Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a balanced 1440p-oriented configuration for Red Dead Redemption 2, but it is not a 4K Ultra machine. The data indicates that this combo ranks in the 58th percentile (2154 out of 3714 tested combos) for this specific game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all possible pairings. This system excels at delivering smooth frame rates at 1080p and playable, high-refresh experiences at 1440p, but it struggles to maintain a consistent 60 FPS at 4K, even on lower settings. The following analysis breaks down the component roles, measured performance, and optimal settings based strictly on the benchmark data provided.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Red Dead Redemption 2 with this combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo consistently exceeds 60 FPS across all settings, with an average of 102 FPS on Low. At 2560x1440, the system achieves a playable 57 FPS average on Medium, but falls below 60 FPS on High (48 FPS) and Ultra (34 FPS). At 3840x2160, every setting drops below 50 FPS.

Q: How does the i7-12700K compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287, which places it at the 84th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, scores 35305, making the i7-12700K effectively identical at -0.1% delta. The i7-12700KF is also nearly identical at -0.2% delta with a score of 35365, indicating that the K and KF variants perform within a rounding error of each other.

Q: Is the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB VRAM a limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The data shows that at 3840x2160 on Ultra, the average FPS drops to 23, and on High it is only 31. While VRAM capacity is not directly measured, the significant performance drop at 4K suggests the card is compute-bound rather than simply capacity-bound, as even Low settings at 4K only reach 50 FPS.

Q: Should I use the Medium or High preset at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides a 57 FPS average with a minimum of 49 FPS, which is a smoother experience than High's 48 FPS average. If you prioritize frame rate consistency, Medium is the better choice. If you prefer visual fidelity and can tolerate 48 FPS average, High is viable, but the data suggests Medium is the sweet spot for this resolution.

Q: How does the combo's rank in this game compare to its overall component percentiles?

A: The CPU is at the 84th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is at the 65th percentile of all GPUs. However, the combo ranks 2154 out of 3714 combos (58th percentile) specifically in Red Dead Redemption 2. This indicates that the pairing is less effective in this title than the individual component scores might suggest, likely due to the game's heavy demand on both CPU and GPU resources.

Q: What is the minimum FPS like on Medium settings?

A: The data includes min FPS only for Medium settings. At 1920x1080 Medium, the min FPS is 65, at 2560x1440 Medium it drops to 49, and at 3840x2160 Medium it falls to 32. These minimums indicate that stuttering is possible at higher resolutions, but the 1080p Medium preset maintains a very stable frame time.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary driver of frame rates in this configuration, and its Turing architecture with 2560 shading units operates at a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The GPU has 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores, but the measured FPS data does not include any ray tracing or DLSS results, so the analysis focuses on raw rasterization performance. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but appears to bottleneck at 4K Ultra where the average FPS plummets to 23.

The GPU's performance relative to its peers is modest. It sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc B570 (score 20556, -1.3% delta) and the Intel Arc A750 (score 20582, -1.5% delta), which are both slightly faster in synthetic tests. However, in Red Dead Redemption 2 specifically, the measured FPS shows that the card is capable of 102 FPS at 1080p Low but only 31 FPS at 4K High. This steep drop-off across resolutions indicates that the GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s are moderate figures. In practice, this means the card handles pixel-heavy workloads at 1080p and 1440p well, but 4K (3840x2160) requires rendering over 8 million pixels per frame, which overwhelms the 64 ROPs. The measured data confirms this: at 4K, even the Low preset only achieves 50 FPS, and Ultra drops to 23 FPS. The GPU's 215W TDP and dual-slot cooler are standard for this class, and the 550W suggested PSU is adequate. For this game, the RTX 2070 SUPER is best treated as a 1080p high-refresh card or a 1440p medium-settings card, with 4K being reserved for lower presets.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K provides the processing foundation for this combo, and its strong single-thread performance is crucial for Red Dead Redemption 2's game logic and physics. The CPU features 12 cores (8 performance and 4 efficiency) and 20 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The 25 MB of shared L3 cache and per-core L2 cache of 1.25 MB help feed the GPU with draw calls and world data. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 1850.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 19784 in multi-core, which places it at the 84th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35287.

The CPU's performance is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the Intel Core i5-13600T scoring 35305 (-0.1% delta) and the i7-12700KF scoring 35365 (-0.2% delta). This means that for this game, the i7-12700K is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as the measured FPS scales directly with GPU settings. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo hits 102 FPS, which is likely CPU-limited in some scenes, but the CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 suggest ample headroom. The 20 threads are sufficient to handle the game's background simulation tasks without causing stutter, as evidenced by the min FPS of 65 at 1080p Medium.

