Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. The benchmark data reveals a system capable of extreme frame rates, but the performance scaling across settings and resolutions indicates a complex relationship between the CPU and GPU. This analysis explores the measured FPS data to determine how this specific hardware combination handles the game.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in the benchmark database for Greedfall?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 146th out of 2938 tested combos. This places it in the top 5% of all systems tested for this game, indicating a very high-performing configuration.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D has an average benchmark score of 37018, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450. It is also 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i9-12900T. These are all extremely close scores, showing the CPU is in a highly competitive performance tier.

Q: Does the GPU have a significant performance lead over its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score is 60347. This is 0% different from the Intel Arc Pro A60, 0.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, 2.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, and 2.9% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO V710. The performance is tightly clustered with these rivals, showing it is a top-tier GPU in its class.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Greedfall?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 325 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset. This is followed closely by 276 FPS at the same resolution with Medium settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded?

A: The lowest average frame rate recorded is 66 FPS at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset. This is the only instance where the average FPS drops below 100, showing the system is still capable of a playable experience at 4K with maximum settings.

Q: Are there any frame time measurements (min/max FPS) available for all settings?

A: No, the data only includes min and max FPS values for the Medium settings preset across all three resolutions. For High, Low, and Ultra presets, only the average FPS is provided.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a powerhouse that dominates the performance profile in this system. Its specs, including 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, provide a massive 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is a critical factor in Greedfall, a game with detailed environments and textures, as it allows the GPU to rapidly stream assets without becoming a bottleneck. The 16384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units provide immense raw compute power, reflected in its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance.

The GPU's core clock speeds, with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, are high, but the sheer number of processing units is what truly sets it apart. This architecture is why the GPU can achieve such high frame rates even at 4K resolution. The data supports this, showing a 104 FPS average at 3840x2160 on High settings. This is a demanding resolution and settings combination, and the GPU handles it with ease, suggesting that the limiting factor at this point is not the GPU's ability to render frames, but perhaps the CPU's ability to feed it draw calls.

However, the GPU's role changes depending on the settings preset. When comparing the 4K results, the jump from Ultra (66 FPS) to High (104 FPS) is a massive 38 FPS increase, while the jump from High to Medium (114 FPS) is a smaller 10 FPS increase. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces a significant rendering load, likely through effects like shadows and post-processing, that taxes the GPU heavily. The RTX 4090's architecture is clearly capable of brute-forcing through High settings, but the Ultra preset's specific features present a more significant challenge, leading to a much lower frame rate.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, plays a crucial supporting role. Its base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.00 GHz are moderate, but its key feature is the large 96 MB shared L3 cache. This large cache is particularly beneficial in games, as it allows more of the game's working set to be stored on the CPU, reducing the need to access slower system memory.

In this test, the CPU's influence is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 325 FPS. At this point, the GPU has less work to do per frame, so the CPU's ability to process game logic and issue draw calls becomes the primary factor. The high FPS indicates that the 5500X3D is a very capable gaming CPU, but the data suggests it is the limiting factor. The fact that the 1440p Low setting (243 FPS) is significantly lower than the 1080p Low setting (325 FPS) shows that even at these high frame rates, the GPU is still scaling with resolution, which implies the CPU can keep up but the GPU is still the main driver of performance changes.

The CPU's general benchmark scores, such as 60033 in integer math and 34511 in floating point math, indicate strong computational throughput. Its 85th percentile ranking against all CPUs confirms it is a high-end processor. Yet, when paired with the RTX 4090, the system's performance ceiling at lower resolutions is likely bounded by the CPU's single-thread performance, which is reflected in its Passmark single-thread score of 2941. This is not a weakness, but rather a characteristic of pairing a top-tier GPU with a strong, but not the absolute top-tier, CPU.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the user's display and preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate. The data shows a clear pattern. At 1920x1080, all settings are playable, but the High preset at 250 FPS is the sweet spot for a high-refresh-rate monitor, offering a massive jump in visual quality over Low (325 FPS) while still maintaining an extremely high frame rate. The Ultra preset at 160 FPS is also excellent, but the 90 FPS drop from High suggests it's more demanding than the visual improvement might justify for some.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 174 FPS is the recommended choice for a smooth and visually rich experience. It provides a significant improvement over Medium (191 FPS) in terms of visual quality, but the frame rate is still high enough for most displays. The Ultra preset at 111 FPS is playable but represents a considerable 63 FPS drop from High, making High the better balance. The 4K results show that High settings at 104 FPS is the clear winner. The Ultra preset at 66 FPS is the only setting that dips below 100 FPS, and while playable, it may not be ideal for fast-paced action.

