Red Dead Redemption 2

FAQ

Q: How well does this combo rank among all tested system pairings in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER holds the rank of 109 out of 1687 tested combos, placing it in the top 6.5% of all configurations measured in this game.

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 195.8, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution, Medium delivers 144.6 FPS, High reaches 121 FPS, and Ultra drops to 89.2 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, has a benchmark score only 0.2% lower, indicating near-parity in overall compute performance despite architectural differences.

Q: What is the processor's single-thread performance percentile?

A: The Core i7-14700K ranks in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2932 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6287. This strong single-thread showing supports high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 44.3, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many consider ideal. Dropping to High at 4K yields 62.1 FPS, while Medium produces 72.2 FPS and Low reaches 97.9 FPS.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded capability in this pairing?

A: The Core i7-14700K features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44534 and a Passmark multithread score of 52392. This places it within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X in average benchmark score.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this specific pairing at rank 109 out of 1687 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2. That is a strong showing, but it raises questions about where the bottleneck lies, given the hardware's theoretical capabilities. The RTX 4080 SUPER sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, while the Core i7-14700K sits in the 96th percentile among CPUs. This gap suggests the GPU may be the limiting factor in many scenes, but the game's engine and settings scaling tell a more nuanced story.

Examining the combo's position more closely, being in the top 6.5% of all tested systems means it outperforms a vast majority of configurations. However, it is not at the very top, which indicates that even with this high-end pairing, Red Dead Redemption 2's demands can push the hardware to its limits, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The rank reflects a balance between the CPU's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's substantial compute power, but the measured FPS numbers reveal that this balance shifts depending on the workload.

The percentile data suggests the CPU has more headroom relative to other processors than the GPU has relative to other graphics cards. This could imply that in certain low-resolution, high-FPS scenarios, the CPU's 96th percentile ranking helps maintain high frame rates, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 88th percentile ranking becomes the primary constraint. The rank of 109 is a composite measure, but the individual component percentiles provide a clearer picture of where each part excels.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, housing 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Red Dead Redemption 2's large, detailed open world. The GPU's base clock of 2295 MHz boosts to 2550 MHz, and its memory runs at 23 Gbps effective.

In the measured results, the GPU's role becomes apparent when comparing settings at the same resolution. At 3840x2160, dropping from Ultra to Low increases the average FPS from 44.3 to 97.9, a gain of 53.6 FPS. This substantial scaling indicates that the GPU is heavily taxed by the game's graphical effects at higher presets. The RTX 4080 SUPER's FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS and its 10240 shading units provide the raw compute needed for this title, but the 4K Ultra data shows that even this level of performance is insufficient for a locked 60 FPS experience.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT with a delta of 0.2%, meaning the two cards are essentially tied in synthetic benchmarks. Yet, in real gameplay, the RTX 4080 SUPER's 16 GB VRAM and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth should handle high-resolution textures without stuttering. The measured FPS at 4K High (62.1 FPS) suggests that the GPU can sustain playable frame rates when settings are moderated from the absolute maximum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 195.8 FPS on Low, 144.6 FPS on Medium, 121 FPS on High, and 89.2 FPS on Ultra. These numbers show a clear progression: each step up in settings costs roughly 20-30% performance. The gap between Low and Ultra is 106.6 FPS, indicating that the settings presets have a dramatic impact on frame rate at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop to 145.6 FPS (Low), 107.7 FPS (Medium), 89.8 FPS (High), and 64.3 FPS (Ultra). The pattern holds, but the absolute numbers are lower across the board. At this resolution, even Ultra maintains a playable 64.3 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target. The scaling from Low to Ultra here is a loss of 81.3 FPS, slightly less severe than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the results are 97.9 FPS (Low), 72.2 FPS (Medium), 62.1 FPS (High), and 44.3 FPS (Ultra). The Ultra preset drops below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the only resolution and setting combination in the measured data that fails to reach this mark. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 53.6 FPS, which is smaller in absolute terms than at lower resolutions but represents a 55% performance penalty.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals how frame rates scale from 1080p to 4K across settings. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 195.8 at 1080p to 145.6 at 1440p and then to 97.9 at 4K. This represents a 50% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the drop is from 144.6 to 107.7 to 72.2, a 50% reduction as well. High settings go from 121 to 89.8 to 62.1, a 49% reduction. Ultra settings go from 89.2 to 64.3 to 44.3, a 50% reduction.

This consistent 50% scaling across all settings is telling. It suggests that the performance penalty from increasing resolution is proportional, regardless of the graphical preset. This behavior indicates that the limiting factor is the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, which scale linearly with pixel count. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 285.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are being fully utilized as resolution increases.

However, the story changes when examining the settings scaling at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 45% slower than Low, while at 4K, Ultra is also 45% slower than Low. This consistency suggests that neither the CPU nor the GPU is disproportionately bottlenecked by one factor. The 1080p Low result of 195.8 FPS shows the CPU's capability to feed the GPU at high frame rates, but the 4K Ultra result of 44.3 FPS reveals the GPU's limits when pixel count and graphical fidelity both max out.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K contributes 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its L3 cache is 33 MB shared, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive: 44534 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6287 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 52392.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is evident in the 1080p Low result of 195.8 FPS. This high frame rate requires strong single-thread performance to process game logic and draw calls quickly. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all processors supports this, as does its Geekbench single-core score of 2932. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is likely the key factor in maintaining high FPS at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the bottleneck.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the Core i7-14700K is essentially tied with the Core i7-14700KF (delta 0%) and the AMD EPYC 9115 (delta 0.3%), but it trails the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X by 0.5% and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 1.4%. This tight grouping suggests that the CPU's performance is well-balanced, but not class-leading. In this game, the 20-core, 28-thread configuration provides ample multi-threading for background tasks, while the high boost clock ensures responsive single-thread performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how each settings preset affects performance. For players targeting 60 FPS, the optimal preset is High at 4K (62.1 FPS), while at 1440p, High delivers 89.8 FPS, and at 1080p, it reaches 121 FPS. The Ultra preset only achieves 60+ FPS at 1440p (64.3 FPS) and 1080p (89.2 FPS), but fails at 4K with 44.3 FPS.

Given the data, the High preset represents the best balance between visual quality and frame rate across all resolutions. At 4K, it provides 62.1 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target, while Medium offers 72.2 FPS and Low reaches 97.9 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra at 4K costs 17.8 FPS (from 62.1 to 44.3), which is a significant 29% performance drop for what is typically a marginal visual improvement.

For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 195.8 FPS, which would fully utilize a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor. The Medium preset at 1080p (144.6 FPS) also exceeds 144Hz, making it a viable option for those who want better visuals without sacrificing high frame rates. Ultimately, the data suggests that High settings provide the most consistent experience across all three resolutions, balancing visual fidelity with playable frame rates.