Red Dead Redemption 2

# Red Dead Redemption 2: Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + Intel Arc B390 — Benchmark Analysis

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics produces a fundamentally GPU-limited experience in Red Dead Redemption 2 across all tested resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates range from 11 FPS at 4K Ultra to 51 FPS at 1080p Low, with the Arc B390's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 positioning it as the primary bottleneck. The CPU, by contrast, sits in the 90th percentile of all processors with an average benchmark score of 48995, placing it within 1% of several strong desktop rivals. This combination yields playable results only at 1080p with Low settings, where the system achieves 51 FPS average, while every other configuration falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, revealing a system where the integrated GPU saturates well before the CPU's capabilities are challenged. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 32 FPS at 1920x1080 to 24 FPS at 2560x1440, a 25% reduction, and then further to 16 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 50% drop from the 1080p baseline. The Low preset shows a similar pattern: 51 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, and 25 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p result representing a 25.5% decline and the 4K result a 51% decline from 1080p.

Medium settings follow the same trajectory, with average FPS of 39 at 1080p, 29 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K. The percentage drops from 1080p to 4K are 51.3% for High, 51% for Low, and 51.3% for Medium, indicating a remarkably consistent scaling factor regardless of preset. Ultra settings produce the lowest absolute numbers, at 23 FPS for 1080p, 17 FPS for 1440p, and 11 FPS for 4K, with the 4K result being just 47.8% of the 1080p figure.

This uniformity in scaling percentages across presets is telling. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the resolution scaling would be shallower, as higher resolutions typically shift the burden toward the GPU. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU has the least work relative to the GPU, the system only reaches 51 FPS. The Arc B390's integrated nature, with system-shared memory and system-dependent bandwidth, means that every resolution increase directly taxes the same shared resources, producing an almost linear degradation in frame rate.

The measured minimum and maximum FPS values for Medium settings further illuminate the scaling behavior. At 1080p, the range spans 33 to 44 FPS; at 1440p, it narrows to 24 to 33 FPS; and at 4K, it tightens further to 16 to 22 FPS. The shrinking variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is operating at full capacity, leaving little headroom for frame time fluctuations. The 4K Medium minimum of 16 FPS and maximum of 22 FPS indicate a system that is consistently near its render ceiling, with no occasional bursts of higher performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 brings 14 cores and 14 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its architecture is Arrow Lake-S on a 3 nm process from TSMC, featuring 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a desktop-class processor with a 65 W TDP, supporting DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth and ECC memory capability.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. Cinebench R23 scores are 4648 for single-core and 32924 for multi-core, while Cinebench R20 yields 1952 and 13828 respectively. PassMark results show a single-thread score of 4394 and a multithread score of 38706, with specialized workloads like floating point math at 120548 and integer math at 91187. The processor's average benchmark score of 48995 places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with its nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G at 49196 (0.4% higher), AMD Ryzen 9 7900 at 49228 (0.5% higher), Intel Xeon Gold 5318H at 48698 (0.6% lower), and Intel Core i5-14600K at 48618 (0.8% lower).

In the context of Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU's role is largely background. The game's frame rates at all resolutions and settings are far too low to suggest CPU constraint. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the system produces 51 FPS, which is below what this CPU could drive in many other titles. The 14-core, 14-thread configuration with a 5.10 GHz boost clock provides ample computational headroom for game logic, physics, and AI, but the measured FPS data shows the GPU is the binding constraint. The strong single-thread performance, evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648, would normally support high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios, but the Arc B390 cannot deliver the frames to exploit this capability.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s and dual-channel DDR5 support are relevant because the Arc B390 uses system-shared memory. This means the CPU's memory subsystem directly influences GPU performance, and the 102.4 GB/s figure represents a ceiling for data transfer between the CPU and the integrated graphics. In a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 with large open-world textures, this shared bandwidth could contribute to the overall performance limitations, though the GPU's raw compute capabilities are clearly the dominant factor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with memory that is system-shared in size, type, bus width, and bandwidth. The GPU features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 raster output units, and 12 ray tracing cores. Its compute capabilities include 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 with a 2:1 ratio, alongside pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The 80 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm its integrated nature, with no power connectors and portable-device-dependent display outputs.

The benchmark data for this GPU is sparse, with only one 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX at 1463 (1.3% higher), GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5% higher), GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5% higher), and GeForce GT 710 at 1443 (2.7% higher). This positioning among much older, entry-level discrete GPUs underscores the Arc B390's limited performance envelope.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU's role is decisive. The measured FPS values across all twelve configurations—four settings presets at three resolutions—paint a picture of a component that struggles to maintain playable frame rates. The best case scenario, 1080p Low, produces 51 FPS average, which is technically playable but below the 60 FPS standard many players target. Every other configuration falls short: 1080p Medium at 39 FPS, 1080p High at 32 FPS, 1080p Ultra at 23 FPS, 1440p Low at 38 FPS, and 4K Low at 25 FPS.

