Greedfall

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Greedfall, but the data shows that the Ultra preset is where the frame rate takes a significant hit. This combination ranks 564th out of 1705 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all systems tested. The measured FPS reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution and graphical fidelity increase, with the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck at higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and consistent across all settings, highlighting the GPU's workload scaling. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 233.3 at 1080p to 98.6 at 4K, a reduction of 134.7 FPS. At High settings, the drop is from 167.5 to 66.9, a decrease of 100.6 FPS. The relative drop percentage is steeper at higher presets; for Ultra, the 1080p average of 108.7 FPS falls to 46.6 at 4K, a 62.1 FPS reduction.

The scaling pattern between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, 1440p yields 127.3 FPS while 4K drops to 76.4, a 40% reduction. At Low settings, the same resolution step costs 64.7 FPS (163.3 to 98.6). This consistent ~40% performance loss when moving from 1440p to 4K indicates that the RX 9070's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256-bit bus are being saturated by the pixel count increase, rather than the CPU becoming a limiting factor.

The 1080p to 1440p transition shows a milder impact. At High settings, the drop is from 167.5 to 115 FPS, a 31% reduction. At Low settings, it is from 233.3 to 163.3, a 30% drop. This suggests that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-bound in lighter scenes, allowing the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X to push higher frame rates before the GPU becomes the sole constraint.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 9070's clock behavior is central to understanding these results. The GPU has a base clock of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The measured FPS suggests that at 1080p Low, the card is operating near its boost ceiling, delivering 233.3 FPS, which allows the CPU to feed frames rapidly. As resolution increases, the GPU spends more time at lower clocks due to thermal and power constraints, but the data does not show a catastrophic drop-off until Ultra settings are enabled.

The 16 GB VRAM capacity is not a limiting factor in Greedfall at any resolution or setting tested, as the game's 2019 release does not demand high memory capacity. The memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s, however, plays a more significant role. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 46.6, which is 30% lower than the 4K High result of 66.9. This gap suggests that the Ultra preset introduces memory-intensive effects that strain the 256-bit bus, even though the raw capacity remains sufficient.

The GPU's pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits. The 4K Ultra result of 46.6 FPS corresponds to a pixel throughput of approximately 178.9 GPixel/s (46.6 FPS × 3840 × 2160), which is only 55% of the theoretical maximum. This gap indicates that the Ultra preset imposes shading and compute workloads that prevent the ROPs from reaching full utilization, rather than a pure fill-rate bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

The data strongly favors the High preset as the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p High, the system delivers 167.5 FPS, which is only 28% lower than Low but provides substantially better image quality. At 1440p High, the 115 FPS average keeps the experience smooth on high-refresh displays. Even at 4K High, the 66.9 FPS average is playable for most users, whereas Medium at 4K only improves to 76.4 FPS.

The Ultra preset is difficult to recommend based on the measured rows. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 46.6 drops below the 60 FPS threshold that most builders target for action RPGs. At 1440p Ultra, the 74.9 FPS result is acceptable but represents a 35% performance penalty over High (115 FPS) for marginal visual gains. At 1080p Ultra, the 108.7 FPS average is still playable, but the Low preset at 233.3 FPS shows that the CPU has significant headroom to spare.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground for users with 4K displays who prioritize frame rate over fidelity. The 4K Medium result of 76.4 FPS is 14% faster than High (66.9 FPS) and 64% faster than Ultra (46.6 FPS). For competitive play or high-refresh monitors, the Low preset at 1080p (233.3 FPS) and 1440p (163.3 FPS) provides the highest possible frame rates, but the visual compromise is substantial.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 564 out of 1705 tested combos places it in the 67th percentile of all systems tested. This positioning is consistent with the CPU and GPU's individual benchmark percentiles: the Ryzen 9 7900X ranks in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, while the RX 9070 ranks in the 79th percentile among all GPUs. The gap between these percentiles indicates that the GPU is the limiting component in this pairing for Greedfall specifically.

The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235, scores 50598 in average benchmarks, a delta of -0.1% from the 7900X's 50556 average. This negligible difference means that swapping to the Intel chip would yield no measurable change in Greedfall performance. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA A2, scores 34866, a delta of -0.2% from the RX 9070's 34780 average. These tight margins confirm that the combo's rank is determined more by the GPU's raw rendering power than by CPU selection.

The 1705-combo pool includes many systems with higher-tier GPUs, which explains why this combo sits in the upper third rather than the top 10%. The measured FPS at 1080p High (167.5 FPS) is competitive with mid-range systems, but 4K Ultra (46.6 FPS) shows the card's limitations against higher-end rivals. Builders targeting 4K Ultra should look at stronger GPU options, while those prioritizing 1080p or 1440p High will find this combo well-matched.

FAQ

Q: Is this combination sufficient for 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: At 4K High settings, the system delivers 66.9 FPS, which is playable. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 46.6 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target. Medium settings at 4K yield 76.4 FPS, providing a viable alternative for smoother gameplay.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 7900X perform relative to its closest competitor?

A: The 7900X has an average benchmark score of 50556, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235's 50598 score. This difference is within measurement noise and would not produce any observable difference in Greedfall.

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 1440p delivers 115 FPS, which is the best balance of visual fidelity and performance. Ultra drops to 74.9 FPS, a 35% penalty, while Medium reaches 127.3 FPS with reduced visual quality.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM cause any issues in this game?

A: No. The 16 GB GDDR6 memory is more than sufficient for Greedfall at all resolutions and settings tested. The game's 2019 release does not require high memory capacity, and the measured FPS does not indicate any VRAM-related stuttering or drops.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems?

A: This pairing ranks 564th out of 1705 combos, placing it in the upper third of all systems. The CPU ranks in the 93rd percentile, while the GPU ranks in the 79th percentile, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever worth using?

A: Only at 1080p, where it delivers 108.7 FPS. At 1440p, the 74.9 FPS average is borderline, and at 4K, the 46.6 FPS result is too low for smooth gameplay. High settings provide a better experience at all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system shows its highest performance. Low settings produce an average of 233.3 FPS, Medium reaches 183.5 FPS, High achieves 167.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 108.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 53% performance reduction, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects are computationally expensive even at lower resolutions.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 163.3 FPS for Low, 127.3 FPS for Medium, 115 FPS for High, and 74.9 FPS for Ultra. The gap between High and Ultra widens to 35%, compared to a 35% gap at 1080p as well. This consistency suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a fixed percentage overhead regardless of resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are 98.6 FPS for Low, 76.4 FPS for Medium, 66.9 FPS for High, and 46.6 FPS for Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured point below 60 FPS, and it represents a 54% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. The 4K Low score of 98.6 FPS is notable, as it remains above 60 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU can handle 4K when graphical features are minimized.