Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a demanding open-world title that scales steeply with resolution and preset. The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 demonstrates a clear pattern across the measured rows: frame rates decline sharply as resolution climbs, and the gap between Low and Ultra presets widens significantly at higher pixel counts. At 1920x1080, the average frame rate ranges from 117 FPS on Low to 53 FPS on Ultra, a spread of 64 FPS. Moving up to 2560x1440, the same preset swing produces a range from 87 FPS on Low down to 39 FPS on Ultra. At 3840x2160, the picture changes dramatically: Low settings still deliver 58 FPS, but Ultra collapses to 26 FPS, with High and Medium landing at 36 FPS and 43 FPS respectively. This scaling behavior indicates that the RTX 5060 becomes the primary limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU has enough headroom to keep up at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a consistent frame rate penalty as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that penalty is not uniform across presets. At Low settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 30 FPS (from 117 to 87), and the further drop to 2160p is 29 FPS (from 87 to 58). That translates to a 50% reduction in average FPS when moving from 1080p Low to 4K Low. At High settings, the progression is 73 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 2160p — a 51% decrease from 1080p to 4K. Medium settings follow a similar trajectory: 88 FPS at 1080p, 65 FPS at 1440p, and 43 FPS at 2160p, which is a 51% drop. Ultra settings show the steepest relative decline: 53 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p, and 26 FPS at 2160p, a 51% reduction as well. The consistency of these percentage losses across presets suggests that the rendering load scales almost linearly with pixel count, which is typical for a GPU-bound title.

However, the absolute frame rates at 4K tell a more nuanced story. At 2160p, even the Low preset only manages 58 FPS, which is barely above the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 4K delivers 36 FPS, which is playable but not smooth by modern standards. The Medium preset at 4K produces 43 FPS with a minimum of 37 FPS and a maximum of 50 FPS, indicating noticeable frame time variance. The Ultra preset at 4K falls to 26 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay in a third-person action title. The data shows that the RTX 5060, with its 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit memory bus, is saturated at 4K regardless of preset. The GPU’s 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at that resolution for this game.

At 1440p, the picture improves considerably. The High preset achieves 55 FPS, while Medium reaches 65 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS. Low settings hit 87 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. Ultra at 1440p drops to 39 FPS, indicating that the highest quality settings are still too demanding for this GPU at this resolution. The 1080p results are the most favorable: Low settings hit 117 FPS, Medium achieves 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS, and High reaches 73 FPS. Even Ultra at 1080p produces 53 FPS, which is close to the 60 FPS target. The resolution scaling data strongly suggests that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with 1440p being viable only at Medium or Lower presets, and 4K being impractical for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-S architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 30 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 42216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5960 in single-core, placing it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 4464P (which scores 64823, a -0.3% delta) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64438, +0.3% delta), indicating that the 265 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

For Red Dead Redemption 2, the CPU’s role is evident in the scaling behavior at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 117 FPS, which is high enough to suggest that the CPU is not the bottleneck at that setting. The fact that 1080p Low achieves more than double the frame rate of 4K Ultra (117 vs 26) indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. However, the CPU’s 20 threads and high boost clock are sufficient to feed the RTX 5060 at 1080p, as evidenced by the 117 FPS result. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42216 and single-core score of 5960 both point to a processor that can handle the game’s simulation and AI workloads without becoming a constraint.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 49682 and single-thread score of 4689 further corroborate this. In a game like Red Dead Redemption 2, which relies on a mix of CPU-bound NPC logic and physics, the Ultra 7 265’s 20 cores and 20 threads provide ample parallel processing capability. The lack of hyper-threading (20 cores, 20 threads) means each core is a physical core, which can be beneficial for gaming workloads that prefer dedicated resources. The 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded performance is strong, which is critical for the game’s main simulation thread. Overall, the CPU is not the weak link in this combo; the data shows that frame rates are more responsive to resolution changes than to CPU-bound tasks.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB206 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores. The GPU has a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its FP32 compute throughput is 19.18 TFLOPS, and it scores 3628 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs.

The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M (avg score 26401, -0.3% delta), NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421, -0.3% delta), and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011, +1.2% delta). These comparisons are notable because the RTX 5060’s average benchmark score of 26331 is within 1.2% of the RX 6750 XT, yet the RTX 5060 has significantly newer architecture and features. However, in Red Dead Redemption 2, the GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM is a potential concern at 4K Ultra, where the game’s texture and shadow settings can exceed that capacity. The measured 26 FPS at 4K Ultra likely reflects both compute and memory bandwidth limitations.

At 1080p, the RTX 5060 performs admirably, with 117 FPS on Low and 88 FPS on Medium. The 88 FPS result at Medium with a minimum of 75 FPS indicates that the GPU can maintain smooth frame rates at this resolution. The High preset at 1080p yields 73 FPS, which is still well within playable territory. The drop to 53 FPS at 1080p Ultra suggests that the GPU’s 19.18 TFLOPS are being fully utilized at the highest quality settings. At 1440p, the GPU’s limitations become more apparent: High settings produce 55 FPS, while Ultra drops to 39 FPS. The 4K results are the most telling: even Low settings only reach 58 FPS, which is a 50% reduction from 1080p Low. This indicates that the GPU is heavily pixel-bound at 4K, and the 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is insufficient to feed the rendering pipeline efficiently.

