Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 with AMD Ryzen 9 7900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a strong but resolution-dependent experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, with measured frame rates ranging from 150.2 FPS at 1080p Low to 30.8 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data reveals a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the 12-core, 24-thread processor provides ample headroom across all tested configurations. The combination ranks 478th out of 1687 tested combos in this game, placing it comfortably in the upper third of all systems benchmarked.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows a predictable and steep decline across all settings presets, with the GPU becoming the dominant limiting factor as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 97.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 72.4 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 24.8 FPS, and then falls further to 46.1 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 52.6% decrease from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are being increasingly taxed as resolution scales.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers, starting at 150.2 FPS at 1080p and falling to 112.7 FPS at 1440p, then down to 72.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low figure being nearly identical to the 1440p High figure (72.8 vs 72.4 FPS) suggests that the GPU's raw throughput, not memory capacity, is the constraining factor at 4K. This is reinforced by the fact that the 7900X, with its 4.70 GHz base and 5.60 GHz boost clocks, delivers single-thread performance that would not bottleneck at these frame rates; the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6168 indicate substantial headroom.

At Medium settings, the scaling pattern continues: 114.1 FPS at 1080p, 84.1 FPS at 1440p, and 58.3 FPS at 4K. The gap between Medium and High narrows as resolution increases, with a 16.9 FPS difference at 1080p shrinking to 12.2 FPS at 4K. This convergence implies that at higher resolutions, pixel shading and memory bandwidth demands dominate over the incremental effects of quality settings, making the RTX 4070's 1920 MHz base and 2475 MHz boost clocks the critical variable.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling curve, falling from 66 FPS at 1080p to 48.5 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 30.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-30 FPS measurement in the dataset, highlighting that the combination of maximum settings and 3840x2160 resolution exceeds the comfortable operating range for this GPU. The RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are substantial, but Red Dead Redemption 2's Ultra preset clearly demands more at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the High preset at 1440p offers the most balanced experience, delivering 72.4 FPS while maintaining visual fidelity above Medium's 84.1 FPS and below Ultra's 48.5 FPS. The 72.4 FPS figure at 1440p High is nearly identical to the 72.8 FPS achieved at 4K Low, suggesting that users prioritizing resolution over detail can achieve equivalent smoothness with a significant pixel-count advantage. For those targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, 4K Medium at 58.3 FPS falls slightly short, while 1440p High comfortably exceeds it.

At 1080p, the Medium preset at 114.1 FPS provides a substantial margin above the 60 FPS threshold, while High at 97.2 FPS still leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 66 FPS, which is playable but offers only a 7.7 FPS advantage over the 4K Medium result, making the visual fidelity trade-off questionable when resolution is considered. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 150.2 FPS, but the data shows diminishing returns: upgrading from Low to Medium costs 36.1 FPS, while from Medium to High costs 16.9 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 31.2 FPS.

For 4K users, the Low preset at 72.8 FPS is the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS mark, while Medium at 58.3 FPS is marginally below. The High preset at 46.1 FPS would require adaptive sync or a lower frame rate target, and Ultra at 30.8 FPS is only suitable for cinematic playthroughs or screenshot purposes. The data suggests that the RTX 4070's 12 GB memory capacity is sufficient at 4K across all presets, as bandwidth rather than capacity appears to be the limiting factor, but the GPU's compute resources are stretched thin at Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 478th out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the 71.7th percentile of all measured systems. This ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically outweighs the other; the CPU's 93rd percentile standing among all processors and the GPU's 81st percentile among all GPUs suggest that the system's in-game performance is slightly moderated by the graphics card.

In isolation, the CPU's average benchmark score of 50556 places it within 0.1% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (50598), 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (50738), and 0.8% behind the Intel Core i9-13980HX (50944). This tight clustering indicates that the 7900X is competitively positioned in synthetic workloads, and in Red Dead Redemption 2, its 12 cores and 24 threads provide more than enough processing power to feed the RTX 4070 at all tested resolutions.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 37283 puts it 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) and 1.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A (38008), while leading the AMD Radeon RX 5300M (36371) by 2.5%. These comparisons are based on aggregate scores across multiple tests, and the in-game results show that the RTX 4070's real-world performance in Red Dead Redemption 2 is strong at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 30.8 FPS drags down its overall suitability for maximum-resolution gaming. The combo's 478th rank out of 1687 indicates that while many systems outperform it, the majority of tested configurations deliver lower frame rates in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 150.2 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The best 1440p result is 112.7 FPS at Low, and the best 4K result is 72.8 FPS at Low.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only with Low settings, which achieve 72.8 FPS. Medium settings at 4K deliver 58.3 FPS, which falls just below the 60 FPS threshold, while High and Ultra produce 46.1 FPS and 30.8 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 50556 on average, which is 0.1% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (50598), 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (50738), and 0.8% behind the Intel Core i7-13850HX (50827) and Intel Core i9-13980HX (50944).

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings achieve 84.1 FPS while High settings achieve 72.4 FPS, a difference of 11.7 FPS. The gap narrows at higher resolutions, with a 12.2 FPS difference at 4K (58.3 vs 46.1 FPS).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor even at 1080p. The CPU's single-thread performance (6168 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is sufficient to drive frame rates well above the measured 150.2 FPS maximum, and the GPU's 81st percentile standing among all GPUs suggests it constrains performance more than the CPU's 93rd percentile.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This configuration ranks 478th out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the upper 28.3% of all systems benchmarked for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070's role in Red Dead Redemption 2 is defined by its 12 GB GDDR6X memory, 192-bit bus, and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The GPU's base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz provide the computational throughput that drives the measured frame rates, while the 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units handle the game's detailed environments and character models. The 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s, which becomes increasingly strained as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K.

The memory subsystem plays a critical role in the scaling behavior observed across settings. The 12 GB capacity is sufficient for all tested configurations, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate progression without abrupt drops that would indicate memory overflow. However, the 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is likely a contributing factor to the steep decline at 4K Ultra, where the 30.8 FPS result suggests that the combination of high-resolution textures and Ultra-level effects exceeds the memory bandwidth's ability to feed the GPU cores efficiently.

The RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate are substantial for a 200 W TDP part, and the benchmark data confirms that the card performs admirably at 1080p and 1440p across all presets. The 4K results, however, reveal the limits of this GPU class: even at Medium settings, the 58.3 FPS average indicates that the card is operating near its maximum sustainable load. The GPU's end-of-life production status and its 81st percentile standing among all GPUs suggest that while it remains competitive in this title, users seeking consistently high frame rates at 4K Ultra would need to consider GPUs with higher average benchmark scores than the 37283 recorded here.