Red Dead Redemption 2

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 115th out of 3,714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. That places this configuration in the top 3.1% of all tested pairings, a strong showing that reflects the GPU's dominance in this title. The ranking gap between this combo and the top of the list is primarily attributable to the CPU's modest four-core design, which limits frame pacing in certain scenes despite the GPU's enormous headroom.

Benchmark data indicates the CPU sits at the 68th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 13,494. Its nearest rivals in synthetic tests include the Intel Core 3 N355 (13,492, 0% delta), the Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452, 0.3% ahead), and the Intel Core 5 120UL (13,594, 0.7% behind). These figures suggest the i3-12100F punches near its weight class in general compute, but the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile standing among GPUs (average score 79,842) dwarfs the CPU's relative position. The GPU's nearest rivals in raw benchmark terms are the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% behind), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% behind), and the Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959, 1.4% ahead), which underscores how the 5090's synthetic lead translates into real-world frame rates here.

The combination's 115th rank is notable because it sits far higher than the CPU's percentile would suggest. In a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which scales heavily with GPU throughput at higher resolutions, the RTX 5090 carries the combo. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU becomes the bottleneck, while at 4K, the GPU still delivers playable frame rates even at High settings. This rank reflects a system that is balanced enough for high-resolution play but leaves performance on the table at lower resolutions due to the i3-12100F's four cores and eight threads.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Red Dead Redemption 2's largest textures. The GPU's 92,200 million transistors on a 5 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 750 mm², give it a transistor density of 122.9M per mm². Clock speeds are set at 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 104.8 TFLOPS of FP16 (1:1 ratio), figures that explain why the GPU posts a PassMark G3D score of 39,650 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,728.

In this game, the GPU's role is to render vast draw distances, complex lighting, and dense foliage without stutter. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the combo averages 49 FPS, which is a demanding workload even for this hardware. At 1080p Low, the same GPU averages 205 FPS, indicating that the 5090 is nowhere near its limits at lower resolutions. The 176 ROPs and 680 texture mapping units handle the game's pixel and texture throughput efficiently, while the 170 RT cores are mostly idle in this title since Red Dead Redemption 2 does not heavily utilize ray tracing.

The GPU's 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU rating mean this is a power-hungry part, but the benchmark results indicate that the 5090's raw compute is the primary driver of frame rates in this combo. At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 123, with a minimum of 104 and maximum of 141, showing consistent frame pacing. The 5090's 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are more than adequate for this game's engine, which was released in 2018 and does not exploit the latest DirectX 12 Ultimate features. The GPU's 12_2 feature level and Vulkan 1.4 API support are forward-looking, but Red Dead Redemption 2's requirements are modest by comparison.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, the combo averages 205 FPS at 1080p, 164 FPS at 1440p, and 108 FPS at 4K. That is a 47% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low, which is substantial but expected given the pixel count increase from roughly 2 million to 8.3 million pixels. At High settings, the averages are 137 FPS at 1080p, 102 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 4K — a 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor at High settings across all resolutions.

However, at Medium settings, the pattern changes. The average FPS at 1080p is 164, at 1440p it is 123, and at 4K it is 81. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 34%, while from 1080p to 1440p it is 25%. This non-linear scaling indicates that at 1080p Medium, the CPU begins to limit performance, as the i3-12100F's four cores cannot feed the GPU fast enough. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 140, which is close to the 1440p average of 123, further suggesting CPU constraints at lower resolutions. At 4K Medium, the minimum FPS is 69, and the maximum is 93, showing that the GPU is still the primary driver but with more variance.

