Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 with Intel Core i7-13700K + Intel Arc B370

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the Intel Arc B370 produces a profoundly GPU-limited experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, with the measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings falling far below what the CPU's substantial multi-threaded capabilities would suggest. The data reveals a system where the integrated-class graphics solution becomes the overwhelming bottleneck, capping performance at levels that even the most demanding preset at 4K cannot overcome, and where the CPU's 16 cores and 5.40 GHz boost clock are effectively left waiting on the GPU at every turn.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story of a graphics component operating at its absolute limit. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 47 FPS, but dropping to 1440p Low reduces that to 35 FPS—a 25.5% decrease—and further to 4K Low yields just 23 FPS, which is a 51.1% drop from the 1080p figure. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings: High settings show 29 FPS at 1080p, 22 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K, representing a 51.7% decline from 1080p to 4K. Medium settings follow the same trajectory with 35 FPS at 1080p, 26 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K, while Ultra settings collapse from 21 FPS at 1080p to 16 FPS at 1440p and just 10 FPS at 4K—a 52.4% reduction.

The near-linear nature of these drops—roughly 25-30% going from 1080p to 1440p, and another 35-40% going from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the rendering pipeline is saturated at every resolution. A CPU-bound scenario would show far less sensitivity to resolution changes, as the processor's workload would remain relatively constant while the GPU handles the additional pixel count. Instead, the data shows that each step up in resolution imposes a proportional cost on the Arc B370, which is the signature of a component that is already at 100% utilization even at 1080p. The 47 FPS at 1080p Low is the best case scenario, and it still falls short of smooth gameplay standards, suggesting that no resolution or setting combination can relieve the pressure on this GPU.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution is substantial but not catastrophic in relative terms—at 1080p, Low delivers 47 FPS versus 21 FPS at Ultra, a 2.24x difference, while at 4K the range narrows to 23 FPS versus 10 FPS, a 2.3x spread. This consistency implies that the GPU's shading and memory subsystems are being taxed similarly across presets, with the extra work from higher settings translating almost directly into lower frame rates without any sudden cliff or plateau. The measured minimum and maximum values for Medium settings further illustrate the tight performance envelope: at 1080p Medium, the range is 30-40 FPS, at 1440p it narrows to 22-30 FPS, and at 4K it tightens to 15-20 FPS, showing that the frame delivery becomes more consistent—though equally low—as resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K brings formidable specifications to this pairing: 16 cores, 24 threads, a 3.40 GHz base clock, and a 5.40 GHz boost clock, all built on Intel's Raptor Lake architecture with a 30 MB shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this processor demonstrates exceptional multi-threaded performance, scoring 30,745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 45,887 in Passmark multi-thread, with a single-thread score of 2,116 in Cinebench R23 and 4,333 in Passmark. The CPU's percentile ranking of 89 against all processors places it in the upper echelon of desktop chips, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (0.2% lower average score) and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (0.3% lower), while the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535 sit 0.5% higher.

However, in Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is almost entirely passive. The game's frame rates are so low—peaking at 47 FPS in the most favorable scenario—that the i7-13700K is never presented with a meaningful workload. Even a processor with half the cores and a lower boost clock would likely produce identical results, as the Arc B370 simply cannot feed frames fast enough to engage the CPU's full capabilities. The 16-core configuration and 24 threads are effectively idle resources in this context, with the game's engine relying primarily on a handful of threads for simulation and draw call processing, none of which are stressed when the GPU is delivering 10-47 FPS.

The CPU's 2-thread score of 2,262 in 3DMark and 8-thread score of 8,193 suggest that even moderate thread counts would handle the game's logic comfortably, but the data shows no evidence of CPU involvement in the measured performance. The near-identical percentage drops from 1080p to 4K across all settings—around 50% regardless of preset—confirm that the bottleneck is purely graphical. If the CPU were contributing to the limitation, the scaling pattern would differ between Low and Ultra settings, since lower settings would shift more of the burden onto the processor. Instead, the uniform scaling indicates that the i7-13700K is waiting on the GPU at every frame, with its 5.40 GHz boost clock and 30 MB cache providing headroom that the game never calls upon.