The CPU's Alder Lake architecture supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, but the measured data does not distinguish between memory types. The dual-channel memory bus is standard, and the 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes provide enough bandwidth for the GPU. The integrated UHD Graphics 770 is present but irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU. The 125W TDP is manageable for most mid-range coolers. In this game, the CPU's role is to sustain high minimum frame rates, and the data shows that at 1440p Medium, the min FPS of 49 is still playable, indicating the CPU is not causing severe frame drops even when the GPU is under heavy load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2154 out of 3714 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2, which puts it in the 58th percentile of all possible CPU-GPU pairings for this game. This is a notable discrepancy from the individual component percentiles: the CPU is at the 84th percentile and the GPU is at the 65th percentile. The combination underperforms relative to what these parts achieve in isolation, suggesting that the game's engine is particularly sensitive to GPU memory bandwidth or rasterization throughput, which is the RTX 2070 SUPER's weakness.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 2070 SUPER is slightly slower than the Intel Arc A750 (-1.5% delta) and the Intel Arc B570 (-1.3% delta) in average benchmark scores. However, the combo rank of 2154 indicates that in this specific game, the NVIDIA card's driver maturity and feature set may not compensate for the raw performance deficit. The CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-13600T and i7-12700KF, are within 0.2% of its average score, so the CPU choice has minimal impact on the overall ranking.

The rank position of 2154 out of 3714 means that 1560 combos perform worse and 2153 perform better in this game. The data indicates that the combo is solidly mid-pack, which aligns with the measured FPS: it can play the game well at 1080p and 1440p but falls short of high-refresh 1440p or 4K gaming. For context, the CPU's 3DMark max-thread score of 9979 and the GPU's Passmark G3D score of 18169 both suggest capable components, but the game's demanding nature at higher resolutions pulls the combo's effective rank down. The 4K Medium result of 38 FPS and 4K High result of 31 FPS are below the 60 FPS target that most builders aim for, which is why the combo does not rank higher.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with an average FPS of 77 and a minimum of 65. This is a significant improvement over High (64 FPS) and only a 25 FPS drop from Low (102 FPS), but Medium offers substantially better visuals than Low. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 46 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, so it is not recommended unless the user prioritizes image quality over frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the only option that maintains a playable average FPS above 55, hitting 57 FPS with a minimum of 49. The High preset at 48 FPS is borderline, and the Low preset at 76 FPS is smoother but sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a 1440p panel. Ultra at 1440p averages only 34 FPS, which is unplayable for this action-adventure title. For 3840x2160, none of the presets achieve 60 FPS, but Low (50 FPS) and Medium (38 FPS) are technically playable if the user accepts a console-like experience. The measured data shows that the Ultra preset at 4K (23 FPS) is not viable.

The recommendation is to use the Medium preset for all resolutions, as it is the only setting that provides a consistent frame rate with no severe drops. The min FPS data confirms that Medium has the most stable frame pacing, with a 65 FPS minimum at 1080p and a 49 FPS minimum at 1440p. If the user has a 144Hz monitor, the 1080p Low preset (102 FPS) is the best choice for competitive play, but for a cinematic experience, Medium at 1080p or 1440p is the sweet spot. Avoid Ultra entirely, as the average FPS drops below 50 in every resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results: Low averages 102 FPS, Medium averages 77 FPS (with a min of 65 and max of 88), High averages 64 FPS, and Ultra averages 46 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear scaling curve, with each preset step costing roughly 15-20 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck and the CPU maintains sufficient headroom.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops by approximately 25-30% across all presets. Low averages 76 FPS, Medium averages 57 FPS (min 49, max 66), High averages 48 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is the most balanced for this resolution, as it maintains a minimum above 48 FPS, which is generally considered the threshold for smooth gameplay in third-person titles. The Ultra preset at 34 FPS is a 41% drop from Medium, highlighting the GPU's struggle with the increased pixel count and the game's demanding effects.

At 3840x2160, the performance is significantly degraded. Low averages 50 FPS, Medium averages 38 FPS (min 32, max 43), High averages 31 FPS, and Ultra averages 23 FPS. The 4K results show that even the Low preset cannot maintain 60 FPS, and the Medium preset's minimum of 32 FPS indicates potential stuttering. The difference between 1440p and 4K is stark: the 4K Low result (50 FPS) is 34% slower than the 1440p Low result (76 FPS), and the 4K High result (31 FPS) is 35% slower than the 1440p High result (48 FPS). This scaling suggests that the RTX 2070 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient for 4K textures and high-resolution rendering, making the card effectively a 1080p/1440p solution for this game.

The data also reveals that the gap between Medium and High presets is consistent across resolutions: at 1080p, Medium is 13 FPS faster than High; at 1440p, it is 9 FPS faster; and at 4K, it is 7 FPS faster. This indicates that the Medium preset offers the best performance-per-visual-cost ratio, as the High preset includes more demanding shadows and lighting effects that disproportionately impact the GPU. The min FPS data, available only for Medium, shows that the frame pacing degrades as resolution increases: 65 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 32 FPS at 4Kcars. This confirms that 4K Medium is not a recommended configuration for this combo, as the minimum frame rate drops below the 30 FPS console threshold.