Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2: Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a solid but resolution-dependent experience in Red Dead Redemption 2. The CPU, with 14 cores and 14 threads running at a 3.40 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clock, sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth place it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. This pairing ranks 1206 out of 2902 tested combos in this game, indicating a mid-pack position that favors 1080p and 1440p play over 4K. The measured results show a clear pattern: this system can handle the game smoothly at lower resolutions, but 4K demands significant settings compromises.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to the table, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This is an Arrow Lake-S architecture part built on a 3 nm TSMC process, featuring 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 14,769 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,085 in single-core, with a PassMark multithread score of 37,816 and single-thread score of 4,516. The average benchmark score of 46,062 places it nearly exactly between the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030, 0.1% ahead of the Intel part) and the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098, 0.1% behind), making it statistically indistinguishable from those rivals in overall CPU performance.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, this CPU is never the bottleneck in the measured results. Even at 1080p Low, where the average FPS reaches 125, the CPU's strong single-thread performance handles the game's draw calls without issue. The game launched in 2018 and is not particularly demanding on modern processors; the Ultra 5 235's PassMark single-thread score of 4,516 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,085 indicate ample headroom for this title's AI, physics, and world-streaming workloads. The 14 threads are more than sufficient for the game's multi-threaded aspects, though Red Dead Redemption 2 typically scales well up to about 8 threads, so the remaining threads provide spare capacity for background tasks.

The CPU's position in the 89th percentile of all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of processors on the market. Its nearest rivals in overall score — the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, i9-13900HX, AMD EPYC 4364P, and AMD EPYC 7303 — all cluster within 0.2% of its score, showing that this processor sits at a performance plateau where differences are negligible. In practical terms for this game, any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates; the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The data confirms this: FPS drops from 125 at 1080p Low to 61 at 4K Low, a 51% reduction that aligns with GPU-bound scaling rather than CPU limitations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on optimal settings for each resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 78 FPS average, which is excellent for smooth gameplay on a 60 Hz or 144 Hz display. The Medium preset at 93 FPS offers a substantial boost over High with only a modest visual quality reduction, and it comes with measured minimum FPS of 79 and maximum of 107, indicating consistent frame pacing. Low at 125 FPS is the maximum performance option, but the visual trade-offs in this game are significant, making Medium the sweet spot for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p, the picture changes. High delivers 58 FPS average, just below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider the minimum for a smooth experience. Medium provides 70 FPS with a minimum of 59 FPS, making it the safest choice for consistent performance at this resolution. Low at 93 FPS is viable for players who prioritize frame rate over visuals, but again, Medium offers the best balance — it sits 21% above High in FPS while maintaining acceptable visual quality. Ultra at 42 FPS is playable for cinematic experiences but falls below the smoothness threshold for action sequences.

At 4K, the recommendations become more constrained. Medium delivers 46 FPS average with a minimum of 39 FPS, which is borderline playable but may feel sluggish during intense scenes. Low at 61 FPS is the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gameplay. High at 38 FPS and Ultra at 28 FPS are best reserved for screenshots or slow-paced exploration. The data shows an 8% FPS difference between Low and Medium at 4K, but the visual uplift from Low to Medium is substantial in this game, so players with adaptive sync displays might prefer Medium despite the lower average.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a heavily GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 125 at 1080p to 93 at 1440p (a 25.6% reduction) and then to 61 at 4K (a 34.4% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern is classic GPU-limited behavior — as resolution increases, pixel count grows, and the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factors. The 256-bit memory bus and 165.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are taxed heavily at 4K, where the GPU must process four times the pixels of 1080p.

At Medium settings, the same pattern holds: 93 FPS at 1080p, 70 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 24.7% and 34.3% respectively, nearly identical to Low settings. This consistency indicates that the scaling is purely resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. At High settings, the numbers are 78 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 38 FPS at 4K — a 25.6% drop to 1440p and a 34.5% drop to 4K. The uniformity of these percentage drops across all settings confirms that the RTX 3070 is the sole limiting factor as resolution increases.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. The Ultra 5 235's strong single-thread performance means it never becomes the bottleneck, even at 1080p Low where the GPU is least stressed. The 125 FPS at 1080p Low represents the practical ceiling for this GPU in this game, and the CPU could likely push higher if the GPU allowed. At 4K, the CPU's utilization drops further as the GPU takes longer to render each frame, making the 14-core, 14-thread configuration more than adequate for Red Dead Redemption 2's demands.

