Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that scales predictably with both resolution and graphical preset. For the combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, the measured data provides a clear picture of performance boundaries. This analysis breaks down the results across settings, resolutions, and component roles to show exactly where this combo excels and where it reaches its limits.

Settings Recommendations

The data indicates that the "High" preset is the optimal balance for this hardware combination, though the ideal choice depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 177.2 FPS on High, which is a substantial frame rate well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate displays. Moving to the "Ultra" preset at 1080p drops the average to 112.1 FPS, a significant 37% reduction from High, making the visual fidelity gain a costly trade-off for most users. Conversely, the "Medium" preset at 1080p yields 193.5 FPS, only a marginal improvement over High, suggesting that the High preset consumes the extra performance without a proportional increase in visual load.

At 2560x1440, the "High" preset remains the standout choice, delivering 122.6 FPS. This is a strong result for a 1440p panel, keeping gameplay smooth. The "Ultra" preset at this resolution falls to 79.4 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 35% performance hit compared to High. The "Medium" preset at 1440p produces 133.5 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High is only 9 FPS, reinforcing that High is the sweet spot. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 has enough headroom at 1440p to run High settings without sacrificing the frame rate experience.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The "High" preset manages an average of 74.5 FPS, which is acceptable for 4K gaming, but the "Ultra" preset drops to a demanding 44.6 FPS. This 4K Ultra figure is likely too low for consistent smoothness in a fast-paced action RPG. The "Medium" preset at 4K provides 81.8 FPS, which is a better choice than High if the user prioritizes a higher frame rate over shadow and texture detail. Given the data, the recommendation is to use "High" at 1080p and 1440p for the best experience, and to consider dropping to "Medium" at 4K to maintain a higher FPS floor, as the difference between High and Medium at 4K is only 7.3 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Greedfall, particularly as resolution increases. The GPU’s specifications show a 12 GB GDDR6X memory pool on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the game’s textures, as evidenced by the performance scaling from settings changes. The GPU’s boost clock is rated at 2475 MHz, and its compute capabilities are anchored by 5888 shading units, which translate to an FP32 throughput of 29.15 TFLOPS. These figures support the measured FPS, as the GPU is clearly not memory-starved in most tested configurations.

The benchmark results for the GPU show a percentile rank of 81 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37283. In Greedfall, the GPU’s role is evident when comparing the 1080p and 4K results. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 246.5 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU, but the GPU still has headroom. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 134.4 FPS, showing that the GPU is scaling with the increased shading load. The 4K Ultra result of 44.6 FPS indicates that the RTX 4070 is hitting a compute or bandwidth wall, as the pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s is being challenged by the 8.3 million pixels of 2160p. The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, but at lower settings, the CPU has a more balanced role.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that isolates the limiting component. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the "High" preset, the average FPS drops from 177.2 to 122.6, a 31% reduction. This is a typical GPU-bound scaling, as the pixel count increases by 78%, but the frame rate does not drop proportionally, indicating that the RTX 4070 is handling the increase in resolution with relative ease. The jump from 1440p to 4K on High is more drastic, falling from 122.6 to 74.5 FPS, a 39% decrease. This steeper drop at 4K points to the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading units becoming the bottleneck, as the 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are taxed by the larger framebuffer.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K on the "Low" preset further clarifies the situation. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 246.5 FPS; at 4K Low, it drops to 104.6 FPS, a 58% reduction. This larger percentage drop at Low settings suggests that the CPU is less of a factor at lower graphical loads, and the GPU’s raw throughput is the primary constraint. Conversely, the scaling from 1080p Ultra (112.1 FPS) to 4K Ultra (44.6 FPS) shows a 60% drop, which is nearly identical to the Low preset drop. This consistency across settings indicates that the RTX 4070’s compute resources are the limiting factor at 4K, regardless of the graphical complexity. The data suggests that for this combo, 1440p is the resolution where the GPU and CPU balance is optimal, while 4K is only viable on lower presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this combo?

A: The "High" preset is recommended for 2560x1440, as it delivers 122.6 FPS. The "Ultra" preset drops to 79.4 FPS, which is a 35% performance loss for marginal visual gains, while "Medium" only offers 133.5 FPS, making High the best balance of quality and frame rate.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings in Greedfall?

A: The data shows that 4K Ultra produces an average of 44.6 FPS, which is below the typical 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The 4K High preset is more viable at 74.5 FPS, but for a better experience, the "Medium" preset at 81.8 FPS is preferable.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: In aggregate benchmark scores, the RTX 4070 has an average score of 37283. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores 37507, a delta of -0.6%, meaning the RX Vega 56 is slightly faster. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38135, which is 2.2% higher than the RTX 4070.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 246.5 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. The Intel Core i5-14400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, is capable of keeping up, but the data suggests the GPU is still the limiting factor, as the FPS drops consistently when settings are increased, indicating the GPU is scaling with load.

Q: What is the performance difference between the "Low" and "High" presets at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the "Low" preset achieves 246.5 FPS, while the "High" preset achieves 177.2 FPS. This represents a 69.3 FPS difference, or a 28% reduction in frame rate, showing that the High preset adds a significant load to the GPU.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 490th out of 1705 tested combinations, placing it in the top 29% of all systems. This indicates that it is a mid-to-high-tier configuration for this game, providing strong performance at mainstream resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz, with a boost clock up to 4.70 GHz. The CPU has a 20 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 or DDR5 memory. In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 246.5 FPS, which is a high ceiling that the CPU is able to support. However, the single-thread performance is crucial for this game, and the i5-14400F’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093 indicates strong per-core capability.

The CPU’s percentile rank among all CPUs is 88, with an average benchmark score of 32508. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32513, a 0% delta, showing that the i5-14400F is essentially on par with that mobile processor in general compute tasks. When looking at the FPS data, the CPU’s impact is most visible at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates are high across all settings, suggesting that the CPU is not a bottleneck. The difference between 1080p High (177.2 FPS) and 1440p High (122.6 FPS) is 54.6 FPS, which is a GPU-driven drop, not a CPU limit. The data confirms that the i5-14400F provides ample headroom for the RTX 4070, especially at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination ranks 490th out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 71st percentile. This rank is notably higher than the individual component percentiles, which are 88 for the CPU and 81 for the GPU. This suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for this specific game, leveraging the CPU’s strong multi-threaded performance and the GPU’s solid rasterization power. The combo’s position indicates that it outperforms a majority of systems, but it is not in the top tier, which would likely require higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4080 or 4090.

The rank of 490 out of 1705 also implies that there are 1215 combos that perform worse, which validates that this setup is a capable 1440p machine. The data shows that the RTX 4070’s nearest rivals in general benchmarks, such as the RTX 4080 Mobile, have a higher average score, but in Greedfall, the desktop RTX 4070’s performance is sufficient to place this combo in the top 30%. This rank is a direct reflection of the measured FPS numbers, which show that the system can exceed 60 FPS at 4K High and 122 FPS at 1440p High. For users targeting high-refresh-rate 1080p or solid 1440p gameplay, this combo is a strong performer, but it falls short of 4K Ultra smoothness, which is consistent with its overall ranking.