The GPU's system-shared memory is a critical detail. Unlike a discrete GPU with dedicated VRAM bandwidth, the Arc B390 must compete with the CPU for memory access. The system-dependent bandwidth figure suggests that actual performance could vary based on the specific memory configuration of the host system, but the measured results indicate a hard ceiling around 51 FPS at 1080p Low. The 12 ray tracing cores are present for hardware-accelerated ray tracing, but given the overall performance level, enabling such features in Red Dead Redemption 2 would be impractical, as the game does not support ray tracing natively and the GPU's rasterization performance is already marginal.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for this hardware combination in Red Dead Redemption 2. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 51 FPS average, which is the only configuration that approaches playable frame rates. The Medium preset at the same resolution drops to 39 FPS, a 23.5% reduction, while High produces 32 FPS and Ultra falls to 23 FPS. The trade-off between visual quality and frame rate is steep, and the data suggests that Low settings at 1080p is the only viable option for a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, even the Low preset only manages 38 FPS, which is below the 40 FPS threshold many players consider the minimum for acceptable gameplay. Medium produces 29 FPS, High 24 FPS, and Ultra 17 FPS. None of these are recommended for anything beyond screenshot purposes, and the 1440p Medium minimum FPS of 24 and maximum of 33 indicate inconsistent frame delivery. The 3840x2160 results are uniformly poor: Low at 25 FPS, Medium at 19 FPS (with a minimum of 16 and maximum of 22), High at 16 FPS, and Ultra at 11 FPS. No 4K configuration is playable.

The recommendation is straightforward: use 1080p with Low settings for the best balance of playability and visual fidelity. The 51 FPS average at this configuration, while not reaching 60 FPS, is the only setting that maintains a playable frame rate without significant drops. The 1440p Low result of 38 FPS might tempt users with higher-resolution displays, but the 25.5% reduction from 1080p Low, combined with the generally sub-40 FPS average, makes this a poor trade-off. The data does not support any Ultra or High settings at any resolution, as the GPU's performance ceiling is simply too low for these presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 51, making it the only configuration that approaches playable frame rates. All other settings at this resolution are below 40 FPS, and all 1440p and 4K configurations fall below 38 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX at 1463 (1.3% higher), GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5% higher), GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5% higher), and GeForce GT 710 at 1443 (2.7% higher).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU ranks in the 90th percentile of all processors with an average benchmark score of 48995, while the GPU ranks in the 9th percentile. The consistent resolution scaling, with FPS dropping by roughly half from 1080p to 4K across all settings, indicates GPU saturation.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: No. The highest measured average FPS is 51 at 1080p Low. All other configurations produce lower results, with the next best being 39 FPS at 1080p Medium. No measured configuration reaches 60 FPS.

Q: What are the frame time characteristics at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the measured minimum and maximum FPS are 33 and 44 at 1080p, 24 and 33 at 1440p, and 16 and 22 at 4K. The ranges tighten as resolution increases, indicating the GPU operates at full capacity at higher resolutions with less frame time variance.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is 0.4% below the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, 0.6% above the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, and 0.8% above the Intel Core i5-14600K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full set of measured frame rates for Red Dead Redemption 2 with the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and Intel Arc B390 is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low settings preset achieves an average of 51 FPS with no reported minimum or maximum. The Medium preset averages 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS. High settings produce 32 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce 23 FPS average, both without reported minimum or maximum values.

At 2560x1440, Low settings average 38 FPS, Medium averages 29 FPS with a minimum of 24 FPS and maximum of 33 FPS, High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra averages 17 FPS. The minimum and maximum values are only reported for the Medium preset at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, Low settings average 25 FPS, Medium averages 19 FPS with a minimum of 16 FPS and maximum of 22 FPS, High averages 16 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS. As with the other resolutions, minimum and maximum values are only available for the Medium preset.

The overall combo rank for this hardware pairing in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 2568 out of 2902 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all tested systems. The data is confirmed as measured, not estimated. Across all twelve configurations, the average FPS ranges from 11 at 4K Ultra to 51 at 1080p Low, with the 1080p Low configuration being the only one to exceed 50 FPS and the only one suitable for actual gameplay. The 4K Ultra result of 11 FPS represents a 78.4% reduction from the best case, illustrating the extreme performance gradient of this integrated GPU solution.