Red Dead Redemption 2

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the Intel Arc B570 in Red Dead Redemption 2 produces a dataset that clearly delineates the boundaries of each component’s influence. Based on measured frames per second across three resolutions and four quality presets, this combination operates as a GPU-limited configuration in nearly every scenario, with the Arc B570’s performance ceiling dictating the experience more than the Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s substantial processing capabilities.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and consistent across all settings, indicating that rendering resolution is the primary performance bottleneck. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 79 FPS at 1080p to 59 FPS at 1440p, then to 39 FPS at 4K. That represents a 25% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 34% reduction from 1440p to 4K, cumulatively a 51% loss from the lowest to highest resolution. This pattern is typical of a graphics card that is saturated by pixel throughput demands, as the Arc B570’s 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become limiting factors as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

At High settings, the scaling is similar but slightly less severe in percentage terms: 49 FPS at 1080p drops to 37 FPS at 1440p (24% loss) and then to 24 FPS at 4K (another 35% loss). The Medium preset shows 59 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K, with the 1080p-to-1440p drop being 25% and the 1440p-to-4K drop being 34%. Ultra settings exhibit the same proportional pattern, with 36 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and 18 FPS at 4K, representing 25% and 33% reductions respectively.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets is revealing. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the FPS delta between resolutions to shrink at lower settings, since fewer GPU resources would be needed and the CPU would have to feed frames faster. Instead, the scaling remains uniform, which suggests the Arc B570 is the constraining component even at 1080p Low. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with its 16 cores and 32 threads, is not being fully utilized in this title; the data shows that even the most demanding CPU scenario—high frame rate at low resolution—does not reveal a CPU bottleneck. The 79 FPS at 1080p Low is well below what this processor could theoretically deliver in a GPU-unconstrained environment, based on its synthetic benchmark scores such as 42,018 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2,259 in single-core.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The highest measured average is 79 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the dataset that approaches a 60+ FPS experience, and it remains below the 90-100 FPS range that would indicate headroom for a higher refresh rate monitor.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D holding back the Intel Arc B570 in this game?

A: No. The benchmark data shows that FPS scales downward consistently as resolution increases across all settings, which is the signature of a GPU-limited workload. The CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 1,292 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,259 are far above what would be needed to sustain the measured frame rates, and even at 1080p Low where CPU demand is highest, the 79 FPS average does not indicate a processor constraint.

Q: How does the Arc B570’s 10 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 18 (Ultra) to 39 (Low). The 10 GB memory capacity and 160-bit bus width, delivering 380.0 GB/s bandwidth, appear sufficient to avoid a hard VRAM limit in this game, as the FPS scaling from 1440p to 4K follows the same proportional pattern as other resolution transitions. If VRAM were exhausted, we would expect a disproportionate FPS collapse at 4K Ultra, but the 18 FPS result is consistent with the overall trend.

Q: What is the playable FPS threshold, and which settings meet it?

A: If we consider 30 FPS as the minimum for playability, then 1080p Medium (59 FPS), 1080p High (49 FPS), 1080p Low (79 FPS), 1440p Low (59 FPS), 1440p Medium (44 FPS), and 1440p High (37 FPS) all exceed that threshold. At 4K, only Low settings (39 FPS) surpass 30 FPS, while Medium (29 FPS) is just below.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2,335 out of 2,902 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 20% of all systems. This percentile position is consistent with the Arc B570’s overall GPU percentile of 65, which indicates it outperforms a majority of GPUs on average, but the specific demands of Red Dead Redemption 2 at high resolutions push this combo down the rankings.

Q: Are the min FPS values significantly lower than the averages?

