Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The pairing of Intel's 12th-generation Core i5-12400 with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5080 produces a fascinating dataset for Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG that remains demanding at higher settings. The benchmark results capture a wide spread of frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets, with measured average FPS ranging from 62 at 4K Ultra to 329 at 1080p Low. This combination ranks 220th out of 3703 tested combos in the database, placing it in the top 6% of all configurations tested for this title. The data suggests a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but reveals interesting CPU behavior at lower settings, making it a valuable case study for understanding how this specific hardware pairing handles Greedfall's engine.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic across all settings, revealing where the bottleneck shifts. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 235 at 1080p to 163 at 1440p, then to 97 at 4K — a 58.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the decline is even steeper: from 329 at 1080p to 228 at 1440p, and finally 136 at 4K, representing a 58.7% drop as well. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 259 at 1080p, 179 at 1440p, and 107 at 4K. The Ultra preset, being the most demanding, sees the largest absolute fall: 150 at 1080p, 104 at 1440p, and only 62 at 4K.

The scaling pattern between 1080p and 1440p is particularly telling. At High settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p costs 72 FPS (235 to 163), a 30.6% reduction. At Medium, the cost is 80 FPS (259 to 179), or 30.9%. The Ultra preset loses 46 FPS (150 to 104), a 30.7% reduction. This consistent ~31% drop across all settings suggests that the GPU is the primary limiter at these resolutions — the RTX 5080's rendering workload scales predictably with pixel count.

When moving from 1440p to 4K, the pattern shifts slightly. At High, the loss is 66 FPS (163 to 97), a 40.5% reduction. At Medium, it's 72 FPS (179 to 107), a 40.2% drop. At Ultra, the loss is 42 FPS (104 to 62), again a 40.4% reduction. This larger percentage drop from 1440p to 4K compared to 1080p to 1440p indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources become progressively more stressed as resolution increases, with the 4K Ultra scenario pushing the card to its limits.

The fact that Low settings at 1080p reach 329 FPS while Ultra at 4K only manages 62 FPS — a 5.3x difference — underscores how much headroom the RTX 5080 has at lower resolutions. The CPU's role becomes more apparent at 1080p Low, where the frame rate approaches the i5-12400's practical ceiling for this engine.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Greedfall?

A: The highest average frame rate is 329 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The lowest average is 62 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its nearest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18683, placing it 72nd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 18697 (0.1% higher), while the Intel Core i3-14100F scores 18519 (0.9% lower). The Intel Core i7-1355U is 0.3% higher at 18730, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 is 0.7% higher at 18811.

Q: What is the RTX 5080's standing among GPUs based on average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 56083, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon 8060S, scores 55757 (0.6% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367 (2.2% higher).

Q: Does the RTX 5080 have enough VRAM for Greedfall at 4K Ultra?

A: The RTX 5080 features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth. The measured 62 FPS average at 4K Ultra suggests the memory capacity is sufficient for this title, as the bottleneck appears to be raw rendering throughput rather than VRAM exhaustion.

Q: How does the i5-12400's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: In Cinebench R23, the i5-12400 scores 15989 in multi-core and 2257 in single-core, a ratio of approximately 7.1x. The 3DMark results show 5873 for 16 threads versus 910 for single-thread, a 6.5x ratio, indicating strong scaling across its 6 cores and 12 threads.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings across resolutions?

A: At Medium settings, the minimum and maximum FPS were recorded. At 1080p, the range is 220-297 FPS (average 259). At 1440p, it's 152-206 FPS (average 179). At 4K, it's 91-123 FPS (average 107). This shows consistent frame pacing with roughly ±15% variation around the average at each resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process node. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 18 MB shared L3 cache. This CPU was released in January 2022 with a launch MSRP of $199.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-12400 shows balanced performance. Cinebench R23 results of 15989 multi-core and 2257 single-core indicate strong multi-threaded scaling, while Geekbench scores of 8564 multi-core and 1848 single-core reinforce this picture. The 3DMark tests show a progression from 910 single-thread to 1692 for 2 threads, 3012 for 4 threads, 4745 for 8 threads, and 5873 for 16 threads — with max threads scoring 5890, suggesting the extra threads beyond 8 provide minimal additional benefit for this workload.

In Greedfall specifically, the CPU's influence is most evident at 1080p Low, where the average FPS reaches 329. This is close to the practical ceiling for a 6-core processor in this engine, as the frame rate becomes increasingly CPU-bound at lower resolutions. The gap between 1080p Low (329 FPS) and 1440p Low (228 FPS) — a 101 FPS difference — confirms that the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at 1080p, but the balance shifts at higher resolutions.

The PassMark results show the i5-12400's strengths: 18747 in multi-thread, 3456 in single-thread, and notable scores in integer math (58366) and floating-point math (45494). The 72nd percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms the majority of processors, but its position relative to rivals like the AMD EPYC 7643 (within 0.1%) indicates it's not a top-tier part — yet it's sufficient for Greedfall's requirements.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 220th out of 3703 tested combos in the database for Greedfall, placing it in the top 5.9% of all configurations. This is a strong showing, given that the CPU is a mid-range part while the GPU is high-end. The ranking suggests that Greedfall is more GPU-dependent than CPU-dependent, as the RTX 5080's capabilities dominate the performance profile.

The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU's 87th percentile ranking would suggest a combined performance that might rank higher, but the game's engine characteristics and the specific demands of Greedfall's rendering pipeline moderate this. The i5-12400's position relative to its nearest rivals — within 0.9% of the AMD EPYC 7643 and Intel Core i3-14100F — indicates that CPU choice has minimal impact on this game's overall ranking.

Considering that there are 3703 total combos tested, achieving 220th place means this pairing outperforms 3483 other configurations. The spread between the CPU's and GPU's percentiles (72 vs 87) suggests that the GPU is the more performance-defining component in this pairing for Greedfall, which aligns with the resolution scaling data showing GPU-bound behavior at most settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a chip size of 378 mm² and 45,600 million transistors. Its 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs are complemented by 84 ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz with a boost of 2617 MHz, while memory runs at 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 16 GB of GDDR7 memory.

In Greedfall, the RTX 5080's performance is clearly the limiting factor at 4K. The drop from 107 FPS at 4K Medium to 62 FPS at 4K Ultra represents a 42.1% reduction, showing that the Ultra preset's additional effects (likely including higher-quality shadows, ambient occlusion, and post-processing) heavily tax the GPU. The 136 FPS at 4K Low versus 97 FPS at 4K High (a 40.2% gap) indicates that even at lower settings, the GPU is still the primary constraint.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its high-end positioning: 36565 in PassMark G3D, 235901 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 255450 in Geekbench Vulkan. The 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it above the AMD Radeon 8060S (0.6% lower average score) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (0.7% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE leads by 2.2%. The RTX 5080's 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 879.3 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample compute for Greedfall's demands.

The memory subsystem — 16 GB GDDR7 at 960.0 GB/s — proves sufficient for 4K Ultra, as the 62 FPS average suggests the GPU is compute-bound rather than memory-limited. This is notable for a 2019 title that was designed for much older hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS across settings is: Low 329, Medium 259 (min 220, max 297), High 235, and Ultra 150. The spread from Low to Ultra is 179 FPS, with Ultra delivering 54.4% of Low's performance. The Medium preset's documented frame range of 220-297 indicates reasonable consistency, with the average sitting near the middle.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 228, Medium 179 (min 152, max 206), High 163, and Ultra 104. The gap between Low and Ultra is 124 FPS, with Ultra achieving 45.6% of Low's frame rate. The Medium range of 152-206 shows tighter grouping than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more consistently loaded.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 136, Medium 107 (min 91, max 123), High 97, and Ultra 62. The Low-to-Ultra gap narrows to 74 FPS, with Ultra delivering 45.6% of Low's performance — the same ratio as at 1440p. The Medium range of 91-123 shows the tightest variance of any resolution, indicating stable performance near the GPU's limits.

The progression across resolutions at each setting is instructive. At Low, the FPS drops from 329 to 228 to 136 — a 58.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High, it's 235 to 163 to 97, a 58.7% drop. At Medium, 259 to 179 to 107, again 58.7%. At Ultra, 150 to 104 to 62, a 58.7% reduction. This consistent percentage across all settings strongly indicates the GPU is the dominant factor at every quality level.

Settings Recommendations

For users prioritizing high refresh rates at 1080p, the Medium preset at 259 FPS offers an excellent balance — well above the 144 Hz threshold and with documented frame consistency (220-297 FPS). The High preset at 235 FPS is also viable, but Ultra at 150 FPS still exceeds most 144 Hz displays, making it the best choice for maximum visual quality at this resolution if the 150 FPS average is acceptable.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 179 FPS (min 152, max 206) is the sweet spot for 144 Hz displays, providing headroom above the refresh ceiling while maintaining smooth frame delivery. The High preset at 163 FPS also works well for 144 Hz, but the Ultra preset at 104 FPS is better suited for 100 Hz or 120 Hz monitors. For 60 Hz displays, any setting above Low provides more than enough performance.

At 4K, the situation changes significantly. The Medium preset at 107 FPS (min 91, max 123) is ideal for 100 Hz displays, offering the best combination of visual fidelity and performance. The High preset at 97 FPS works for 90 Hz or 96 Hz displays, while the Low preset at 136 FPS is excellent for 120 Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 62 FPS is only recommended for 60 Hz displays where visual quality is paramount, as the 42.1% performance drop from Medium to Ultra is substantial.

The data suggests that Medium is the most versatile preset across all resolutions, providing the best balance of visual quality and frame rate consistency. The documented min/max ranges at Medium settings — 220-297 at 1080p, 152-206 at 1440p, and 91-123 at 4K — show the most predictable performance of any preset. For users with adaptive sync displays, Ultra at 1080p (150 FPS) or High at 1440p (163 FPS) may be preferable, but for general use, Medium delivers the most consistent experience.