Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, shows a wide performance gulf between its Low and Ultra presets when paired with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 9070. The measured data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, but the CPU's strong multi-threading capabilities ensure that even the most demanding settings remain playable.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, but the rate of decline varies significantly by preset. At Low settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 sees average FPS fall from 236.8 to 97.4, a reduction of roughly 59%. This steep drop indicates that even at the lowest graphical load, the Radeon RX 9070 is the primary bottleneck as pixel count quadruples. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient, but the sheer fill rate demand at 4K overwhelms the 322.6 GPixel/s pixel rate.

Moving to High settings tells a similar story. The average FPS at 1920x1080 is 167.6, which drops to 118.7 at 2560x1440 and further to 66.7 at 3840x2160. The scaling here is more linear, with the 4K figure being roughly 40% of the 1080p result. This pattern suggests the game's visual complexity at High settings increases the load on the GPU's 3584 shading units and 224 texture mapping units, making resolution the dominant factor.

Ultra settings amplify this effect dramatically. At 1080p, the combo achieves 104.8 FPS, but this plummets to 73.1 at 1440p and then to just 43.3 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half of the 1080p number, indicating that the RX 9070's 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is stretched to its limits. The CPU, with its 12 cores and 24 threads based on Zen 3 architecture, is clearly not the limiting factor here, as its high single-thread score of 4680 in Cinebench R23 suggests it can feed frames much faster than the GPU can render them at this resolution.

The data indicates that Greedfall's engine scales predictably with resolution, but the curve steepens at Ultra. For 4K gaming, users should expect the RX 9070 to be the sole determinant of performance, as the Ryzen 9 5900X's capabilities far exceed what the game demands at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Greedfall, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 556th out of 1705 combos. This places it in the upper third of all tested configurations, which is a solid result given the game's age and the hardware's specifications.

The ranking is influenced by the CPU's overall performance percentile of 90 among all processors, meaning it outperforms 90% of tested CPUs in synthetic benchmarks. However, the GPU's percentile is lower at 79, which pulls the combo's gaming ranking down slightly. The CPU's average benchmark score of 39453 positions it close to rivals like the AMD EPYC 4245P, which scores 39383 with a 0.2% delta, and the Intel Core i7-13700, which scores 39857 with a -1% delta. The Ryzen 9 5900X sits between these two in synthetic tests, but in Greedfall specifically, the combo's rank of 556 suggests that the GPU is the weaker link in this pairing.

The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA A2 at 34866 (-0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA Quadro GV100 at 34677 (0.3% delta). The RX 9070's score of 34780 is competitive with these, but none of them are gaming-focused cards, which explains why the combo does not rank higher. The measured FPS data shows that this configuration delivers smooth performance at 1440p and playable frame rates at 4K, but it does not break into the top tier of Greedfall combos, likely due to the GPU's mid-range positioning in the broader benchmark hierarchy.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Greedfall?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches an average of 236.8 FPS. This is the peak measured performance across all tested configurations.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K with High settings, the average FPS is 66.7, which is playable. However, at 4K with Ultra settings, the average drops to 43.3, which may feel less smooth for some users.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 5900X scores 39453 on average, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 4245P and 0.9% higher than the Intel Core i7-13700F. It is 1% lower than the Intel Core i7-13700.

Q: What is the GPU's benchmark percentile?

A: The Radeon RX 9070 has a percentile of 79 among all tested GPUs, meaning it performs better than 79% of them in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: What is the most demanding preset tested?

A: Ultra settings at 3840x2160 produce the lowest average FPS of 43.3. This is the most demanding configuration in the measured data.

Q: Is there a large performance gap between Medium and High settings?

A: At 1080p, the gap is 17.4 FPS (185.0 for Medium vs 167.6 for High). At 4K, the gap narrows to 11.0 FPS (77.7 for Medium vs 66.7 for High), showing that High is more demanding but the relative difference shrinks at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, High settings at 2560x1440 appear to be the sweet spot for this combo. The measured average of 118.7 FPS at this configuration provides a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold, while preserving more graphical detail than Medium. At 4K, High settings are still viable with 66.7 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users prioritizing resolution over maximum fidelity.

Ultra settings should be avoided at 4K, as the 43.3 FPS average is below the standard for fluid gameplay. However, at 1440p, Ultra delivers 73.1 FPS, which is acceptable for those who prefer maximum quality over frame rate headroom. Low settings are only recommended for competitive play or when targeting the highest possible refresh rates, as the 236.8 FPS at 1080p Low is far beyond what most displays can show.

The data suggests that Medium settings offer diminishing returns over High. At 1440p, Medium achieves 130.9 FPS versus High's 118.7, a difference of only 12.2 FPS, while the visual quality drop is noticeable. Therefore, High is the recommended preset for most users, with Ultra reserved for 1080p or 1440p use cases where frame rate can be sacrificed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets is usable. Low settings produce an average of 236.8 FPS, Medium reaches 185.0 FPS, High hits 167.6 FPS, and Ultra trails at 104.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 132.0 FPS, showing the GPU's headroom at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low averages 164.0 FPS, Medium 130.9 FPS, High 118.7 FPS, and Ultra 73.1 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Ultra, where the average falls by 31.7 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings are heavily resolution-dependent.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress significantly. Low averages 97.4 FPS, Medium 77.7 FPS, High 66.7 FPS, and Ultra 43.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 54.1 FPS, which is the smallest absolute spread across all resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is the limiting factor across all settings, and even dropping to Low cannot fully compensate for the pixel count. The Ryzen 9 5900X's multi-threaded performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 33150, ensures that the CPU never becomes a bottleneck in any of these scenarios.