Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 1408th out of 1687 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. This position reflects a hardware pairing that sits near the 69th percentile for the GPU and 72nd percentile for the CPU across all components, yet the combination lands well below the top half of tested combos specifically for this title. The ranking indicates that while neither component is a slouch in synthetic benchmarks, the game’s demanding rendering load exposes the limits of this pairing, particularly when higher settings are enabled. The delta between the CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking and the combo’s 1408th position suggests the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck in most scenarios, dragging the overall experience down relative to other configurations that pair stronger graphics cards with similar processors.

How This Combo Ranks

The 1408th rank out of 1687 combos places this pairing in the bottom 17% of all tested configurations for Red Dead Redemption 2. This is a significant drop from what component-level percentiles might suggest, as the CPU sits at the 72nd percentile and the GPU at the 69th percentile relative to all other parts. The discrepancy highlights how game-specific optimization and the balance between processor and graphics card matter more than raw component scores. In synthetic benchmarks, the i3-12100F’s average score of 13516 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534, -0.1% delta) and slightly ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462, 0.4% delta). The GPU’s average score of 25235 is effectively tied with the AMD Radeon 890M (25246, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (25287, -0.2% delta). Yet in this game, the combo’s performance lags behind many pairings with similar individual scores, indicating that the game’s engine favors configurations with more balanced or higher-end components than what this duo offers.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 comes equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. Its clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1626 MHz, a game clock of 2044 MHz, and a boost clock of 2491 MHz. These specifications, combined with 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s. The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 8.928 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards, and this becomes evident in the measured frame rates. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 8 GB frame buffer becomes strained at 4K resolutions, particularly when texture-heavy settings like High or Ultra are enabled. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores only 0.5% higher in synthetic tests, yet the RX 6600’s performance in this game is heavily influenced by its memory subsystem and raw compute limits rather than architectural efficiency.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of degradation as resolution increases, with the GPU becoming the dominant limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 84.9 FPS, which drops to 63.1 FPS at 2560x1440 (-25.7%) and further to 40.6 FPS at 3840x2160 (-35.6% from 1440p). This scaling is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. At Medium settings, the drop from 1080p (65.7 FPS) to 1440p (44.8 FPS) is 31.8%, and then to 4K (31.2 FPS) another 30.4%. The High preset shows a similar trajectory: 52 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p (-23.1%), and 25.5 FPS at 4K (-36.3%). The Ultra preset is the most punishing, falling from 37.7 FPS at 1080p to 28.4 FPS at 1440p (-24.7%) and 16.5 FPS at 4K (-41.9% from 1440p). These percentage drops indicate that the GPU’s compute and memory resources are exhausted well before the CPU becomes a factor, especially since the i3-12100F’s single-thread performance is relatively strong for its class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest tested setting delivers 84.9 FPS, which is smooth for most displays. Medium drops to 65.7 FPS, still playable, while High yields 52 FPS and Ultra falls to 37.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 47.2 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU’s capabilities are stretched thin by the game’s higher-detail presets. Moving to 2560x1440, Low produces 63.1 FPS, Medium 44.8 FPS, High 40 FPS, and Ultra 28.4 FPS. The 1440p results show a sharper drop-off between Low and Medium (18.3 FPS difference) compared to the 1080p results, where the same gap is 19.2 FPS. At 3840x2160, Low manages 40.6 FPS, Medium 31.2 FPS, High 25.5 FPS, and Ultra 16.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and even High at 4K is borderline. The data shows that every step up in resolution or settings reduces average FPS by a consistent margin, with the Ultra preset at 4K being the only configuration that becomes unplayable by typical standards.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience balancing visual quality and frame rate is the Medium preset at 1920x1080, which achieves 65.7 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold while still offering improved detail over Low. For users with 1440p displays, the Low preset at 63.1 FPS is the only option that maintains smoothness, as Medium drops to 44.8 FPS and High falls to 40 FPS. At 4K, no preset achieves 60 FPS; the best is Low at 40.6 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset at 1080p (52 FPS) is viable for those prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, but it is inferior to Medium in terms of playability. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it produces 37.7 FPS at 1080p, 28.4 FPS at 1440p, and 16.5 FPS at 4K, all of which are below acceptable thresholds for this genre.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F features 4 cores and 8 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its cache configuration includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 12 MB shared L3. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU’s single-thread score of 893 (3DMark) and 1681 (Cinebench R23) are respectable for a quad-core, while multi-thread scores like 11912 (Cinebench R23) and 14015 (PassMark) show its limits. The CPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-7700K, scores 13280 (1.8% higher on average), indicating that the i3-12100F is competitive with older high-end parts. However, in Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU at most settings. At 1080p Low, the 84.9 FPS result suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but the frame rate drops are more attributable to GPU load as settings increase. The fact that the combo ranks 1408th despite the CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking implies that the game’s engine does not heavily reward the i3-12100F’s architecture, and the GPU’s mid-range performance becomes the binding constraint across all tested configurations.