Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 pairing in Red Dead Redemption 2 delivers a balanced experience where the CPU's high core count and the GPU's substantial memory bandwidth determine performance scaling across settings. The data shows the i5-14600KF provides a strong foundation with its 14 cores and 20 threads, while the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth prove decisive as resolution and quality settings increase. Benchmark results indicate that this combination places in the 403rd position out of 1687 tested combos, a solid mid-to-upper tier placement that reflects the hardware's capabilities in this specific title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF features 14 cores and 20 threads, a configuration that allows it to handle the diverse workloads Red Dead Redemption 2 presents. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz can boost up to 5.30 GHz, providing strong single-thread performance for the game's main simulation thread while the additional cores manage background tasks and physics calculations. The processor's 24 MB of shared L3 cache further aids in keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores, reducing latency during complex scene transitions.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14600KF achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32889 and a single-core score of 4643, demonstrating its capability to handle both heavily threaded and single-threaded workloads. The Geekbench single-core score of 2778 reinforces this, showing that the CPU can maintain high clock speeds when needed. The processor's percentile rank of 93 among all CPUs indicates it outperforms the vast majority of processors in general computational tasks, though in gaming, the impact is more nuanced.

The benchmark results reveal that the CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is exceptionally tight. The i5-14600KF scores 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K, a negligible difference, and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. However, it trails the AMD EPYC 4345P by 0.5%. These small margins suggest that in Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU is unlikely to be the limiting factor at most settings, as the game's engine can leverage the available threads without hitting a hard performance ceiling.

The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility indicate this is a desktop-oriented chip designed for sustained performance. With a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, the CPU can quickly respond to single-threaded demands, which is crucial for maintaining consistent frame pacing in open-world environments. The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 153 FPS, a figure that would be challenging to reach if the CPU were bottlenecked, suggesting that the processor's capabilities are more than sufficient for this title even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more prominent.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and boosts to 2475 MHz, enabling it to process the complex shading and lighting effects that Red Dead Redemption 2 employs. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is critical for streaming high-resolution textures and maintaining smooth performance in the game's expansive environments.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s, allowing the card to handle the game's detailed foliage, water effects, and character models at high frame rates. The FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS provides ample compute headroom for the game's physics and particle effects.

In benchmark tests, the RTX 4070 achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and a PassMark G3D score of 26927, placing it at the 81st percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rival data shows interesting dynamics: the RTX 4070 scores 0.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, but trails the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A by 1.9% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile by 2.2%. However, the RTX 4070 outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 5300M by 2.5%. These mixed comparisons suggest that while the GPU is not at the absolute top of the performance stack, it offers competitive raw compute capabilities.

The memory configuration is particularly relevant to Red Dead Redemption 2's performance. The 12 GB frame buffer allows the game to store large texture sets without constant swapping, which becomes evident when comparing performance across quality settings. At 4K Ultra, the system delivers 35 FPS, but dropping to 4K High improves this to 49 FPS, while 4K Low achieves 75.3 FPS. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity are being heavily utilized, and the VRAM size prevents the game from hitting a hard memory ceiling even at the highest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 403 out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the pairing in the top 24% of all configurations tested, which is a respectable standing given the wide range of hardware combinations evaluated. The rank reflects the aggregate performance across all resolutions and settings, providing a holistic view of how this system handles the game.

The data shows that this combo's strength lies in its consistency. At 1080p, performance ranges from 153 FPS at Low settings to 65.9 FPS at Ultra, with High settings delivering 92.9 FPS. At 1440p, the same pattern holds: Low settings produce 113.6 FPS, High yields 71.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 50.5 FPS. At 4K, the system still maintains playable frame rates, with Low settings hitting 75.3 FPS and High reaching 49 FPS, though Ultra falls to 35 FPS.

The ranking suggests that this combo outperforms many other pairings, but it is not at the very top tier. The 403rd position out of 1687 indicates that roughly 76% of tested configurations perform better, which is expected given that the RTX 4070 is positioned as a mid-to-high-end GPU rather than a flagship. However, the combo's ability to deliver 60+ FPS at 1440p High settings (71.9 FPS) and maintain playable frame rates at 4K demonstrates that it is well-suited for this game's demanding open-world environment.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and setting combination for this hardware in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The data shows that 1440p High settings deliver 71.9 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. For higher fidelity, 1440p Ultra achieves 50.5 FPS, while 1080p Ultra reaches 65.9 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings (75.3 FPS) provide consistently high frame rates, while 4K High drops to 49 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K?

A: The i5-14600KF scores 0.4% higher than the i5-14600K in average benchmark scores, with scores of 49367 and 49166 respectively. This difference is minimal and unlikely to produce noticeable performance variations in gaming scenarios.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for this game at high settings?

A: The benchmark data indicates that 12 GB is sufficient for all tested settings, as the game runs at 4K Ultra with 35 FPS and 4K High with 49 FPS. The VRAM capacity does not appear to cause a performance cliff, as frame rates scale predictably with quality settings.

Q: What does the combo's 403rd rank out of 1687 signify?

A: The rank places this configuration in the top 24% of all tested combos. This indicates that while the hardware is not top-tier, it outperforms 76% of other combinations, providing a strong balance of CPU and GPU capabilities for this title.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the system delivers 92.9 FPS at 1080p, 71.9 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. This represents a 47% drop from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU becomes increasingly stressed at higher resolutions.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance more at 1080p Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 153 FPS, which is the highest frame rate in the dataset. This suggests the GPU is not heavily stressed at this configuration, and the CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4643) is sufficient to support high frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling across resolutions provides clear insight into which component becomes the limiting factor in Red Dead Redemption 2. At High settings, frame rates decline from 92.9 FPS at 1080p to 71.9 FPS at 1440p, a 22.6% reduction, and then to 49 FPS at 4K, a further 31.8% reduction from 1440p. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution, but the GPU's rendering load increases substantially.

The Low settings data reveals a similar trend but with higher absolute frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system hits 153 FPS, which drops to 113.6 FPS at 1440p and 75.3 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 25.8% and 33.7% respectively, showing that the GPU's workload scaling is consistent regardless of quality settings. This consistency suggests that the CPU is not introducing a bottleneck even at the highest frame rates, as the scaling is purely driven by GPU rendering demands.

The Medium settings follow the same pattern: 114.7 FPS at 1080p, 87.8 FPS at 1440p, and 56.5 FPS at 4K. The Ultra settings show the most significant drop, with 65.9 FPS at 1080p falling to 50.5 FPS at 1440p and 35 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra performance of 35 FPS indicates that the GPU is operating near its limits, as the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings places unprecedented demand on the 12 GB frame buffer and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth.

The data demonstrates that the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth is a critical factor in this game's performance. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, while substantial, is challenged by the game's large texture sets and draw distances at 4K. The CPU's role becomes less significant as resolution increases, and the frame rates at 4K across all settings (35 FPS to 75.3 FPS) suggest that the GPU's compute and memory resources are the primary determinants of performance at this resolution. At 1080p, the CPU's strong single-thread performance (boost clock of 5.30 GHz) ensures that frame rates can reach 153 FPS without being artificially capped by processor limitations.