Greedfall

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Greedfall with this AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination reveals a steep performance curve as resolution climbs, and the pattern points squarely at the GPU as the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 114 FPS on average, but stepping up to 1440p High drops that to 79 FPS — a 31% reduction. Moving further to 4K High yields just 47 FPS, which is 59% below the 1080p result. This scaling behavior is classic GPU-bound behavior: the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions, but the RTX 5050's rendering throughput becomes the bottleneck as pixel count rises.

The Low settings row tells an even clearer story about the CPU's capability. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 160 FPS average, and even at 1440p Low it maintains 111 FPS. At 4K Low, the average still holds at 66 FPS. These numbers indicate that the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is not the constraint here — the GPU is. The 5700X3D's 3DMark single-thread score of 804 and its 16-thread score of 6764 suggest it can feed frames quickly, but the RTX 5050's 13.17 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become the wall at higher resolutions.

Looking at the Medium preset, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 39 FPS (126 to 87), and from 1440p to 4K it falls another 35 FPS (87 to 52). The 4K Medium result of 52 FPS with a min of 44 and max of 60 shows noticeable frame-time variance, typical of a GPU working near its limit. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 1080p Ultra at 73 FPS, 1440p Ultra at 50 FPS, and 4K Ultra collapsing to 30 FPS. That 4K Ultra figure is barely playable, and it's a clear sign that the RTX 5050's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus are overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum settings.

The data shows that resolution scaling in Greedfall is not linear — the gap between 1080p and 1440p is larger than the gap between 1440p and 4K in percentage terms for most presets. This is because the game's engine and the GPU's architecture interact in ways that make the first resolution jump more costly relative to the second. For example, at High settings, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is 30.7%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 40.5% — so the 4K jump is actually more severe in this case. The Ultra preset shows a different pattern: 1080p to 1440p drops 31.5%, while 1440p to 4K drops 40%. The pattern is consistent: each resolution step costs roughly a third to two-fifths of the remaining performance.

This scaling behavior has practical implications. The RTX 5050 is not a 4K-capable card for Greedfall at any settings above Low, and even 4K Low at 66 FPS is only passable. The sweet spot for this combo is clearly 1440p, where High settings deliver 79 FPS and Medium delivers 87 FPS with a min of 74 — both comfortably playable. At 1080p, the system has so much headroom that even Ultra at 73 FPS is viable, though the CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU's 66th percentile ranking suggest the balance is tipped toward CPU capability at that resolution.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D brings 8 cores and 16 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. The architecture is Zen 3 on the Vermeer codename, built on TSMC's 7 nm process with 8,850 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. The 96 MB of shared L3 cache is a standout feature — it's a massive pool of fast memory that helps the CPU keep frequently accessed game data close at hand. In Greedfall, an Action RPG with large open environments and many NPC interactions, this cache likely helps maintain consistent frame pacing in busy scenes.

The benchmark data supports the idea that this CPU is well-suited for gaming workloads. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 22,366, while the single-core score is 3,157. The Geekbench multicore result is 11,086 with a single-core score of 1,849. The PassMark multithread score of 26,318 and single-thread score of 2,970 round out a picture of balanced performance. The 3DMark results are particularly telling: 8-thread score of 5,357 versus max-thread score of 6,755 — meaning the CPU scales well up to 16 threads but doesn't gain much beyond 8, which is typical for gaming workloads that rarely use more than 8 cores effectively.

In Greedfall specifically, the CPU's role becomes clearer when comparing the Low settings results across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 160 FPS, which is 46 FPS higher than at 1080p High. This 29% improvement from lowering settings indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at Low — the GPU is. If the CPU were the limit, reducing GPU load wouldn't change the frame rate much. The fact that 1440p Low still hits 111 FPS (30% higher than 1440p High's 79 FPS) confirms the same conclusion. The Ryzen 7 5700X3D is capable of pushing well beyond 160 FPS in this game, but the RTX 5050 caps the output at every resolution and settings combination.

The nearest rival comparisons place the 5700X3D in a tight cluster. It's 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D in average benchmark score, 0.5% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i5-12450HX. The Intel Core i5-11600 is 0.6% behind. This means the 5700X3D is essentially performance-identical to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks, but the 96 MB L3 cache gives it a potential edge in games that benefit from large caches — Greedfall appears to be one such game, given the strong 1080p numbers.

The CPU's memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. While this is older memory technology compared to DDR5, the 5700X3D's large cache compensates for the lower bandwidth in many scenarios. The PCIe Gen 4 interface with 20 lanes (CPU only) is sufficient for the RTX 5050's PCIe 5.0 x8 bus — the GPU will run at PCIe 4.0 speeds, which is not a meaningful bottleneck for this game. The TDP of 105 W and the fact that the multiplier is locked indicate this is a power-efficient, drop-in upgrade for AM4 motherboards, though those details matter less for FPS than the core architecture.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable on this system in Greedfall?

A: The maximum measured average FPS is 160, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The 1080p Medium preset reaches 126 FPS, and 1080p High hits 114 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Greedfall at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. At 4K Low, the average FPS is 66, which is playable. 4K Medium drops to 52 FPS, 4K High to 47 FPS, and 4K Ultra to 30 FPS — the latter being marginal for smooth gameplay.

Q: Which resolution provides the best balance of visual quality and performance?

