Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting scaling challenge for the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination. The data shows a system capable of delivering high refresh rates at most settings, but the performance curve reveals a significant bottleneck shift as resolution and quality settings change. The measured FPS indicates that this pairing is heavily GPU-bound at 4K with Ultra settings, while at 1080p the frame rates become so high that the processor's role becomes more prominent.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, but the magnitude depends entirely on the preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 365.2 fps at 1920x1080 to 152.7 fps at 3840x2160, a reduction of 58.2%. This is a massive hit, but the absolute numbers remain playable. At High settings, the drop is from 260.4 fps at 1080p to 105.2 fps at 4K, a 59.6% decrease. The pattern is clear: the RTX 5090 is being pushed harder at higher resolutions, and the frame rate scales down almost proportionally with the pixel count increase.

The most telling data point is the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the system manages 167 fps, which drops to 117.7 fps at 1440p, and finally to 67.2 fps at 4K. This represents a 59.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The fact that the Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that drops below the 100 fps mark suggests that the combination of maximum quality settings and 4K resolution is overwhelming the GPU. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is also notable: 152.7 fps versus 67.2 fps, a 55.9% performance difference. This indicates that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features—likely including enhanced shadows, textures, and post-processing—are far more demanding than the GPU bandwidth and shading power can comfortably handle at that resolution.

Looking at the scaling between 1440p and 1080p, the differences are more moderate. At Medium settings, the system delivers 200.3 fps at 1440p and 286.8 fps at 1080p, a 30.2% increase from the lower resolution. This suggests that at 1440p, the system is still relatively balanced, with neither the CPU nor GPU being a complete bottleneck. The data shows that the RTX 5090 is the limiting component at 4K, particularly with higher presets, while the i5-14400F is likely the constraint at 1080p Low, where the GPU is not being fully utilized.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with High settings delivers 180.5 fps, which is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. While 1080p offers higher frame rates, the 1440p resolution provides a better balance of visual fidelity and performance, as the 4K Ultra preset drops to 67.2 fps.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 4K?

A: There is a significant performance cost. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 105.2 fps, while Ultra averages 67.2 fps. This is a 36.2% reduction in frame rate for the jump from High to Ultra, making Ultra less suitable for smooth gameplay at 4K.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 too powerful for this game at 1080p?

A: Yes, the benchmark results indicate a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 365.2 fps, which is an extremely high frame rate. The CPU, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, is likely the limiting factor at this point, as the GPU has headroom to render more frames than the processor can feed it.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 249.3 fps, while Medium averages 200.3 fps. The difference is 49 fps, which is a 19.7% drop from Low to Medium, indicating that Medium adds a substantial amount of graphical detail without crippling performance.

Q: Does the system maintain playable frame rates at 4K with any settings?

A: Yes, all presets at 3840x2160 remain above 60 fps. The lowest recorded average is 67.2 fps on Ultra, while Low and Medium achieve 152.7 fps and 115.8 fps respectively. This makes 4K gaming viable, but the Ultra preset is the only one that dips below the 100 fps threshold.

Q: How does the i5-14400F's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 32508 places it nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H, which scores 32513 with a 0% delta. It also closely matches the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, which scores 32446 with a 0.2% delta, and the Intel Core i7-13705H, which scores 32586 with a -0.2% delta. This indicates that the i5-14400F is a very competitive processor in its class.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus provides a 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. This massive memory bandwidth is crucial for Greedfall at 4K, where high-resolution textures and complex scenes demand rapid data access. The GPU's architecture, Blackwell 2.0, is built on a 5 nm process from TSMC, and it packs 21,760 shading units. The boost clock of 2407 MHz helps push the raw compute power, which is rated at 104.8 TFLOPS for FP32 operations.