In summary, the High preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. It consistently delivers high frame rates that are a significant step above Medium and Low, while avoiding the disproportionate performance cost of the Ultra preset. For users with 1080p or 1440p high-refresh monitors, the High preset will likely maximize the system's potential. For 4K users, High is the only preset that guarantees a triple-digit frame rate average, making it the definitive choice for a smooth experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 146 out of 2938 tested combinations places it in the top 5% of all systems benchmarked for Greedfall. This is a remarkable achievement and shows that this pairing of the Ryzen 5 5500X3D and RTX 4090 is among the most powerful configurations available for this game. The ranking confirms the raw power of the RTX 4090, which is the primary driver of the high frame rates, supported by a very capable CPU.

This high rank is consistent with the measured FPS data. The system's ability to maintain an average of 250 FPS at 1080p High and 174 FPS at 1440p High puts it in an elite class. The fact that it can still push 104 FPS at 4K High further solidifies its position. While the CPU is not the absolute fastest on the market, its performance is more than sufficient to support the GPU in this title, ensuring that the combo doesn't fall behind other high-end systems. The rank of 146th, rather than a top-10 position, suggests that there are still a handful of other CPU+GPU pairings that can achieve even higher frame rates, likely with more powerful CPUs that can push the limits at 1080p further.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The provided data gives a comprehensive look at the system's performance across a matrix of resolutions and settings.

• 1920x1080: At this resolution, the system is heavily CPU-bound at lower settings. The Low preset yields an average of 325 FPS. Moving to Medium, the average drops to 276 FPS, with a minimum of 234 and maximum of 317 FPS. The High preset delivers 250 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 160 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 165 FPS difference, highlighting the significant impact of graphical settings at this resolution.

• 2560x1440: The performance scales down as expected. The Low preset averages 243 FPS, a substantial drop from the 1080p result, indicating the GPU is now doing more work. The Medium preset averages 191 FPS, with a minimum of 163 and a maximum of 220 FPS. The High preset averages 174 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 111 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 132 FPS.

• 3840x2160: This is where the GPU is fully utilized. The Low preset averages 145 FPS, which is still very high. The Medium preset averages 114 FPS, with a minimum of 97 and a maximum of 131 FPS. The High preset averages 104 FPS, making it the most demanding playable setting. The Ultra preset averages 66 FPS, showing a massive 79 FPS drop from the High preset. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 79 FPS difference, which is much smaller than at 1080p, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is not linear and reveals the system's bottleneck. At the High settings preset, the average FPS drops from 250 at 1080p to 174 at 1440p and then to 104 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 76 FPS (a 30% decrease), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 70 FPS (a 40% decrease). This pattern suggests that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more heavily utilized, and the performance scales with the number of pixels rendered.

At the Low settings preset, the drop is even more dramatic. The average FPS goes from 325 at 1080p to 243 at 1440p (an 82 FPS drop) and then to 145 at 4K (a 98 FPS drop). The percentage decrease from 1080p to 1440p is 25%, and from 1440p to 4K is 40%. The fact that the FPS drops so significantly between 1080p and 1440p, even on Low settings, indicates that the CPU is no longer the primary bottleneck at 1440p. The GPU's workload is increasing rapidly with resolution, and its performance is now the dominant factor.

The data implies that at 1080p, especially on lower settings, the system is partially limited by the CPU's single-thread performance. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D cannot feed frames to the RTX 4090 fast enough to reach its maximum potential. However, as the resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the limiting component. The large L3 cache of the CPU ensures it can keep up with the demands of the game world, but the raw rendering power of the GPU is what ultimately determines the frame rate at higher resolutions. This is a classic sign of a balanced, but not perfectly matched, system where a top-tier GPU is paired with a strong mid-to-high-end CPU.