Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the Intel Arc B370 delivers a severely constrained experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, with the data indicating the GPU is the overwhelming performance bottleneck across all tested configurations. The combination ranks 2670th out of 2902 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8 percent of systems for this title, a position that reflects the Arc B370's integrated-graphics-level performance rather than any limitation of the processor.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Red Dead Redemption 2?*

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 47 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches playable territory, though it still falls short of 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested system configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 2670th out of 2902 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8 percent of all systems tested for Red Dead Redemption 2.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the low frame rates?

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Core i5-14600K scores in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B370 scores in the 5th percentile among all GPUs based on average benchmark scores.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the average FPS drops from 47 on Low settings to 21 on Ultra settings. This represents a 55 percent reduction in average frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: Does the Arc B370 have dedicated VRAM for this game?

A: No, the Intel Arc B370 uses System Shared memory, with the memory type, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent." This means it relies on the system's main memory rather than dedicated video memory.

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K with Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the measured average FPS is 17, with a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 20. This is firmly in unplayable territory for an action-adventure title.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the dominant constraint in this pairing. Its benchmark profile shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the data are legacy parts like the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (score 1186, delta -0.2 percent) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (score 1190, delta -0.5 percent). This positions the B370's raw graphics capability roughly on par with graphics hardware from more than a decade ago, which explains the consistently low frame rates observed in Red Dead Redemption 2.

The GPU's clock behavior reveals a mobile-oriented design. Its base clock is 300 MHz, boosting to 2400 MHz, with a TDP of just 25 W and an IGP slot width. The chip, codenamed Panther Lake, uses the Xe3-LPG architecture on a 3 nm process. Critically, the memory configuration is "System Shared" for both size and type, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This means the GPU does not have dedicated VRAM; instead, it draws from system memory, which is typically slower and shared with the CPU. In a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 that demands substantial texture memory and bandwidth, this shared-memory architecture severely hampers performance.

The GPU's compute resources are also minimal. It has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster operations pipelines, with 10 ray tracing cores. The pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 96.00 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS. These figures are consistent with an integrated graphics solution rather than a discrete gaming GPU. When the game runs at higher resolutions, the GPU must process more pixels with the same limited resources, and the measured FPS data shows exactly this collapse: from 47 FPS at 1080p Low to 23 FPS at 4K Low, a 51 percent drop that is directly attributable to the GPU's inability to fill pixels at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a high-end desktop processor that is utterly wasted in this configuration for gaming purposes. It features 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The processor is built on Intel's Raptor Lake architecture (Raptor Lake-R codename) using a 10 nm process, with a 125 W TDP. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel mode, and it has 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes.

The CPU's benchmark results show it is a top-tier performer. In Cinebench R23, it scores 24491 in multi-core and 2064 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 16673 multi-core and 2491 single-core. Its average benchmark score is 48618, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals in the data are the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (avg score 48698, delta -0.2 percent), the AMD EPYC 4345P (avg score 48470, delta 0.3 percent), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (avg score 48287, delta 0.7 percent). These are all server or high-end mobile parts, confirming the i5-14600K's position as a powerful desktop processor.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls. With 14 cores and 20 threads, it has ample headroom for this title. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck: even at the lowest resolution and settings (1080p Low), the system only achieves 47 FPS, which is far below what this CPU could drive if paired with a capable discrete GPU. The CPU's performance characteristics are effectively irrelevant to the measured frame rates because the GPU saturates long before the CPU reaches its limits. This is a classic case of a powerful processor being held back by an integrated graphics solution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2670th out of 2902 tested combinations for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the bottom 8 percent of all systems tested, which is a remarkably low position given the CPU's strength. The ranking is almost entirely determined by the GPU's performance, as the Arc B370's 5th percentile GPU score drags the overall system down despite the CPU's 90th percentile standing.

To contextualize this rank, consider that there are 2902 total combos in the database. A rank of 2670 means there are 2670 other system configurations that perform better in this game, and only 232 that perform worse. This is not a position of mediocrity; it is a position of severe underperformance relative to the broader ecosystem. The data suggests that virtually any system with a discrete GPU from the last decade would outperform this setup in Red Dead Redemption 2. The CPU's nearest rivals in the overall benchmark data are all server or workstation processors, but those are measured on CPU-centric workloads, not gaming frame rates. In this game, the GPU is the sole determinant of the combo's rank.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance degradation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 47 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 35 FPS, a 25.5 percent reduction. Moving further to 4K Low results in 23 FPS, a 34.3 percent reduction from 1440p and a 51.1 percent reduction from 1080p. This scaling is characteristic of a GPU that is already operating at its maximum capacity even at the lowest resolution.

The same pattern holds across all settings. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 35 at 1080p, to 26 at 1440p, to 17 at 4K. At High settings, it goes from 29 at 1080p, to 22 at 1440p, to 14 at 4K. At Ultra settings, it goes from 21 at 1080p, to 16 at 1440p, to 10 at 4K. In every case, the percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is roughly 50 percent or more. This is a textbook sign of a pixel-fill-rate-bound GPU: as the number of pixels increases, the GPU's limited rasterization resources are overwhelmed, and frame rates plummet proportionally.

If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates that are relatively flat across resolutions, because the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution. Instead, the data shows a steep decline with each resolution increase, confirming that the GPU is the sole limiting component. The 4K numbers are essentially unplayable across all settings, with the highest 4K average being 23 FPS on Low. Even the minimum FPS at 4K Medium is 15, which is far below any playable threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160 (4K), the results are uniformly poor. On Low settings, the average FPS is 23. On Medium settings, the average drops to 17, with a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 20. On High settings, the average is 14 FPS. On Ultra settings, the average falls to 10 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 13 FPS, which shows that even dropping all settings cannot make 4K viable.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the situation improves slightly but remains below playable thresholds. Low settings deliver an average of 35 FPS. Medium settings yield 26 FPS, with a minimum of 22 and a maximum of 30. High settings produce 22 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 16 FPS. The 1440p results are consistently about 1.5 times higher than the 4K results at the same settings, which aligns with the pixel count difference between the two resolutions.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the system finally approaches playability, but only at the lowest settings. Low settings achieve an average of 47 FPS. Medium settings deliver 35 FPS, with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 40. High settings produce 29 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 21 FPS. The 1080p results are consistently about 1.3 to 1.4 times higher than the 1440p results, again tracking the pixel count scaling. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 30, which means the game will dip below 30 FPS in demanding scenes even at this resolution and setting.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for settings optimization. The only configuration that breaks the 45 FPS barrier is 1080p Low, which averages 47 FPS. This is the recommended preset for any attempt at a playable experience, though users should expect dips below 40 FPS in intense moments given the pattern seen in the Medium preset's minimum of 30 FPS.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, the 1080p Medium preset offers a more balanced experience with an average of 35 FPS and a minimum of 30 FPS. This is the highest setting at which the minimum FPS remains at or above 30, which is typically considered the floor for acceptable action-adventure gameplay. The High preset at 1080p drops to 29 FPS average, which is below the 30 FPS threshold, and Ultra at 1080p is a non-starter at 21 FPS.

Moving to 1440p or 4K is not recommended under any settings. Even at 1440p Low, the average FPS is only 35, and at 4K Low it is 23. None of the 1440p or 4K configurations maintain a minimum FPS above 30, and the Ultra settings at these resolutions produce single-digit to low-teen frame rates that make the game essentially a slideshow. The data indicates that this combo is only viable at 1080p, and even then, only with Low or Medium settings. The GPU's system-shared memory and low compute throughput simply cannot handle the demands of this game at higher resolutions or settings.