The Ultra preset shows the most significant drop: 99 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. This represents a 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K, similar to High settings. The data indicates that at Ultra, the GPU is consistently the bottleneck, as the i3-12100F's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,674) is sufficient to feed the GPU at these frame rates. The pattern across all settings suggests that for this game, the 5090 is best utilized at 4K, where the CPU's limitations are masked by the GPU's rendering workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers an average of 205 FPS on Low settings, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings at 1080p produce an average of 164 FPS, with a minimum of 140 and maximum of 189. High settings reduce the average to 137 FPS, while Ultra drops it further to 99 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 106 FPS, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution, but the CPU's four cores limit the maximum achievable frame rate. The 3DMark 4-thread score of 2,859 and 8-thread score of 4,026 suggest that the CPU's multi-threaded performance is adequate for this game's engine, which typically uses fewer than eight threads.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 164 FPS on Low, 123 FPS on Medium (minimum 104, maximum 141), 102 FPS on High, and 74 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 90 FPS, which is less steep than at 1080p, showing that the GPU is becoming more involved. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 104, which is higher than the 4K Medium average of 81, indicating that the GPU still has room to spare at this resolution. The 1440p results are consistent with the GPU's PassMark G3D score of 39,650, which places it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 108 FPS on Low, 81 FPS on Medium (minimum 69, maximum 93), 68 FPS on High, and 49 FPS on Ultra. These are the most demanding results in the dataset, and they show that the RTX 5090 can handle 4K High at 68 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS is below 60, indicating that players seeking a locked 60 FPS at 4K should use High settings. The minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 69, which is above 60, suggesting that Medium is a safe choice for consistent frame times.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that High settings at 1440p provide the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with an average of 102 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium settings, which average 123 FPS at 1440p. The difference between High and Medium at 1440p is 21 FPS, which is noticeable, but High's 102 FPS still leaves headroom for dips in demanding scenes. The minimum FPS at 1440p Medium is 104, and while High has no recorded minimum, the average suggests it will not drop below 60 FPS in most scenarios.

For 4K gaming, High settings are the clear recommendation, with an average of 68 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that exceeds 60 FPS on average, as Ultra averages 49 FPS and Medium averages 81 FPS but with a minimum of 69. The 4K High result of 68 FPS is close to the 60 FPS target, and the data indicates that this combo can deliver a smooth experience at 4K without sacrificing too much visual quality. Players who prioritize frame rate over fidelity could opt for Medium at 4K, which averages 81 FPS and never drops below 69 FPS, but the visual difference between Medium and High is substantial in this game's dense environments.

At 1080p, the i3-12100F becomes the limiting factor, and the data shows diminishing returns beyond Medium settings. The 1080p High average of 137 FPS is strong, but the 1080p Medium average of 164 FPS with a minimum of 140 provides more consistent frame pacing. The 1080p Ultra average of 99 FPS is below the Medium result, indicating that the CPU cannot feed the GPU fast enough at this resolution to justify the Ultra preset's cost. For 1080p users, Medium is the recommended preset, as it offers the highest minimum FPS (140) and a high average (164) without the CPU bottleneck seen at Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a four-core, eight-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 58 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Its 3DMark scores are 893 for single-thread, 2,859 for 4-thread, 4,026 for 8-thread, and 4,023 for max threads, which indicates that its multi-threaded performance saturates at around eight threads. The Cinebench R23 scores are 1,674 for single-core and 11,860 for multi-core, while Geekbench shows 1,932 single-core and 7,252 multi-core.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to manage game logic, physics, and draw call submission. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo averages 205 FPS, but the CPU's four cores limit this to around 200 FPS, as the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates. The 1080p Ultra average of 99 FPS is lower than the 1440p Ultra average of 74 FPS, which is counterintuitive but explained by the CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. The i3-12100F's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 893) is adequate for this game, but its multi-threaded performance (3DMark max threads score of 4,023) is modest.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 68th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13,494, places it just above the Intel Core i5-9500 (13,452, 0.3% behind) and just below the Intel Core 5 120UL (13,594, 0.7% ahead). This suggests that the i3-12100F offers competitive compute performance for its class, but in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which is not heavily multi-threaded, the four-core design is sufficient for most scenarios. The PassMark multi-thread score of 14,015 and single-thread score of 3,444 further confirm that this CPU is a capable budget part, but it cannot fully unlock the RTX 5090's potential at lower resolutions. The data indicates that the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p, where the GPU's 92nd percentile performance is wasted, but at 4K, the GPU takes over and the combo delivers playable frame rates.