FAQ

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

A: At 4K, only the Low preset achieves an average FPS above 60 (61 FPS). Medium preset runs at 46 FPS average with a 39 FPS minimum, while High and Ultra run at 38 FPS and 28 FPS respectively. For consistent smoothness at 4K, Low is the only reliable choice.

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

A: Medium provides 70 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum, making it the best balance of visual quality and performance. High delivers 58 FPS average, which dips below the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra runs at 42 FPS.

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

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 17,208 puts it 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17,083) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17,037). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17,468) by 1.5%.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 a bottleneck for the RTX 3070?

A: No. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking and average score of 46,062 place it effectively tied with the i9-13900HX (0.1% difference). The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows consistent GPU-bound behavior, indicating the CPU never limits performance.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: High settings at 1080p deliver 78 FPS average. Medium runs at 93 FPS with a 79 FPS minimum, and Low reaches 125 FPS. Ultra drops to 56 FPS at this resolution.

Q: How much FPS do I lose going from 1440p to 4K?

A: At Medium settings, FPS drops from 70 to 46 (a 34.3% reduction). At Low settings, it drops from 93 to 61 (34.4%), and at High settings from 58 to 38 (34.5%). The consistent ~34% drop across all settings confirms the GPU is the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, along with 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The GPU runs at a 1500 MHz base clock and 1725 MHz boost clock, with memory at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Its 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores provide hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS support, though the measured data in this pack does not include ray-traced benchmarks.

The RTX 3070's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper-mid range of graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 17,208 puts it 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17,083) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17,037), while trailing the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17,468) by 1.5%. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3,162, and in Geekbench OpenCL it achieves 112,821. The PassMark G3D score of 22,214 and GPU Compute score of 11,195 round out its synthetic performance profile.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at High settings, but 4K Ultra may approach the memory limit. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is a strong asset for this game's large textures and open-world streaming. The GPU's 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance provides ample compute headroom, but the pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s become the constraining factors at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows the GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K, where even Low settings only achieve 61 FPS, while at 1080p Low it delivers 125 FPS — indicating the GPU has plenty of headroom at lower resolutions but runs out of pixel-pushing capability as resolution climbs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p:

• Low: 125 FPS average
• Medium: 93 FPS average, 79 FPS minimum, 107 FPS maximum
• High: 78 FPS average
• Ultra: 56 FPS average

At 1080p, this system is decisively GPU-bound but with excellent performance headroom. The jump from Low to Medium costs 32 FPS (a 25.6% reduction), while Medium to High costs 15 FPS (16.1%), and High to Ultra costs 22 FPS (28.2%). The Medium preset provides the best performance-to-visuals ratio, with a minimum FPS of 79 ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense action sequences. Ultra at 56 FPS is playable but sacrifices the frame rate stability that Medium offers.

1440p:

• Low: 93 FPS average
• Medium: 70 FPS average, 59 FPS minimum, 80 FPS maximum
• High: 58 FPS average
• Ultra: 42 FPS average

The 1440p results show a steeper penalty for higher settings. Low to Medium drops 23 FPS (24.7%), Medium to High drops 12 FPS (17.1%), and High to Ultra drops 16 FPS (27.6%). The Medium preset's 59 FPS minimum is just below the 60 FPS threshold, but the 70 FPS average provides enough cushion for most gameplay. High at 58 FPS will be noticeable on 60 Hz displays, and Ultra at 42 FPS is best avoided for action sequences.

4K:

• Low: 61 FPS average
• Medium: 46 FPS average, 39 FPS minimum, 53 FPS maximum
• High: 38 FPS average
• Ultra: 28 FPS average

At 4K, the RTX 3070's limitations become apparent. Low is the only preset that maintains a 60+ FPS average, while Medium dips to 46 FPS with a 39 FPS minimum. High at 38 FPS is marginal, and Ultra at 28 FPS is only suitable for screenshots or slow exploration. The 15 FPS difference between Low and Medium (24.6% reduction) is significant, but the visual improvement from Low to Medium in this game is substantial enough that some players may accept the lower frame rate. The 4K data clearly shows that this GPU is at the edge of its capability for this title, and players seeking consistent 4K performance would need to rely on Low settings or consider a more powerful GPU.