Greedfall

The Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination in Greedfall delivers a playable experience at 1080p, but the data shows a steep performance cliff as resolution and settings increase. The core issue is that this pairing is heavily balanced toward 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K Ultra proving to be an unplayable outlier.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 89.4 FPS, which drops to 64.8 FPS at 1440p High—a 27.5% reduction. Moving to 4K High yields 39.2 FPS, representing a further 39.5% drop from 1440p. This scaling curve indicates that the GTX 1070's 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance become the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically with resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (124.1 FPS) and Ultra (55.8 FPS) is 122.4%. At 1440p, that gap grows to 131.0%, with Low at 85.7 FPS and Ultra at 37.1 FPS. At 4K, the spread becomes extreme: Low produces 52.9 FPS while Ultra collapses to 25.5 FPS—a 107.5% difference. The data suggests that the GPU's pixel fill rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s are being saturated by the combination of high resolution and demanding settings.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Medium settings shows a 25.8% performance loss (96.0 to 71.2 FPS), while the 1440p to 4K transition at Medium costs another 43.0% (71.2 to 40.6 FPS). This nonlinear degradation points to the 8 GB GDDR5 memory buffer and its 256-bit bus being insufficient for 4K Ultra, where the 25.5 FPS result indicates the GPU is severely overburdened.

GPU Role

The GTX 1070's specifications directly explain the measured results. With 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the card is a capable 1080p performer but shows its age at higher resolutions. The boost clock of 1683 MHz and memory clock of 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) provide the foundation for the observed frame rates, but the 150 W TDP and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface limit its headroom.

The 8 GB GDDR5 memory with 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is the critical constraint at 4K. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces only 25.5 FPS, a 54.3% drop from the High preset's 39.2 FPS at the same resolution. This massive penalty indicates that the Ultra preset's additional memory pressure and shader complexity are overwhelming the GPU's capabilities. The card's percentile ranking of 51 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 12331, places it squarely in the midrange—capable but not exceptional.

The GPU's DirectX 12 (12_1) support is relevant for Greedfall, which uses modern rendering features. The PassMark DirectX 12 score of 48 (out of a possible 100) and DirectX 11 score of 100 suggest that the card handles DX11 workloads efficiently but struggles with more demanding DX12 paths. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1082 corroborates this, indicating that the Pascal architecture's lack of dedicated hardware acceleration for certain modern features impacts high-settings performance.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p is the sweet spot, with Low settings achieving 124.1 FPS and High settings maintaining 89.4 FPS. At 1440p, High still delivers a smooth 64.8 FPS, but 4K Ultra falls to an unplayable 25.5 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The measured FPS drops from 89.4 at 1920x1080 to 39.2 at 3840x2160—a 56.2% reduction. This indicates the GTX 1070 becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth using at any resolution?

A: No. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 55.8 FPS, which is 37.6% slower than High's 89.4 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 37.1 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 25.5 FPS. The performance cost is not justified by the visual gains.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1070's average benchmark score of 12331 is 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (12241), 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (12490), and 1.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (12504).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: Low settings produce 85.7 FPS while Ultra yields 37.1 FPS—a 131.0% difference. This shows that settings have a more pronounced effect than resolution scaling on this hardware.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with any settings?

A: No. The highest 4K result is Low settings at 52.9 FPS, which falls short of 60 FPS. Medium produces 40.6 FPS, High 39.2 FPS, and Ultra 25.5 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings achieve 124.1 FPS, Medium reaches 96.0 FPS, High maintains 89.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 55.8 FPS. The transition from High to Ultra costs 37.6% performance, making Ultra a questionable choice even at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, performance remains respectable but shows clear strain. Low produces 85.7 FPS, Medium hits 71.2 FPS, High maintains 64.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37.1 FPS. The High to Ultra penalty is 42.7%, slightly steeper than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overmatched. Low yields 52.9 FPS, Medium drops to 40.6 FPS, High barely manages 39.2 FPS, and Ultra collapses to 25.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 107.5%, demonstrating that this resolution is beyond the GTX 1070's effective range for Greedfall.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F provides 4 cores and 8 threads with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its benchmark results indicate strong single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 893. The multi-thread scores are less impressive, with Cinebench R23 multi-core at 11912 and 3DMark 16-threads at 4051.

In Greedfall, an Action RPG with moderate CPU demands, the i3-12100F's single-thread strength is more relevant than its multi-thread capability. The 12 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4, DDR5) provide adequate bandwidth for the game's engine. The CPU's percentile ranking of 72 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13516, places it above the median but not in enthusiast territory.

The nearest rival data shows the i3-12100F is 0.1% slower than the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (13534 vs 13516), 0.4% faster than the Intel Core i7-1250U (13462), 0.6% faster than the Intel Core i3-10105 (13430), and 1.8% faster than the Intel Core i7-7700K (13280). These margins are negligible, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combo's performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports High settings as the optimal choice for this combo. At 1080p High, the 89.4 FPS result provides a smooth experience with headroom for demanding scenes. At 1440p High, 64.8 FPS remains playable, though users prioritizing frame rate stability might prefer Medium at 71.2 FPS.

Low settings are viable for competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, with 124.1 FPS at 1080p and 85.7 FPS at 1440p. However, the visual trade-off is significant. Medium settings offer a balanced middle ground: 96.0 FPS at 1080p and 71.2 FPS at 1440p, with only a 7.4% penalty versus High at 1080p.

Ultra settings are not recommended at any resolution. The 55.8 FPS at 1080p is borderline, but the 37.1 FPS at 1440p and 25.5 FPS at 4K are below playable thresholds. The data suggests that High settings provide the best visual fidelity per frame cost, with Medium as a strong alternative for users who want additional performance margin.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination ranks 1429 out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the bottom 16.2% of configurations. This low ranking reflects the GPU's midrange position (percentile 51) and the CPU's modest multi-thread performance, despite the i3-12100F's strong single-thread showing.

The ranking indicates that while this combo is playable at 1080p, it lags behind most tested configurations in this game. The GTX 1070's average benchmark score of 12331, which is 0.7% above the Quadro K4200 and 1.4% below the GTX 1650 SUPER, confirms that it sits at the lower end of the performance spectrum for modern titles. The i3-12100F's average score of 13516, which is 1.8% above the i7-7700K, provides some CPU headroom but cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations at higher settings.

The 1705 total combos tested mean that 276 configurations perform worse than this pairing. The data shows that users should target 1080p High (89.4 FPS) or 1440p Medium (71.2 FPS) to get the best experience from this hardware. The 4K Ultra result of 25.5 FPS is a clear outlier and should be avoided entirely.