Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2, an action-adventure title from 2018, exhibits a distinct performance profile when paired with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. The measured frame rates across four presets and three resolutions reveal a consistent pattern: the RTX 4080 becomes the primary performance limit each time pixel count rises, while the 16-core CPU maintains more than enough throughput to feed it. The data, collected under the same test conditions, shows that this combo is capable of smooth 60 FPS gameplay at 4K on High settings, and can push far beyond 100 FPS at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The measured results show a clear relationship between resolution and frame rate. At every preset, moving from 1920×1080 to 2560×1440 reduces the average FPS by approximately 25% to 26%. For example, at Low settings, the average drops from 194 FPS at 1080p to 145 FPS at 1440p, a decline of 25.3%. At Medium settings, the drop is from 145 to 108 FPS (25.5%) and at High settings from 121 to 90 FPS (25.6%). Even at Ultra, the decline of 22 FPS (from 87 to 65) represents a 25.3% reduction. The uniformity of this percentage across presets indicates that the GPU shading and pixel work scale exactly as expected with pixel count.

Moving from 1440p to 4K (3840×2160) produces a steeper drop of roughly 33–34% at every preset. For instance, Low settings go from 145 to 96 FPS, a fall of 33.8%; Medium from 108 to 72 FPS (33.3%); High from 90 to 60 FPS (33.3%); and Ultra from 65 to 43 FPS (33.8%). This additional 33% penalty over the 25% seen from 1080p to 1440p is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where 4K packs approximately 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p. The fact that the same relative drop appears across all settings strongly suggests that the RTX 4080 is the limiting component at 4K, not the CPU.

The total scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent: the average FPS halves at every quality level. For Low, 194 to 96 is 49.5% of the original; High, 121 to 60 is 49.6%; Ultra, 87 to 43 is 49.4%; Medium, 145 to 72 is 49.7%. This near-perfect halving confirms that the graphics pipeline is wholly GPU-bound as resolution increases, with no appreciable CPU interference in that transition. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with its 16 cores and 5.70 GHz boost clock, easily feeds the RTX 4080 even at 1080p, where the GPU sees the highest load per frame.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 sits in the 86th percentile of all GPUs in the benchmark database. Its average 3D Mark Steel Nomad score is 6567. The GPU is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. Its memory configuration consists of 16 GB of GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This bandwidth is more than sufficient for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which does not rely on extreme textures or memory-heavy scenarios.

The clocks listed are a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz. The memory runs at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). In the measured data, this GPU delivers frame rates that scale predictably with resolution, as described above. At 1920×1080, even at Ultra settings it reaches an average of 87 FPS, which indicates the GPU is not otherwise constrained. At 4K, the same Ultra preset drops to 43 FPS, showing that the most demanding settings at that resolution push the card to its limits.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is not a bottleneck here; no texture or preset in the measured data ran out of memory, and the FPS remains consistent within each measured row. The GPU's 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate are high but not directly indicative of real-world FPS; the measured numbers show the practical performance. The GPU's percentile places it near the very top, and its nearest apparitions (RTX 4080 SUPER, Radeon Pro W5700X, etc.) differ by less than 3% in average score, confirming that the RTX 4080 is a strong high-end part.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS reached with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The highest average FPS measured is 194 FPS, achieved at 1920×1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Which preset gives 1440p at just above 100 FPS?

A: At 2560×1440, Medium settings produce an average FPS of 108, and High settings produce 90 FPS. Only Medium crosses the 100 FPS mark; Low reaches 145 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, at 3840×2160 with High settings the average FPS is exactly 60. At Medium settings it runs at a higher 72 FPS, but at Ultra it drops to 43 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's 16 cores influence performance in this game?

A: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D has 16 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 5.70 GHz and a large 128 MB L3 cache. The consistent FPS scaling across resolutions suggests that the CPU does not become a bottleneck; at 1080p Low, the CPU is still able to feed the GPU enough to reach 194 FPS, indicating excellent per-thread performance.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Medium and High presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560×1440, Medium settings give 108 FPS average, while High settings give 90 FPS, a difference of 18 FPS (16.7% lower). The min/max data for Medium shows a range of 92–125 FPS, while High has no min/max recorded.

Q: Which setting yields more than 200 FPS at any resolution?

