Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a severely constrained gaming experience in Red Dead Redemption 2. The data indicates that this combination is only viable at the lowest settings and resolution, and even then, it barely achieves playable frame rates. The benchmark results paint a clear picture: the GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck, and the measured performance places this combo in the bottom 12% of all tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows for this combination show a stark trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 51 FPS, which is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches a smooth experience. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to an average of 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS, indicating noticeable dips during demanding scenes. High settings at 1080p further reduce the average to 32 FPS, while the Ultra preset falls to 23 FPS, making it borderline unplayable for most users.

Given these results, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only sensible recommendation. It provides a 30% performance uplift over Medium (51 FPS vs. 39 FPS) and a 59% uplift over High (51 FPS vs. 32 FPS). The data shows that sacrificing visual quality is mandatory to maintain a consistent frame rate. At higher resolutions, the situation deteriorates rapidly; at 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 38 FPS, which is a 25% drop from 1080p. At 3840x2160, even Low only averages 25 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

The frame time consistency, where measurable, also favors the Low preset. At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS of 33 versus the average of 39 shows a 15% variance, which can translate to stutter. For users who prioritize a stable experience, the Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that provides a sufficient margin above the 30 FPS baseline. The Ultra preset is entirely impractical, yielding an average of 11 FPS at 4K and 23 FPS at 1080p, making it a showcase mode rather than a playable option.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary limiting factor in this configuration. Its benchmark profile is exceptionally weak, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the data are all legacy or entry-level parts: the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). This places the B390 in the same performance class as graphics solutions that are over a decade old, which explains its inability to handle Red Dead Redemption 2's demands.

The GPU's architecture is Xe3-LPG, built on a 3 nm process, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning it relies on the host system's RAM for frame buffering. The bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which introduces significant variability and potential performance penalties compared to dedicated VRAM. The pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, but these theoretical figures do not translate into real-world performance, as evidenced by the measured FPS.

The role of the GPU is clear when analyzing the scaling across resolutions. Moving from 1080p Low (51 FPS) to 1440p Low (38 FPS) results in a 25% performance drop, and moving from 1440p Low to 4K Low (25 FPS) results in a further 34% drop. This steep decline with increasing pixel count is a classic sign of a GPU that is completely saturated. The 4K Ultra result of 11 FPS is a catastrophic 78% drop from the 1080p Low result, demonstrating that the B390's compute and memory bandwidth are wholly inadequate for high-fidelity rendering at high resolutions. The shared memory architecture likely compounds this issue, as the system must manage both CPU and GPU memory traffic over the same bus.

CPU Role

In stark contrast to the GPU, the Intel Core i7-12700K is a high-performance processor that is not a limiting factor in this game. The CPU features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It is built on Intel's 10 nm process (Alder Lake) and has a 25 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are robust: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 15790 and a single-core score of 2308. The CPU's average benchmark score is 35287, placing it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs.

The nearest rivals for the CPU include the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, 0.1% faster), the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, 0.2% faster), the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, 0.3% faster), and the Intel Core 5 213PE (35428, 0.4% faster). The i7-12700K is essentially on par with these parts, showing that it is a competitive mid-range to high-end CPU that provides ample compute headroom for gaming workloads.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck because the frame rates are uniformly low regardless of resolution scaling. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar FPS numbers across different resolutions, as the CPU's work would be the same. Instead, the FPS drops significantly as resolution increases, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. For example, at 1080p Low the combo hits 51 FPS, but at 4K Low it only manages 25 FPS. This 51% reduction in performance is almost entirely attributable to the GPU struggling to fill more pixels. The CPU, with its 20 threads and 5.00 GHz boost clock, is more than capable of feeding the GPU with draw calls; it is the GPU that cannot keep up with the rendering workload. The CPU's high single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1850.5) is particularly relevant for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which relies heavily on a single main thread for game logic, but this power goes unused due to the GPU's limitations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2568 out of 2902 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations, underscoring the severe mismatch between the high-end CPU and the low-end GPU. The combo's performance is dragged down entirely by the GPU, which sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs. This is a classic example of a system where the graphics card is the fundamental bottleneck, negating the potential of the processor.

