Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2: Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The pairing of Intel's Core i5-12400F with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 D creates a stark contrast in generations and performance tiers, and the measured frame rates in Red Dead Redemption 2 reflect that imbalance. Across the three resolutions tested, the data reveals a system where the GPU's raw power is consistently tempered by the CPU's mid-range capabilities, producing a frame rate curve that is impressive at lower settings but quickly constrained as resolution and quality demands rise. The results position this combo at rank 37 out of 2902 tested combinations, a top-tier placement that nonetheless shows clear bottlenecks.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K tells a story of shifting bottlenecks. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 208 FPS average, which drops to 175 FPS at 1440p and then to 115 FPS at 4K. That represents a 44.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 34.3% drop from 1440p to 4K, showing that even at the lowest quality preset, resolution scaling has a pronounced effect on the RTX 5090 D's output.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern intensifies. The average frame rate at 1080p is 175 FPS, at 1440p it falls to 131 FPS, and at 4K it reaches 86 FPS. The percentage drops are 25.1% and 34.4% respectively, indicating that the GPU is still the primary driver of performance at these settings, though the CPU begins to exert more influence at lower resolutions. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 149, while at 1440p Medium it is 111 and at 4K Medium it is 74, showing that frame pacing consistency also degrades with resolution.

High settings reveal a more dramatic scaling curve. The average FPS at 1080p is 146, at 1440p it drops to 109, and at 4K it falls to 72. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is 25.3%, and from 1440p to 4K it is 33.9%. This consistency in scaling percentages across Medium and High suggests the GPU is handling the increased workload in a predictable manner, with the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus width providing ample bandwidth for texture-heavy scenes.

Ultra settings produce the most constrained results. At 1080p, the average FPS is 105, at 1440p it drops to 79, and at 4K it reaches just 52 FPS. The scaling here is steeper: a 24.8% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 34.2% reduction to 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS indicates that even this flagship GPU struggles with the most demanding preset at the highest resolution, suggesting that the game's Ultra settings impose a significant rendering load that the Blackwell architecture cannot fully overcome.

The data indicates that resolution scaling in Red Dead Redemption 2 is predominantly GPU-limited across all settings, but the CPU's influence becomes more apparent at 1080p. The gap between 1080p and 1440p results at Low settings (33 FPS difference) is smaller than the gap at 4K versus 1440p (60 FPS difference), which points to the i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads being sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions but becoming less of a factor as pixel count rises.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 provide a solid foundation for gaming, but the benchmark results show it is not the limiting factor in this configuration at higher resolutions.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with lower settings. The 208 FPS average at 1080p Low is the highest recorded result in this dataset, and it suggests the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output at that resolution. However, the 3DMark scores provide context: the single-thread score of 909 and the 2-thread score of 1699 indicate moderate per-core performance, while the max-thread score of 5912 shows the processor's multithreaded capabilities are adequate but not exceptional.

The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12380 and single-core score of 1680 place this CPU in the 73rd percentile among all processors, which is respectable but not elite. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, has an average score of 19047 with a deltaPct of 0, essentially identical performance. The Intel Core 3 201E trails by 0.1%, while the Intel Core i5-1335U is 0.3% ahead and the AMD EPYC 7773X is also 0.3% ahead. These tight margins indicate the i5-12400F sits in a crowded mid-range performance band.

At 4K resolution, the CPU's impact diminishes significantly. The difference between 1080p High (146 FPS) and 4K High (72 FPS) is a 50.7% reduction, which is far larger than what a CPU bottleneck would produce. This suggests the GPU is the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, with the RTX 5090 D's 575 W TDP and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance being pushed to its limits by the game's rendering demands.

The CPU's 10 nm process node and 163 mm² die size contribute to its efficiency, but in this pairing, the i5-12400F's capabilities are overshadowed by the GPU's enormity. The data shows that at 1080p Medium, the average FPS of 175 is identical to the 1440p Low result of 175 FPS, which suggests the CPU can sustain that frame rate ceiling regardless of resolution, while the GPU's workload varies. This indicates a potential CPU ceiling around 175 FPS in this game, beyond which the processor cannot push.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a behemoth of a graphics card, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB202 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It packs 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for high-resolution textures in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2.

