Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, responds dramatically to both resolution and graphics presets when paired with the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. The measured frame rates reveal a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound across most settings, with the CPU only becoming a potential limiting factor at the lowest presets and resolutions. The data shows a clear hierarchy of performance scaling that can guide users toward the optimal balance of visual fidelity and smoothness.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results indicate that the High preset offers the most compelling experience for this hardware combination. At 3840x2160, High produces an average of 98.8 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay while still delivering substantial visual improvements over Medium and Low. The jump from Medium to High at 4K is relatively modest, from 108.7 FPS to 98.8 FPS, a difference of roughly 9 FPS. However, the step from High to Ultra at 4K is severe, dropping the average to 62.5 FPS—a 37% reduction. This makes Ultra a demanding choice that sacrifices significant performance for marginal visual gains.

At 2560x1440, High achieves an average of 164.6 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. The scaling pattern remains consistent: Low hits 232.4 FPS, Medium reaches 184 FPS, and Ultra falls to 107.9 FPS. For users targeting 144Hz displays, High is the recommended preset, as it provides a 53% margin above the 144 FPS target. Medium would also suffice, but High’s additional 21 FPS over Medium does not come at a prohibitive cost. At 1920x1080, High produces 243.9 FPS, which exceeds even the fastest 240Hz displays. Low reaches 281.8 FPS and Medium 260.4 FPS, but these higher numbers are largely academic since High already saturates common refresh rates. Ultra at 1080p drops to 152.2 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 37% decrease from High.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing, as evidenced by the frame rate scaling across resolutions. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2617 MHz, with a base clock of 2295 MHz. The GPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188, places it well above the field. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Arc A570M (1.6% lower score), the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (2.6% lower), and the Intel Arc A580 (2.5% higher). In Greedfall, the RTX 5080’s raw throughput is evident: at 4K High, it sustains nearly 100 FPS, indicating that the card has ample headroom for this title’s rendering demands.

The GPU’s 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for Greedfall’s 2019-era visuals. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is a notable asset, as the game’s Ultra preset at 4K likely consumes significant memory, yet the measured 62.5 FPS suggests the card is compute-bound rather than memory-limited. The transition from Medium to Ultra at 4K costs 46.2 FPS (108.7 to 62.5), a 43% drop, which underscores how aggressively the Ultra preset scales GPU workload.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a predictable but important trend: performance scales inversely with resolution, and the rate of scaling indicates a GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings reduces the average FPS from 243.9 to 164.6, a 33% decrease. Continuing to 3840x2160 at High further reduces the average to 98.8 FPS, another 40% drop from 1440p. This pattern—roughly a one-third reduction for each resolution step—is characteristic of a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

At Low settings, the scaling is less severe in percentage terms but still significant: 281.8 FPS at 1080p, 232.4 FPS at 1440p (an 18% drop), and 140.9 FPS at 4K (a 39% drop from 1440p). The larger relative drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings, compared to the drop from 1080p to 1440p, suggests that the RTX 5080 begins to hit pixel-rate limits at 4K even with minimal shading work. At Ultra settings, the pattern is similar: 152.2 FPS at 1080p, 107.9 FPS at 1440p (a 29% drop), and 62.5 FPS at 4K (a 42% drop). The 4K Ultra figure of 62.5 FPS is the only measured point below 60 FPS, indicating that this is the boundary of playable performance for this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this hardware?

A: The High preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 98.8 FPS, which is the highest quality setting that maintains a comfortable frame rate. Ultra drops to 62.5 FPS, which is borderline for smooth play, while Medium and Low offer diminishing visual returns at 108.7 and 140.9 FPS respectively.

Q: Does the Intel Core i5-10400F bottleneck the RTX 5080 in Greedfall?

A: The data does not indicate a significant CPU bottleneck in most scenarios. At 4K High, the frame rate is 98.8 FPS, which is primarily GPU-limited. However, at 1080p Low, the average reaches 281.8 FPS, and at 1440p Low it is 232.4 FPS, which approaches the CPU’s practical rendering limits given its 6 cores and 12 threads.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080 scores 59188 on average, which is 1.6% higher than the Intel Arc A570M, 2.5% higher than the Intel Arc A580, and 2.6% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X. It trails the Intel Arc Pro A60 by 1.9%.

Q: Is the Ultra preset worth the performance cost?

A: The data suggests it is not. At 4K, Ultra yields 62.5 FPS compared to High’s 98.8 FPS, a 37% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 107.9 FPS from High’s 164.6 FPS, a 34% reduction. The visual difference is unlikely to justify the substantial frame rate loss.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with this combination?

A: At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 152.2 on Ultra to 281.8 on Low. The High preset produces 243.9 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors, making it the recommended choice for 1080p.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5080 have, and is it sufficient?

A: The RTX 5080 has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory. Given that the game runs at 62.5 FPS on 4K Ultra, the memory capacity is sufficient for this title, as the performance drop from High to Ultra is more attributable to compute load than memory constraints.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 14168, placing it in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% higher score), the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% higher), the Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% higher), and the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (1.2% higher). These tight margins indicate that the i5-10400F is competitively positioned in its segment.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is secondary but not negligible. The measured frame rates show that at 4K High, the system produces 98.8 FPS, which is well within the CPU’s capability to feed the GPU. However, the data at lower resolutions and settings reveals the CPU’s ceiling. At 1080p Low, the system hits 281.8 FPS, and at 1440p Low it reaches 232.4 FPS. These figures suggest that the i5-10400F can drive high frame rates, but its 6 cores and 12 threads may limit performance in CPU-intensive scenes at very low graphical settings. The CPU’s 3DMark scores—688 single-thread and 4735 max-thread—indicate moderate per-core performance that is adequate for Greedfall’s engine, which is not known for extreme multi-threaded scaling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination is as follows.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 281.8 FPS, Medium averages 260.4 FPS, High averages 243.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 152.2 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is 91.7 FPS, a 38% reduction, while the gap between Medium and High is only 16.5 FPS, a 6% reduction.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 232.4 FPS, Medium averages 184 FPS, High averages 164.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 107.9 FPS. The transition from Medium to High costs 19.4 FPS (an 11% drop), while High to Ultra costs 56.7 FPS (a 34% drop).

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 140.9 FPS, Medium averages 108.7 FPS, High averages 98.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 62.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 32.2 FPS (a 23% reduction), from Medium to High is 9.9 FPS (a 9% reduction), and from High to Ultra is 36.3 FPS (a 37% reduction).

Across all resolutions, the Ultra preset consistently imposes a severe penalty relative to High, ranging from 34% to 38% reductions. The Medium preset offers a more modest step down from High, with reductions between 6% and 10%. This data confirms that High is the sweet spot for visual fidelity and performance, while Ultra is best reserved for scenarios where absolute image quality trumps frame rate.