Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The benchmark data for Greedfall, an Action RPG released in September 2019, shows a pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivering a wide range of frame rates across resolutions and settings. With measured average FPS ranging from 46 at 4K Ultra to 247 at 1080p Low, this combination offers flexibility for different display targets, though the data reveals clear scaling patterns that indicate where the GPU becomes the primary constraint. This analysis walks through the measured rows to determine the optimal settings, contextualize the combo's rank, and break down the roles of the GPU and CPU in shaping the final frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides four settings tiers — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — across three resolutions, with average FPS values that allow for a clear recommendation based on the target experience. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 247 FPS, while Medium drops to 194, High to 176, and Ultra to 112. The step from Low to Medium costs 53 FPS (about 21% of the Low value), while the step from High to Ultra costs 64 FPS (about 36% of the High value). Given that Greedfall is a single-player Action RPG, the extra visual fidelity of High over Medium is often preferable, but the 176 FPS at High is still far above the refresh rate of most displays, making it a strong choice for 1080p users who want a balance of quality and headroom.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts slightly: Low averages 171 FPS, Medium 134, High 122, and Ultra 78. The gap between Medium and High narrows to just 12 FPS, suggesting that High is a nearly free upgrade over Medium at this resolution. The drop from High to Ultra, however, is steep at 44 FPS, which represents a 36% reduction — this makes Ultra less attractive unless the user prioritizes maximum visual settings over frame rate stability. For 1440p, the data supports High as the optimal preset: it retains 122 FPS average while avoiding the disproportionate cost of Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 102 FPS at Low, 80 at Medium, 73 at High, and 46 at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 68 and a maximum of 92, providing a window of consistency that High lacks (with no min/max recorded). The Ultra preset at 46 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold that many users consider essential for smooth gameplay, making it a poor choice for 4K. High at 73 FPS is playable, but Medium at 80 FPS with a recorded min of 68 offers a more stable experience with only a 7 FPS penalty versus High. For 4K, Medium emerges as the best compromise: it stays above 60 FPS in the measured minimum, while High’s lack of min/max data makes its stability less certain.

Across all resolutions, the data indicates a consistent theme: Medium or High presets provide the best experience per the measured rows, with Ultra reserved only for users who accept significant frame rate reductions. At 1080p, High is recommended for its 176 FPS and ample headroom; at 1440p, High’s 122 FPS is the sweet spot; at 4K, Medium’s 80 FPS with a 68 FPS minimum is the safest choice for maintaining playability.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this specific pairing in Greedfall is 993 out of 3,703 tested combinations, placing it in the top 26.8% of all combos in the database for this game. This percentile position suggests that while the Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 3080 Ti are both high-end components individually, their combined performance in Greedfall is not at the very top of the charts — likely due to the game’s age and its scaling characteristics with newer hardware. The rank of 993 indicates that there are 992 other combos that achieve higher frame rates in this title, which is notable given the CPU’s 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs and the GPU’s 83rd percentile among all GPUs.

The CPU’s average benchmark score is 51,947, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (52,073, a delta of -0.2%), the AMD EPYC 8124P (52,121, -0.3%), the Intel Core i9-13900F (51,730, +0.4%), and the Intel Core i7-14700 (52,301, -0.7%). These deltas are all within 1% of the Ryzen 9 5950X’s score, indicating that the CPU is competitive with modern alternatives in synthetic tests. However, the GPU’s average benchmark score is 41,187, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870, +0.8%), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (41,707, -1.2%), the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897, -1.7%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377, +2%). The RTX 3080 Ti’s percentile of 83 means it outperforms 83% of all GPUs, yet the combo rank in Greedfall suggests that the game’s engine may not fully utilize the hardware’s potential, likely due to CPU or engine limitations at lower resolutions.

