Greedfall

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Radeon RX 5700 XT pairing delivers a playable experience in Greedfall, but the data reveals a clear pattern: this is a GPU-bound combination at higher resolutions, with the processor holding its own even at lower settings. The measured frames per second (FPS) across resolutions and presets demonstrate where the bottleneck shifts, and the results are consistent with the hardware's specifications.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and telling. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 107.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 72.8 FPS at 2560x1440, then plunges to 45.5 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 32% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and another 37% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, indicating that the GPU's rendering workload grows faster than the pixel count suggests, which is typical for an action RPG with dense geometry and effects.

Looking at Low settings, the pattern shifts. The 1080p result of 150.8 FPS drops to 102.7 FPS at 1440p and 62.5 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and High at 1080p is 43.5 FPS (150.8 vs 107.3), but at 4K that gap narrows to just 17 FPS (62.5 vs 45.5). This compression at higher resolutions is the signature of GPU limitation. When the pixel count rises, the RX 5700 XT's compute units become the limiting factor, regardless of how much the settings are reduced.

At 1080p, the Ryzen 5 3600's six cores and twelve threads are sufficient to feed the GPU. The difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is 30.4 FPS (150.8 vs 120.4), and between Medium and High it is another 13.1 FPS (120.4 vs 107.3). The CPU can keep up with the GPU's demands at these lower resolutions. The Ultra preset, however, causes a dramatic falloff at every resolution, with 1080p Ultra hitting 71.1 FPS and 4K Ultra collapsing to 25.7 FPS. This preset appears to introduce effects that disproportionately tax the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory or its 256-bit bus.

The data suggests that for this specific combo, 1440p is the practical ceiling for smooth gameplay at High settings, while 1080p allows for higher refresh rates. The 4K numbers, particularly the 25.7 FPS at Ultra, indicate that the RX 5700 XT is simply out of its depth at that resolution for a game like Greedfall, with its open-world environments and real-time lighting. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High (72.8 to 45.5 FPS) confirms that the GPU is the dominant constraint, as the CPU's headroom at lower resolutions becomes irrelevant when the pixel throughput doubles.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings for this CPU and GPU combo?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 107.3 frames per second, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 3600 bottleneck the RX 5700 XT in Greedfall?

A: The data shows that at 1080p, the FPS scales significantly with settings (from 150.8 FPS at Low to 71.1 FPS at Ultra), indicating the GPU is the primary limiter. The CPU's 3,800 million transistors on a 7 nm process, with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, appears sufficient to avoid bottlenecking until the GPU is fully saturated.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a 60+ FPS average?

A: At 1440p with High settings, the combo achieves 72.8 FPS, and at 1080p with Medium settings it reaches 120.4 FPS. Both are above 60 FPS. The 4K High result of 45.5 FPS falls short of the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the Ultra preset affect performance compared to High?

A: The Ultra preset causes a significant performance penalty. At 1080p, the drop from High to Ultra is 36.2 FPS (107.3 to 71.1), and at 1440p the drop is 28 FPS (72.8 to 44.8). The 4K Ultra result of 25.7 FPS is the lowest recorded in the dataset.

Q: Is the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for Greedfall at high resolutions?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate for 1440p, as the FPS remains playable. However, the 4K Ultra result of 25.7 FPS suggests that at 4K, the memory capacity or bandwidth may be a limiting factor, though the GPU's compute performance (9.754 TFLOPS) is also a constraint.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Greedfall?

A: The combo ranks 1291 out of 1705 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle range. This ranking reflects the hardware's age and mid-range positioning in the current market.

Settings Recommendations

For this Ryzen 5 3600 and RX 5700 XT combination, the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The measured 72.8 FPS average at 2560x1440 with High settings is well above the playability threshold and provides a significant visual upgrade over the Low preset, which reaches 102.7 FPS but likely sacrifices too much visual fidelity for an action RPG focused on atmosphere and detail.

At 1080p, the Medium preset is the sweet spot. The 120.4 FPS average is smooth for fast-paced combat, and the jump from Low to Medium is only 30.4 FPS, meaning the GPU has headroom. Pushing to High at 1080p yields 107.3 FPS, which is still excellent, but the Medium preset may allow for higher refresh rates on a 144 Hz monitor. The Ultra preset should be avoided at all resolutions for this combo. The 71.1 FPS at 1080p Ultra is acceptable, but the steep drop to 44.8 FPS at 1440p and 25.7 FPS at 4K makes it impractical for consistent play.

For 4K, the data suggests that even the Low preset (62.5 FPS) is the only viable option, and it may still be marginal in demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 4K (50 FPS) and High (45.5 FPS) both fall below 60 FPS, indicating that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming in Greedfall. The best experience is clearly at 1440p High, where the GPU's 2560 shading units and 160 texture mapping units are fully utilized without being overwhelmed.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1291 out of 1705 tested combinations places this hardware in the 24th percentile for Greedfall performance. This is a modest result, reflecting the mid-range positioning of both components. The Ryzen 5 3600's standalone percentile is 76th among all CPUs, and the RX 5700 XT's is 68th among all GPUs, but their combined performance in this specific game is less impressive due to the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks show how close it is to other processors. The Intel Core i5-11400 has an average score of 18150, a mere 0.1% higher than the Ryzen 5 3600's 18129. The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS scores 18101, which is 0.2% lower. These negligible deltas indicate that the Ryzen 5 3600 is still competitive in CPU-bound scenarios, but Greedfall's performance is not CPU-limited for this combo. The GPU's nearest rivals similarly show a tight cluster: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile scores 24763 (0.1% higher than the RX 5700 XT's 24731), and the Intel Arc A350M scores 24647 (0.3% lower). This suggests that the RX 5700 XT is performing in line with its synthetic expectations.

The rank of 1291 indicates that many other combos achieve higher frame rates, likely due to more powerful GPUs. For a combo with a CPU that ranks in the 76th percentile, the low overall combo rank is a clear signal that the GPU is the limiting factor in Greedfall. The 1705 combos tested include many with newer or higher-tier graphics cards, and the RX 5700 XT's end-of-life production status and RDNA 1.0 architecture place it behind more recent offerings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT plays the dominant role in determining Greedfall's performance for this combo. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is sufficient for 1440p but becomes strained at 4K. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) is paired with a boost clock of 1905 MHz and a game clock of 1755 MHz on the 7 nm Navi 10 chip. These clocks translate to a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s, which are the raw throughput figures that determine how quickly the GPU can fill frames.

The FP32 performance of 9.754 TFLOPS is the compute ceiling, and the measured frame rates align with this. At 1440p High, the 72.8 FPS result indicates the GPU is doing substantial work without being fully saturated, but the 4K Ultra result of 25.7 FPS shows the compute units are overwhelmed. The GPU's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are fixed resources, and Greedfall's open-world rendering demands appear to scale aggressively with resolution.

The RX 5700 XT's DirectX 12 support (12_1) is relevant, as Greedfall can leverage modern APIs. The Vulkan 1.4 support also provides options for the engine. The GPU's TDP of 225 W and dual-slot design suggest it runs hot, but the benchmark data does not include thermals. The 8 GB VRAM is a critical factor at 4K, where the Ultra preset may exceed the memory capacity or bandwidth, causing the severe FPS drop. The GPU's average benchmark score of 24731 and 68th percentile ranking confirm it is a competent mid-range card, but for Greedfall, its role is to be the primary bottleneck at resolutions above 1080p. The data shows that as resolution increases, the GPU's limitations become more pronounced, while the CPU's performance remains relatively constant.