Greedfall

Greedfall on the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT presents a study in balance, where a 6-core Zen 4 processor meets an RDNA 2 graphics card with 8 GB of VRAM. The measured frame rates reveal a combo that is capable at mainstream resolutions but quickly saturates at higher fidelity settings, making the choice of preset more impactful than the choice of resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gameplay with this combo?

A: The data shows that the Low preset produces the highest average frame rate at 1920x1080, hitting 150.2 FPS. However, for a better visual experience, the High preset still delivers a very playable 111.6 FPS, which is a substantial increase over the Ultra preset's 67.1 FPS.

Q: How big is the performance gap between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: The drop is significant. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 77.9 FPS, but moving to Ultra reduces the average frame rate to 47.9 FPS. That is a 30 FPS loss, which is a 38.5% reduction in performance for the highest visual quality.

Q: Is this combination able to handle 4K gaming?

A: It depends heavily on the settings. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of only 28.1 FPS, which is not a smooth experience. The Low preset recovers to a playable 59.6 FPS, indicating that 4K is only viable with reduced graphics settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 8400F's overall performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 25064, which places it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs. It is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, which scores 25057, showing a 0% deltaPct. It also performs within a fraction of a percent of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, which scores 24993.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT's overall performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU has an average benchmark score of 27985 and sits in the 71st percentile of all GPUs. It is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which scores 27956, a 0.1% deltaPct. It is also very close to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, which scores 28238, a -0.9% deltaPct.

Q: What is the limiting factor when enabling Ultra settings?

A: The frame rate collapse from High to Ultra across all resolutions suggests the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. For instance, at 1080p, the frame rate drops from 111.6 FPS on High to 67.1 FPS on Ultra, a clear sign that the RX 6600 XT's processing power and memory bandwidth are overwhelmed by the increased load.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 16 MB shared L3 cache. This configuration provides a solid foundation for gaming, as its multi-threaded capabilities are strong, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20851 and a single-core score of 2943.

In Greedfall, an Action RPG that often involves numerous NPCs and complex world interactions, the CPU's 12 threads are likely sufficient to prevent a bottleneck at standard settings. The benchmark results support this, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings, which typically indicates a GPU-limited scenario. The CPU's strong single-thread performance, reflected in a Passmark single-thread score of 3684, ensures that game logic and physics calculations are handled efficiently, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential. The data suggests that the Ryzen 5 8400F is not the limiting factor here, as the frame rate drops are more closely tied to GPU workload changes than to CPU-bound tasks.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for settings presets. The Ultra preset, while visually demanding, creates a significant performance penalty that is difficult to justify. At 1080p, the Ultra preset's 67.1 FPS is nearly half the 121.4 FPS achieved on Medium, and the same pattern holds at higher resolutions, with 4K Ultra dropping to 28.1 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra is particularly punishing, with a 44.5 FPS drop at 1080p and a 30 FPS drop at 1440p.

The High preset emerges as the optimal choice for a balance between visual fidelity and smooth gameplay. At 1440p, it delivers 77.9 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, while at 1080p it provides a very fluid 111.6 FPS. The Medium preset offers a slight performance boost—121.4 FPS at 1080p and 84.8 FPS at 1440p—but the difference is modest compared to the visual quality gained from High. The Low preset, while achieving the highest frame rates (150.2 FPS at 1080p), is best reserved for competitive play or when using 4K resolution, as it sacrifices too much visual detail for the average user. For this combo, the High preset provides the best overall experience across all tested resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 1196 out of 1705 tested combos for Greedfall. This places it in the lower third of all systems tested for this game, which is an interesting result given the individual components' standings. The CPU's benchmark score is in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU's score is in the 71st percentile, yet their combined performance places them below the median.

This suggests that while each part is competent on its own, their pairing in Greedfall does not synergize to create a top-tier experience. The game's engine may have specific bottlenecks that this combo does not overcome as effectively as other pairings. The rank of 1196 implies that many other systems, likely with more powerful GPUs or different CPU-GPU balances, achieve higher frame rates. This ranking is a crucial context when interpreting the absolute FPS numbers; while 77.9 FPS at 1440p High is playable, it is not a standout result compared to the broader ecosystem of tested hardware.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. It has a base clock of 1968 MHz and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. The GPU's performance in Greedfall is a story of diminishing returns at higher settings. The data shows that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rate changes when settings are adjusted, confirming its role as the main bottleneck.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is likely a key factor in the steep performance drop at the Ultra preset. At 4K Ultra, the card averages only 28.1 FPS, suggesting that the memory buffer and the GPU's compute units are stretched to their limits. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 16461 and its placement in the 71st percentile of all GPUs indicate it is a mid-range performer. The measured results in Greedfall are consistent with this positioning, showing that it can handle the game well at 1080p and 1440p with moderate settings, but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra. The GPU is clearly the limiting factor when pushing for maximum visual quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured average FPS for this combo in Greedfall is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are: Low 150.2 FPS, Medium 121.4 FPS, High 111.6 FPS, and Ultra 67.1 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 83.1 FPS, highlighting the substantial cost of the highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are: Low 106.6 FPS, Medium 84.8 FPS, High 77.9 FPS, and Ultra 47.9 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is 30 FPS, which is a significant reduction in smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are: Low 59.6 FPS, Medium 50.3 FPS, High 45.6 FPS, and Ultra 28.1 FPS. Only the Low preset manages to stay above the 60 FPS mark, while the Ultra preset falls to a stuttery 28.1 FPS. These numbers demonstrate a consistent pattern where the Ultra preset is disproportionately taxing on the GPU across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and informative. At the High preset, the average FPS falls from 111.6 at 1080p to 77.9 at 1440p, a 30.2% decrease, and then to 45.6 at 4K, a 59.1% decrease from the 1080p baseline. This scaling is expected for a GPU-bound scenario, as the number of pixels increases dramatically.

However, the scaling is not linear, and the severity of the drop depends on the settings preset. The Ultra preset sees a more drastic relative decline, going from 67.1 FPS at 1080p to 28.1 FPS at 4K, which is a 58.1% reduction. This suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU is not only filling more pixels but also handling more complex shaders and effects, compounding the workload. The fact that the Low preset manages to keep 4K performance at 59.6 FPS, close to the 60 FPS target, reveals that the RX 6600 XT has the raw throughput for 4K, but its memory bandwidth and compute capacity are insufficient for high-detail 4K. The data strongly implies that the GPU is the limiting component, as the CPU's performance is unlikely to change with resolution, yet the frame rates consistently drop as resolution increases.