Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 with Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

This combination pairs a 20-core Intel Core i7-14700K with a 6 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, placing it at rank 2933 out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited across most settings, with the processor's substantial headroom doing little to overcome the graphics card's constraints at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 53 FPS at 1080p to 39 FPS at 1440p, then further to 26 FPS at 4K — a 51% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, as the RTX 2060's rendering workload grows proportionally with pixel count.

The Low preset tells a similar story: 85 FPS at 1080p falls to 63 FPS at 1440p and 42 FPS at 4K, representing a 50.6% drop from the lowest to highest resolution. Medium settings show 63 FPS at 1080p, 47 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result including a minimum of 27 FPS and maximum of 36 FPS. Ultra settings are the most demanding, starting at 38 FPS at 1080p and dropping to 28 FPS at 1440p and 19 FPS at 4K.

The consistent ~50% performance penalty when moving from 1080p to 4K across all four presets strongly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. The i7-14700K, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is unlikely to be the bottleneck at any resolution tested, as even the most CPU-intensive scenes in Red Dead Redemption 2 would struggle to saturate this processor's capabilities when paired with a mid-range Turing GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the dominant performance constraint in this configuration. Its 6 GB GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves insufficient for smooth 4K operation in this title. The 6 GB capacity is particularly relevant at 3840x2160, where texture and geometry data requirements often exceed this amount, potentially causing the observed steep performance falls at higher presets.

The GPU's clock behavior — 1365 MHz base and 1680 MHz boost — reflects the Turing architecture's balance between power efficiency and throughput. With 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs, the RTX 2060 achieves a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s. These specifications explain the 4K Ultra result of 19 FPS average: the card simply lacks the fill rate and memory bandwidth to handle maximum detail at that resolution.

The RTX 2060's benchmark percentile of 58 versus all GPUs indicates it sits slightly above the median performer, with an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 at 15283 (0% difference), AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.1% slower), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 (0.6% slower), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15171 (0.8% slower). This positioning suggests the card is competitive with modern integrated graphics and entry-level discrete options, but far from high-end territory.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset provides the most balanced experience at 1920x1080, delivering an average of 63 FPS with a minimum of 54 FPS and maximum of 73 FPS. This represents a substantial improvement over High's 53 FPS average while maintaining playable frame rates. Low at 1080p achieves 85 FPS average, which is the highest measured score in this dataset, but the visual quality trade-off may not be worthwhile given that Medium is already above 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low is the only preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS, hitting 63 FPS. Medium trails at 47 FPS, while High and Ultra fall to 39 and 28 FPS respectively. For 1440p gaming, Low provides the smoothest experience, though Medium remains viable if the user prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate stability.

3840x2160 performance is marginal across all settings. Low achieves 42 FPS average, Medium delivers 31 FPS, High reaches 26 FPS, and Ultra drops to 19 FPS. Given that even Low struggles to stay above 30 FPS, 4K gaming with this combo would require significant compromises. The data suggests that 1080p Medium is the optimal balance of visual quality and playability, while 1440p Low is the best option for those requiring higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ranks 2933 out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the bottom 21% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU, which restricts performance far below what the processor could theoretically support.

The i7-14700K itself ranks in the 94th percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69288 (0.1% faster), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X at 69515 (0.2% slower), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX at 69875 (0.7% slower), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F at 69996 (0.9% slower). This processor is clearly high-end, but the RTX 2060's 58th percentile ranking drags the combined system down.

The mismatch between CPU and GPU performance levels is stark. The combination rank of 2933 suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings outperform this specific setup in Red Dead Redemption 2, even those with weaker processors but stronger graphics cards. This is a classic case of bottleneck asymmetry, where the GPU's limitations define the overall gaming experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 20 cores and 28 threads running at a 3.40 GHz base clock and 5.60 GHz boost clock. Its Raptor Lake-R architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes a 33 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core. This processor's capabilities are far beyond what Red Dead Redemption 2 demands, even in the most CPU-intensive open-world scenarios.

Benchmark results confirm the i7-14700K's strength: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 33440.5, single-core 2160, while Geekbench multi-core reaches 20767 and single-core 2569. PassMark tests show 52392 for multi-thread and 4472 for single-thread performance. These figures place it among the fastest consumer processors available, with the 94th percentile ranking reflecting its top-tier status.

Despite this computational wealth, the CPU's role in this game's performance is largely passive. At all measured resolutions and settings, the frame rates are limited by the RTX 2060's rendering capabilities rather than the processor's ability to feed it data. The i7-14700K could easily support much higher frame rates if paired with a more powerful GPU, but in this configuration, its influence on the measured FPS is minimal.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the four presets produce the following results: Low averages 85 FPS, Medium averages 63 FPS with a range of 54 to 73 FPS, High averages 53 FPS, and Ultra averages 38 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 47 FPS, representing a 55% performance reduction at maximum settings compared to minimum settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance scales predictably: Low hits 63 FPS average, Medium drops to 47 FPS with a minimum of 40 and maximum of 54, High reaches 39 FPS, and Ultra falls to 28 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 35 FPS, or a 56% reduction.

At 3840x2160, the results become increasingly constrained: Low achieves 42 FPS, Medium averages 31 FPS with a minimum of 27 and maximum of 36, High drops to 26 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 19 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 23 FPS (55% reduction), but the absolute values are marginal for smooth gameplay.

The Medium preset consistently provides the most complete data, with minimum and maximum values recorded at all three resolutions. This suggests that Medium is the most stable preset in terms of frame pacing, while other presets may exhibit more variance that wasn't captured in the dataset.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where Medium settings exceed 60 FPS, averaging 63 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low maintains an average above 60 FPS at 63 FPS, while 3840x2160 struggles to reach 42 FPS even on Low.

Q: How does Ultra settings performance compare to Low across resolutions?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 38 FPS versus Low's 85 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra hits 28 FPS while Low reaches 63 FPS. At 4K, Ultra drops to 19 FPS against Low's 42 FPS. The consistent ~55% performance penalty for Ultra settings persists across all resolutions.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700K bottlenecking the RTX 2060 in this game?

A: No. The i7-14700K ranks in the 94th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 69355, while the RTX 2060 sits in the 58th percentile. The frame rate patterns indicate the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution tested.

Q: What is the RTX 2060's performance level compared to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, placing it nearly identical to the GTX 580 at 15283 (0% difference), slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon 680M at 15270 (0.1% slower), and ahead of both the RTX 3050 OEM at 15199 and RX 7600 at 15171.

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

A: This combination ranks 2933 out of 3714 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the lower portion of the ranking table due to the GPU's mid-range performance relative to the processor's high-end capabilities.

Q: Which preset provides the most consistent frame rates?

A: The Medium preset is the only settings level with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values at all three resolutions, indicating it was the focus of stability testing and providing the most predictable performance envelope.