Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a playable but constrained experience in Red Dead Redemption 2, with performance heavily dependent on resolution and quality settings. The dataset shows a clear pattern: the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM and Turing architecture are the primary bottlenecks at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-thread performance keeps 1080p results respectable. Below is a breakdown of the measured data, followed by detailed analysis of settings, component roles, and ranking context.

Settings Recommendations

For a smooth gameplay experience, the data points to a specific trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 85 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. This is the only setting that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, making it the safest choice for high-refresh-rate displays or for players who prioritize fluid motion over graphical detail. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 63 FPS, which is still playable but shows a 26% performance penalty for the visual upgrade.

If you prefer better image quality, the High preset at 1080p yields 53 FPS, which is a 38% reduction from Low. This is borderline for 60 Hz monitors, but the frame pacing may feel inconsistent in dense scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p is the least viable option, producing only 38 FPS, which is 55% slower than Low. Given that Ultra’s visual gains over High are often subtle, the data suggests that High is the maximum reasonable preset for 1080p, with Medium being the sweet spot for a balanced experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the situation tightens. Low is the only preset that achieves an average above 60 FPS, hitting 63 FPS. Medium falls to 47 FPS, which is a 25% drop and starts to feel sluggish. High produces 39 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 28 FPS. For 1440p, the recommendation is straightforward: stick to Low if you want a locked 60 FPS experience, or accept Medium as a compromise if you are willing to tolerate occasional dips below 50 FPS. The 4K results are not recommended for gameplay, as even Low only manages 42 FPS, and Medium drops to 31 FPS with a minimum of 27 FPS.

The data indicates that the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best balance of performance and visual quality, as it provides a 63 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS, ensuring a mostly stable experience. For players who demand the highest frame rates, Low at 1080p is the clear winner, while those with 1440p monitors should consider Low as the only viable option for smooth play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the dominant factor in this combination’s performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. The base clock is 1365 MHz, boosting to 1680 MHz, and the card draws a TDP of 160 W. These specifications place the RTX 2060 in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s memory capacity and bandwidth become critical constraints. At 4K, the game’s texture and geometry demands overwhelm the 6 GB VRAM, causing the average FPS to collapse to 26 on High and 19 on Ultra. Even on Low, the 4K result of 42 FPS shows that the GPU is struggling to fill the pixel count, not the CPU. The RTX 2060’s Turing architecture, with 1920 shading units and 48 ROPs, is not designed for 4K gaming in this title, and the data confirms this limitation.

The GPU’s role is less restrictive at 1080p, where the frame rate differences between presets are more moderate. The benchmark results show that the RTX 2060 can handle the game’s load at lower resolutions, but the performance scaling from Low to Ultra is steep: 85 FPS to 38 FPS, a 55% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is still the primary bottleneck, as the CPU has headroom to push higher frame rates if the GPU could keep up. The RTX 2060’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta), AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% delta), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% delta), which all score similarly in synthetic benchmarks, but none of these would change the fundamental VRAM limitation in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance drop as resolution increases, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS on Medium falls from 63 to 47, a 25% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, the same preset drops from 47 to 31, a further 34% reduction. Across the full range from 1080p to 4K on Medium, the frame rate falls by 51%, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component.

The pattern is consistent across all presets. On Low, the average FPS goes from 85 at 1080p to 63 at 1440p (a 26% drop) and then to 42 at 4K (a 33% drop from 1440p). On High, the numbers are 53, 39, and 26, representing a 26% and 33% drop respectively. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 38 FPS at 1080p, 28 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K, with a 50% total reduction from 1080p to 4K.

This data indicates that the RTX 2060 is heavily pixel-bound. The CPU’s performance does not change with resolution, so the consistent percentage drops across all settings point squarely at the GPU’s rasterization and memory bandwidth limits. At 1080p, the GPU can feed the CPU enough frames, but as the pixel count grows, the GPU’s fill rate and VRAM capacity throttle the output. The 4K results, even on Low, are below the playable threshold of 60 FPS, suggesting that this combo is not viable for 4K gaming in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a 60 FPS experience at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 achieves an average of 85 FPS, which is the only setting that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 63 FPS, which is still above 60 but with a minimum of 54 FPS, so Low is the safest choice for a locked frame rate.