The rank of 993 out of 3,703 combos translates to a position that is respectable but not elite. Given that the GPU is end-of-life and the CPU was released in late 2020, this pairing represents a previous-generation high-end setup that still performs well in Greedfall but is outpaced by newer configurations. The data shows that the combo’s performance is more constrained by the GPU at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the FPS scaling, which will be explored in detail in the resolution scaling section.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung, containing 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1,365 MHz with a boost clock of 1,665 MHz, and memory runs at 1,188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The card has 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. Its peak FP32 performance is 34.10 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s.

In Greedfall, the GPU’s role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra is 46, while at 1080p Ultra it is 112 — a 2.4x increase in frame rate when resolution drops by a factor of 4 (from 8.3 megapixels to 2.1 megapixels). This scaling is sub-linear, indicating that the CPU begins to play a larger role at lower resolutions. The GPU’s 12 GB of VRAM is ample for Greedfall, which is a 2019 title likely to use far less than that at any settings, so VRAM capacity is not a constraint in the measured results. The memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s, however, may contribute to the GPU’s ability to maintain high frame rates at 4K, where texture and geometry throughput demands are highest.

The GPU’s benchmark scores show a passmark G3D score of 26,896 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077, with a percentile rank of 83 among all GPUs. In the context of Greedfall, the GPU’s performance at 1080p Low (247 FPS) suggests that the card is not the bottleneck at that setting — the CPU likely limits the frame rate. At 4K Ultra (46 FPS), the GPU is almost certainly the limiting factor, as the computational load increases with resolution. The measured data shows that the RTX 3080 Ti can handle 4K High at 73 FPS, which is a strong result for a card that is now end-of-life, but the steep drop to Ultra indicates that the game’s Ultra preset imposes a significant additional load on the GPU, possibly through effects like ambient occlusion or shadows that are not present in High.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS values are as follows: Low 247, Medium 194 (with min 165, max 223), High 176, and Ultra 112. The spread from Low to Ultra is 135 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra at 64 FPS. The Medium preset’s min of 165 FPS ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above 144 Hz, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset at 176 FPS offers a 9% reduction from Medium but likely provides better visual quality, while the Ultra preset at 112 FPS is still above 100 FPS, making it viable for 1080p users who prioritize visuals over maximum smoothness.

At 2560x1440, the averages are Low 171, Medium 134 (min 114, max 155), High 122, and Ultra 78. The drop from Low to Medium is 37 FPS, from Medium to High is 12 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 44 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 114 FPS is the lowest recorded at this resolution, but it remains above 100 FPS, so gameplay should be smooth. High at 122 FPS is only 9% below Medium, making it the recommended setting as previously noted. Ultra at 78 FPS is playable but represents a 36% drop from High, which is a significant sacrifice for the visual improvements.

At 3840x2160, the averages are Low 102, Medium 80 (min 68, max 92), High 73, and Ultra 46. The Low preset at 102 FPS is the only 4K setting that exceeds 100 FPS, while Medium’s 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 shows that the frame rate can dip close to 60 FPS in heavy scenes. High at 73 FPS is only 7 FPS slower than Medium, but without min/max data, its stability is uncertain. Ultra at 46 FPS is the only measured average below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for a smooth experience on most displays. The data shows that 4K requires a settings reduction to maintain playability, with Medium being the highest preset that keeps the average above 80 FPS and the minimum above 65 FPS.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K varies by settings, revealing the bottleneck characteristics of this combo. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 247 at 1080p to 171 at 1440p (a 30.8% drop) and then to 102 at 4K (a 40.4% drop from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 58.7%, which is less than the 75% reduction in pixel count (from 2.1 to 8.3 megapixels), indicating that the CPU is likely limiting performance at 1080p Low — the frame rate cannot scale fully with the GPU load because the CPU is maxed out. At Medium settings, the FPS goes from 194 at 1080p to 134 at 1440p (a 30.9% drop) and then to 80 at 4K (a 40.3% drop). The pattern is nearly identical to Low, suggesting that the CPU remains a constraint at 1080p Medium.