A: For Medium settings, the only preset with min/max data, the differences are notable. At 1080p, the average is 59 FPS with a min of 50 FPS (15% lower) and max of 68 FPS (15% higher). At 1440p, the average is 44 FPS, with min 38 FPS (14% lower) and max 51 FPS (16% higher). At 4K, the average is 29 FPS, with min 25 FPS (14% lower) and max 34 FPS (17% higher). This consistent spread of approximately 15% around the average suggests stable frame pacing without severe stutters.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the dominant factor in this game’s performance profile. With a base and boost clock of 2500 MHz, 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, the GPU’s raw throughput is modest by modern standards, delivering 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 compute. The memory subsystem consists of 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus, providing 380.0 GB/s bandwidth. These specifications place the Arc B570 at the 65th percentile of all GPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 20,556.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s influence is evident across every measured point. The transition from Low to Ultra settings at a fixed resolution produces a consistent FPS reduction. At 1080p, Low yields 79 FPS, Medium 59 FPS, High 49 FPS, and Ultra 36 FPS. That is a 54% drop from Low to Ultra, which reflects the increasing load on the GPU’s shading units, texture units, and memory bandwidth as the game’s quality presets raise geometric detail, shadow quality, and post-processing effects. The Arc B570’s 18 ray tracing cores are not directly relevant here, as Red Dead Redemption 2 does not heavily utilize ray tracing, but the 80 ROPs handle the final pixel output, and their 200.0 GPixel/s rate becomes a clear constraint at 4K.

The GPU’s memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s is a critical factor at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 18, which indicates that the combination of pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth is insufficient for the game’s most demanding settings. The 10 GB VRAM capacity is not the primary issue, as the uniform scaling pattern suggests that bandwidth and compute, rather than capacity, are the limiting factors. The Arc B570’s PCIe 4.0 x8 interface could theoretically introduce a bottleneck on older platforms, but with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s PCIe Gen 5 support, the interface is not a limitation in this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 79 FPS, which is the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 68 FPS, indicating that the game remains smooth with minor variance. High settings average 49 FPS, while Ultra drops to 36 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 43 FPS, showing that the quality preset has a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages decrease across the board. Low settings yield 59 FPS, which matches the 1080p Medium result. Medium settings average 44 FPS, with a min of 38 FPS and max of 51 FPS. High settings average 37 FPS, and Ultra drops to 27 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 32 FPS, a slightly smaller absolute gap than at 1080p, but the relative performance is lower. Notably, 1440p High at 37 FPS is comparable to 1080p Ultra at 36 FPS, suggesting that the GPU’s workload scales roughly with the pixel count increase.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal. Low settings average 39 FPS, which is the only 4K result above 30 FPS. Medium settings average 29 FPS, with a min of 25 FPS and max of 34 FPS, placing it right at the edge of playability. High settings average 24 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The 4K Low result of 39 FPS is noteworthy because it demonstrates that the Arc B570 can handle 4K only when the game’s visual features are heavily reduced. The 4K Medium min of 25 FPS indicates that there will be noticeable stutter during demanding scenes.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the only complete FPS data with min and max values, allowing for a detailed analysis of frame variance. At 1080p, the range is 50-68 FPS, at 1440p it is 38-51 FPS, and at 4K it is 25-34 FPS. The min FPS is consistently about 14-15% below the average, and the max is about 15-17% above, which is a consistent and predictable variance pattern, rather than one with erratic spikes or drops.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for Red Dead Redemption 2 is 2,335 out of 2,902 tested combinations. This places the system in the bottom 20% of all configurations, which is a poor showing for a game that is several years old and not known for being exceptionally demanding by contemporary standards. The rank is influenced primarily by the Intel Arc B570’s performance, as the GPU’s own percentile of 65 is far higher than this game-specific rank would suggest. This discrepancy indicates that Red Dead Redemption 2 is particularly taxing on the Arc B570’s architecture or that the game’s engine does not optimize for this GPU’s strengths.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D, by contrast, sits at the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 75,779. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 at 75,738 (0.1% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D at 75,716 (0.1% delta), the AMD EPYC 8224P at 75,582 (0.3% delta), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 at 75,488 (0.4% delta). This places the 9950X3D at the very top of the CPU hierarchy, making its pairing with a GPU that ranks 2,335th in this specific game an extreme imbalance. The CPU is not the limiting factor in any measured scenario, and its 128 MB of L3 cache, 5.7 GHz boost clock, and 16 cores are all underutilized in Red Dead Redemption 2 at the frame rates this GPU can produce.

