Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2: Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The pairing of Intel’s quad-core Core i3-12100F with NVIDIA’s flagship-tier GeForce RTX 3080 Ti creates an interesting asymmetry in Red Dead Redemption 2. The data shows this combo ranks 482nd out of 1,687 tested combinations, placing it in the 71st percentile of all tested systems. That rank suggests the pairing delivers solidly above-average performance, but the measured FPS numbers reveal a configuration that behaves differently depending on resolution and settings — a pattern worth investigating closely.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, but the magnitude of that drop varies dramatically by settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 150.7 at 1920x1080 to 110.8 at 2560x1440 — a 26.5% reduction — and then to 73.9 at 3840x2160, a further 33.3% drop from 1440p. This steep decline from 1440p to 4K indicates the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts, even with the RTX 3080 Ti’s substantial 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth.

At High settings, the scaling pattern is similar but with lower absolute numbers: 95.7 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p (a 24.8% drop), and 49.2 FPS at 4K (a 31.7% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High presets suggests the game’s rendering load scales predictably with pixel count. However, at Ultra settings, the pattern shifts — 66.8 FPS at 1080p, 49.2 FPS at 1440p, and 34.8 FPS at 4K — with the 4K figure representing only 52.1% of the 1080p performance. This disproportionate decline at Ultra indicates that the combination of maximum quality settings and 4K resolution pushes the GPU to its limits, with the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute being taxed heavily.

The data implies that at 1080p, particularly at Low settings, the CPU may be the limiting factor. The quad-core i3-12100F with 8 threads and a 4.30 GHz boost clock appears capable of feeding the GPU to 150.7 FPS at Low settings, but the gap between Low and Medium at 1080p (150.7 vs 112.6) suggests that the CPU’s 4 cores and 12 MB of shared L3 cache become a bottleneck as the game’s CPU workload increases with higher settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz are respectable for a quad-core part, and the benchmark scores confirm solid single-threaded performance: 893 in 3DMark single-thread, 706 in Cinebench R20 single-core, and 1,681 in Cinebench R23 single-core. The multi-threaded scores are more modest — 4,026 in 3DMark 8-thread, 5,003 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 11,912 in Cinebench R23 multi-core — reflecting the physical core count limitation.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role becomes evident when examining the 1080p results. At Low settings, the combo achieves 150.7 FPS, which is 34% higher than the Medium preset’s 112.6 FPS. This gap is larger than what would be expected from GPU load alone, suggesting that the CPU’s thread scheduling and cache utilization are strained by the Medium preset’s increased draw calls and physics calculations. The 12 MB shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards, and the 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache may cause cache misses under heavy multi-threaded game workloads.

The CPU’s 72nd percentile rank among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 13,516, places it very close to the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13,534, -0.1% delta), Intel Core i7-1250U (13,462, +0.4% delta), and Intel Core i3-10105 (13,430, +0.6% delta). This clustering indicates that the i3-12100F’s overall CPU performance is competitive with those parts, but the 4-core/8-thread configuration means it lacks the headroom of higher-core-count CPUs in heavily threaded titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, which can utilize more than 8 threads.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is an Ampere-architecture GPU built on Samsung’s 8 nm process, with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for high-resolution textures in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2. The GPU’s 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, combined with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, provide substantial compute capability — 34.10 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16.

