Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress profile for modern hardware. The measured data for the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT combination reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, but which scales dramatically when the workload shifts. The benchmark results indicate a pairing capable of high refresh-rate play at 1440p, but the transition to 4K Ultra reveals a significant performance ceiling that requires careful settings management.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across the four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) clearly indicates that the "High" preset offers the most compelling balance between visual fidelity and performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 191 FPS, which is 69 FPS higher than the Ultra preset’s 122 FPS, while still providing a substantial visual upgrade over the Low and Medium tiers. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p is a modest 19 FPS decrease (from 210 to 191), but the visual return on investment for High settings is typically far greater than the incremental cost in frame rate.

This pattern becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 132 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 84 FPS seen on Ultra. The difference between High and Medium at 1440p is only 14 FPS (132 vs. 146), making High the superior choice for maintaining a high refresh rate experience without sacrificing the graphical details that define the game’s atmosphere. The data suggests that Ultra is a setting for showcasing the game rather than for smooth, competitive play, as the performance penalty is disproportionate to the expected visual gain.

For 4K gaming, the recommendation shifts more decisively toward High. The measured 79 FPS average at 3840x2160 on High is playable, but the 50 FPS average on Ultra represents a 37% performance drop that pushes the experience below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth action RPG combat. The Medium preset at 4K, with an average of 87 FPS, is also a viable option if the user prefers to prioritize frame rate over the highest fidelity settings. The worst-case scenario for this combo is clearly the Ultra preset at 4K, which the data shows to be the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark results place this specific combination at rank 743 out of 3703 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all system configurations tested for Greedfall. This is a strong showing, but it is not the absolute top tier. The ranking suggests that while the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and RX 7900 XT are both high-end components, their combined performance in this specific title is limited by factors that other, possibly more balanced, configurations might not face.

The rank of 743 indicates that there are over 700 other system combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in this game. This is likely due to the fact that Greedfall, being an older title, may not fully utilize the massive thread count of the 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X3D. The CPU’s benchmark percentile of 95 and an average score of 75,779 place it near the top of all processors, but its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 with a delta of 0.1%, show that the performance headroom is incredibly tight. The data implies that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing, and that a less powerful CPU might not significantly alter the final ranking.

The GPU’s own benchmark percentile of 55 and an average score of 13,745 are more modest, placing it in the mid-range of all graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, has a delta of 1.5%, meaning the 7900 XT is slightly ahead. This suggests that the RX 7900 XT, while a capable card, is not a top-tier performer in the aggregate of all GPU benchmarks, which aligns with the combo’s overall rank in Greedfall. The system is well above average, but the data suggests it is not at the absolute bleeding edge of performance for this specific title.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT’s role in Greedfall is defined by its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 800.0 GB/s. This substantial memory capacity and bandwidth are more than sufficient for the game’s textures at any resolution, meaning VRAM capacity is unlikely to be a bottleneck. The card’s boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz are the primary drivers of its compute performance, which is rated at 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The benchmark results show a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher settings. The performance drop from 1080p High (191 FPS) to 4K High (79 FPS) is a 59% reduction in frame rate, which is a classic sign of the GPU struggling with the increased pixel count. The fact that the CPU is not the limiting factor is further evidenced by the relatively small performance gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (268 FPS down to 186 FPS, a 31% drop). If the CPU were the bottleneck, this drop would be less pronounced. The data indicates that the RX 7900 XT’s raw rasterization power is the primary determinant of the frame rate in this game, particularly when the resolution and detail levels are increased.

The GPU’s 84 ray tracing cores and RDNA 3.0 architecture are present in the card, but Greedfall’s release in 2019 predates the widespread adoption of ray tracing in mainstream titles. Therefore, the game likely does not rely on these specific hardware features, meaning its performance is driven more by the traditional shader and texture units (5376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs). The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s are the key metrics that influence how quickly the card can fill the screen with detailed imagery, and these directly correlate with the observed FPS numbers.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play at for a high refresh rate experience?

A: Based on the data, 2560x1440 on High settings provides an average of 132 FPS, which is ideal for high refresh rate monitors. For even higher frame rates, 1920x1080 on High delivers 191 FPS, while 4K High drops to 79 FPS, making it less suitable for 144Hz+ displays.

Q: Is the Ultra preset ever worth using with this hardware?

A: The Ultra preset results in a significant performance penalty across all resolutions. At 4K, it averages 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that the visual difference between High and Ultra does not justify the 37% average FPS drop at 4K.

