Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The data presents a compelling picture of how this mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU behaves in Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, yet shows surprising CPU headroom at lower resolutions. This combination ranks 199th out of 2938 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 7% of all pairings, which suggests excellent overall capability despite the CPU's more modest positioning in general benchmarks.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p with Low settings, the system delivers 325 FPS, but dropping to 1440p Low yields 228 FPS — a 30% reduction — and 4K Low produces 136 FPS, another 40% drop. This steep scaling curve at Low settings indicates the CPU is still feeding the GPU adequately, with the render resolution being the primary limiter.

At High settings, the scaling is more linear but still pronounced: 235 FPS at 1080p, 163 FPS at 1440p, and 97 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 31% mirrors the Low setting pattern, while the 1440p-to-4K drop of 40% suggests the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed as pixel count quadruples. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 150 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and just 62 FPS at 4K. This 59% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Ultra confirms that the RTX 5080's compute resources are the limiting factor at maximum quality.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max FPS data in the pack, offering additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 259 FPS with a minimum of 220 and maximum of 297. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 179 FPS with min/max of 152/206. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 107 FPS with min/max of 91/123. The min-to-max spread narrows from 77 FPS at 1080p to 54 FPS at 1440p and 32 FPS at 4K, indicating that lower resolutions amplify frame time variance — likely due to CPU submission overhead becoming relatively more significant when frames complete faster.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 199 out of 2938 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPU-GPU combos tested in Greedfall. This is a strong result, though not surprising given the RTX 5080's 87th percentile standing among all GPUs and the Ryzen 5 5500X3D's 85th percentile among all CPUs. The combo outperforms its component parts' individual positions, suggesting the pairing works synergistically in this particular game.

The CPU's nearest rivals help contextualize its contribution. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945 on average benchmark versus 37018 for the 5500X3D — a negligible 0.2% difference. The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 also sits 0.2% ahead, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 trails by 0.2% and the Intel Core i9-12900T trails by 0.3%. These tiny deltas indicate the 5500X3D is positioned in a tightly contested performance band where no single rival holds a meaningful advantage in general compute.

For the GPU, the RTX 5080's nearest rivals show more variation. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE leads by 2.2%, while the AMD Radeon 8060S trails by 0.6%, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 0.7%, and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 2.3%. The fact that a 12 GB mid-range card like the RX 6750 GRE comes within 0.7% of the RTX 5080 in average benchmark score is noteworthy, though Greedfall's actual performance may diverge from these synthetic averages.

GPU Role

The RTX 5080 brings substantial specifications to this game. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Greedfall's 2019-era textures and geometry. The GPU's 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for the high frame rates observed. The boost clock of 2617 MHz (base 2295 MHz) supports the rendering pipeline, while the 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability ensures no shader complexity in this title will strain the processor.

The memory clock runs at 1875 MHz with 30 Gbps effective speed, and the 16 GB capacity means VRAM limitations are unlikely to appear even at 4K Ultra. The measured data supports this: the 4K Ultra preset still achieves 62 FPS, which is playable, and the frame rate drops are consistent with compute limitations rather than memory capacity constraints. The GPU's 87th percentile standing among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 56083, confirms it is a top-tier part, even if its nearest rivals in synthetic tests include some unexpected entries.

In Greedfall specifically, the GPU's role becomes dominant at higher resolutions and quality settings. The transition from 1440p High (163 FPS) to 4K High (97 FPS) represents a 40% drop, closely matching the pixel count increase of 2.25x. This near-linear scaling indicates the GPU is the primary constraint at these settings, with the CPU providing enough headroom to avoid becoming a limiting factor.

FAQ

Q: Is this combination capable of 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K High settings, the system averages 97 FPS, and at 4K Medium it achieves 107 FPS. However, 4K Ultra drops to 62 FPS, which is still playable but noticeably lower. For smooth 4K gameplay, High settings appear to be the sweet spot.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500X3D compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The 5500X3D scores 37018 on average, which is 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and 0.3% above the Intel Core i9-12900T. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 trails by 0.2%. These differences are within noise, indicating all five CPUs perform essentially identically in general benchmarks.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between settings at the same resolution?

A: At 1080p, the gap from Low (325 FPS) to Ultra (150 FPS) is 175 FPS, representing a 54% reduction. At 1440p, the gap is 124 FPS (228 to 104), a 54% drop. At 4K, the gap is 74 FPS (136 to 62), a 55% reduction. The percentage drop is remarkably consistent across resolutions.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any resolution or setting?

