Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B580 presents a peculiar profile in Red Dead Redemption 2, where the combination’s performance is heavily dictated by the graphics settings rather than the resolution alone. The measured data shows a clear pattern: the Arc B580 is the dominant limiting factor at higher quality presets, while the aging six-core processor begins to show its limitations only when the graphical load is minimized. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across three resolutions and four settings tiers, interpreting the results against the backdrop of the component’s individual benchmark scores and their standing among tested hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not uniform across settings, which reveals the balance between CPU and GPU workload. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 (89.5 avg FPS) to 2560x1440 (63.3 avg FPS) represents a 29.3% reduction, and further down to 3840x2160 (41.4 avg FPS) is a 34.6% drop from 1440p. This steep scaling suggests that even at Low, the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, as the i5-9400’s six cores and six threads are sufficient to feed the Arc B580 at lower resolutions. However, the 1080p Low result of 89.5 FPS is notably high, indicating that the CPU has headroom; the frame rate is likely capped by the GPU’s raw throughput rather than any processor stall.

At High settings, the scaling is more moderate. From 1080p (54.7 FPS) to 1440p (42.6 FPS) is a 22.1% drop, and from 1440p to 4K (28.3 FPS) is a 33.6% drop. The 4K High result of 28.3 FPS is barely playable, and the diminishing returns suggest that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading units are overwhelmed. The Arc B580’s 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 performance are respectable, but at 4K Ultra, the system collapses to 18.1 FPS, a 36.1% drop from 4K High. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU, likely related to the 12 GB GDDR6 memory capacity being fully utilized, but the data does not specify VRAM usage.

The most telling observation is the delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the spread is 89.5 FPS down to 42.4 FPS, a 52.6% reduction. At 1440p, the spread is 63.3 FPS down to 29.5 FPS, a 53.4% reduction. At 4K, the spread is 41.4 FPS down to 18.1 FPS, a 56.3% reduction. The consistency of this percentage drop across resolutions indicates that the scaling is purely GPU-bound; the CPU’s performance ceiling is not being hit until the GPU is under less strain. Given the i5-9400’s average benchmark score of 2305 and its 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs, it is a mid-pack processor, but in this title, it appears to keep pace with the Arc B580 until the very lowest settings at 1080p, where the 89.5 FPS figure suggests potential CPU headroom that is not fully exploited.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured combination ranks 1333rd out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the bottom 21% of all pairings. This low rank is surprising given the individual components’ standings. The Arc B580 sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021, placing it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (score 23181, delta -0.7%) and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M (score 22999, delta 0.1%). The i5-9400, conversely, is at the 50th percentile, with an average score of 2305, nearly identical to the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2300, delta 0.2%) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (score 2299, delta 0.2%).

The discrepancy between the GPU’s respectable percentile and the combo’s poor rank suggests a significant pairing inefficiency. The i5-9400’s nearest rivals are all low-end or older parts, and while its six cores are sufficient for many titles, the data shows that in Red Dead Redemption 2, the combo is underperforming relative to what the GPU alone could achieve. The 4K Ultra result of 18.1 FPS is a stark indicator that the system is not delivering a playable experience at high fidelity, and even 1080p High at 54.7 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold. The rank of 1333 out of 1687 implies that most other CPU-GPU pairings tested achieve higher frame rates, likely because they either have a more balanced CPU or a stronger GPU. The delta between the i5-9400 and its closest rivals is minimal (less than 0.6%), so the CPU is not an outlier in performance, but the overall combo rank suggests that the Arc B580’s capabilities are being restrained by the older Coffee Lake architecture, possibly due to PCIe Gen 3 limitations (the GPU supports PCIe 4.0 x8, but the CPU only provides Gen 3, 16 lanes).

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo, and at what settings?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 89.5, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that exceeds 60 FPS, and it is significantly higher than the 1080p Medium result of 67.6 FPS.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest CPU rival in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 (score 2300) and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (score 2299). It is also 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134 (score 2295), but 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G (score 2319).

