Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 action RPG from Spiders, presents an interesting performance profile when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050. The measured data shows a combination that is capable of delivering smooth frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but which struggles to maintain playable performance at 4K with higher quality presets. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, examines the roles of the CPU and GPU, and provides data-driven recommendations for the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Greedfall reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High settings preset, the average frame rate drops from 114 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 47 FPS at 4K. This represents a 58.8% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is even more pronounced at the Ultra preset, where performance falls from 73 FPS at 1080p to 50 FPS at 1440p, and then down to 30 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is a 58.9% drop from the 1080p Ultra figure.

The pattern across all four settings presets indicates that the GPU becomes the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The RTX 5050, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, has to work progressively harder as pixel count increases. At 1080p, the CPU can feed frames quickly enough that the GPU is not fully saturated, allowing for higher average FPS. At 4K, the pixel throughput demands of the GPU become the bottleneck, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is similar but less severe in absolute terms. The average FPS goes from 160 at 1080p to 111 at 1440p and 66 at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is 58.8%, nearly identical to the High preset. This consistency suggests that the performance scaling is driven primarily by resolution, not by the specific settings preset, which points to a fill-rate or memory-bandwidth limitation on the GPU side.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max FPS data in the measured set. At 1080p Medium, the average is 126 FPS with a minimum of 107 and maximum of 144. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 87 FPS with a range of 74 to 100. At 4K Medium, the average falls to 52 FPS with a tight range of 44 to 60. The minimum FPS values at each resolution are consistently about 15-17% below the average, indicating some frame-time variance but no catastrophic stuttering.

The data shows that 1080p is clearly the sweet spot for this combination, with all presets except Ultra achieving average FPS above 114. At 1440p, the High and Medium presets remain playable, but Ultra drops to 50 FPS. At 4K, only the Low preset achieves an average above 60 FPS, and the High preset sits at 47 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays.

The scaling pattern also reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (160 FPS) and Ultra (73 FPS) is 87 FPS. At 4K, the difference between Low (66 FPS) and Ultra (30 FPS) is 36 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions is typical of GPU-bound scenarios, where the cost of additional pixel shading overwhelms the savings from lower-quality settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for playing Greedfall with the RTX 5050 and Ryzen 5 9600X?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 provides the highest average frame rates across all settings, with Low achieving 160 FPS, Medium 126 FPS, High 114 FPS, and Ultra 73 FPS. At 2560x1440, the High preset still delivers 79 FPS average, which is playable, but the Ultra preset drops to 50 FPS. At 3840x2160, even the High preset only reaches 47 FPS average, making 1080p the recommended resolution for the best experience.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035 and sits at the 66th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, has an average score of 21153, which is 0.6% higher. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21379, which is 1.6% higher. The AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20713, which is 1.6% lower. These deltas indicate that the RTX 5050 performs in a tightly contested band, with differences of less than 2% among its closest competitors.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X strong enough for Greedfall at high frame rates?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X has a multi-threaded 3DMark score of 7585 and a single-thread score of 1253. In Cinebench R23, it scores 17528.5 multi-core and 2183.5 single-core. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combination reaches 160 FPS average, which suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a 5.40 GHz boost clock provides ample processing power for Greedfall's demands.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile compared to all other CPUs?

A: The Ryzen 5 9600X sits at the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29713. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE, scores 29656, which is 0.2% lower. The AMD Ryzen 7 7840H scores 29868, which is 0.5% higher. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT scores 29879, which is 0.6% higher. These results place the 9600X in a competitive position, slightly below some 8-core mobile parts but still within a narrow performance band.

Q: Does the RTX 5050 have enough VRAM for Greedfall at 4K?

A: The RTX 5050 comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. At 4K High, the measured average FPS is 47, and at 4K Ultra it drops to 30 FPS. While the VRAM capacity is sufficient for Greedfall, the GPU's overall throughput limits 4K performance. The memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s appears to be a constraint at 4K, as the frame rate drops significantly compared to 1440p even when settings are lowered.

Q: How does the Medium preset's frame time consistency look across resolutions?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max FPS data. At 1080p, the average is 126 FPS with a minimum of 107 and maximum of 144. At 1440p, the average is 87 FPS with a range of 74 to 100. At 4K, the average is 52 FPS with a range of 44 to 60. The minimum FPS is consistently about 15% below the average at each resolution, indicating stable frame pacing without severe drops.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p displays, the High preset at 114 FPS average provides an excellent balance of visual quality and performance. The Medium preset at 126 FPS offers a 10.5% frame rate increase over High, while the Ultra preset at 73 FPS gives the highest visual fidelity but at a 36% performance penalty compared to High. The Low preset at 160 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rate is paramount.

At 1440p, the High preset at 79 FPS average is the best choice for most users, as it remains above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 87 FPS provides a 10.1% improvement, which may be preferable for those with high-refresh-rate monitors. The Ultra preset at 50 FPS is playable but will show noticeable frame rate dips during intense scenes. The Low preset at 111 FPS is viable for esports-style play, but the visual downgrade is significant for an action RPG.

For 4K displays, the measured data suggests that the Low preset at 66 FPS average is the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 52 FPS is borderline, and the High preset at 47 FPS will be noticeably less smooth. The Ultra preset at 30 FPS is not recommended for gameplay, as it falls below the standard for acceptable frame pacing. Users with 4K displays should either accept the Low preset or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p for better visual quality.

