Greedfall

The benchmark data for Greedfall, paired with an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and an AMD Radeon RX 580, reveals a system where the graphics card is the definitive bottleneck across all tested resolutions. The CPU’s substantial compute resources are largely left underutilized as frame rates are dictated by the Polaris-based GPU’s capabilities at every quality preset.

Resolution Scaling

The measured average frame rates demonstrate a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, a classic indicator of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 58.1 FPS, which is playable. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same High preset, the average drops to 43 FPS, a 26% reduction in frame rate. The transition to 3840x2160 is far more punishing, with the average plummeting to 23.3 FPS, which is a 46% drop from the 1440p result and a 60% drop from the 1080p baseline.

This scaling pattern is consistent with the GPU being the primary limiting factor. The workload per pixel increases dramatically at higher resolutions, and the RX 580’s compute throughput, measured at 6.175 TFLOPS, is insufficient to maintain fluid performance at 4K. The data shows that even at the lowest quality settings, the 4K average is only 33.1 FPS, indicating that the GPU’s raw fill-rate and shading capabilities are exhausted well before the CPU becomes a constraint.

The relationship between settings and resolution further confirms this. At 1920x1080, the spread between Low (78.8 FPS) and Ultra (35.8 FPS) is significant, showing the GPU’s workload is heavily influenced by image quality. However, at 3840x2160, the same spread is compressed (33.1 FPS on Low vs 13.4 FPS on Ultra). The frame rate is so low at 4K that the difference between Low and Medium settings (28.7 FPS) is marginal, suggesting that memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are saturated regardless of the shader complexity. The GPU’s 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is a likely constraint here.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured average frame rate for this combination at 2560x1440 with High settings is 43 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth for action RPGs.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable?

A: No. The benchmark results show an average of 13.4 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is far below playable levels and indicates the GPU is overwhelmed by the combined resolution and graphical load.

Q: How significant is the performance drop from 1080p to 4K?

A: The data shows a major drop. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 58.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 23.3 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 60% reduction in performance when scaling the resolution.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance in this game?

A: The benchmark data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The frame rate drops significantly with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X’s high multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 43695, is not the constraining factor here.

Q: What is the best case scenario for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded for this combo is 78.8 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At High settings, the average is 58.1 FPS, which is closer to a standard target for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score relate to its in-game performance?

A: The Radeon RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 13559 and sits in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. This mid-range standing aligns with the in-game results, which show it can handle 1080p at moderate settings but struggles at higher resolutions and demanding presets.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580’s specifications and benchmark results define its role in this pairing. The GPU is based on the Polaris 20 chip with a GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It features 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units. Its operational clocks are a base of 1257 MHz and a boost of 1340 MHz, which are modest figures that directly limit its processing throughput.

The GPU's memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. This configuration provides a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The benchmark results show this is a mid-range performer; its Passmark G3D score is 8813, and its average benchmark score is 13559, placing it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. This data confirms that the RX 580 is positioned far below the CPU in terms of relative capability.

In Greedfall, the GPU’s limitations are exposed by the resolution scaling data. The 4K results, which show an average of 23.3 FPS at High settings, suggest that the pixel throughput and texture fill rate are insufficient for high-density workloads. The 13.4 FPS at 4K Ultra is a clear indicator that the GPU’s architecture, with its 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, is unable to handle the game’s most demanding settings. The performance is further constrained by its support for DirectX 12 (12_0), which is the API used by the benchmark, and its PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, which is a generation behind the CPU's Gen 5 support.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1567 out of 1705 tested combos for Greedfall. This places the system in a low percentile of overall performance, which is a direct consequence of the significant imbalance between the two components. The CPU is a top-tier performer, with an average benchmark score of 50556, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with a delta of -0.1%, and the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT with a delta of -0.4%, indicating a very tight grouping at the top of the CPU performance chart.

In stark contrast, the GPU is a mid-range part from a previous generation. Its average benchmark score of 13559 puts it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs, with its closest competitors being the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (0% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (0.1% delta). This massive disparity in percentile ranking and average scores between the CPU and GPU is the primary reason for the low combo rank. The system’s performance is dragged down by the GPU, which cannot utilize the full potential of the powerful Ryzen 9 7900X. The data suggests that this pairing is highly inefficient for Greedfall, as the CPU’s capabilities are largely wasted in this configuration.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Raphael. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This high core count and clock speed result in exceptional multi-threaded performance, as seen in its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 43695. Even its single-thread performance is strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6168. This data shows the CPU has more than enough processing power for any gaming workload.

However, the benchmark results for Greedfall show that the CPU's role is secondary. The frame rates are consistently low across all resolutions, and the scaling pattern points exclusively to the GPU as the bottleneck. The CPU’s performance is so far ahead of the GPU’s that it never becomes the limiting factor. For example, the CPU's Passmark multi-thread score is 51406, and its 3DMark max threads score is 12536. These scores are irrelevant to the game's performance because the RX 580 cannot generate enough frames to require such high processing power.

The analysis of the data indicates that the Ryzen 9 7900X is effectively waiting on the GPU. The game is not CPU-bound at any tested resolution, as the frame rate is always dictated by the graphics card’s rendering speed. The CPU’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support provide a robust platform, but these advantages are unrealized in this specific pairing. The system’s performance is fundamentally limited by the GPU, and upgrading the graphics card would be the only way to improve frame rates in Greedfall.