Red Dead Redemption 2

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER points to Medium as the best overall preset for playability across resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 68.5 FPS average, which is a playable frame rate, while Low pushes to 95.4 FPS and High drops to 55.7 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs roughly 28% of the frame rate but provides a substantial visual uplift in a game known for its detailed open world; the further jump to High costs another 19% relative to Medium, which is a steeper price for diminishing returns on a GPU of this class.

At 2560x1440, Medium remains the sweet spot with 54.6 FPS average, which is borderline but workable for a story-driven title. Low at this resolution hits 68.5 FPS, making it the only preset that comfortably clears 60 FPS. High falls to 41.2 FPS, and Ultra is effectively unplayable at 29.9 FPS. For 4K (3840x2160), no preset achieves a playable average: Medium manages 36.6 FPS, Low reaches 44.7 FPS, High sits at 25.5 FPS, and Ultra craters to 17.9 FPS. The data suggests that Medium is the recommended choice for 1080p and 1440p, while 4K should be avoided unless the user accepts Low settings and sub-45 FPS frame rates.

The scaling pattern is consistent: Ultra is never viable on this combo, and High is only acceptable at 1080p. The RTX 2060 SUPER, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, appears to hit a memory or shading-unit wall at higher presets, which the benchmark results confirm through the steep drop-offs from Medium to High and High to Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor from the Raptor Lake-S architecture, running on a 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, and it carries 30 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU posts a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505, placing it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, scores 47334 average versus the i7-13700K's 47282, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the two are effectively identical in compute performance.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is significant but secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 95.4 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the i7-13700K can feed the RTX 2060 SUPER without bottlenecking at lower settings. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1136 and the 2-thread score of 2262 suggest that the CPU's high boost clock is well-suited to the game's single-threaded rendering tasks. However, the game does benefit from multi-threading: the 3dmark 16-thread score of 10717 and max-thread score of 12412 show that the 16 cores can handle background simulation tasks, which is typical for Rockstar's open-world engine.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing. At 1080p Low, the 95.4 FPS result is close to what the GPU can deliver, and the drop to 55.7 FPS at High settings is driven by GPU load, not CPU. The i7-13700K's 125 W TDP and 30 MB L3 cache provide ample headroom for the game's draw calls and physics, but the RTX 2060 SUPER's 7.181 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the constraining resource. In percentile terms, the CPU's 93rd percentile rank versus the GPU's 63rd percentile rank confirms that the processor vastly outperforms the graphics card.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU built on a 12 nm process at TSMC, with 2176 shading units, 136 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It has 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, but Red Dead Redemption 2 does not leverage ray tracing in the measured data, so those resources are idle. The GPU's base clock is 1470 MHz with a boost of 1650 MHz, and its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at an effective 14 Gbps across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 16462 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2011. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, scores 19680 average versus the 2060 SUPER's 19774, a delta of 0.5%, meaning the 2060 SUPER is marginally faster than its higher-tier sibling in aggregate benchmarks. This is relevant for Red Dead Redemption 2 because the game's performance scaling is highly sensitive to shader throughput and memory bandwidth. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p High, the combo averages 55.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold; this suggests the GPU's 7.181 TFLOPS is insufficient for High settings at full HD with this CPU.

At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 17.9 FPS, which is a catastrophic drop from 1080p Ultra's 40.8 FPS. This 56% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and ROP throughput are overwhelmed by the pixel count. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is also a concern at 4K Ultra, as the game's high-resolution textures can exceed that limit, causing stutter or texture thrashing. The GPU's 63rd percentile rank among all GPUs confirms it is a mid-range part, and the data shows it struggles to maintain playable frame rates above 1440p Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER ranks 1289 out of 1687 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the bottom 24% of all pairings. This is a poor ranking for a CPU that sits in the 93rd percentile of all processors, which underscores the imbalance of this pairing. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU's 63rd percentile standing, and the measured FPS data confirms that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the bottleneck.

Relative to other combos in the database, this pairing is held back by the GPU's inability to translate the CPU's raw compute into frame rate. The i7-13700K's nearest rivals—the i7-13700KF (delta -0.1%), AMD EPYC 4364P (delta 0.3%), and Intel Core i9-12900F (delta 0.4%)—all have similar CPU performance, but the combo rank would improve dramatically with a faster GPU. The data shows that at 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 68.5 FPS, which is respectable, but the rank of 1289 suggests that most other tested combos deliver higher frame rates at comparable settings. This is a case where the CPU is overqualified for the GPU, and the benchmark results reflect that imbalance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep across all settings, and the pattern reveals the GPU as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 95.4 at 1080p to 68.5 at 1440p (a 28% drop) and then to 44.7 at 4K (a 35% drop from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 68.5 at 1080p, 54.6 at 1440p (a 20% drop), and 36.6 at 4K (a 33% drop from 1440p). At High settings, the drop is 55.7 at 1080p, 41.2 at 1440p (a 26% drop), and 25.5 at 4K (a 38% drop from 1440p).

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is consistently harsher than the scaling from 1080p to 1440p, which is typical of a GPU that is running out of memory bandwidth. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K the pixel fill rate requirement exceeds what the 64 ROPs and 105.6 GPixel/s can deliver. The fact that Low settings at 4K (44.7 FPS) is still below the Medium setting at 1440p (54.6 FPS) indicates that the resolution increase has a larger impact than the quality preset reduction. This is a clear sign that the GPU is the limiting factor, and the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock is not the constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS by preset is: Low 95.4, Medium 68.5, High 55.7, and Ultra 40.8. The gap between Low and Medium is 26.9 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 12.8 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 14.9 FPS. The data shows that the GPU handles Low settings comfortably, but the jump to Ultra drops the frame rate below 45 FPS, which is not smooth for an action-adventure title.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 68.5, Medium 54.6, High 41.2, and Ultra 29.9. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same preset is 26.9 FPS for Low, 13.9 FPS for Medium, 14.5 FPS for High, and 10.9 FPS for Ultra. The 1440p Medium result of 54.6 FPS is the most balanced option for users with 1440p displays, as it stays above 50 FPS while maintaining reasonable visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 44.7, Medium 36.6, High 25.5, and Ultra 17.9. None of these are playable for a fast-paced game, but Low at 44.7 FPS could be tolerated for a slower, story-driven session. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low is 23.8 FPS, at Medium is 18.0 FPS, at High is 15.7 FPS, and at Ultra is 12.0 FPS. The absolute frame rates at 4K are too low for any preset, making this resolution impractical for this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming on this combo?

A: Medium provides 68.5 FPS average, which is playable and visually superior to Low's 95.4 FPS. High drops to 55.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra falls to 40.8 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K resolution?

A: No. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is Low at 44.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 17.9 FPS. The GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K at any preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 63rd percentile. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a 50% reduction at Low settings, which is characteristic of GPU limitation.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 19774, which is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070's 19680. This means the 2060 SUPER is slightly faster in aggregate benchmarks, despite being a lower-tier product.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: Low averages 68.5 FPS, while Ultra averages 29.9 FPS. This is a 38.6 FPS difference, or a 56% reduction, indicating that Ultra settings are not viable at 1440p on this GPU.

Q: Does the i7-13700K's multi-threading help in this game?

A: Yes. The CPU's 3dmark 16-thread score of 10717 and max-thread score of 12412 indicate strong multi-threaded capabilities. Red Dead Redemption 2 uses multiple cores for simulation, and the 16-core/24-thread configuration prevents CPU-side bottlenecks, as shown by the high frame rates at 1080p Low.