The GPU’s 8 GB of VRAM is a critical constraint at higher resolutions. While the fact pack does not provide explicit VRAM usage data, the steep performance drop at 4K Ultra (26 FPS) compared to 4K High (36 FPS) suggests that memory capacity or bandwidth is being strained. The RTX 5060’s 128-bit memory bus is narrower than many higher-tier cards, which limits memory bandwidth to 448.0 GB/s. This is likely why the scaling from 1440p to 4K is so severe across all presets. For this game, the GPU is the dominant factor in determining frame rates, and the data shows that it is best suited for 1080p gaming at High or Medium settings, with 1440p viable only at Medium or Lower.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Red Dead Redemption 2?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the best resolution. At 1080p, Low settings deliver 117 FPS, Medium delivers 88 FPS, and High delivers 73 FPS, all above the 60 FPS target. At 1440p, only Low settings (87 FPS) and Medium (65 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while 4K results are below 60 FPS for all presets.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 perform at 4K in this game?

A: The RTX 5060 struggles at 3840x2160. Low settings average 58 FPS, Medium averages 43 FPS, High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. None of these results provide a consistently smooth experience, with Ultra falling well below playable thresholds.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 a bottleneck for the RTX 5060?

A: The data suggests no. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 117 FPS, which is high enough to indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU’s 20 cores and 5.30 GHz boost clock provide ample performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5960 and multi-core score of 42216.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 87 FPS, while Ultra averages 39 FPS. This is a 48 FPS difference, representing a 55% reduction in frame rate when switching from Low to Ultra. Medium sits in between at 65 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 1269 out of 2902 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier. This ranking reflects the RTX 5060’s mid-range performance and the CPU’s strong showing, but the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus limit its overall standing.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1080p Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the minimum measured FPS is 75, with an average of 88 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS. This indicates a stable frame rate with limited variance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1269 out of 2902 tested combos in Red Dead Redemption 2. This places it in the 56th percentile of all tested combinations, which is a solid mid-pack result. The CPU itself is in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs. The disparity between the CPU’s high percentile and the GPU’s more modest percentile explains why the combo ranks in the middle of the pack: the CPU has significant headroom, but the GPU limits overall gaming performance.

When comparing to other combos, the ranking suggests that this pairing is well-balanced for 1080p gaming but less competitive at higher resolutions. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD EPYC 4464P (which scores 64823, -0.3% delta) and Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64438, +0.3% delta), are all within 0.7% of each other in average benchmark scores, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator. The GPU’s nearest rivals, including the AMD Radeon 860M (26401, -0.3% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421, -0.3% delta), are similarly clustered, but the RTX 5060’s 8 GB VRAM and GDDR7 memory are more modern than those of its rivals.

The combo’s rank of 1269 out of 2902 means that about 56% of tested combinations perform better in this game. This is consistent with the RTX 5060 being a mid-range GPU in the GeForce 50-series, paired with a high-end CPU that does little to boost the overall result. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p, the combo delivers smooth gameplay, but at 1440p and 4K, it falls behind higher-tier GPU pairings. The rank is not a reflection of the CPU’s capability, but rather of the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions. For users prioritizing high refresh rate 1080p gaming, this combo is competitive; for 4K gaming, it is not.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the best experience for this combo depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset offers the optimal balance between visual quality and performance. It averages 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay with minimal frame drops. The High preset at 1080p averages 73 FPS, which is also acceptable, but the 15 FPS advantage of Medium makes it the safer choice for maintaining a consistent frame rate. The Low preset at 1080p delivers 117 FPS, which is excellent for high refresh rate monitors, but sacrifices visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 53 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and not recommended.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It averages 65 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 75 FPS, providing a playable experience with moderate visual quality. The Low preset at 1440p averages 87 FPS, which is better for competitive play, but Medium offers a significant visual upgrade for only a 22 FPS penalty. The High preset at 1440p drops to 55 FPS, which is borderline, and Ultra falls to 39 FPS, which is not smooth. For 1440p gaming, Medium is the sweet spot.

At 3840x2160, no preset delivers a consistently smooth experience. The Low preset averages 58 FPS, which is close to 60 FPS but may exhibit dips. The Medium preset averages 43 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for action sequences. High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 26 FPS. Given these results, 4K gaming with this combo is only feasible at Low settings, and even then, the frame rate is marginal. The data suggests that 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium are the best settings for this hardware, offering the highest frame rates while maintaining acceptable visual quality. For users who prioritize frame rate over visuals, 1080p Low at 117 FPS is the fastest option, but for a balanced experience, 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium are the most practical choices.