A: The data suggests minimal CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 325 FPS, which is extremely high. The consistent ~55% performance reduction from Low to Ultra across all resolutions indicates the GPU is scaling predictably with quality settings, not being held back by CPU limitations.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 5080 scores 56083, which is 2.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (57367), but 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon 8060S (55757), 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698), and 2.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (54828).

Q: What frame rates can a user expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The system averages 179 FPS at 1440p Medium, with a minimum of 152 FPS and maximum of 206 FPS. This provides a very smooth experience with minimal frame time variance, as the min-to-max spread of 54 FPS is relatively narrow.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the High preset at 97 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra drops to 62 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced RPG exploration but risks dips during combat. Medium at 107 FPS provides a small performance boost over High but sacrifices visual fidelity for only 10 FPS — a poor trade. Low at 136 FPS is unnecessary given High's already strong performance.

At 1440p, High settings at 163 FPS are ideal, delivering fluid gameplay with substantial visual quality. Ultra at 104 FPS is also viable for users prioritizing image quality, as the frame rate remains well above 60 FPS. Medium at 179 FPS adds minimal benefit over High, and Low at 228 FPS is overkill for most displays, though competitive players might prefer the higher refresh rate headroom.

For 1080p, the situation is different. High settings at 235 FPS and Medium at 259 FPS both exceed typical 240 Hz display refresh rates. Ultra at 150 FPS remains smooth but represents a significant drop from High. Low at 325 FPS is only useful for extreme refresh rate monitors or esports-style play, which is uncommon for an Action RPG. Given the game's genre, the High preset at 1080p provides an excellent experience with minimal compromise.

The Medium preset's min/max data deserves attention. At 1080p Medium, the 220 FPS minimum ensures no drops below 200 FPS, while at 1440p Medium, the 152 FPS minimum still guarantees a high refresh rate experience. Only at 4K Medium does the minimum (91 FPS) approach the 60 FPS threshold, highlighting that 4K is the most demanding scenario for maintaining consistent frame delivery.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename) built on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.00 GHz boosts to 4.00 GHz, and it features a substantial 96 MB shared L3 cache — a hallmark of the X3D line. The 105 W TDP and Socket AM4 compatibility make it a straightforward upgrade path for existing platforms. Its memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is modest by modern standards but sufficient for this game.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a multithread score of 20363, a single-thread score of 2941, and a physics score of 2282. Its floating-point math score of 34511 and integer math score of 60033 indicate balanced compute capability. The 85th percentile standing among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37018, positions it as a solid mid-range performer. The nearest rivals all fall within 0.3% of its score, confirming this is a highly competitive segment.

For Greedfall, the CPU's role is to feed the RTX 5080 with draw calls and game logic updates. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 325 FPS suggests the CPU can sustain frame rates well above what most displays can show. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 150 FPS result indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor — if it were, we would expect diminishing returns as resolution drops. The consistent ~55% quality-setting scaling across all resolutions strongly implies GPU-bound performance at every configuration tested.

The 96 MB L3 cache is particularly interesting for game performance, as it can hold larger portions of the game's working set, reducing memory latency. While Greedfall's engine may not fully exploit this advantage, the cache size likely contributes to the CPU's ability to maintain high minimum frame rates, especially in the Medium preset data where 1080p shows a 220 FPS minimum.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides 12 measured configurations across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers: Low at 325 FPS average, Medium at 259 FPS (min 220, max 297), High at 235 FPS, and Ultra at 150 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent step-down, with the largest single drop occurring between High (235) and Ultra (150) — an 85 FPS reduction that represents a 36% performance cost for the quality increase.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low at 228 FPS, Medium at 179 FPS (min 152, max 206), High at 163 FPS, and Ultra at 104 FPS. The gap between Medium and High narrows to 16 FPS, while the High-to-Ultra drop remains substantial at 59 FPS. This suggests the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately impact performance at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the numbers are: Low at 136 FPS, Medium at 107 FPS (min 91, max 123), High at 97 FPS, and Ultra at 62 FPS. Notably, the Medium-to-High gap shrinks to just 10 FPS, while High-to-Ultra drops 35 FPS. This indicates that at 4K, the difference between Medium and High is minimal, making High the better choice for visual fidelity at nearly the same performance cost.

Comparing across resolutions for each setting reveals the GPU scaling efficiency. For Low, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is 97 FPS (30%), and 1440p-to-4K is 92 FPS (40%). For Medium, the drops are 80 FPS (31%) and 72 FPS (40%). For High, they are 72 FPS (31%) and 66 FPS (40%). For Ultra, they are 46 FPS (31%) and 42 FPS (40%). The consistent 31% and 40% drops across all settings confirm that Greedfall's resolution scaling is highly predictable, with pixel count being the dominant factor in frame rate determination.