Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 pairing delivers a solid but demanding 4K experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, with the data showing a clear shift from CPU-bound performance at lower resolutions to a GPU-limited scenario at 4K. The measured frame rates across the three resolutions and four quality presets provide a complete picture of how this combination scales, and the results indicate that the RTX 5070 is the primary driver of performance at higher pixel counts while the 9900X ensures headroom at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 164 at 1920x1080 to 122.6 at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 25%, and then drops further to 82.1 at 3840x2160, which is exactly half of the 1080p figure. This pattern shows a predictable scaling curve where each step up in resolution imposes a significant load on the RTX 5070’s rendering pipeline.

Moving to High settings, the same trend holds: 103.4 FPS at 1080p declines to 79.1 FPS at 1440p and then to 48.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K result here is less than half of the 1080p value, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading resources are being saturated. At Ultra, the 1080p score of 74.4 FPS drops to 53.5 FPS at 1440p and finally to 34.5 FPS at 4K, a figure that falls below the 60 FPS threshold and suggests that Ultra 4K is not a viable target for this combo without adjustments.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, the 1440p average of 89.3 FPS drops to 58.3 FPS at 4K, a 35% reduction. This is a larger relative drop than the 1440p to 1080p transition, where Medium sees only a 27% decrease from 123.2 to 89.3 FPS. The data implies that the CPU’s 12 cores and 24 threads, running at a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the RTX 5070’s 12 GB of GDDR7 memory and 192-bit bus become the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070’s specifications directly explain the measured results. With a boost clock of 2512 MHz and 6144 shading units, the GPU delivers strong raw compute, but its 12 GB memory capacity and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are the defining factors at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 34.5 FPS suggests that the card is running out of memory bandwidth when handling the game’s heavy texture and lighting workloads, as the 192-bit bus width limits data throughput compared to wider implementations.

The GPU’s 80 ROPs and 48 RT cores contribute to the High preset performance, where 4K still achieves 48.2 FPS. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is dramatic: 82.1 FPS versus 34.5 FPS, a difference of 47.6 FPS or roughly 58% better performance on Low. This indicates that the RTX 5070’s memory subsystem is the primary constraint, as lowering settings reduces the data load and allows the GPU to work more efficiently.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it in the 83rd percentile versus all GPUs, with an average score of 41687. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 with a deltaPct of 0.6, meaning the RTX 5070 is slightly ahead of that older flagship. This context matters for Red Dead Redemption 2: the game’s open-world environments and draw distances stress memory bandwidth more than pure compute, so the RTX 5070’s modern architecture helps at 1080p and 1440p but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 353rd out of 1687 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top 21% of all pairings. This is a strong showing, but it is not near the top tier, which is reserved for combinations with higher-end GPUs. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s high multi-threaded performance and the GPU’s mid-to-high tier positioning.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 54450 places it in the 94th percentile versus all CPUs, and its nearest rivals show how close the competition is. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681 with a deltaPct of -0.4, meaning the 9900X is just 0.4% behind its 3D V-Cache sibling. The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54097 with a deltaPct of 0.7, indicating the 9900X is 0.7% ahead. These small deltas confirm that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this combo’s rank.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 41687 places it in the 83rd percentile, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 with a deltaPct of 0.2 and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 with a deltaPct of -0.5. The RTX 3090 comparison is notable: the 5070 is 0.6% ahead in average benchmark score, but in this game the 4K Ultra result of 34.5 FPS suggests that memory capacity differences could matter in specific scenarios. The combo rank of 353 indicates that while the CPU is top-tier, the GPU holds the pairing back from the top 10% of configurations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers playable frame rates across all settings. Low averages 164 FPS, Medium drops to 123.2 FPS, High achieves 103.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 74.4 FPS. These numbers show that 1080p is firmly in CPU-bound territory, as the 9900X’s single-thread performance (evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 1286) allows the GPU to run at near-peak efficiency. The spread from Low to Ultra is 89.6 FPS, showing that even at Ultra, there is significant headroom for high refresh rate monitors.

At 2560x1440, the GPU begins to assert its influence. Low still delivers 122.6 FPS, but Medium falls to 89.3 FPS, High to 79.1 FPS, and Ultra to 53.5 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at Ultra is 20.9 FPS, while the gap at Low is 41.4 FPS. This indicates that the GPU’s fill rate is becoming a factor, but the 1440p Ultra result of 53.5 FPS is still above the 30 FPS floor, making it a viable option for slower-paced exploration.

At 3840x2160, the results are more constrained. Low averages 82.1 FPS, Medium drops to 58.3 FPS, High to 48.2 FPS, and Ultra to 34.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-40 FPS score in the entire dataset, and it highlights the GPU’s memory bandwidth limitations. The difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 47.6 FPS, showing that settings have a massive impact at this resolution. For a 60 FPS target, High settings at 4K fall short by 11.8 FPS, while Medium misses by 1.7 FPS, making Medium the closest option to that target.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 60 FPS in 4K?

A: The data shows that at 4K, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS with an average of 82.1 FPS. Medium settings reach 58.3 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS mark, while High and Ultra fall further behind at 48.2 FPS and 34.5 FPS respectively.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: At 1440p, High settings deliver 79.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a good balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra at 1440p achieves 53.5 FPS, which is still playable but requires a compromise on frame rate.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450, which is 0.4% lower than the Ryzen 9 9900X3D’s 54681 and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700F’s 54097. These differences are minimal in real-world gaming.

Q: Is the GPU’s 12 GB of memory enough for 4K?

A: The measured 4K Ultra result of 34.5 FPS suggests that the 12 GB memory capacity and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth are limiting factors at ultra-high settings. Lowering settings to Medium improves performance to 58.3 FPS, indicating that memory load is a key constraint.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking?

A: This combination ranks 353rd out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations tested by the database.

Q: How does the GPU’s benchmark score compare to the RTX 3090?

A: The RTX 5070 has an average benchmark score of 41687, which is 0.6% higher than the RTX 3090’s 41441. However, in-game performance at 4K Ultra shows a 34.5 FPS result, which may differ from synthetic benchmarks due to specific game workloads.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 FPS experience, the data points to 1440p with High settings as the sweet spot. The 79.1 FPS average provides a comfortable margin above the target, and the visual quality at High is close to Ultra without the steep frame rate penalty. If you prefer 4K, Medium settings are the only viable option near 60 FPS, delivering 58.3 FPS, but you will need to accept a slight dip below the target.

At 1080p, the choice is less critical. Ultra settings achieve 74.4 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and offers the best visual fidelity. For competitive play or high refresh rate displays, Low settings at 1080p deliver 164 FPS, which is ideal for 144 Hz monitors. The 1080p Medium and High presets both exceed 100 FPS, so they are also excellent choices.

For 4K gaming, avoid Ultra settings entirely, as the 34.5 FPS result is below playable thresholds for most users. High at 4K provides 48.2 FPS, which is passable for story-driven content but not for action sequences. The best 4K experience is Medium at 58.3 FPS, as it stays close to the 60 FPS target while maintaining reasonable visual quality. If you prioritize frame rate over visuals, Low at 4K offers 82.1 FPS, proving that the GPU can handle this resolution when the settings are reduced appropriately.