Greedfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Greedfall with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and AMD Radeon RX 580 show a steep decline as resolution increases, a pattern that clearly identifies the graphics card as the primary bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 59.4 FPS, but stepping up to 2560x1440 drops the average to 39.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly one-third. Moving further to 3840x2160 at High settings yields only 23.1 FPS, which is a 61% decrease from the 1080p result. This scaling behavior is typical of a system where the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are saturated long before the CPU's capabilities come into question.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low (80.4 FPS) to Ultra (36.5 FPS) is 43.9 FPS, but at 4K the same settings range from 34.4 FPS down to 15.2 FPS, a narrower absolute gap of 19.2 FPS. This compression at 4K indicates that the RX 580 is hitting its absolute ceiling regardless of quality preset, with even Low settings failing to break past 35 FPS. The data suggests that resolution scaling is not linear — the jump from 1440p to 4K costs more performance proportionally than the jump from 1080p to 1440p.

What makes this particularly telling is the Medium preset behavior. At 1080p Medium hits 63.9 FPS, at 1440p it falls to 42.6 FPS, and at 4K it collapses to 24 FPS. The consistent halving of performance from 1080p to 4K across Medium and High presets points to fill-rate limitations. The RX 580's 32 ROPs and 256-bit memory bus are simply not equipped to handle 3840x2160 output in a modern Action RPG, regardless of the CPU's readiness.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 9700X brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 8 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosting to 5.50 GHz. Its Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm process delivers strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by a 3dmark single-thread score of 1280 and a Cinebench R23 single-core result of 4459. These numbers place the CPU in the 89th percentile against all tested processors, indicating that it is far more capable than what Greedfall's engine typically demands.

However, the benchmark results show that this CPU headroom goes largely unused in this game at higher resolutions. The frame rate differences between 1080p and 4K at the same settings are entirely attributable to GPU load, not CPU limitations. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 80.4 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. This suggests that even at lower resolutions where CPU overhead is more pronounced, the Ryzen 7 9700X is able to feed the GPU without becoming a limiting factor.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are robust — a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 31588 and a Geekbench multicore result of 17002 — but Greedfall's workload does not appear to scale significantly with thread count beyond what the GPU can process. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 9824 versus the max-thread score of 9771 shows essentially flat scaling beyond 16 threads, which is expected given the CPU's configuration. For this game, the CPU's role is to maintain consistent frame pacing, and the data shows no evidence of CPU-bound frame rate ceilings in the measured resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the decisive component in this combo's performance profile. This GPU, built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture and a 14 nm process, provides 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1257 MHz and boost clock of 1340 MHz drive 2304 shading units, but the 32 ROPs and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate are modest by modern standards.

The GPU's benchmark scores confirm its mid-range positioning. It sits in the 53rd percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13559. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (avgScore 13564, deltaPct 0) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (avgScore 13549, deltaPct 0.1), which places it in direct competition with older-generation cards. The PassMark G3D score of 8813 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1005 reflect a GPU that was capable at its 2017 launch but is now stretched thin by contemporary titles.

In Greedfall specifically, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly in the VRAM and bandwidth constraints. At 4K Ultra, the card produces only 15.2 FPS, which is unplayable. Even at 1440p Ultra, the 24.1 FPS result is below acceptable thresholds. The 8 GB VRAM is adequate for 1080p and 1440p in this title, but the memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s becomes a bottleneck when higher resolutions demand more texture throughput. The GPU's DirectX 12 score of 43 in PassMark suggests that its API-level performance is not optimized for modern rendering paths.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the tested database of hardware combinations for Greedfall, this pairing of the Ryzen 7 9700X and RX 580 ranks 1592 out of 1705 combos. This places it in the bottom 7% of all tested configurations, which is a remarkably low position given the CPU's high-end status. The ranking disparity between the CPU's 89th percentile and the GPU's 53rd percentile underscores the imbalance: the processor is performing far above the level that the GPU can support in this title.

The combination's rank suggests that most other pairings in the database achieve higher average frame rates, likely because they pair more balanced components. The Ryzen 7 9700X's nearest CPU rivals — the Intel Core i5-14500HX (deltaPct 0.2), Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (deltaPct -0.4), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (deltaPct 0.6) — all have similar average benchmark scores, but when matched with stronger GPUs, they would produce far better gaming results. The RX 580's own rivals, such as the GTX 570 and GTX 950, are similarly dated, reinforcing that this GPU is the limiting factor in the combo's overall standing.

The rank of 1592 out of 1705 is particularly telling because it reflects real measured data rather than theoretical estimates. It indicates that users with this specific combination are likely experiencing one of the lower-performing configurations in the database, even though the CPU alone would rank highly in CPU-only benchmarks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured dataset for this combo provides a detailed view of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce 80.4 FPS, Medium produces 63.9 FPS, High produces 59.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 36.5 FPS. The transition from Low to Medium costs 16.5 FPS, from Medium to High costs 4.5 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 22.9 FPS. The Ultra preset is disproportionately expensive, suggesting that it enables effects that heavily tax the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are: Low at 55.4 FPS, Medium at 42.6 FPS, High at 39.7 FPS, and Ultra at 24.1 FPS. The relative performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, with Low losing 31% of its frame rate, Medium losing 33%, High losing 33%, and Ultra losing 34%. This uniformity indicates that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, not specific settings.

At 3840x2160, the results become marginal: Low achieves 34.4 FPS, Medium achieves 24 FPS, High achieves 23.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 15.2 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is only 0.9 FPS, which is within measurement noise, indicating that both presets are equally constrained by the GPU's limits. The difference between Low and Medium at 4K is 10.4 FPS, showing that Low settings provide a meaningful improvement at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 59.4 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and playability, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold by only a narrow margin but remains smooth in most scenarios. The Medium preset at 63.9 FPS provides a small safety buffer above 60 FPS, making it the safer choice for users who prefer consistent frame pacing over minor graphical enhancements. The Ultra preset at 36.5 FPS is not recommended, as the 23.9 FPS drop from High is too severe for the visual gains.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset at 55.4 FPS is the only setting that approaches playable frame rates, though it still falls short of 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 42.6 FPS and High at 39.7 FPS are both playable but noticeably less smooth, while Ultra at 24.1 FPS is not viable for action gameplay. Users targeting 1440p should accept Low settings to maintain responsiveness, or alternatively reduce the resolution to 1080p to unlock higher quality presets.

At 3840x2160, none of the measured settings achieve 60 FPS, and only Low at 34.4 FPS reaches a level that could be considered marginally playable. The Medium preset at 24 FPS and High at 23.1 FPS are below acceptable thresholds for an Action RPG where combat timing matters. The Ultra preset at 15.2 FPS is effectively a slideshow. For 4K, the data strongly suggests that this combo is not suitable, and users should either lower the resolution or upgrade the GPU to achieve a reasonable experience.