Greedfall

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 9 9900X and the Radeon RX 570 produces a peculiar result in Greedfall, ranking near the bottom of the database at 1618 out of 1705 tested combos. The data shows a system that is profoundly unbalanced, where a top-tier 2024 processor is strapped to a 2017 graphics card, yielding playable frame rates only at 1080p Low. This analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU contributions, the combo’s standing among rivals, and how resolution scaling exposes the bottleneck.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), built on a 4 nm TSMC process. It operates with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The CPU’s cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 64 MB of L3, totaling a substantial amount of fast memory for game logic and asset streaming. In synthetic benchmarks, this processor demonstrates its strength: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555, alongside a Geekbench multi-core score of 19827 and a single-core score of 3341. Its average benchmark score of 54450 places it in the 94th percentile among all CPUs.

These numbers indicate a processor that is exceptionally capable of handling the simulation and AI workloads of Greedfall, an Action RPG that can stress multiple threads. However, the measured frame rates in-game tell a different story. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 52.9 FPS, and at 1080p Low, it reaches 71.4 FPS. The delta between these settings is not driven by the CPU, as the processor has ample headroom to feed the GPU. Instead, the data suggests the 9900X is never the limiting factor at any resolution tested. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D with a deltaPct of -0.4, the Intel Core i7-14700F at 0.7, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K at -1.5, showing that the 9900X is within a narrow 2% performance band of these other high-end chips. For Greedfall, the CPU’s role is to provide a stable, high-performance foundation that is effectively wasted when paired with the RX 570, as the graphics card cannot translate that raw processing power into higher frame rates.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is an older graphics card, based on the Polaris 20 chip and GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU’s base clock is 1168 MHz, with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, and its memory operates at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The card has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. Its FP32 compute is rated at 5.095 TFLOPS. In the database, the RX 570 holds a 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30158. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close in score, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 with a deltaPct of 0.2 and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT with a deltaPct of 0.2.

In Greedfall, the GPU is the clear performance anchor. At 1080p Ultra, the combo drops to 34.5 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it falls to a slideshow-like 13.2 FPS. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is a significant constraint, particularly at higher resolutions and settings, as the game’s textures and assets exceed this limit. The data shows a steep performance cliff between Medium and Ultra settings at all resolutions. For instance, at 1440p, the average FPS goes from 41.4 at Medium to 23.0 at Ultra, a 44% drop. This pattern is consistent with a GPU that is overwhelmed by the workload, forcing the system to rely on slower memory swapping. The GPU’s performance is also heavily dependent on settings; at 1080p Low, it can achieve 71.4 FPS, but this is the only scenario where the combo approaches smooth gameplay. The RX 570, despite being end-of-life, still competes with modern cards in aggregate benchmarks, but its age shows in a demanding title like Greedfall.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo of the Ryzen 9 9900X and Radeon RX 570 ranks 1618 out of 1705 total tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in the bottom 5% of all systems. This is a remarkably poor result for a processor that ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The disparity highlights the severity of the GPU bottleneck. The data indicates that this pairing is not competitive; it is outperformed by a vast majority of systems, likely those with more balanced mid-range CPU and GPU pairings.

The rank is a direct consequence of the RX 570’s limitations. While the CPU’s benchmark scores are elite, they do not translate to in-game performance when the GPU is the limiting factor. For context, the CPU’s nearest rivals (9900X3D, 14700F, Ultra 5 245K) would likely achieve similar frame rates with the same GPU, as the bottleneck is not the processor. However, the ranking reflects the actual measured performance, not the theoretical potential. This combo is a cautionary example of pairing a high-end processor with a low-end GPU, resulting in a system that underperforms in Greedfall despite having a powerful CPU. The 4K Ultra result of 13.2 FPS and the 1080p Low result of 71.4 FPS show the entire range of performance, and neither is competitive with a well-matched system.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings for this combo in Greedfall?*

A: The data shows the highest average frame rate is 71.4 FPS at 1080p Low. For higher quality, 1080p High yields 52.9 FPS, and 1080p Medium yields 59.4 FPS. At 1440p High, the average drops to 34.9 FPS, which is less ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X compare to its closest rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 54450. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average score of 54681, which is 0.4% higher. The Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54097, which is 0.7% lower. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 55304, which is 1.5% higher than the 9900X.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 30158. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 scores 30109, a 0.2% difference. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT scores 30097, also a 0.2% difference. The NVIDIA Tesla M60 scores 29969, which is 0.6% lower.

Q: Why does the 4K Ultra setting perform so poorly?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo produces an average of 13.2 FPS. This is due to the GPU’s 4 GB VRAM and limited compute power being overwhelmed by the high-resolution textures and effects, leading to a severe performance drop compared to 4K High (24.1 FPS) and 4K Medium (24.7 FPS).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck in this system?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck. For example, at 1080p, the frame rate varies significantly with settings (71.4 FPS Low to 34.5 FPS Ultra), while the CPU’s powerful multi-core scores (46438 in Cinebench R23) are not leveraged. The CPU is capable of much higher frame rates, but the GPU limits output.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound system. Starting at 1080p, the combo achieves 71.4 FPS at Low, 59.4 at Medium, 52.9 at High, and 34.5 at Ultra. Moving to 1440p, these numbers drop to 49.2 at Low, 41.4 at Medium, 34.9 at High, and 23.0 at Ultra. At 4K, the performance collapses further: 31.9 at Low, 24.7 at Medium, 24.1 at High, and 13.2 at Ultra.

The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a 55% reduction in frame rate (from 71.4 to 31.9 FPS), which is a substantial hit. For High settings, the drop from 1080p to 4K is 54% (52.9 to 24.1 FPS). This consistent 50%+ reduction across settings indicates that the GPU is working at its absolute limit, and the additional pixel count at 4K overwhelms the 4 GB frame buffer and the Polaris 20 chip’s compute throughput.

This behavior is a definitive sign that the limiting component is the Radeon RX 570. If the Ryzen 9 9900X were the bottleneck, the frame rates would be similar across resolutions, as the CPU’s workload is resolution-independent. Instead, the data shows a strong correlation between resolution and FPS, meaning the GPU’s fill rate, memory bandwidth, and VRAM capacity are the constraining factors. The 9900X, with its high single-thread and multi-thread scores, is effectively idle waiting for the GPU to render each frame. The result is a system that cannot deliver a consistent experience above 1080p, and even at 1080p, only the Low preset provides a frame rate above 70 FPS. This pairing is a textbook example of a GPU bottleneck, where the processor’s potential is unrealized due to the graphics card’s inability to keep up.