Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the Intel Arc B370 delivers a narrowly playable experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, but only at the lowest settings and resolution. The measured data shows this combination ranks 2670 out of 2902 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. At 1080p with Low settings, the average frame rate reaches 47 FPS, which is the only measured scenario that approaches smoothness. Every other settings/resolution combination falls below 40 FPS, with the most demanding preset—4K Ultra—dropping to just 10 FPS. This is a configuration that can run the game, but the data suggests players will need to make significant visual compromises to get acceptable performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows across all resolutions and presets paint a clear picture: Low settings at 1920x1080 is the only viable path for this hardware combination. At 1080p Low, the average frame rate is 47 FPS, which is the highest measured value across the entire dataset. Stepping up to Medium at the same resolution yields 35 FPS, a 12 FPS drop that may be noticeable during fast movement or crowded scenes. High settings at 1080p produce 29 FPS, and Ultra falls to 21 FPS—both below the threshold where most action games feel responsive.

Moving to 1440p makes things worse across the board. Low settings at 2560x1440 average 35 FPS, which is identical to 1080p Medium but with lower visual fidelity. Medium at 1440p drops to 26 FPS, High to 22 FPS, and Ultra to 16 FPS. At 4K, the situation becomes marginal at best: Low averages 23 FPS, Medium 17 FPS, High 14 FPS, and Ultra just 10 FPS. None of these 4K figures meet the minimum standard for smooth gameplay.

For players who prioritize frame rate over visuals, the data clearly supports 1080p Low as the recommended preset. The 47 FPS average provides a workable baseline, though it is not locked to a high refresh rate. If the user can tolerate occasional dips, 1080p Medium at 35 FPS offers richer detail while still maintaining a playable average. However, the measured minimum FPS for 1080p Medium is 30 FPS, which means there will be moments where the frame rate dips into the high 20s during intense scenes. The gap between Low and Medium at 1080p is 12 FPS, representing a significant trade-off between visual quality and smoothness.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process node. Its performance profile in this game is severely constrained by its hardware specifications. The GPU features 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, with 10 ray tracing cores. The boost clock runs at 2400 MHz, while the base clock is 300 MHz. The memory configuration is system shared, meaning the GPU draws from the same pool as the CPU, with bandwidth described as system dependent—this creates a bottleneck in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 that relies heavily on texture streaming.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, which is extremely low. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (scoring 1186, a 0.2% difference) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (scoring 1190, a 0.5% difference). These are legacy parts from a different era, which contextualizes how far behind the Arc B370 sits among modern hardware. The GPU's FP32 performance is 6.144 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 48.00 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s—numbers that are adequate for basic desktop tasks but insufficient for demanding game workloads.

The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the primary limiter in this configuration. At 1080p Low, the 47 FPS average suggests the system is working near its maximum capability. The frame rates scale down predictably as resolution increases, which is consistent with a GPU that is overwhelmed by pixel throughput demands. The system shared memory architecture means there is no dedicated VRAM pool, which further hampers performance in a game known for its open-world streaming requirements.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2670 out of 2902 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the configuration in the bottom 8% of all systems tested, indicating that virtually any discrete GPU from the last decade would outperform it. The CPU itself is a high-end part—the i5-14600KF has a 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 49394—but its capabilities are almost entirely wasted when paired with this GPU.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database provide context for its processing power. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49228, just 0.3% lower, while the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 49196, a 0.4% difference. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995, trailing by 0.8%, and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 scores 49796, leading by 0.8%. These tight margins show that the i5-14600KF is competitive with modern mid-range and high-end processors, yet the combo rank of 2670 demonstrates that the GPU bottleneck negates this advantage entirely.

The disparity between the CPU's strong standing and the combo's poor rank highlights a fundamental imbalance. In a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which is GPU-intensive at higher resolutions, the i5-14600KF's 14 cores and 20 threads are underutilized. The measured FPS figures show no scenario where the CPU would be the limiting factor—even at 1080p Low, the GPU is clearly holding the system back. This makes the combo rank a direct reflection of the GPU's limitations rather than a measure of the CPU's gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 47, Medium 35, High 29, and Ultra 21. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 40 FPS, indicating some frame time variance. The other presets at this resolution lack min/max data, so only the averages are available for comparison. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady decline of roughly 6-12 FPS per tier, with the largest single drop occurring between Low and Medium at 12 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages drop to: Low 35, Medium 26, High 22, and Ultra 16. The Medium preset again provides min/max data, showing 22 FPS minimum and 30 FPS maximum. The relative scaling between presets is similar to 1080p, but the absolute values are all 9-12 FPS lower. For example, 1440p Low at 35 FPS is 12 FPS below 1080p Low at 47 FPS, and 1440p Ultra at 16 FPS is 5 FPS below 1080p Ultra at 21 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 23, Medium 17, High 14, and Ultra 10. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 15 FPS and a maximum of 20 FPS. This is the only resolution where even Low settings fail to reach 30 FPS, making 4K effectively unplayable for this configuration. The gap between 1440p Low (35 FPS) and 4K Low (23 FPS) is 12 FPS, while the gap between 4K Low and 4K Medium is 6 FPS.

