Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 — Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The data for this combo reveals a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet shows surprising headroom for high-refresh 1080p play. With measured FPS ranging from 32.6 at 4K Ultra to 154.3 at 1080p Low, the pairing of the 16-core Raptor Lake CPU and the Ada Lovelace GPU produces a wide performance envelope that depends heavily on where you set the dial. The combo ranks 400th out of 1687 tested configurations in this game, placing it in the top 24% of all combos — a strong result, but one that leaves room for interpretation about what this hardware is truly optimized for.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, signaling that resolution scaling is the dominant performance lever. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 95.6 at 1080p to 69.8 at 1440p, then to 46.8 at 4K — a cumulative drop of 51% from the lowest to highest resolution. At Ultra settings, the same progression goes from 67.8 to 49.6 to 32.6, a 52% reduction. The near-identical percentage drops at both presets suggest a linear scaling pattern typical of a GPU-bound workload, where pixel count drives the cost more than any particular setting.

The Low preset tells a more interesting story. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 154.3 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 76.4 — a 50% reduction. This consistency across all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra all show roughly 50-52% scaling from 1080p to 4K — indicates that the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors at higher resolutions, rather than any CPU bottleneck. The fact that even at Low settings the 4K result is less than half the 1080p result confirms that the GPU's compute throughput, not its memory capacity, is what constrains performance at 4K.

The implication is clear: this is a 1440p-class card, and the data supports that conclusion. At 1440p Medium, the combo hits 88 FPS, which is comfortably playable, while 4K only becomes viable at Low settings (76.4 FPS) or with significant quality compromises. The scaling pattern suggests that if you want 4K at High or Ultra, you would need a GPU with more raw shading power — the RTX 4070's 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 and 5888 shading units are simply not enough to maintain 60 FPS at that resolution with these settings.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 76.4. At Medium settings it drops to 58.7, and at High it falls to 46.8. Ultra settings yield just 32.6 FPS, so 4K Ultra is not viable for smooth play.

Q: What is the best resolution for this hardware in this game?

A: The data shows 1440p as the sweet spot. At Medium settings, the combo delivers 88 FPS, and at High settings it hits 69.8 FPS. Both are well within playable territory, with 1080p offering even higher headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its closest rivals in overall GPU benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070's average benchmark score is 37283, which is 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) and 1.9% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A (38008). It outperforms the AMD Radeon RX 5300M by 2.5%.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data does not indicate a CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 154.3 FPS, which is high enough that the CPU's 16 cores and 24 threads are clearly keeping up. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and single-core score of 5505 support strong gaming performance.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: Medium yields 88 FPS while High yields 69.8 FPS — a difference of 18.2 FPS, or roughly 21%. This suggests that the jump from Medium to High carries a meaningful visual cost.

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

A: It ranks 400th out of 1687 combos tested in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the top 24% of all systems in the database.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 400 out of 1687 tested combos, this system sits comfortably in the upper quartile of all configurations benchmarked in Red Dead Redemption 2. The percentile placement indicates that roughly 76% of tested systems perform worse, which is a strong showing for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU. However, the rank also means that 399 other combos outperform this setup, suggesting that the RTX 4070 is the limiting factor rather than the i7-13700K.

The CPU's own percentile ranking reinforces this interpretation. The i7-13700K sits in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 47282. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, scores 47334 — a negligible 0.1% difference. This places the CPU near the top of the performance hierarchy, while the GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs is comparatively lower. The 12-point gap between CPU and GPU percentiles suggests that the processor has significant headroom that the graphics card cannot fully utilize at higher resolutions.

The deltaPct values among the GPU's nearest rivals are telling. The RTX 4070 trails the MX570 A by 1.9% and the RTX 4080 Mobile by 2.2%, yet leads the RX 5300M by 2.5%. These small margins indicate that the GPU sits in a crowded performance tier where minor architectural differences translate to single-digit percentage swings. For a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which has demanding draw distances and shadow quality, this mid-tier placement means the combo is better suited for 1440p than 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo shows a clear progression across presets. Low settings produce 154.3 FPS, Medium drops to 111.7, High yields 95.6, and Ultra falls to 67.8. The gap between Low and Ultra is 86.5 FPS, indicating that the highest preset costs more than half the frame rate of the lowest. This is a wide spread, but even at Ultra, the 67.8 FPS result is above the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p Ultra a viable choice for this hardware.

