Red Dead Redemption 2

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 lands at rank 1597 out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. That places it in the 57th percentile of all configurations tested for this title, meaning it sits slightly above the middle of the pack. This is a solid mid-tier result, but not a top-tier one—the RTX 3070's position in the GPU hierarchy, where it ranks in the 61st percentile against all GPUs, largely determines this outcome.

The CPU side of this combo is notably stronger. The Ryzen 9 5950X ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 51947. Its nearest rivals show how tightly clustered the competition is: the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX scores 52073 (0.2% higher), the AMD EPYC 8124P scores 52121 (0.3% higher), the Intel Core i9-13900F scores 51730 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i7-14700 scores 52301 (0.7% higher). The data shows the 5950X is effectively neck-and-neck with these alternatives, with deltas under one percent in every case. This CPU is clearly not the bottleneck in this pairing.

Given the game's release in 2018 and the hardware's 2020 vintage, the rank reflects a configuration that was competitive at launch but has since been overtaken by newer silicon. The combo's position at roughly 43% from the bottom suggests it handles the game respectably, but the measured frame rates reveal that high-resolution ultra settings push it to the edge of playability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory operates at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed, while the GPU core runs at a 1500 MHz base clock and 1725 MHz boost. These specifications are central to understanding the 4K performance ceiling observed in the measured data.

The GPU's 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines provide the raw throughput for this title's demanding rendering. With 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, the Ampere architecture is well-equipped for modern effects, though Red Dead Redemption 2's traditional rasterization workload relies more heavily on the shader and texture units. The 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is substantial, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions where texture memory demands increase.

The benchmark results place this GPU in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rivals show a tight race: the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 17083 (0.7% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 scores 17037 (1% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019 (1.1% higher), and the NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17468 (1.5% lower). These deltas are all within 1.5%, indicating the RTX 3070 sits in a crowded performance band where minor architectural differences determine the winner.

In Red Dead Redemption 2 specifically, the GPU's role is paramount. The measured frame rates show a clear pattern: at 1080p, the combo achieves 125 FPS on Low settings, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 28 FPS. The scaling between these extremes is almost entirely GPU-bound, as the Ryzen 9 5950X's 16 cores and 32 threads provide more than enough headroom for the game's CPU demands.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how this combo scales across resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate is 125 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 93 FPS, a 25.6% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 61 FPS, another 34.4% reduction from 1440p. This progression shows the GPU becoming increasingly stressed as pixel count rises.

For High settings, the pattern continues: 1080p delivers 78 FPS, 1440p delivers 58 FPS (a 25.6% drop), and 4K delivers 38 FPS (a 34.5% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven—the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the constraining factors.

The Medium settings row provides the only complete min/max data in the pack. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 93 FPS with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107. At 1440p Medium, the average is 70 FPS with a min of 59 and max of 80. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 46 FPS with a min of 39 and max of 53. The variance between min and max frames grows proportionally with resolution, indicating that frame pacing becomes less consistent as the GPU works harder.

Ultra settings show the steepest decline: 56 FPS at 1080p, 42 FPS at 1440p (25% drop), and 28 FPS at 4K (33.3% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 28 FPS is below the 30 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for playable frame rates, marking this as a configuration that cannot handle the game's highest visual quality at 4K. The data suggests the limiting component shifts from GPU at 1080p to a more balanced constraint at 1440p, with the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth becoming the clear ceiling at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data offers clear guidance on settings selection. For 4K displays, the Low preset is the only viable option, returning 61 FPS average. Medium at 4K dips to 46 FPS, which is playable but with noticeable compromise, while High at 38 FPS and Ultra at 28 FPS fall below smooth gameplay thresholds. The data shows that 4K demands significant visual compromises from this combo.

At 1440p, Medium provides the best balance, with 70 FPS average and a 59 FPS minimum that stays above most stutter thresholds. High at 1440p drops to 58 FPS, which is still playable but closer to the edge. Low at 1440p reaches 93 FPS, but the visual quality loss is substantial for a 23 FPS gain over Medium. Ultra at 42 FPS is borderline—the frame rate is acceptable for slower-paced exploration but may feel less responsive in action sequences.

