Rockstar Games · 2019 · Open-World Action
Red Dead Redemption 2 is Rockstar’s open-world western, widely regarded as one of the most demanding, best-optimized open-world games of its generation thanks to its extensive in-game graphics settings menu.
It scales unusually well across hardware tiers, from the minimum spec listed here up to genuinely punishing settings on high-end systems.
| Requirement | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD FX-6300 | Intel Core i7-4770K / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 770 2GB / AMD R9 280 3GB | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 480 4GB |
| RAM | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| Storage | 150 GB | 150 GB |
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
Source: the publisher's own officially listed system requirements (view source). Actual performance still depends on drivers, background load and in-game settings.
Want to know roughly what frame rate your own CPU and graphics card get in Red Dead Redemption 2, not just whether you clear the minimum?
Check Your PC for Red Dead Redemption 2Or check every game in our list at once with Can I Run It?, or the balance of your CPU and graphics card with the Bottleneck Calculator.
Open-world action games stream in traffic, pedestrians, physics objects and long draw distances continuously, which leans harder on the CPU (and on fast storage) than a linear, level-based game — a stronger CPU pays off more here than in most genres, even before touching graphics settings.
The jump from 8GB to 12GB of RAM between the minimum and recommended spec is where Red Dead Redemption 2 stops paging textures and level data from disk mid-play — below 12GB, that shows up as short stutters and pop-in rather than a flat drop in average framerate. At roughly 150GB, plan storage for Red Dead Redemption 2 the same way you would for any modern title: an NVMe SSD keeps load times and texture streaming noticeably smoother than a hard drive at the same free-space total.
Red Dead Redemption 2 recommends 12GB of RAM; 10 of the other 15 games we cover recommend more. 1 other game asks for the same amount. Its 150GB install is the largest in our list.
Games with the closest published requirements (recommended RAM, install size and minimum RAM):
| Game | Recommended RAM | Install size | Recommended GPU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 (this page) | 12 GB | 150 GB | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 480 4GB |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | 12 GB | 116 GB | NVIDIA RTX 3060 / AMD RX 6600XT / Intel Arc B580 |
| Baldur's Gate 3 | 16 GB | 150 GB | NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD RX 5700 XT |
| Helldivers 2 | 16 GB | 135 GB | NVIDIA RTX 2060 / AMD RX 6600XT |
The Bottleneck Calculator treats Red Dead Redemption 2 as one of the typical AAA games. Here is which part would set the frame rate on 6 pairings from budget to high-end at high settings; each pairing links to its full page.
| CPU + GPU | 1080p | 1440p |
|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 3600 + RTX 3060 12GB | Balanced | GPU-limited |
| Core i3-12100F + RTX 5060 | CPU ~9% | GPU-limited |
| Ryzen 7 5700X + RTX 5060 Ti 16GB | CPU ~7% | GPU-limited |
| Ryzen 5 7600 + RTX 4070 Super | CPU ~8% | GPU-limited |
| Core i5-14600K + RX 9070 XT | CPU ~22% | GPU-limited |
| Core i7-14700K + RTX 5080 | CPU ~25% | GPU-limited |
Estimate Red Dead Redemption 2 FPS for your own CPU and GPU · Check every game against your PC · All CPU + GPU comparisons
What the parts in the table above do: CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD.
8GB is the publisher's stated minimum, meaning Red Dead Redemption 2 will start and run, but 12GB (the recommended figure) avoids the stuttering that comes from paging assets off your storage drive mid-session. Use our RAM calculator to check your exact total against everything else you run alongside it.
For Red Dead Redemption 2 specifically, the CPU tends to be the more common limiting part in practice, not just the GPU — check your exact pairing with our PC Bottleneck Calculator before assuming a GPU upgrade alone will fix low or inconsistent framerates.
Plan for at least 150GB free, not exactly 150GB — day-one patches, DLC and shader/texture caches routinely add several more gigabytes after install. Our Storage Calculator can help you plan an upgrade if you are close to full.
The publisher lists NVIDIA GTX 770 2GB / AMD R9 280 3GB as the minimum and NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 480 4GB as the recommended graphics card for Red Dead Redemption 2. To see how your own card is likely to perform at your resolution, try our FPS Calculator, and check memory needs with the GPU VRAM Calculator.
The publisher lists Windows 10 64-bit for both the minimum and recommended specs of Red Dead Redemption 2.