Before discussing how various PC components influence your performance with RDR2, let’s take a look at the game’s Minimum and Recommended system requirements, according to Rockstar Games:

Official Minimum Specifications:

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K / AMD FX-6300
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB / AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage Space: 150GB
• OS: Windows 7 (version 6.1.7601)

Official Recommended Specifications:

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-4770K / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB
• RAM: 12GB
• Storage Space: 150GB
• OS: Windows 10 (version 1803)

Now keep in mind, these specifications are just to run the game at a reasonable smoothness with some combination of settings. For really smooth performance, and especially for ultra settings, you're going to need something a lot more powerful than the recommended settings.

Now, let’s take a look at how each component influences the game’s performance on your PC:

RDR2 GPU Requirements

Your graphics card will have the greatest impact on performance in Red Dead Redemption 2. While the game doesn’t quite look as aesthetically strong as other modern PC games (because it was initially created with consoles in mind), the fact that it’s an open-world game means that the draw distance is quite long (i.e. the game renders objects that are far away from the player), which requires significant graphical power.

According to our own testing with the built-in benchmark tool, in order to run the game on maximum settings at 1080p, the in-game counter recommends that your GPU should have almost 5GB of VRAM. This is the game basically saying that you would need a GPU with at least 5GB VRAM for max settings at 1080P, assuming your CPU can keep up! It is still possible to play the game on medium or high settings with less VRAM than this, as even Rockstar games recommends graphics cards with at least 4GB of VRAM.

At 1080p on high settings, the most affordable modern graphics cards to achieve smooth framerates will be the RX 6600.

For 1440p on high settings, you’re better off with the RTX 3060 Ti.

For 60 FPS at 4K resolution at high settings, you'll need at least the RTX 4070 or RX 7800 XT.

RDR2 CPU Requirements

Your CPU plays a role in how well RDR2 performs, but not quite as much as your GPU. However, the CPU does play a larger role in running RDR2 than it does in most other games. It is possible to notice a huge performance difference between a budget CPU and a higher-end one when it comes to playing RDR2, moreso than in other AAA titles.

For example, upgrading from an i5 to an i7 can provide up to a 20% performance bump. This is mainly down to how well the game engine is able to utilize hyper-threading. For this reason, we would recommend something like a Ryzen 5 7600X with a reasonable overclock for best performance at 1080p.

For resolutions above 1080p, we would recommend going with either the Ryzen 9 7900X or the Intel i9-13900K.

RDR2 RAM Requirements

Rockstar’s minimum specification calls for 8GB of RAM, while the recommended specification calls for 12GB, which is not unreasonable for a modern AAA release. We recommend 16 GB for most upper midrange and high-tier gaming PC builds, or 8GB for any lower midrange and low-tier gaming PC builds.

These builds are designed to provide sufficient computing power for playing Red Dead Redemption 2 at 60+ FPS (or 100+ FPS, where noted) at 1080p, 1440p, or 4K resolution.

There is a slight difference in performance with certain settings when playing online, based on the speed of the action and the number of players in your field-of-view at one time (hard to quantify, but can be around 10% difference in average output).

If you're not sure what resolution you want to play at (or how the different resolutions compare to each other), then take a look at our monitor resolution explanation page. You can also see a comparison between different GPUs in our Graphics Card Comparison page.

If you're not sure what frame rate you want to play at (or what frame rate is), then take a look at our FPS explanation page.

1080p 60 FPS [Low Settings] Red Dead Redemption II Build ($490)

1080p 60 FPS [High Settings] Red Dead Redemption II Build ($890)

1440p 60 FPS / 1080p 100 FPS [High Settings] Red Dead Redemption II Build ($1700)

4K 60 FPS / 1440p 100 FPS [High Settings] Red Dead Redemption II Build ($2700)

RDR2's PC version has a remarkably large amount of settings which the user can tweak. Here we will list what each does, as well as the impact that they can have on each user’s frame rate and performance. Please be aware that the listed FPS benefits are not perfectly additive; if one setting drops FPS by 10% and another drops it by 5%, disabling both may provide ~12% better FPS rather than 15%.

It is worth noting that the default settings for even powerful PCs in Red Dead Redemption II is High, not Ultra. The Ultra settings are reserved for those with seriously incredible builds. To give a little bit of context, my gaming rig runs an i7-8700K at 4.9GHz with a GTX 1080 Ti; at 1440p with Ultra settings, this was the benchmark result:

It's not the end of the world, though. If you tweak your settings a touch, you can get something a little more sensible. This next benchmark was taken at 1080p on a system with an R5 3600 and an RX 5700 XT:

The settings below are split into 2 sections. This is because, by default, Rockstar locks out a section of graphics. As such, we normally advise only touching these if you absolutely have to do so.

RDR2 Basic Settings

Texture Quality

Texture Quality affects the amount of detail that is shown on each model. This is very VRAM-intensive. There is a large difference between the highest and lowest settings, so if you are planning on using the “high” setting then it is a good idea to have a card with a minimum of 4GB of VRAM. One of the most noticeable differences between the settings, as demonstrated in the screenshots, is a flattening and serious simplification of the textures in the world.

Note: if you're changing this setting, it's one of the few that requires a game restart to take effect (which impeded our ability to get reliable comparative performance stats for it).

