Red Dead Redemption 2

The Core i7-12700KF paired with the GeForce RTX 2060 produces a performance profile in Red Dead Redemption 2 that is heavily dictated by resolution and graphical presets. Benchmark data shows this combination ranks in the 1374th position out of 1687 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower half of the database. The measured frame rates reveal a setup that handles 1080p and 1440p gaming comfortably at lower settings but struggles to maintain playable performance at 4K with higher quality presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 86.5 FPS, which is the highest measured frame rate. The lowest measured result is 20.9 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, indicating that 4K gaming is not viable for this pairing.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355, placing it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14400 and 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13600T. It trails the Intel Core i7-13800H by 0.2% and the Intel Core i9-12900HX by 0.2% in the same comparison.

Q: What is the GPU's relative standing among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 2060 ranks in the 58th percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 16074 places it 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600S but 1.7% behind both the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M and AMD Radeon Pro 5700.

Q: Which settings preset gives the most balanced performance at 2560x1440?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields an average of 50 FPS, while High drops to 39.9 FPS and Ultra falls to 29.9 FPS. The Low preset at this resolution produces 62.4 FPS, suggesting Medium is the highest quality setting that maintains a 50 FPS average.

Q: How much performance difference exists between Low and Ultra settings at 1920x1080?

A: The gap is substantial. At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 86.5 FPS, while Ultra drops to 40.8 FPS. This represents a difference of 45.7 FPS, showing that graphical quality has a major impact on this GPU at 1080p.

Q: Does the CPU's thread count contribute to gaming performance here?

A: The processor has 12 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. In 3DMark testing, the maximum threads score of 9983 and single-thread score of 1043 indicate strong multi-threading capability, though the game's performance at higher resolutions is more likely limited by the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Core i7-12700KF and RTX 2060 holds position 1374 out of 1687 tested combos for Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the pairing in the bottom 18.6% of all tested systems, a ranking that reflects the GPU's mid-range standing rather than any CPU deficiency. The RTX 2060's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs aligns closely with this overall combo position, suggesting the graphics card is the primary constraint. The CPU, by contrast, sits in the 89th percentile among all processors, indicating the processor has ample headroom for this workload.

The delta between the CPU and GPU percentiles is noteworthy. A processor ranked in the 89th percentile paired with a GPU in the 58th percentile produces a system that ranks in the lower-middle portion of the database for this specific title. This imbalance suggests the measured frame rates reflect GPU-bound scenarios across most resolutions and settings. The combo's rank is consistent across the measured data, with no resolution or preset combination showing unexpected spikes that would indicate a CPU bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Core i7-12700KF provides 12 cores and 20 threads based on the Alder Lake-S architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz can boost up to 5.00 GHz, and the processor includes 25 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091. The Geekbench multicore result of 13596 and single-core score of 2526 further characterize its processing capability.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role varies by resolution. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS of 86.5 suggests the processor can feed the GPU adequately at this level. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and 8-thread score of 7211 indicate strong multi-threaded performance that handles the game's background simulation workloads. However, the PassMark physics score of 1780 shows the CPU's computational throughput in physics-related tasks, which the game engine may utilize during complex scenes.

The CPU's single-thread performance, reflected in the 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4091, is critical for the game's main logic thread. Even at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, where the average FPS falls to 20.9, the CPU is unlikely to be the limiting factor given its high percentile ranking. The processor's 89th percentile standing among all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of installed processors, making it a robust foundation for this GPU pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates show a clear progression across settings. Low settings deliver 86.5 FPS, Medium drops to 62 FPS, High reaches 50.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40.8 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium represents a 24.5 FPS decrease, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 10 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p gaming is viable across all presets, though Ultra may not provide the smoothest experience for all users.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings produce 62.4 FPS, Medium yields 50 FPS, High achieves 39.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 29.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 32.5 FPS, demonstrating the GPU's sensitivity to quality settings. A 50 FPS average at Medium makes this preset the realistic ceiling for 1440p gaming, while High and Ultra fall below the 40 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the results confirm 4K is not practical for this combo. Low settings manage 41.4 FPS, Medium produces 29.2 FPS, High drops to 25.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 20.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 20.5 FPS, and even the best-case 4K scenario fails to maintain a 60 FPS experience. The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces performance by roughly 25-30% at equivalent settings, highlighting the GPU's bandwidth and compute limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture with a TU106 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It contains 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs, along with 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 1750 MHz with an effective data rate of 14 Gbps across a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's memory configuration is a notable factor in Red Dead Redemption 2's performance. With 6 GB of VRAM, the card can handle the game's textures at 1080p and 1440p across most settings, but the 4K results suggest memory capacity or bandwidth limitations. The 336.0 GB/s bandwidth appears insufficient for the data demands of 4K rendering, particularly at higher quality presets where texture detail increases memory pressure. The FP32 throughput of 6.451 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s provide context for the measured frame rates, with the 4K Ultra result of 20.9 FPS reflecting the GPU's computational ceiling at this workload.

The RTX 2060's benchmark results show a PassMark G3D score of 14111 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242. Its percentile ranking of 58 places it just above the middle of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600S at 0.5% higher performance and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 1.8% lower. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 67425 and OpenCL score of 71278 indicate the GPU's compute capabilities, which may influence performance in the game's particle and physics effects. The measured frame rates across all resolutions show the GPU as the dominant performance limiter, with the CPU's high percentile ranking ensuring it does not constrain the system in this title.