Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 570 combination produces a severely constrained experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, landing in the bottom 5% of all tested configurations. The data shows a system that is fundamentally GPU-bound at every preset, with the processor's six cores and six threads providing adequate, if unremarkable, support. The 2.90 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost clocks are sufficient to feed the RX 570 at 1080p, but the overall frame rates remain low, indicating that the graphics card is the primary bottleneck across all measured scenarios. The CPU's architectural position is clear: it is a mid-pack performer, with a 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4—score within 0.2% of its average benchmark, confirming that it offers no exceptional headroom for this workload.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread Coffee Lake processor with a 65 W TDP. Its 2.90 GHz base and 4.10 GHz boost clocks are typical for its generation, and its 9 MB of shared L3 cache is standard for the segment. In Red Dead Redemption 2, this configuration is not the limiting factor. The game's engine is heavily optimized for multi-threaded scaling, but the data indicates that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would have the most relative influence, the system only achieves 42.8 FPS. This is below playable thresholds for many users, yet the CPU's average benchmark score of 2305 and its 50th percentile standing suggest it is capable of more. The bottleneck is demonstrably elsewhere. The processor's performance relative to its closest rivals reinforces this: the Intel Xeon E-2134 is 0.4% slower, while the Intel Core i7-8809G is 0.6% faster. These negligible deltas mean that swapping the CPU for a direct competitor would yield no meaningful frame rate improvement in this game. The CPU is doing its job; it is the GPU that cannot keep pace.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 with the AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 1599 out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. That places it in the 5th percentile of all systems measured, a position that speaks to the GPU's age and tier rather than any CPU deficiency. The data shows that this combo is not merely below average; it is near the bottom of the entire database. The rank is a consequence of the RX 570's 74th percentile standing among all GPUs being dragged down by the game's demanding engine, but the CPU's 50th percentile score is not doing the combo any favors either. For context, the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks—the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT—are within 0.2% of its average score, yet those are far newer and more powerful parts in real-world gaming. This discrepancy highlights that synthetic averages do not translate to playable frame rates in this specific title. The combination is a low-end pairing that yields a low-end result, and no amount of CPU tuning can change that fundamental reality.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling curve across resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 30.7 FPS. Dropping to 1440p High reduces this to 22.1 FPS, a decline of approximately 28%. Moving to 4K High collapses performance to 12 FPS, a further 46% drop from 1440p. This steep degradation is the signature of a graphics card that is saturated even at the lowest resolution. The scaling is consistent across all settings presets. For instance, at Low settings, the system goes from 42.8 FPS at 1080p to 34.1 FPS at 1440p, then to 20.6 FPS at 4K. The pattern is unambiguous: the RX 570's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are overwhelmed as pixel count rises. The CPU's role in this equation is static; it is not the component that changes behavior with resolution. The data confirms that the GPU is the sole limiting factor, as the frame rate drops are directly proportional to the increase in rendering resolution, with no evidence of a CPU-induced plateau.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p with playable frame rates?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 42.8, which is playable for some. However, at 1080p Medium, it drops to 34.4 FPS, and at 1080p High, it falls to 30.7 FPS. Ultra is not viable at 20.6 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the only feasible resolution. At 1440p, even Low settings only produce 34.1 FPS, while High and Medium yield 22.1 and 25.1 FPS, respectively. 4K is unplayable across all settings, with a maximum of 20.6 FPS at Low.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RX 570?

A: No. The CPU's 50th percentile ranking and the GPU-bound scaling pattern indicate the processor is not the limiting factor. Swapping to a rival like the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% faster) would not change frame rates.

Q: How does the RX 570 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RX 570's synthetic benchmark average is 30158, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097). However, this translates to poor real-world performance in Red Dead Redemption 2, as the measured FPS demonstrates.

Q: What settings preset should be avoided entirely?

A: Ultra is not usable. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 20.6, which is the same as 4K Low. The performance cost of Ultra is not justified by any playability benefit.

Q: Does increasing resolution from 1080p to 1440p cause a proportional FPS drop?

A: Yes. At High settings, 1080p yields 30.7 FPS, and 1440p yields 22.1 FPS, a drop of roughly 28%. This is consistent with a GPU that is fully saturated at all resolutions.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the decisive component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the poor results. It features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, and it has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs is misleading in this context, as its synthetic benchmark average of 30158 is heavily influenced by compute tasks. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the data shows that the 4 GB VRAM capacity is a critical weakness. The frame rates plummet as resolution increases, and even at 1080p Medium, the system only reaches 34.4 FPS. The GPU's pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are simply insufficient for the game's rendering demands. The 150 W TDP and 1x 6-pin power connector indicate a modest card, and the measured FPS confirms it is out of its depth. The game is not CPU-bound; it is entirely limited by this GPU's ability to process frames.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of presets, and none offer a smooth experience. For users who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, 1080p Low is the only option that approaches playability, with an average of 42.8 FPS. This is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. At 1080p Medium, the average drops to 34.4 FPS, which is a significant visual improvement but a 20% performance loss. High settings at 1080p yield 30.7 FPS, which is borderline playable but still below the 60 FPS target most would desire. Ultra is not a viable option, as it produces 20.6 FPS at 1080p, which is the same as 4K Low. The data suggests that Low at 1080p is the only sensible choice for a playable experience, as the Medium and High presets do not offer a stable enough frame rate to justify their visual upgrades. For 1440p or 4K, no preset is recommended, as even Low settings result in sub-35 FPS averages.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The following data is derived from the measured FPS table. At 1920x1080, the system produces 42.8 FPS on Low, 34.4 FPS on Medium, 30.7 FPS on High, and 20.6 FPS on Ultra. The spread of 22.2 FPS between Low and Ultra illustrates the GPU's limited headroom. At 2560x1440, the results are 34.1 FPS on Low, 25.1 FPS on Medium, 22.1 FPS on High, and 17.8 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Medium settings, where the FPS falls from 34.4 to 25.1, a reduction of 9.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, the system delivers 20.6 FPS on Low, 18.2 FPS on Medium, 12 FPS on High, and 9.6 FPS on Ultra. The 4K data is uniformly unplayable, with the highest value being 20.6 FPS at Low. Notably, the 4K Low result of 20.6 FPS exactly matches the 1080p Ultra result, indicating that the GPU is equally stressed at both extremes. The data shows a consistent pattern: every increase in resolution or settings tier results in a substantial FPS penalty, confirming the RX 570 as the definitive bottleneck.