Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 5 4600G + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The pairing of AMD's 6-core Ryzen 5 4600G with NVIDIA's flagship RTX 4090 creates an intriguing asymmetry in Greedfall, an Action RPG from 2019. The measured FPS data reveals a system that delivers exceptional frame rates across all resolutions, yet the scaling patterns expose a clear bottleneck dynamic. At 1080p, the combination produces 294 FPS on Low settings, while at 4K Ultra, it drops to 66 FPS — a 4.5x reduction in performance that tells a story about where the workload shifts between CPU and GPU. The RTX 4090, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, clearly dominates the visual processing, but the Ryzen 5 4600G's Zen 2 architecture with 8 MB of shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth becomes increasingly relevant as resolution decreases. This analysis examines the measured data to understand how this combination behaves across the full spectrum of settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern, but with some notable deviations that suggest CPU involvement at lower resolutions. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 250 at 1920x1080 to 174 at 2560x1440, then to 104 at 3840x2160. This represents a 30% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 40% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not perfectly linear — the 1440p to 4K drop is steeper, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary limiter at higher pixel counts.

However, the Low settings row tells a different story. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 294 FPS, which drops to 243 at 1440p and 145 at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p reduction is only 17%, suggesting that at 1080p Low, the CPU is likely holding back the RTX 4090. The Ryzen 5 4600G's single-thread performance, measured at 726 in 3dmark_single_thread and 1919 in cinebench_r23_singlecore, becomes the limiting factor when the GPU has less work to do. The 4K Low result of 145 FPS still represents a substantial 50% drop from 1440p, indicating that even at Low settings, the 4K pixel count begins to engage the GPU more fully.

The Medium settings row provides the most complete data, with min and max FPS values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 270 FPS with a min of 229 and max of 310. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 191 FPS (min 163, max 220), and at 4K Medium, it falls to 114 FPS (min 97, max 131). The min-to-max spread narrows as resolution increases — from 81 FPS at 1080p to 57 FPS at 1440p to 34 FPS at 4K — which suggests that frame time consistency improves when the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as CPU-related hitches become less impactful relative to the longer frame times.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling: 160 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 31% is nearly identical to the High settings drop, but the 1440p to 4K drop of 41% is slightly steeper. This pattern indicates that Ultra settings engage the RTX 4090's resources more heavily, with its 16,384 shading units and 512 TMUs working harder at each resolution step.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 294, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this pairing in Greedfall, likely limited by the CPU's single-thread performance rather than the GPU.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensures that VRAM capacity is never a limiting factor at 3840x2160. The 4K results range from 145 FPS on Low to 66 FPS on Ultra, indicating that GPU compute throughput, not memory capacity, determines performance at this resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 4600G a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data suggests yes, particularly at 1080p. The 1080p Low result of 294 FPS versus 1440p Low at 243 FPS shows only a 17% drop, whereas the GPU's raw capabilities would typically show a larger scaling gap. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.20 GHz boost clock appear to cap performance around 294 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for consistent frame times?

A: The Medium settings row provides the only min/max data. At 4K Medium, the min FPS is 97 and max is 131, a 34 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 57 FPS (163-220), and at 1080p Medium, it's 81 FPS (229-310). The 4K Medium setting offers the tightest frame time consistency.

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

A: This combination ranks 181st out of 3,703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations. This high ranking reflects the RTX 4090's dominance despite the mid-range CPU.

Q: Does the CPU's integrated graphics affect performance?

A: The Ryzen 5 4600G includes Radeon Vega 7 integrated graphics, but in this configuration with a discrete RTX 4090, the iGPU is not used for rendering. The CPU's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node are the relevant factors for gaming performance.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090's specifications paint a picture of overwhelming compute capability that is only partially utilized in Greedfall. With 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the GPU delivers 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores provide additional capabilities that Greedfall, as a 2019 title, likely does not fully exploit. The GPU's 2,235 MHz base clock and 2,520 MHz boost clock, combined with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, create a 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth that ensures data delivery is never a constraint.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU's scaling behavior across settings. At 4K, the progression from Low (145 FPS) to Medium (114 FPS) to High (104 FPS) to Ultra (66 FPS) demonstrates how each settings tier increases the GPU workload. The Ultra setting at 4K produces less than half the FPS of Low, indicating that the Ultra preset likely enables effects that heavily tax the GPU's pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s.

The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347, places it near the top of the performance hierarchy. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, 0.3% delta), and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896, -2.5% delta) — are all workstation-class GPUs, but none of these rivals appear in the Greedfall measured data. The RTX 4090's 5 nm process node and 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die represent the pinnacle of consumer GPU engineering, yet Greedfall's engine appears unable to fully saturate its capabilities at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality. At 4K, the Medium preset delivers 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 4K drops to 104 FPS, a 9% reduction from Medium, while Ultra falls to 66 FPS — a 42% reduction from Medium. Given that Medium provides the tightest frame time consistency (97-131 FPS range), it emerges as the optimal 4K choice.