FAQ

Q: Why does the combo only achieve 47 FPS at 1080p Low despite having a high-end CPU?

A: The Intel Arc B370 is a 25 W integrated graphics solution with a 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,184 places it near the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (0.2% lower) and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (0.7% lower). This GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

Q: What is the best-performing setting at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 23 FPS, which is the highest average frame rate achievable at 4K. Medium settings yield 17 FPS, High drops to 14 FPS, and Ultra manages only 10 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K at the same settings?

A: The improvement is roughly 2x across all presets. At Low settings, 1080p delivers 47 FPS versus 23 FPS at 4K (2.04x faster), at Medium it is 35 FPS versus 17 FPS (2.06x), at High it is 29 FPS versus 14 FPS (2.07x), and at Ultra it is 21 FPS versus 10 FPS (2.10x).

Q: Does the CPU's 16-core configuration help in this game?

A: No. The frame rates are so low—maxing out at 47 FPS—that the GPU never feeds the CPU enough work to engage even a few cores. The 24 threads and 5.40 GHz boost clock are unused headroom in this pairing.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like for Medium settings?

A: The measured minimum and maximum values show a tight range: 30-40 FPS at 1080p, 22-30 FPS at 1440p, and 15-20 FPS at 4K. The variance narrows as resolution increases, but all values remain below playable thresholds.

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

A: The combo ranks 2,670 out of 2,902 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems evaluated in Red Dead Redemption 2.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2,670 out of 2,902 total tested configurations places it in the 8th percentile of all systems for Red Dead Redemption 2, meaning that 92% of tested combos deliver higher frame rates. This ranking is consistent with the GPU's individual percentile of 5 among all graphics cards, while the CPU's percentile of 89 among all processors highlights the extreme disparity between the two components. The i7-13700K is performing at a level that would typically place a system in the top 10-20% of gaming configurations, but the Arc B370's integrated-class performance drags the entire combo down to near-bottom rankings.

When interpreting this rank, it is essential to consider the GPU's nearest rivals: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (0.2% lower average score), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (0.5% lower), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (0.7% lower), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1.4% higher). These are all legacy or mobile parts from over a decade ago, yet the Arc B370's performance in this game aligns with that era. The 25 W TDP and system-shared memory architecture of the Arc B370 are the primary drivers of this outcome, as the GPU lacks dedicated VRAM and must rely on system memory bandwidth that is "System Dependent" according to the specifications.

The rank of 2,670 out of 2,902 is not an anomaly specific to this title; it reflects the fundamental hardware limitation that no game setting or resolution can overcome. The CPU's ability to push high frame rates in synthetic workloads—such as its 16,292 Cinebench R20 multi-core score and 45,887 Passmark multi-thread score—is entirely neutralized by the GPU's inability to render frames at a comparable pace. This pairing represents a mismatch where the processor's capabilities are wasted, and the system's overall gaming performance is defined entirely by the graphics component.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the only settings combination that approaches playability is 1080p with Low settings, which delivers 47 FPS. This is the single highest average frame rate in the entire dataset and is the only configuration that comes within striking distance of smooth gameplay, though 47 FPS still falls short of the 60 FPS target that most action-adventure titles benefit from. The 1080p Medium preset produces 35 FPS, which represents a 25.5% reduction from Low, while 1080p High drops to 29 FPS and 1080p Ultra falls to 21 FPS.

At higher resolutions, no setting combination yields acceptable performance. The best 1440p option is Low at 35 FPS, which equals the 1080p Medium result but still falls below the 47 FPS achievable at 1080p Low. At 4K, even the lowest settings produce only 23 FPS, which is marginal for a slideshow-like experience and far from playable. The data suggests that users should prioritize resolution reduction over quality settings, as dropping from 1440p Low (35 FPS) to 1080p Low (47 FPS) provides a 34.3% frame rate improvement, whereas adjusting quality at a fixed resolution yields smaller relative gains—for instance, going from 1080p Ultra to 1080p Low improves from 21 to 47 FPS, a 2.24x increase that is substantial but comes with significant visual compromises.

