Greedfall

# Greedfall: Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 — Benchmark Analysis

The data for this combination of an Intel Core i3-12100F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 in Greedfall reveals a system that is heavily weighted toward GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions, while the CPU demonstrates its capability to push very high frame rates at 1080p. The measured results span four settings levels across three resolutions, providing a clear picture of scaling behavior. This pairing ranks 1584th out of 3703 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database's tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking pattern in the data is how frame rates collapse as resolution increases, particularly at the Ultra preset. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at Ultra settings, the average frame rate drops from 93 FPS to 64 FPS, a reduction of 29 FPS or roughly 31%. The jump from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at Ultra is even more severe, with the average falling from 64 FPS to 38 FPS, another 26 FPS drop. This represents a total decline of 55 FPS from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra, indicating that the RTX 3070's rendering pipeline becomes the dominant constraint as pixel count rises.

At High settings, the scaling profile shows a similar but slightly less dramatic trend. The 1080p High average of 146 FPS drops to 101 FPS at 1440p (a 45 FPS decrease) and then to 60 FPS at 4K (another 41 FPS decrease). The 4K High result of exactly 60 FPS is notable because it sits precisely at a common display refresh rate, suggesting that this configuration can deliver a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K with High settings, but with no headroom for demanding scenes.

The Medium preset reveals the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum frame rates at every resolution. At 1080p Medium, the average is 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 184 FPS. At 1440p Medium, these figures shift to 111 FPS average, 94 FPS minimum, and 128 FPS maximum. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 66 FPS, with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS. The minimum frame rates at 1440p and 4K Medium (94 and 56 FPS respectively) suggest that even with the lower preset, the GPU is working hard to maintain fluidity at higher resolutions.

Low settings show the least dramatic scaling, which is counterintuitive until considering that Low preset reduces GPU load substantially, allowing the CPU to become more relevant. The 1080p Low average of 204 FPS drops to 141 FPS at 1440p and 84 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result of 84 FPS is particularly interesting because it represents a 46 FPS drop from 1440p Low, whereas the drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 63 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that at 4K Low, the GPU is still the limiting factor, but the CPU's 4-core/8-thread configuration begins to show its ceiling at the higher frame rates seen at lower resolutions.

The overall pattern indicates that this system is GPU-limited at 4K across all settings, with the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and GA104 chip becoming the primary determinant of performance. At 1080p, particularly with Low settings, the CPU's capabilities are more exposed, but the i3-12100F still manages to deliver over 200 FPS, showing that its 4.30 GHz boost clock is sufficient for this game's engine demands.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the most balanced experience comes from the High preset at 2560x1440, where the system produces an average of 101 FPS. This result sits comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while maintaining visual quality that is substantially better than Low or Medium. The 1440p High configuration also avoids the minimum frame rate data being collected (no min/max reported), suggesting that the frame pacing is stable enough that the database did not flag any concerning dips.

For users targeting 4K, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS. This represents the best balance for 4K, as High drops to exactly 60 FPS average with no reported minimum, and Ultra falls to 38 FPS which is likely too low for smooth play. The 66 FPS average at 4K Medium provides a margin above 60 FPS, and the 56 FPS minimum indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate rarely drops below playable territory.

At 1080p, the High preset's 146 FPS average is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays, as it exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates commonly found on gaming monitors. The Medium preset at 160 FPS average would be preferable for users with 165 Hz or 180 Hz displays, but the difference between 146 and 160 FPS is marginal in practice. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 93 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a significant 53 FPS penalty compared to High for what is typically a modest visual improvement.

For competitive play, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 204 FPS average, which maximizes frame throughput. However, the visual sacrifices are substantial, and given that the High preset still achieves 146 FPS, most users would be better served by the higher quality settings. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p (111 FPS average) is also a viable alternative for users who prioritize frame rate over resolution, as it outperforms 1440p High by 10 FPS while likely looking similar on most displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 sits at the 61st percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 17208. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (scoring 17083, a 0.7% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037, 1% difference), and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019, 1.1% difference). The RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical factor in Greedfall's open-world environments that stream textures.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 5888 shading units and 184 texture mapping units, produce a texture fill rate of 317.4 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s. The 96 ROPs are directly relevant to the resolution scaling observed, as higher resolutions require more pixel processing throughput.

