Red Dead Redemption 2

# Resolution Scaling

Red Dead Redemption 2 shows pronounced scaling behavior across the three tested resolutions, and the pattern reveals exactly where the bottleneck sits. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo of the Core i7-12700K and RTX 4090 produces 214 FPS average. That is a massive headroom number, and it indicates the GPU is nowhere near saturation at this resolution and preset. Moving up to 1440p Low drops the average to 160 FPS, a 25% reduction, while 4K Low lands at 106 FPS, which is another 34% drop from the 1440p result. These are steep declines, and they confirm that the RTX 4090 is the limiting component as pixel count rises.

The High preset tells a similar story but with different absolute values. At 1080p High, the average is 134 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 100 FPS, a 25% reduction. At 4K High, the average is 66 FPS, which is a 34% drop from 1440p. The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High presets suggests the scaling is driven primarily by resolution, not by the complexity of the settings themselves. The GPU's shading units, texture units, and memory bandwidth are being taxed proportionally as the frame buffer grows.

The Medium preset offers the only complete min/max data in the pack, and it is instructive. At 1080p Medium, the average is 161 FPS with a min of 136 and a max of 185. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 120 FPS, with a min of 102 and a max of 138. At 4K Medium, the average is 79 FPS, with a min of 67 and a max of 91. The spread between min and max FPS stays roughly 40-50 FPS across all three resolutions at Medium, which indicates stable frame pacing relative to the average. The min FPS at 4K Medium is 67, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but it is notably the Ultra preset at 4K dips to 48 FPS average.

The Ultra preset is where the scaling becomes punishing. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 96 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 72 FPS, a 25% reduction. At 4K Ultra, the average collapses to 48 FPS, which is another 33% drop from 1440p. The fact that 4K Ultra produces an average below 60 FPS is a clear signal: this combination, for all its raw power, cannot sustain maximum settings at 4K in this title. The data suggests that the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the asset streaming, but the compute load from Ultra settings at 4K exceeds what the GPU can deliver in real time.

Looking at the scaling pattern holistically, the FPS penalty from 1080p to 4K is roughly 50% on Low, 51% on High, 51% on Medium, and exactly 50% on Ultra. This uniformity is remarkable. It means the game's rendering pipeline scales almost linearly with pixel count, and the CPU is not introducing any variable overhead that would distort the curve. The Core i7-12700K, with its 12 cores and 20 threads, is clearly keeping up with the GPU's demand at every resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see the 1080p numbers capped at a lower value, but 214 FPS at 1080p Low proves the processor can feed the GPU far beyond what most displays refresh.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 60 FPS minimum?

A: The measured data shows that at 4K Medium, the min FPS is 67, which is above 60. At 4K High, the average is 66 FPS, but no min FPS is provided for that preset. The only 4K preset with a recorded min is Medium at 67 FPS, so that is the safest choice for a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU's core count relate to the game's performance at high FPS?

A: The Core i7-12700K has 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 214 FPS average, which indicates the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1043) is sufficient to drive very high frame rates without bottlenecking the GPU.

Q: Is the Ultra preset usable at 1440p with this hardware?

A: Yes, the data shows 1440p Ultra produces an average of 72 FPS. That is playable on a high refresh rate monitor, though not at the 100+ FPS levels seen on High preset at the same resolution. The 1440p Ultra average is 28% lower than the 1440p High average of 100 FPS.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 214 FPS while Ultra averages 96 FPS. That is a 118 FPS difference, meaning Ultra delivers 55% of the frame rate of Low. The gap narrows proportionally at higher resolutions, with 4K Low at 106 FPS and 4K Ultra at 48 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth matter for this game?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. Given that 4K Medium maintains a 79 FPS average and 4K High drops to 66 FPS, the bandwidth appears adequate for the game's asset streaming at 4K, but the compute load from Ultra settings still causes the frame rate to drop below 50 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The combo rank is 134 out of 3714 tested combinations. This places it in the top 3.6% of all tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2, which is consistent with the high FPS numbers observed across most resolution and settings pairs.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to a clear recommendation: Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and frame rate stability across all resolutions. The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max FPS data, and it shows consistent behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 161 FPS with a min of 136, which is far above any display's refresh rate requirement. At 1440p Medium, the average is 120 FPS with a min of 102, which means even the worst frame dips stay above 100 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 79 FPS with a min of 67, and that min value is the key statistic — it clears the 60 FPS threshold with a margin of 7 FPS.

High preset is the next option, but it comes with trade-offs. At 4K High, the average drops to 66 FPS, and with no min FPS data available, there is uncertainty about frame dips. The 1440p High average of 100 FPS is excellent, and 1080p High at 134 FPS is also strong. If you are playing at 1440p or lower, High is a reasonable choice. But for 4K, the 66 FPS average is uncomfortably close to the 60 FPS line, and the lack of min FPS data means you could see stutter in heavy scenes.

Ultra preset is only advisable at 1080p, where it averages 96 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 72 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 48 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is below the standard 60 FPS target, and the 1440p Ultra result, while playable, does not provide the headroom needed for a high refresh rate experience. Low preset is not worth considering for visual quality, but it does demonstrate the hardware's ceiling: 214 FPS at 1080p and 160 FPS at 1440p.

