Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

The data for Greedfall with this AMD pairing reveals a system that delivers playable frame rates across most settings, but with a sharp performance cliff at 4K Ultra that signals a GPU-bound workload. The Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides a solid foundation, while the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus handle the game's demands admirably at lower resolutions. This combination ranks 1261 out of 1705 tested combos, placing it in the lower-mid tier of configurations, which is unsurprising given the GPU's 68th percentile standing among all GPUs and the CPU's 77th percentile among all CPUs. The measured FPS data across three resolutions and four settings presets tells a consistent story of a system that excels at 1080p, remains viable at 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K with higher visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the limiting component clearly. At High settings, the system delivers 106.2 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 71.5 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 46.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 55.8% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a steep decline that indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The RX 5700 XT's 9.754 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with demanding settings.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more revealing. The system achieves 150.2 FPS at 1080p, drops to 103.9 FPS at 1440p, and reaches 63.2 FPS at 4K. This 57.9% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows that even when graphical load is minimized, the GPU still struggles to push enough pixels at 4K resolution. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Low settings (40.7 FPS difference) is nearly identical to the gap between 1080p and 1440p (46.3 FPS difference), suggesting a linear scaling pattern that points to raw pixel throughput as the limiting factor.

The Ultra settings data confirms this analysis with an even steeper cliff. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 70.4 FPS, dropping to 48.8 FPS at 1440p, and collapsing to 31.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely above slideshow territory for an action RPG, indicating that this resolution and settings combination is not viable for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that the 6-core Ryzen 5 2600, with its 3.90 GHz boost clock, provides enough CPU headroom at 4K, as the bottleneck shifts entirely to the GPU's pixel processing capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1261 out of 1705 tested combinations places this system in the 26th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly three-quarters of tested combos outperform it in Greedfall. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component percentiles — the CPU sits at the 77th percentile and the GPU at the 68th percentile — suggesting that the combination does not synergize as well as the individual parts might indicate. The game's engine appears to favor more balanced or higher-end pairings, and the RX 5700 XT's RDNA 1.0 architecture, while capable, may not be optimally utilized by this title.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals provides context for its performance ceiling. The RX 5700 XT has an average benchmark score of 24731, sitting just 0.1% below the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763) and 0.6% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (24592). These are mobile and workstation parts, yet the desktop RX 5700 XT only marginally outperforms them in synthetic benchmarks, which explains why it cannot dominate at 4K in a demanding title like Greedfall. The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Core i5-1345U (19691, 0.4% higher) and Intel Core i5-11600KF (19740, 0.6% higher) — show that the Ryzen 5 2600's 19616 average benchmark score is competitive with much newer parts, indicating CPU performance is not the primary constraint in this pairing.

The rank data suggests that for Greedfall specifically, the combination of a 6-core/12-thread Zen+ CPU with a RDNA 1.0 GPU creates a system that performs adequately at mainstream resolutions but lacks the headroom for high-refresh 1440p or any meaningful 4K gaming. The 4K Ultra result of 31.2 FPS is particularly telling, as it falls below the 1261st-ranked combo's expected performance envelope.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Greedfall at 4K smoothly?

A: No. The best 4K result is 63.2 FPS at Low settings, which drops to 46.9 FPS at High and 31.2 FPS at Ultra. Only the Low preset approaches acceptable frame rates, and even that is marginal for an action RPG.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: 1080p is clearly the sweet spot. All four settings presets deliver above 70 FPS at 1080p, with Low reaching 150.2 FPS and High achieving 106.2 FPS, making it the only resolution where all presets remain comfortably playable.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600's average benchmark score of 19616 is within 0.7% of the Intel Core i7-10700F (19485) and 0.6% above the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19508), showing it remains competitive with newer processors despite its 2018 release.

Q: Is the GPU's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Greedfall?

A: The measured results suggest yes, as frame rates drop consistently with resolution scaling rather than showing sudden collapses that would indicate VRAM exhaustion. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth appears adequate for the game's demands.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between settings?

A: The largest gap is at 4K, where Ultra (31.2 FPS) is less than half of Low (63.2 FPS), a 32 FPS difference. At 1080p, the gap between Low (150.2 FPS) and Ultra (70.4 FPS) is 79.8 FPS, representing a 53.1% reduction.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1261 out of 1705 tested combos, placing it in the lower-mid tier. This underperforms the individual component percentiles (CPU at 77th, GPU at 68th percentile), suggesting the pairing is not optimally balanced for Greedfall.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system demonstrates its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings achieve 150.2 FPS, Medium reaches 118.3 FPS, High delivers 106.2 FPS, and Ultra manages 70.4 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 53.1% performance reduction, with each settings tier costing approximately 30-40 FPS. The High preset at 106.2 FPS is particularly noteworthy, as it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold while offering substantially better visual quality than Medium.

