Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Arc B390 combination presents a stark picture for Red Dead Redemption 2, placing 2568th out of 2902 tested combos. This pairing of a high-end 12-core processor with an entry-level integrated graphics solution yields playable frame rates only at the lowest settings and resolutions, with the data revealing a severe bottleneck that is almost entirely attributable to the GPU. The benchmark results indicate a system that can handle the game's CPU demands but is fundamentally constrained by its graphical output, making it a study in extreme component imbalance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable but severe decline as resolution increases, confirming that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component in this configuration. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 51 FPS. Scaling up to 1440p reduces this to 38 FPS, a drop of 13 frames, and at 4K it falls further to 25 FPS. This pattern of performance loss, roughly 25% and 34% respectively, is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of pixel processing power.

The scaling behavior becomes even more pronounced when examining the higher quality presets. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 39 at 1080p to 29 at 1440p and then to 19 at 4K. The transition from 1440p to 4K alone represents a 34% reduction in performance, indicating that the GPU's 24 ROPs and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are being saturated. For the High preset, the frame rate falls from 32 at 1080p to 24 at 1440p and 16 at 4K, showing a similar trend of diminishing returns as resolution climbs.

This scaling data strongly suggests that the game is not being limited by the CPU's geometry or draw call processing but by the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity. The Ryzen 9 7900X, with its boost clock of 5.60 GHz, is capable of feeding the GPU far more data than it can process. The fact that the FPS drops are not linear but become proportionally larger at higher resolutions points to a purely pixel-bound scenario. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS plummets to 11, a 78% reduction from the 1080p Low result, showing that the iGPU's compute units are utterly overwhelmed when asked to render the game at high fidelity and high pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured rows, the choice of settings is a binary decision between playability and visual fidelity. The data shows that 1080p Low is the only configuration that breaks the 50 FPS barrier, with an average of 51 FPS. This is the sole preset where the game approaches a smooth experience for standard 60Hz displays. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 39 FPS, which is still technically fluid but may feel less responsive, while the 1080p High preset yields 32 FPS, a level that many players would find acceptable for a slower-paced action adventure.

For users with 1440p displays, the situation requires more compromise. The Low preset averages 38 FPS, which is a marginal but playable level. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 29 FPS, and the High preset at 24 FPS, both of which are borderline for a game that benefits from stable frame rates. The data suggests that 1440p Low is the only realistic option for this resolution. At 4K, the results are unequivocal: even the Low preset only manages 25 FPS, and Medium drops to 19 FPS, making the game essentially unplayable at this resolution.

The analysis of the measured rows indicates that the best experience per the data is achieved by prioritizing frame rate over visual enhancements. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 12 FPS on average, a 24% reduction, which is a significant trade-off. The data implies that the Arc B390 does not have the shading units or texture rate to handle the increased workload of Medium settings without a substantial hit to performance. Therefore, the recommendation is clear: Low settings are the only way to achieve a consistently playable experience, and users should target 1080p as their primary resolution.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the decisive factor in this system's performance, and its specifications paint a clear picture of its capabilities and limits. Based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, it operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. While the boost clock is respectable, the sheer number of execution units is the limiting factor. With 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and only 24 ROPs, the GPU's raw throughput is low, as evidenced by its FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS.

This hardware configuration directly explains the measured FPS results. The 48 TMUs handle texturing, and the 24 ROPs handle pixel output; these are the units that govern how fast the GPU can fill the screen. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU is severely bottlenecked, with the Ultra preset yielding only 11 FPS. This is a direct consequence of the ROPs being unable to keep up with the 8.3 million pixels required per frame. The GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs reinforces its position at the low end of the performance spectrum.

The memory configuration is also a critical factor. The Arc B390 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning its bandwidth is "System Dependent." This is a major drawback for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which demands high memory bandwidth for textures and geometry. The Ryzen 9 7900X supports dual-channel DDR5 with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, but this is shared with the CPU and is far slower than dedicated VRAM. This shared memory architecture likely contributes to the significant FPS drops when moving from Low to Medium settings, as the increased texture detail puts more strain on the system's memory subsystem.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data provides a complete matrix of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low averages 51 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS (with a min of 33 and max of 44), High averages 32 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. These figures show a clear step-down in performance as the preset quality increases, with the delta between Low and Ultra being 28 FPS, a 55% reduction.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 38 for Low, 29 for Medium (min 24, max 33), 24 for High, and 17 for Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p results in a 25% drop in performance for the Low preset, but the gap narrows slightly for the higher presets, suggesting that the GPU is already nearing its limits. At 3840x2160, the averages are 25 for Low, 19 for Medium (min 16, max 22), 16 for High, and 11 for Ultra. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with even the Low preset failing to reach 30 FPS.