Moving to 1440p, the same pattern holds with reduced absolute numbers. Low delivers 115.1 FPS, Medium comes in at 88, High reaches 69.8, and Ultra drops to 49.6. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first configuration in the data to fall below 60 FPS, signaling that the RTX 4070 begins to struggle with the highest quality settings when pixel count increases. The 1440p Medium result of 88 FPS is notable because it offers nearly the same frame rate as 1080p High (95.6 FPS) while providing sharper visuals.

At 4K, the performance falls off a cliff. Low settings manage 76.4 FPS, Medium drops to 58.7, High reaches 46.8, and Ultra bottoms out at 32.6. The difference between 1440p Ultra (49.6 FPS) and 4K Low (76.4 FPS) is striking — the data suggests that if you want to play at 4K, you must sacrifice quality dramatically. The 4K Ultra result of 32.6 FPS is less than half the 1080p Ultra result, reinforcing that this resolution is not the intended target for this GPU.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070's specifications explain its behavior in Red Dead Redemption 2. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the card offers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth — sufficient for 1440p but increasingly strained at 4K. The 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, which is mid-pack for the GeForce 40-series. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz are typical for this class, and the card's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects its position as a solid 1440p performer rather than a 4K flagship.

The measured FPS data aligns with these specifications. At 4K, the card's memory bandwidth and compute throughput become the limiting factors, as evidenced by the steep drop from 76.4 FPS at Low to 32.6 at Ultra. The 46.8 FPS at 4K High is below the 60 FPS target, and even the 58.7 FPS at 4K Medium is marginal. In contrast, the 1440p results show the card operating in its comfort zone, with Medium (88 FPS) and High (69.8 FPS) both exceeding the playability threshold. The GPU's performance in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test (3854) and Passmark G3D (26927) corroborates its mid-range positioning relative to the CPU's top-tier status.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience for this combo is at 1440p with Medium settings, where the average FPS of 88 provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS target while retaining reasonable visual quality. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 18.2 FPS (from 88 to 69.8), which is a significant reduction for what may be a subtle visual improvement in a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, where the art direction does much of the heavy lifting.

For players prioritizing frame rate over fidelity, 1080p High at 95.6 FPS offers an excellent balance, with 1080p Medium at 111.7 FPS as a strong alternative if you prefer extra headroom. The 1080p Ultra result of 67.8 FPS is technically playable, but the 27.8 FPS drop from High to Ultra suggests that the Ultra preset's additional effects — likely related to shadows and lighting — come at a steep cost. At 4K, only Low settings (76.4 FPS) are viable for smooth gameplay; anything above that risks dropping below 60 FPS, with Ultra at 32.6 FPS being effectively unplayable for most users.

The data indicates that the optimal strategy is to prioritize resolution over settings. A 1440p Medium configuration delivers 88 FPS, which is 29.8 FPS faster than 4K Medium (58.7 FPS) and only 7.6 FPS slower than 1080p High. This makes 1440p Medium the clear recommendation for most players, as it balances visual sharpness with frame rate in a way that neither 1080p Ultra nor 4K Low can match.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread Raptor Lake-S processor with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data locality for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which benefits from large cache sizes for streaming open-world assets. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 47282, places it firmly in the high-end tier — its nearest rival, the i7-13700KF, is virtually identical at 47334 (0.1% difference).

In this game, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics data. The 3DMark multi-threaded scores show strong scaling from 2 threads (2262) to 16 threads (10717), indicating that the processor can handle heavily threaded workloads. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and single-core score of 5505 confirm that both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance are excellent, which matters for a game that likely uses a mix of both.

The measured FPS data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution or settings level. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 154.3 FPS — a result that would be impossible if the CPU were limiting performance. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 67.8 FPS result is more likely constrained by the GPU's pixel throughput than the CPU's ability to issue draw calls. The 16-core design with 24 threads provides enough parallelism for the game's world simulation, while the high boost clock handles the single-threaded tasks that often dominate game logic. In summary, the i7-13700K provides a solid foundation that allows the RTX 4070 to operate at its full potential, with the GPU ultimately determining the frame rate ceiling in this title.