A: 2560x1440 at Medium settings delivers 87 FPS average with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS. The 1440p High preset offers 79 FPS average, making both viable choices for a smooth experience.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 5700X3D has an average benchmark score of 24,709, which is 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D (24,728), 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (24,822), 0.5% above the Intel Core i5-12450HX (24,576), and 0.6% above the Intel Core i5-11600 (24,563).

Q: Is the RTX 5050 the performance bottleneck in this game?

A: Yes. The evidence is in the scaling between Low and High settings. At 1080p, dropping from High to Low increases FPS from 114 to 160 — a 40% improvement. At 1440p, the same change goes from 79 to 111 FPS (41% improvement). This indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest minimum FPS recorded is 44, which occurs at 4K with Medium settings. The 1080p Medium setting has a minimum of 107 FPS, and 1440p Medium has a minimum of 74 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1,776th out of 2,938 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 39.6th percentile of all combinations. The rank reflects the overall performance across all measured resolutions and settings, and it's important to contextualize this number. The GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is 66, meaning the RTX 5050 outperforms 66% of all GPUs in the database. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 77, so the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is even stronger relative to its peers.

The disconnect between the individual component percentiles (77 CPU, 66 GPU) and the combo's 39.6th percentile rank in this game suggests that Greedfall is not particularly friendly to this pairing, or that many other combos in the database are better optimized for this title. The combo rank of 1,776 out of 2,938 means roughly 60% of tested systems perform better in Greedfall, despite the components being above-average individually.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals provides context for the RTX 5050's position. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL has an average score 0.6% higher, the AMD Radeon HD 8970M is 1% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT is 1.6% lower, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile is 1.6% higher. These are all closely matched in synthetic benchmarks, but the RTX 5050's 8 GB memory and modern architecture likely give it an edge in newer games — though Greedfall, released in September 2019, may not fully leverage those modern features.

The combo's rank can also be interpreted through the measured FPS data. At 1080p, the system is clearly above average for a mid-range setup, with 114 FPS at High settings. At 4K Ultra, the 30 FPS result is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, which drags the overall ranking down. The rank of 1,776 likely reflects that many combos with stronger GPUs (even if weaker CPUs) achieve better 4K performance, which is a heavy weight in the overall ranking scheme.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Here is the complete measured FPS data for this combo, organized by resolution and settings:

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 160 FPS average
• Medium: 126 FPS average, 107 FPS minimum, 144 FPS maximum
• High: 114 FPS average
• Ultra: 73 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 111 FPS average
• Medium: 87 FPS average, 74 FPS minimum, 100 FPS maximum
• High: 79 FPS average
• Ultra: 50 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 66 FPS average
• Medium: 52 FPS average, 44 FPS minimum, 60 FPS maximum
• High: 47 FPS average
• Ultra: 30 FPS average

The 1080p Low setting at 160 FPS is the single highest result, and it's 40% higher than 1080p High's 114 FPS. The 1080p Medium result of 126 FPS with a 107 FPS minimum shows that even in demanding scenes, the system stays well above 100 FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 87 FPS with a 74 FPS minimum is the best 1440p option for maintaining smooth gameplay, as the 74 FPS minimum is still above the 60 FPS threshold.

The 4K results are more varied. The 4K Low average of 66 FPS is playable, but 4K Medium's 52 FPS average with a 44 FPS minimum indicates occasional stutter. The 4K High result of 47 FPS is borderline, and 4K Ultra's 30 FPS is only suitable for screenshots or turn-based play. The 4K Medium min-max range of 44 to 60 FPS shows a 16 FPS variance, which is significant and could cause noticeable frame pacing issues in combat.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. The data shows clear trade-offs that favor specific presets for different use cases.

For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset at 126 FPS average is the best overall choice. It delivers a 107 FPS minimum, ensuring no dips below the 100 FPS mark, and the 144 FPS maximum shows headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset at 114 FPS is also excellent if you prefer slightly better visuals and still maintain a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 73 FPS is playable but sacrifices 40% of the frame rate compared to Medium for marginal visual gains — the data suggests it's not worth the drop unless you have a 60 Hz monitor and prioritize image quality.

For 1440p, the Medium preset is the clear winner. At 87 FPS average with a 74 FPS minimum, it provides a smooth experience that stays above 60 FPS even in demanding scenes. The High preset at 79 FPS is also viable, but the 8 FPS difference between Medium and High is less than the 13 FPS difference between High and Ultra (79 to 50 FPS). The Ultra preset at 50 FPS is not recommended for action gameplay, as it dips below the 60 FPS threshold. If you have a 144 Hz monitor, Medium at 87 FPS is the most balanced option; if you have a 60 Hz monitor, High at 79 FPS provides better visuals without falling below the refresh rate.

For 4K, the options are limited. Low settings at 66 FPS is the only preset that maintains a playable frame rate, and even then, there's no minimum FPS data to confirm stability. Medium at 52 FPS with a 44 FPS minimum is risky for fast-paced combat, as the 44 FPS floor could cause noticeable hitches. High at 47 FPS and Ultra at 30 FPS are not recommended for gameplay. If 4K is a requirement, the Low preset is the only sensible choice, but the 1440p Medium preset offers a much better experience with only a modest resolution compromise.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium (126 FPS average, 107 FPS minimum) or 1440p Medium (87 FPS average, 74 FPS minimum), depending on your display's native resolution. The 1440p Medium preset is recommended for most users because it balances the GPU's capability with the CPU's headroom, delivering smooth frame rates with good visual quality. If you have a 1080p display, the Medium preset leaves enough headroom to enable v-sync or other features without noticeable performance loss.