Q: How does the GPU’s 20 GB of VRAM affect performance in Greedfall?

A: The 20 GB of VRAM is far more than the game requires. The data shows that the performance bottleneck is not memory capacity but the GPU’s compute power, as the frame rate scales inversely with resolution and settings, which are compute-intensive operations.

Q: Where does this system rank compared to all other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 743rd out of 3703 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all systems tested for Greedfall. This indicates a high-performing setup, though not the absolute fastest.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rate drops significantly when resolution and settings are increased, which is a hallmark of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU’s high benchmark scores and rank suggest it has ample headroom for this title.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Medium and High presets?

A: The performance difference is relatively small. At 1080p, the difference is 19 FPS (210 vs 191), and at 1440p it is 14 FPS (146 vs 132). This small gap makes High the recommended setting for a visual upgrade without a major performance cost.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a predictable, but steep, decline in performance as resolution increases. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 268 FPS at 1080p to 186 FPS at 1440p (a 31% decrease) and further down to 111 FPS at 4K (a 59% decrease from 1080p). This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the workload on the graphics card increases quadratically with the pixel count.

The trend becomes even more pronounced at higher settings. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 191 at 1080p to 132 at 1440p (a 31% drop) and then to 79 at 4K (a 59% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings is a strong indicator that the system is not being limited by any other component, such as the CPU or memory bandwidth. The frame rate is directly proportional to the number of pixels being rendered.

The most extreme example of this scaling is at the Ultra preset, where the 4K average of 50 FPS is only 41% of the 1080p average of 122 FPS. This steep drop-off highlights the massive computational load that 4K Ultra places on the RX 7900 XT. The data implies that to maintain a consistent frame rate target, users must either reduce the resolution or the settings preset. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is more manageable, offering a 31% reduction in FPS, which for many users is an acceptable trade-off for the increased sharpness. The jump to 4K, however, requires a more significant compromise in graphical fidelity.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz. Its 128 MB of L3 cache is a defining feature, designed to reduce memory latency in games. The CPU’s synthetic benchmark scores are exceptional, with a multi-core score of 42,018 in Cinebench R23 and a single-core score of 2,259. Despite this immense processing power, the data from Greedfall indicates that the CPU is not the performance bottleneck.

The evidence for this is the relatively small difference in frame rates between different CPU-intensive scenarios. At 1080p Low settings, where the CPU is often the limiting factor in older games, the system achieves 268 FPS. When the resolution is increased to 4K Low, the frame rate drops to 111 FPS, a 59% reduction. If the CPU were struggling to feed the GPU, we would expect the 1080p and 4K frame rates to be closer, as the CPU workload would be similar. The fact that the frame rate scales almost entirely with resolution proves that the GPU is the primary constraint.

The CPU’s 95th percentile ranking and its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 with a delta of 0.1%, show that it is among the fastest processors available. However, Greedfall, being a 2019 title, is unlikely to utilize all 32 threads effectively. The game’s engine probably relies more on single-thread performance, which the 9950X3D excels at (3,064 in Geekbench single-core), but this strength does not translate into higher frame rates because the GPU is already maxed out. The data suggests that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is providing a stable, high-performance foundation, but it is not the component that determines the final FPS in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the system’s performance across all combinations of resolution and settings. At 1920x1080, the system is capable of very high frame rates. The Low preset averages 268 FPS, making it suitable for esports-style play, while the Medium preset averages 210 FPS. The High preset still delivers a very smooth 191 FPS, and the Ultra preset, while the most demanding, still manages an average of 122 FPS. The minimum FPS recorded at 1080p Medium was 179, with a maximum of 242, indicating a stable experience without major frame time spikes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. The Low preset averages 186 FPS, which is still excellent for high refresh rate monitors. The Medium preset averages 146 FPS, with a minimum of 124 and a maximum of 168, showing a consistent performance envelope. The High preset averages 132 FPS, which is a good target for 144Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to an average of 84 FPS, which is playable but not as fluid as the lower presets.

At 3840x2160, the system’s limits become apparent. The Low preset averages 111 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS. The Medium preset averages 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 and a maximum of 100. The High preset averages 79 FPS, which is smooth enough for most players. The Ultra preset is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS mark, averaging just 50 FPS. This final data point clearly illustrates that 4K Ultra is too demanding for this combination, requiring a reduction in settings to achieve a playable frame rate. The overall data set shows that the system is most comfortable at 1080p and 1440p, where it can maintain high frame rates across all settings, and that 4K is only viable with the High preset or lower.