Global Illumination

An overall lighting setting that runs in tandem with a lot of the other sub-sections below. Think of it like that line in the Lion King, "Everything that the light touches..." But that's also why this setting can get frustrating. If you're indoors (at least generally) there's less going on, so illumination being lower or higher isn't a problem. Yet if we add in the Sun, some fire, lights and a challenging lighting environment, it can be very, very unforgiving on Ultra.

In the screenshots below, pay attention to the specks of light coming off the snow just over the right shoulder, as well as the softer light in the background overall.

Performance impact: ~10% between Low and Ultra

Anti-aliasing

Anti-aliasing is meant to smooth out the jagged edges of objects in 3D graphics images. To be slightly more specific, it is typical to see the edges of objects looking rough in-game because the screen is using pixels to simulate straight lines that aren't perpendicular to the sides of the monitor. Anti-aliasing helps to smooth these out, usually by softening and blending the colors around these angled lines, making them appear less pixelated than they otherwise would.

Shadows

These settings affect the presence and quality of visible shadows on objects and entities in-game.

Reflection Quality

This setting improves the reflections found on all surfaces in the game. This is noticeable on vehicles, windows, water, and other shiny surfaces such as the occasional wall or floor. This is especially noticeable in the game when it is raining.

Performance impact: ~18% between Low and Ultra

Mirror Quality

This impacts reflections in mirrored surfaces, like a more specific version of the setting above. If it's just your ugly mug in a mirror, then it's a low impact. If there's a lot of mirrored surfaces, it's greater.

Performance impact: ~5% between Low and Ultra

Water Quality

Water quality is a graphical setting that is extremely important to making the game look as visually impressive as possible. As you might imagine with such a variety of environments, any water elements can impact the overall visuals of each area.

What effectively happens here is a drop-off in water reflections and smatterings of light on the water's surface. However, you can only see this if you're up close, as you can see with the low-down shots here.

Performance impact: ~8% between Low and High

RDR2 Advanced Settings

A lot of these setting exist for users who want to tweak the graphics further than the above options. So rather than having a simplistic "change main graphics from option x to option y" it's more like "change one graphics setting with options 1, 2, and 3 each from high, medium, or low".

Nevertheless, we've done our best to determine the impact difference between 'all the way on' and 'all of the way off' for each of them to the best of our ability. But many of these options are also quite visually subtle or only visible in-motion, so we've omitted descriptions and screenshots for a number of them.

Particle Lighting Quality

This setting mainly affects explosions, which are randomized to begin with. Even ignoring outside factors such as physics, weather, and location, it is hard to get a solid baseline of comparison. It has little FPS impact unless you get into a really nasty fight with a LOT going on.

Performance impact: ~2% between Low and Ultra

Advanced Shadow Options

These three settings govern more granular control over the appearance and scope of shadows in the game.

Advanced Water Options

These 3 settings run more or less in tandem with the main Water Quality setting in the normal options. Rule of thumb here: don't run these on higher options if you have the main control on Low. There's no point.

As you can move each of these independently, if you're looking to save yourself some frames, the main one to pull lower first is water physics. Although this means you don't get as fine a splash when you ride through water, for instance, it has a far bigger performance gain for a lower visual impact.

Advanced World Detail Options

Although not specifically labelled as such, these options all link into what you have set for Texture Quality and the various AA options. Like the above with the water, there's no point having these set to a high level if you have Textures and AA set to Low.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a very demanding game. If your computer can manage to get at least a steady 60 FPS with all settings at their maximum, we recommend that you keep those settings. If you are getting below 60 FPS, though, you can try lowering some of the game settings.

Unfortunately, lowering multiple settings will not have a cumulative effect on framerate: If a setting give 10% improvement, and another gives 10%, lowering both will not give 20%, but between 10-12%.

To improve your frame rate, try the following steps, ordered by how they affect the game's visuals.

Anti-aliasing: Before navigating the options below, if you're seeking better FPS in RDR2, fiddle with the AA until you find the lowest setting you can enjoy; anti-aliasing has some of the largest impact on performance.

Improve FPS (slightly) with little to no impact on visuals:

• Far Shadow Quality: Reduce this to Medium.
• Shadow Quality: Reduce this to either High or Medium.
• Reflection Quality: Reduce this to Medium
• Water Quality: Reduce this to Medium.

Improve FPS (moderately) with a small impact on visuals, in addition to the above:

• Global Illumination: Reduce this to Medium.
• Shadow Quality: Reduce this to Low.

Improve FPS (by a large amount) with a moderate impact on visuals, in addition to the above:

• Grass LoD: This makes the biggest difference if you are getting frame rate drops in heavily forested areas. Lower this with the scroll bar.
• Turn MSAA off.

Very last resort:

• Set everything to Low/Off

If you try all of the above and still can’t run the game as smoothly as you would like, you may need to upgrade your hardware.

With Red Dead Redemption 2, you want to make sure your GPU packs a punch. You should also make sure your CPU can handle the game's open world.

We hope this guide has helped you determine the hardware you’ll need to play RDR2 to your satisfaction, and what settings to use to strike a balance between good visuals and good performance. If you want to do any more research on PC hardware, visit our homepage.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below, or email us at contact@logicalincrements.com.

Chris is a contributing writer for Logical Increments, and has worked in the gaming and technology industries as a community manager for many years, as well as a live streamer. He has been building PC's for over 11 years.

When Chris is not here creating builds and guides, he can be found at University, studying for a BSc in Video Production as he makes the transition over to the film industry from gaming. You can read more about his journey on his website.

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