Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 with Intel Core i5-10400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 produces a fascinating dataset in Red Dead Redemption 2, with measured frame rates spanning from 43 FPS at 4K Ultra to 152 FPS at 1080p Low. This pairing of a 10th-generation six-core CPU with a flagship Ada Lovelace GPU creates a system whose performance profile shifts dramatically across resolutions, revealing where each component's influence dominates. The combo ranks 399th out of 3,714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 11% of all systems evaluated in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of GPU-bound performance. At 1080p High, the system delivers 121 FPS; moving to 1440p High drops that to 90 FPS (a 25.6% reduction); and at 4K High, the average falls to 60 FPS (another 33.3% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern is nearly linear with pixel count, indicating that the RTX 4080 is the primary limiting component at every resolution tested.

The Low settings row amplifies this trend even further. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 152 FPS, but 1440p Low drops to 137 FPS, and 4K Low falls to 96 FPS. The 4K-to-1080p delta at Low settings is 56 FPS (152 to 96), while at High settings it is 61 FPS (121 to 60). These similar absolute deltas suggest that resolution scaling remains consistent regardless of the graphics preset, reinforcing the conclusion that pixel throughput—not CPU thread scheduling—governs the frame rate ceiling in this configuration.

However, the Medium preset provides the only min/max FPS data in the entire dataset, offering a closer look at frame pacing. At 4K Medium, the system averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 and maximum of 82, producing a frame time variance of about 29%. At 1440p Medium, the average is 108 FPS with a min of 92 and max of 125 (a 36% spread), while 1080p Medium shows 136 FPS average with a range of 116 to 157 (a 35% spread). The consistency of these ranges across resolutions suggests that the variance is inherent to the game's rendering workload rather than a resolution-specific bottleneck.

The Ultra preset tells the most telling story about the GPU's limits. At 4K Ultra, the system manages only 43 FPS—a figure that would challenge smooth gameplay on standard 60 Hz displays. The jump from 4K High (60 FPS) to 4K Ultra (43 FPS) represents a 28.3% performance penalty for the highest quality tier, which is a substantial cost. At 1440p Ultra, the average rises to 65 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it reaches 87 FPS, showing that even a flagship GPU cannot brute-force Ultra settings at higher resolutions in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 brings substantial resources to this game, including 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 76 RT cores are supported by a boost clock of 2505 MHz, figures that position it as the dominant force in this pairing. The data strongly indicates that the RTX 4080 is the performance arbiter at 4K and 1440p, where the frame rates scale almost perfectly with pixel count.

At 4K resolution, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth become critical factors. Red Dead Redemption 2 is known for large texture datasets, and the 16 GB frame buffer provides ample headroom even at Ultra settings. The measured 43 FPS at 4K Ultra likely reflects raw compute and shading limits rather than memory capacity constraints, as the 716.8 GB/s bandwidth would support far higher throughput than the observed frame rates suggest. The GPU's 112 ROPs and 304 TMUs provide the pixel and texture processing necessary for the game's dense foliage and detailed environments.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 34,457 and its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs further underscore its capability. Its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54,209 in average benchmark score—a mere 0.1% delta—while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB sits 2.6% higher. These tight margins indicate that the RTX 4080 is not a performance outlier but rather a well-positioned high-end part whose real-world gaming performance depends heavily on the surrounding system and game settings.

The thermal and power envelope of the RTX 4080 (320 W TDP, triple-slot cooler) is substantial, but the measured FPS data shows no signs of thermal throttling or power limiting. The consistent scaling from 1080p to 4K—with no anomalous dips that would indicate clock instability—suggests the GPU maintains its boost behavior throughout the benchmark runs. The 1400 MHz memory clock (22.4 Gbps effective) provides the bandwidth headroom needed for the 4K Ultra preset, even though that preset yields only 43 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F contributes six cores and twelve threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (42.7 GB/s bandwidth) are modest by current standards, yet the benchmark data shows the CPU is not the primary limiter at any tested setting. The 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and multi-thread score of 4,748 place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals like the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% delta) and AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% delta) showing statistically similar aggregate performance.

At 1080p, where CPU overhead typically becomes more visible, the system still achieves 152 FPS at Low settings. This high frame rate indicates that the i5-10400F can feed the RTX 4080 adequately at mainstream resolutions, even with the game's simulation and AI workloads active. The six-core configuration with Hyper-Threading (12 threads) provides enough parallel processing for Red Dead Redemption 2's open-world systems, which are known to scale across multiple cores for physics, NPC behavior, and world streaming.

The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores (10,283 multi-core, 1,451 single-core) reflect a processor that is competitive in its class but not exceptional. The single-core performance is particularly relevant for game logic threads, and the 1,451 score suggests adequate IPC for the game's primary thread. However, the data shows that even at 1080p Low (152 FPS), the system is not CPU-bound—if it were, we would expect frame rates to plateau regardless of GPU load, which is not observed in the scaling pattern.

The CPU's role becomes more pronounced when examining the delta between Low and Ultra at the same resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (152 FPS) and Ultra (87 FPS) is 65 FPS, while at 4K that same gap narrows to 53 FPS (96 to 43). This convergence at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU's workload dominates the frame time budget as resolution increases, while the CPU's contribution remains relatively constant. The i5-10400F's 4.30 GHz boost clock and 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth are sufficient to avoid becoming the bottleneck even in the most demanding 4K Ultra scenario.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate drop more sharply from 1440p to 4K than from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The data shows a 31 FPS drop from 1080p High (121 FPS) to 1440p High (90 FPS), and a 30 FPS drop from 1440p High to 4K High (60 FPS). The absolute deltas are similar, but the percentage drop increases from 25.6% to 33.3% because the base frame rate is lower at 1440p, making the same absolute reduction more significant proportionally.

