Red Dead Redemption 2

The data for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 shows a clear progression in performance as resolution drops, with the 1920x1080 Low preset delivering the highest average frame rate at 150.6 FPS. Across all four settings presets, the frame rate increases substantially when moving from 3840x2160 to 1920x1080, indicating that the combination scales predictably with pixel count. The largest absolute jump occurs at the Low preset, which climbs from 72.8 FPS at 4K to 113.3 FPS at 1440p and finally to 150.6 FPS at 1080p, a gain of 77.8 FPS from the highest to the lowest resolution tested. This scaling pattern suggests that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor, while at 1080p the workload shifts enough to allow the CPU’s capabilities to come to the forefront.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas between resolutions reveal where the bottleneck sits in this pairing. At the Ultra preset, the difference between 3840x2160 and 2560x1440 is 13.8 FPS (from 34.5 to 48.3), while the move from 1440p to 1080p adds another 20.2 FPS, landing at 68.5 FPS. This growing gap as resolution decreases points to the GPU being heavily constrained at 4K, with the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 192-bit bus width struggling to maintain higher frame rates under the Ultra settings’ demands. Conversely, the Low preset shows a more compressed scaling curve: 72.8 FPS at 4K, 113.3 FPS at 1440p, and 150.6 FPS at 1080p, with the 4K-to-1440p step yielding 40.5 FPS and the 1440p-to-1080p step yielding 37.3 FPS. The relatively even increments at Low suggest that neither component is fully saturated, allowing both the CPU and GPU to contribute to performance more equally.

At Medium settings, the pattern holds with 54 FPS at 4K, 86 FPS at 1440p, and 115.8 FPS at 1080p, showing a 32 FPS jump between each resolution step. The High preset delivers 48.1 FPS at 4K, 72.4 FPS at 1440p, and 95.7 FPS at 1080p, with the deltas being 24.3 and 23.3 FPS respectively. The consistency of these increments across Medium and High, combined with the larger Ultra deltas, indicates that the RTX 4070’s rendering pipeline hits a wall at Ultra settings, where the 158.4 GPixel/s pixel rate and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate are insufficient to keep up with the game’s highest graphical demands. At 1080p, the CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads become more relevant, as the lower pixel count reduces the GPU’s workload and allows the Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s single-thread performance to drive higher frame rates.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 150.6 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is more than double the 68.5 FPS achieved at the same resolution with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the 3840x2160 Ultra result compare to the 1920x1080 Ultra result?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average frame rate is 34.5 FPS, while at 1920x1080 Ultra it rises to 68.5 FPS. This represents a 34 FPS improvement, or roughly a doubling of performance, when moving from 4K to 1080p at the same settings.

Q: Which settings preset at 2560x1440 provides the smoothest experience?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 delivers the highest average frame rate of 113.3 FPS. The Medium preset follows at 86 FPS, with High at 72.4 FPS and Ultra at 48.3 FPS, making Low the most fluid option at this resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU remains the primary limiter even at 1080p, as the frame rate still varies significantly across presets. However, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s high single-thread score of 8430 in Cinebench R23 indicates it has headroom to support the 150.6 FPS achieved at Low settings.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 3840x2160?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 54 FPS while High averages 48.1 FPS, a difference of 5.9 FPS. The Ultra preset drops further to 34.5 FPS, showing a 19.5 FPS gap between Medium and Ultra.

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

A: The combo ranks 443rd out of 1687 tested combinations, placing it in the upper quartile of all configurations. This ranking reflects the balanced performance of the RTX 4070 paired with the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture using a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.30 GHz and boost clock of 5.70 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 8430 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4737. The 128 MB of shared L3 cache is particularly relevant for Red Dead Redemption 2, a game that benefits from large cache capacities for open-world data streaming. In multi-threaded workloads, the CPU achieves 59712 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 70255 in Passmark multithread, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, scores 70420 on average, which is 1.8% lower, while the Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70104 is 2.2% behind.

