Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, is examined here with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. The measured data shows strong performance across all resolutions, with the combination ranking 220th out of 3703 tested hardware configurations in this title. The results demonstrate that this pairing is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p and delivers a smooth 4K experience at high settings, while the CPU's strong single-threaded performance helps push very high frame rates at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear progression of GPU-bound behavior. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 235 FPS at 1920x1080 to 163 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 30.6%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 97 FPS, which represents a 40.5% drop from the 1440p figure and a 58.7% decline from the 1080p starting point. This pattern indicates that while the GeForce RTX 5080 remains capable at 4K, the pixel throughput demand begins to significantly constrain performance at that resolution.

The scaling pattern holds across other settings presets. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 329 FPS at 1080p to 228 FPS at 1440p (down 30.7%) and then to 136 FPS at 4K (down 40.4% from 1440p). The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 259 FPS at 1080p, 179 FPS at 1440p (down 30.9%), and 107 FPS at 4K (down 40.2% from 1440p). Ultra settings follow the same relative pattern, with 150 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p (down 30.7%), and 62 FPS at 4K (down 40.4% from 1440p).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings presets is notable. The near-identical 30% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and the subsequent 40% reduction from 1440p to 4K strongly suggest that the limiting component at higher resolutions is the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth. The RTX 5080's 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 293.1 GPixel/s pixel rate become the bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU's 3.80 GHz base clock and 5.50 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom at lower resolutions.

At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra settings is 179 FPS (329 vs 150), indicating that even at the highest settings the GPU is not fully saturated and the CPU is playing a more significant role. By 4K, this gap narrows to 74 FPS (136 vs 62), confirming that resolution scaling increasingly shifts the bottleneck to the GPU. The data suggests that for players targeting 4K, the RTX 5080 delivers playable performance at High settings, while at 1440p it offers excellent headroom for high refresh rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 235 FPS average, which is 5 FPS lower than the 259 FPS of Medium but provides a substantial visual upgrade. The Ultra preset at 150 FPS is still well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on gaming monitors, but the 85 FPS drop from High to Ultra is significant for a marginal visual improvement in most titles.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 163 FPS average, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz and even approaches 165 Hz class monitors. The Medium preset at 179 FPS offers a 16 FPS advantage but with reduced visual fidelity. The Ultra preset drops to 104 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices the high-refresh advantage. The 1440p High setting appears to be the sweet spot for this hardware combination, delivering both excellent image quality and smooth motion.

For 4K resolution at 3840x2160, the High preset produces 97 FPS average, which is suitable for 60 Hz displays and even offers headroom for VRR monitors. The Medium preset at 107 FPS provides a 10 FPS improvement at a noticeable visual cost. The Ultra preset at 62 FPS is technically playable but falls below the 97 FPS of High and may introduce more noticeable frame pacing issues. The Low preset at 136 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution, as the visual degradation outweighs the frame rate benefit.

The data indicates that the High preset is the recommended choice across all three resolutions. At 1080p it provides 235 FPS, at 1440p it delivers 163 FPS, and at 4K it maintains 97 FPS. The Medium preset offers marginally higher frame rates but with reduced visual quality, while the Ultra preset provides diminishing returns for a significant performance penalty. The measured minimum FPS for Medium settings at 1080p is 220 FPS, at 1440p is 152 FPS, and at 4K is 91 FPS, all of which are well above typical display refresh rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 plays a central role in determining Greedfall's performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for handling the game's texture-heavy environments at 4K resolution. The memory clock runs at 1875 MHz, effective 30 Gbps, and this bandwidth appears sufficient to avoid memory-related stutters, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across settings.

The RTX 5080's clock speeds are 2295 MHz base and 2617 MHz boost. These relatively high clocks contribute to the GPU's ability to maintain strong performance even when pixel count increases. The 10752 shading units and 112 ROPs provide the computational throughput needed for Greedfall's rendering demands. The pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s directly influence how the GPU handles the game's visual effects at different resolutions.

Benchmark data shows the RTX 5080 achieves an average score of 56083 across various tests, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 8060S, scores 55757, a 0.6% difference, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367, putting the RTX 5080 2.2% behind that card. This competitive positioning explains why the GPU performs well but not exceptionally at 4K Ultra settings in Greedfall, where it manages 62 FPS.

