Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a demanding title that scales heavily with both GPU and CPU resources, and the pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER produces a revealing dataset. The measured FPS across resolutions indicates a system that is well-balanced for high-refresh 1080p and 1440p play, but which shows clear strain at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured results, contextualizes them against the component specs, and explains what the data means for a builder considering this exact configuration.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, which points directly to the GPU as the primary scaling bottleneck. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 107 FPS at 1920x1080 to 80.7 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 24.5% reduction), and then to 52.9 FPS at 3840x2160 (a further 34.5% reduction from 1440p). This pattern is typical when a graphics card's rendering throughput—not the CPU—becomes the limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The scaling becomes even more aggressive at Ultra settings. The 4K Ultra result of 35.2 FPS is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result of 78.9 FPS, indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated by the combination of 4K resolution and maximum detail levels. In contrast, the drop from 1080p Low (151.7 FPS) to 1440p Low (128.3 FPS) is a modest 15.4% reduction, suggesting that at lower settings, the CPU can still keep up, but the GPU is starting to run out of headroom.

This data tells a clear story: the i5-10400F is not the primary constraint in this game. The 107 FPS at 1080p High and 151.7 FPS at 1080p Low show that the CPU can feed the GPU well above 100 FPS at the most common esports and high-refresh settings. However, when you move to 4K, the GPU's workload increases so much that the CPU has plenty of idle time, making the RTX 4070 SUPER the definitive limiting component. The 86 FPS at 4K Low versus 35.2 FPS at 4K Ultra is a 59% performance swing that is almost entirely attributable to GPU shader and memory load, not CPU compute.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 SUPER is a 5 nm Ada Lovelace part with 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units. Its boost clock is rated at 2475 MHz, and it ships with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. In Red Dead Redemption 2, this hardware configuration produces a clear hierarchy: the card is exceptional at 1080p and 1440p, but its 4K performance is only viable at lower settings unless you are willing to accept sub-60 FPS.

At 1440p High, the card delivers 80.7 FPS, which is a smooth experience for a story-driven title. At 4K Medium, it manages 64.9 FPS, which is playable, but the jump to 4K High (52.9 FPS) and 4K Ultra (35.2 FPS) shows a dramatic falloff. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at any settings, but the 192-bit memory bus and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth become a choke point at 4K Ultra, where texture streaming and high-resolution assets demand more data throughput than the card can consistently provide.

Comparing it to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database, the RTX 4070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 42,576 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42,653, deltaPct -0.2%) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42,723, deltaPct -0.3%). This places the card in a strong position relative to its peers, but the measured FPS in RDR2 specifically shows that its 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs does not guarantee 4K Ultra playability in this particular title. The 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 compute rating is impressive on paper, but the game's rendering engine appears to be more sensitive to memory bandwidth than raw shader throughput at extreme resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: At 4K High settings, the average FPS is 52.9, which is borderline playable. For a consistent 60 FPS experience, you would need to drop to Medium settings, where the average is 64.9 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 35.2 FPS, which is not smooth for most players.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU pairing?

A: The data strongly favors 2560x1440. At High settings, the combo produces 80.7 FPS, and at Low settings it reaches 128.3 FPS. This resolution balances visual fidelity with high frame rates, making it the sweet spot for this configuration.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F holding back the RTX 4070 SUPER in this game?

A: No. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 151.7 FPS, and at 1080p High it hits 107 FPS. These numbers indicate that the CPU is providing enough throughput to keep the GPU busy. The 6-core, 12-thread processor with a 4.30 GHz boost clock is sufficient for this title.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest benchmark rivals?

A: Its average benchmark score of 42,576 is within 0.3% of the NVIDIA RTX A6000 and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE. It is 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580X and 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M40.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the average is 151.7 FPS. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 78.9 FPS. That is a 48% reduction in frame rate for maximum visual quality, which is a significant trade-off.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM of the RTX 4070 SUPER enough for this game?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 35.2 suggests the memory bus and capacity are stressed. However, at 1440p and 1080p, the 12 GB capacity is sufficient, as evidenced by the high frame rates at those resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive look at how this combo performs across three resolutions and four quality presets.

At 1920x1080, the results are consistently high. Low settings yield an average of 151.7 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh monitors. Medium settings produce 125 FPS, and High settings deliver 107 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 78.9 FPS, which is still very playable but shows a clear performance cost for maximum detail.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low settings average 128.3 FPS, Medium averages 91.9 FPS, and High averages 80.7 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 56.6 FPS, which is the first point where the experience becomes less fluid for fast-paced action.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results are as follows: Low settings average 86 FPS, which is surprisingly playable. Medium settings average 64.9 FPS, and High settings drop to 52.9 FPS. Ultra settings are the weakest result in the entire dataset, with an average of 35.2 FPS. This breakdown shows a smooth progression of scaling, with the GPU becoming the clear bottleneck at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2, this specific pairing ranks 311 out of 1,687 total combinations. This places it in the 81st percentile of all tested systems, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU. The rank indicates that the i5-10400F is not dragging down the RTX 4070 SUPER in this game, as many other combinations with weaker CPUs or older GPUs would rank significantly lower.

The rank also reflects the balance of this pairing. Since the CPU is not the limiting factor at 1440p and 4K, the combo's performance is largely dictated by the GPU's capabilities. The 311th rank out of 1,687 suggests that while there are faster combinations (likely with newer high-end CPUs and top-tier GPUs), this setup outperforms the vast majority of tested hardware. For a builder on a platform like Intel Socket 1200, this is a respectable position that validates the choice of the RTX 4070 SUPER as a GPU upgrade path.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Its memory support is DDR4 in a dual-channel configuration, providing 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 10,297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1,453 in single-core, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs.

The game data shows that this CPU is more than adequate for Red Dead Redemption 2. The 151.7 FPS at 1080p Low is a clear indicator that the CPU can handle the game's draw calls and physics calculations without bottlenecking the GPU. Even at 1080p Ultra, where the GPU is working harder, the 78.9 FPS result suggests that the CPU still has headroom. The 3dmark multi-threaded scores of 4,748 (16 threads) and 4,735 (max threads) confirm that the processor scales well with the game's threading model, which benefits from the 12 threads available.

Compared to its nearest CPU rivals, the i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14,168 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7552 (14,115, deltaPct 0.4%) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14,277, deltaPct -0.8%). This means that in terms of raw compute, the i5-10400F is on par with those parts, but its real advantage in this game is its high single-thread performance (1,453 in Cinebench R23 single-core), which helps maintain high frame rates when the GPU is not saturated. The data confirms that the CPU role is supportive, not restrictive, and that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the component that defines the overall gaming experience in RDR2.