Red Dead Redemption 2

The benchmark data for Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination shows a system that is heavily influenced by graphics settings and resolution, with the GPU acting as the primary scaling factor. The measured frames per second across the matrix of resolutions and presets reveals distinct performance tiers, with the transition from 1080p to 4K producing a significant cost in frame rate that points directly to the graphics card’s limits.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The performance drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and consistent across all settings presets, confirming that the RTX 3070 is the dominant bottleneck in this pairing. At the High preset, the average frame rate falls from 79.6 FPS at 1080p to 58.8 FPS at 1440p, then to 37.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 52.5% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to the highest resolution tested.

The Low preset shows the same pattern, with 123.4 FPS at 1080p, 93.6 FPS at 1440p, and 62.2 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset delivers 91.8 FPS, 69.8 FPS, and 45.1 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, starting at 54.2 FPS at 1080p and dropping to 39.6 FPS at 1440p and 27.1 FPS at 4K.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is roughly linear in terms of pixel count, but the frame rate penalties are not perfectly proportional. For instance, at High settings, moving from 1080p to 4K (a 4x pixel increase) yields only a 52.5% frame rate decrease, suggesting that the RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to avoid severe memory throttling, while the core clock and shading units handle the load with diminishing returns. The data indicates that at 4K, even the Low preset struggles to maintain 60 FPS, which is a clear sign that the GPU is the limiting component at that resolution.

At 1080p, the frame rates are high enough that the CPU’s role becomes more apparent. The Core i5-10400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, shows a 3dmark_single_thread score of 688 and a passmark_single_thread score of 2541, which are modest for modern standards. The gap between Low (123.4 FPS) and High (79.6 FPS) at 1080p is 43.8 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at lower settings, but the GPU’s architecture begins to limit performance as settings increase. The data points to a system where resolution scaling is entirely GPU-bound, while CPU headroom exists at lower resolutions.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, featuring 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. Its base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1725 MHz, combined with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, produce a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU’s FP32 performance is rated at 20.31 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s, which are directly relevant to the frame rates observed.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor in Red Dead Redemption 2’s performance at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate drops to 27.1 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. This is not a memory capacity issue alone, as the Low preset at 4K achieves 62.2 FPS, but the combination of high resolution and Ultra settings likely pushes texture and geometry data closer to the 8 GB limit, causing the GPU to spend cycles on memory management. The bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is substantial, yet the data shows a 35.3 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 4K, indicating that the GPU’s compute resources, not just memory, are stressed.

The RTX 3070’s 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores do not appear to influence these results, as the measured rows do not specify ray tracing enabled. The passmark_g3d score of 22214 and the 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 3162 place the GPU in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (0.9% higher) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (1% higher). These deltas are small, suggesting the RTX 3070 is near the middle of its performance tier. The GPU’s boost clock of 1725 MHz is moderate compared to modern cards, but the data shows it can deliver 123.4 FPS at 1080p Low, proving adequate compute throughput for lighter loads.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured average frame rates, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 provides the most balanced experience, delivering 91.8 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset at 1080p, at 79.6 FPS, is also viable, but the 12.2 FPS difference between Medium and High is less significant than the jump to Ultra, which drops to 54.2 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 58.8 FPS, which is close to but slightly below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset at 69.8 FPS is a better choice for this resolution, offering a 11 FPS advantage over High while still maintaining a smooth frame rate. The Low preset at 1440p, at 93.6 FPS, is the only setting that provides a high refresh rate experience, but it sacrifices visual quality.

For 3840x2160, the Low preset at 62.2 FPS is the only measured configuration that stays above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K play. The Medium preset at 45.1 FPS is playable but not ideal, while High at 37.8 FPS and Ultra at 27.1 FPS are below acceptable thresholds for most users. The data suggests that users should prioritize resolution over preset at 4K, as the GPU’s performance ceiling is reached with the Low settings.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1920x1080 with the High preset?

A: The measured average frame rate is 79.6 FPS, which is the second-highest result at that resolution, behind the Low preset’s 123.4 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 3070 maintain 60 FPS at 3840x2160?

A: Only with the Low preset, where the average frame rate is 62.2 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 45.1 FPS, High to 37.8 FPS, and Ultra to 27.1 FPS.

Q: How does the Core i5-10400F compare to its nearest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 14168, which is 0.4% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and 0.8% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277).

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 3070 sits in the 72nd percentile, with its nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which is 0.9% faster in average benchmark score.

Q: Which settings preset at 2560x1440 delivers the highest frame rate above 60 FPS?

A: The Medium preset delivers 69.8 FPS, while the High preset at 58.8 FPS falls below 60 FPS, and the Low preset at 93.6 FPS is the only option above 90 FPS.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1920x1080?

A: The Low preset averages 123.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 54.2 FPS, a difference of 69.2 FPS, which is the largest gap between any two presets at that resolution.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 10th Gen Comet Lake processor with 6 cores and 12 threads, base clocked at 2.90 GHz and boosting to 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are standard for its era. The CPU’s 3dmark_max_threads score of 4735 and cinebench_r23_multicore score of 10297 indicate a solid mid-range performer, but its single-thread scores are more modest: 3dmark_single_thread of 688, cinebench_r23_singlecore of 1453, and passmark_single_thread of 2541.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role becomes more visible at 1080p, where the frame rates are high enough to expose any processing limitations. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 123.4 FPS, which is above the CPU’s typical gaming threshold, suggesting the i5-10400F can keep up with the RTX 3070 when the GPU load is light. However, the difference between Low and High at 1080p is 43.8 FPS, which is larger than the difference between High and Ultra at 25.4 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s rendering pipeline becomes the bottleneck as settings increase.

At 4K, the CPU’s influence is minimal, as the frame rates are consistently below 62.2 FPS across all presets, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 73rd among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% higher) and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% lower), shows it is competitive but not exceptional. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration is sufficient for this game’s workload, as the data does not show any frame rate anomalies that would suggest CPU stalling or thread saturation. Overall, the i5-10400F provides adequate support for the RTX 3070, with the GPU dominating performance scaling across resolutions and settings.