 to 108 FPS (a 34% drop), Medium from 123 to 81 (a 34% drop), High from 102 to 68 (a 33% drop), and Ultra from 74 to 49 (a 34% drop). The consistency of these drops—around 25% for 1080p to 1440p and 34% for 1440p to 4K—strongly suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. If the CPU were limiting, the frame rate would not scale so predictably with resolution.

This scaling behavior confirms that the Ryzen 7 9700F is more than adequate for the RTX 5090 in this game. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads, boosting up to 5.50 GHz, provide enough headroom to keep the GPU fed even at 1080p Low, where the system achieves 220 FPS. The limiting component shifts entirely to the GPU as resolution increases, and the data shows that the RTX 5090's performance degrades gracefully, allowing for playable frame rates at 4K with adjusted settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on your display resolution and refresh rate. For 1920x1080 users, the High preset at 137 FPS is the recommended choice. It offers a significant visual improvement over Medium (164 FPS) while still providing frame rates well above 120 FPS. The Ultra preset at 99 FPS is also viable, especially for those with 100Hz monitors, but the visual difference between High and Ultra in this game is often subtle, making High the more efficient choice.

For 2560x1440, the High preset at 102 FPS is the clear winner. It provides a smooth experience on 100Hz or 120Hz displays and looks substantially better than Medium (123 FPS). The Ultra preset at 74 FPS is playable, but the 28 FPS loss from High is noticeable in fast-paced scenes. If you have a 144Hz monitor, Medium at 123 FPS might be preferable, but the jump to High is worth the frame rate cost for most users.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset at 81 FPS is the best balance of quality and performance. The High preset at 68 FPS is also viable, offering better shadows and textures at the cost of 13 FPS. The Ultra preset at 49 FPS should be avoided unless you have a 48Hz or 60Hz display and prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the sweet spot, as it maintains a frame rate above 60 FPS while still looking significantly better than Low (108 FPS). In summary, the measured rows indicate that High at 1080p and 1440p, and Medium at 4K, provide the best overall experience for this hardware combination.