Red Dead Redemption 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Red Dead Redemption 2 across the three tested resolutions reveal a clear and consistent pattern: this combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 becomes progressively more GPU-bound as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system produces 80.4 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset, the average drops to 61 FPS, a reduction of roughly 24%. The jump to 3840x2160 yields 40.3 FPS, which is another 34% decline from the 1440p figure.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings shows a total drop of 40.1 FPS, or approximately 50%. This halving of performance across a four-fold increase in pixel count indicates that the RTX 3070's rendering pipeline is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily as pixel count rises, and the data shows the frame rate falling in near-linear fashion with the pixel workload.

At Low settings, the resolution scaling pattern shifts. The 1080p result of 126.4 FPS drops to 95 FPS at 1440p, then to 59.7 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is about 53%, which is slightly steeper than the High preset's 50% decline. This suggests that even at the lowest settings, where CPU overhead might normally become more prominent, the GPU remains the dominant constraint. The i7-14700KF with its 20 cores and 28 threads is clearly not holding the system back at any resolution, as evidenced by the consistent GPU-driven scaling.

Ultra settings tell a starker story. At 1080p, the system manages 53.7 FPS. At 1440p, that falls to 42.2 FPS, and at 4K, it drops to 26.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable by typical standards, and the scaling from 1080p to 4K represents a 50.7% reduction. The pattern across all presets confirms that resolution scaling in this title is almost entirely a function of GPU throughput, with the CPU providing ample headroom throughout.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, is the primary driver of the measured results. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz, combined with 5888 shading units, produce a peak FP32 throughput of 20.31 TFLOPS.

At 4K Ultra, the average of 26.5 FPS indicates that the GPU is overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity. The 96 ROPs and 184 TMUs are tasked with filling and texturing an enormous number of pixels, and the 8 GB VRAM capacity likely causes texture swapping in the most demanding scenes. In contrast, at 1080p Low, the 126.4 FPS result shows the GPU operating well within its capabilities, with the frame rate likely limited more by the game engine's draw call processing than by raw pixel throughput.

The benchmark data places this GPU in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, which scores 27985 (a 0.9% delta), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti at 27956 (1% delta). The RTX 3070 outperforms these cards by a narrow margin, but the real-world gaming results in Red Dead Redemption 2 show that this GPU is best suited to 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings compromises.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all presets are playable, but the High preset at 80.4 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset drops to 53.7 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 33% performance penalty for what is likely a marginal visual improvement. The Medium preset at 93.7 FPS is also viable for players who prefer higher frame rates, but High delivers the most complete experience.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 61 FPS is the recommended choice. It clears the 60 FPS threshold and provides solid visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 72.4 FPS is a reasonable alternative for those who want extra headroom, while the Low preset at 95 FPS is suitable for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset at 42.2 FPS is not recommended, as the frame rate drops below the smoothness threshold and the visual gains over High are typically modest.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The Low preset at 59.7 FPS is the only option that approaches 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for 4K gaming. The Medium preset at 45.7 FPS is playable but noticeably less smooth, while the High preset at 40.3 FPS and Ultra at 26.5 FPS are best avoided unless the player prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate. The data suggests that 4K High is the practical ceiling for this combination, and even that requires accepting sub-60 FPS performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured averages is as follows. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 126.4 FPS, the Medium preset delivers 93.7 FPS, the High preset delivers 80.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset delivers 53.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 72.7 FPS, demonstrating the wide performance range available at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 95 FPS, Medium produces 72.4 FPS, High produces 61 FPS, and Ultra produces 42.2 FPS. The spread here is 52.8 FPS, slightly narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a bottleneck as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset yields 59.7 FPS, Medium yields 45.7 FPS, High yields 40.3 FPS, and Ultra yields 26.5 FPS. The spread is 33.2 FPS, the narrowest of the three resolutions. This compression of the performance range at 4K suggests that the GPU is saturated even at Low settings, and the differences between presets are limited by the GPU's maximum throughput rather than by the settings themselves.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K smoothly?

A: At 4K with Low settings, the system achieves 59.7 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium and High settings drop to 45.7 FPS and 40.3 FPS respectively, while Ultra falls to 26.5 FPS. For smooth 4K gameplay, Low settings are required.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The 2560x1440 High preset at 61 FPS offers the best combination of visual quality and playability. At 1080p, High delivers 80.4 FPS, which is also excellent, but 1440p provides a sharper image while still maintaining smooth frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 3070 scores 28238 in the average benchmark, which is 0.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. These small deltas indicate that the GPU is closely matched with its nearest competitors in overall performance.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: The data does not indicate CPU bottlenecking. The Intel Core i7-14700KF has 20 cores and 28 threads, and the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with GPU limitations. The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 96th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: What settings should be used for competitive play?

A: For maximum frame rates, the 1080p Low preset at 126.4 FPS is the fastest option. At 1440p, Low produces 95 FPS, and at 4K, Low produces 59.7 FPS. These settings prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: At 1080p, Ultra is 26.7 FPS slower than High (53.7 vs 80.4). At 1440p, the difference is 18.8 FPS (42.2 vs 61). At 4K, the difference is 13.8 FPS (26.5 vs 40.3). The performance penalty for Ultra is substantial at all resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF, part of the 14th Gen Core series based on the Raptor Lake architecture, provides the computational foundation for these gaming results. With 20 cores and 28 threads, a base clock of 3.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, this CPU has substantial headroom for gaming workloads. Its 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache ensure that game logic and physics calculations are handled without becoming a limiting factor.

The CPU's benchmark results reinforce this assessment. In Cinebench R23, it scores 44557 in multicore and 6290 in single-core tests. The Geekbench scores are 19287 multicore and 2972 single-core. These figures place the CPU in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, scores 70074, a delta of 0%, indicating near-identical performance.

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the measured frame rates show no evidence of CPU limitation. The frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K are proportional to the increase in pixel count, which is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would be most likely to bottleneck, the system achieves 126.4 FPS, demonstrating that the i7-14700KF can feed the RTX 3070 with enough draw calls and game state updates to maintain high frame rates.

The combination ranks 759th out of 1687 tested combinations for this game, placing it in the upper portion of the database. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing: the CPU's strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, combined with the GPU's solid but not top-tier throughput, results in a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming while requiring settings compromises at 4K.