Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a robust Red Dead Redemption 2 experience, but the data reveals a clear pecking order between resolution and settings. This combination ranks 390th out of 1687 tested combos, placing it in the upper quartile of systems. The analysis below breaks down exactly how this pairing behaves across the measured presets, showing where the GPU becomes the bottleneck and where the CPU keeps pace.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the RTX 4070 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 153.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 75.3 FPS at 3840x2160 — a reduction of roughly 51%. The pattern holds at High settings, where the average drops from 94.9 FPS at 1080p to 48.9 FPS at 4K, a 48% decrease. This halving of performance from 1080p to 4K is classic GPU-bound behavior; the i5-12400F's six cores and 12 threads are not the constraint here.

The scaling between 1440p and 4K is even more revealing. At Medium settings, 2560x1440 yields 87 FPS, but 3840x2160 drops to 54.1 FPS — a 38% loss. At Ultra, the gap narrows in absolute terms: 53.9 FPS at 1440p versus 33.9 FPS at 4K, a 37% reduction. The consistent percentage drop across all presets indicates that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are being saturated uniformly; the RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s bandwidth and 5888 shading units simply cannot feed the pixel count at 4K without a significant frame rate penalty.

What is notable is that the 1080p to 1440p transition is much gentler. At High settings, 94.9 FPS at 1080p only falls to 73.6 FPS at 1440p — a 22% drop. At Low, the fall from 153.2 to 114.6 FPS is 25%. This suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is starting to come into play; the i5-12400F's single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core keeps the GPU well-fed, but the 1440p results show the RTX 4070 taking over as the primary workload driver. For 4K gaming, only Low settings approach playable smoothness, and even then 75.3 FPS leaves little headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show a clear sweet spot at 1440p with High settings. At 73.6 FPS, this preset offers a balanced experience that avoids the harsh visual cuts of Low while staying well above the 54.1 FPS Medium and 53.9 FPS Ultra results at the same resolution. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p is only a 15% FPS penalty (87 to 73.6), which is a reasonable trade for the visual fidelity gain. Ultra, however, is punishing: 53.9 FPS at 1440p is a 27% drop from High, and the difference between High and Ultra visuals rarely justifies that kind of performance hit in a game like this.

At 1080p, High is the best overall choice. The 94.9 FPS average leaves enough margin for dips, and stepping down to Medium only gains 17.4 FPS (112.3), while Low jumps to 153.2 but sacrifices too much visual quality. The data suggests that High at 1080p is the maximum preset that keeps frame rates in the 90+ range, which is ideal for a 60Hz or 144Hz display. Ultra at 1080p pulls 69.2 FPS, which is playable but not optimal for fast camera movements in crowded scenes.

For 4K, the situation is constrained. High settings yield 48.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players target. Low settings at 75.3 FPS is the only 4K preset that clears 60 FPS comfortably. Medium at 54.1 FPS is a marginal option, but the gap between Low and Medium (21.2 FPS) is larger than the gap between Medium and High (5.2 FPS), meaning Medium adds little over High while costing significant performance. The practical advice is: stick to High at 1440p for the best balance, or drop to Low at 4K if resolution is non-negotiable.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 390 out of 1687 places this system in the top 23% of all tested pairings for Red Dead Redemption 2. This is a strong result, but the percentile data for the individual components provides context. The i5-12400F sits at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19221. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K, scores 19210 — a delta of just 0.1%, meaning the 12400F and 8700K are effectively identical in general compute. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS is 0.7% faster, while the AMD EPYC 7773X is 1.3% slower, so the CPU is squarely in a mid-range performance band.

The RTX 4070 is at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 37283. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 37507, which is 0.6% higher — a negligible difference despite the Vega 56 being an older architecture. The NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A is 1.9% higher, and the RTX 4080 Mobile is 2.2% higher, while the AMD Radeon RX 5300M is 2.5% lower. This tells a story: the RTX 4070 is a strong GPU, but its desktop performance is closely matched by some mobile and older parts in synthetic tests, yet in this game the 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and Ada Lovelace architecture clearly drive the measured FPS.

