Greedfall

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 presents a stark illustration of GPU-bound performance in Greedfall. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system where the graphics card is the definitive limiting factor, with the processor’s substantial capabilities remaining largely underutilized. The data indicates a predictable scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, governed almost entirely by the GTX 1650’s specifications.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, reflecting the GTX 1650’s limited fillrate and memory bandwidth. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 71.9 FPS, which is the highest measured result for this configuration. Moving to Medium settings drops this to 59.3 FPS, and High settings yield 49.7 FPS. The most demanding preset, Ultra, falls to 32.9 FPS. This 1080p range shows a spread of 39 FPS between the lowest and highest quality presets, indicating that while the GPU is stressed, it can still deliver playable results at lower settings.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the performance penalty becomes more pronounced. The Low preset average is 52.9 FPS, a 26% reduction from the 1080p Low result. High settings at 1440p produce 34.7 FPS, and Medium produces 39.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution drops to 23.4 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent loss of roughly 15-20 FPS across all settings, a direct consequence of the 128-bit memory bus and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth struggling with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the GTX 1650 is clearly overwhelmed. The Low preset averages 32.4 FPS, while High and Medium drop to 21.3 FPS and 23 FPS, respectively. Ultra at 4K is effectively unplayable at 16.6 FPS. The data reveals a key insight: the frame rate drop from 1440p to 4K is proportionally larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p. For example, at High settings, the 1440p result is 34.7 FPS, but 4K falls to 21.3 FPS—a 39% decline. This nonlinear scaling points directly to the GPU’s pixel throughput limits (53.28 GPixel/s) and its 4 GB GDDR5 frame buffer being saturated, rather than any CPU constraint.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the observed performance ceiling. The card features 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, operating at a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. Its memory configuration is a modest 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, providing 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The FP32 compute rating is 2.984 TFLOPS.

These numbers align with the benchmark results. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is a critical bottleneck at higher resolutions, as Greedfall’s texture and geometry demands at 1440p and 4K likely exceed this allocation, causing the significant frame rate drops observed. The card’s 43rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 8713, places it firmly in the entry-level segment. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, scores 8671, a delta of 0.5%, confirming the GTX 1650’s position. The performance deltas to its rivals are minuscule—0.4% behind the RTX 3050 A Mobile and 0.5% behind the Radeon 550X—indicating that the GTX 1650 is operating at the very edge of its silicon’s capabilities.

The GPU’s role is further underscored by the fact that it is rated for a 75 W TDP and requires no external power connectors, suggesting a design optimized for low power consumption rather than raw performance. In Greedfall, the data shows that the GTX 1650 is the sole determinant of frame rates, as the CPU easily feeds it with data. The card’s DirectX 12 support (12_1) is adequate for the game, but its raw throughput is insufficient for high-fidelity settings beyond 1080p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is an exceptional processor that plays a minimal role in this game’s outcome. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it operates at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a shared 32 MB of L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores are impressive: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23571 and a single-core score of 3327, with a Geekbench multicore score of 10220.

The processor’s 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 27606, places it well above the GPU’s 43rd percentile. This disparity is the core finding: the system is unbalanced, with the CPU capable of far more than the GPU can deliver. The nearest rivals to the 5800X include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (delta of 0.3%), the Intel Core i5-12600KF (delta of -0.8%), and the Intel Core i7-13700H (delta of -0.4%). These small deltas confirm that the 5800X is a high-performing part, but its power is irrelevant when the GTX 1650 is the bottleneck.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s high single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 943) ensures that the game’s main logic thread is never starved. The 16 threads handle background tasks and AI without issue. However, the frame rates are capped by the GPU at every resolution and setting. For instance, at 1080p Low, the 71.9 FPS average is likely near the GPU’s maximum output, not a CPU limitation. The 5800X’s memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is more than sufficient for the GTX 1650’s needs, and its PCIe Gen 4 interface is backward-compatible with the GPU’s PCIe 3.0 bus, presenting no data transfer bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 7 5800X and GTX 1650 ranks 1640th out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall. This places it in the bottom 4% of all configurations, a direct result of the GPU’s entry-level status dragging down the CPU’s high-end performance. This ranking is not a reflection of the CPU’s capability but rather the GPU’s inability to translate the processor’s power into frame rates.

The data implies that the 5800X is effectively wasted in this pairing for this game. While the CPU sits in the 84th percentile of all processors, the combo’s ranking is near the bottom, illustrating a severe mismatch. Had the GPU been a more capable part, the 5800X would likely push the combo into a much higher percentile. The delta percentages between the 5800X and its rivals are negligible (0.3% to -0.8%), so the CPU is not the differentiator. Instead, the GTX 1650’s 43rd percentile ranking is the sole driver of the combo’s low position.

The measured FPS values corroborate this ranking. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves only 32.9 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth action RPG gameplay. At 4K, all settings produce averages below 33 FPS, with Ultra at 16.6 FPS. These results are consistent with a combo ranked 1640th, as the majority of other tested systems likely include more balanced GPU-CPU pairs that achieve higher frame rates. The combo’s position is a cautionary tale about pairing a high-end CPU with a low-end GPU for demanding titles.

FAQ

Q: Why does the frame rate drop so severely from 1080p to 4K?

A: The GTX 1650 has a 4 GB GDDR5 frame buffer on a 128-bit bus with 128.1 GB/s bandwidth. At 3840x2160, the increased pixel count and texture data exceed this capacity, causing the average FPS to fall to 21.3 at High settings, compared to 49.7 at 1080p High.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5800X the limiting factor in this setup?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 84th percentile of all processors with an average benchmark score of 27606, while the GPU ranks in the 43rd percentile with an average score of 8713. The frame rates are consistently low across all settings, indicating the GPU is the bottleneck.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1920x1080?

A: The data shows that Low settings yield the highest average FPS at 71.9, followed by Medium at 59.3, High at 49.7, and Ultra at 32.9. For playable performance, Medium or High are viable, but Ultra is below 60 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 1640th out of 1705 combos, placing it in the bottom 4%. This is due to the GPU’s low performance, as the CPU’s nearest rivals show deltas of less than 1%, confirming the CPU is not the issue.

Q: Does the CPU’s boost clock of 4.70 GHz help in this game?

A: While the clock speed is high and the CPU’s single-thread performance is strong (3dmark single-thread score of 943), it does not help in Greedfall because the frame rates are capped by the GPU’s rendering capacity, not the CPU’s processing speed.

Q: Can this system handle 2560x1440 resolution?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 52.9 FPS, which is playable. However, Medium and High drop to 39.5 and 34.7 FPS, respectively, and Ultra falls to 23.4 FPS, making high-quality settings impractical at this resolution.