Red Dead Redemption 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 shows a clear progression of performance as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 70.6 FPS, which drops to 54.9 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 35.9 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 49% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count rises.

The pattern across all settings tiers confirms this scaling behavior. At Low settings, the system moves from 117.6 FPS at 1080p to 85 FPS at 1440p and 57.6 FPS at 4K — a 51% total drop. Medium settings show 88.9 FPS at 1080p, 65.1 FPS at 1440p, and 44.9 FPS at 4K, a 49.5% reduction. Ultra settings exhibit the steepest relative decline: 54.6 FPS at 1080p, 39.1 FPS at 1440p, and 27.1 FPS at 4K, a 50.4% drop.

These near-uniform scaling percentages across all four settings presets strongly suggest that the RTX 5060 is the primary limiting component in this pairing. The consistent ~50% penalty when moving from 1080p to 4K is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames regardless of resolution. The i5-13400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, is unlikely to bottleneck at any of these resolution points, given that its multi-threaded benchmark scores (e.g., 21,279 in Cinebench R23) place it in the 82nd percentile among all CPUs.

The data also reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (117.6 FPS) and Ultra (54.6 FPS) is 63 FPS. At 1440p, that gap narrows to 45.9 FPS (85 vs. 39.1). At 4K, it compresses further to 30.5 FPS (57.6 vs. 27.1). This narrowing indicates that the GPU's raw pixel throughput becomes the dominant factor at 4K, whereas at 1080p, the rendering complexity of higher settings still allows for more differentiation.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Red Dead Redemption 2 with this hardware?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 with Medium settings delivers 88.9 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440 with Medium, the system still achieves 65.1 FPS, making it viable for higher-resolution displays. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 57.6 FPS, which may feel less smooth.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060's average benchmark score is 30,109, placing it in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, scores 30,097 — a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon RX 570 is 0.2% slower, while the NVIDIA Tesla M60 and GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile are 0.5% and 0.6% slower, respectively. These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating near-identical overall compute performance.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game at any resolution?

A: Benchmark results do not indicate a CPU bottleneck. The i5-13400F's performance is essentially tied with its nearest rivals (within 0.5% of the Intel Core i7-13620H, AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, AMD EPYC 9474F, and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340). The consistent FPS scaling across resolutions suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, as expected for a title like Red Dead Redemption 2.

Q: What FPS can be expected at Ultra settings?

A: Ultra settings produce 54.6 FPS at 1080p, 39.1 FPS at 1440p, and 27.1 FPS at 4K. These figures indicate that Ultra is only marginally playable at 1080p, and falls below 40 FPS at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM on the RTX 5060 sufficient for this game?

A: The measured data does not show any VRAM-related stuttering or performance anomalies. The RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate for the tested settings, as evidenced by the smooth scaling patterns. The game's release date of 2018 suggests it was designed with lower VRAM requirements in mind.

Q: How does the combo's performance rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combination of the i5-13400F and RTX 5060 ranks 810 out of 1,687 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the upper half of all configurations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor built on the Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node. Its base clock runs at 2.50 GHz, boosting up to 4.60 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 20 MB L3 cache. This configuration supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory through a dual-channel memory bus.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-13400F demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 21,279 in Cinebench R23 multicore, 8,937 in Cinebench R20 multicore, and 2,144 in Cinebench R15 multicore. Single-thread results are also respectable: 3,004 in Cinebench R23, 1,261 in R20, and 302 in R15. Geekbench scores show 10,971 multicore and 2,301 single-core. PassMark results include 25,032 for multithread and 3,634 for single-thread. The average benchmark score across all tests is 25,236.