Given that the CPU and GPU each rank near the 77-81 percentile, the 390th overall rank out of 1687 is consistent with a balanced pairing. There is no obvious bottleneck; the data shows that neither component is dragging the other down. The 0.1% delta to the i7-8700K suggests that upgrading the CPU would yield little benefit, while the GPU's 2.2% gap to the RTX 4080 Mobile indicates that the 4070 is already near the top of its class for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full preset range is usable. Low settings deliver 153.2 FPS average, which is extremely high and indicates CPU headroom. Medium drops to 112.3 FPS, High to 94.9 FPS, and Ultra to 69.2 FPS. The step from Medium to High is 17.4 FPS, while High to Ultra is 25.7 FPS, showing that Ultra carries a disproportionate cost. The i5-12400F's 12 threads handle the game's CPU overhead comfortably, as evidenced by the 153.2 FPS Low result being nearly double the High result at 4K.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 114.6 FPS (Low), 87 FPS (Medium), 73.6 FPS (High), and 53.9 FPS (Ultra). The scaling from Low to Medium is a 27.6 FPS drop, which is the largest single-step penalty at this resolution. This suggests that Medium introduces significant GPU load — likely higher texture and shadow quality — that the 4070 absorbs but not without cost. High to Ultra only loses 19.7 FPS, which is proportionally smaller than the 1080p Ultra penalty.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress. Low averages 75.3 FPS, Medium 54.1 FPS, High 48.9 FPS, and Ultra 33.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 21.2 FPS, but Medium to High is just 5.2 FPS — nearly flat. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that the difference between Medium and High settings becomes minor in frame rate terms, while Ultra craters to 33.9 FPS, which is below the 48.9 FPS High result by 15 FPS. The 4K data points to a hard limit around 75 FPS even at Low, which aligns with the RTX 4070's 192-bit memory bus and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth being stressed by 8.3 million pixels.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070's specifications directly explain the measured results. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and 5888 shading units deliver strong raw throughput, evidenced by the 153.2 FPS Low result at 1080p, where the CPU can feed frames quickly. The 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are not heavily utilized in this non-RT title, so the traditional raster performance from the 64 ROPs and 184 TMUs does the heavy lifting.

The 12 GB capacity is never exceeded at these settings, so no VRAM-related stutters should occur. However, the 192-bit bus width is the likely culprit for the steep 4K drop-offs. Compare this to the CPU's role: the i5-12400F has a 65W TDP and 18 MB of shared L3 cache, which is sufficient for this game's draw calls. The 3DMark max threads score of 5912 shows the CPU can handle multi-threaded loads, but the single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core are the relevant figures for a game that relies on a few main threads. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is not the limit — the 153.2 FPS is likely near the game engine's own cap or the GPU's raster limit at those settings.

The GPU's percentile rank of 81 vs. the CPU's 77 suggests the GPU has slightly more headroom relative to its peers, which is why the 4K results are so GPU-bound. The 200W TDP and dual-slot design are typical for this class, but the single 16-pin power connector means users should ensure their PSU has the right cable, though the 550W suggested PSU is not a limiting factor for the measured performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 with High settings is the strongest balance, delivering 73.6 FPS average. At 1080p, High yields 94.9 FPS, while 4K requires Low settings to reach 75.3 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which averages 75.3 FPS. Medium drops to 54.1 FPS and High to 48.9 FPS, so 4K at higher presets is not smooth enough for most players.

Q: How does the i5-12400F compare to its closest rival?

A: The i5-12400F scores 19221 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-8700K's 19210. The AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS is 0.7% faster, while the AMD EPYC 7773X is 1.3% slower.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 the bottleneck at 4K?

A: Yes. The FPS drops from 153.2 at 1080p Low to 75.3 at 4K Low — a 51% reduction — while the CPU has ample single-thread headroom. The GPU's 192-bit bus and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are saturated at 4K.

Q: What is the FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High averages 73.6 FPS and Ultra averages 53.9 FPS, a 19.7 FPS penalty. This is a 27% drop, making Ultra a poor trade for the visual gain.

Q: How does this combo rank overall?

A: It ranks 390th out of 1687 tested combos for this game. The CPU is at the 77th percentile and the GPU at the 81st percentile, indicating a balanced pairing with no weak link.