The CPU’s role in the game becomes apparent when examining the frame rate scaling at 1080p. At Low settings, the combo hits 150.6 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this level. However, the drop to 68.5 FPS at Ultra settings at the same resolution indicates that the GPU’s limitations take over as the primary constraint. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D’s memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 provides sufficient throughput for the game’s asset streaming, while its PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes ensures the RTX 4070’s PCIe 4.0 x16 connection is not a bottleneck. The CPU’s 3DMark 16-thread score of 16374 and max-thread score of 17184 further underscore its capability to handle the game’s simulation and AI tasks without becoming the limiting factor in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1687 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2, this pairing of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and RTX 4070 holds the 443rd position. This places it in the top 26% of all configurations, a respectable showing given the RTX 4070’s position in the GPU hierarchy. The GPU itself ranks in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37283, placing it close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile which scores 38135 (2.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37507 (0.6% higher). The CPU’s 96th percentile ranking is significantly higher, indicating that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card in this pairing.

The rank of 443 out of 1687 suggests that many combinations with higher-end GPUs outperform this setup in this specific game. The RTX 4070’s 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p play but become strained at 4K Ultra, where the average frame rate drops to 34.5 FPS. This is consistent with the GPU’s nearest rival comparisons, where the RTX 4070’s average score is only 1.9% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A and 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5300M. The combo’s ranking reflects a balanced system that excels at lower resolutions but cannot compete with top-tier GPU pairings at higher settings, where the frame rate data shows diminishing returns as resolution and quality settings increase.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing smooth gameplay, the Low preset at 1920x1080 offers the highest average frame rate at 150.6 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. At 2560x1440, the Low preset still delivers a fluid 113.3 FPS, making it the best choice for competitive play or motion clarity. If visual fidelity is more important, the High preset at 1080p provides 95.7 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays while offering improved graphical quality over Medium’s 115.8 FPS. At 1440p, the High preset at 72.4 FPS offers a balanced experience, though users with 60 Hz monitors may prefer Medium at 86 FPS for additional headroom.

For 4K displays, the data indicates that Ultra settings are not viable, with an average of 34.5 FPS, which falls below playable standards for most users. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers 54 FPS, which is borderline playable but may exhibit stutter in demanding scenes. The Low preset at 54 FPS for 4K is the only setting that approaches acceptable fluidity, though at a significant visual cost. The optimal experience depends on the display resolution: 1080p users should select High for a balance of quality and speed, 1440p users can choose between High at 72.4 FPS or Medium at 86 FPS, and 4K users should stick to Low or Medium if they can tolerate the lower frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are 150.6 FPS for Low, 115.8 FPS for Medium, 95.7 FPS for High, and 68.5 FPS for Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline of approximately 27.5 FPS per step, with the largest single drop being 27.2 FPS from Medium to High. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates are 113.3 FPS for Low, 86 FPS for Medium, 72.4 FPS for High, and 48.3 FPS for Ultra. The deltas here are 27.3 FPS between Low and Medium, 13.6 FPS between Medium and High, and 24.1 FPS between High and Ultra, showing a less uniform pattern than at 1080p. At 3840x2160, the results are 72.8 FPS for Low, 54 FPS for Medium, 48.1 FPS for High, and 34.5 FPS for Ultra, with the gaps being 18.8 FPS, 5.9 FPS, and 13.6 FPS respectively.

Comparing across resolutions for each preset, the Low settings show the most consistent scaling, with 150.6 FPS at 1080p, 113.3 FPS at 1440p, and 72.8 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset delivers 115.8 FPS at 1080p, 86 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K, while High yields 95.7 FPS, 72.4 FPS, and 48.1 FPS respectively. Ultra is the most demanding, producing 68.5 FPS at 1080p, 48.3 FPS at 1440p, and 34.5 FPS at 4K. The data reveals that the RTX 4070’s performance degrades more sharply at higher resolutions when settings increase, with the 4K Ultra result being only 23% of the 1080p Low result. This breakdown highlights the GPU as the limiting component, particularly at 4K and at Ultra settings, where the combination falls below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.