Red Dead Redemption 2

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

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S family, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boosts up to 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The chip carries 25 MB of shared L3 cache, plus 1.25 MB of L2 per core and 80 KB of L1 per core. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and its 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes come directly from the CPU.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and AI routines across the game's sprawling open world. The benchmark data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p Low settings, the combo produces 194 FPS average, while at 4K Low it drops to 96 FPS. This 98 FPS gap at identical settings is primarily a GPU workload shift, but the CPU must still sustain high frame rates at lower resolutions. The 3DMark multi-threaded score of 9979 and single-thread score of 1043 indicate strong per-core performance, which matters for a game that often has a few heavily loaded threads.

The processor's 84th percentile ranking versus all CPUs puts it in the upper tier for general compute. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-13600T with an average score 0.1% lower, the Intel Core i7-12700KF at 0.2% lower, the Intel Core i7-13700T at 0.3% lower, and the Intel Core 5 213PE at 0.4% lower. This clustering shows the 12700K sits in a dense performance band, but its 20 threads and high boost clock help it handle the mixed workloads RDR2 presents.

The game's performance scaling from 1080p to 4K at each settings level suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 87, while at 4K Ultra it's 43 — a 44 FPS drop. The CPU can push well over 190 FPS at 1080p Low, so the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. However, the CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 indicate ample headroom for the game's multi-threaded rendering pipeline.

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

The measured FPS data covers four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 145 FPS average with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 167 FPS. This is a highly playable range for fast-paced gameplay, and the jump from Medium to High costs 24 FPS (down to 121 FPS), while Ultra costs another 34 FPS (down to 87 FPS). At 1080p, Medium offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate stability, as the minimum FPS stays well above 120.

At 1440p, the Medium preset produces 108 FPS average with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 125 FPS. The High preset drops to 90 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 65 FPS. For 1440p displays, Medium remains the sweet spot — it keeps the average above 100 FPS while maintaining a minimum above 90, which is smooth for most players. High is still acceptable at 90 FPS average, but the tighter minimums of Medium make it the safer recommendation.

At 4K, the Medium preset averages 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 82 FPS. High drops to 60 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 43 FPS. At 4K, Medium is the clear recommendation — it stays above the 60 FPS threshold on average, though the 61 FPS minimum shows it can dip close to that line during demanding scenes. High is borderline at exactly 60 FPS average, but the lack of a measured minimum makes it riskier. Low at 4K produces 96 FPS, but the visual quality loss is substantial.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the most consistent experience. The measured minimum FPS values for Medium are 123 at 1080p, 92 at 1440p, and 61 at 4K — these are the only preset with recorded minimums, indicating it holds up under load. For players with high-refresh displays, 1080p Medium at 145 FPS is ideal. For 1440p/4K users, Medium keeps the game fluid without sacrificing the visual fidelity that RDR2's world demands.

# FAQ

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Intel Core i7-12700K?

A: The launch MSRP is $409.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209), 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828), 2.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698), and 2.7% higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S (55757). Note that lower deltaPct values indicate the rival scores higher.

Q: What frame rates does this combo achieve at 1080p Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 87. No minimum or maximum values were recorded for this configuration.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The data shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 96, while at 1080p Low it's 194. This 98 FPS difference at the same settings indicates the GPU workload scales heavily with resolution. The CPU's strong multi-threaded scores (9979 in 3DMark max threads, 19784 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) suggest it can keep up with the GPU's demands.

Q: What is the combo's rank among tested configurations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 260th out of 3714 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 support modern APIs for this game?

A: Yes, the GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. These APIs are all viable for RDR2.

# How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 260th out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the top 7% of all configurations tested, which is a strong showing for a mid-2020s pairing. The rank reflects the CPU's 84th percentile overall and the GPU's 86th percentile overall, suggesting balanced performance that translates well to this specific game.

The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.4% of its average benchmark score, meaning small differences in CPU performance do not dramatically affect the in-game rank. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores only 0.1% higher on average, so swapping to that card would likely produce nearly identical results. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, and Radeon 8060S score 1.1%, 2.6%, and 2.7% higher respectively, but these are not direct competitors in the same performance class.

