Greedfall

Greedfall presents a significant challenge for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, even when paired with the high-end AMD Ryzen 9 9900X. The benchmark data shows a combination that is firmly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, with the processor's substantial headroom doing little to prevent frame rate collapses under Ultra settings. The GTX 1070, while still a functional 1080p card, is clearly outclassed by the demands of this 2019 Action RPG at higher fidelity presets.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the performance ceiling is set by the graphics card, not the processor. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 89 FPS, but this drops to 60.2 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 38 FPS at 4K. This represents a steep 57.3% performance loss from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load is overwhelming the GTX 1070's capabilities. The scaling pattern is consistent across all presets: moving from 1080p to 1440p typically costs roughly 30% of the frame rate, while the jump to 4K exacts an even heavier toll.

The data underscores that the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is not the limiting component at any resolution. Even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate peaks at 125.8 FPS, the CPU with its 12 cores and 24 threads is unlikely to be the bottleneck. The consistent frame rate drops that track almost perfectly with pixel count increases confirm that the GTX 1070's 8 GB of VRAM and 256.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. The GPU's 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates as resolution scales, making this pairing unsuitable for 4K gaming in Greedfall.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Greedfall?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 as the only viable resolution. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain a playable 59.2 FPS average, while 1440p Ultra drops to 37.8 FPS and 4K Ultra falls to a slideshow-like 20.9 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its closest rivals in this game?

A: The GTX 1070's overall benchmark average of 12331 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA Quadro K4200, which scores 12241 (0.7% slower), and the GeForce GTX 880M, which scores 12490 (1.3% faster). Its performance is also within 1.4% of the GTX 1650 SUPER. This indicates that the 1070 sits at the 51st percentile of all GPUs, placing it in the mid-range tier.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 9900X overkill for this graphics card?

A: Yes. The CPU's average benchmark score of 54450 places it in the 94th percentile of all processors, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438. This massive processing power cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations, as the frame rates in Greedfall are consistently constrained by the GTX 1070's rendering capabilities.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The gap is substantial. Low settings deliver 125.8 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 59.2 FPS, representing a 53% reduction in performance. This suggests that Ultra presets are extremely demanding on the GPU's shading units and texture units.

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p gaming?

A: Only at lower presets. At 1440p, Low settings achieve 88.2 FPS, and Medium settings hit 67.3 FPS, which are both playable. However, High settings drop to 60.2 FPS, and Ultra falls below 40 FPS, making high-fidelity 1440p gaming impractical.

Q: How does the GTX 1070's VRAM affect performance?

A: With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, the GTX 1070 has adequate capacity for 1080p, but the bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s becomes a bottleneck at higher resolutions. The steep frame rate drops at 4K, where High settings only manage 38 FPS, suggest that memory bandwidth is a critical limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1705 tested combinations in Greedfall, this pairing of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 1429th. This places it in the bottom 16% of all configurations, which is a poor showing given the high-end nature of the CPU. The ranking is dragged down almost entirely by the GPU, which sits at the 51st percentile of all graphics cards, while the CPU is in the top 6% with its 94th percentile score.

The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals illustrate how close the GTX 1070 is to older or lower-tier hardware. The Quadro K4200 is just 0.7% slower, and the GTX 880M is only 1.3% faster. This clustering around the 12300-12500 average score range shows that the GTX 1070 is firmly in the mid-range tier of 2016-era hardware, and its performance in Greedfall reflects that positioning. The high combo rank number indicates that most other tested configurations in the database deliver better frame rates, primarily due to more modern GPU architectures.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a clear picture of performance across twelve distinct configurations. At 1920x1080, the results are: Low 125.8 FPS, Medium 100.4 FPS, High 89 FPS, and Ultra 59.2 FPS. These figures show that the 1080p resolution is the only one where all presets remain playable, with even Ultra maintaining a frame rate above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly: Low 88.2 FPS, Medium 67.3 FPS, High 60.2 FPS, and Ultra 37.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first configuration that becomes unplayable, dipping below the 40 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160, the results are marginal: Low 52.9 FPS, Medium 42.6 FPS, High 38 FPS, and Ultra 20.9 FPS. Only the Low preset at 4K approaches playability, while Ultra is effectively a static image.

The pattern is consistent: each preset step from Low to Ultra costs approximately 20-25% of the frame rate at any given resolution. The most dramatic drop occurs between High and Ultra at 4K, where performance falls from 38 FPS to 20.9 FPS, a 45% reduction that highlights the extreme cost of the Ultra preset's additional effects.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience for this combo is at 1080p with High settings, delivering 89 FPS. This strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and smoothness, as the performance headroom above 60 FPS provides a comfortable margin for demanding scenes. While Ultra at 1080p is playable at 59.2 FPS, the marginal visual improvement over High does not justify the 33% frame rate loss.

For users willing to trade visual quality for higher frame rates, 1080p Medium at 100.4 FPS is an excellent choice, offering a noticeable smoothness boost over High. At 1440p, Medium settings at 67.3 FPS are the recommended compromise, as this is the highest preset that maintains a solid frame rate above 60 FPS. The High preset at 1440p, at 60.2 FPS, is borderline and may experience dips in complex combat scenarios. 4K gaming is not recommended with this GPU, as even Low settings only manage 52.9 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold. The GTX 1070's 8 GB VRAM is insufficient for the Ultra preset's texture requirements at higher resolutions, causing the severe frame rate collapses observed.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a high-end processor with 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture on a 4nm process. Its base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz, combined with 64 MB of shared L3 cache, provide exceptional single-thread and multi-thread performance. The CPU's benchmark results are stellar, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 46438 and a single-core score of 6555, placing it in the 94th percentile of all processors.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role is largely passive due to the GPU bottleneck. The game's engine, while not particularly demanding on multi-core processors, benefits from the high single-thread performance of the 9900X. However, the measured frame rates show that the CPU is never the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the frame rate of 125.8 FPS is far below what the CPU could theoretically support. The 9900X's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D, scores a nearly identical average of 54681 (0.4% higher), confirming that the 9900X is at the top of its performance class. The CPU's 24 threads ensure that any background tasks or game engine threads are handled without issue, but in this pairing, the processor's capabilities are vastly underutilized.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the clear performance bottleneck in this configuration. Based on the Pascal architecture on a 16nm process, this GPU features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. Its base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, combined with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, provide a memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 6.463 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The GTX 1070's benchmark results show it is a mid-range card, with an average score of 12331 and a percentile ranking of 51st among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals, the Quadro K4200 and GTX 880M, are within 1.3% of its performance, indicating that it sits at a performance plateau. In Greedfall, the GPU's limitations are evident in the frame rate scaling. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p, but the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is inadequate for 4K textures and effects. The Ultra preset at 4K, which likely demands more than 8 GB of VRAM, causes the frame rate to collapse to 20.9 FPS. The GPU's 64 ROPs and 202.0 GTexel/s texture rate are also contributing factors to the reduced performance at higher resolutions, as the fill-rate requirements outpace the card's capabilities. This GPU is end-of-life, and its age is clearly reflected in its inability to handle modern game settings at higher resolutions.