Red Dead Redemption 2

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Red Dead Redemption 2 shows a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound title at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 102.1 FPS average, while at 1440p High it drops to 76 FPS, and at 4K High it falls further to 52.8 FPS. This represents a 26% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 48% reduction from 1080p to 4K, based on the exact figures in the dataset.

The scaling pattern across all settings tiers reveals the nature of the bottleneck. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 162.4 FPS at 1080p to 121.1 FPS at 1440p (a 25% reduction) and then to 78.4 FPS at 4K (a 52% reduction from 1080p). At Ultra settings, the progression is from 72.3 FPS at 1080p to 53.8 FPS at 1440p (a 26% drop) and then to 35.3 FPS at 4K (a 51% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage reductions across different settings levels strongly indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor throughout the resolution range, rather than the CPU or memory subsystem.

Interestingly, the gap between Medium and High settings remains relatively narrow across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium produces 123.8 FPS versus 102.1 FPS for High (a 21% advantage for Medium). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 93.4 FPS versus 76 FPS (a 23% advantage). At 4K, Medium achieves 60.8 FPS while High manages 52.8 FPS (a 15% advantage). The diminishing returns from High to Ultra are more pronounced, with Ultra delivering 72.3 FPS at 1080p versus High's 102.1 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant additional load on the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 holds the 354th position out of 1,687 tested combinations in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the combo in the top 21% of all tested configurations, which is a solid result considering the sheer number of possible CPU-GPU pairings in the database. The ranking reflects the balance between the high-end CPU and the upper-midrange GPU, with the latter being the more likely constraint in this particular game.

Looking at the CPU's standing among all processors, the i9-14900K sits at the 97th percentile, meaning it outperforms 97% of all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 79,824 places it in extremely close competition with several rivals: the AMD EPYC 7413 scores 80,041 (a -0.3% delta), the Intel Core i9-14900KF scores 79,245 (a 0.7% delta), the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF scores 79,240 (a 0.7% delta), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K scores 79,102 (a 0.9% delta). These deltas are all within a single percentage point, indicating that the i9-14900K is performing right at the expected level for its class, with no notable silicon lottery variance or thermal throttling observed in the aggregate data.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 83 places it below the CPU's 97th percentile, which is consistent with the resolution scaling analysis showing the GPU as the limiting factor. The RTX 5070's average benchmark score of 41,687 places it in close competition with the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (41,610, a 0.2% delta), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897, a -0.5% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (41,441, a 0.6% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X (41,991, a -0.7% delta). This clustering within a narrow range suggests that the RTX 5070's raw computational performance is comparable to these older or workstation-oriented parts, though its modern architecture provides additional features not captured in the aggregate score.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC, with the GB205 chip containing 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2325 MHz and a boost clock of 2512 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus. This configuration yields 672.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is supplied by 12 GB of GDDR7 memory.

The memory configuration is particularly relevant for Red Dead Redemption 2's open-world environments, which tend to require substantial memory capacity and bandwidth for texture streaming and draw distances. The 12 GB capacity is sufficient for the measured settings, as the data shows playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra (35.3 FPS), though the performance drop from 4K High (52.8 FPS) to 4K Ultra suggests that the Ultra preset pushes the GPU's shading and rasterization resources harder, not just its memory subsystem. The 192-bit bus width and 672.0 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate throughput for the game's asset streaming, as evidenced by the relatively smooth scaling from Medium to High settings.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units, along with 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The FP32 throughput of 30.87 TFLOPS and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s are moderate for the current generation, which explains why the card sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs. The pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s helps maintain playable frame rates at 4K, though the Ultra preset at that resolution (35.3 FPS) demonstrates the limits of this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the RTX 5070 paired with the i9-14900K delivers a wide range of performance depending on the settings preset. Low settings produce 162.4 FPS average, Medium settings reach 123.8 FPS, High settings drop to 102.1 FPS, and Ultra settings settle at 72.3 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra represents a 55% reduction in frame rate, which is substantial but expected for a game with as many visual effects as Red Dead Redemption 2.

Moving to 1440p, the performance envelope tightens. Low settings achieve 121.1 FPS, Medium produces 93.4 FPS, High reaches 76 FPS, and Ultra drops to 53.8 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p at each setting tier is roughly 25%, which aligns with the increased pixel count requiring proportional GPU work. The Ultra preset at 1440p (53.8 FPS) is very close to the High preset at 4K (52.8 FPS), suggesting that the GPU's rendering budget is similarly stressed in both scenarios.

At 4K, the RTX 5070's limits become apparent. Low settings deliver 78.4 FPS, Medium drops to 60.8 FPS, High manages 52.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35.3 FPS. For players targeting 60 FPS at 4K, only the Low and Medium presets achieve that threshold, while High comes close at 52.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration in the entire dataset that falls below 40 FPS, indicating that this combo is not ideal for maximum visual fidelity at the highest resolution.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, but only with Medium settings, which produce 60.8 FPS average. Low settings deliver 78.4 FPS, while High drops to 52.8 FPS and Ultra falls to 35.3 FPS at 4K.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from 1080p to 4K?

A: The reduction is approximately 48-52% depending on the settings preset. At High settings, 1080p yields 102.1 FPS while 4K produces 52.8 FPS. At Low settings, 162.4 FPS drops to 78.4 FPS, and at Ultra, 72.3 FPS falls to 35.3 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for smooth gameplay at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, High settings deliver 76 FPS, which is above the typical 60 FPS threshold. Medium settings produce 93.4 FPS for additional headroom, while Low reaches 121.1 FPS. Ultra drops to 53.8 FPS, which may be borderline for some players.

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

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 354th out of 1,687 tested combos, placing it in the top 21% of all configurations in the database.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The i9-14900K sits at the 97th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 5070 sits at the 83rd percentile among GPUs. The consistent ~50% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings is characteristic of GPU-bound performance.

Q: Does the RTX 5070's 12 GB of VRAM cause any issues at 4K?

A: The measured data shows playable frame rates at 4K with High settings (52.8 FPS), suggesting the 12 GB capacity is sufficient for this game at these settings. The Ultra preset's drop to 35.3 FPS is more likely due to overall GPU compute limits rather than VRAM capacity, as the GDDR7 memory provides 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm². It operates with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache, which is substantial for gaming workloads that benefit from larger pools of fast-access data.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and AI processing. The i9-14900K's benchmark results demonstrate its capability: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 49,872 and a single-core score of 7,040, along with a Geekbench multicore score of 20,370 and single-core score of 3,064. These figures place the processor at the 97th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,824. The PassMark multithread score of 58,674 and single-thread score of 4,697 further confirm the processor's strength in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads.

The near-identical performance of the i9-14900K to its rivals, with deltas of -0.3% to 0.9% against the AMD EPYC 7413, Intel Core i9-14900KF, Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, and Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, suggests that the CPU is not introducing any performance variance in this game. The 6.00 GHz boost clock provides excellent single-thread performance for the game's primary simulation thread, while the 24 cores and 32 threads ensure that background tasks and secondary threads do not cause stuttering or frame time inconsistencies.

The memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 across a dual-channel interface gives the platform flexibility, though the game's performance is more dependent on the GPU as shown by the resolution scaling data. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 16 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 5070, though the game's moderate VRAM usage (12 GB) means that PCIe bandwidth is unlikely to be a bottleneck at any of the measured settings. The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache is beneficial for open-world titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, which frequently access large datasets for world streaming and entity management.