Greedfall

Greedfall, an Action RPG released on 2019-09-09, presents an interesting scaling profile when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. The measured data shows a combination that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but reveals significant CPU headroom at 1080p, where frame rates climb to levels that suggest the processor is the limiting factor. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, settings recommendations, and the underlying hardware dynamics based strictly on the measured FPS and component benchmarks.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is substantial, but the pattern reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 155.7 FPS at 1080p to 105.9 FPS at 1440p, and then further to 62.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 59.9% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the primary constraint as pixel count increases. The RTX 5080, with its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, is clearly being pushed hard at 4K Ultra.

Looking at Low settings, the scaling is even more dramatic. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 335.2 FPS, but this drops to 235.9 FPS at 1440p and 141.7 FPS at 4K. The 57.7% drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is notable because it suggests that even with reduced graphical load, the GPU is still the limiting factor. However, the absolute numbers at 1080p Low are so high that the CPU’s role becomes more apparent.

The Medium settings row shows a similar pattern: 264.5 FPS at 1080p, 186.6 FPS at 1440p, and 107.8 FPS at 4K. The High settings row yields 242.7 FPS at 1080p, 168.9 FPS at 1440p, and 100.8 FPS at 4K. Across all settings, the 1080p to 1440p transition typically costs about 30% of the frame rate, while the 1440p to 4K transition costs another 35-40%. This consistent scaling indicates that the RTX 5080 is the dominant factor in determining performance at every resolution tested.

What is particularly telling is the gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap is 179.5 FPS (335.2 vs 155.7), while at 4K, the gap narrows to 79.4 FPS (141.7 vs 62.3). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions reinforces that the GPU is the bottleneck — when the GPU is fully saturated at 4K, changing settings has less relative impact because the hardware is already working at its limit.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 4K gaming, the Ultra preset delivers 62.3 FPS, which is playable but may feel constrained for fast-paced action. Dropping to High at 4K yields 100.8 FPS, a 61.8% improvement over Ultra, while Medium provides 107.8 FPS and Low provides 141.7 FPS. For a 4K display, High settings appear to be the sweet spot, offering a substantial frame rate boost over Ultra without the visual compromises of Medium or Low.

At 1440p, the situation is more flexible. Ultra delivers 105.9 FPS, which is already smooth for most displays. High settings push this to 168.9 FPS, and Medium to 186.6 FPS. Given that the difference between Medium and High is only 17.7 FPS at 1440p, while the visual quality difference is typically more pronounced, High settings are recommended for 1440p. The 235.9 FPS at Low is excessive for most 1440p monitors and would only be relevant for competitive play at very high refresh rates.

For 1080p, the data shows that Ultra at 155.7 FPS is already excellent, and High at 242.7 FPS is more than sufficient for any 1080p display. The 335.2 FPS at Low is a theoretical maximum that exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all 1080p monitors. The recommendation for 1080p is to use Ultra or High settings, as the frame rates are already far above the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the additional visual fidelity from higher presets is worth the minor frame rate cost.

The measured data shows no min or max FPS values, so the analysis is based solely on averages. This means the recommendations assume consistent frame delivery, which the high average FPS figures suggest is likely the case.

FAQ

Q: Does the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 bottleneck the RTX 5080 in Greedfall?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 335.2 FPS, which strongly suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at that settings/resolution combination. At 4K Ultra, the 62.3 FPS result indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU at higher resolutions but cap performance at lower graphical loads.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: High settings at 4K deliver 100.8 FPS, which is a 61.8% improvement over Ultra’s 62.3 FPS. Medium settings provide 107.8 FPS, which is only 7 FPS more than High. High is the recommended preset for 4K, as it offers the best balance between visual quality and frame rate.

Q: How does the RTX 5080’s performance compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The RTX 5080’s average benchmark score is 59188, placing it 1.6% ahead of the Intel Arc A570M and 2.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A580. It trails the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9%. These small deltas indicate that the RTX 5080 is positioned closely to these competitors in raw compute, though the measured FPS in Greedfall is specific to this game.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 5600’s single-thread performance adequate for this game?