The CPU's overall percentile rank of 82 means it outperforms 82% of all CPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals are all within a tight band: the Intel Core i7-13620H is 0.1% faster, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D is 0.5% faster, and both the AMD EPYC 9474F and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 are 0.5% slower. This clustering indicates that the i5-13400F sits in a highly competitive performance tier where differences are negligible.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The game's measured FPS at 1080p Low (117.6) is well below the CPU's theoretical frame delivery capability, given its 3DMark scores: 7,314 for 16 threads, 5,591 for 8 threads, and 3,459 for 4 threads. The lack of a CPU bottleneck is further supported by the fact that FPS scales almost linearly with resolution changes, which would not happen if the CPU were limiting frame generation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings was tested. Low settings produce 117.6 FPS, Medium delivers 88.9 FPS, High achieves 70.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54.6 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 28.7 FPS, while Medium to High costs 18.3 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 16 FPS. This shows diminishing returns as settings increase, with each tier requiring progressively more GPU resources for smaller visual gains.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same settings pattern emerges but at lower absolute values. Low runs at 85 FPS, Medium at 65.1 FPS, High at 54.9 FPS, and Ultra at 39.1 FPS. The relative gaps between settings remain similar: Low to Medium is 19.9 FPS, Medium to High is 10.2 FPS, and High to Ultra is 15.8 FPS. Interestingly, the High-to-Ultra gap is larger at 1440p than at 1080p, suggesting that Ultra's additional effects become more demanding at higher pixel counts.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings hit 57.6 FPS, Medium drops to 44.9 FPS, High falls to 35.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 27.1 FPS. The Low-to-Medium difference is 12.7 FPS, Medium-to-High is 9 FPS, and High-to-Ultra is 8.8 FPS. At 4K, the GPU is clearly at its limit, as even the lowest settings cannot reach 60 FPS.

The data shows that 1080p Medium (88.9 FPS) and 1440p Low (85 FPS) offer nearly identical performance, while 1080p High (70.6 FPS) and 1440p Medium (65.1 FPS) are also close. This suggests that users prioritizing higher resolution can drop settings by one tier to maintain similar frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GB206 chip contains 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die, with a transistor density of 121.0M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 2280 MHz and boosts to 2497 MHz. Memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed.

The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 3,840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It includes 30 ray tracing cores and 120 tensor cores. Pixel rate is 119.9 GPixel/s, texture rate is 299.6 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 19.18 TFLOPS (with FP16 at a 1:1 ratio). The card's TDP is 145 W, requiring a 300 W suggested PSU with a single 8-pin connector.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 5060 scores 120,785 in Geekbench OpenCL and 116,626 in Geekbench Vulkan. PassMark results show 20,891 for G3D, 10,899 for GPU compute, and 77 for DirectX 12 (which is notably lower than DirectX 11's 200 and DirectX 10's 127). The average benchmark score is 30,109, placing the GPU in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs.

The nearest rivals are extremely close: the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT matches at 0% delta, the AMD Radeon RX 570 is 0.2% slower, and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 and GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile are 0.5% and 0.6% slower, respectively. This indicates the RTX 5060 sits in a performance tier where competition is measured in fractions of a percent.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM appear sufficient for the tested settings. The FPS scaling patterns across resolutions point to the GPU as the limiting component, particularly at 4K where even Low settings only reach 57.6 FPS. The 128-bit memory bus, while narrow, is compensated by GDDR7's high effective speed.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 88.9 FPS, which provides a smooth experience with a significant visual upgrade over Low's 117.6 FPS. High settings at 70.6 FPS are also viable for users who prioritize image quality over frame rate headroom. Ultra at 54.6 FPS may be acceptable for those who prefer maximum fidelity, but it falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

For 2560x1440 users, Medium settings at 65.1 FPS offer the best balance, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining decent visual quality. Low settings at 85 FPS are the choice for competitive or high-refresh-rate play. High at 54.9 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 39.1 FPS is not recommended unless frame rate is not a concern.

At 3840x2160, Low settings at 57.6 FPS are the only option approaching playability, and even then, the experience will not be perfectly smooth. Medium at 44.9 FPS and above are best avoided for action-heavy sequences. Users with 4K displays should consider lowering the resolution to 1440p or accepting a reduced settings preset.

The data suggests that the "sweet spot" for this hardware combination is 1080p Medium or 1440p Low, both of which hover around 85-89 FPS. For users who want the highest visual fidelity without sacrificing playability, 1080p High at 70.6 FPS is the recommended choice. The Ultra preset, regardless of resolution, is the least efficient option, with frame rates dropping below 55 FPS even at 1080p.