At 4K resolution, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. The transition from High to Ultra settings at 3840x2160 reduces average FPS from 97 to 62, a 36.1% drop that is more severe than the 30.7% drop seen at 1440p or 36.7% at 1080p for the same settings change. This indicates that the Ultra preset's additional visual effects place substantial demands on the GPU's compute and memory subsystems, and the RTX 5080's resources are more constrained at this resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combination achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 329 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At High settings, the average drops to 235 FPS, while Medium achieves 259 FPS and Ultra reaches 150 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080 scores 56083 on average, which is 326 points higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S at 55757 (a 0.6% advantage) and 1284 points higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54828 (a 2.3% advantage). However, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367, putting it 2.2% ahead of the RTX 5080.

Q: At 4K resolution, which settings preset provides the highest average FPS?

A: The Low preset provides the highest average FPS at 3840x2160 with 136 FPS. This is followed by Medium at 107 FPS, High at 97 FPS, and Ultra at 62 FPS.

Q: What is the measured minimum FPS for Medium settings at 1440p?

A: The measured minimum FPS for Medium settings at 2560x1440 is 152 FPS, with a maximum of 206 FPS and an average of 179 FPS.

Q: What percentile does the Ryzen 7 9700X rank in among all CPUs?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X ranks in the 86th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37943. Its closest rival is the Intel Core i9-14901E with a score of 37911, a 0.1% difference.

Q: How much does the average FPS drop from 1440p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 163 at 2560x1440 to 97 at 3840x2160, representing a 40.5% reduction.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X provides the processing foundation for this gaming combination. With 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, the CPU offers strong multi-threaded performance while maintaining excellent single-thread capabilities. The base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz are well-suited for gaming workloads, where single-core performance often dictates frame rates.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its capability. In Cinebench R23, the multicore score is 20485 and singlecore is 2211cars. The Geekbench multicore score of 17906 and singlecore score of 3023 further confirm its strength. The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core help reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for game logic and physics calculations.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combination achieves 329 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's maximum frame rate capability for this game. The 3DMark scores provide context: single-thread score of 1280, 2-thread score of 2525, 4-thread score of 4869, 8-thread score of 8184, and 16-thread score of 9824. The scaling from 8 to 16 threads is modest (8184 to 9824, a 20% gain), suggesting that Greedfall does not heavily utilize more than 8 cores.

The Ryzen 7 9700X's 86th percentile ranking places it near its rivals, with the Intel Core i9-14901E scoring 37911 (0.1% behind), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 scoring 37904 (0.1% behind), and the Intel Core 5 211E scoring 37829 (0.3% behind). This tight clustering indicates that the CPU is not a differentiator in this game, as the frame rates at 1080p are already very high.

At 4K resolution, the CPU's contribution diminishes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck. However, the CPU's strong single-threaded performance ensures that frame pacing remains consistent, as evidenced by the measured minimum FPS of 91 at 4K Medium settings. The CPU's 65W TDP and 4nm process node also mean it runs efficiently, which is beneficial for sustained gaming sessions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates for Greedfall with the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is as follows:

At 1920x1080:

• Low settings: 329 FPS average
• Medium settings: 259 FPS average, with 220 FPS minimum and 297 FPS maximum
• High settings: 235 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 150 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low settings: 228 FPS average
• Medium settings: 179 FPS average, with 152 FPS minimum and 206 FPS maximum
• High settings: 163 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 104 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low settings: 136 FPS average
• Medium settings: 107 FPS average, with 91 FPS minimum and 123 FPS maximum
• High settings: 97 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 62 FPS average

The Medium settings data is the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum values, providing insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the minimum of 220 FPS is 85% of the average, while at 1440p the minimum of 152 FPS is 85% of the average, and at 4K the minimum of 91 FPS is 85% of the average. This consistent ratio suggests stable frame delivery without significant hitches.

The scaling between settings at each resolution is notable. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium reduces FPS by 21.3%, then to High by 9.3% more, and to Ultra by 36.2% from High. At 1440p, the same progression shows 21.5% reduction from Low to Medium, 8.9% from Medium to High, and 36.2% from High to Ultra. At 4K, the reductions are 21.3% from Low to Medium, 9.3% from Medium to High, and 36.1% from High to Ultra.

This consistent percentage pattern across all three resolutions confirms that the settings presets scale uniformly, and the GPU's performance characteristics are stable regardless of resolution. The Ultra preset consistently costs about 36% of frame rate compared to High, making it the most demanding setting. The High preset offers the best balance, providing 235 FPS at 1080p, 163 FPS at 1440p, and 97 FPS at 4K, all of which are suitable for smooth gameplay on modern displays.