Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The pairing of Intel's quad-core Alder Lake processor with NVIDIA's Blackwell flagship-tier GPU creates a fascinating study in bottleneck behavior within Greedfall's engine. The measured FPS data reveals a system that scales dramatically with resolution and settings, but the pattern of scaling tells a story about where the true performance ceiling lies. At 1080p, this combo delivers triple-digit frame rates across all presets, yet the relationship between CPU and GPU workload shifts noticeably as resolution increases, suggesting a component balance that deserves closer examination.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily influenced by resolution-dependent workloads. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 213 FPS at 1920x1080 to 148 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 30% when moving to 1440p. Continuing to 3840x2160, the average falls to 88 FPS, representing another 40% decline from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is becoming an increasingly significant factor as pixel count rises, but the magnitude of the drops suggests the CPU still has substantial headroom at higher resolutions.

The Low settings preset provides even clearer evidence of the bottleneck dynamic. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 299 FPS, which drops to 207 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and 124 FPS at 4K (a 40% reduction from 1440p). The fact that 4K Low still produces 124 FPS while 4K Ultra produces only 56 FPS demonstrates that settings have a profound impact on the rendering workload. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution widens progressively: at 1080p the difference is 163 FPS (299 vs 136), at 1440p it is 113 FPS (207 vs 94), and at 4K it is 68 FPS (124 vs 56). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes the primary limiter as resolution increases, while at lower resolutions the CPU's four cores may constrain maximum output.

The Medium preset, which includes both minimum and maximum FPS measurements, offers additional insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 235 FPS with a minimum of 200 and maximum of 270, showing a relatively tight 70 FPS range. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 163 FPS with a range from 138 to 187, maintaining similar consistency. The 4K Medium result of 97 FPS average, with 83 minimum and 112 maximum, shows that even at the highest resolution, frame pacing remains stable. This consistency across resolutions indicates that neither component is experiencing thermal or power-induced throttling under sustained load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F brings 4 cores and 8 threads to Greedfall, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The processor's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide the memory hierarchy for game logic and physics calculations. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 11860 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 1674 in single-core, placing it in the 68th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core 3 N355 with a deltaPct of 0, the Intel Core i5-9500 at 0.3% ahead, and the Intel Core 5 120UL at 0.7% behind, indicating this i3 sits in a competitive mid-range position for processor performance.

The 3DMark results show interesting scaling across thread counts: 1659 for 2 threads, 2859 for 4 threads, 4026 for 8 threads, and 4051 for 16 threads (with max threads also at 4023). The minimal improvement from 8 to 16 threads suggests the CPU's performance ceiling is reached with its 8 threads, and Greedfall's workload does not benefit from additional logical processors beyond that point. The PassMark multithread score of 14015 and single-thread score of 3444 reinforce that this processor's strength lies in its per-core efficiency rather than raw multi-core throughput.

In the context of this game, the CPU's role appears to be sufficient for maintaining high frame rates but potentially limiting at extremely high FPS targets. The 1080p Low result of 299 FPS suggests the CPU can drive the GPU to near its maximum output, but the 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS indicates the GPU is the constraining factor at that setting. The data implies that Greedfall's engine is not particularly CPU-intensive, as even a quad-core processor can sustain playable frame rates at all tested configurations. However, the gap between 1080p and 1440p results at High settings (213 to 148 FPS) suggests that the CPU still has influence on performance scaling, possibly through draw call processing or physics calculations that scale with resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset delivers the optimal experience based on resolution targets. At 1080p, all settings produce playable results, but the Medium preset at 235 FPS average offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance headroom. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 22 FPS (235 to 213), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 77 FPS (213 to 136), making Ultra a significant performance investment for marginal visual gains. For players with high refresh rate displays, the Low preset at 299 FPS maximizes frame rate but sacrifices visual quality that the GPU can readily handle.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again provides the strongest recommendation, with 163 FPS average and a minimum of 138 FPS ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. High settings at 148 FPS average are nearly equivalent, making the choice between Medium and High largely academic for most displays. The Ultra preset at 94 FPS remains playable but begins to approach the threshold where frame pacing could become noticeable on 144Hz monitors. The 4K resolution presents a more constrained environment: Medium at 97 FPS is the recommended choice for maintaining high refresh rates, while High at 88 FPS is acceptable for 60Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 56 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it suitable only for players prioritizing visual quality over smoothness.