At High settings, the FPS goes from 176 at 1080p to 122 at 1440p (a 30.7% drop) and then to 73 at 4K (a 40.2% drop). Again, the percentage drops are consistent, which implies that the scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound — the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases, but the CPU still holds back 1080p performance. At Ultra settings, the FPS goes from 112 at 1080p to 78 at 1440p (a 30.4% drop) and then to 46 at 4K (a 41.0% drop). The 1080p-to-4K total drop at Ultra is 58.9%, which is similar to the other settings, but the absolute frame rates are much lower, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a consistent additional load that scales with resolution.

The fact that the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 30% across all settings, and from 1440p to 4K around 40%, suggests that the limiting component changes as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU (with 16 cores and 32 threads) may not be fully utilized by Greedfall, which likely uses fewer threads, so the frame rate is capped by single-thread performance. At 4K, the GPU’s 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute becomes the bottleneck, as the pixel load overwhelms the card. This is corroborated by the CPU’s 3DMark single-thread score of 944 and the fact that the combo rank in Greedfall (993rd) is lower than the CPU’s 91st percentile, indicating that the game does not leverage the CPU’s full multi-core potential.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer), fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU features 64 MB of L3 cache, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 64 KB of L1 per core, with dual-channel DDR4 memory support providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26,017 and a single-core score of 1,614, along with a Geekbench multi-core score of 15,233 and single-core score of 2,083. The CPU’s percentile rank is 91, with an average benchmark score of 51,947.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the average FPS of 247 suggests that the game engine’s rendering thread is the bottleneck, not the GPU. The 16-core processor is likely underutilized since Greedfall is a 2019 title that may not scale well beyond a few threads. The CPU’s single-thread performance, as measured by 3DMark single-thread score of 944, is strong but not exceptional, and this may cap the frame rate at 1080p. The fact that the FPS at 1080p Low (247) is only 31% higher than at 1440p Low (171) — while the pixel count is 1.78x higher — confirms that the CPU is limiting the 1080p result. If the GPU were the sole limiter, the 1080p FPS would be significantly higher relative to 1440p.

The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities, as shown by the passmark multithread score of 45,424, are likely irrelevant for Greedfall, as the game probably uses fewer than 8 threads. This is supported by the 3DMark 8-thread score of 6,598, which is only 57% of the max-thread score of 11,597, indicating diminishing returns beyond 8 threads. For the measured FPS, the CPU’s boost clock of 4.90 GHz is likely more important than its core count, as the game’s main thread benefits from higher single-core frequency. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (avg score 52,073, -0.2%) and the Intel Core i7-14700 (52,301, -0.7%), both of which have similar average scores, but the Ryzen 9 5950X’s actual in-game performance may differ due to architecture-specific behavior.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gameplay with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 80 FPS with a minimum of 68 FPS, which is the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS in the measured minimum. High averages 73 FPS but lacks min/max data, while Ultra averages only 46 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested combinations in Greedfall?

A: This combo ranks 993rd out of 3,703 tested combos, placing it in the top 26.8% of all configurations. Its position is lower than the CPU’s 91st percentile and GPU’s 83rd percentile might suggest, indicating the game does not fully utilize the hardware.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 247 is likely CPU-limited, as the frame rate is only 31% higher than at 1440p Low (171 FPS), while the pixel count is 1.78x higher. The CPU’s single-thread performance caps the frame rate at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 176 at 1080p to 122 at 1440p (a 30.7% drop) and then to 73 at 4K (a 40.2% drop from 1440p). The total drop from 1080p to 4K is approximately 58.5%.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 3080 Ti have, and is it sufficient?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth. For Greedfall, a 2019 title, this capacity is more than sufficient at any settings, as the game is unlikely to exceed 12 GB of VRAM usage.

Q: What is the CPU’s boost clock and core count, and how does it affect performance?

A: The Ryzen 9 5950X has 16 cores and 32 threads with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its high boost clock benefits single-threaded workloads like Greedfall, while the core count is likely underutilized since the game does not scale well beyond a few threads.