Greedfall

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2595 out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall. This places the configuration in the bottom 12% of all recorded CPU-GPU pairings for this title, a position driven almost entirely by the graphics card’s severe performance limitations rather than the processor’s capabilities. To contextualize, the CPU alone sits in the 83rd percentile among all tested processors, while the GPU languishes in the 9th percentile among all tested graphics cards. The combination is heavily imbalanced, with the processor capable of far more than the graphics solution can deliver in practice.

The measured frame rates confirm this disparity. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 84 FPS, which is playable but far from exceptional given the CPU’s headroom. At 4K Ultra, the same combo collapses to 16 FPS, which is effectively unplayable for any action-oriented gameplay. The rank of 2595 reflects this overall weakness — the vast majority of tested systems outperform this pairing in Greedfall, and the bottleneck is unambiguously the GPU.

# FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Greedfall at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with High settings (60 FPS average) or Low settings (84 FPS average). At 1440p, no settings preset reaches 60 FPS — the best is Low at 58 FPS. At 4K, all presets fall well below 60 FPS, with the highest being Low at 35 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1080p?

A: High settings provide a 60 FPS average, which is the minimum threshold for smooth gameplay. Medium delivers 66 FPS, offering a small margin above 60, but High is the standard target. Low reaches 84 FPS but sacrifices visual quality significantly. Ultra drops to 38 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has an average benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with a score of 1463, placing the Arc B390 1.3% ahead. The GeForce 800M (1460) trails by 1.5%, the GT 625 OEM (1446) by 2.5%, and the GT 710 (1443) by 2.7%. These are all very low-end parts, confirming the Arc B390’s position as a minimal-performance GPU.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: No. The Intel Core i5-14400F has 10 cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (0.1% ahead) and Intel Core i9-11900 (0.2% ahead). The GPU, by contrast, sits in the 9th percentile. The data clearly shows the GPU is the limiting component, not the CPU.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this combo?

A: No. At 4K, the highest average FPS is 35 on Low settings. Medium drops to 27 FPS, High to 25 FPS, and Ultra to 16 FPS. Even the best-case 4K scenario falls below 40 FPS, making the experience stutter-heavy and unsuitable for action RPG gameplay. This resolution is effectively out of reach for the Arc B390.

Q: What do the measured FPS numbers indicate about the GPU’s memory configuration?

A: The Arc B390 uses System Shared memory with a bus width and bandwidth that are system dependent. This means performance scales with the host system’s memory capabilities. In Greedfall, the FPS drops sharply with resolution increases, which is consistent with a GPU relying on shared system memory rather than dedicated VRAM.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. This is a desktop-class CPU designed for Socket 1700, with support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and game logic. The benchmark scores reflect a strong processor: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 21645, single-core 3055, and Geekbench multi-core 11268 with single-core 2058. PassMark multi-thread scores 25470, with single-thread at 3701. These numbers place the i5-14400F in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of processors tested.

The nearest rivals in CPU benchmark scores are revealing. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U scores 32233 (0.1% ahead), the Intel Core i9-11900 scores 32226 (0.2% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS scores 32354 (0.2% behind). The Intel Core i7-12800H scores 32121 (0.5% behind). These deltas are all within 0.5%, indicating that the i5-14400F performs essentially on par with these mobile and older desktop parts in synthetic benchmarks.

For Greedfall specifically, the CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient. The game is an Action RPG from 2019, and its engine does not require extreme multi-core scaling. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (84 FPS) suggests the CPU can push well beyond what the GPU can render. The data indicates that even at 4K, where the GPU is heavily taxed, the CPU is not the constraining factor — the FPS drops are consistent with GPU-bound rendering, not CPU-side stalls.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). At 1080p, the combo delivers 84 FPS on Low, 66 FPS on Medium (with min 56 and max 76), 60 FPS on High, and 38 FPS on Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium costs 18 FPS, Medium to High costs 6 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 22 FPS. This pattern shows that Ultra is disproportionately expensive relative to its visual uplift.

At 1440p, the numbers scale down predictably. Low delivers 58 FPS, Medium 46 FPS (min 39, max 53), High 42 FPS, and Ultra 27 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 12 FPS, Medium to High is 4 FPS, and High to Ultra is 15 FPS. Again, Ultra is the most punishing preset. The 1440p results are borderline playable on Low, but Medium and above fall below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 4K, the combo struggles significantly. Low averages 35 FPS, Medium 27 FPS (min 23, max 32), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 16 FPS. No preset reaches 40 FPS. The delta from Low to Ultra is 19 FPS, a 54% reduction in performance. The min FPS on Medium (23) indicates that even momentary drops can be severe, making the experience feel choppy.

