Red Dead Redemption 2

The data for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER shows a combination that scales predictably with resolution, offering a broad range of playable frame rates depending on the chosen preset. This analysis walks through the measured FPS results, the role of each component, and how this specific pairing compares against other tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers an average of 169 FPS, which drops to 126 FPS at 1440p and further to 83 FPS at 4K. This represents a 51% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is the primary scaling factor. The RTX 4070 SUPER, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, is being pushed harder as pixel count quadruples, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 106 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p and then 52 at 4K. This is a 51% drop from 1080p to 4K, nearly identical to the Low setting's scaling. At Medium settings, the numbers are 126, 94, and 62 FPS respectively, a 51% drop as well. Even at Ultra settings, where the absolute numbers are lower, the scaling remains consistent: 76 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K, representing a 51% decrease.

This uniform scaling across all presets strongly suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the limiting component at every resolution. The CPU, with its 14 cores and 20 threads, is not becoming a bottleneck even at 1080p where frame rates are highest. The fact that 1080p Low produces 169 FPS without the CPU holding back indicates that the i5-14600K has ample headroom for this game. The consistent 51% drop from 1080p to 4K is a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling, where the rendering load increases proportionally with pixel count, and the GPU's compute capabilities dictate the final frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

Analyzing the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions, particularly when considering the minimum FPS data. At 4K Medium, the combo achieves 62 FPS average with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. The 53 FPS minimum is above the 50 FPS threshold that many players consider smooth, making this the highest quality preset that maintains playable frame rates at 4K. In contrast, High at 4K drops to 52 FPS average, which is close to the Medium's minimum and offers no minimum FPS data to confirm stability.

At 1440p, Medium again stands out as the sweet spot, delivering 94 FPS average with a minimum of 80 FPS and a maximum of 108 FPS. This provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. High at 1440p offers 79 FPS average, which is also playable, but the Medium preset's minimum of 80 FPS is higher than High's average, suggesting more consistent performance. For 1080p, Medium delivers 126 FPS average with a minimum of 107 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays. The Low preset at 1080p reaches 169 FPS, but this comes at a significant visual quality cost.

The Ultra preset is the only one that falls below 60 FPS at 1440p, averaging 57 FPS, and drops to 37 FPS at 4K. This makes Ultra unsuitable for 4K gameplay with this combo. The data suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for players prioritizing a smooth experience, while High can be used at 1080p and 1440p for improved visuals without sacrificing playability. At 4K, Medium is the highest preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, making it the best choice for that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 24491 in multi-core and 2064 in single-core, placing it at the 90th percentile among all CPUs. The PassMark multithread score of 38682 and single-thread score of 4270 further confirm its capability.

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, handle game logic, and manage the open-world simulation. The measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 169 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would stress a weaker CPU. The fact that the frame rate scales cleanly with resolution, dropping 51% from 1080p to 4K, indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any point. If the CPU were limiting, the scaling would be less pronounced at lower resolutions, as the CPU would cap the frame rate regardless of GPU load.

The i5-14600K's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 per core provide ample data storage for the game's assets and instructions. The processor's 125W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it flexibility, though the exact memory configuration used in testing is not specified in the data. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H with a delta of -0.2% and the AMD EPYC 4345P with a delta of 0.3%, show that the i5-14600K is positioned in a competitive performance tier. However, these rivals are server or workstation processors, highlighting that for gaming, the i5-14600K's combination of high single-core boost clock and multi-core capability is well-suited to avoid bottlenecks.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 660th out of 3714 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the top 17.8% of all configurations, which is a strong showing given the breadth of hardware combinations tested. The rank reflects the measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings, with the combo demonstrating solid performance at every preset.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 83 among all GPUs and the CPU's percentile of 90 indicate that both components are above average individually. When combined, they deliver performance that is better than 82.2% of other tested combos in this specific game. This is particularly notable because Red Dead Redemption 2 is a demanding title with heavy GPU requirements, especially at higher resolutions. The combo's ability to maintain 62 FPS at 4K Medium and 94 FPS at 1440p Medium shows that it is well-balanced for this game.

The nearest rival combos in terms of GPU performance include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB with a delta of -0.1% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile with a delta of -0.1%. These are extremely close scores, indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER sits at a performance plateau where small differences separate it from competitors. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX with a delta of 0.7% and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with a delta of -0.8%, similarly show tight competition. This suggests that the combo's rank is not due to any single component dominating, but rather the effective pairing of two mid-to-high tier parts.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 169, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: At what resolution and settings does this combo maintain an average above 60 FPS?

A: The combo maintains an average above 60 FPS at 1080p for all settings (Low: 169, Medium: 126, High: 106, Ultra: 76) and at 1440p for Low (126), Medium (94), and High (79) settings. At 4K, only Low (83) and Medium (62) average above 60 FPS.

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

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 37 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 4K Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS at 4K Medium settings is 53, with a maximum of 72 and an average of 62.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 43223, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB's score of 43262, and 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile's score of 43268.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 660th out of 3714 total tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following average FPS: Low 169, Medium 126 (with a minimum of 107 and maximum of 145), High 106, and Ultra 76. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a spread of 38 FPS between minimum and maximum, indicating some scene-to-scene variation but overall stable performance.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to: Low 126, Medium 94 (minimum 80, maximum 108), High 79, and Ultra 57. The Medium preset's minimum of 80 FPS is notably high, suggesting that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 1440p falls to 57 FPS average, which is below 60 but still playable.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is: Low 83, Medium 62 (minimum 53, maximum 72), High 52, and Ultra 37. The Medium preset at 4K is the only one that maintains an average above 60 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS that remains above the 50 FPS playability threshold. High and Ultra at 4K both fall below 60 FPS, with Ultra dropping to 37 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in resolution reduces the average FPS by approximately 25-30%, regardless of the settings preset. This uniformity reinforces that the GPU is the dominant factor in performance scaling, with the CPU providing sufficient headroom to avoid introducing additional bottlenecks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It features 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operations pipelines, along with 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's role is critical, as the game is known for its detailed environments, complex lighting, and high-resolution textures. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's requirements at 4K, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at Medium settings. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s allows for fast texture streaming, which is essential for the open-world nature of the game where assets are constantly loaded and unloaded.

The GPU's benchmark scores show strong performance across various tests. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4627, and in PassMark G3D, it scores 29995. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 172795 and Vulkan score of 205624 further demonstrate its compute capabilities. The RTX 4070 SUPER's percentile ranking of 83 among all GPUs places it in the upper tier, though not at the very top. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile, both with average scores within 0.2% of the 4070 SUPER.

The GPU's performance in this game is consistent with its overall benchmark profile. At 4K Medium, the 62 FPS average indicates that the GPU is being utilized heavily, but not to the point of becoming a hard bottleneck. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 51% reduction in frame rate, which is proportional to the 4x increase in pixel count. This suggests that the GPU's compute and memory resources are the limiting factor at all resolutions, with the CPU providing adequate support to allow the GPU to reach its full potential.