For a practical recommendation, the data supports Medium as the default preset. It delivers the most consistent frame rates, with the only recorded min FPS values in the entire test suite. The jump from Medium to High costs 33% of the average FPS at 4K (79 to 66), and the jump from High to Ultra costs another 27% (66 to 48). The visual gains from those reductions are subjective, but the frame rate losses are measurable and significant.

How This Combo Ranks

This pairing of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 holds the 134th position out of 3714 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. That puts it in the top 3.6% of all configurations tested. The ranking is consistent with the FPS data: this combo is fast, but it is not the absolute fastest, and the 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS prevents it from climbing higher in the rankings.

The CPU's individual standing helps contextualize the combo rank. The Core i7-12700K sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35287. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i5-13600T at 35305 (a delta of -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF at 35365 (-0.2%), the Intel Core i7-13700T at 35403 (-0.3%), and the Intel Core 5 213PE at 35428 (-0.4%). These are all extremely close scores, within 0.4% of each other, which means the CPU is performing right in line with its expected class. The 12700K is not a standout, but it is also not a drag on the system.

The GPU's ranking is similar. The RTX 4090 is at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60326 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60140 (0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61896 (-2.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 at 58657 (2.9% delta). The 4090 is slightly above the median of its immediate peers, but the delta percentages are small.

The combo rank of 134 out of 3714 suggests that there are 133 other combinations that produce higher average FPS in this game. Given that the RTX 4090 is near the top of the GPU hierarchy, those higher-ranked combos likely pair the 4090 with even faster CPUs, or they may use different settings profiles. The 12700K's 84th percentile CPU standing means there is room for improvement, but the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at most resolutions and settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with 25 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 19784, Geekbench multicore scores 15790, and Passmark multithread scores 34404. Single-thread performance is also solid, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 1850.5 and Geekbench single-core at 2308.

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and game logic updates. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 214 FPS averagecars. This is a very high frame rate, and it indicates that the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1043) is not a constraint. If the CPU were struggling, we would expect to see frame rates cap out at a lower value regardless of resolution.

The 3DMark multi-threaded scores reveal the CPU's scaling behavior. The 16-thread test scores 9276, while the max-thread test scores 9979. The 8-thread test scores 7202, and the 4-thread test scores 4011. The 2-thread test scores 2065. These numbers show that performance scales reasonably well with thread count, but the gains diminish beyond 8 threads. For a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which is not known for heavy multi-threading, the 12-core configuration provides ample headroom. The 20 threads ensure that background tasks and game threads do not compete for resources.

The L3 cache of 25 MB shared across all cores is another factor. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an open-world game with large asset streaming demands, and the cache helps keep frequently accessed data close to the cores. The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with a dual-channel memory bus, means the system memory bandwidth is adequate for the game's needs, though the exact memory configuration is not specified in the measured data.

At 4K resolutions, the CPU's role diminishes because the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The FPS drops from 106 at 4K Low to 48 at 4K Ultra are driven by GPU compute load, not by CPU limitations. The fact that the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is nearly linear (around 50% drop) across all presets confirms that the CPU is not introducing any variable overhead that would distort the scaling curve. The 12700K is doing its job: it feeds the RTX 4090 enough data to keep it busy, and the GPU's own performance limits dictate the final FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows. Low settings produce an average of 214 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 161 FPS, with a minimum of 136 and a maximum of 185. High settings produce an average of 134 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 96 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 55% reduction in average FPS (from 214 to 96). The Medium preset's min FPS of 136 is higher than the Ultra preset's average of 96, which illustrates the substantial performance cost of the highest settings.

At 2560x1440, the results are scaled down but follow the same pattern. Low settings average 160 FPS. Medium settings average 120 FPS, with a minimum of 102 and a maximum of 138. High settings average 100 FPS. Ultra settings average 72 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistent: Low drops from 214 to 160 (25% lower), Medium drops from 161 to 120 (25% lower), High drops from 134 to 100 (25% lower), and Ultra drops from 96 to 72 (25% lower). This uniform 25% penalty across all presets underscores the resolution scaling behavior noted earlier.

At 3840x2160, the results show the most strain on the GPU. Low settings average 106 FPS. Medium settings average 79 FPS, with a minimum of 67 and a maximum of 91. High settings average 66 FPS. Ultra settings average 48 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is again uniform: Low drops from 160 to 106 (34% lower), Medium drops from 120 to 79 (34% lower), High drops from 100 to 66 (34% lower), and Ultra drops from 72 to 48 (33% lower). The 4K Medium min FPS of 67 is the only recorded min value at this resolution, and it is the deciding factor for a stable 60 FPS experience.

The complete data set shows that the Medium preset is the only one with recorded min and max FPS values at all three resolutions. This makes it the most thoroughly characterized preset, and it also happens to be the most balanced. The 4K Medium average of 79 FPS is 20% higher than the 4K High average of 66 FPS, and the 4K Medium min of 67 FPS is higher than the 4K High average. For any player targeting a smooth experience at 4K, the Medium preset is the clear choice based on the measured numbers. At 1440p, the High preset's 100 FPS average is attractive, but the Medium preset's 120 FPS average with a 102 FPS min provides more headroom for dips. At 1080p, any preset above Ultra will deliver at least 96 FPS, so the choice is more about visual preferences than frame rate constraints.