A: No measured preset reaches 200 FPS. The highest is 194 FPS, which occurs at 1080p with Low settings.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth 4K experience, the data points to High settings as the most sensible preset. At 3840×2160, High delivers an average of 60 FPS, exactly the standard refresh-rate target. Available alternatives: Medium gives 72 FPS, which is smoother but also higher; Low jumps to 96 FPS but reduces visual quality. Ultra falls to 43 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and therefore not recommended for 4K gaming unless a lower frame rate is acceptable.

If playing at 1440p, Medium and High both exceed 60 FPS. Medium returns 108 FPS, while High yields 90 FPS. Between the two, High is likely the best balance, offering a solid FPS with improved visuals. Low goes to 145 FPS, and Ultra still holds 65 FPS. The High preset at 1440p gives near 90 FPS, which is well above 60 and ideal for high refresh-rate monitors.

At 1080p, even Ultra produces 87 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS standard. For maximum smoothness on a 144 Hz monitor, Low hits 194 FPS, Medium 145 FPS, and High 121 FPS reproduce. High serves as an excellent balance; 121 FPS remains high and the visual upgrade over Medium is substantial.

In summary, the best frame-rate-per-setting trade-off for each resolution is 4K High (60 FPS), 1440p High (90 FPS), and 1080p High (121 FPS). Higher settings are available, but they either miss the 60 FPS mark (4K Ultra) or provide unnecessary extra frames at lower resolutions that may be limited by the human eye, not the GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|---------|---------|---------|

| 1920×1080 | Low | 194 | – | – |

| 1920×1080 | Medium | 145 | 123 | 167 |

| 1920×1080 | High | 121 | – | – |

| 1920×1080 | Ultra | 87 | – | – |

| 2560×1440 | Low | 145 | – | – |

| 2560×1440 | Medium | 108 | 92 | 125 |

| 2560×1440 | High | 90 | – | – |

| 2560×1440 | Ultra | 65 | – | – |

| 3840×2160 | Low | 96 | – | – |

| 3840×2160 | Medium | 72 | 61 | 82 |

| 3840×2160 | High | 60 | – | – |

| 3840×2160 | Ultra | 43 | – | – |

These numbers show a predictable pattern: all three resolutions follow the same hierarchy, with Low the fastest and Ultra the slowest. The medium preset offers intermediate FPS and the only recorded min/max values, suggesting it is the most commonly used for testing. For each resolution, the FPS roughly halves when moving from Low to Ultra—the ratio is about 2.2 at 1080p (194/87 ≈ 2.23), similarly at 1440p (145/65 ≈ 2.23), and exactly 2.0 at 4K (96/43 ≈ 2.23). This consistency indicates that the scaling between presets is linear regardless of resolution, meaning Shadow? We do not have preset specifics; only the four presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a desktop processor based on Zen 5 architecture, codenamed “Granite Ridge,” using a 4 nm TSMC process. It has 16 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz. The L3 cache is 128 MB, which is large by desktop standards. Its TDP is 170 W, and it supports DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode.

Benchmark scores show the CPU’s strength: in Cinebench R23 multi-core it scores 42018, and single-core 2259. The multi-core result places it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. The average benchmark score is 75779, which places it just above the rival AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 (which has a 75738 average score, a delta of 0.1%). Intel Core Ultra 9 285 hovers at 75488, only 1.4% slower.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU plays a supporting role. The game’s engine is largely GPU-bound at high resolutions, as evidenced by the FPS scaling. However, at 1080p Low, the CPU must process many instructions per frame; the achieved 194 FPS demonstrates that the 5.70 GHz boost and 128 MB L3 cache are not limiting. The 32 threads allow background tasks to stay out of the way. At 4K, the CPU still has headroom because the frame time is dominated by GPU render tasks.

The single-core performance, measured by Cinebench R15 single-core score of 350 and Geekbench single-core of 3064, is above typical needs. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU is stressed (43 FPS), the CPU is far from causing a bottleneck. The PCMark data encryption and integer math scores are high, but the game does not rely on those.

The Ryzen 9950X3D also has a passmark physics score of 5670, which indicates strong gaming-relevant physics processing. In summary, the CPU’s raw power ensures that it will rarely be the limiting factor in this game or similar titles. Its launch MSRP was $699, a detail that is not typically needed for performance analysis, but it confirms its premium tier.

The combination of 16 cores, a 5.70 GHz boost, and 128 MB L3 cache makes this CPU an ideal match for the RTX 4080. The measured data shows no evidence of the CPU capping performance at any resolution or preset.