Greedfall

# Greedfall: Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The pairing of Intel's entry-level Alder Lake quad-core with NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell GPU produces a striking imbalance in Greedfall, one that heavily favors the graphics card at lower resolutions but reveals a CPU bottleneck as settings climb. Benchmark results show this combo achieving 359 FPS at 1080p Low, yet dropping to 68 FPS at 4K Ultra — a pattern that indicates the RTX 5090 is doing the heavy lifting at high frame rates, while the i3-12100F's four cores constrain performance when the game's computational load shifts. Across all twelve measured configurations, this combination ranks 90th out of 3703 tested combos, placing it in the top 2.4% of all pairings despite the modest processor.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate trajectory from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck resides in this system. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 359 FPS, which represents the absolute ceiling for this pairing — a figure that far exceeds what the Core i3-12100F can sustain in more demanding scenes. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 249 FPS, a 30.6% reduction, and 4K Low produces 149 FPS, another 40.2% decline. These scaling factors are notably steeper than what pure GPU-bound performance would suggest, indicating the processor's single-thread and multi-thread limits are already being approached at 1080p.

The scaling behavior shifts dramatically when moving through the settings presets. At High settings, the 1080p result of 256 FPS falls to 178 FPS at 1440p (a 30.5% drop) and then to 106 FPS at 4K (a 40.4% drop from 1440p). This consistent ~30% and ~40% scaling pattern across Low and High presets suggests the RTX 5090's rendering pipeline is the primary limiter at these settings — the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are being utilized progressively more as resolution increases.

The Ultra preset reveals a different dynamic. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 164 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it drops to 113 FPS (31.1% reduction); and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 68 FPS (39.8% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra figure of 68 FPS is the lowest measured result across the entire matrix, and the scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra is nearly identical to the scaling at other presets. This consistency indicates that even at the most demanding settings, the RTX 5090 remains the dominant factor — the CPU is not yet the limiting component at 4K Ultra, where the GPU's raw throughput is stretched by the 8.3 million pixel count.

The data shows that resolution scaling in Greedfall is remarkably linear for this combo, with each step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K producing roughly a 30% and then 40% reduction in frame rate, respectively. This pattern holds across all four settings presets, which is unusual — most combinations show a flattening of the scaling curve at higher resolutions when the CPU becomes the limiting factor. Here, the RTX 5090's immense compute resources (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) are sufficient to keep the GPU as the primary constraint even at 4K Ultra, where the 68 FPS result still exceeds what many lesser GPUs can achieve at 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F brings 4 cores and 8 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its Alder Lake architecture and 10 nm process node deliver strong single-thread performance — evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1674 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1932 — but the multi-thread results reveal the limitations of a quad-core design. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11860 and Passmark multi-thread score of 14015 place this chip at the 68th percentile of all CPUs, a respectable figure for a budget processor but clearly below what would be expected to fully feed an RTX 5090.

The 3DMark results illustrate the CPU's scaling characteristics: 1659 in the 2-thread test, 2859 in the 4-thread test, 4026 in the 8-thread test, and 4023 at maximum threads. The near-identical scores between the 8-thread and max-thread tests confirm that the i3-12100F's 8 threads are fully saturated, and additional workload does not yield further performance. This saturation point becomes relevant in Greedfall, where the game's engine must distribute tasks across available threads.

In the context of Greedfall's measured results, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU's capabilities. The 1080p Low result of 359 FPS is the strongest indicator of CPU headroom — at that resolution and settings combination, the GPU is barely stressed, and the frame rate is likely limited by the processor's ability to issue draw calls and process game logic. The fact that 1080p Low (359 FPS) is only 40% higher than 1080p Ultra (164 FPS) suggests that the CPU is not the sole limiter even at the lowest settings; rather, the game's engine overhead and the GPU's minimum frame time are both contributing factors.

The i3-12100F's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks — the Intel Core 3 N355 (0% delta), Core i5-9500 (0.3% ahead), and Core 5 120UL (0.7% behind) — all cluster within a narrow performance band. This indicates that the processor's performance class is well-established, and its behavior in Greedfall is consistent with its benchmark profile. The CPU's 58 W TDP and 163 mm² die size suggest thermal headroom that allows sustained boost clocks, though the 4.30 GHz boost clock is modest compared to higher-end Alder Lake parts.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset delivers the optimal experience for this combination. At 1080p, the High preset produces 256 FPS, which is already well beyond the refresh rate of most displays. The Low preset's 359 FPS and Medium preset's 282 FPS offer diminishing returns in practical terms, while the Ultra preset's 164 FPS is still exceptionally smooth. Given that all 1080p presets exceed 160 FPS, the recommendation at this resolution is to prioritize visual quality — the Ultra preset's 164 FPS is the most demanding option and remains highly playable.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 178 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset provides 196 FPS with a minimum of 166 FPS and maximum of 225 FPS, while the Low preset achieves 249 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 113 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 36.5% reduction from High. For 1440p owners, the High preset offers the best balance — it maintains frame rates above 170 FPS while enabling the visual enhancements that Greedfall's Action RPG environments benefit from.

