Red Dead Redemption 2

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers a compelling, if uneven, experience in Red Dead Redemption 2. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet reveals surprising CPU headroom at 1080p. The measured frame rates indicate that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance, with the Core Ultra 7 265 providing ample support without becoming a bottleneck in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 134 at 1920x1080 to 100 at 2560x1440, and finally to 66 at 3840x2160. This represents a 25% performance hit when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 34% reduction when jumping to 4K. The steep decline at 4K clearly indicates that the RTX 4090 is working near its limits, as the pixel count more than doubles from 1440p to 4K, yet the frame rate does not halve, suggesting some level of efficiency in scaling.

The pattern holds across all settings presets. At Low settings, the system achieves 214 FPS at 1080p, 160 FPS at 1440p, and 106 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are more pronounced at lower settings, with a 25% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 34% drop from 1440p to 4K. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU has more room to feed frames, but the GPU still becomes the limiting factor at 4K.

Medium settings show a similar trajectory: 161 FPS at 1080p, 120 FPS at 1440p, and 79 FPS at 4K. The relative consistency of these scaling percentages across presets confirms that resolution scaling is governed primarily by the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit bus width provide sufficient bandwidth to handle the increased data demands of higher resolutions, but the compute load ultimately caps performance.

Ultra settings present the most dramatic scaling. The system manages 96 FPS at 1080p, 72 FPS at 1440p, and just 48 FPS at 4K. The 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p and the 33% drop from 1440p to 4K indicate that Ultra preset is particularly demanding on the GPU's shading units and RT cores. The data suggests that Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K Ultra is a stress test even for the flagship RTX 4090, pushing it to its absolute limits.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the undisputed performance driver in this configuration. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for Red Dead Redemption 2's detailed textures and large open world. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed, ensuring data flows quickly to the AD102 chip. The 16384 shading units and 512 TMUs handle the game's complex lighting and shadow calculations, while the 176 ROPs manage pixel output efficiently.

The GPU's 2235 MHz base clock and 2520 MHz boost clock are conservative for a flagship card, but the massive parallel architecture compensates. The 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than enough for this 2018 title, which explains why the card can push 214 FPS at 1080p Low. The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are underutilized in this game, as Red Dead Redemption 2 does not heavily leverage ray tracing or DLSS in the measured results.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 88 against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347, places it in the upper echelon. Its nearest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores nearly identically at 60326 with a 0% delta, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, showing a 2.5% advantage. This positions the RTX 4090 as a top-tier performer, though the data suggests that raw compute benchmarks do not fully translate to this game's specific rendering demands.

The 450 W TDP and triple-slot design indicate the power and thermal headroom required to sustain high clock speeds. The 1x 16-pin power connector and 850 W suggested PSU ensure stable power delivery under load. The 5 nm process node from TSMC, with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, represents a dense and efficient design that balances performance with thermals.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on optimal settings for different priorities. For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the Medium preset at 4K delivers 79 FPS average with a minimum of 67 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. This represents the best balance of visual fidelity and performance at 4K, as the High preset at 66 FPS offers only marginal visual gains while sacrificing smoothness.

At 1440p, the High preset achieves 100 FPS average, making it the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset at 120 FPS provides an even smoother experience, but the visual downgrade from High to Medium is noticeable in a game with such detailed environments. For competitive or fast-paced play, the Low preset at 160 FPS offers the highest frame rates, but this comes at a significant visual cost.

For 1080p users, the data shows that High settings at 134 FPS provide an excellent experience, especially on 120Hz or 144Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 96 FPS is playable but not optimal for high-refresh-rate gaming, while Low at 214 FPS is overkill for most monitors. The Medium preset at 161 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS is the safest choice for consistent frame pacing.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 4K only yielding 48 FPS average. This falls below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, making Ultra unsuitable for 4K unless the player accepts reduced frame rates. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 96 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play. The data suggests that Ultra is best reserved for 1080p or 1440p displays where the visual improvements are most apparent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the system delivers 66 FPS on High, 106 FPS on Low, 79 FPS on Medium, and 48 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 67 FPS and a maximum of 91 FPS, indicating stable performance with occasional dips. This range suggests that the RTX 4090 can handle 4K gaming well on most presets, but Ultra presents a challenge that may require adjustments to individual settings.

The 2560x1440 resolution shows 100 FPS on High, 160 FPS on Low, 120 FPS on Medium, and 72 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 102 FPS and maximum of 138 FPS demonstrate excellent consistency, with no significant frame time spikes. The 72 FPS at Ultra is respectable for a high-fidelity preset at this resolution, though it leaves room for improvement on higher refresh rate displays.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves 134 FPS on High, 214 FPS on Low, 161 FPS on Medium, and 96 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 185 FPS show a wide variance that could be noticeable in fast-moving scenes. The 96 FPS at Ultra is the lowest measured at this resolution, but still provides a smooth experience for most users.

The frame rate deltas between settings at each resolution follow a consistent pattern. At 4K, Low to Medium represents a 25% reduction in FPS, while Medium to High is a 16% reduction, and High to Ultra is a 27% reduction. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces disproportionately heavy effects that tax the GPU more than the step from Medium to High.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and RTX 4090 ranks 112 out of 2902 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places the system in the top 4% of all configurations tested, indicating exceptional performance relative to the broader hardware ecosystem. The high rank is primarily attributable to the RTX 4090's raw rendering power, as the CPU's contribution is secondary in this GPU-bound title.

The combo's rank of 112 suggests that only a small number of configurations manage to outperform this pairing. These would likely feature newer or more specialized hardware, though the FACT PACK does not provide specific details on the combos ranked above. The 2902 total combos represent a wide range of CPUs and GPUs, from budget to enthusiast tiers, making this top-112 placement particularly noteworthy.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its contribution to this rank. The AMD EPYC 4464P scores 64823 on average, showing a 0.3% delta against the Core Ultra 7 265's 64640. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F scores 64438, a 0.3% delta, while the AMD EPYC 7343 scores 64202, a 0.7% delta, and the AMD EPYC 9124 scores 65104, a -0.7% delta. These small percentage differences indicate that the CPU is not a differentiating factor in this game's performance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 serves as a capable supporting component in this configuration. With 20 cores and 20 threads, the CPU provides substantial parallel processing power, though Red Dead Redemption 2 does not fully utilize all available threads. The 2.40 GHz base clock and 5.30 GHz boost clock enable strong single-thread performance, which is more critical for gaming workloads.

The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data storage for game assets. The 192 KB per-core L1 cache further reduces latency for frequently accessed data. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without creating a bottleneck.

The 3 nm process node from TSMC, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die, represents a modern and efficient design. The 65 W TDP is remarkably low for a 20-core processor, indicating excellent power efficiency. The Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 32EU integrated GPU provides basic display output capabilities but is not relevant for gaming performance when a discrete GPU is present.

In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 42216 in multicore and 5960 in single-core tests. These scores place the CPU in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 64640. The PassMark multithread score of 49682 and single-thread score of 4689 further demonstrate the CPU's balanced performance profile.

The CPU's role in this game is primarily to maintain high frame rates without becoming a bottleneck. At 1080p Low settings, the system achieves 214 FPS, which likely approaches the CPU's limit for frame generation in this title. However, at higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, allowing the CPU to operate well below its maximum capacity. This is the ideal scenario for a gaming system, as it ensures consistent performance across all settings.