The resolution scaling between 1080p and 4K at the same settings is stark. On Low, 1080p yields 84 FPS while 4K yields 35 FPS — a 58% drop. On Medium, the drop is from 66 to 27 FPS (59%). On High, it goes from 60 to 25 FPS (58%). On Ultra, from 38 to 16 FPS (58%). The consistency of this ~58% drop across settings strongly suggests a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering resolution is the dominant factor.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is remarkably consistent across all settings presets, hovering around 58% reduction. This uniformity is a classic signature of a GPU-limited system. When the GPU is the bottleneck, increasing resolution directly increases pixel count and shading workload, which scales nearly linearly with the number of pixels. The pixel count from 1080p (2.07 million) to 4K (8.29 million) is a 4x increase, but the measured FPS does not drop by 4x — it drops by roughly 2.4x. This suggests the GPU is not purely pixel-bound but also benefits from other performance characteristics.

Looking at the intermediate step, 1440p (3.69 million pixels) sits between 1080p and 4K. At Low settings, 1080p gives 84 FPS, 1440p gives 58 FPS (31% drop), and 4K gives 35 FPS (40% drop from 1440p). The scaling is not perfectly linear, indicating that the GPU’s memory bandwidth or other architectural limits come into play at higher resolutions.

The Intel Arc B390’s System Shared memory configuration is a key factor. With memory bandwidth listed as "System Dependent," the GPU relies on the host system’s memory bandwidth, which is shared with the CPU. At higher resolutions, the increased memory traffic for frame buffers and textures competes with other system processes, potentially causing additional performance degradation beyond what raw pixel counts would suggest.

This scaling behavior confirms that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, since the CPU workload does not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the FPS drops consistently, indicating that the GPU’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint. The i5-14400F, with its high boost clock and strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core 3055), is more than capable of keeping up with the GPU’s output at any resolution.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings preset for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, High settings deliver exactly 60 FPS average, which is the standard for smooth gameplay. Medium offers 66 FPS, providing a slight margin above 60, while Low reaches 84 FPS for those prioritizing frame rate over visual quality. Ultra, at 38 FPS, is not recommended as it falls below the playable threshold.

At 1440p, the best option is Low settings at 58 FPS, which is just shy of 60 FPS and may be acceptable for some players. Medium at 46 FPS is playable but noticeably less smooth, and High at 42 FPS is similar. Ultra at 27 FPS is not viable for action gameplay. Given that Low at 1440p looks better than High at 1080p in most cases, this could be a reasonable trade-off, but the 2 FPS deficit from the 60 FPS target is worth noting.

At 4K, no settings preset is recommended for playable performance. Low at 35 FPS is the best case, but it still falls well below the 60 FPS target and will result in a stutter-heavy experience. Medium at 27 FPS and High at 25 FPS are marginally better than Ultra at 16 FPS, but all are too low for action RPG combat where timing matters.

The data suggests that 1080p High is the sweet spot for this combo. It delivers exactly 60 FPS and provides a balanced visual experience without the performance penalty of Ultra. For users with variable refresh rate monitors, 1080p Medium at 66 FPS could be preferable, as it offers more headroom above the refresh rate. The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer across all resolutions, with a 38% FPS penalty over High at 1080p (60 to 38 FPS), which is not justified by the marginal visual improvements in most titles.

# GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on Intel’s 3 nm process. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU runs at a base clock of 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio). The TDP is 80 W, and it uses System Shared memory with no dedicated VRAM.

The benchmark data shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing the Arc B390 in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is an extremely low position, and the nearest rivals confirm the weak performance class. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463 (1.3% behind), the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% behind), the GT 625 OEM scores 1446 (2.5% behind), and the GT 710 scores 1443 (2.7% behind). These are all legacy or entry-level parts from a decade ago, yet the Arc B390 only marginally outperforms them.

In Greedfall, the GPU’s role is entirely dominant in determining frame rates. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (84 FPS) is the highest achieved, and it drops consistently with resolution. The System Shared memory configuration is a significant drawback — with no dedicated VRAM, the GPU must access system memory for all frame buffer and texture data, which introduces latency and bandwidth limitations. The "System Dependent" bandwidth means that performance can vary based on the host system’s memory speed and configuration.

The ray tracing cores (12) are present, but Greedfall does not require ray tracing, so they are not utilized in this title. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is modern, but the raw compute throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS is insufficient for demanding titles at high resolutions. The 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates that this is one of the weakest graphics solutions tested, and the measured FPS data in Greedfall reflects that reality. For any user considering this combo, the GPU is the primary limiting factor, and upgrading the graphics solution would yield far greater performance gains than any CPU change.