Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 action RPG from Spiders, places the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT combo in a specific performance tier. The measured frame rates across resolutions and presets reveal a system that is capable of high refresh rates at 1440p but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K on the highest settings. This analysis breaks down the scaling behavior, competitive standing, and the optimal configuration for this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a predictable, yet steep, performance drop as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 183.7 FPS, which drops to 129 FPS on High and 85.5 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the average frame rate at High settings falls to 90.8 FPS, a 29.6% reduction from the 1080p High score. When pushing to 4K, the High preset yields just 56.8 FPS, which is a 56% drop from the 1080p High result.

This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The gap between 1080p and 1440p performance is significant, but the 4K results show the most pronounced decline. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate collapses to 35.5 FPS, making the game feel stuttery and unresponsive. The transition from 1440p Ultra (59.4 FPS) to 4K Ultra (35.5 FPS) represents a 40.2% loss, underscoring that the RX 6700 XT's 12 GB of memory and 192-bit bus are insufficient for the pixel throughput demanded by 4K with maximum detail.

The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck until the resolution drops to 1080p and settings are lowered. At 1080p Low, the 183.7 FPS figure is likely near the ceiling for the Ryzen 5 5500’s six cores and twelve threads in this title. However, at 1440p and above, the frame rate is dictated almost entirely by the GPU's rendering capacity. The 16 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth of the CPU are adequate to feed the GPU at these loads, as evidenced by the consistent scaling between High and Ultra presets at 1440p.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 917th out of 1705 tested combos for Greedfall. This places it in the 46th percentile of all possible configurations, meaning a majority of other tested systems deliver higher average frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects a mid-tier standing, not a top-tier one.

The GPU's individual percentile ranking is 77, which is higher than the combo's overall rank, suggesting that the CPU is holding the system back in some scenarios. The CPU's percentile ranking against all CPUs is 79, which is also respectable. The disconnect between the high individual component rankings and the lower combined rank indicates that the pairing is not perfectly optimized for this title. The average benchmark score for the CPU is 20875, placing it within 0.2% of the Intel Core i5-12600T and 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE, indicating that the processor is a solid mid-range performer.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 33721, which is 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A5000. These are close margins, showing that the RX 6700 XT is a well-positioned graphics card in the broader GPU landscape. However, when combined with the Ryzen 5 5500, the system does not achieve the same high ranking as its individual parts might suggest, pointing to a potential CPU limitation in Greedfall's engine at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 22 chip. Its 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are responsible for the raw pixel output, which is measured at 165.2 GPixel/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2581 MHz and game clock of 2424 MHz are relatively high, helping to maintain solid performance in less demanding scenes. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Greedfall, the GPU's memory configuration becomes a critical factor at 4K. The 12 GB capacity is sufficient for the game's assets, but the bandwidth is a limiting factor when rendering at 3840x2160. The drop from 73.6 FPS at 4K Low to 35.5 FPS at 4K Ultra demonstrates how the memory bus and compute units are overwhelmed by the combination of higher resolution and increased texture detail. The 13.21 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is adequate for 1440p, but the data shows it is not enough to maintain 60 FPS at 4K with High settings.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support is relevant, as Greedfall can utilize DX12 features. The measured results show that the card performs better at 1440p, where the 90.8 FPS average at High settings is a strong result. The 4K Ultra result of 35.5 FPS is the only unplayable score in the dataset, indicating that the card's architecture is not designed for 4K max settings in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear guide for optimizing the experience. At 4K, the only viable preset is Low, which yields an average of 73.6 FPS. This is playable but sacrifices most visual fidelity. The High preset at 4K drops to 56.8 FPS, which is borderline, but the Ultra preset is not viable at 35.5 FPS.

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo. The High preset at 1440p delivers 90.8 FPS, which is smooth and retains significant detail. The Medium preset at 101.7 FPS offers a slight frame rate boost, but the visual difference between Medium and High is often noticeable in an action RPG. Pushing to 1440p Ultra yields 59.4 FPS, which is just shy of 60 FPS and may be acceptable for some players who prioritize image quality over a high refresh rate.

At 1080p, the system is capable of high refresh rates. The High preset at 129 FPS is ideal for a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor. The Ultra preset at 85.5 FPS is also excellent, providing near-maximum settings without sacrificing smoothness. Given the data, the recommended configuration is 1440p with the High preset, as it provides a 90.8 FPS average, which is a 34% improvement over the 4K High result while maintaining a much higher level of detail than the 1080p Low setting.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Greedfall at 4K 60 FPS?

A: No. The data shows the best 4K result is 73.6 FPS on Low settings, but High settings drop to 56.8 FPS and Ultra falls to 35.5 FPS. The GPU cannot sustain 60 FPS at 4K with High or Ultra presets.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU pairing?

A: 1440p is the optimal resolution. The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 90.8 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a strong visual experience. Lower resolutions are CPU-bound, and higher resolutions stress the GPU too much.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 20875. This is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE and 0.2% lower than the Intel Core i5-12600T. It is 0.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 7J13, showing it is statistically tied with these processors.

Q: Is the RX 6700 XT a significant bottleneck at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 183.7 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit. The GPU is not the primary bottleneck at this resolution. However, at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate drops to 85.5 FPS, showing the GPU is still capable of handling high settings without issue.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset averages 101.7 FPS, while the High preset averages 90.8 FPS. This is a 10.9 FPS difference, or about a 12% performance gain from lowering the settings one step.

Q: How does the combo rank compared to all other tested systems?

A: It ranks 917th out of 1705 tested combos for Greedfall. This places it in the lower half of all configurations, despite the individual components having higher percentile rankings. This suggests the pairing is not the most efficient for this specific game.