Greedfall

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination ranks 551st out of 2,938 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the top 19% of all configurations. This is a strong result for a 2019 action RPG, and the measured frame rates confirm that the pairing delivers high performance across all tested resolutions and settings. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, with the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads providing ample headroom even at 1080p.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 551 out of 2,938 tested combinations places it comfortably in the upper quintile of all systems tested for Greedfall. This is not a top-tier result, but it is a very respectable showing, especially considering that many of the combos above it likely feature more recent flagship GPUs. The percentile data for the individual components helps contextualize this rank. The CPU sits in the 92nd percentile against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 92% of processors in general benchmark suites. The GPU, however, sits in only the 55th percentile against all GPUs, which is a more modest standing. This disparity suggests the CPU is doing more heavy lifting in the overall combo ranking than the GPU, but the measured FPS in Greedfall tells a more nuanced story.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D posts an average benchmark score of 58,386. This is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, which scores 58,323 (a delta of 0.1%), and the Intel Core i9-14900, which scores 58,115 (a delta of 0.5%). It is also just behind the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58,504, delta of -0.2%) and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (58,826, delta of -0.7%). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that in raw compute benchmarks, this CPU is essentially tied with a range of high-end server and desktop parts. For gaming, the 96 MB of shared L3 cache is the differentiator, and the Greedfall results reflect that.

For the GPU, the average benchmark score is 13,745, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon 660M (13,812, delta of -0.5%), NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (13,821, delta of -0.5%), and AMD Radeon RX 570X (13,871, delta of -0.9%). The RX 7900 XT is also 1.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (13,543). These comparable scores in synthetic benchmarks are misleading for Greedfall, as the RX 7900 XT’s 20 GB of VRAM and high memory bandwidth prove far more relevant in actual gameplay than these average scores suggest. The combo rank of 551 reflects real-world gaming performance, not just synthetic averages, and the data shows this system is well above average for this title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the primary driver of frame rates in Greedfall, and its specifications directly explain the measured results. The GPU features 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. This is a substantial amount of VRAM for a game from 2019, and it ensures that texture loading and memory allocation are never bottlenecks, even at 4K resolution. The GPU’s boost clock is 2394 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz and a base clock of 1387 MHz. These clocks are high for a RDNA 3.0 part, and they contribute to the GPU’s raw compute throughput of 51.48 TFLOPS FP32.

In Greedfall, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p Low settings, the average FPS is 268, which is extremely high and suggests the CPU or game engine is starting to limit performance. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 50 FPS, a clear sign that the GPU is now the sole limiting factor. The 84 ray tracing cores and 192 ROPs are present, but Greedfall does not heavily utilize ray tracing, so the traditional rasterization performance, driven by the 5,376 shading units and 336 TMUs, is what matters most here. The GPU’s pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for this game’s visuals.

The GPU’s 20 GB VRAM is a key asset. Even at 4K with Ultra settings, the game is unlikely to exceed 20 GB of memory usage, meaning there is no risk of texture thrashing or memory-related stutters. The data supports this: the 4K Medium preset shows an average FPS of 87 with a minimum of 74 FPS, indicating stable frame pacing without VRAM-related dips. The GPU’s bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s ensures that data flows quickly from memory to the compute units, which is critical for maintaining high frame rates in a densely populated action RPG like Greedfall, where scenes can contain many characters and environmental details.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p, the system delivers extremely high frame rates across all settings, with the Low preset hitting an average of 268 FPS and the Medium preset hitting 210 FPS. At 1440p, these numbers drop to 186 FPS for Low and 146 FPS for Medium. At 4K, the averages fall further to 111 FPS for Low and 87 FPS for Medium. This scaling indicates that the system is CPU-limited or engine-limited at lower resolutions, where the GPU has plenty of headroom, but becomes GPU-limited as resolution increases.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial. For the Low preset, the average FPS goes from 268 at 1080p to 111 at 4K, a reduction of approximately 58.6%. For Medium, the drop is from 210 to 87, a reduction of 58.6% as well. For High, the drop is from 191 to 79, a reduction of 58.6%. For Ultra, the drop is from 122 to 50, a reduction of 59.0%. These consistent reductions of roughly 59% across all presets suggest that the scaling is purely resolution-driven, with no other bottlenecks emerging. The GPU’s fillrate and bandwidth are being taxed uniformly as the pixel count increases.

