Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a playable but demanding experience in Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG that still stresses modern hardware at high resolutions. The measured data reveals a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K on higher presets. This combination ranks 1672nd out of 2938 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the benchmark database, which is surprising given the components' individual performance profiles. The CPU's percentile ranking against all processors is 92, while the GPU sits at just 59 against all graphics cards, suggesting an imbalance that becomes increasingly apparent as resolution scales upward.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies in this system. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 119 FPS at 1920x1080 to 83 FPS at 2560x1440, then plummets to 49 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 30% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 41% drop from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative loss from 1080p to 4K is 59%, which is substantial but not catastrophic for a game of this era.

Looking at Low settings reveals even more dramatic scaling. The 1080p Low preset achieves 167 FPS, dropping to 116 FPS at 1440p (a 31% decrease) and then to 69 FPS at 4K (a 41% further decrease). The overall reduction from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 59%, almost identical to the High preset's scaling pattern. This consistency across settings strongly indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with resolution.

The Medium preset shows similar behavior with 131 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, however, reveals the most extreme scaling: 76 FPS at 1080p drops to 53 FPS at 1440p (a 30% cut) and then to 31 FPS at 4K (a 42% cut from 1440p). The Ultra preset's 4K result of 31 FPS is barely playable, and the data suggests that the RX 9060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are struggling with the higher fidelity assets at 4K resolution.

The pattern across all four presets is remarkably consistent: roughly a 30% performance hit when moving from 1080p to 1440p, followed by another 40% hit when moving to 4K. This logarithmic scaling curve is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios where pixel count becomes the dominant factor. The CPU, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, has ample headroom at all resolutions, but the GPU's throughput limits become increasingly evident as the pixel workload grows.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X brings formidable specifications to this pairing: 12 cores, 24 threads, a base clock of 4.40 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Built on the Zen 5 architecture with a 4 nm process, this processor demonstrates exceptional multi-threaded capability in synthetic benchmarks. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32172 and Geekbench multicore score of 22174 place it in the top tier of desktop processors, while the single-core Cinebench R23 result of 2253 indicates strong per-thread performance.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but the processor's capabilities ensure it never becomes a limiting factor. The 3DMark tests show a clear scaling pattern: 1286 single-thread, 2519 for 2 threads, 4886 for 4 threads, 9114 for 8 threads, 12552 for 16 threads, and 13929 for max threads. This near-linear scaling up to 8 threads suggests the CPU can handle heavily threaded workloads efficiently, which is relevant for Greedfall's open-world environments that often feature numerous NPCs and dynamic systems.

The processor's 64 MB of L3 cache, distributed across two CCDs with 1 MB L2 per core, provides substantial on-chip storage for game data. The 89.6 GB/s memory bandwidth on DDR5 dual-channel support further ensures that data can flow quickly to the GPU. The CPU's percentile ranking of 92 against all processors confirms its high-end positioning, yet the measured FPS results show that this computational power cannot compensate for GPU limitations at 4K.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 9015 with an average score of 57555 (0.1% lower), the AMD EPYC 7313 at 57399 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i9-14900 at 58115 (1.1% lower), and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M at 58323 (1.4% lower). These minimal percentage differences indicate that the 9900X performs competitively with enterprise and high-end desktop alternatives, reinforcing that the CPU is not the bottleneck in this gaming configuration.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060, based on the Navi 44 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture, presents an interesting case. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus providing 288.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU offers modest memory capacity by modern standards. Its boost clock of 2990 MHz and game clock of 2400 MHz are respectable, but the 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs limit its raw throughput compared to higher-tier cards.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 59 against all graphics cards places it just above average, which aligns with its measured performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 39476 indicate mid-range capability. The PassMark G3D score of 17631 and GPU Compute score of 9919 further characterize this card as a solid 1080p performer that begins to struggle at higher resolutions.

The nearest GPU rivals tell a revealing story. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti scores 16129 (0.7% higher), the AMD Radeon R9 370X scores 15862 (1.0% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 scores 15852 (1.0% lower), and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 scores 15679 (2.1% lower). These competitors span multiple generations and market segments, indicating that the RX 9060 occupies a crowded mid-range space where performance differences are measured in single-digit percentages.

In Greedfall, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM becomes a critical factor at 4K resolution. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces only 31 FPS average, which suggests the card is exceeding its memory bandwidth and capacity limits. The 128-bit memory bus, while adequate for 1080p gaming, creates a bottleneck when handling 4K textures and effects. The GPU's FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS is competitive for its class, but this theoretical throughput doesn't translate to playable 4K frame rates in this title.

The RX 9060's 28 RT cores provide ray tracing capability, but Greedfall's implementation appears to favor traditional rasterization. The GPU's pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s are moderate, explaining why the card handles 1440p High at 83 FPS but falls to 49 FPS at 4K High. The scaling pattern across resolutions suggests that fill rate and memory bandwidth, not shader compute, are the primary constraints.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination suitable for 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: The data indicates marginal suitability at best. At 4K High settings, the system averages 49 FPS, while Medium settings yield 54 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 31 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. Only the Low preset at 4K achieves acceptable performance at 69 FPS, but this requires sacrificing visual quality significantly.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X scores 57498 on average, placing it within 1.4% of its nearest competitors. It trails the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M by 1.4%, the Intel Core i9-14900 by 1.1%, and the AMD EPYC 9015 by 0.1%, while leading the AMD EPYC 7313 by 0.2%. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming scenarios.