The GPU's clock speeds are 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance places this card in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77712.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's dominance is clear from the resolution scaling data. At 4K Low, the card delivers 115 FPS average, which is a strong result for a demanding open-world title. The 4K Medium result of 86 FPS (with a minimum of 74 and maximum of 99) shows the card handling increased geometry and texture loads competently. However, the 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS reveals that the most demanding settings push the GPU to its limits.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% slower), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% faster), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (2.1% faster), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (2.4% faster). These are surprisingly close competitors for such a high-end card, suggesting that the RTX 5090 D's benchmark scores do not fully reflect its gaming capabilities, which are better demonstrated in the measured FPS results.

At 1080p Ultra, the GPU produces 105 FPS average, which is a 49.5% reduction from the 1080p Low result of 208 FPS. This shows that the Ultra settings impose a heavy load on the GPU, with the 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs being taxed by the game's advanced lighting and shadow effects. The 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS further confirms that Red Dead Redemption 2's Ultra preset is exceptionally demanding, even for a card with 32 GB of VRAM and 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 208 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 175 FPS, achieved at both 1920x1080 Medium and 2560x1440 Low.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 52 FPS. This is the lowest result in the dataset, indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is highly demanding even for the RTX 5090 D.

Q: What is the combo's rank among tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 37th out of 2902 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 1.3% of all tested systems.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU becomes a factor at 1080p. The identical average FPS of 175 at 1080p Medium and 1440p Low indicates a potential CPU ceiling around that frame rate, while the GPU's workload increases with resolution.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum FPS is 149. At 2560x1440 Medium, it drops to 111. At 3840x2160 Medium, the minimum is 74 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, scores 76904 (1.1% slower), while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940 (1.6% faster).

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 37 out of 2902 tested configurations places it in the 98.7th percentile of all tested systems in Red Dead Redemption 2. This is a strong result, but the ranking does not tell the full story of the performance distribution. The top 36 combos likely feature higher-end CPUs that can better feed the RTX 5090 D at lower resolutions, where the i5-12400F's limitations become more apparent.

The ranking reflects the overall performance across all tested resolutions and settings, weighted toward the more demanding scenarios where the GPU dominates. At 4K Ultra, the combo's 52 FPS average is respectable but not exceptional, while at 1080p Low, the 208 FPS result is competitive with higher-end configurations. The data suggests that the combo's rank is driven primarily by its 4K performance, where the GPU's raw power shines, rather than its 1080p results, where the CPU holds it back.

Compared to the CPU's percentile of 73 and the GPU's percentile of 92, the combo's rank of 37 out of 2902 (roughly 98.7th percentile) exceeds both individual component percentiles. This indicates that the pairing produces results greater than the sum of its parts, likely because Red Dead Redemption 2's heavy GPU demands minimize the CPU's weaknesses. The combo's performance is particularly strong at 1440p, where the average FPS across settings (ranging from 79 to 175) represents a sweet spot for this pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. With Low settings, the average FPS is 208. Medium settings produce an average of 175 FPS, with a minimum of 149 and a maximum of 202. High settings yield an average of 146 FPS. Ultra settings bring the average down to 105 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 103 FPS, showing the significant impact of quality presets on performance.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down predictably. Low settings produce an average of 175 FPS, which matches the 1080p Medium result exactly. Medium settings deliver 131 FPS average, with a minimum of 111 and a maximum of 150. High settings reach 109 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 79 FPS average. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 15.9% (High settings) to 24.8% (Ultra settings), with Low settings showing a 15.9% drop and Medium settings a 25.1% drop.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low settings produce an average of 115 FPS. Medium settings yield 86 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 99. High settings reach 72 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 52 FPS average. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows reductions of 34.3% (Low), 34.4% (Medium), 33.9% (High), and 34.2% (Ultra), demonstrating a consistent scaling pattern that is characteristic of GPU-limited performance.

The data reveals that Medium settings offer the best balance of performance and visual quality across all resolutions, with the minimum FPS figures indicating playable frame times even in demanding scenes. The 4K Medium result of 86 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 FPS, suggests that this combo can handle the game at 4K with some headroom for modern displays, while 4K Ultra's 52 FPS average is borderline for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors.