Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG from Spiders, presents a unique scaling profile on this AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 pairing. The measured data shows a system that is overwhelmingly capable at standard resolutions but hits a hard ceiling when pushed to 4K with maximum settings. The combination of a high-core-count CPU with large L3 cache and a mid-range Ada Lovelace GPU produces a predictable bottleneck shift that players should understand before tweaking options.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows indicate that the "High" preset is the clear sweet spot for this configuration, delivering a playable experience across all three tested resolutions. At 3840x2160, the High preset produces an average of 72.1 FPS, which sits comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. In contrast, the Ultra preset at the same resolution drops to 48.2 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a responsive action RPG. The data suggests that the gap between High and Ultra—a difference of 23.9 FPS—represents diminishing returns in visual fidelity for a significant performance cost.

At 2560x1440, the High preset achieves 123.1 FPS, which is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset at this resolution yields 132.4 FPS, but the difference between Medium and High is only 9.3 FPS, making High the superior choice for the added visual quality. The 1080p results further reinforce this pattern: High delivers 177.6 FPS, while Ultra drops to 111.5 FPS. The recommendation is to use High settings at any resolution, as it provides the best balance of image quality and frame rate headroom.

For players with 4K displays, the Low preset at 102.3 FPS is an option, but the visual downgrade is substantial compared to the 72.1 FPS from High. The Medium preset at 82.7 FPS offers a middle ground, yet High still maintains a 10.6 FPS advantage over Medium while presumably offering superior textures and effects. The data strongly favors High as the default recommendation, with Ultra reserved only for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate and are willing to accept sub-60 FPS performance at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for a smooth 4K experience?

A: The High preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 72.1 FPS, which is the highest frame rate among the quality-focused presets (excluding Low). Ultra drops to 48.2 FPS, making High the optimal choice for maintaining playable performance at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's strong multi-threaded performance (evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 34004) ensures the GPU is not held back. The Low preset reaches 245.9 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the RTX 4070 well beyond typical display refresh rates.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 sufficient for Ultra settings?

A: The data shows Ultra is only viable at 1080p, where it achieves 111.5 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 81.6 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 48.2 FPS. The GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate, but the raw compute power (29.15 TFLOPS) limits Ultra to lower resolutions.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 123.1 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings. This is well above the 60 FPS standard and suitable for 120Hz or 144Hz displays, providing a smooth experience without needing to lower quality.

Q: How does the 3DMark Steel Nomad score relate to Greedfall?

A: The RTX 4070 scores 3854 in 3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12), which is a modern synthetic benchmark. Greedfall, being a 2019 title with less demanding rendering, performs better than this score might suggest, as evidenced by the 177.6 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: Why does the Low preset at 4K outperform High at 1080p?

A: The Low preset at 3840x2160 achieves 102.3 FPS, while High at 1920x1080 reaches 177.6 FPS. The resolution increase from 1080p to 4K (a 4x pixel count) reduces frame rates, but the GPU still delivers over 100 FPS at Low, showing the RTX 4070 is not severely bottlenecked by pixel throughput in this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 plays a central role in shaping Greedfall's performance, particularly as resolution increases. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game's texture loads at all tested settings. The boost clock of 2475 MHz, paired with 5888 shading units, delivers the raw compute necessary for the frame rates observed. The data shows the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K, where the Ultra preset's 48.2 FPS average represents a fundamental compute ceiling rather than a memory constraint.

At 1080p, the RTX 4070 operates well within its capabilities, as evidenced by the 245.9 FPS at Low settings. The GPU's 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than enough to handle Greedfall's rendering demands at lower pixel counts. However, the scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals that the GPU's fill rate and shader throughput are the primary bottlenecks at higher resolutions. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s determine how quickly the card can process the increased pixel load.

The 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs places the RTX 4070 in a competitive position, though its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.6% lower average score) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (2.2% higher). This positioning suggests the desktop RTX 4070 is a solid mid-range performer, but its architecture (Ada Lovelace) and 5 nm process node do not exempt it from resolution-based limitations. The GPU's 200 W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its performance class, though the 16-pin power connector is worth noting for system compatibility.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB proves adequate for Greedfall across all settings, as no memory-related performance anomalies appear in the measured data. The GDDR6X memory at 21 Gbps effective speed provides the bandwidth needed for 4K textures without causing stutters or frame drops beyond the expected compute limits. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures compatibility with modern rendering paths, though Greedfall's 2019 release date means it likely relies on DirectX 11 features, which the card handles with ease.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4070 demonstrates its full potential with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The Low preset achieves 245.9 FPS, while Medium reaches 196.9 FPS, High hits 177.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 111.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a performance drop of 134.4 FPS, representing a 54.6% reduction in frame rate as settings increase. The High preset remains above 170 FPS, making it ideal for 144Hz displays, while Ultra still exceeds 100 FPS for high-refresh-rate gaming.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates scale downward as expected. Low produces 172.9 FPS, Medium drops to 132.4 FPS, High maintains 123.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 81.6 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at this resolution is 41.5 FPS, which is more pronounced than at 1080p (66.1 FPS difference). This indicates that Ultra settings at 1440p push the GPU harder, but the results remain playable for most users, with only the most demanding settings dipping below 90 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the data reveals a significant performance cliff. Low settings yield 102.3 FPS, which is still excellent for 4K gaming. Medium drops to 82.7 FPS, High falls to 72.1 FPS, and Ultra crashes to 48.2 FPS. The Ultra preset's sub-50 FPS average makes it unsuitable for smooth gameplay, while High at 72.1 FPS remains the recommended choice. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 54.1 FPS, showing that the GPU's compute resources are heavily taxed at this resolution regardless of preset.

The overall combo rank of 461 out of 1705 tested configurations places this system in the top 27% of all CPU-GPU combinations for Greedfall. This ranking reflects the strong 1080p and 1440p performance, while the 4K Ultra weakness prevents a higher placement. The data confirms that this pairing is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at lower resolutions, with 4K requiring settings compromises to maintain playable frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K follows a clear pattern that identifies the limiting component. At High settings, performance goes from 177.6 FPS at 1080p to 123.1 FPS at 1440p (a 30.7% reduction) and then to 72.1 FPS at 4K (a 59.4% reduction from 1080p). This scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by roughly 59%, which aligns with the increased rendering load.

The Low preset shows similar scaling behavior: 245.9 FPS at 1080p, 172.9 FPS at 1440p (29.7% drop), and 102.3 FPS at 4K (58.4% drop from 1080p). This consistency across settings indicates that the RTX 4070's compute throughput is the primary constraint as resolution increases, not memory bandwidth or CPU limitations. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's high single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 1212 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 4800) ensures that the CPU does not become a bottleneck even at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 240 FPS.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At High settings, the drop from 123.1 FPS to 72.1 FPS represents a 41.4% reduction, while the pixel count increases by 125%. This sub-linear scaling suggests that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound but also benefits from reduced CPU overhead at lower resolutions, where the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads can more easily keep up with frame generation. The L3 cache of 96 MB likely helps maintain consistent frame pacing, but the data shows the GPU's fill rate is the dominant factor at 4K.

The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest scaling curve, with 111.5 FPS at 1080p, 81.6 FPS at 1440p (26.8% drop), and 48.2 FPS at 4K (56.8% drop from 1080p). This suggests that Ultra settings amplify the GPU's workload disproportionately at higher resolutions, likely due to increased shader complexity and post-processing effects. The result is that 4K Ultra becomes unplayable, while 1440p Ultra remains viable for 60Hz displays. The data clearly indicates that players targeting 4K should use High settings, while 1440p users can choose between High and Ultra based on their refresh rate preferences.