Greedfall

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 in Greedfall is a combination where the GPU is the decisive bottleneck at almost every setting. The Ryzen 7 9700X, with its 8 cores and 16 threads, offers a strong foundation, but the GTX 1070’s 8 GB of VRAM and older architecture struggle to translate that CPU potential into high frame rates at higher presets. The data shows a clear pattern: this combo is playable at 1080p, acceptable at 1440p, and only manageable at 4K when settings are drastically lowered.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a modern desktop processor built on the 4 nm Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 31588 and a Geekbench multicore score of 17002. Its single-thread performance is equally robust, scoring 4459 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 3353 in Geekbench single-core, which is crucial for older game engines like the one powering Greedfall.

However, the measured frame rates in Greedfall indicate that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 125.4 FPS, which shows the CPU can push high frame rates when the GPU load is light. The CPU’s passmark single-thread score of 4654 and its 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 suggest it has ample headroom for this title. The processor sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14500HX (0.2% ahead) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (0.6% behind), confirming it is a top-tier performer that will not hold back the GTX 1070.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth provide sufficient data throughput for an Action RPG, but the benchmark results show that as resolution and settings increase, the frame rate drops proportionally more than the CPU's capabilities would suggest. For example, dropping from 1080p Low to 1080p Ultra costs 65.7 FPS, a 52% reduction, which is far more than any CPU bottleneck would explain. The CPU role here is to provide a stable base, but the GPU is the component that dictates the playable experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the definitive bottleneck in this pairing. It features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1506 MHz, boosting to 1683 MHz. While this was a capable card in its era, its Pascal architecture (16 nm process) and 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are now dated. The GPU’s percentile rank is 51st among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 12331 places it just 0.7% above the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 and 1.4% below the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER.

In Greedfall, the VRAM capacity is adequate, but the raw compute power is insufficient for high settings at higher resolutions. At 1080p Ultra, the combo drops to 59.7 FPS, which is borderline playable. At 1440p Ultra, the frame rate falls to 36.6 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 23.4 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra at any resolution is severe; for instance, at 2560x1440, going from High (63 FPS) to Ultra (36.6 FPS) is a 42% performance loss, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces effects that the GTX 1070’s 1920 shading units and 64 ROPs cannot handle efficiently.

The GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score (48) is notably low, and its DirectX 11 score (100) suggests that Greedfall's engine, which likely relies on DX11 features, is not a best-case scenario for this card. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient, as evidenced by the fact that lowering settings helps significantly—4K Low achieves 52.2 FPS versus 23.4 FPS at Ultra—showing that memory constraints are not the primary issue; rather, it is the shader and texture processing throughput that limits performance.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration ranks 1433rd out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the bottom 16% of all tested systems. This ranking is consistent with the GPU's age and mid-tier percentile. The combination of a high-end modern CPU with a mid-range 2016 GPU creates a lopsided system where the CPU is underutilized. The rank is not surprising given that the GTX 1070 performs at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, meaning half of the GPUs in the database are faster.

The combo's poor ranking is driven by the GPU's inability to maintain high frame rates at 1440p and 4K. The CPU, which ranks in the 89th percentile, is effectively wasted in this pairing for this game. At 1080p Low, the system performs very well (125.4 FPS), but this is the only scenario where the hardware feels balanced. The data suggests that any improvement in the GPU would yield substantial gains, as the CPU is already 0.2% faster than the Intel Core i5-14500HX and 0.8% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 5 225H in average scores, providing plenty of headroom for a more powerful graphics card.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo playable at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data shows playable frame rates at all tested settings. At 1080p Low, it achieves 125.4 FPS, at Medium 99 FPS, at High 90.6 FPS, and at Ultra 59.7 FPS. All are above 60 FPS except Ultra, which is still functional.

Q: What is the best resolution for a smooth experience?

A: At 2560x1440, the combo can achieve 63 FPS on High settings, which is smooth. However, dropping to 1440p Ultra yields only 36.6 FPS, so High is the practical ceiling for this resolution.

Q: Can this system handle 4K?

A: The data indicates that 4K is only viable on Low settings, where it averages 52.2 FPS. On Medium, it drops to 37.5 FPS, on High to 35.5 FPS, and on Ultra to 23.4 FPS, making the latter unplayable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Evidence includes the frame rate dropping by 52% from 1080p Low to Ultra, while the CPU's multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multicore score of 31588) is far above what a 2019 game requires.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1070 has an average benchmark score of 12331, which is 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (12241) and 1.4% lower than the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (12504). This shows it is a mid-pack performer.

Q: What is the expected frame rate at 1440p on High?

A: The measured average FPS is 63, which is above the 60 FPS threshold, making it a viable setting for this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU bottleneck. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 90.6 FPS at 1080p to 63 FPS at 1440p (a 30% reduction) and then to 35.5 FPS at 4K (a 61% reduction from 1440p). At Low settings, the drop is from 125.4 FPS at 1080p to 87.1 FPS at 1440p (31% loss) and then to 52.2 FPS at 4K (40% loss from 1440p). The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe than from 1080p to 1440p, which is typical for a GPU that is running out of pixel fillrate and shading power.

This scaling pattern is diagnostic. A CPU bottleneck would show a much smaller difference between 1080p and 1440p, since the CPU load is resolution-independent. Here, the 1080p to 1440p drop at High settings is 27.6 FPS, while the 1440p to 4K drop is another 27.5 FPS. The linearity of this drop strongly indicates that the GTX 1070’s pixel processing rate (107.7 GPixel/s) is the limiting factor. The data also shows that the Ultra preset is disproportionately heavy, as the drop from High to Ultra at 1080p is 30.9 FPS, whereas the drop from Medium to High is only 8.4 FPS, suggesting that certain Ultra-specific effects are extremely costly on this architecture.

Settings Recommendations

For a balanced experience at 1080p, High settings are recommended, as they offer 90.6 FPS, which is smooth and visually detailed. Dropping to Medium only gains 8.4 FPS (to 99 FPS), which is not worth the visual downgrade. At 1440p, High settings are the best choice, delivering 63 FPS; Medium offers 69.1 FPS, a marginal improvement, but High provides the best visual fidelity while remaining above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 1440p, as it drops to 36.6 FPS, which is a 42% reduction from High.

At 4K, the only playable option is Low, which averages 52.2 FPS. Medium (37.5 FPS) and High (35.5 FPS) are close but below 40 FPS, which is not ideal for an action RPG. The data shows that the difference between Medium and High at 4K is only 2 FPS, so if a user insists on 4K, High is not much worse than Medium, but Low is the only preset that approaches playability. For the best overall experience, 1080p High or 1440p High offer the optimal balance of frame rate and image quality with this hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are as follows:

• Low: 125.4 FPS
• Medium: 99 FPS
• High: 90.6 FPS
• Ultra: 59.7 FPS

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 87.1 FPS
• Medium: 69.1 FPS
• High: 63 FPS
• Ultra: 36.6 FPS

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 52.2 FPS
• Medium: 37.5 FPS
• High: 35.5 FPS
• Ultra: 23.4 FPS

These numbers confirm that the GTX 1070 is the primary constraint. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 30% of the frame rate at most settings, and the transition from 1440p to 4K costs another 40-50%. The Ultra preset is consistently the worst-performing, with the most significant drop-off occurring between High and Ultra across all resolutions. The data is measured, not estimated, and it clearly shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p viable only at lower presets.