Red Dead Redemption 2

This processor and graphics card pairing delivers a solid 1080p experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, but the data shows a sharp drop-off as resolution increases. The Intel Core i5-14400F provides robust single-thread performance, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER has enough memory bandwidth for high refresh rate gaming at lower resolutions, but the combination struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher quality settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this combo at 1080p, delivering 76.6 FPS average. This is a significant jump from the High preset’s 66.4 FPS, and it still provides a substantial improvement over the Low preset’s 105.2 FPS without sacrificing visual fidelity. At 1440p, Medium remains the best choice, with 54.6 FPS being the only setting that keeps the experience above 50 FPS, whereas High drops to 47.9 FPS and Ultra falls to 37.1 FPS.

For 4K, the situation is more constrained. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 yields 39.8 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The High preset at this resolution drops to 30.8 FPS, which is borderline for a game requiring precise aiming, while Ultra falls to 22.7 FPS, which is not recommended. The Low preset at 4K achieves 52.7 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial.

The data clearly shows that Ultra settings are not viable for this combo at any resolution above 1080p. At 1080p, Ultra produces 47.6 FPS, which is slightly above the 45 FPS threshold many players consider playable, but the 28.7% performance loss compared to High makes it a poor trade-off. Practical advice: use Medium at 1080p and 1440p, and only consider Low or Medium at 4K depending on whether you prioritize frame rate or visual quality.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This processor’s single-thread performance is crucial for Red Dead Redemption 2’s engine, which is known to be sensitive to CPU speed in certain scenes. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093 places it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong per-core capability that helps maintain consistent frame pacing.

The processor’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support are adequate for this game’s requirements. In the benchmark results, the CPU’s influence is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the frame rate reaches 105.2 FPS. This high score suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings, allowing the GPU to work closer to its full potential.

At higher resolutions, the CPU’s role diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The data shows the frame rate drops from 105.2 FPS at 1080p Low to 74.5 FPS at 1440p Low, a 29.2% reduction, and further to 52.7 FPS at 4K Low. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the i5-14400F has sufficient headroom to support the game’s CPU-intensive tasks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is adequate for Red Dead Redemption 2’s texture requirements at 1080p and 1440p, but the 8 GB capacity becomes a limitation at 4K with higher quality settings. The GPU’s boost clock of 1770 MHz and 2560 shading units deliver 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The benchmark results show the GPU’s performance ceiling clearly. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 76.6 FPS, which is a 27.3% increase over High settings. This suggests the GPU has enough raw compute power to handle increased settings at this resolution, but the transition to 1440p Medium drops performance by 28.7% to 54.6 FPS. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present, but this game does not heavily utilize ray tracing, so those features have minimal impact on these results.

The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 18169 places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA RTX A400 at a 0.5% difference. This indicates the 2070 SUPER is a mid-range performer by modern standards, and the data confirms that it works best at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is insufficient for High and Ultra settings, resulting in the observed frame rates below 31 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1021 out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the lower half of all configurations, which is expected given the GPU is from the previous generation. The ranking reflects that while the CPU is in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, the GPU’s 65th percentile standing drags down the overall combo performance.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-12800H with a 0% deltaPct and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 at 0.2% higher average score. This shows the i5-14400F is competitive with mobile and desktop processors in its class. However, the GPU’s nearest rivals are more telling: the NVIDIA RTX A400 is 0.5% faster, while the AMD Radeon RX 5700 is 2.5% slower. This narrow margin between the 2070 SUPER and its competitors confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing.

The combo rank of 1021 out of 1687 means that approximately 60% of tested configurations outperform this setup. This is primarily due to the GPU’s age, as the RTX 2070 SUPER was released in 2019 and is now end-of-life. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a more modern GPU would yield significantly better results, but as configured, this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU limitation. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 76.6 at 1080p to 54.6 at 1440p, a 28.7% decrease, and then to 39.8 at 4K, another 27.1% decrease. This consistent drop of roughly 28% per resolution step indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck, as the CPU has enough headroom to handle the increased pixel workload.

At Low settings, the scaling is slightly different: 105.2 FPS at 1080p, 74.5 FPS at 1440p, and 52.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 29.2% and 29.3%, respectively, showing a similar pattern. This suggests that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the limiting factor, and the CPU’s performance is not being fully utilized until the resolution reaches 4K, where the frame rate is still above 50 FPS.

The High and Ultra settings show even steeper declines. High settings drop from 66.4 FPS at 1080p to 47.9 FPS at 1440p (27.9% decrease) and then to 30.8 FPS at 4K (35.7% decrease). Ultra settings are the most punishing, going from 47.6 FPS at 1080p to 37.1 FPS at 1440p (22.1% decrease) and then to 22.7 FPS at 4K (38.8% decrease). This steeper decline at higher settings indicates the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are overwhelmed at 4K with these quality presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low settings produce 105.2 FPS, Medium produces 76.6 FPS, High produces 66.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 47.6 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 28.6 FPS, while the difference between Medium and High is 10.2 FPS, and the difference between High and Ultra is 18.8 FPS. This shows diminishing returns from Medium to High, but a significant performance cost for Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low settings achieve 74.5 FPS, Medium achieves 54.6 FPS, High achieves 47.9 FPS, and Ultra achieves 37.1 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p results in a 29.2% drop for Low, a 28.7% drop for Medium, a 27.9% drop for High, and a 22.1% drop for Ultra. The smaller percentage drop for Ultra at this step suggests the GPU is already struggling at 1080p with this preset.

At 3840x2160, the numbers are: Low settings produce 52.7 FPS, Medium produces 39.8 FPS, High produces 30.8 FPS, and Ultra produces 22.7 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 29.3% for Low, 27.1% for Medium, 35.7% for High, and 38.8% for Ultra. The increasing percentage drops for High and Ultra at 4K indicate that these settings are beyond the GPU’s comfortable operating range, making them unsuitable for consistent gameplay. The data supports using Medium as the maximum preset for this combo, with Low being the only reasonable choice for 4K if frame rate is the priority.