The data also reveals interesting patterns in the min and max FPS values for the Medium preset. At 1080p, the range is 33 to 44 FPS, indicating some frame pacing variance. At 1440p, the range narrows to 24 to 33 FPS, and at 4K, it is 16 to 22 FPS. This tightening of the frame range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is becoming more consistently bottlenecked, with fewer moments of headroom. The overall picture is one of a GPU that can provide a somewhat stable experience at 1080p Low but degrades into inconsistency and unplayability as demands increase.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates no. At 4K, the highest average FPS achieved is 25 with Low settings, dropping to 11 FPS with Ultra settings. These frame rates are well below what is considered playable for a smooth experience.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: The Low preset is the only one that provides a comfortable frame rate, averaging 51 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 39 FPS, which is a noticeable reduction, while High and Ultra yield 32 FPS and 23 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 rank compared to other GPUs?

A: The Arc B390 is in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which it outperforms by 1.3%, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710, which it beats by 2.7%.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 7900X the reason for the low frame rates?

A: No. The CPU is highly capable, ranking in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. The bottleneck is the GPU, as the FPS drops are consistent with a pixel-bound scenario rather than a CPU-bound one.

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

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 38 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 17 FPS. This represents a 21 FPS drop, or a 55% reduction in performance, when moving to the highest quality settings.

Q: Does the system memory configuration affect the game's performance?

A: Yes, the GPU uses "System Shared" memory, and its bandwidth is "System Dependent." This is a limitation, as the GPU must contend with the CPU for access to the same memory pool, which likely contributes to the performance drops at higher settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a powerhouse that is effectively wasted in this configuration. With 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, it has more than enough processing power for Red Dead Redemption 2. Its benchmark scores are impressive, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and a single-core score of 2016.5, placing it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs. This processing capability is far beyond what is needed to drive the game's physics, AI, and game logic.

The CPU's role in this specific game is to prepare frames for the GPU to render. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck because the FPS scales dramatically with resolution and settings, which are GPU-bound tasks. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions, which is not the case. For example, the 1080p Low setting yields 51 FPS, but the 4K Low setting yields only 25 FPS. This 26 FPS difference is entirely due to the GPU's inability to handle the increased pixel count.

The Ryzen 9 7900X's high boost clock of 5.60 GHz and substantial 64 MB of shared L3 cache ensure that it can feed the GPU with a consistent stream of draw calls and vertex data. The nearest rivals to the 7900X, such as the AMD EPYC 7313P and Intel Core i7-14700F, show that it is a top-tier processor. However, in this pairing, the CPU sits idle, waiting for the Arc B390 to catch up. The benchmark results suggest that this CPU could comfortably support a much more powerful discrete GPU, and its potential is entirely untapped in this scenario.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall ranking for this combination is 2568 out of 2902 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems. This low ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU's weak performance, as the CPU is a high-end part. The combo's rank is primarily determined by the measured FPS in the game, and the Arc B390's performance is the anchor dragging the entire system down.

When compared to other tested combos, this system sits just above the bottom tier. The GPU's percentile of 9 means that 91% of other GPUs tested would perform better in this game. The CPU's percentile of 91 means that only 9% of CPUs are more powerful. This extreme mismatch is rare and results in a system that is fundamentally unbalanced. The data implies that for the same CPU, pairing it with a mid-range or high-end discrete GPU would yield a significantly higher combo rank, as the CPU would no longer be the limiting factor.

The ranking is a holistic measure of the system's gaming capability, and this combo's position reflects its inability to run the game at acceptable frame rates for most resolutions and settings. It is a clear example of how a strong CPU cannot compensate for a weak GPU in a graphics-intensive title like Red Dead Redemption 2. The 2568th rank out of 2902 combos is a definitive statement that this configuration is not suitable for this game beyond the most basic settings.