The frame time data from Medium settings shows that this preset maintains consistent performance across all resolutions, with the minimum FPS staying within 15% of the average. This consistency suggests that Medium is the most stable configuration for this hardware combination, providing a reliable experience without the extreme performance swings seen between Low and Ultra presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti achieves a combo rank of 409 out of 3703 tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in the top 11% of all configurations. This ranking is notable given the processor's mid-range positioning, as the GPU's strong performance compensates for the CPU's modest specifications. The GPU itself ranks in the 86th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 49957 and nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 at 0.1% behind, the Intel Arc A550M at 0.4% behind, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT at 2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT at 3.1% behind.

The CPU's 68th percentile ranking among all processors suggests that, on paper, this pairing might be considered imbalanced. However, the measured FPS results demonstrate that the combination performs admirably in Greedfall specifically. The rank of 409 out of 3703 indicates that the vast majority of tested combos deliver worse performance in this game, which speaks to the efficiency of both components when working together. The data suggests that Greedfall is more GPU-bound than CPU-bound, allowing the i3-12100F to keep pace with more powerful processors in this particular title.

The deltaPct values for both components' nearest rivals provide context for their performance tiers. The CPU's closest competitor, the Intel Core 3 N355, matches its average benchmark score exactly, while the GPU's closest competitor, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, is just 0.1% behind. These tight margins indicate that both components sit at specific performance plateaus, and the overall combo ranking reflects the cumulative effect of these positions.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i3-12100F sufficient for 4K gaming with the RTX 5070 Ti?

A: Yes, the measured data shows 4K Medium at 97 FPS and 4K High at 88 FPS, indicating the CPU can keep up with the GPU at 4K resolution.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium at 163 FPS average and High at 148 FPS are both excellent, with Medium offering slightly higher frame rates and High providing better visuals.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 409th out of 3703 combos, placing it in the top 11% of all tested systems for Greedfall.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: At Low settings the system achieves 299 FPS, suggesting the CPU can drive high frame rates, but the gap between resolutions indicates some CPU influence at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Ultra and Low at 4K?

A: Ultra averages 56 FPS while Low averages 124 FPS, a difference of 68 FPS that demonstrates the significant GPU workload from Ultra settings.

Q: Is the RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Greedfall?

A: The measured results show consistent performance across all settings, with no indication of VRAM limitations affecting frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers an average of 299 FPS on Low settings, making it the highest recorded performance across all configurations. Medium settings produce 235 FPS average with a minimum of 200 and maximum of 270 FPS. High settings average 213 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 136 FPS average. This represents a performance range from 136 to 299 FPS across the four presets at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, Low settings achieve 207 FPS average, Medium settings reach 163 FPS with a range of 138 to 187 FPS, High settings maintain 148 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 94 FPS average. The 1440p results show a tighter grouping between presets compared to 1080p, with the gap between Low and Ultra narrowing to 113 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope compresses further: Low settings deliver 124 FPS average, Medium settings produce 97 FPS with a range of 83 to 112 FPS, High settings achieve 88 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 56 FPS average. The 4K results demonstrate that even the most demanding configuration remains playable, though Ultra dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

The Medium preset is the only configuration with complete minimum and maximum FPS data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rate range spans 70 FPS (200 to 270), at 1440p it spans 49 FPS (138 to 187), and at 4K it spans 29 FPS (83 to 112). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU's workload becomes more consistent as pixel count increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with base and boost clocks of 2295 MHz and 2452 MHz respectively. The GPU's compute capabilities include 8960 shading units, 280 texture mapping units, 96 raster output units, 70 ray tracing cores, and 280 tensor cores. The FP32 performance of 43.94 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s indicate substantial raw processing power.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. The 4K Ultra result of 56 FPS represents the most GPU-intensive configuration, while the 1080p Low result of 299 FPS shows the GPU can deliver extremely high frame rates when the CPU is not the limiting factor. The PassMark G3D score of 32974 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604 place the GPU in the 86th percentile among all graphics cards, with its nearest rivals within a tight performance band.

The GPU's memory configuration proves adequate for Greedfall at all tested settings, with no evidence of VRAM capacity or bandwidth limitations affecting performance. The 28 Gbps effective memory speed and 256-bit bus width provide sufficient bandwidth for 4K textures and effects, as demonstrated by the playable frame rates at High settings. The GPU's 300 W TDP and suggested 700 W PSU indicate a power-hungry component, but the measured FPS data shows consistent performance without throttling-related frame drops. The combination of high pixel rate and texture rate allows the GPU to handle Greedfall's rendering demands efficiently, with the CPU providing adequate support for game logic at all tested configurations.