The data also shows that the gap between Medium and High presets is relatively small across all resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 12 FPS (126 vs 114). At 1440p, the difference is 8 FPS (87 vs 79). At 4K, the difference is 5 FPS (52 vs 47). This suggests that the High preset delivers most of the visual benefits of the Medium preset with a modest frame rate cost, making it the recommended choice for balanced performance.

The Ultra preset, by contrast, carries a heavy performance penalty. At 1080p, it is 41 FPS slower than High. At 1440p, it is 29 FPS slower. At 4K, it is 17 FPS slower. For a 2019 action RPG, the visual improvements from Ultra may not justify the frame rate loss, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is already strained.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Greedfall with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 covers four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) at three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160). At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 160 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 126 FPS, with a minimum of 107 and maximum of 144. The High preset averages 114 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 73 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset averages 111 FPS, which is a 30.6% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 87 FPS, with a range of 74 to 100. The High preset averages 79 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 50 FPS. The 1440p results show that the RTX 5050 can handle this resolution well at lower settings, but the Ultra preset begins to show strain.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals significant performance degradation. The Low preset averages 66 FPS, which is only 41.3% of the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 52 FPS, with a minimum of 44 and maximum of 60. The High preset averages 47 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages just 30 FPS. This 4K data indicates that the combination is not well-suited for 4K gaming at higher settings.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the average is 126 FPS with a 107-144 range. At 1440p, the average is 87 FPS with a 74-100 range. At 4K, the average is 52 FPS with a 44-60 range. The minimum FPS values show that the lowest frame rates are consistently about 15% below the averages, which is a healthy margin that suggests no severe stuttering or frame-time spikes.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic resolution scaling. From 73 FPS at 1080p, it drops to 50 FPS at 1440p and 30 FPS at 4K. This represents a 58.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The High preset shows a similar pattern, going from 114 FPS at 1080p to 47 FPS at 4K, a 58.8% reduction. The Low preset goes from 160 FPS at 1080p to 66 FPS at 4K, a 58.8% reduction. The consistency of these scaling percentages (58.8-58.9%) across all presets strongly indicates that the performance bottleneck is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB207 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. It also includes 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores. The base clock is 2317 MHz, with a boost clock of 2572 MHz. The memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The pixel rate is 82.30 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 205.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS.

The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 5050 is the primary determinant of performance at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become limiting factors. The pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s is insufficient for maintaining high frame rates at 3840x2160, which requires over 8.3 million pixels per frame. The memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s also appears to be a constraint, as the data shows consistent performance drops at 4K regardless of settings preset.

The RTX 5050's synthetic benchmark scores provide context for its gaming performance. It scores 17326 in Passmark G3D, 2502 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and 90334 in Geekbench OpenCL. The Geekbench Vulkan score is 89381, nearly identical to the OpenCL result. These scores place the GPU at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035. The nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, has a score of 21153, which is only 0.6% higher.

The GPU's transistor count of 16,900 million on a 149 mm² die gives a transistor density of 113.4M per mm². This is a dense design for a mainstream GPU, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity is modest by modern standards. In Greedfall, this VRAM is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the combination of high pixel count and texture requirements may push the memory subsystem harder. The measured 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS average suggests the GPU is heavily saturated at this setting.

The boost clock of 2572 MHz is relatively high, but the GPU's thermal and power constraints (130 W TDP) may limit sustained boost behavior under load. The 20 Gbps effective memory speed is standard for GDDR6, but the 128-bit bus width halves the bandwidth compared to wider-memory GPUs. This bandwidth limitation is likely a contributing factor to the steep performance drop at 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 89.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The CPU is manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process with 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die.

The measured FPS data suggests that the Ryzen 5 9600X is not a bottleneck at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the combination achieves 160 FPS average, which is a high frame rate that indicates the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. The single-thread performance is strong, as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1253 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2183.5. The boost clock of 5.40 GHz is among the highest for mainstream desktop processors, which helps in games that are lightly threaded.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17528.5 and a 3DMark max-thread score of 7590. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration is well-suited for Greedfall, which is a 2019 action RPG that does not require excessive core counts. The Passmark multi-thread score of 30027 and Geekbench multi-core score of 14438 further confirm the CPU's capability.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The measured FPS drops from 160 at 1080p Low to 111 at 1440p Low and 66 at 4K Low. These reductions are consistent with GPU-bound scaling, where the CPU has headroom but cannot compensate for the GPU's pixel-processing limitations. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s is sufficient for the game's data streaming needs.

The CPU occupies the 81st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29713. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (29656, 0.2% lower), AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (29868, 0.5% higher), and AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT (29879, 0.6% higher). These rivals are all 8-core processors, but the 9600X's higher clock speeds help it compete despite having fewer cores. The CPU's 65 W TDP is efficient, and the unlocked multiplier allows for overclocking, though the measured data reflects stock performance.

The CPU's integrated Radeon Graphics are present, but the discrete RTX 5050 handles all rendering in Greedfall. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 support with 24 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, which uses a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface. The 4 nm process node and Granite Ridge architecture contribute to the CPU's strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in Greedfall's open-world environments.