Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B390 delivers a strictly 1080p experience in Red Dead Redemption 2. Benchmark data shows that at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 51 FPS, which is the only configuration in the measured set that crosses the 60 FPS threshold is absent, but this is the highest playable figure. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 39 FPS average with a minimum of 33 FPS, while High drops to 32 FPS. At 1440p, even Low settings fall to 38 FPS, and at 4K, the best case is 25 FPS on Low. For a playable experience, Low at 1080p is the recommendation, as it provides the smoothest performance; Medium at 1080p is acceptable for those prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, given its minimum of 33 FPS stays above the 30 FPS playability floor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all three resolutions and four quality presets indicates that the Low setting at 1920x1080 is the only viable option for consistent gameplay. The 51 FPS average at this configuration is substantially higher than the 39 FPS average of Medium, representing a 30.8% improvement in frame rate. This delta is significant because it moves the experience from a stutter-prone zone into a smoother range, though still below the ideal 60 FPS target. The High preset at 1080p delivers 32 FPS, which is a 37.3% reduction from Low, making it less desirable for action sequences. Ultra at 1080p is nearly unplayable at 23 FPS, a 54.9% drop from Low.

At 2560x1440, the performance gap narrows but remains prohibitive. Low settings produce 38 FPS, which is still below the 40 FPS threshold many consider minimum for third-person action games. Medium at 1440p averages 29 FPS with a minimum of 24 FPS, indicating noticeable frame drops during intense scenes. High and Ultra at 1440p are effectively slideshows at 24 FPS and 17 FPS respectively. The 4K results are uniformly poor, with the best being Low at 25 FPS and the worst being Ultra at 11 FPS.

Given the data, the optimal preset is Low at 1080p. It offers the highest average FPS and avoids the sub-30 FPS dips seen in other configurations. For users who prioritize image quality, Medium at 1080p is the highest preset that maintains a minimum FPS above 30, though the 33 FPS minimum is close to the edge. The data suggests that the Intel Arc B390's system-shared memory architecture is the primary constraint, as increasing settings from Low to Medium at any resolution incurs a performance penalty of roughly 20-25%, which is consistent across all resolutions.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, fabricated on a 3 nm process. Its performance profile in Red Dead Redemption 2 is defined by its system-shared memory, which means the VRAM capacity and bandwidth are dynamically dependent on the system's main memory. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, providing 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

The benchmark results show that the Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463, deltaPct 1.3%), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (score 1460, deltaPct 1.5%), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (score 1446, deltaPct 2.5%), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (score 1443, deltaPct 2.7%). This places the Arc B390 marginally ahead of these older discrete GPUs, but the performance class is clearly entry-level. In Red Dead Redemption 2, this translates to the GPU being the bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p.

The system-shared memory configuration is a critical factor. Unlike dedicated GPUs with fixed VRAM, the Arc B390 must compete with the CPU for memory bandwidth. This explains the steep performance drops when moving from Low to Medium settings, as increased texture detail and shadow quality require more memory bandwidth. The 25 FPS average at 4K Low versus 16 FPS at 4K High demonstrates that the GPU's compute capability is sufficient for basic rendering, but the memory subsystem cannot sustain higher workloads. The data indicates that the Arc B390 is best suited for 1080p gaming with reduced settings, as pushing higher resolutions or quality presets rapidly exhausts its available resources.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 256 KB L2 per core, and 9 MB shared L3. Memory support is DDR4 in dual-channel configuration, providing 42.7 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU's benchmark scores show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, with a Geekbench multi-core score of 5141 and single-core score of 1389. The average benchmark score is 2254, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs.

The nearest CPU rivals are tightly clustered: the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (avg score 2259, deltaPct -0.2%), Intel Core i7-10710U (avg score 2248, deltaPct 0.3%), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (avg score 2246, deltaPct 0.4%), and Intel Core i3-10305 (avg score 2264, deltaPct -0.4%). This indicates the i5-9400 is a mid-pack performer, roughly equal to these alternatives within a 0.4% margin. For Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads are adequate for the game's engine, which is known to scale well with multi-core processors, but the lack of hyper-threading means it cannot handle heavy background tasks.

