Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

This combination delivers a strong 1080p and 1440p experience in Greedfall, with the RTX 4070 providing 82 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 57 FPS at 1440p Ultra, while the Ryzen 9 8945HX's 16-core/32-thread configuration ensures the CPU never becomes the bottleneck in this Action RPG. The data shows a clear progression from playable 4K at Medium settings to exceptional 1080p performance at Low settings, with the system ranking 1555th out of 2938 tested combinations for this title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS values across all resolutions and settings presets point to High settings as the optimal balance for most users. At 1080p, High delivers 128 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and only 13 FPS below the 141 FPS achieved at Medium. The jump from High to Ultra costs 46 FPS at 1080p (128 to 82), representing a 36% performance penalty for what is typically a marginal visual improvement in Greedfall's art style.

At 1440p, High settings produce 89 FPS, which remains smooth on standard 60 Hz monitors and provides headroom for higher refresh rate displays. Medium at 1440p yields 98 FPS, but the difference between Medium and High at this resolution is only 9 FPS, making High the superior choice given the likely visual quality gains. Ultra at 1440p drops to 57 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay and not recommended unless the user prioritizes maximum fidelity over frame rate consistency.

For 4K users, the situation is more constrained. High settings at 3840x2160 produce 53 FPS, which is technically playable but sits below the 60 FPS target. Medium at 4K achieves 58 FPS with a documented minimum of 50 FPS and maximum of 67 FPS, indicating some frame-time variance that could be noticeable during combat sequences. Low settings at 4K deliver 74 FPS, which is the only 4K preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS. Given that Greedfall is an Action RPG with real-time combat, the recommendation for 4K is Medium settings as the best compromise, accepting the occasional dip to 50 FPS rather than sacrificing visual quality entirely with Low.

The lowest settings preset at 1080p reaches 180 FPS, which is useful for competitive play or for users with very high refresh rate displays, but the 52 FPS gap between Low and High at 1080p suggests diminishing returns—High provides a substantially better visual experience for a moderate frame rate cost. The data does not support using Low settings at 1080p or 1440p for most users, as High already exceeds the frame rates needed for smooth gameplay on virtually all displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth provides the foundation for Greedfall's performance envelope. The GPU's 1920 MHz base clock and 2475 MHz boost clock, combined with 5888 shading units and 64 ROPs, deliver a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. These specifications translate directly into the frame rates observed across the measured presets.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for Greedfall at higher resolutions. The game's open-world environments and detailed textures can stress memory capacity, and the data shows that the RTX 4070 handles 4K Ultra at 34 FPS, indicating that at maximum settings the GPU is both compute-bound and potentially memory-bandwidth-limited. The 192-bit memory bus width, while narrower than higher-tier cards, still provides sufficient bandwidth for 1440p High at 89 FPS and 1080p High at 128 FPS.

The RTX 4070's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present in the hardware, though Greedfall's implementation does not appear to leverage these features heavily based on the measured frame rates. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures compatibility with modern rendering paths, and the PassMark G3D score of 26927 places the card in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37648.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the RTX 4070 sits 0.1% above the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and 0.4% above the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 in average benchmark score. The card trails the RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3% and leads the Radeon PRO W6400 by 1.3%. These narrow deltas in synthetic benchmarks translate to the real-world Greedfall results, where the GPU consistently delivers playable frame rates across most settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, with the CPU's substantial headroom becoming apparent at lower resolutions. At High settings, the progression is 128 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K—a 30% drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 40% drop from 1440p to 4K. This scaling pattern is consistent with pixel-count increases: 1440p has 1.78 times the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 2.25 times the pixels of 1440p, with frame rates declining at a slightly shallower rate than the pixel increase would suggest due to other bottlenecks.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 180 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The 1080p Low result of 180 FPS suggests that the CPU can push well beyond typical monitor refresh rates, and the 4K Low result of 74 FPS indicates that even at reduced graphical loads, the GPU remains the limiting factor at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings is 55 FPS (31%), while the gap between 1440p and 4K is 51 FPS (41%), showing that resolution scaling becomes more punishing as pixel density increases.

The Medium settings data provides the most complete picture with min/max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 141 FPS with a range of 120-163 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 98 FPS with a range of 83-113 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 58 FPS with a range of 50-67 FPS. The frame time consistency degrades with resolution—the 4K range spans 17 FPS, representing a 29% variation from the average, while the 1080p range spans 43 FPS, a similar relative variation but at much higher absolute frame rates.

