Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT pairing. The measured data shows a configuration that delivers very high frame rates across the board, but the scaling between resolutions and settings reveals a nuanced performance profile where the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor at higher loads, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance keeps the system fluid at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with High settings, the combo delivers 166.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 114.1 FPS, a 31.5% reduction, and then to 4K it falls to 70.1 FPS, a further 38.6% reduction from 1440p. This aggressive scaling pattern is the signature of a GPU-bound scenario: the RX 6800 XT is doing the heavy lifting, and as pixel count increases, its workload expands proportionally.

The data becomes even more telling at Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 104 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 72.2 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 41.7 FPS. That 4K Ultra result is less than half the 1080p Ultra figure, indicating the GPU is being completely saturated. The RX 6800 XT, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, is powerful, but Greedfall’s Ultra preset at 4K is a punishing load that even this card cannot overcome.

Interestingly, the Low preset shows the least dramatic scaling. From 229.2 FPS at 1080p to 157.3 FPS at 1440p and 95.5 FPS at 4K, the drop is still significant but less severe in percentage terms. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU has more headroom to feed the GPU, but the GPU still governs the final frame rate. The fact that 4K Low (95.5 FPS) is higher than 1440p High (114.1 FPS) confirms how much the settings preset impacts the GPU workload, far more than the resolution change alone.

FAQ

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

A: At 1440p, the combo delivers strong performance across all presets, with High settings hitting 114.1 FPS and Ultra still maintaining a playable 72.2 FPS. While 1080p offers higher frame rates up to 229.2 FPS on Low, 1440p provides a better balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, especially since even 4K High is viable at 70.1 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to its nearest rival in raw benchmarks?

A: The RX 6800 XT’s average benchmark score is 49982, which puts it 0.5% ahead of the Intel Arc A550M and 2.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. However, it trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7%. These are synthetic averages, not game-specific results.

Q: Is the i5-13400F a bottleneck for the RX 6800 XT?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The FPS scaling from 1440p to 4K is steep, indicating GPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the CPU’s strong single-thread score of 960 in 3dmark helps push frame rates to 229.2 FPS, showing it can keep up when the GPU is less stressed.

Q: How much of a performance hit is the Ultra preset at 4K?

A: At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 41.7 FPS, which is 56% lower than the High preset’s 70.1 FPS at the same resolution. This is a massive drop, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are particularly demanding on the GPU’s 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of the CPU and GPU?

A: The i5-13400F ranks in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 6800 XT ranks in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. This indicates both components are high-performing in their respective categories, with the GPU being slightly more exceptional relative to its peers.

Q: Does the game favor higher core counts or faster clocks?

A: The i5-13400F has 10 cores and 16 threads, but its single-thread score of 960 in 3dmark is its standout metric. Given that 1080p Low hits 229.2 FPS, the data implies the game benefits more from high single-thread performance than from the 20 MB of shared L3 cache or the multi-thread capability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz are modest figures, but its benchmark results reveal a strong performer. The 3dmark single-thread score of 960 and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3004 indicate excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for a game like Greedfall that does not appear to scale perfectly with many threads.

The CPU’s role in this combo becomes apparent when examining the 1080p Low results. At 229.2 FPS, the game is clearly not GPU-bound, and the CPU’s ability to process the game logic and draw calls quickly is what allows such high frame rates. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 7314 is close to the max-thread score of 7307, showing that the processor’s performance is well-balanced across its cores, but the single-thread strength is the key differentiator here.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-13400F sits in a tight cluster. It is just 0.1% faster than the Intel Core i7-13620H, 0.5% slower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, and 0.5% faster than the AMD EPYC 9474F. This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in most scenarios; the GPU’s workload dominates the frame rate, especially as resolution increases. The 82nd percentile ranking confirms it is a solid mid-range performer that won’t hold back a high-end GPU in most titles.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the i5-13400F and RX 6800 XT ranks 609th out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall. This places it in the top 36% of all configurations, which is a respectable position given the game’s age and the fact that many combos may use newer, more expensive hardware. The ranking is not stellar, but it reflects the data: the combo produces very high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 41.7 FPS drags down its overall standing.

The rank of 609 suggests that while this combo is powerful, there are many other pairings that can achieve higher average frame rates in this specific title. The RX 6800 XT, despite its 87th percentile GPU ranking, may be outclassed by newer cards with more efficient architectures. The CPU’s 82nd percentile ranking is solid, but the combo as a whole does not break into the top tier, likely because Greedfall’s engine does not fully utilize the multi-thread capabilities of the 16-thread processor.

The data implies that the combo is well-matched for 1440p gaming, where it can maintain over 100 FPS on High settings. For 4K, it is only viable on High settings (70.1 FPS) or lower, as Ultra is not playable at 41.7 FPS. This ranking suggests the system is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors rather than 4K displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional frame rates across all presets. Low settings hit 229.2 FPS, Medium reaches 181.6 FPS, High achieves 166.7 FPS, and even Ultra maintains a smooth 104 FPS. This resolution is clearly CPU-friendly, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the GPU working harder. Low settings drop to 157.3 FPS, Medium falls to 125 FPS, High delivers 114.1 FPS, and Ultra still produces a playable 72.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows here, indicating the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU takes over as the primary constraint. Low settings manage 95.5 FPS, Medium drops to 75.6 FPS, High holds at 70.1 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 41.7 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra at 4K is stark, showing that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are disproportionately expensive at high resolutions. The data shows that 4K High is the maximum playable setting, while Ultra is only suitable for screenshots or turn-based play.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data points to 1440p with High settings as the sweet spot. This configuration delivers 114.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the visual quality is significantly better than Low or Medium presets. The jump from Medium (125 FPS) to High (114.1 FPS) costs only 8.7% performance but likely provides a substantial visual upgrade.

If the user has a 1080p monitor, High settings are also ideal, delivering 166.7 FPS. There is little reason to use Ultra at 1080p, as the drop to 104 FPS is noticeable and the visual gains are often subtle. For 4K, High settings are the only viable option at 70.1 FPS; Ultra is unplayable, and Low (95.5 FPS) or Medium (75.6 FPS) are worse visually.

The data suggests avoiding the Ultra preset entirely unless the user has a 1440p display and prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate, as it drops to 72.2 FPS. For most users, High settings at 1440p offer the best balance of performance and image quality, with a 114.1 FPS average that is smooth on most high-refresh-rate monitors.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, and its role is clearly defined by the resolution scaling data. With a boost clock of 2250 MHz and a game clock of 2015 MHz, it is a high-clocked GPU, but its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory subsystem is crucial for 4K gaming, where large textures and high resolutions demand significant bandwidth.

The GPU’s 4608 shading units and 128 ROPs give it a raw pixel throughput of 288.0 GPixel/s, which explains why it can handle 1080p and 1440p with ease. However, the 4K Ultra result of 41.7 FPS shows the limits of its 20.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The RT cores, 72 in total, are present but are not heavily utilized in this game, as the performance drop from High to Ultra at 4K is likely due to traditional shading and texture work.

In terms of its benchmark standing, the RX 6800 XT’s average score of 49982 places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. It outperforms the Intel Arc A550M by 0.5% and the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER by 2.6%, but trails the RTX A1000 by 1.7%. This data indicates that the GPU is a strong performer, but not class-leading, and its end-of-life production status suggests it is a last-generation part that still holds its own in this title.