Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting benchmark scenario when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. This combination ranks 147th out of 3703 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations. The data suggests a system with substantial headroom, where the GPU often operates well below its potential at lower resolutions, shifting the bottleneck to the CPU. This analysis explores the measured performance across resolutions and settings to understand where this combo excels and where its limits lie.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 147 out of 3703 tested combinations is a strong indicator of top-tier performance for Greedfall. This places it in the 96th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of configurations. The ranking is a composite of both the CPU and GPU’s capabilities, but the data suggests that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of this high placement.

Looking at the individual components, the RTX 4090 sits at the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Arc Pro A60, which scores 60326 (a 0% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, which scores 61896 (a -2.5% delta). This shows the RTX 4090 is firmly at the top of the GPU hierarchy, with only a few professional workstation cards even coming close. The Ryzen 5 7600X, by contrast, is in the 79th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 27636. Its closest competitors are the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5-12600K, both scoring 27578 (a 0.2% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800, scoring 27535 (a 0.4% delta). This indicates the CPU is a solid mid-to-high-range performer, but not in the same league as the GPU.

The disparity in percentile rankings (88 for GPU vs. 79 for CPU) is telling. In a game like Greedfall, which is not known for extreme CPU demands, the GPU is clearly the dominant component. The combo’s overall rank of 147 suggests that while the CPU is capable, it is the RTX 4090 that propels this system into the top tier, preventing the combo from being held back by a lesser graphics card.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of how the game responds to different quality presets. At 4K, the jump from High to Ultra is substantial, with average FPS dropping from 104 to 66. This 38 FPS drop represents a significant performance cost for the Ultra preset. The data indicates that High is the sweet spot for a 4K experience, as it maintains a playable average above 100 FPS while still delivering a high level of visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the story is similar. The High preset yields 174 FPS, while Ultra drops to 111 FPS. While both are playable, High offers a much smoother experience, especially for players with high-refresh-rate monitors. Moving to 1080p, the High preset achieves 250 FPS, and even Ultra manages 160 FPS. Here, the system is so powerful that even the most demanding preset remains highly playable. However, for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate, the High preset consistently provides the most headroom across all resolutions.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with 114 FPS at 4K, 191 FPS at 1440p, and 276 FPS at 1080p. The data shows that the performance drop from Medium to High is less severe than from High to Ultra. For example, at 4K, the drop from Medium (114 FPS) to High (104 FPS) is only 10 FPS, while the drop from High (104 FPS) to Ultra (66 FPS) is 38 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces settings that are disproportionately expensive for the visual gain, making High the recommended preset for this combo in Greedfall.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a classic pattern of GPU and CPU limitations. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound. The Low preset achieves 351 FPS, but High only manages 250 FPS, a 101 FPS difference. This indicates that the CPU is struggling to feed the GPU with enough frames at higher settings, as the GPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution.

Moving to 1440p, the GPU begins to take on more load. The Low preset drops to 243 FPS, and High to 174 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a roughly 30% reduction in FPS across all settings, which is consistent with a GPU that is becoming more of a bottleneck. At 4K, the GPU is fully saturated. The Low preset yields 145 FPS, and High drops to 104 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a further 40% reduction in FPS, again pointing to the GPU as the primary constraint.

This data suggests that at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 7600X is the limiting component, especially at lower settings where the GPU has more headroom. As resolution increases, the RTX 4090 takes over as the bottleneck. The fact that the FPS does not scale linearly with pixel count (e.g., 1080p to 4K is a 4x pixel increase, but FPS does not drop by 4x) confirms that the CPU is holding back performance at lower resolutions, while the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at this combo’s performance. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional frame rates: 351 FPS on Low, 276 FPS on Medium (with a min of 234 and max of 317), 250 FPS on High, and 160 FPS on Ultra. The wide gap between Low and Ultra (191 FPS) highlights the CPU’s role as a bottleneck, as the GPU is capable of far more than the CPU can deliver at these settings.

