Red Dead Redemption 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across resolutions reveal a GPU-bound scenario that becomes progressively more severe as pixel count rises. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 91.7 FPS, but stepping up to 1440p Low drops that to 66.5 FPS, and 4K Low lands at 47 FPS. That scaling pattern — roughly a 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and another 29% from 1440p to 4K — is consistent with a graphics card operating near its bandwidth and fill-rate limits.

The picture changes when looking at High settings. At 1080p High, the average is 54 FPS; at 1440p High, it falls to 43.9 FPS; and at 4K High, it collapses to 28.9 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K at High is over 46%, which indicates that the Intel Arc B580's 192-bit memory bus and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are the primary constraints. The 12 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is sufficient for capacity at these settings, but the throughput lags behind the demand.

Ultra settings tell an even more stark story. The 4K Ultra result of 17.3 FPS is barely playable, while 1440p Ultra reaches 27.8 FPS and 1080p Ultra hits 40.8 FPS. This steep drop-off from Medium to Ultra at every resolution points to the GPU's shading units and texture units being overwhelmed by the game's highest-quality assets. The Arc B580's 2560 shading units and 160 TMUs simply cannot sustain the workload at 4K with maxed settings.

The data suggests that the Core i5-12600KF is not the limiting factor in this pairing. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, provide ample headroom for Red Dead Redemption 2's engine. The frame rate scaling tracks almost perfectly with resolution and settings changes, which is the hallmark of a GPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 91.7 FPS result approaches what one might expect from a mid-range card, but the CPU's benchmark scores — including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23444 and a single-core score of 3309 — suggest it could push higher if the GPU allowed.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for playable frame rates with this combo?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 91.7 FPS, which is smooth. For High settings, 1080p delivers 54 FPS and 1440p delivers 43.9 FPS, both of which are playable. At 4K, only Low settings (47 FPS) approach acceptable performance, while High drops to 28.9 FPS and Ultra falls to 17.3 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's memory configuration affect performance?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Red Dead Redemption 2, this is sufficient for capacity at all tested settings, but the bandwidth becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K where the Ultra preset yields only 17.3 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in this game?

A: No. The scaling pattern across resolutions and settings indicates a GPU-bound scenario. The Core i5-12600KF's benchmark results — including a 3DMark max threads score of 7952 and a PassMark multi-thread score of 27575 — show it is capable of feeding the Arc B580 without becoming a limiting factor.

Q: How much of a performance drop occurs between Medium and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Medium averages 67.8 FPS while Ultra averages 40.8 FPS, a reduction of roughly 40%. At 1440p, the drop is from 48.8 FPS to 27.8 FPS, about 43%. At 4K, Medium yields 30.5 FPS while Ultra drops to 17.3 FPS, a 43% decrease.

Q: What does the combo's overall ranking tell us?

A: This pairing ranks 1330 out of 1687 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. While that places it in the lower half of all configurations, the measured data shows it is capable of delivering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with appropriate settings.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 is within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (23181) and 1.3% ahead of the RTX 4060 Mobile (22729). It also sits close to the AMD Radeon 760M (22999) and NVIDIA P106-100 (22950).

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the dominant component in this combo's performance profile. Its Xe2-HPG architecture, built on a 5 nm TSMC process, packs 19,600 million transistors into a 272 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2670 MHz and a boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). These clocks are fixed and do not vary, which contributes to consistent frame delivery but also caps the card's ability to push beyond its rated performance.

The 12 GB GDDR6 frame buffer on a 192-bit bus provides 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Red Dead Redemption 2, this bandwidth is the critical resource. The game's open-world environments require constant texture streaming, and the data shows that at 4K, even Medium settings (30.5 FPS) struggle to maintain fluid motion. The 80 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p but insufficient for 4K Ultra workloads.

The GPU's compute capabilities — 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 and 27.34 TFLOPS FP16 — are respectable for a mid-range card, but the game's rendering pipeline appears to favor raw fill rate over compute. The texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, derived from the 160 TMUs, becomes a limiting factor at higher settings. The measured results show that going from Medium to Ultra at 1080p costs 27 FPS, and at 4K it costs 13.2 FPS, indicating the TMUs and ROPs are saturated.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the Arc B580 holds its own in synthetic benchmarks. Its average score of 23021 is essentially tied with the RTX 4060 (23181, delta -0.7%) and ahead of the RTX 4060 Mobile (22729, delta 1.3%). However, in this specific game, the card's performance at 4K Ultra (17.3 FPS) suggests that the architecture's efficiency in real-world workloads may lag behind its theoretical peak.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The dataset provides 12 distinct measurement points across three resolutions and four settings presets. Here is the complete breakdown:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the results are: Low averages 47 FPS, Medium averages 30.5 FPS, High averages 28.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 17.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 29.7 FPS, a 63% reduction. Notably, the jump from Medium to High only costs 1.6 FPS, suggesting that High preset adds visual fidelity without a proportional performance penalty. The drop from High to Ultra, however, is severe at 11.6 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results improve substantially: Low averages 66.5 FPS, Medium averages 48.8 FPS, High averages 43.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 27.8 FPS. The scaling here is more linear, with each step from Low to Ultra costing between 4.9 and 16.1 FPS. The 1440p Low result of 66.5 FPS is the most playable option for competitive or fast-paced play, while 1440p High at 43.9 FPS offers a balanced experience.

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best performance: Low averages 91.7 FPS, Medium averages 67.8 FPS, High averages 54 FPS, and Ultra averages 40.8 FPS. The 1080p Low result is the only measurement above 90 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU combination can handle high refresh rate displays at lower settings. The 1080p Medium result of 67.8 FPS is notable for being only 1.3 FPS shy of the 1440p Low result, highlighting that resolution scaling has a more significant impact than setting changes at this tier.

Across all resolutions, the setting preset has a consistent impact: Ultra costs roughly 40% of the frame rate compared to Low. This consistency reinforces that the GPU's fixed clock speeds and memory bandwidth are the binding constraints, regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 1330 out of 1687 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the 21st percentile of all configurations tested, meaning roughly 79% of combos deliver higher frame rates in this specific game. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier positioning; the CPU is not the bottleneck, as evidenced by its strong synthetic scores.

The CPU's nearest rivals in overall benchmark performance are the Intel Core i9-10900K (avg score 27829, delta 0%), the Intel Core i5-12600K (avg score 27851, delta -0.1%), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H (avg score 27872, delta -0.2%). The 12600KF's average benchmark score of 27827 is effectively identical to these CPUs, confirming that it is not the limiting factor in this game's performance.

The GPU's nearest rivals paint a different picture. The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 is within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon 760M (22999) and 0.3% of the NVIDIA P106-100 (22950). It sits 0.7% behind the RTX 4060 (23181) and 1.3% ahead of the RTX 4060 Mobile (22729). In synthetic tests, the card is competitive with these alternatives, but in Red Dead Redemption 2, the measured frame rates indicate that the game's engine does not fully leverage the card's compute capabilities.

The combo's rank of 1330 out of 1687 suggests that for this particular game, users would need to sacrifice visual quality to achieve smooth performance. The data shows that 1080p Medium (67.8 FPS) and 1440p Low (66.5 FPS) are the best compromises for playability. At 4K, the card's limitations are stark, with only Low settings (47 FPS) approaching acceptable frame rates. This ranking, combined with the measured data, positions the combo as a capable 1080p and 1440p solution, but not a 4K performer.