Q: Is the Arc B580 a high-end GPU based on its benchmark percentile?

A: No, the Arc B580 sits at the 66th percentile among all GPUs, which places it in the upper-midrange category. Its average benchmark score of 23021 is within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (score 23181) and 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon 760M (score 22999).

Q: What is the worst performance recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 18.1, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This is a 79.8% reduction from the best performance (1080p Low at 89.5 FPS), indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is far beyond the system’s practical limits.

Q: How does the FPS scale from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 67.6 at 1920x1080 to 50.8 at 2560x1440 (a 24.9% reduction), and then to 36.0 at 3840x2160 (a 29.1% reduction from 1440p). This scaling is more gradual than at Low settings, suggesting a balanced load between CPU and GPU.

Q: Which component is the primary bottleneck at 4K High settings?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K High, the combo achieves 28.3 FPS, and given that the i5-9400 has a 50th percentile CPU rank, the processor is unlikely to be the constraint at such a high resolution. The Arc B580’s 456.0 GB/s bandwidth and 13.67 TFLOPS are insufficient for the demands of the High preset at 2160p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured data set comprises 12 configurations, spanning three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 89.5 (Low) to 42.4 (Ultra), with Medium at 67.6 and High at 54.7. The 1080p Low result is the only one in the entire set that approaches high refresh rate territory, while the 1080p Ultra result of 42.4 FPS is barely above the 4K Medium score of 36.0.

At 2560x1440, the spread narrows slightly, with Low at 63.3 FPS, Medium at 50.8 FPS, High at 42.6 FPS, and Ultra at 29.5 FPS. The 1440p High result (42.6 FPS) is nearly identical to the 1080p Ultra result (42.4 FPS), suggesting that the graphical load at these two configurations is comparable for the GPU. This is a key insight: moving from 1080p Ultra to 1440p High yields a negligible 0.2 FPS difference, indicating a saturation point where the GPU’s compute resources are equally taxed.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly low: Low at 41.4 FPS, Medium at 36.0 FPS, High at 28.3 FPS, and Ultra at 18.1 FPS. The 4K Low score of 41.4 FPS is higher than the 1080p Ultra score of 42.4 FPS by only 1 FPS, which is within the margin of error but still notable. This suggests that the Ultra preset at 1080p is nearly as demanding as the Low preset at 4K, which confirms the heavy load of the Ultra settings. The data shows a consistent pattern: the GPU’s performance drops by roughly 50% when moving from Low to Ultra at each resolution, and the CPU does not appear to cause any unexpected dips in frame rates.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, featuring 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. Its base and boost clocks are both set at 2670 MHz, with a memory clock of 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 13.67 TFLOPS.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s role is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. The 12 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for most settings, but the Ultra preset at 4K (18.1 FPS) suggests that the memory bandwidth (456.0 GB/s) is insufficient for the highest fidelity textures and effects. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, has a slightly higher average benchmark score (23181 vs. 23021, a -0.7% delta), and the measured results here indicate that the Arc B580 performs within that expected range. However, the GPU’s 66th percentile ranking is undermined by the combo’s overall rank of 1333rd, which points to a CPU bottleneck in certain scenarios. The i5-9400’s support for only PCIe Gen 3 (16 lanes) may limit the Arc B580’s potential, as the GPU is designed for PCIe 4.0 x8, but the measured data does not isolate this variable. The GPU’s TDP of 190 W and a suggested PSU of 450 W are consistent with its midrange positioning, and the dual-slot cooler with a 1x 8-pin connector is standard for this class of hardware. The clock behavior shows no boost variance (both base and boost at 2670 MHz), meaning the GPU runs at a fixed frequency, which can lead to consistent frame pacing but also means there is no thermal headroom for overclocking beyond the factory settings. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (89.5) is the only configuration where the GPU is not clearly the bottleneck, as the CPU’s six threads can keep up with the lower pixel count, but the overall analysis points to a system where the graphics card dictates performance across the board.