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, only the Low preset reaches an average of 63 FPS, which is borderline playable. Medium falls to 47 FPS, and High drops to 39 FPS, indicating that 1440p is only viable at the lowest settings.

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so much at 4K?

A: The RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K workloads. The data shows that even Low at 4K only produces 42 FPS, while Medium and Ultra fall to 31 and 19 FPS respectively.

Q: How does the CPU affect the results?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has 10 cores and 10 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891, indicate it is not the bottleneck, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution rather than CPU load.

Q: What is the difference between High and Ultra presets?

A: At 1080p, High averages 53 FPS while Ultra averages 38 FPS, a 28% performance hit. At 1440p, the difference is 39 FPS versus 28 FPS, and at 4K, it is 26 FPS versus 19 FPS. The data suggests Ultra offers diminishing returns for the performance cost.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 comparable to other GPUs in this game?

A: The RTX 2060’s average benchmark score of 15290 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (0% delta) and AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% delta). However, these scores do not account for VRAM capacity, which is a key factor in this game’s high-resolution performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 2, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. Its synthetic benchmark scores are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25891 and a single-core score of 3655, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The frame rate drops are nearly identical across presets when moving from 1080p to 4K, which would not happen if the CPU were the limiting factor. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as measured by a PassMark single-thread score of 4412, is sufficient to keep up with the GPU at 1080p, but it is not the reason for the low 4K results.

The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (-0.2% delta), and Intel Core i9-12900T (-0.5% delta), all of which have similar average benchmark scores. This indicates that the Ultra 5 225 is competitive with mid-range processors from the previous generation, and its performance is not a concern for this game’s frame pacing. The data shows that the CPU is well ahead of the GPU in terms of capability, so upgrading the GPU would yield far more substantial frame rate improvements than any CPU change.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

1920x1080: The Low preset delivers an average of 85 FPS. Medium averages 63 FPS, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS. High averages 53 FPS, and Ultra averages 38 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 47 FPS, representing a 55% performance difference.

2560x1440: Low averages 63 FPS, making it the only preset above 60 FPS. Medium averages 47 FPS, with a minimum of 40 FPS and a maximum of 54 FPS. High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 28 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 35 FPS, a 56% reduction.

3840x2160: Low averages 42 FPS. Medium averages 31 FPS, with a minimum of 27 FPS and a maximum of 36 FPS. High averages 26 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 23 FPS, a 55% reduction.

The data shows consistent scaling: each resolution step up reduces the average FPS by roughly 25-35% on the same preset. The Medium preset is the only one with full min/max data, revealing that the minimum FPS is about 15% lower than the average across all resolutions. This suggests that there are occasional frame hitches, likely due to texture streaming or complex scenes, but the overall experience is stable enough for the average frame rate to be a reliable indicator of performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination ranks 2290 out of 2902 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2, placing it in the bottom 21% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily driven by the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions, as the CPU is in the 85th percentile of all processors. The combo’s rank reflects that most other tested systems include more powerful GPUs, which are better equipped to handle the game’s demanding visuals.

In context, this ranking means that the combo is below average for this specific game, but it is not a failure. At 1080p with Low settings, the 85 FPS average is competitive with many mid-range systems, and the CPU’s strong single-thread performance ensures that frame times are consistent. However, the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM is a severe handicap for a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which is known for its large open-world textures.

The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming at medium settings or below, where it can deliver playable frame rates. For 1440p, the user must accept Low settings to stay above 60 FPS, and 4K is not a realistic option. The ranking of 2290 out of 2902 suggests that while the combo is not at the bottom, it is significantly outperformed by systems with newer or higher-tier GPUs. The CPU has headroom to support a more powerful GPU, so this pairing is a classic case of a balanced CPU being held back by a mid-range graphics card.