The data reveals that the performance scaling between settings is not linear. At all three resolutions, the drop from Low to Medium is the largest single-tier decrease, ranging from 6 FPS at 4K to 12 FPS at 1080p. The drop from Medium to High is smaller, and the drop from High to Ultra is smaller still. This suggests that the Low-to-Medium transition includes significant visual effects that disproportionately impact the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS values show how this configuration scales across resolutions. From 1080p Low (47 FPS) to 1440p Low (35 FPS), the frame rate drops by 12 FPS, a 25.5% reduction. From 1440p Low to 4K Low (23 FPS), the drop is another 12 FPS, a 34.3% reduction. The total drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 24 FPS, meaning the system loses half its frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings.

For Medium settings, the scaling is similar: 1080p Medium (35 FPS) to 1440p Medium (26 FPS) is a 9 FPS drop, and 1440p Medium to 4K Medium (17 FPS) is another 9 FPS drop. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 18 FPS. High settings show 1080p High (29 FPS) to 1440p High (22 FPS) as a 7 FPS drop, and 1440p High to 4K High (14 FPS) as an 8 FPS drop, totaling 15 FPS. Ultra settings move from 21 FPS at 1080p to 16 FPS at 1440p (a 5 FPS drop) and then to 10 FPS at 4K (a 6 FPS drop), totaling an 11 FPS reduction.

The resolution scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. The percentage drops between resolutions are consistent across settings, which is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller frame rate differences at 1080p, where the GPU has fewer pixels to process. Instead, the data shows that the Arc B370's pixel throughput is exhausted even at 1080p Low, and every additional pixel at higher resolutions directly translates to lower frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Red Dead Redemption 2 with this CPU/GPU combo?

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where any settings preset reaches an average of 40 FPS or higher. At 1080p Low, the average is 47 FPS. At 1440p, the highest average is 35 FPS (Low settings), and at 4K, the highest average is 23 FPS (Low settings).

Q: Can this combo handle Ultra settings in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: No. The highest average FPS at Ultra settings is 21 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 16 FPS at 1440p and 10 FPS at 4K. These frame rates are below playable thresholds for an action game.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% higher), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% higher), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% higher), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% lower).

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter. The i5-14600KF has a 90th percentile CPU ranking, while the Arc B370 sits in the 5th percentile of GPUs. The frame rates drop consistently with resolution scaling, which is characteristic of GPU-bound performance.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for any settings preset?

A: The only measured minimum FPS values are for the Medium preset: 30 FPS at 1080p, 22 FPS at 1440p, and 15 FPS at 4K. No minimum values are listed for Low, High, or Ultra presets.

Q: How many tested combos does this configuration rank above in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The combo rank is 2670 out of 2902 total combos, meaning it ranks above 232 combos and below 2670. This places it in the bottom 8% of all tested configurations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process node. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 125 watts. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, with ECC memory support. The CPU is unlocked for overclocking, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700 interface with PCIe Gen 5 support (16 lanes from the CPU).

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14600KF demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 32544, and the single-core score is 4594. Geekbench results show a multicore score of 17085 and a single-core score of 2445. In PassMark tests, the multithread score is 38697, and the single-thread score is 4273. The CPU's average benchmark score is 49394, which places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

However, in Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's capabilities are barely relevant to the measured FPS. The game's engine can utilize multiple cores, but the Arc B370's performance ceiling is so low that the CPU never becomes the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work to do, the frame rate is still constrained by the GPU's 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput. The CPU's nearest rivals—such as the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.3% lower average score) and the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 (0.8% higher)—would likely perform identically in this game when paired with the same GPU.

The data suggests that this CPU is overkill for the Arc B370 in gaming scenarios. The 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and streaming, but the GPU's system-shared memory architecture and low pixel rate create a hard ceiling. Players using this combo would see no measurable benefit from the CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz, as the frame rates are entirely dictated by the GPU's limitations in this title.