Greedfall

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers exceptional performance in Greedfall, placing 49th out of 1705 tested combos. This pairing of a 16-core Zen 5 processor with the Ada Lovelace flagship produces frame rates that span from highly playable at 4K to extraordinarily high at 1080p, with the data revealing a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but increasingly CPU-limited as resolution drops.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop reveals the underlying bottleneck dynamics. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 158.7 FPS to 111.2 FPS, a reduction of approximately 30%. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced, with the 4K Ultra average dropping to 66 FPS, representing a 40.6% decrease from the 1440p figure.

This scaling behavior indicates that at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4090 is the primary limiting component. The GPU's raw throughput, measured at 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 with a 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, is being taxed heavily by the game's demanding ultra settings. The fact that the 4K Ultra score of 66 FPS is less than half of the 1080p Ultra score of 158.7 FPS suggests that the GPU's compute resources are saturated, while the CPU still has headroom.

Conversely, at 1080p, the scaling pattern changes character. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p is substantial (354 FPS vs 158.7 FPS), but the absolute numbers are so high that the CPU's role becomes more significant. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D, with its 128 MB of shared L3 cache and 5.70 GHz boost clock, is clearly capable of feeding the GPU at these frame rates, but the diminishing returns between Medium and High (275.2 to 249.3 FPS) suggest that the GPU is still the dominant factor even at this resolution.

The most telling data point is the 4K Low result of 143.8 FPS. This is only slightly below the 1080p High result of 249.3 FPS, but the gap between 4K Low and 4K Ultra (143.8 to 66 FPS) shows that the RTX 4090's performance is heavily dependent on settings at this resolution. This combination demonstrates that for Greedfall, the GPU is the limiting factor at all tested resolutions, with the CPU providing ample overhead across the board.

FAQ

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an average benchmark score of 71,660, placing it 1.8% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and 2.2% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700KF. It trails the Intel Xeon 6517P by 1.9% but edges out the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 0.9%.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the 1080p average is 158.7 FPS, while the 4K average drops to 66 FPS. This represents a 58.4% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RTX 4090 is heavily taxed at the higher resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 significantly faster than its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score is 66,473. It is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 but 0.4% behind the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56. These deltas are minimal, though the gaming-specific performance in Greedfall is what matters most.

Q: How much does settings quality affect frame rates at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 242.5 at Low settings to 111.2 at Ultra. Medium settings produce 192.7 FPS, while High yields 176.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 131.3 FPS, a 54.1% drop.

Q: What does the combo's rank of 49 out of 1705 indicate?

A: This rank places the combination in the top 2.9% of all tested CPU-GPU pairings for Greedfall. It indicates that this is an elite configuration, though not the absolute fastest, with 48 other combos achieving higher average frame rates.

Q: What is the CPU's single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread capability?

A: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D scores 8,430 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 59,712 in multi-core. The ratio of 7.08x between multi-core and single-core scores reflects the 16-core/32-thread configuration, with the 5.70 GHz boost clock driving strong single-thread results.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a rank of 49 out of 1,705 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the top percentile of all configurations tested. This ranking is noteworthy because it demonstrates that even the most powerful consumer CPU and GPU pairing does not top the charts, suggesting that other factors such as memory configuration or driver optimization may influence results.

The CPU's benchmark percentile of 96 against all CPUs indicates it is among the top 4% of processors tested, while the GPU's percentile of 91 places it in the top 9% of graphics cards. The combination of these two high-percentile components yields a rank that is better than either individual percentile would suggest, implying that the pairing is well-balanced for this specific game.

The nearest CPU rival data shows that the Ryzen 9 9950X3D's average score of 71,660 is close to the Intel Xeon 6517P's 73,050, which is 1.9% higher. However, in Greedfall, the actual measured frame rates show the combination performing strongly, indicating that synthetic benchmarks do not always translate directly to gaming performance. The GPU's nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, are within 1.3% of the RTX 4090's average score, but these are workstation-oriented cards that would not be expected to match the gaming performance of the 4090.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates span a wide range across settings. Low settings produce 354 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all resolutions and settings. Medium yields 275.2 FPS, High drops to 249.3 FPS, and Ultra settles at 158.7 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 195.3 FPS, representing a 55.2% reduction.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a tighter spread. Low settings produce 242.5 FPS, Medium delivers 192.7 FPS, High achieves 176.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 111.2 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra here is 131.3 FPS, a 54.1% reduction. Notably, the 1440p Low result is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result, indicating that the GPU has significant headroom even at higher resolutions when settings are reduced.

At 3840x2160, the performance landscape shifts more dramatically. Low settings yield 143.8 FPS, Medium produces 115.7 FPS, High delivers 107.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 66 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 77.8 FPS, a 54.1% reduction. The 4K Ultra result of 66 FPS is the lowest measured in the entire dataset, and it shows that even the RTX 4090 struggles to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings in this resolution.

The scaling pattern across resolutions shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings remains relatively consistent at approximately 54-55% for 1440p and 4K, while at 1080p it is slightly larger at 55.2%. This consistency suggests that the settings quality affects the GPU workload in a uniform manner across resolutions, with the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory being sufficient to avoid any memory capacity limitations.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity at 4K, the Ultra preset's 66 FPS average is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The High preset at 4K, producing 107.1 FPS, offers a more comfortable margin while still delivering high-quality visuals. The jump from High to Ultra at 4K costs 41.1 FPS, which is a substantial 38.4% reduction for what is likely a modest visual improvement.

At 1440p, the High preset's 176.3 FPS provides an excellent balance between visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 111.2 FPS is still well above 60 FPS and represents the best choice for users with high-refresh-rate 1440p displays who want the best image quality. The Medium preset at 192.7 FPS is the sweet spot for competitive play, offering nearly 200 FPS while maintaining decent visual fidelity.

For 1080p users, the High preset at 249.3 FPS is more than sufficient for even the fastest refresh-rate monitors, and the Ultra preset at 158.7 FPS still exceeds the refresh rate of most displays. The Medium preset at 275.2 FPS offers a significant boost for users with 240Hz or higher monitors, though the visual trade-off may not be worth it for most players.

The data suggests that the High preset is the recommended default for most users, as it provides a consistent frame rate above 100 FPS across all three resolutions. For users with 4K displays who demand maximum quality, the Ultra preset is viable but requires accepting a 66 FPS average. The Low preset, while producing the highest frame rates, sacrifices too much visual quality to be recommended for a game like Greedfall, which is an Action RPG where atmosphere and detail contribute to the experience.