The GPU's performance in Greedfall is directly tied to its shading and texture capabilities. At 4K Ultra, the system averages 67.2 fps, which is a demanding workload. The data shows that the GPU is the primary limiter at this setting, as the frame rate drops significantly from the 105.2 fps seen at High. This suggests that the Ultra preset likely enables features like higher draw distances and more detailed shadow maps, which strain the 680 texture mapping units and 176 render output units.

The RTX 5090's benchmark scores reflect its top-tier status. It achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14411 and a Passmark G3D score of 39650. Its percentile ranking of 94 versus all GPUs indicates that it outperforms the vast majority of graphics cards. The nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, has an average score of 84241 with a 0.1% delta, showing that the standard 5090 is essentially at the top of the performance stack. The GPU's 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores also contribute to its versatility, though the measured FPS data for Greedfall does not specifically isolate ray tracing performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 365.2 fps, Medium averages 286.8 fps, High averages 260.4 fps, and Ultra averages 167 fps. The spread between Low and Ultra is 198.2 fps, which is a substantial range. The 1080p results show that the i5-14400F is likely the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU has the capability to render more frames than the CPU can process, especially at lower settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low averages 249.3 fps, Medium averages 200.3 fps, High averages 180.5 fps, and Ultra averages 117.7 fps. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable but manageable. For example, the High preset falls from 260.4 fps to 180.5 fps, a 30.7% reduction. The Ultra preset at this resolution is still comfortably above 100 fps, making it a viable option for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down further. Low averages 152.7 fps, Medium averages 115.8 fps, High averages 105.2 fps, and Ultra averages 67.2 fps. The 4K results show that the Ultra preset is the only configuration that dips below the 100 fps mark, and even it remains above 60 fps. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 85.5 fps, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features are particularly taxing at this resolution. The measured data confirms that the RTX 5090 is the bottleneck at 4K, as the frame rates scale with the GPU's rendering load.

Settings Recommendations

For players using a 1080p monitor with a high refresh rate, the Ultra preset at 167 fps is the best choice, as it provides the highest visual quality without dropping below the 144 Hz refresh rate that many gaming monitors support. If the monitor has a 240 Hz refresh rate, the High preset at 260.4 fps or even Medium at 286.8 fps would be more suitable, as they offer higher frame rates while still maintaining good visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset at 180.5 fps is the recommended setting for most users. It delivers a smooth experience on 144 Hz and 165 Hz monitors while providing a strong level of graphical detail. The Ultra preset at 117.7 fps is also viable for 120 Hz displays, but the 36.2% drop from High to Ultra may not be worth the visual improvement for competitive play. The Medium preset at 200.3 fps is a good option for those who prioritize frame rate above all else.

For 4K gaming, the High preset at 105.2 fps is the optimal choice. It stays above the 100 fps threshold, which is important for smooth gameplay on 120 Hz 4K displays. The Medium preset at 115.8 fps is also a solid option, offering a slight performance boost at the cost of some visual detail. The Ultra preset at 67.2 fps is not recommended for high-refresh-rate 4K monitors, as it falls below 100 fps, but it remains playable for those who prioritize maximum image quality over frame rate.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a single-core score of 3093. The Geekbench multi-core score is 11209, and the Passmark multithread score is 25783. These results place the i5-14400F in the 88th percentile versus all CPUs.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 365.2 fps, which is a frame rate that is likely limited by the processor's ability to issue draw calls and process game logic. The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads are sufficient for the game's threading model, but the high frame rates at 1080p mean that the CPU is working at its limits. The nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-12800H with a 0% delta and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 with a 0.2% delta, show that the i5-14400F is well-matched against other mid-range processors.

The CPU's performance in Greedfall is also tied to its memory support. The i5-14400F supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, and the lack of integrated graphics means that all rendering is handled by the RTX 5090. At 4K with Ultra settings, the data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the frame rate is heavily influenced by the GPU's rendering load. However, at 1080p, the CPU's performance is a critical factor, and the data indicates that the i5-14400F is capable of keeping up with the RTX 5090's output, albeit with some limitations at the highest frame rates.