For 1080p, the situation is more forgiving. Ultra delivers 56 FPS, which is playable, but Medium at 93 FPS offers a 66% improvement with only a modest visual trade-off. High at 78 FPS sits between these, providing a solid middle ground. Low at 125 FPS is the choice for competitive or fast-refresh-rate displays, though the visual downgrade is significant. The data indicates that Medium is the sweet spot across all resolutions—at 1080p it delivers 93 FPS, at 1440p 70 FPS, and at 4K 46 FPS—making it the most consistent recommendation for this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its strongest results. Low settings average 125 FPS. Medium settings average 93 FPS, with a minimum of 79 and maximum of 107. High settings average 78 FPS. Ultra settings average 56 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 69 FPS, showing that settings choice at 1080p has a massive impact on performance.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates compress. Low averages 93 FPS. Medium averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 and maximum of 80. High averages 58 FPS. Ultra averages 42 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra narrows to 51 FPS, reflecting the GPU becoming the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results show significant strain. Low averages 61 FPS. Medium averages 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 and maximum of 53. High averages 38 FPS. Ultra averages 28 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra shrinks to 33 FPS as the GPU's resources are exhausted at every settings tier.

Comparing across resolutions at the same settings, the scaling is consistent. Low settings drop from 125 FPS at 1080p to 93 FPS at 1440p (25.6% loss) to 61 FPS at 4K (34.4% loss from 1440p). Medium settings drop from 93 to 70 to 46 FPS, with the same percentage losses. High settings drop from 78 to 58 to 38 FPS. Ultra settings drop from 56 to 42 to 28 FPS. The consistent scaling suggests the game's engine scales predictably with pixel count for this hardware.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at certain resolution/settings combinations. At 1080p, Low (125 FPS), Medium (93 FPS), and High (78 FPS) all exceed 60 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (93 FPS) and Medium (70 FPS) do. At 4K, only Low (61 FPS) barely reaches 60 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p?

A: Medium provides the best experience, averaging 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS. High drops to 58 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target, but Medium offers better headroom for frame time consistency.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 5950X compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The 5950X scores 51947 on average, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (52073), 0.3% lower than the AMD EPYC 8124P (52121), 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i9-13900F (51730), and 0.7% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700 (52301). All deltas are under 1%.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The data suggests yes, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU ranks in the 61st percentile while the CPU ranks in the 91st percentile. The consistent FPS drops across resolutions—regardless of settings—indicate the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 4K?

A: The combo averages 61 FPS on Low, 46 FPS on Medium, 38 FPS on High, and 28 FPS on Ultra at 3840x2160. Only Low settings achieve a playable frame rate above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to the RX 7600 XT?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, which is 0.7% lower than the RX 7600 XT's 17083. This places them in the same performance tier, with the RX 7600 XT holding a marginal advantage.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates with a 3.40 GHz base clock and a 4.90 GHz boost clock, with a 105 W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 64 MB of L3 cache. This substantial core count and cache configuration makes it a powerhouse for multi-threaded workloads.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is largely supportive. The game's open-world engine benefits from multiple cores for physics, AI, and streaming, but the 16-core/32-thread configuration of the 5950X far exceeds what this title can utilize. The benchmark data confirms this: the CPU's average benchmark score of 51947 places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with synthetic tests showing exceptional multi-threaded performance—Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 26017, Passmark multithread scores 45424, and Geekbench multicore hits 15233.

The CPU's single-thread performance is equally strong. Cinebench R23 singlecore scores 1614, Geekbench singlecore scores 2083, and Passmark singlethread scores 3470. These results indicate that even in lightly-threaded scenes, the 5950X provides ample headroom. The 3DMark thread scaling tests show linear improvement from 944 (single-thread) to 10810 (16-thread) to 11597 (max-threads), demonstrating that the processor scales efficiently with thread count.

In this specific game combo, the CPU is never the limiting factor. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (125 FPS) represents a scenario where the CPU must feed frames quickly, and the 5950X handles this without issue. The fact that frame rates drop consistently as resolution increases—regardless of settings—confirms that the GPU is the binding constraint. The CPU's 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support are sufficient for the game's data streaming needs.

The Ryzen 9 5950X's position among rivals—all within 0.7% of its average score—means that swapping to any of these alternatives would produce negligible changes in this game. The Intel Core i9-13900F is the closest competitor at 0.4% higher, while the Intel Core i7-14700 leads the group at 0.7% higher. The data indicates that CPU choice among these top-tier processors has minimal impact on Red Dead Redemption 2 performance, reinforcing that the RTX 3070 is the component that determines this combo's gameplay experience.