Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination delivers a solid, if not spectacular, performance profile in Red Dead Redemption 2, landing at rank 757 out of 1687 tested combos. This places the pairing in the upper-middle tier of the database, with benchmark results indicating that the system is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1080p and smooth 1440p play, while 4K requires significant settings compromises. The data shows a clear scaling pattern that reveals the RTX 3070 as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, though the CPU’s hybrid architecture ensures it never becomes a bottleneck in this title.

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

The Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread Alder Lake-S part with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its hybrid architecture combines performance and efficiency cores, though the fact pack does not specify the exact core distribution. The processor’s 25 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provide ample bandwidth for game logic and asset streaming. Benchmark scores reinforce its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091 indicate strong all-around compute capability. Passmark multi-thread and single-thread scores of 34092 and 3984, respectively, further confirm that the CPU can handle both heavily threaded background tasks and the primary game thread.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role is to maintain a stable frame delivery pipeline. The game is known for its detailed simulation of NPC routines, physics, and weather, all of which benefit from the 20 threads. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 125.4 FPS, which is 48 FPS higher than the High preset at the same resolution (77.4 FPS). This delta suggests that at lower settings, the CPU can feed frames quickly enough to push the GPU to its limits, but the gap between Low and Medium at 1080p (125.4 vs 96.7 FPS) indicates a dependency on both components. The processor’s 3dmark max threads score of 9983 and 16-thread score of 9282 show that it scales well with multi-threaded workloads, which is relevant for RDR2’s background simulation.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the i7-12700KF is essentially tied with the Intel Core i5-14400 (deltaPct 0.1), Intel Core i9-12900HX (deltaPct 0.2), and Intel Core i5-13600T (deltaPct 0.3), while slightly trailing the Intel Core i7-13800H (deltaPct -0.2). These sub-1% differences mean that in a CPU-bound scenario, swapping to any of these parts would yield virtually identical frame rates. The CPU’s percentile rank of 89 against all CPUs shows it sits comfortably above the majority of processors, but in this specific game, the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (28.5 FPS) versus 4K Low (60.1 FPS) demonstrates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions — the GPU is.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is an Ampere-architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 1725 MHz and 5888 shading units provide substantial raw compute, reflected in a Passmark G3D score of 22214 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162. The GPU’s 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but not directly benchmarked in this fact pack; however, the FP32 throughput of 20.31 TFLOPS indicates strong rasterization performance. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a critical consideration for RDR2, which is a large open world with high-resolution textures.

Benchmark results show that the RTX 3070’s performance degrades predictably as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the average FPS is 77.4, which drops to 58.9 at 1440p High, and further to 38 at 4K High. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings represents a 51% reduction in frame rate, which is primarily a GPU-limited scenario. The GPU’s nearest rivals in the database are the AMD FirePro S7150 (deltaPct -0.6), AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (deltaPct 0.9), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (deltaPct 1), and AMD Radeon R9 M295X (deltaPct -1.1). These deltas are all within 1%, suggesting that the RTX 3070’s raw compute is comparable to these parts in synthetic benchmarks, but its 8 GB VRAM may be a differentiator in texture-heavy scenes.

The GPU’s percentile rank of 72 against all GPUs places it in the upper third of the database. At 4K Ultra, the system only manages 28.5 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The difference between 4K Low (60.1 FPS) and 4K Ultra (28.5 FPS) is a 31.6 FPS swing, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the game’s highest settings. The memory clock of 14 Gbps effective and 256-bit bus width provide 448.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but may become a constraint at 4K with Ultra textures, potentially causing stutter if VRAM is exceeded.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The system achieves 77.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-14400?

A: The i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355, while the i5-14400 scores 35336, a delta of 0.1%. This means performance is effectively identical in synthetic tests.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 capable of 4K gaming in RDR2?

A: At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 38, and at Ultra it drops to 28.5. These are below the 60 FPS target, but 4K Low achieves 60.1 FPS, indicating that 4K is possible with reduced settings.

Q: What is the GPU’s VRAM capacity and does it impact the game?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The fact pack does not provide direct evidence of VRAM limitation, but the significant FPS drop from 4K High (38 FPS) to 4K Ultra (28.5 FPS) suggests that higher texture settings may be constrained by the 8 GB capacity.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 757 out of 1687 tested combos, placing it in the 55th percentile of all tested systems for this game.

Q: What is the single-thread performance of the CPU?

A: The i7-12700KF scores 4091 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1043 in 3dmark single-thread, indicating strong per-core performance that benefits game logic.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 757 out of 1687 tested combos places it in the upper-middle tier of all tested configurations for Red Dead Redemption 2. This positioning is consistent with the individual component rankings: the CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs. The discrepancy between these two percentiles suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing, which is corroborated by the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 125.4 FPS, which is more than double the 4K Ultra result of 28.5 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Relative to other combos, this pairing is not at the top tier, but it is far from the bottom. The rank of 757 means that 930 combos perform worse, while 756 perform better. This places the system in a competitive position for 1440p gaming, where it achieves 58.9 FPS at High settings. The data indicates that the combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p, but struggles at 4K with higher presets. The CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core 28979) ensures that it will not bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and compute power cap the system’s overall potential in this demanding title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent decline as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the system delivers 77.4 FPS at 1080p, 58.9 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K. This represents a 24% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a 51% drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-limited scenario, where the number of pixels rendered increases quadratically with resolution, placing more strain on the GPU’s shading units and memory bandwidth.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 125.4 FPS at 1080p, 94.6 FPS at 1440p, and 60.1 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low (60.1 FPS) is only 35% lower than 1080p Low (125.4 FPS) suggests that the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the gap narrows because the CPU has more headroom to feed frames. Conversely, at Ultra settings, the system drops from 57.4 FPS at 1080p to 43 FPS at 1440p and 28.5 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Ultra result of 57.4 FPS is notably lower than the High preset’s 77.4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant GPU workload that cannot be mitigated by the CPU’s performance.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The CPU’s performance remains consistent regardless of resolution, as evidenced by its high multi-threaded scores, but the GPU’s frame rate scales directly with pixel count. The data shows that for a consistent 60 FPS experience, the system needs to run at 1080p High (77.4 FPS) or 1440p Low (94.6 FPS). At 4K, only the Low preset achieves 60.1 FPS, and even then, it barely crosses the threshold. This indicates that users seeking 4K gameplay must accept significant visual compromises, while 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance.