Greedfall

Greedfall is an Action RPG from 2019 that responds well to modern hardware, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti produces a wide spread of frame rates depending on how you configure it. The data shows a system that can deliver high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, but which requires careful settings management to maintain smooth performance at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions and settings, explaining what the numbers mean for the components involved.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, revealing a clear shift in which component becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 214 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 149 FPS, a reduction of 65 FPS or roughly 30%. Going all the way to 4K Low yields 89 FPS, which is a further drop of 60 FPS from the 1440p result. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions, where the CPU has enough headroom to feed frames quickly, but the GPU starts to struggle as pixel count rises.

The trend becomes even more pronounced when looking at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 98 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 68 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 40 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Ultra is 30 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Ultra is 28 FPS. This consistent drop across resolutions suggests that the RTX 3070 Ti is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, as the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are unlikely to be saturated by a game from this era.

The data indicates that the 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is barely playable, while 4K High at 63 FPS is borderline acceptable. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is substantial, with a 49 FPS gap between the two extremes. This wide range suggests that the game's settings have a massive impact on GPU load, and the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory may also be a factor at 4K, as texture-heavy presets could exceed that capacity. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing, with the Low preset dropping from 214 to 149 FPS and the High preset from 153 to 106 FPS, indicating that 1440p is a sweet spot for this combination.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1012 out of 2938 tested combinations for Greedfall, placing it in the upper third of all systems tested. This percentile position, roughly the 66th percentile, reflects a strong but not elite setup. The ranking is influenced by both the CPU and GPU, but given the game's age and the GPU-heavy nature of the workload, the RTX 3070 Ti's 75th percentile ranking among all GPUs likely carries more weight than the CPU's 91st percentile ranking.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks show how close the 9900X3D sits to other high-end processors. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55093 on average, which is 0.6% higher than the 9900X3D's 54762 average. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K is 1.3% lower, and the Intel Xeon 6505P is 2.0% lower. These deltas are within a few percentage points, meaning the 9900X3D is competitive with these chips in general compute, but the ranking in Greedfall suggests that the game may not leverage the CPU's full potential.

For the GPU, the RTX 3070 Ti's nearest rivals are similarly close. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile scores 29928, just 0.1% higher than the 3070 Ti's 29945 average. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is 0.5% lower, and the RTX 2080 Ti is 0.5% higher. This clustering means that swapping to any of these cards would produce nearly identical frame rates in most scenarios. The combo's rank of 1012 out of 2938 is respectable, but it is not near the top, indicating that there are many faster combinations available, likely with higher-end GPUs.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, specifically the Granite Ridge codename. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The 128 MB of L3 cache is substantial, which should theoretically benefit games that rely on large data sets. However, Greedfall, released in 2019, was designed for the 8-core/16-thread CPUs of that era, so the 9900X3D's extra cores and threads may go largely unused.

The CPU's benchmark scores are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 47737 and a single-core score of 6739. The Geekbench multicore score is 22884, and the single-core score is 3041. These numbers place the 9900X3D in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors on the market. In Greedfall, however, the CPU is unlikely to be the bottleneck at any resolution, given the game's age and the GPU's relatively lower performance ceiling.

The 3DMark thread scaling scores show a clear progression: 2512 for 2 threads, 4885 for 4 threads, 9002 for 8 threads, 12490 for 16 threads, and 13795 for max threads. The jump from 8 to 16 threads is significant, but the gain from 16 to max threads is modest, suggesting diminishing returns beyond 16 threads. For a game like Greedfall, which likely uses fewer than 8 threads effectively, the 9900X3D's performance is more than sufficient. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor in any of the measured FPS rows; instead, the GPU is the constraining component across all resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a complete picture of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 214 FPS average, which is exceptionally high and suitable for any high-refresh-rate monitor. The Medium preset drops to 168 FPS average, with a minimum of 143 FPS and a maximum of 194 FPS, showing a stable frame time distribution. High settings produce 153 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 98 FPS average. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 116 FPS, highlighting how much performance is lost by maxing out settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 149 FPS, which is still very smooth for competitive play. Medium averages 117 FPS, with a minimum of 99 FPS and a maximum of 134 FPS, indicating that the 1% lows are still above 60 FPS. High settings produce 106 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS average. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across all settings, with the Low preset losing 65 FPS, Medium losing 51 FPS, High losing 47 FPS, and Ultra losing 30 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is scaling as expected with the increased pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 89 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a 4K display. Medium averages 70 FPS, with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 80 FPS, meaning that frame drops can dip below 60 FPS. High settings produce 63 FPS average, which is borderline for a smooth experience. Ultra drops to 40 FPS average, which is not recommended for serious gameplay. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper than from 1080p to 1440p, with the Low preset losing 60 FPS, Medium losing 47 FPS, High losing 43 FPS, and Ultra losing 28 FPS. This indicates that 4K puts significant stress on the RTX 3070 Ti, especially at higher settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It has 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1575 MHz, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and the memory runs at 19 Gbps effective. The card has 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The 290 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU indicate that this is a power-hungry card, but the data only shows performance, not power consumption.

The GPU's benchmark scores are solid, with a Passmark G3D score of 23356 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 119718. The Vulkan score is 139541, which is higher than the OpenCL score, suggesting that the card may perform well in Vulkan-based titles. The RTX 3070 Ti sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all within 1.6% of its average score. This means that in Greedfall, the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates, and the 8 GB VRAM may be a limiting factor at 4K with high texture settings.

The data shows that the GPU is heavily taxed at 4K, especially at Ultra settings where the average drops to 40 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM could be a bottleneck here, as Greedfall's Ultra preset may load more textures than the card can hold, causing stuttering or reduced performance. At 1080p and 1440p, the VRAM capacity is less of a concern, and the card delivers strong results. The 63 FPS at 4K High suggests that the card can handle 4K if settings are optimized, but the 40 FPS at Ultra is a clear sign that the card is out of its depth at maximum settings.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data suggests prioritizing 1440p with High settings. The measured 106 FPS average at 1440p High is smooth and responsive, with enough headroom to avoid noticeable frame drops. This combination balances visual quality with performance, making it the sweet spot for this hardware pairing. If you have a 1080p monitor, High settings at 153 FPS is also an excellent choice, providing a high refresh rate experience without sacrificing much visual fidelity.

At 4K, the data recommends using Low or Medium settings. The 89 FPS at 4K Low is the only 4K result above 60 FPS, making it the only truly smooth option for 4K displays. The 70 FPS at 4K Medium is playable, but the minimum of 59 FPS means that you may see occasional dips below 60 FPS. High settings at 4K produce 63 FPS average, which is borderline, but the risk of drops makes it less desirable. Ultra at 4K should be avoided entirely, as the 40 FPS average is not suitable for smooth gameplay.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, 1440p Ultra at 68 FPS is a viable option, but it is not ideal for fast-paced action. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 117 FPS average with a minimum of 99 FPS, making it a safer choice for maintaining consistent performance. Overall, the data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings compromises to achieve playable frame rates. The RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM and the game's 2019 era optimizations mean that Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p, where the 98 FPS average is still playable but not high-refresh-rate territory.