These scaling patterns indicate that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads provide enough throughput to maintain 180 FPS at Low settings, suggesting the GPU is the primary constraint even at this resolution. At 4K, the GPU's 12 GB memory and compute resources are clearly the bottleneck, with even Medium settings struggling to maintain 60 FPS. The Ryzen 9 8945HX's performance is sufficient to avoid becoming the limiting factor in Greedfall at any tested resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The best overall performance appears at 1080p, with all presets achieving playable frame rates. Low settings deliver 180 FPS average, making this the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings achieve 141 FPS with a documented range of 120-163 FPS, providing smooth gameplay with reasonable visual quality. High settings maintain 128 FPS, which is 13 FPS below Medium but likely offers noticeably improved visuals. Ultra settings drop to 82 FPS, which remains above 60 FPS but represents a significant 46 FPS penalty compared to High. For 1080p users seeking maximum frame rates, Low is the only preset exceeding 144 Hz refresh rates, while High offers the best balance for 120 Hz displays.

2560x1440: The 1440p results show a similar pattern to 1080p but with reduced absolute values. Low settings achieve 125 FPS, which is still excellent for high refresh rate gaming. Medium settings deliver 98 FPS with a range of 83-113 FPS, providing consistent performance above 60 FPS. High settings maintain 89 FPS, which is a 9 FPS reduction from Medium—a smaller penalty than the 13 FPS difference at 1080p, suggesting diminishing returns at this resolution. Ultra settings drop to 57 FPS, falling below the 60 FPS threshold and making this preset marginal for smooth gameplay. The data supports High as the recommended 1440p preset, with Medium as a viable alternative for users who prefer higher frame rates.

3840x2160: The 4K results are the most constrained, with only Low settings comfortably exceeding 60 FPS. Low settings achieve 74 FPS, providing a playable experience with reduced visual quality. Medium settings deliver 58 FPS with a range of 50-67 FPS, indicating occasional dips below 60 FPS during demanding scenes. High settings produce 53 FPS, which is playable but noticeably below the Medium preset. Ultra settings drop to 34 FPS, making this preset effectively unplayable for action-oriented gameplay. The 24 FPS difference between Low and Medium at 4K is the largest relative gap between adjacent presets in the dataset, highlighting the GPU's struggle with higher quality settings at this resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming in Greedfall?

A: High settings at 1920x1080 provide 128 FPS average, which is the best balance between visual quality and performance. Low settings achieve 180 FPS for maximum frame rates, while Ultra drops to 82 FPS, making High the recommended choice for most users.

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

A: Yes, but only at reduced settings. Low settings at 3840x2160 achieve 74 FPS, while Medium delivers 58 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS. High settings drop to 53 FPS, and Ultra is not recommended at 34 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4070's average benchmark score of 37648 places it 0.1% above the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and 0.4% above the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56. It trails the RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3% and leads the Radeon PRO W6400 by 1.3%.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Greedfall?

A: The GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K, where even Medium settings only reach 58 FPS. At 1080p, the CPU's 16-core/32-thread configuration supports up to 180 FPS at Low settings, suggesting the GPU is also the primary constraint at lower resolutions.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 produce 98 FPS average with a range of 83-113 FPS. This provides consistent performance above 60 FPS with moderate visual quality.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 8945HX rank among all CPUs?

A: The Ryzen 9 8945HX sits in the 95th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 76212. It performs within 0.1% of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX provides substantial computational headroom for Greedfall, with 16 cores and 32 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture in the Dragon Range codename. The processor's 2.50 GHz base clock and 5.40 GHz boost clock, combined with 64 MB of L3 cache, ensure that CPU-bound scenarios are handled with ease. The 5 nm process node from TSMC, containing 13,140 million transistors across a 2x 71 mm² die size, delivers the efficiency needed for sustained gaming workloads.

Benchmark data shows the CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42713 and Cinebench R20 multicore score of 17939. Single-thread performance is also strong, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 6030 and Cinebench R20 single-core at 2532. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle both the single-threaded game logic and the multi-threaded background tasks that Greedfall may generate. The PassMark multithread score of 51405 and single-thread score of 3907 reinforce this assessment.

In Greedfall specifically, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p Low settings result of 180 FPS. This high frame rate demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough draw calls and game state updates to exceed typical monitor refresh rates. The 32 threads provide headroom for the game's AI, physics, and streaming systems without causing frame rate drops. The 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from DDR5 support ensures that data can flow quickly between the CPU and memory, reducing potential stutter.

The Ryzen 9 8945HX ranks in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 76212. Its nearest rivals show extremely tight competition: it sits 0.1% above the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX and 0.6% above the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, while trailing the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P by 0.4% and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX by 0.4%. These sub-1% deltas indicate that the CPU's performance is competitive with the best available processors, though none of these rivals would meaningfully change Greedfall's frame rates given the GPU-bound nature of the game at higher settings.

The CPU's 95th percentile ranking means it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the benchmark database. For Greedfall, this translates to zero CPU-related frame rate limitations at any resolution or settings preset tested. The measured FPS values across all 12 combinations show no signs of CPU bottlenecking, even at 1080p Low where the 180 FPS result approaches the practical limits of the GPU's rendering pipeline. Users can expect the Ryzen 9 8945HX to provide consistent frame pacing and minimal stutter, allowing the RTX 4070 to operate at its full potential in this title.