The GPU’s benchmark results place it at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 41,224. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41,441, -0.5% delta), AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41,610, -0.9% delta), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (41,687, -1.1% delta). This tight clustering — all within 1.6% — indicates the RTX 3080 Ti performs nearly identically to those cards in synthetic benchmarks, despite the RTX 3090 having more memory and the RTX 5070 being a newer generation.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s influence is most visible at 4K resolution. The drop from 73.9 FPS at Low settings to 53.5 FPS at Medium (a 27.6% reduction) and then to 49.2 FPS at High (a further 8.0% reduction) shows how each settings tier adds GPU workload. The Ultra preset at 4K yields only 34.8 FPS, which is 52.9% lower than the Low preset’s 73.9 FPS — a substantial penalty that highlights the RTX 3080 Ti’s limits when all quality options are maximized at 3840x2160.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 482 out of 1,687 tested combinations places it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems. This is notable because the RTX 3080 Ti alone sits at the 83rd GPU percentile, while the i3-12100F is at the 72nd CPU percentile. The combo rank of 482/1,687 (roughly the 71st percentile) suggests the system performs slightly below what the GPU alone would predict, likely due to CPU limitations in certain scenarios.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the constraining factor — the combo achieves 150.7 FPS at Low settings, but the GPU is capable of far higher frame rates in less CPU-bound scenarios. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU’s limitations are masked by the GPU’s workload. This is evidenced by the fact that the 4K Low preset (73.9 FPS) is closer to the 1440p Low preset (110.8 FPS) than the 1080p Low preset (150.7 FPS), showing that the GPU’s pixel-pushing capability is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The rank also reflects the balance (or imbalance) of the pairing. A system ranked 482nd out of 1,687 is within the top 29% of all tested combos, which is respectable given that many tested systems likely include higher-end CPUs paired with similar or lesser GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 150.7, Medium 112.6, High 95.7, and Ultra 66.8. The gap from Low to Ultra is 83.9 FPS, representing a 55.7% reduction in performance when all settings are maximized. The step from Medium to High (112.6 to 95.7) is a 15.0% drop, while High to Ultra (95.7 to 66.8) is a 30.2% drop — the largest single-step reduction at this resolution, indicating that the Ultra preset adds significant GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the measurements are: Low 110.8, Medium 83.0, High 72.0, and Ultra 49.2. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 61.6 FPS (55.6% reduction), nearly identical in percentage terms to the 1080p result. However, the absolute numbers are lower across the board, with the 1440p Ultra figure (49.2 FPS) matching the 4K High figure (49.2 FPS) exactly — a coincidence that suggests similar total GPU load between those two configurations.

At 3840x2160, the measurements are: Low 73.9, Medium 53.5, High 49.2, and Ultra 34.8. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 39.1 FPS (52.9% reduction), slightly less severe in percentage terms than at lower resolutions, but the absolute performance at Ultra (34.8 FPS) is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider playable. The 4K High result (49.2 FPS) matches the 1440p Ultra result (49.2 FPS), reinforcing the observation that these two settings/resolution combinations impose similar GPU workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance this combo achieves in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 150.7, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 34.8 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings, where the combo reaches 150.7 FPS, given that the RTX 3080 Ti is capable of much higher frame rates in GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 482nd out of 1,687 tested combinations, placing it in the top 29% of all tested systems.

Q: What is the exact FPS at 1440p High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the average FPS is 72.0.

Q: Does the combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: The data shows the combo does not reach 60 FPS at 4K on any settings preset — the highest 4K average is 73.9 FPS at Low settings, but Medium (53.5), High (49.2), and Ultra (34.8) all fall below 60 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the best experience. At 1920x1080, the High preset (95.7 FPS) offers the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, as the Ultra preset’s 66.8 FPS is playable but represents a 30.2% drop from High for what is typically a marginal visual improvement. The Medium preset (112.6 FPS) is also viable for players prioritizing frame rate over fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (72.0 FPS) is the recommended choice, as it stays above 60 FPS while delivering solid visual quality. The Medium preset (83.0 FPS) provides additional headroom for players with high-refresh-rate monitors, while Ultra (49.2 FPS) dips below 60 FPS and is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS, so players must choose between the Low preset (73.9 FPS) for smooth gameplay or the Medium preset (53.5 FPS) for better visuals at a slight frame rate cost. The High preset (49.2 FPS) and Ultra preset (34.8 FPS) are only suitable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, with Ultra delivering less than 35 FPS average. For most players, the 1440p High preset (72.0 FPS) represents the sweet spot for this combo, offering a playable frame rate with strong visual quality.