At 1440p, the High preset at 174 FPS offers a substantial improvement over Medium's 191 FPS? Actually, the data shows Medium at 191 FPS and High at 174 FPS, meaning High is 9% slower than Medium. The Ultra preset at 111 FPS is 42% slower than Medium. For 1440p, Medium again provides the best balance, with its 163-220 FPS range ensuring smooth performance even in demanding scenes.

At 1080p, the situation changes. The Medium preset at 270 FPS (min 229, max 310) is only 8% slower than Low at 294 FPS, while High at 250 FPS is 7% slower than Medium. The Ultra preset at 160 FPS is 41% slower than Medium. Given that the CPU appears to limit performance around 294 FPS, the Medium preset at 1080p offers the best visual quality without sacrificing meaningful frame rates — the 24 FPS difference between Low and Medium is unlikely to be perceptible on most displays, while the visual upgrade is significant.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 294 FPS average, Medium produces 270 FPS (min 229, max 310), High produces 250 FPS, and Ultra produces 160 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 45% reduction in performance, with the largest single drop occurring between High (250 FPS) and Ultra (160 FPS), a 36% reduction. This suggests that the Ultra preset enables effects that disproportionately impact the GPU's rendering pipeline.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction from 1080p. Low settings deliver 243 FPS, Medium delivers 191 FPS (min 163, max 220), High delivers 174 FPS, and Ultra delivers 111 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 17% (Low) to 31% (High and Ultra), with Medium showing a 29% reduction. The 1440p Ultra result of 111 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combination can handle 1440p Ultra in Greedfall.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases significantly. Low settings produce 145 FPS, Medium produces 114 FPS (min 97, max 131), High produces 104 FPS, and Ultra produces 66 FPS. The 4K results show a 55% reduction from Low to Ultra, with the Medium to High drop being relatively modest at 9%. The Ultra setting at 4K, at 66 FPS, is the only configuration that approaches the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that 4K Ultra is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on Zen 2 architecture, plays a critical role in this system's performance profile. The CPU's 3.70 GHz base clock and 4.20 GHz boost clock, combined with 8 MB of shared L3 cache, provide adequate processing power for Greedfall's game logic and physics. The 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,507, places it in the mid-range tier, yet the measured FPS data suggests it becomes a limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores reveal its strengths and weaknesses. The 3dmark_single_thread score of 726 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 1,919 indicate modest single-thread performance, which is crucial for games that rely heavily on one or two threads. The multicore scores — 13,593 in cinebench_r23_multicore and 4,889 in 3dmark_max_threads — show that the 6-core/12-thread configuration can handle multithreaded workloads, but Greedfall's engine may not scale perfectly across all 12 threads.

The evidence for CPU bottlenecking appears in the 1080p results. The 1080p Low setting at 294 FPS is only 17% higher than 1440p Low at 243 FPS, whereas the GPU's pixel processing capability would suggest a larger gap if the GPU were the sole limiter. The 1080p Medium result of 270 FPS, which is 12% higher than 1440p Medium's 191 FPS, further supports this interpretation. The CPU's nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE (17,482, 0.1% delta), AMD Ryzen 3 8300GE (17,614, -0.6% delta), and Intel Core 7 150U (17,395, 0.6% delta) — all have similar average scores, indicating that the 4600G is positioned in a competitive mid-range segment.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 181st out of 3,703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the top 4.9% of all configurations. This ranking is remarkable given the CPU's mid-range positioning, and it underscores the RTX 4090's overwhelming contribution to gaming performance. The GPU's 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347, is the primary driver of this high combo ranking.

The ranking also reveals the asymmetry of this pairing. While the RTX 4090 is among the fastest GPUs ever produced, the Ryzen 5 4600G's 71st percentile CPU ranking suggests that many of the 3,522 combos ranked below this pairing likely feature more balanced CPU-GPU configurations. The fact that this combo still achieves a top-5% ranking indicates that Greedfall is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, allowing the RTX 4090 to compensate for the CPU's limitations.

The data suggests that this combo's ranking would improve at higher resolutions, where the GPU becomes the dominant factor. At 4K, the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensure that the GPU is fully utilized, while the CPU's role diminishes. Conversely, at 1080p, the CPU's single-thread limitations cap performance around 294 FPS, which may place this combo at a disadvantage compared to configurations with faster CPUs. The 181st ranking out of 3,703 combos represents a strong overall result, but the data implies that users seeking maximum 1080p performance might benefit from a more powerful CPU to complement the RTX 4090's capabilities.