Moving to 1440p, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings still deliver a strong 103.9 FPS, but Medium drops to 81.8 FPS, High falls to 71.5 FPS, and Ultra reaches just 48.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 55.1 FPS, representing a 53% reduction. The High preset at 71.5 FPS remains playable, though it lacks the headroom for demanding scenes that might cause dips below 60 FPS.

At 4K, the system's limitations become apparent. Low settings produce 63.2 FPS, Medium reaches 50.1 FPS, High delivers 46.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 31.2 FPS. Only the Low preset achieves above 60 FPS, and even that is marginal. The difference between Medium (50.1 FPS) and High (46.9 FPS) is relatively small at 3.2 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor regardless of minor settings changes. The Ultra preset's 31.2 FPS is below acceptable playability for an action RPG, where combat responsiveness is critical.

GPU Role

The RX 5700 XT's specifications directly explain the measured performance patterns. With 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the GPU has substantial compute resources, but its 1605 MHz base and 1905 MHz boost clocks indicate a design that prioritizes efficiency over raw speed. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a constraint at 4K where texture and geometry demands increase exponentially.

The GPU's 68th percentile standing among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24731, places it firmly in the mid-range category. Its nearest rival comparisons show it performing within 0.9% of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (24519) and 0.3% below the Intel Arc A350M (24647), though these are not direct gaming equivalents. The 9.754 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 304.8 GTexel/s texture rate are the key metrics for Greedfall's rendering demands, and they explain why the card can handle 1080p Ultra at 70.4 FPS but falls to 31.2 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The memory configuration is particularly relevant for Greedfall's open-world environments. The 8 GB capacity is adequate for the game's textures at all settings, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling rather than sudden drops. However, the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where the GPU must fetch more texture data per frame. The 121.9 GPixel/s pixel rate also constrains performance at higher resolutions, as the GPU must fill more pixels per second.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 2600 provides a solid foundation for this gaming configuration, with 6 cores and 12 threads operating at a 3.40 GHz base and 3.90 GHz boost clock. The 16 MB shared L3 cache and 46.9 GB/s dual-channel memory bandwidth are adequate for feeding the GPU at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the high frame rates at those resolutions. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19616, shows it remains competitive despite being a 2018 release.

The CPU's benchmark results reveal its strengths and weaknesses. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and single-core score of 1579 indicate strong multi-threaded performance that benefits modern game engines, while the PassMark single-thread score of 2239 shows adequate per-core performance for game logic and physics. The nearest rival comparisons — within 0.7% of the Intel Core i7-10700F (19485) and 0.4% below the Intel Core i5-1345U (19691) — confirm that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this system.

At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes significantly, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The 4K Low result of 63.2 FPS versus the 1080p Low result of 150.2 FPS demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU cannot maintain higher frame rates as resolution increases. The 12 threads provide enough parallelism for Greedfall's AI and game systems, preventing CPU-related frame drops even at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience with this hardware combination, the data clearly points to 1080p as the optimal resolution. At 1080p High, the system delivers 106.2 FPS, which provides smooth gameplay while maintaining good visual quality. This represents the best balance between performance and fidelity, as the High preset typically includes the most impactful visual features without the performance penalty of Ultra settings. The 35.8 FPS gap between High and Ultra at 1080p (106.2 vs 70.4 FPS) shows that Ultra settings demand significantly more GPU resources for marginal visual improvements.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, 1080p Low achieves 150.2 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play or for users with high-refresh monitors. The Medium preset at 118.3 FPS offers a middle ground, providing better visual quality than Low while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS. At 1440p, the High preset at 71.5 FPS is the recommended choice, as it remains above 60 FPS while offering resolution benefits over 1080p. The 1440p Ultra result of 48.8 FPS falls below the ideal threshold for action gameplay and should be avoided.

At 4K, only the Low preset at 63.2 FPS is viable for gameplay, and even this is borderline. The Medium preset at 50.1 FPS and High at 46.9 FPS may be acceptable for slower-paced exploration but will struggle during combat sequences. The Ultra preset at 31.2 FPS is not recommended under any circumstances, as the frame rate is too low for responsive gameplay. For users with 4K displays, the data suggests either accepting Low settings or reducing the resolution to 1440p for a significantly better experience at High settings.