This scaling behavior confirms that the limiting component changes with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost of 5.60 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU, but the game engine itself appears to cap performance around 268 FPS. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as the RX 7900 XT’s compute resources are fully utilized. The 4K Ultra preset, which averages 50 FPS, is a demanding workload, and the GPU’s 51.48 TFLOPS are pushed to their limits. The data shows no signs of CPU throttling at any resolution, as even the 1080p Low results are high and stable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 268 FPS on Low settings. Moving to Medium, the average drops to 210 FPS, with a minimum of 179 FPS and a maximum of 242 FPS. The High preset yields an average of 191 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to an average of 122 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors even with maxed-out settings, as the Ultra preset’s 122 FPS average is still above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. The Low preset averages 186 FPS, which is still very high. The Medium preset averages 146 FPS, with a minimum of 124 FPS and a maximum of 168 FPS. The High preset drops to 132 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 84 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 84 FPS is notable because it is the first preset where the average dips below 100 FPS, suggesting that 1440p Ultra is a demanding workload for this GPU, though still very playable. The minimum FPS of 124 on Medium shows good frame consistency, with no major dips.

At 3840x2160, the system’s performance is more modest, as expected. The Low preset averages 111 FPS, which is still excellent for 4K gaming. The Medium preset averages 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. The High preset drops to 79 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 50 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS is the only measured scenario below 60 FPS, indicating that this is the most demanding configuration. The 4K Medium preset, with its 87 FPS average and 74 FPS minimum, provides a good balance for 4K gaming, and the 4K Low preset at 111 FPS is a viable option for players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the target resolution and the player’s preference for frame rate versus visual quality. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 122 FPS, which is above the 120 FPS threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. This makes Ultra the recommended setting for 1080p, as it provides the best visual fidelity without sacrificing performance. The High preset at 191 FPS is also excellent, but Ultra offers a meaningful visual upgrade for a relatively small FPS cost.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers an average of 132 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. The Ultra preset drops to 84 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant 36% reduction in frame rate compared to High. For players with 144 Hz monitors, High is the recommended setting, as it maintains a frame rate close to the refresh rate. The Medium preset at 146 FPS is also a solid choice, but High provides better visual quality with only a 10% FPS penalty compared to Medium. The Ultra preset at 84 FPS is acceptable for players who prioritize visuals over frame rate, but it is not the best balance.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, with an average of 87 FPS and a minimum of 74 FPS. This provides a smooth gameplay experience while still offering decent visual quality. The Low preset at 111 FPS is even smoother, but the visual downgrade is noticeable. The High preset at 79 FPS is also viable, but the 9% FPS drop from Medium does not justify the modest visual improvement. The Ultra preset at 50 FPS is not recommended for general play, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold and may feel less responsive. For 4K gaming, the data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot, offering a balance of visual fidelity and performance that keeps the average FPS above 85.

Overall, the system is capable of running Greedfall at high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p with Ultra settings, while at 4K, a reduction to Medium or High settings is advisable. The measured data shows that the RX 7900 XT has enough headroom to handle the game’s demands at lower resolutions, but at 4K, the GPU’s compute limits become apparent. Players should target 4K Medium for the best experience, as it delivers a stable 87 FPS average with a minimum of 74 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D plays a supporting role in Greedfall, but its specifications ensure that it never becomes a bottleneck. The CPU features 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) and manufactured on a 4 nm process. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, which are high frequencies that contribute to strong single-threaded performance. The L3 cache is 96 MB shared, which is a large pool that helps with game data access. The CPU’s passmark single-thread score is 4,704, and its cinebench R23 single-core score is 2,228, both of which are strong results.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p, where the average FPS reaches 268 on Low settings. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to saturate it, but the game engine itself may be limiting performance at this point. The CPU’s multi-threaded performance, as measured by cinebench R23 multi-core with a score of 22,807, is more than sufficient for a game that likely does not utilize all 16 threads. The 8 cores are enough to handle the game’s physics, AI, and other background tasks without issue.

The CPU’s 96 MB of L3 cache is a critical feature for gaming. This large cache helps reduce memory latency and improves data access patterns, which is particularly beneficial in open-world or densely populated games like Greedfall. The CPU’s passmark data compression score of 474,501 and encryption score of 22,856 indicate strong data handling capabilities, but these are not directly relevant to gaming. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 58,386 places it in the 92nd percentile, and its nearest rivals are all within 1% of its score, demonstrating that it is a top-tier processor for compute tasks.

In terms of the combo rank, the CPU’s strong performance helps boost the system’s standing. However, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates at 1440p and 4K. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 50, which is a GPU-limited scenario, as the CPU has plenty of headroom. The CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks, such as game logic and draw calls, are processed quickly, but the GPU’s 51.48 TFLOPS of compute power is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The data indicates that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a capable partner for the RX 7900 XT, providing enough performance to avoid bottlenecking the GPU in all tested scenarios.