The ranking is not an anomaly specific to this game; it reflects the GPU's overall weak benchmark presence. The GPU's average benchmark score is 1482, which is a fraction of the CPU's average score of 35287. The data suggests that this combo would rank poorly in any modern 3D title, but in Red Dead Redemption 2, the high system requirements and detailed open world exacerbate the GPU's deficiencies. The fact that the combo ranks 2568th means that there are only 334 tested combos that perform worse, likely featuring even older or more integrated graphics solutions. For context, the GPU's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and GT 710, which are not capable of running most contemporary games at playable settings. This combo, therefore, is only suitable for very light or older titles, not for Red Dead Redemption 2.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior is the most revealing aspect of this combo's performance. The data shows a consistent and steep drop in FPS as resolution increases, which definitively identifies the GPU as the bottleneck. Starting at 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS is 51. Moving to 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 38 FPS, a reduction of 25.5%. Moving further to 3840x2160 Low, the average plummets to 25 FPS, a 34.2% reduction from 1440p and a total reduction of 51% from 1080p. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth.

The scaling is even more dramatic at higher settings. At Medium settings, the FPS drops from 39 at 1080p to 29 at 1440p (a 25.6% drop) and then to 19 at 4K (a 34.5% drop from 1440p). At High settings, the drop from 1080p (32 FPS) to 1440p (24 FPS) is 25%, and to 4K (16 FPS) is 33.3% from 1440p. At Ultra settings, the FPS falls from 23 at 1080p to 17 at 1440p (a 26.1% drop) and then to 11 at 4K (a 35.3% drop). The percentage drops are remarkably consistent across all settings, hovering around 25% for the 1080p to 1440p transition and 34% for the 1440p to 4K transition.

This consistency indicates that the limiting factor is purely the GPU's raw throughput. The CPU's workload does not scale with resolution, so if the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the nearly linear degradation in performance with pixel count shows that the Arc B390 is being pushed to its absolute limits even at 1080p, and any increase in resolution directly translates to a proportional decrease in frame rate. The 4K results, with averages of 25 FPS on Low and 11 FPS on Ultra, are effectively unplayable, confirming that this GPU is not designed for high-resolution gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS data for this combo is as follows:

1920x1080:

• Low: Average 51 FPS. This is the best-case scenario, providing the only playable frame rate in the entire dataset.
• Medium: Average 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS. The variance indicates some frame pacing issues, but it is the second-best option.
• High: Average 32 FPS. This falls below the 30 FPS threshold for comfortable playability and is a 37% drop from Low.
• Ultra: Average 23 FPS. This is a slideshow and not suitable for action sequences.

2560x1440:

• Low: Average 38 FPS. This is a 25% drop from 1080p Low and is borderline playable.
• Medium: Average 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 FPS and a maximum of 33 FPS. The minimum of 24 FPS will be noticeable.
• High: Average 24 FPS. This is a 25% drop from the Low preset at the same resolution.
• Ultra: Average 17 FPS. This is a 55% drop from the Low preset at 1080p.

3840x2160:

• Low: Average 25 FPS. This is below playable standards.
• Medium: Average 19 FPS, with a minimum of 16 FPS and a maximum of 22 FPS. The minimum of 16 FPS is a severe stutter.
• High: Average 16 FPS. This is a 36% drop from 1080p Low.
• Ultra: Average 11 FPS. This is the worst result, representing a 78% drop from the best-case 1080p Low result.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p Low is the only viable option. The gap between Low and Medium is 12 FPS at 1080p, which is the largest single-step improvement in the dataset, highlighting the significant cost of enabling higher graphics presets. The minimum FPS values, where recorded, show that the frame rate can dip well below the average, particularly at Medium settings, which could lead to brief freezes. The Ultra preset at any resolution is purely for screenshots, as the frame rates are too low for any interactive use. Overall, the measured FPS breakdown confirms that this hardware combination is fundamentally mismatched for Red Dead Redemption 2, delivering a subpar experience except at the most minimal settings.