The 260th rank out of 3714 combos indicates that this pairing is well above the median but not at the absolute top. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Medium, the combo hits 145 FPS average, which is excellent for a game like RDR2. At 4K Ultra, it drops to 43 FPS, showing that even this high-end GPU struggles with the most demanding settings at 4K. The rank suggests there are 259 combos that deliver higher average frame rates, likely featuring newer GPUs or more optimized pairings.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2205 MHz and boosts to 2505 MHz, with memory running at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). The chip contains 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 76 RT cores, and 304 tensor cores, delivering 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In RDR2, the GPU's 16 GB VRAM is crucial for the game's high-resolution textures and large open world. The measured FPS data shows the GPU's performance scaling with settings: at 4K, going from Low (96 FPS) to Medium (72 FPS) to High (60 FPS) to Ultra (43 FPS) represents a 55% drop from Low to Ultra. This steep scaling indicates the GPU is heavily stressed at 4K Ultra, likely due to both compute load and VRAM pressure from ultra-quality textures.

The RTX 4080's 86th percentile ranking versus all GPUs places it in the upper echelon. Its average benchmark score of 54247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209, 0.1% difference), showing these cards are essentially peers. The GPU's DirectX 12 support (12 Ultimate) is well-suited to RDR2's rendering engine, and the 76 RT cores provide headroom for any ray-traced effects, though the game itself does not heavily use RT.

The boost clock of 2505 MHz and pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s help explain why the card maintains playable frame rates even at 4K Medium. The texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s ensures texture-heavy scenes don't stall, which is important for RDR2's detailed environments. The 320 W TDP and 700 W suggested PSU indicate the power requirements, but the card's efficiency at 5 nm allows it to deliver high performance within that envelope.

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

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 194 FPS. Medium settings average 145 FPS, with a minimum of 123 and maximum of 167. High settings average 121 FPS. Ultra settings average 87 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 107 FPS drop (55% reduction), showing the significant cost of ultra-quality effects at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are lower but still strong. Low settings average 145 FPS. Medium settings average 108 FPS, with a minimum of 92 and maximum of 125. High settings average 90 FPS. Ultra settings average 65 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra drop is 80 FPS (55% reduction), consistent with the 1080p scaling pattern.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 96 FPS. Medium settings average 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 and maximum of 82. High settings average 60 FPS. Ultra settings average 43 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra drop is 53 FPS (55% reduction), maintaining the same relative scaling across resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, across all three resolutions. This suggests the test methodology captured more detailed data for Medium, or that Medium produces more consistent frame times. The minimum FPS values — 123 at 1080p, 92 at 1440p, and 61 at 4K — all stay above the 60 FPS threshold, which is critical for smooth gameplay. The max FPS values show headroom: 167 at 1080p, 125 at 1440p, and 82 at 4K.

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

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent across all settings presets, at approximately 50%. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 194 at 1080p to 145 at 1440p (25% reduction) and then to 96 at 4K (another 34% reduction from 1440p). At Medium, the drop is from 145 to 108 to 72. At High, it's from 121 to 90 to 60. At Ultra, it's from 87 to 65 to 43.

This scaling pattern reveals that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The CPU's performance, as measured by its 3DMark and Cinebench scores, does not change with resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain more constant across resolutions, especially at lower settings where CPU overhead is relatively higher. Instead, the consistent 50% drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicates the GPU's rendering workload scales directly with pixel count.

The 4K Ultra result of 43 FPS average is the most demanding scenario tested. This requires the GPU to render 8.3 million pixels per frame with maximum-quality effects, which stresses the 16 GB VRAM and the 9728 shading units. The 4K Medium result of 72 FPS shows a 40% improvement over Ultra, suggesting that dropping from Ultra to Medium alleviates significant GPU pressure. For players targeting 4K, Medium is the playable ceiling for this combo.

The 1440p results show a good balance: even at Ultra, the average FPS stays at 65, which is playable for most users. The 1080p results, particularly at Low and Medium, demonstrate the CPU's ability to drive very high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily loaded. The 194 FPS at 1080p Low indicates the CPU can handle over 190 frames per second in this game, which is well above the refresh rate of most displays. This confirms the CPU has ample headroom for future GPU upgrades or less demanding titles.