Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2 Performance Analysis: Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

Red Dead Redemption 2 remains a demanding title in 2025, and the pairing of Intel's Core i7-14700K with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 produces a performance profile that is heavily dependent on settings and resolution. The measured data shows a system that can deliver smooth gameplay at 1080p with the right preset, but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher quality settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all tested configurations, examines the roles of both the CPU and GPU, and provides clear settings recommendations based strictly on the benchmark results.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data reveals a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 117 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo in any configuration. This suggests that for competitive or high-refresh-rate play, the Low preset is the most effective choice, providing a substantial performance headroom. However, the Medium preset at 1080p still achieves a very respectable 88 FPS average, with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, indicating that this is the sweet spot for visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The High preset drops to 73 FPS average, which remains playable, but the Ultra preset falls to 53 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter in a game as visually dense as Red Dead Redemption 2.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. The Low preset produces 87 FPS, which is still quite fluid, but the Medium preset averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS. This is borderline for a game that benefits from consistent frame pacing. The High preset at 55 FPS average is playable but not ideal, and Ultra drops to 39 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth action sequences. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset manages 58 FPS, which is the only 4K configuration that approaches a consistently smooth experience. Medium falls to 43 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS, High drops to 36 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26 FPS.

Given these results, the recommended preset is Medium for 1080p and 1440p, as it offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate stability. For 4K, the Low preset is the only viable option if the goal is to stay above 60 FPS, though the 58 FPS average is close enough to that target that it may be acceptable for many players. The data indicates that chasing Ultra settings at any resolution is counterproductive, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck and frame rates fall to levels that compromise the experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, with a pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to a measured FP32 performance of 19.18 TFLOPS. The GPU's 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores are present, but the benchmark data for this title does not specifically isolate ray tracing performance.

The GPU's role in Red Dead Redemption 2 becomes evident when examining the frame rate scaling with settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 117 FPS, but this drops to 88 FPS at Medium, 73 FPS at High, and 53 FPS at Ultra. This is a 55% reduction in performance from Low to Ultra at the same resolution, which indicates that the RTX 5060's shading units (3840) and TMUs (120) are being increasingly taxed as the quality preset rises. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is a potential limiting factor at Ultra settings, especially at higher resolutions, as the game's texture and geometry demands can exceed this amount. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is moderate for a modern GPU, and the data suggests that memory bandwidth constraints may contribute to the steep performance drop at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 72 among all GPUs, based on its average benchmark score of 26331, places it in the upper-midrange tier. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (which scores 1.2% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.8% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (0.3% lower). These margins are small, indicating that the RTX 5060 is competitive within its class, but it is not a high-end part capable of driving maximum settings in a demanding title like Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent and predictable drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, the average FPS goes from 117 at 1080p to 87 at 1440p (a 26% reduction) and then to 58 at 4K (a 33% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at lower quality settings, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the graphics card. The i7-14700K's 28 threads and 5.60 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for this game, so the frame rate is bounded by the RTX 5060's rendering capabilities.

At the Medium preset, the resolution scaling is slightly steeper: 88 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p (26% drop), and 43 FPS at 4K (34% drop from 1440p). This suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shader throughput are becoming more stressed as the pixel count rises. The High preset shows a similar pattern: 73 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p (25% drop), and 36 FPS at 4K (35% drop). The Ultra preset is the most punishing, with 53 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p (26% drop), and 26 FPS at 4K (33% drop).

The consistency of the percentage drops across presets indicates that the resolution scaling is primarily a GPU-bound phenomenon. The RTX 5060's 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are the likely culprits for the steep decline at 4K, as the game's asset streaming requirements grow exponentially with pixel count. The data shows that 1440p is the practical ceiling for higher quality settings, while 4K is only viable with the Low preset, and even then, the 58 FPS average is not a guarantee of smoothness in all scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

In the comprehensive database of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Red Dead Redemption 2, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 ranks 1673 out of 3714 tested combos. This places it in the 45th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning that roughly 55% of the tested combos perform better in this specific game. This ranking is a reflection of the RTX 5060's midrange positioning; the CPU is a high-end part with a 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs, but the GPU's 72nd percentile ranking holds the combo back.

The combo's rank is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows that the system is capable of solid 1080p performance but struggles at 4K. The i7-14700K's strengths, such as its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and Geekbench multi-core score of 20767, are not fully utilized in this title, which is more GPU-dependent at the tested settings. The CPU's nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% higher avg score) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% higher), would likely produce similar frame rates with the same GPU, confirming that the graphics card is the limiting factor.

For context, the RTX 5060's nearest GPU rivals in the overall benchmark database are the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (1.2% higher score) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.8% higher). These small deltas suggest that swapping to a slightly faster GPU would only marginally improve the combo's rank in Red Dead Redemption 2, while a significantly faster GPU would be needed to move the needle substantially. The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming with medium-to-high settings, or 1440p with medium settings, and is not recommended for 4K beyond the lowest quality preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It features 33 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a single-core score of 2160, as well as a Geekbench multi-core score of 20767. These numbers place the i7-14700K in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, indicating that it is a top-tier processor for multi-threaded workloads.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the frame rate data. At 1080p Low, the system hits 117 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for this title, but the CPU is not the bottleneck at any tested setting. The 28 threads provide ample parallel processing for the game's AI, physics, and world simulation, and the 5.60 GHz boost clock ensures strong single-thread performance for the game's main thread. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 9115 (0.1% higher avg score) and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.9% lower), are all within a narrow performance band, confirming that the i7-14700K is not a weak link in this combo.

The data shows that the CPU's performance is more than adequate for this game, and that upgrading the GPU would yield far greater frame rate improvements than upgrading the CPU. The i7-14700K's 125 W TDP and support for PCIe Gen 5 (16 lanes) ensure that it can feed a faster GPU without becoming a bottleneck, but in this specific pairing with the RTX 5060, the CPU is clearly not the limiting component. The measured FPS differences between presets and resolutions are almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS across the four presets is as follows: Low delivers 117 FPS, Medium delivers 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, High delivers 73 FPS, and Ultra delivers 53 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 64 FPS, which represents a 55% performance penalty for the highest quality preset. The Medium preset's minimum of 75 FPS is notably above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the most reliable choice for consistent gameplay at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are: Low at 87 FPS, Medium at 65 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS, High at 55 FPS, and Ultra at 39 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 56 FPS is below the ideal 60 FPS target, suggesting that some scenes may cause minor hitches. The High preset at 55 FPS is playable but not smooth, and Ultra at 39 FPS is not recommended for action sequences.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS values drop significantly: Low at 58 FPS, Medium at 43 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS, High at 36 FPS, and Ultra at 26 FPS. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playable frame rates, and even then, the 58 FPS average is close to the 60 FPS target but may dip below in demanding scenes. The Medium preset's minimum of 37 FPS indicates that the game would feel stuttery, and the High and Ultra presets are effectively unplayable at 4K.

The data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 5060 is a capable 1080p card that can handle medium-to-high settings, a decent 1440p card with medium settings, and a marginal 4K card only with the lowest settings. The i7-14700K provides ample CPU headroom at all resolutions and settings, ensuring that the GPU is the sole determinant of performance in this title. For players seeking the best experience, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best combination of visual quality and frame rate stability, while the Low preset at 4K is the only way to experience the game at that resolution with this hardware.