The rank of 2,335 out of 2,902 means that approximately 567 tested combos perform worse in this game. This is a significant portion, indicating that there are many weaker systems, but it also means that the vast majority of modern gaming PCs would outperform this specific pairing. The data suggests that for this game, the Arc B570 is the bottleneck, and even a mid-range CPU would produce similar FPS results when paired with this GPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and the user’s frame rate preference. For 1920x1080, Medium settings provide the best balance, with an average of 59 FPS and a minimum of 50 FPS. This ensures that the game remains smooth even during heavy scenes, and the maximum of 68 FPS leaves some headroom for a 60 Hz display. High settings at 49 FPS are also playable, but the 10 FPS drop from Medium may not justify the visual improvements, especially since the min FPS data is not available for High. Low settings at 79 FPS are only recommended for competitive play or if the user prioritizes frame rate over all visual quality, but the game’s atmospheric detail would be significantly reduced.

For 2560x1440, Low settings at 59 FPS are the best option for a consistent 60 FPS experience, matching the 1080p Medium result. Medium settings at 44 FPS are acceptable for a 40-45 FPS experience, with the min of 38 FPS ensuring that dips are not too severe. High settings at 37 FPS are borderline, and Ultra at 27 FPS should be avoided unless the user is willing to accept a sub-30 FPS experience.

For 3840x2160, Low settings at 39 FPS are the only viable choice, and even then, the experience is not ideal due to the lack of min FPS data. Medium settings at 29 FPS, with a min of 25 FPS, will produce noticeable stutter and should be avoided. High and Ultra settings at 24 FPS and 18 FPS respectively are not recommended for any gameplay scenario.

Overall, the best experience for this combo is at 1080p with Medium settings, which delivers an average of 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS. This provides a smooth, playable experience without requiring the user to sacrifice too much visual quality. For users with a 1440p monitor, Low settings at 59 FPS is the equivalent choice, while 4K is only playable at Low settings with a reduced frame rate.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, manufactured on a 4nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, with a TDP of 170 W. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 128 MB of L3 cache, which is a substantial amount designed to reduce memory latency in gaming workloads. Its memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel access and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role is minimal based on the measured data. The game is not heavily multithreaded in a way that would stress a 16-core processor, and the frame rates observed are well below what this CPU could support. The 3DMark multi-thread score of 17,184 and the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42,018 demonstrate immense parallel processing capability, but the game’s engine likely uses only a fraction of these threads. The single-thread performance, as measured by 3DMark single-thread score of 1,292 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,259, is also more than sufficient for the game’s main thread, which typically handles game logic and draw call submission.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (0.1% higher average score), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D (0.1% higher), the AMD EPYC 8224P (0.3% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 (0.4% higher). These tiny deltas indicate that the 9950X3D is at the top of the performance stack, but in this game, that advantage does not translate into higher FPS because the GPU is the limiting factor. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would need to prepare more frames per second, the 79 FPS average is far below what the CPU could theoretically deliver, confirming that the Arc B570 is the sole constraint.

The CPU’s 128 MB of L3 cache and 5.7 GHz boost clock are features that would benefit games with large, frequently accessed data sets, but Red Dead Redemption 2 does not appear to be such a title for this hardware combination. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecks, such as frame rate plateaus across different resolutions or settings. Instead, the consistent scaling of FPS with resolution and settings points squarely at the GPU as the performance limiter, rendering the CPU’s capabilities largely irrelevant to the final frame rates in this specific pairing.