At 2560x1440, the system remains very fast: 243 FPS on Low, 191 FPS on Medium (min 163, max 220), 174 FPS on High, and 111 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 132 FPS, which is less than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is becoming more involved. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 163 still ensures a smooth experience, even in demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the system finally shows strain: 145 FPS on Low, 114 FPS on Medium (min 97, max 131), 104 FPS on High, and 66 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 79 FPS, confirming that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck. The Ultra preset’s 66 FPS average is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays, while High at 104 FPS provides a much better balance.

The data also shows that the Medium preset consistently provides a significant boost over Low, with a 30-40% increase in FPS across all resolutions. This suggests that the Low preset is not well-optimized for this hardware, leaving performance on the table.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the undisputed star of this combo, and its specifications explain why it dominates Greedfall. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, it offers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for Greedfall’s textures and assets, even at 4K with High settings. The data confirms this, as the GPU maintains 104 FPS at 4K High, a very strong result.

The GPU’s clock speeds are also notable: a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz. These high clocks, combined with 16,384 shading units and 512 TMUs, deliver a raw compute throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS FP32. This explains why the RTX 4090 is able to push such high frame rates at demanding resolutions. The GPU’s performance in the database is stellar, with a Passmark G3D score of 38194, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs.

However, the data reveals a nuance: at 1080p, the GPU is often not the limiting factor. The fact that Low preset at 1080p yields 351 FPS, while High yields 250 FPS, suggests the GPU is being underutilized due to CPU constraints. This is not a flaw of the GPU, but rather a sign that the Ryzen 5 7600X cannot keep up with the RTX 4090’s immense frame generation capability at lower resolutions. At 4K, the GPU is fully utilized, and its performance scales as expected.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo overkill for Greedfall at 1080p?

A: Yes. The data shows the system achieves 351 FPS on Low and 250 FPS on High at 1080p. This far exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors, indicating the CPU is the bottleneck, not the GPU.

Q: What is the best preset for a 4K experience?

A: The High preset is recommended. It delivers an average of 104 FPS at 4K, while the Ultra preset drops to 66 FPS. The 38 FPS difference is a significant cost for the visual upgrade.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In the database, the RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 60347. Its closest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, scores 60326 (a 0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896 (a -2.5% delta). The RTX 4090 is effectively at parity with these cards.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 7600X bottleneck the RTX 4090?

A: Yes, but only at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the FPS difference between Low (351) and High (250) is 101 FPS, indicating a CPU bottleneck. At 4K, the gap narrows to 41 FPS, showing the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever worth using with this combo?

A: At 1440p, Ultra yields 111 FPS, which is still very playable. At 4K, Ultra drops to 66 FPS, which is borderline. The data suggests High is a better balance of quality and performance across all resolutions.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4090 have, and is it enough?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory. This is more than enough for Greedfall, as the game’s requirements are well below this capacity, even at 4K with High settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, plays a crucial, yet secondary, role in this combo. Its base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz are high, which helps in single-threaded workloads. The CPU’s benchmark scores are solid, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15236 and a single-core score of 1965. It also has a Geekbench multicore score of 13858 and a single-core score of 2603.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s performance is most evident at 1080p. The data shows that the system is CPU-bound at this resolution, as evidenced by the significant FPS drop from Low (351) to High (250). This is a 29% reduction, which is not proportional to the increase in graphical quality. This indicates that the CPU is unable to process the game’s logic and draw calls fast enough to keep the RTX 4090 fully fed.

The CPU’s 32 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory (with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s) are adequate for Greedfall’s demands. The CPU’s percentile rank of 79 among all CPUs shows it is a strong performer, but its nearest rivals (AMD Ryzen 7 5700X and Intel Core i5-12600K) are nearly identical in average score, with deltas of 0.2%. This suggests that for Greedfall, the CPU is not a differentiating factor; any of these CPUs would yield similar results.

The data implies that while the Ryzen 5 7600X is a capable processor, it is not the reason this combo ranks so highly. The RTX 4090 is the clear driver of performance. At higher resolutions, the CPU’s role diminishes, and the GPU takes over. This is a classic example of a high-end GPU being paired with a mid-range CPU, where the CPU is sufficient but not exceptional, and the GPU is the star of the show.