Q: What resolution provides the best balance of performance and visual quality?

A: The 1440p High preset at 83 FPS offers strong performance with good fidelity. The 1080p High preset at 119 FPS is even smoother, but 1440p represents the sweet spot for this hardware, providing 70% higher resolution than 1080p while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS.

Q: Why does the Ultra preset show such a dramatic FPS drop at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset at 4K averages only 31 FPS, a 42% reduction from the 1440p Ultra result of 53 FPS. This severe drop likely stems from the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity being exceeded, forcing memory paging, combined with the 128-bit memory bus's bandwidth limitations when handling 4K ultra textures and effects.

Q: How does the GPU rank against its closest competitors in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score of 16014 places it 0.7% below the RTX 3060 Ti (16129), 1.0% above the R9 370X (15862) and RX 7700 (15852), and 2.1% above the Radeon Pro W5500 (15679). These close margins indicate the card is competitively positioned in the mid-range segment.

Q: What do the min and max FPS values reveal about frame time consistency?

A: For Medium settings, the system shows a 35 FPS spread at 1080p (112 min to 151 max), a 28 FPS spread at 1440p (77 to 105), and a 16 FPS spread at 4K (46 to 62). The tighter ranges at higher resolutions suggest more consistent frame pacing when GPU-bound, whereas at 1080p, CPU-side variations create larger FPS fluctuations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers strong performance across all presets. The Low preset achieves 167 FPS average, providing an exceptionally smooth experience. Medium settings reduce this to 131 FPS, with a minimum of 112 FPS and maximum of 151 FPS, indicating solid frame pacing. High settings produce 119 FPS, maintaining excellent playability. The Ultra preset at 1080p delivers 76 FPS, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold but shows a significant 36% reduction from the High preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains respectable but shows clear scaling impacts. Low settings achieve 116 FPS, still very smooth. Medium settings provide 91 FPS with a minimum of 77 FPS and maximum of 105 FPS, demonstrating consistent performance. High settings reach 83 FPS, which is good for 1440p gaming. The Ultra preset drops to 53 FPS, falling below the 60 FPS threshold and indicating that this setting combination is demanding for the RX 9060.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates on higher presets. Low settings achieve 69 FPS, which is acceptable but represents a 41% drop from 1440p Low. Medium settings provide 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 62 FPS, showing significant frame time variance. High settings reach 49 FPS, marginal for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset at 31 FPS is essentially unplayable for most gamers, reinforcing the GPU's limitations at 4K resolution.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows consistent performance scaling: at 1080p, the range spans 167 FPS down to 76 FPS (a 54% reduction); at 1440p, 116 FPS down to 53 FPS (54% reduction); at 4K, 69 FPS down to 31 FPS (55% reduction). This consistency indicates that the GPU's performance ceiling scales predictably with settings, regardless of resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset at 119 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual quality and performance, offering 57% higher frame rates than Ultra while maintaining most visual features. For players seeking maximum fidelity, the Ultra preset at 76 FPS remains playable and delivers the best visual experience without dropping below 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 83 FPS is the recommended choice, delivering smooth gameplay with good detail. The Medium preset at 91 FPS offers a safer margin for demanding scenes, while the Low preset at 116 FPS provides competitive-level smoothness. The Ultra preset at 53 FPS should be avoided for serious gameplay, as the sub-60 FPS average may lead to noticeable stuttering in action sequences.

For 3840x2160 gaming, the choices are limited. The Low preset at 69 FPS is the only setting that maintains playable frame rates, though it sacrifices significant visual quality. The Medium preset at 54 FPS may be acceptable for slower-paced exploration but risks frame drops during combat. The High and Ultra presets at 49 FPS and 31 FPS respectively are not recommended for a satisfying experience.

The data suggests that the ideal configuration is 1440p High settings, which provides 83 FPS average while maintaining a 70% resolution advantage over 1080p. This combination leverages the CPU's strength at lower resolutions while staying within the GPU's comfortable performance envelope. For players who prioritize frame rate over resolution, 1080p Ultra at 76 FPS offers the best visual quality within the 60+ FPS range.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1672nd out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all tested configurations. This ranking is notably lower than what the CPU's individual performance might suggest, given that the 9900X ranks in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking drags down the overall combination, highlighting a significant performance imbalance.

The ranking position indicates that there are 1671 combinations that perform better in this game, which seems counterintuitive given the CPU's high-end specifications. However, Greedfall's performance is heavily GPU-dependent at higher resolutions, and the RX 9060's mid-range positioning limits the overall system capability. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a higher-tier GPU would yield substantially better results, as the processor clearly has headroom to support more powerful graphics cards.

The delta between the CPU's strong synthetic benchmark performance and the combo's modest gaming ranking illustrates an important principle: gaming performance is often limited by the weakest component in the chain, and in this case, the GPU is that limiting factor. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads provide ample processing power, but this power remains underutilized when the GPU cannot feed frames fast enough at higher resolutions. This configuration would likely rank significantly higher in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p with lower graphical settings, where the processor's capabilities could shine.