Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, responds predictably but revealingly to the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination. The data shows a system that prioritizes raw framerate at lower resolutions, but begins to show its limitations as pixel counts rise. This analysis examines the measured FPS across three resolutions and four settings presets, interpreting what those numbers mean for the underlying hardware balance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a steep and consistent penalty as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average framerate drops from 191 FPS at 1080p to 132 FPS at 1440p, a 31% reduction, and then to 79 FPS at 4K, a further 40% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where the rendering workload increases exponentially with pixel count.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story but with a more pronounced drop. At 1080p, the system pushes an average of 268 FPS, which falls to 186 FPS at 1440p and then to 111 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is surprisingly low relative to the 1080p figure, suggesting that even with minimal graphical load, the pixel fill rate required at 3840x2160 becomes a significant hurdle for the RX 7900 XT.

The Medium preset, which is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, shows the most complete picture. Average FPS goes from 210 at 1080p, to 146 at 1440p, and finally to 87 at 4K. The minimum FPS at 4K is 74, which is 85% of the average, indicating some frame time variance but no catastrophic stuttering. At 1080p, the minimum of 179 FPS is 85% of the 210 average, showing a similar consistency.

The Ultra preset delivers the lowest raw numbers, with averages of 122 FPS at 1080p, 84 FPS at 1440p, and 50 FPS at 4K. This 4K result is particularly telling: a 50 FPS average means the combo is only barely playable at the highest quality setting and resolution. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 59% performance loss, which is the largest percentage drop across all settings, implying that the combination of high graphical features and 4K resolution pushes the GPU to its absolute limit.

The data indicates that the RX 7900 XT is the primary limiting component as resolution increases. The Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is unlikely to be the bottleneck at 4K, as the CPU workload for Greedfall does not scale with resolution in the same way as the GPU's rendering tasks. The consistent 40-50% performance drops when moving from 1440p to 4K across all settings strongly suggest a GPU-bound scenario at the highest resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 31 chip, has a 20 GB GDDR6 memory pool on a 320-bit bus, delivering 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This substantial memory allocation is well-suited for high-resolution textures, but the benchmark data suggests that raw bandwidth may not be the only factor at play. The GPU's boost clock is 2394 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz and a base clock of 1387 MHz.

The 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS average is the most critical data point for understanding the GPU's role. This score, combined with the 4K High result of 79 FPS, shows that the card can handle 4K but requires careful settings management. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 61 FPS (111 vs 50), which is a 55% performance swing based purely on graphical settings. This wide range suggests that the GPU's compute resources, not its memory capacity, are the limiting factor when all features are enabled.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its overall capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 5623, and the PassMark G3D score is 29009. These numbers place the GPU in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, which is surprisingly modest for a high-end card. The nearest rivals, based on average benchmark score, include the AMD Radeon 660M and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile, which are very different classes of hardware. This percentile ranking suggests that while the card excels in specific gaming scenarios, its aggregate benchmark performance is not as dominant as its specifications might imply.

The 20 GB of VRAM is never explicitly stressed in the measured FPS data, but it is likely sufficient for all tested settings. The fact that Low settings at 4K achieve 111 FPS while Ultra only achieves 50 FPS points to compute shaders and effects, not memory capacity, as the performance differentiator. The GPU's FP32 performance of 51.48 TFLOPS must be fully utilized to render Greedfall's detailed environments, and the data shows that this compute power is the bottleneck at 4K Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 4K, it delivers an average of 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS, which is comfortably playable. At 1440p, it achieves 146 FPS average with a 124 FPS minimum, and at 1080p it reaches 210 FPS average with a 179 FPS minimum. This preset provides a significant framerate advantage over High settings while likely maintaining acceptable visual quality.

The High preset is the next best option for 4K gaming, with a 79 FPS average. However, the drop from Medium to High at 4K is only 8 FPS (87 to 79), which suggests that the visual improvements from Medium to High are relatively cheap in performance terms. At lower resolutions, High settings become more attractive, with 132 FPS at 1440p and 191 FPS at 1080p.

The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p or 1440p gaming. At 1080p, the 122 FPS average is perfectly playable, and at 1440p, the 84 FPS average is acceptable for most gamers. However, the 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS average is below the threshold for smooth gameplay, and the lack of recorded minimum FPS for this setting suggests potential instability.

The Low preset delivers the highest framerates but is likely visually unappealing. The 268 FPS at 1080p is excessive for most displays, and the 111 FPS at 4K is respectable but comes at the cost of graphical fidelity. For players prioritizing maximum fluidity over visuals, Low settings at 1440p, with 186 FPS, might be the sweet spot for competitive play.

The data suggests that Medium is the default recommendation for this combo, with High as a viable alternative for those with 1080p or 1440p displays. Ultra should be reserved for users who prioritize visual quality and have displays that can tolerate sub-60 FPS at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset for this combo is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 268 FPS. Medium settings produce a 210 FPS average, with a minimum of 179 FPS and a maximum of 242 FPS. High settings deliver 191 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 122 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, Low settings reach 186 FPS average. Medium settings produce 146 FPS average, with a minimum of 124 FPS and a maximum of 168 FPS. High settings deliver 132 FPS average, and Ultra settings fall to 84 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, Low settings achieve 111 FPS average. Medium settings produce 87 FPS average, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. High settings deliver 79 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 50 FPS average.

The medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data, which shows a consistent pattern. At 1080p, the spread between minimum and maximum is 63 FPS, at 1440p it is 44 FPS, and at 4K it is 26 FPS. This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is working closer to its maximum capacity, leaving less headroom for framerate spikes.

The relative performance between settings is consistent across resolutions. Low is always the fastest, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest. The percentage difference between Low and Ultra grows with resolution: at 1080p, Ultra is 54% slower than Low (122 vs 268), at 1440p it is 55% slower (84 vs 186), and at 4K it is 55% slower (50 vs 111). This consistency suggests that the settings presets scale linearly in their GPU demands.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only with specific settings. The Medium preset averages 87 FPS at 3840x2160, and the High preset averages 79 FPS. However, the Ultra preset falls to 50 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the highest framerate this combo can achieve?

A: The maximum recorded average is 268 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The Medium preset at 1080p has a maximum FPS of 242, which is the highest recorded maximum value in the dataset.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1440p?

A: The data suggests the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the framerate drops by 30% or more compared to 1080p across all settings, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are likely sufficient to feed the GPU at this resolution.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 averages 50 FPS, while High averages 79 FPS. This is a 37% performance loss for enabling ultra settings. The Ultra preset also lacks recorded minimum FPS data, unlike the Medium preset which shows a 74 FPS minimum.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings average 268 FPS, while Ultra settings average 122 FPS. This represents a 54% decrease in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality preset.

Q: Is this combo ranked highly for Greedfall?

A: The combo ranks 743rd out of 3703 tested combinations for this game. This places it in the top 20% of all tested combos, indicating strong performance even if it is not in the top tier.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, with a 64 MB L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16262 and a Geekbench multicore score of 14118. PassMark multithread score is 39002, and the 3DMark max threads score is 10075.

The CPU's role in Greedfall appears to be secondary to the GPU, based on the resolution scaling data. The framerate drops as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. However, the CPU's single-thread performance is also important for game logic and physics. The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 1527, and the 3DMark single-thread score is 941, indicating capable per-core performance.

The CPU's percentile ranking is 87, meaning it outperforms 87% of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, which has a deltaPct of 0.3, and the Intel Core i7-14650HX, which is 0.5% faster. This places the 5900X in a competitive position, though not at the absolute top of the CPU hierarchy.

The 12-core configuration is likely overkill for Greedfall, which is an older Action RPG from 2019. The game probably does not utilize all 24 threads effectively, but the high boost clock of 4.80 GHz ensures that the few threads it does use are well-served. The CPU's 105 W TDP and AM4 socket are standard for its generation, and its 8,300 million transistors on a 7 nm process are efficient.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 268 FPS, which is a high enough framerate to potentially stress the CPU's single-thread performance. However, without specific CPU utilization data for Greedfall, the exact bottleneck cannot be determined. The CPU's strong multi-threaded scores, like the PassMark data compression score of 499968, indicate it has ample headroom for any game-related tasks.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination ranks 743rd out of 3703 tested combos for Greedfall. This puts it in the 80th percentile of all combinations, meaning it outperforms 80% of the tested setups. This is a strong ranking, but not exceptional for a high-end CPU and GPU pairing.

The GPU's individual percentile ranking is 55, which is notably lower than the CPU's 87. This discrepancy suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in this combo for this specific game. The GPU's nearest rivals, based on average benchmark score, include the AMD Radeon 660M and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile, which are generally considered lower-tier graphics solutions. This indicates that the RX 7900 XT's aggregate benchmark performance does not reflect its gaming capabilities in Greedfall.

The CPU's ranking is much stronger, with a 87th percentile placing. Its nearest rivals are within 0.5% of its average benchmark score, showing tight competition at its performance level. The Intel Core i7-14650HX is 0.5% faster, while the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 is 0.4% slower.

The combo's overall rank of 743 suggests that while the individual components are strong, their pairing for Greedfall does not produce top-tier results. The 4K Ultra average of 50 FPS is a clear weakness, and even at 1440p, the Ultra preset's 84 FPS is not exceptional for a high-end GPU. The data implies that a different GPU, or perhaps a more balanced CPU-GPU pairing, might achieve a higher rank for this particular game.

The 20 GB of VRAM and 800.0 GB/s bandwidth are not reflected in the combo's rank, suggesting that Greedfall does not heavily stress memory capacity or bandwidth. The game's age and graphical complexity likely mean that compute performance, not memory, is the key factor in determining the final rank. The combo's position in the top 20% of all tested combinations is respectable, but the data clearly shows that the GPU's overall benchmark standing, in the 55th percentile, holds back the pairing from achieving a higher rank.