A: The CPU’s 3dmark single-thread score is 882, and its cinebench R23 single-core score is 2584. These scores, combined with the 1080p Low result of 335.2 FPS, indicate that single-thread performance is more than adequate for Greedfall’s engine, which does not appear to be heavily single-thread dependent.

Q: What frame rate can be expected at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average FPS for 1440p Medium is 186.6 FPS. This is 76.2% higher than the 4K Medium result of 107.8 FPS, showing that 1440p is a much less demanding resolution for the RTX 5080.

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

A: The combo ranks 71st out of 1705 tested combinations, placing it in the top 4.2% of all combos. This high ranking is driven by the strong performance of both the RTX 5080 and the Ryzen 5 5600 in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for this combo is as follows, with all values representing average FPS:

• 1920x1080: Low 335.2, Medium 264.5, High 242.7, Ultra 155.7
• 2560x1440: Low 235.9, Medium 186.6, High 168.9, Ultra 105.9
• 3840x2160: Low 141.7, Medium 107.8, High 100.8, Ultra 62.3

At 1080p, the progression from Low to Ultra shows a clear pattern: Medium is 21.1% slower than Low, High is 8.2% slower than Medium, and Ultra is 35.8% slower than High. The largest single drop occurs between High and Ultra, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces a significant graphical load.

At 1440p, the same progression shows Medium 20.9% slower than Low, High 9.5% slower than Medium, and Ultra 37.3% slower than High. The High-to-Ultra drop is again the most significant, suggesting that Ultra settings at 1440p impose a similar relative cost as at 1080p.

At 4K, the pattern changes slightly: Medium is 23.9% slower than Low, High is 6.5% slower than Medium, and Ultra is 38.2% slower than High. The Medium-to-High gap narrows at 4K, while the High-to-Ultra gap widens, indicating that the Ultra preset is particularly demanding at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 71st out of 1705 tested combinations for Greedfall. This places it in the top 4.2% of all combos, which is a strong result given the hardware pairing. The rank is likely driven by the RTX 5080’s high-end performance, as the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus score is 89, meaning it outperforms 89% of all GPUs in the benchmark database.

The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus is 79, indicating it outperforms 79% of all CPUs. While the CPU is not the top performer, it is clearly sufficient for this game when paired with the RTX 5080. The combo rank of 71 suggests that there are 70 other combinations that perform better in Greedfall, likely featuring more powerful CPUs or GPUs, but this pairing remains highly competitive.

The RTX 5080’s nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark are the Intel Arc A570M (1.6% slower), Intel Arc Pro A60 (1.9% faster), Intel Arc A580 (2.5% slower), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (2.6% slower). These small deltas indicate that the RTX 5080 is tightly clustered with these GPUs in synthetic benchmarks, but the measured FPS in Greedfall shows the RTX 5080 delivering high frame rates that align with its 89th percentile ranking.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU’s cache configuration includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 18309 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2584 in single-core, with a 3dmark max-threads score of 5659.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the combo achieves 335.2 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the CPU can drive the GPU to its limits at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases. The 4K Ultra result of 62.3 FPS is likely constrained by the GPU, as the RTX 5080’s 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 performance is being fully utilized at that resolution and settings.

The Ryzen 5 5600’s 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Greedfall’s threading model, which does not appear to scale beyond a handful of cores based on the measured results. The CPU’s nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (0.6% slower), AMD EPYC 9554P (0.6% faster), AMD EPYC 9534 (0.6% faster), and Intel Core i7-11700F (0.9% faster). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the Ryzen 5 5600 is competitively positioned among its peers.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 with a dual-channel bus and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for this game, as the measured FPS does not show any memory-related bottlenecks. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the RTX 5080, which uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface but operates at Gen 4 speeds without issue in this configuration.