At 4K, the situation changes. The High preset produces 106 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive scenarios. The Medium preset yields 117 FPS with a minimum of 99 FPS and maximum of 134 FPS, while the Low preset achieves 149 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 68 FPS, which is below the 70 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for a smooth experience. The data suggests that 4K Ultra is the only configuration where this combo struggles, and players seeking 4K performance should opt for the High or Medium presets.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset shows the most consistent frame pacing, with measured minimums that are 84.6% of the average at 1080p (240 min vs 282 avg), 84.7% at 1440p (166 min vs 196 avg), and 84.6% at 4K (99 min vs 117 avg). This consistency indicates that Medium is the most stable preset for this combination, likely because it balances GPU load in a way that avoids sudden frame time spikes. The High preset, while faster on average, may exhibit more variance in demanding scenes.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a combo rank of 90 out of 3703 tested combinations in Greedfall. This places it in the 97.6th percentile of all pairings, an exceptional result that underscores the RTX 5090's dominance in this title. The ranking is particularly notable given the processor's budget positioning — the i3-12100F sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, yet the combo's performance is driven almost entirely by the GPU's capabilities.

The rank of 90 means that 89 other combinations produce higher average frame rates in Greedfall, which is a remarkably small number given the 3703 total combos. This suggests that the RTX 5090 is one of the most capable GPUs for this title, and the i3-12100F's limitations only minimally impact the overall ranking. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked pairings is likely attributable to CPUs with higher single-thread performance that can better feed the GPU at 1080p and 1440p settings.

The percentile positioning of the GPU — 92nd percentile among all GPUs — is higher than the CPU's 68th percentile, confirming that the graphics card is the primary driver of this combo's high rank. In Greedfall, the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM and 512-bit memory bus provide ample bandwidth for the game's texture-rich environments, and the 170 ray tracing cores contribute to the overall rendering pipeline. The combo's rank of 90 indicates that even with a modest quad-core processor, the RTX 5090 can achieve near-top-tier performance in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the combo ranks so highly. Built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node, the GPU features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Greedfall's large open-world environments and high-resolution textures.

The GPU's clock speeds — 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost — combined with its massive compute resources produce 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw throughput is evident in the measured frame rates: even at 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 68 FPS, a figure that requires substantial pixel shading and texture filtering workload. The GPU's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s provide the fill rate needed to sustain high frame rates across all resolutions.

In Greedfall specifically, the RTX 5090's performance is characterized by its ability to maintain high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p regardless of settings. The 1080p Ultra result of 164 FPS and 1440p Ultra result of 113 FPS demonstrate that the GPU can handle even the most demanding settings without becoming the bottleneck. The 4K results are more varied, with the GPU's workload increasing substantially — the 4K Low result of 149 FPS versus the 4K Ultra result of 68 FPS shows a 54.4% reduction that reflects the GPU's rendering load at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its in-game performance: a Passmark G3D score of 39650, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 376728, and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18355. These figures place the RTX 5090 at the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% behind) and Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% behind). In Greedfall, the GPU's 32 GB memory capacity prevents any texture streaming issues, and its 680 tensor cores provide headroom for future AI-enhanced features.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low produces 359 FPS average, Medium achieves 282 FPS with a minimum of 240 and maximum of 325, High reaches 256 FPS, and Ultra drops to 164 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 195 FPS, representing a 54.3% reduction at the highest settings. The Medium preset's minimum of 240 FPS is noteworthy — it indicates that even in the most demanding scenes at this resolution, the frame rate never drops below 240 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. Low produces 249 FPS, Medium achieves 196 FPS with a minimum of 166 and maximum of 225, High reaches 178 FPS, and Ultra drops to 113 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 30.5% at High settings to 31.1% at Ultra settings, showing consistent scaling. The Medium preset's minimum of 166 FPS ensures that even the heaviest combat sequences remain smooth.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become more modest but remain playable. Low produces 149 FPS, Medium achieves 117 FPS with a minimum of 99 and maximum of 134, High reaches 106 FPS, and Ultra drops to 68 FPS. The reduction from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced, ranging from 39.8% at Ultra to 40.2% at Low. The 4K Medium minimum of 99 FPS is particularly notable — it means that even at 4K, the combo rarely dips below 100 FPS at Medium settings.

The complete matrix reveals that the Medium preset is the most consistent across all resolutions, with minimum-to-average ratios of 85.1% at 1080p, 84.7% at 1440p, and 84.6% at 4K. The High preset shows slightly more variance, while the Low and Ultra presets lack measured minimums but demonstrate the expected scaling. For players with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors, the Ultra preset at 164 FPS is the recommended choice; for 1440p, High at 178 FPS balances quality and speed; and for 4K, Medium at 117 FPS provides the best frame rate stability.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p High delivers 178 FPS average, which is well above the 144 Hz threshold for high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K, the combo still achieves 106 FPS at High settings, so 1440p represents the sweet spot where visual quality and frame rate are both excellent.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured 4K Ultra result is 68 FPS average, which is playable but below the 70 FPS threshold many players prefer. The Medium preset at 4K produces 117 FPS with a minimum of 99 FPS, making it a better choice for 4K gaming.

Q: How does the i3-12100F affect performance compared to the RTX 5090?

A: The CPU ranks at the 68th percentile among all processors, while the GPU ranks at the 92nd percentile. The combo still achieves 90th place out of 3703 combinations, indicating the GPU's dominance. The CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient for Greedfall at most settings, though the 1080p Low result of 359 FPS suggests some CPU limitation at extreme frame rates.

Q: What is the most stable settings preset for this combo?

A: The Medium preset shows the most consistent frame pacing, with minimums that are 84-85% of the average across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the Medium minimum is 240 FPS; at 1440p, it is 166 FPS; and at 4K, it is 99 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: It ranks 90th out of 3703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the top 2.4% of all pairings. This is an exceptional result given that the CPU is a budget-oriented quad-core part.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM necessary for Greedfall?

A: The GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which ensures that texture streaming is never a bottleneck. While Greedfall may not require the full 32 GB, the memory configuration contributes to the GPU's overall performance and future-proofing.