The RTX 3070's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present in the hardware, but Greedfall was released in 2019 and does not appear to leverage these features heavily based on the measured data. The FP32 compute capability of 20.31 TFLOPS is substantial, and the 1:1 FP16 ratio (also 20.31 TFLOPS) indicates the GPU can handle compute-heavy workloads without penalty. The 17,400 million transistors on Samsung's 8 nm process node with a 392 mm² die size give the GPU its performance characteristics.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity may become a limiting factor, as the 38 FPS average suggests the chip is struggling with both memory bandwidth and compute demands. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for 1440p High (101 FPS) but appears insufficient for maintaining 60+ FPS at 4K Ultra. The 220 W TDP and suggested 550 W PSU indicate the power delivery is appropriately sized for this performance class, though the 1x 12-pin power connector requires adapter consideration for older power supplies.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured averages span from 93 FPS at Ultra to 204 FPS at Low. The Medium preset provides 160 FPS average with a minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 184 FPS, while High delivers 146 FPS. The gap between Ultra and High at 1080p is 53 FPS, which is the largest single-preset jump in the entire dataset, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy load on the GPU even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 64 FPS at Ultra, 101 FPS at High, 111 FPS at Medium (with a minimum of 94 FPS and maximum of 128 FPS), and 141 FPS at Low. The Medium preset's minimum of 94 FPS is the highest minimum frame rate recorded at 1440p across all settings, showing that the Medium preset provides the most consistent experience at this resolution. The 111 FPS Medium average is also 10 FPS higher than High, suggesting that the performance cost of High over Medium is substantial.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 38 FPS at Ultra, 60 FPS at High, 66 FPS at Medium (with a minimum of 56 FPS and maximum of 76 FPS), and 84 FPS at Low. The 4K Medium minimum of 56 FPS is noteworthy because it falls below the 60 FPS threshold, meaning there will be occasional dips below 60 FPS even at Medium settings. The 4K Low average of 84 FPS is the only 4K configuration that provides comfortable headroom above 60 FPS.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows consistent performance penalties. At 1080p, the difference from Low to Ultra is 111 FPS (from 204 to 93). At 1440p, the difference is 77 FPS (from 141 to 64). At 4K, the difference is 46 FPS (from 84 to 38). This narrowing delta at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as pixel count increases, reducing the impact of settings changes.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Greedfall at 4K with smooth frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at Medium or Low settings. At 4K Medium, the average is 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS, while 4K Low reaches 84 FPS average. At 4K High, the average drops to exactly 60 FPS, and Ultra falls to 38 FPS, which is below typically acceptable thresholds.

Q: What is the best setting for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 160 FPS average, which exceeds 144 Hz. High at 1080p provides 146 FPS, also above 144 Hz. At 1440p, the Low preset's 141 FPS average is just below 144 Hz, while Medium's 111 FPS and High's 101 FPS do not reach that threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 17208. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 17083 (0.7% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 scores 17037 (1% lower), and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019 (1.1% lower). The NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17468 (1.5% higher).

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Greedfall?

A: At 4K Ultra, the 38 FPS average suggests that both compute and memory resources are stressed. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth on the 256-bit bus appears adequate for 1440p High (101 FPS) but struggles at 4K Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K (66 FPS) indicates that reducing settings alleviates memory pressure.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, Low delivers 204 FPS and Ultra delivers 93 FPS, a 111 FPS difference. At 1440p, Low delivers 141 FPS and Ultra delivers 64 FPS, a 77 FPS difference. At 4K, Low delivers 84 FPS and Ultra delivers 38 FPS, a 46 FPS difference.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance at any resolution?

A: At 1080p Low, the 204 FPS average suggests the i3-12100F is capable of very high frame rates. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads with a 4.30 GHz boost clock appear sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings, though the diminishing returns from Low to Ultra at 1080p (111 FPS difference) indicate the GPU is still the primary constraint.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process node. Its base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz, combined with a 12 MB shared L3 cache, provide the computational foundation for this gaming configuration. The CPU's 58 W TDP is modest, and its percentile ranking of 68 among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 13494 places it in the upper-middle range of desktop processors.

The benchmark results for the i3-12100F show a multicore 3DMark score of 4051 for 16 threads, 4026 for 8 threads, and 4023 for max threads, indicating that the 8-thread limit is reached quickly and additional threads do not provide significant gains. This is expected for a 4-core/8-thread part. The single-thread 3DMark score of 893 and 2-thread score of 1659 demonstrate strong per-core performance, which is relevant for Greedfall's game logic and rendering thread. The Cinebench R23 scores of 11860 multicore and 1674 singlecore further confirm the CPU's capability, with the singlecore result being particularly important for games that have a primary simulation thread.

In Greedfall specifically, the measured frame rates at 1080p Low (204 FPS average) suggest that the CPU can feed frames to the GPU at very high rates. However, the i3-12100F's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core 3 N355 (avg score 13492, 0% delta), Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, 0.3% higher), Intel Core 5 120UL (13594, -0.7% lower), and Intel Core i7-1250U (13351, 1.1% higher). These rivals are all similar in average benchmark score, indicating that the i3-12100F is competitive with mid-range processors from various generations.

The CPU's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel memory bus, provides flexibility for system builders. The PCIe Gen 5 support with 16 lanes (CPU only) ensures that the RTX 3070's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is fully utilized without bandwidth constraints. The lack of integrated graphics means the RTX 3070 is the sole display output, which is typical for gaming configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1584th out of 3703 tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the balance between the CPU's mid-tier performance and the GPU's strong capability, resulting in a system that performs well at 1080p and 1440p but falls short of top-tier 4K performance.

The rank of 1584 out of 3703 (43% of systems rank higher) suggests that while the RTX 3070 is a capable GPU, the i3-12100F's 4-core configuration may hold the system back in some scenarios, particularly compared to combinations with higher-core-count CPUs. However, the measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, this combo achieves frame rates above 200 FPS at Low settings and above 140 FPS at High settings, which would place it in the upper tier for competitive gaming.

The GPU's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs suggest that this combo is relatively well-matched, with the GPU being slightly weaker relative to its peers than the CPU. This is reflected in the resolution scaling, where the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K, while the CPU can still deliver high frame rates at 1080p. The 1584th rank out of 3703 combos indicates that there are many systems with both stronger CPUs and GPUs that outperform this configuration, but also a significant number of systems that rank lower.

For users considering this combo, the data suggests that it is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming with high refresh rates, and can handle 4K at Medium settings. The 1584th rank out of 3703 is a solid mid-pack result, and the measured FPS figures demonstrate that this system provides a smooth experience in Greedfall across most settings and resolutions, with the caveat that 4K Ultra is not playable at acceptable frame rates.