Q: Is the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K Ultra in this game?

A: The benchmark data shows the system achieves 43 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is playable but not smooth on high-refresh displays. The 16 GB frame buffer with 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is not indicated as a limiting factor—the performance level is more consistent with compute and shading limits of the GPU at that preset.

Q: At what resolution does the i5-10400F start to bottleneck the RTX 4080?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, no resolution tested shows signs of CPU limitation. The 1080p Low result of 152 FPS is the highest frame rate in the dataset, and the smooth scaling across all settings suggests the CPU maintains adequate throughput even at the lowest GPU load scenario.

Q: How does the 4K Medium result compare to 1440p Ultra in terms of frame rate?

A: The 4K Medium average is 72 FPS, while 1440p Ultra averages 65 FPS. This means the system delivers 7 FPS more at 4K Medium than at 1440p Ultra, indicating that the Medium preset at higher resolution can outperform Ultra at a lower resolution by a measurable margin.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at different resolutions?

A: The only min/max data available is for Medium settings. At 1080p, the range spans 116 to 157 FPS; at 1440p it spans 92 to 125 FPS; and at 4K it spans 61 to 82 FPS. The relative spread remains around 29-36% across all three resolutions, suggesting consistent frame pacing behavior.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 399th out of 3,714 tested combinations, placing it in the top 10.7% of all systems. This ranking reflects the strong GPU performance tempered by the mid-range CPU, with the overall position driven primarily by the high-resolution results where the RTX 4080 dominates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the i5-10400F and RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 399 out of 3,714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the 89th percentile of all configurations. This ranking is notably stronger than the CPU's individual percentile ranking of 68th, which indicates that the GPU's performance ceiling is the primary driver of the combo's overall position. The data suggests that for this game, the RTX 4080 compensates substantially for the i5-10400F's mid-range capabilities.

The GPU's individual average benchmark score of 54,247 (86th percentile) contrasts sharply with the CPU's average score of 14,185 (68th percentile). When paired, the system's in-game rank of 399 out of 3,714 suggests the combos performance is pulled toward the GPU's higher percentile, but not entirely—the top-ranked combos likely feature both high-end CPUs and GPUs. The delta between the GPU's percentile (86th) and the combo's percentile (89th) indicates a slight amplification effect, where the RTX 4080's strengths are fully realized despite the CPU's lower standing.

The nearest CPU rivals to the i5-10400F—the Xeon 6756E (0.2% higher score) and Core 7 160UL (0.3% lower)—show that the CPU is not an outlier in its class. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER at 0.1% higher, confirms the RTX 4080 is a well-established high-end part. The combo's 89th percentile ranking against all tested systems suggests that users with this pairing are getting close to top-tier performance, with the primary limitation being the CPU's ability to sustain maximum frame rates in CPU-light scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 4K, the High preset (60 FPS average) is the best choice for smooth gameplay, as Ultra drops to 43 FPS—a 28.3% performance penalty that likely degrades the experience on standard displays. The Medium preset at 4K offers 72 FPS, which is 20% faster than High, but the visual quality reduction may not justify the frame rate gain for all players.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 90 FPS, which is sufficient for high-refresh monitors (up to 90 Hz). The Ultra preset at 65 FPS remains playable, but the 27.8% drop from High makes it a less attractive option unless visual fidelity is paramount. The Medium preset at 108 FPS offers a significant improvement over High (20% faster) and would be the recommendation for players with 100 Hz+ displays.

At 1080p, the data shows diminishing returns from High (121 FPS) to Low (152 FPS) — a 25.6% gain that may not be worth the visual compromise. The Ultra preset at 87 FPS is the most demanding option and still delivers smooth frame rates for 60 Hz displays. The Medium preset at 136 FPS provides an excellent balance, with the largest measured min/max range (116-157 FPS) indicating some frame pacing variability but overall strong performance.

For the best overall experience, the data recommends High settings at 4K (60 FPS) for visual fidelity, Medium at 1440p (108 FPS) for high-refresh gaming, and High at 1080p (121 FPS) for a balanced configuration. The Ultra preset is only advisable at 1080p, where the 87 FPS average remains comfortably above 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 (4K), the system delivers an average of 60 FPS at High settings, 72 FPS at Medium (min 61, max 82), 96 FPS at Low, and 43 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset's min of 61 FPS suggests that even this middle ground can occasionally dip below 60 FPS, while the Low preset's 96 FPS provides headroom for demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the High preset averages 90 FPS, Medium averages 108 FPS (min 92, max 125), Low reaches 137 FPS, and Ultra drops to 65 FPS. The 32 FPS gap between Low and High at this resolution shows that the game's High preset imposes a meaningful load on the GPU, while the 43 FPS gap between High and Ultra indicates that Ultra hits the GPU particularly hard.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the High preset averages 121 FPS, Medium averages 136 FPS (min 116, max 157), Low reaches 152 FPS, and Ultra settles at 87 FPS. The 1080p Medium results show the widest measured range in the entire dataset (116-157 FPS), suggesting that at this resolution the frame rate can vary significantly depending on the scene complexity, likely due to the CPU's six-core workload interacting with the GPU's high throughput.

The complete dataset reveals that the RTX 4080 and i5-10400F combination maintains playable frame rates (above 60 FPS) at all tested settings except 4K Ultra, where the 43 FPS average would require adaptive sync or reduced settings for smooth gameplay. The most consistently strong performance is at 1440p, where all presets except Ultra exceed 90 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for this pairing.