Greedfall

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread Coffee Lake processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 2305 puts it essentially neck-and-neck with the Intel Core i3-10305 (0.2% ahead) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (0.2% ahead), while trailing the Intel Core i7-8809G by 0.6%. For a game like Greedfall, an Action RPG, the six physical cores without hyper-threading are sufficient to feed the GPU at most settings, but the data suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU's single-threaded performance becomes a more significant factor. The 4.10 GHz boost clock provides the headroom needed for the game's AI and physics calculations, but it is the interaction with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX that defines the frame rates.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Core i5-9400's six cores and six threads are the baseline for its performance in Greedfall. The processor's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are standard for its generation. The benchmark results show a clear pattern: at 1920x1080, the CPU is the primary limiter. With the Low preset, the system reaches 270.1 FPS, but dropping to the Medium preset yields 225.4 FPS, and High produces 204.6 FPS. These are all very high frame rates, but the gap between Low and High is 65.5 FPS, indicating that the CPU's ability to process the game's logic scales with the reduced load. At 2560x1440, the CPU's relative burden decreases as the GPU takes on more work; the Low preset still achieves 196.5 FPS, while High drops to 145.5 FPS. The most telling metric is the CPU's percentile rank of 50, meaning half of all CPUs in the database are faster. This mid-pack standing is reflected in the fact that the i5-9400 cannot maintain the highest frame rates when the GPU is not the bottleneck. The data shows that in Greedfall, this processor is a capable but not exceptional partner, holding the RX 7900 XTX back at lower resolutions where the GPU has spare capacity.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a 24 GB GDDR6 monster with a 384-bit memory bus and 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 2498 MHz and game clock of 2365 MHz drive 6144 shading units. In Greedfall, the GPU's role becomes dominant as resolution increases. At 3840x2160 with the High preset, the average FPS is 85.7, which is a substantial drop from the 145.5 FPS seen at 2560x1440. This 59.8 FPS reduction is consistent with the GPU being increasingly stressed by the pixel count. The 24 GB VRAM is far more than Greedfall needs, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor; instead, it is the raw compute throughput that dictates performance. The GPU's percentile rank of 85 and average benchmark score of 44019 place it slightly behind the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (0.4% slower) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (2% faster), while it is 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile. In the game's Ultra preset at 4K, the RX 7900 XTX manages 52.4 FPS, showing that even a top-tier GPU struggles with the most demanding settings at that resolution. The data indicates that the GPU is the clear bottleneck at 4K, while at 1080p, its power is largely untapped.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals the classic scaling curve. At 1920x1080 with the High preset, the system delivers 204.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, that number falls to 145.5 FPS, a 28.9% reduction. Jumping to 3840x2160, the High preset yields 85.7 FPS, a further 41.1% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern is a textbook example of GPU-bound scaling. The CPU, which is capable of sustaining over 270 FPS at 1080p Low, is not the constraint at higher resolutions. The data confirms this: the gap between 1080p and 4K at High settings is 118.9 FPS. At 4K, the GPU's work increases fourfold compared to 1080p, and the RX 7900 XTX responds by dropping to less than half of its 1080p output. The Low preset tells a similar story: 270.1 FPS at 1080p, 196.5 FPS at 1440p, and 120.8 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is a 38.5% drop, which is more severe than the 27.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p, illustrating the exponential cost of rendering at 4K. These results show that the limiting component shifts from the CPU at 1080p to the GPU at 4K, with the crossover occurring somewhere in the 1440p range.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 270.1 at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only setting that pushes past 270 FPS, with Medium at 225.4 and High at 204.6.

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

A: The Core i5-9400's average score of 2305 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and the Intel Core i3-1125G4, and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134. It is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-8809G.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The CPU's performance headroom, evidenced by its 270.1 FPS at 1080p Low, is not exhausted at 4K. The GPU's workload increases significantly, dropping frame rates to 85.7 FPS on High and 52.4 FPS on Ultra.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between the Medium and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 155.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 90.1 FPS. This is a difference of 65.6 FPS, representing a 42.1% reduction in performance when moving from Medium to Ultra.

Q: How does the GPU's average benchmark score compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti?

A: The Radeon RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 44019, which is 2% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti's score of 44900. The RX 7900 XTX is 0.8% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile's score of 43667.

Q: Does the 24 GB VRAM on the RX 7900 XTX ever become a limiting factor in Greedfall?

A: No. The game's highest measured average FPS at 4K Ultra is 52.4, and the performance drops are consistent with compute limitations rather than memory capacity. The 24 GB of GDDR6 memory is far more than the game requires.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for Greedfall performance with this hardware. The Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers 270.1 FPS, but this is an outlier scenario. For a balanced experience, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the sweet spot, yielding 145.5 FPS. This provides a high frame rate while maintaining visual fidelity. At 3840x2160, the High preset drops to 85.7 FPS, which is still playable but shows the GPU's limits. The Ultra preset at 4K is the most demanding, producing only 52.4 FPS, which may be below the threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh displays. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 155.7 FPS, which is a 10.2 FPS improvement over High at the same resolution, but the visual compromise may not be worth it. For players with 1080p displays, the High preset at 204.6 FPS is recommended over Ultra at 131.7 FPS, as the latter's 72.9 FPS cost is significant. The data suggests that High settings at 1440p provides the best balance of image quality and performance, while 4K users should stick to High or Medium to stay above the 60 FPS threshold. The Low preset is only recommended for competitive play or when frame rates above 200 FPS are required.