Guides/Games
Red Dead Redemption 2 stutter and FPS drops: what to check
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the heaviest games on PC, and a handful of its 40+ graphics settings cost most of the frames. Before lowering everything, check the graphics API, the video memory bar and the few settings below.
1. Vulkan or DirectX 12#
Under Settings → Graphics → Advanced Settings, Graphics API switches between Vulkan and DirectX 12. Neither is better on every PC: on many systems Vulkan stutters less, on others DirectX 12 runs better. Try both in the same area for a few minutes and keep the steadier one. The first minutes after switching can stutter while shaders are built.
2. Stay under the video memory limit#
The graphics menu shows how much video memory your settings need. Going over it causes heavy stutter, especially when riding into a new area. Texture Quality and MSAA use the most.
3. The settings that cost the most#
- MSAA: very expensive. Use TAA instead and add a little sharpening.
- Volumetric lighting and raymarch settings: big cost for fog and light shafts.
- Water Physics Quality: heavy near rivers and lakes.
- Tree Tessellation, Grass Level of Detail and Reflection MSAA.
Many of these are in Advanced Settings, which the game locks until you unlock it at the top of that section.
4. Upscaling and frame limit#
RDR2 supports DLSS and FSR. Quality mode gives a solid boost at 1440p and 4K with little visible loss. Cap the frame rate a little below what your PC holds in towns like Saint Denis, so the frame rate doesn't swing between the countryside and the city. How upscaling works.
Check the setup first#
These cost frames in every game and show no error, so they're worth a minute before you touch any game setting:
- Monitor in the graphics card, not the motherboard: how to tell the ports apart.
- Refresh rate set to the monitor's maximum in Windows: how to check.
- RAM at its rated speed (XMP or EXPO on): check in 30 seconds.
- RAM in dual channel: how to check.
- Game on an SSD, not a hard drive: why it matters.
- Laptop: play plugged in, set Settings → System → Power & battery → Power mode to Best performance, and under Settings → System → Display → Graphics set the game to High performance so it runs on the dedicated graphics card.
Questions#
Is Vulkan or DirectX 12 better for Red Dead Redemption 2?
Why does RDR2 stutter when riding?
Frametide's scan checks your PC for setup problems like this one and tells you how many it found (Basic, €12.99 once). Premium (€26.99 once) shows which ones and how to fix them. With Premium it can also set Red Dead Redemption 2's own graphics settings as part of presets and measure FPS, 1% lows and stutters in the game.