For users who value visual fidelity over frame rate, the 1080p Medium preset at 35 FPS with a 30-40 FPS range offers the best balance in the measured data, as it maintains some graphical features while staying above the 30 FPS floor. However, the pragmatic recommendation from the data is clear: use 1080p Low to maximize playability, and accept that the Arc B370 is not capable of delivering smooth performance in this title at any quality level above minimal settings. The 1440p and 4K options are all below 35 FPS and should be avoided for any interactive session.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its best results across all settings. Low settings achieve 47 FPS average, Medium delivers 35 FPS with a measured range of 30-40 FPS, High reaches 29 FPS, and Ultra drops to 21 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a steady degradation of 18 FPS total, with each step from Low to Medium costing 12 FPS (25.5%), Medium to High costing 6 FPS (17.1%), and High to Ultra costing 8 FPS (27.6%). The Medium setting's minimum of 30 FPS and maximum of 40 FPS indicate that frame delivery is reasonably consistent, though the average sits at the lower end of that range.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops noticeably across the board. Low settings yield 35 FPS, Medium produces 26 FPS with a range of 22-30 FPS, High achieves 22 FPS, and Ultra falls to 16 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 19 FPS, slightly larger than at 1080p in absolute terms but similar in percentage (54.3% reduction from Low to Ultra). The Medium setting's 22-30 FPS range shows that even the minimum frame rate is below the 30 FPS threshold for playable performance, and the maximum of 30 FPS only briefly touches acceptable levels.

At 3840x2160, the results are uniformly poor. Low settings produce 23 FPS, Medium delivers 17 FPS with a range of 15-20 FPS, High reaches 14 FPS, and Ultra drops to 10 FPS. The Medium setting's 15-20 FPS range highlights that frame times are highly variable even at this low level, with the minimum and maximum differing by 33%. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K is a 13 FPS drop, representing a 56.5% reduction, which is the largest relative penalty of any resolution. The 10 FPS at Ultra 4K is the worst measured result in the entire dataset, indicating that this configuration is effectively unplayable at any 4K preset.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the definitive bottleneck in this system, and its specifications explain why. With a 25 W TDP, 1,280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 ROPs, this is an integrated graphics solution designed for power efficiency rather than gaming performance. The GPU's 3 nm process and Xe3-LPG architecture represent modern manufacturing, but the 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are dwarfed by discrete graphics cards. The most telling specification is the memory configuration: "System Shared" for both size and type, with "System Dependent" bandwidth. This means the GPU has no dedicated VRAM and must compete with the CPU for memory access, which is a severe handicap in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 that features large, detailed open-world environments.

The GPU's benchmark results confirm its low standing: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals being the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (0.2% lower) and ATI Radeon HD 5770 (0.5% lower). These are integrated and entry-level discrete parts from the early 2010s, yet the Arc B370's performance in this game aligns with that era. The 10 ray tracing cores and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 provide modern API compatibility, but this does not translate into playable frame rates.

The 2400 MHz boost clock and 300 MHz base clock are respectable for an integrated part, and the 96.00 GTexel/s texture rate suggests adequate fill rate for basic rendering. However, the system-shared memory bandwidth is the critical weakness. In Red Dead Redemption 2, which streams large texture sets and complex geometry, the lack of dedicated VRAM forces constant memory transfers over the system bus, which is far slower than dedicated GDDR memory. This explains why the FPS drops are so consistent across resolutions—the GPU is not just limited by its compute units but by the memory subsystem as a whole. The 10-47 FPS range across all tested configurations reflects a GPU that is overwhelmed by the game's demands at every resolution and quality preset, and no amount of CPU headroom from the i7-13700K can compensate for this fundamental hardware limitation.