Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti pairing. The measured data reveals a system that is capable of delivering high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions but begins to show its limitations as pixel count increases. This analysis explores the benchmark results, focusing on the balance between the CPU and GPU and what it means for the overall gaming experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep performance curve as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo averages 85 FPS. Moving to 1440p, that figure drops to 55 FPS, a substantial 35% decrease. At 4K, the Ultra preset manages only 29 FPS, which is a 66% drop from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern strongly indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The data tells a clear story about the bottleneck. When the resolution increases, the workload on the GPU increases, while the demand on the CPU remains relatively constant. The fact that the frame rate falls so dramatically from 1080p to 4K suggests that the GPU is being pushed to its absolute limits. The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, appears to be providing frames faster than the RTX 3070 Ti can render them at these higher settings fractions. The 1080p Low preset result of 204 FPS is particularly telling. This high frame rate, coupled with the 8-core CPU's performance, suggests that the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU's rendering power is exhausted as resolution scales up. The gap between the 1440p High (74 FPS) and 4K High (39 FPS) further confirms this, as the 4K result is nearly half of the 1440p result, a characteristic sign of GPU-bound performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture and features 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus. This configuration provides a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. In Greedfall, the role of this GPU is substantial. The benchmark results show a clear correlation between the graphics settings and the frame rate, which underscores the GPU's influence. At 1440p, the jump from Low (131 FPS) to Ultra (55 FPS) represents a 58% performance penalty, a direct result of the increased graphical load on the GPU. The GPU's boost clock of 1770 MHz and its 6144 shading units are the engines that process this load.

The data also hints at how the GPU's memory capacity interacts with the game. The difference between the 1440p Medium (98 FPS) and 1440p High (74 FPS) results is significant. While not a definitive test of memory capacity, this gap suggests that the higher-detail textures and effects at High settings are demanding more from the GPU's resources, including its VRAM. The RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB of memory is a substantial amount, but Greedfall's higher presets at 4K seem to be a heavy burden. The fact that the 4K Ultra preset yields an average of just 29 FPS suggests that the GPU is fully saturated and possibly hitting the limits of its memory bandwidth or capacity. The GPU's compute capabilities, as evidenced by its 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 performance, are impressive, yet they are not enough to maintain smooth frame rates at the highest settings at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data indicates that the best experience is a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 116 FPS, which is an excellent level of performance for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset offers an even higher 153 FPS, but the jump to Ultra, which yields 85 FPS, does not represent a linear scaling of performance, suggesting a significant increase in GPU load. For 1080p users, the High preset appears to be the sweet spot, providing a high frame rate while still offering enhanced visuals over the Medium and Low settings.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (74 FPS) and Medium preset (98 FPS) are both playable, but the data suggests that High is a more demanding setting. The 1440p Ultra result of 55 FPS is on the cusp of being less than ideal for a fast-paced action RPG. For 4K, the situation is more challenging. The High preset (39 FPS) and Medium preset (52 FPS) are below the standard for a smooth experience. The Low preset (70 FPS) is the only 4K setting that achieves a playable frame rate. Based on the measured rows, the recommended settings for this combo would be High at 1080p, Medium at 1440p for a higher frame rate or High if a steady 60 FPS is not required, and Low at 4K to maintain playability.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 2560x1440 on Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings is 55 FPS.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X a bottleneck for the RTX 3070 Ti in Greedfall?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 204 FPS, indicating the CPU can push high frame rates. The significant FPS drops as resolution increases point to the GPU as the limiting component.

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K with the Medium preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 52, with a minimum of 44 FPS and a maximum of 60 FPS.

Q: Which settings provide the highest frame rate at 1920x1080?

A: The Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers the highest average FPS at 204.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded in the data is 44 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth relate to its performance in this game?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. The substantial frame rate drops at higher resolutions and settings suggest that the GPU's processing power and memory subsystem are heavily taxed, as the game demands more data to be processed for each frame.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combos, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 2043 out of 3703 combinations for Greedfall. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the performance spectrum. This ranking is informative when compared to the individual component standings. The CPU is in the 84th percentile against all tested CPUs, indicating it is a high-performing processor. The GPU is in the 75th percentile against all tested GPUs. However, the combo's rank of 2043 suggests that when paired together for this specific game, the system's overall performance is not as dominant as the individual component scores might imply. This reinforces the idea that the RTX 3070 Ti is the limiting factor in this pairing for Greedfall, pulling the combined rank down from what the CPU alone might suggest. The combination's performance is likely being constrained by the GPU's ability to render the game's world at higher resolutions and settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is a 7 nm processor from the Zen 2 architecture, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz, and it can boost up to 4.40 GHz. In Greedfall, the CPU's role is to handle the game's logic, AI, and physics. The benchmark data at lower resolutions indicates that this processor is well-suited for the task. The high frame rates at 1080p, particularly the 204 FPS at Low settings, demonstrate that the CPU is capable of processing frames much faster than the GPU can render them at higher resolutions. This suggests that the Ryzen 7 3700X is not a limiting factor in this scenario.

The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache is a notable feature that likely helps with game performance. While the data does not directly measure cache utilization, the strong performance at 1080p suggests that the CPU is efficiently handling the game's data. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 2092 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 8899, indicate strong multi-threaded performance. This is beneficial for a game like Greedfall, which may utilize multiple cores for various simulation tasks. However, the data shows that as the resolution increases, the CPU's performance becomes less relevant, as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The CPU's high frame rate output at 1080p proves it can keep up with the RTX 3070 Ti, but it cannot help the GPU render more pixels at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a complete breakdown of the measured average FPS for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti in Greedfall.

1920x1080

• Low: The average FPS is 204.
• Medium: The average FPS is 153, with a minimum of 130 and a maximum of 176.
• High: The average FPS is 116.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 85.

2560x1440

• Low: The average FPS is 131.
• Medium: The average FPS is 98, with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 113.
• High: The average FPS is 74.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 55.

3840x2160

• Low: The average FPS is 70.
• Medium: The average FPS is 52, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 60.
• High: The average FPS is 39.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 29.

These numbers illustrate the performance scaling across all tested settings and resolutions. The data is clear that the RTX 3070 Ti struggles with the demands of 4K Ultra, while the system excels at 1080p, even on the Ultra preset. The minimum FPS values for the Medium presets provide a sense of frame time consistency, with the 1080p Medium result showing a minimum of 130 FPS, which is a very stable experience. The 4K Medium result, with a minimum of 44 FPS, shows less stability and indicates a more challenging workload for the GPU.