The CPU role in the measured results is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the FPS patterns. At 1080p Low, the 51 FPS average suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to reach this level. However, the fact that increasing resolution from 1080p to 1440p at the same Low settings drops FPS from 51 to 38 (a 25.5% reduction) indicates the GPU is the primary limiter. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions. The CPU's 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth is also a factor, as the system-shared GPU memory competes for this same bandwidth, potentially creating a bottleneck that neither component can fully overcome. The data shows the i5-9400 is sufficient for this game at 1080p, but the paired GPU prevents the system from exploiting the CPU's full potential.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 51. This is the only configuration that approaches playable frame rates, as Medium at 1080p drops to 39 FPS average and High to 32 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K?

A: No. The best 4K result is 25 FPS on Low settings, which is below playable thresholds. Medium at 4K averages 19 FPS with a minimum of 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS, all of which are effectively unplayable.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the GT 710 (1443). All five GPUs are in the bottom 10th percentile of performance.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck for this game?

A: Benchmark data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. The FPS drops by 25.5% when moving from 1080p Low (51 FPS) to 1440p Low (38 FPS), which indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 places it in the 47th percentile, showing it is a mid-range performer adequate for this title.

Q: What is the expected frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low averages 51 FPS while Ultra averages 23 FPS, representing a 54.9% reduction in performance. Medium (39 FPS) and High (32 FPS) sit between these extremes, showing a consistent performance penalty for each quality tier increase.

Q: How does the system's performance rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: This specific CPU-GPU combo ranks 2568 out of 2902 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations. This low ranking is consistent with the GPU's 9th percentile standing among all GPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 51 at 1080p to 38 at 1440p and 25 at 4K. This represents a 25.5% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a 34.2% decrease from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 51.0%, meaning 4K performance is roughly half of 1080p performance. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound system, where the rendering workload increases quadratically with pixel count.

At Medium settings, the scaling is similar but slightly steeper. The 1080p average is 39 FPS, dropping to 29 FPS at 1440p (a 25.6% decrease) and 19 FPS at 4K (a 34.5% decrease from 1440p). The minimum FPS values at Medium also show this trend: 33 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p, and 16 FPS at 4K. The High settings demonstrate a slightly different pattern, with 32 FPS at 1080p, 24 FPS at 1440p (25.0% decrease), and 16 FPS at 4K (33.3% decrease). Ultra settings show the steepest drops, going from 23 FPS at 1080p to 17 FPS at 1440p (26.1% decrease) and 11 FPS at 4K (35.3% decrease).

The consistent ~25-26% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~34-35% drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU's fixed compute resources are the limiting factor. The Intel Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply insufficient for the increased pixel workload at higher resolutions. The system-shared memory further exacerbates this, as memory bandwidth is divided between CPU and GPU tasks. The data suggests that the 1080p resolution is the only practical target for this hardware, and even then, only at lower quality presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings were measured. Low settings produce an average of 51 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings average 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS and maximum of 44 FPS, providing a playable but not smooth experience. High settings drop to an average of 32 FPS, and Ultra settings average 23 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 28 FPS, representing a 54.9% reduction in frame rate. Notably, only the Low and Medium presets at 1080p maintain minimum FPS above 30, with Medium's 33 FPS minimum being the second-highest minimum across all configurations.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly across all settings. Low settings average 38 FPS, which is a 25.5% reduction from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 29 FPS with a minimum of 24 FPS and maximum of 33 FPS. High settings average 24 FPS, and Ultra settings average 17 FPS. The minimum FPS values at 1440p are particularly concerning, as even the Medium setting's 24 FPS minimum indicates frame drops below playability thresholds. The data shows that no 1440p configuration achieves an average of 40 FPS or higher, making this resolution unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings average 25 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration above 20 FPS. Medium settings average 19 FPS with a minimum of 16 FPS and maximum of 22 FPS. High settings average 16 FPS, and Ultra settings average 11 FPS. The 4K results are 51.0% lower on average than the 1080p results across all settings. The Medium setting's 16 FPS minimum is the lowest recorded value in the entire dataset, indicating severe performance degradation during demanding scenes.

The measured data includes 12 unique configurations, with the Medium settings being the only preset measured with full min/max FPS data at all three resolutions. The min/max spread at 1080p Medium (33-44 FPS) shows a 33.3% variance, while at 1440p Medium (24-33 FPS) the variance is 37.5%, and at 4K Medium (16-22 FPS) it is 37.5%. This increasing variance at higher resolutions further confirms the GPU's limited headroom and the system's overall inability to deliver consistent frame pacing at higher pixel counts. The combo's overall rank of 2568 out of 2902 in this game reflects these poor results, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all tested configurations.