Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, behaves predictably with the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 pairing. The measured data shows a clear progression where frame rates scale almost linearly with resolution, but the rate of that scaling is heavily influenced by the graphics preset. This combination of a six-core Coffee Lake CPU and a Blackwell GPU produces results that are smooth at high refresh rates for 1080p and 1440p gaming, while 4K requires more careful settings management.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant, but the severity depends entirely on the preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 267 FPS at 1920x1080 to 109.9 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of roughly 59%. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is doing substantial work, though the CPU is still capable of pushing high frame rates. At High settings, the drop is from 194.7 FPS at 1080p to 80.4 FPS at 4K, a 59% decrease as well, showing consistent scaling behavior.

Medium settings show a similar pattern, with 210.4 FPS at 1080p falling to 88.3 FPS at 4K, a 58% reduction. The most dramatic scaling occurs at Ultra settings, where the average drops from 121.9 FPS at 1080p to 54.1 FPS at 4K, a 56% decrease. This consistency across presets suggests that the RTX 5070 is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases, rather than the i5-9400. The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is likely holding back the GPU at lower settings, given the massive gap between Low (267 FPS) and Ultra (121.9 FPS). At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, as even Low settings only produce 109.9 FPS, which is well below the 1080p Low result.

Settings Recommendations

For 1440p gaming, which is the sweet spot for this combo, the High preset delivers 132.8 FPS average, which is excellent for smooth gameplay. Medium settings at 1440p provide 146.9 FPS, a modest 10% improvement over High, but the visual quality difference in Greedfall is often worth the small performance cost. Ultra at 1440p drops to 87.3 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices the high refresh rate advantage. The data suggests that High is the optimal choice for 1440p, balancing visual fidelity with a frame rate that exceeds 120 FPS.

At 1080p, all presets are playable, but the choice depends on the monitor's refresh rate. If targeting 144Hz, High (194.7 FPS) and Medium (210.4 FPS) are both sufficient. Ultra at 121.9 FPS is right at the edge for 120Hz displays but falls short of 144Hz. For 4K, the situation is different. High settings produce 80.4 FPS, which is smooth for a slower-paced RPG. Medium at 88.3 FPS is also viable, but Low at 109.9 FPS is the only preset that approaches high refresh rates, though it sacrifices visual detail. Ultra at 54.1 FPS is borderline for 4K, being playable but not ideal for action sequences.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is well-suited for Greedfall, as the game's textures and environments do not appear to exceed this capacity based on the measured frame rates. The GPU's boost clock of 2512 MHz and base clock of 2325 MHz are consistent with the performance seen in the benchmarks. The 80 ROPs and 192 TMUs contribute to the pixel and texture rates of 201.0 GPixel/s and 482.3 GTexel/s, respectively, which are more than adequate for this title.

The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in frame rate scaling across resolutions. The fact that 4K Ultra (54.1 FPS) is less than half of 1080p Ultra (121.9 FPS) confirms that the RTX 5070 is being fully utilized at higher resolutions. Conversely, the small difference between 1080p Low (267 FPS) and 1440p Low (189 FPS) suggests that the CPU begins to limit performance at lower resolutions and settings. This is typical for a game like Greedfall, which has a 2019 release date and may not be heavily optimized for multi-threaded CPUs, given the i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination ranks 331 out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall. This places it in the top 19% of all tested systems, which is a strong showing given the age of the CPU. The i5-9400 has a percentile rank of 50 against all CPUs, meaning it is exactly average, but the RTX 5070 has a percentile of 83 against all GPUs, indicating it is well above average. The combo ranking reflects the GPU's strength compensating for the CPU's mediocrity.

The RTX 5070's average benchmark score of 41687 puts it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which scores 41441, a delta of 0.6% in favor of the RTX 5070. This is notable because the RTX 3090 is a much larger card, but the newer architecture and faster memory of the RTX 5070 allow it to edge ahead. The CPU, with an average score of 2305, is closely matched with the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, delta 0.2%) and the Intel Xeon E-2134 (2295, delta 0.4%). This indicates that the i5-9400 is not a bottleneck in most games, but in Greedfall, the combo's ranking is likely helped by the GPU's ability to maintain high frame rates even with a mid-range CPU.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: Yes, but only at lower presets. The data shows 4K High at 80.4 FPS and 4K Medium at 88.3 FPS, which are both smooth. 4K Ultra drops to 54.1 FPS, which is still playable but not ideal for fast-paced combat.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1080p, High (194.7 FPS) and Medium (210.4 FPS) both exceed 144 FPS. At 1440p, High (132.8 FPS) and Medium (146.9 FPS) are also viable, with Medium being the only preset that clears 144 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 compare to the RTX 3090 in this context?

A: The RTX 5070 has a higher average benchmark score (41687) than the RTX 3090 (41441), a delta of 0.6%. In Greedfall, this translates to the RTX 5070 being slightly faster, which is reflected in the measured FPS.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a bottleneck for the RTX 5070?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, the CPU appears to limit performance, as the FPS (267) is disproportionately high compared to 1440p Low (189). At higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor.

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

A: The difference is substantial. Low settings produce 189 FPS, while Ultra produces 87.3 FPS. This is a 54% reduction in performance, indicating that Ultra settings are very demanding on the GPU.

Q: Does the 12 GB of VRAM matter for this game?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 12 GB is sufficient. The performance does not show signs of VRAM limitations, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings without sudden drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 267 FPS, Medium settings produce 210.4 FPS, High settings produce 194.7 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 121.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 56.6 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 72.8 FPS, showing that Ultra is a significant step up in GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 189 FPS, Medium 146.9 FPS, High 132.8 FPS, and Ultra 87.3 FPS. The pattern is consistent, with Ultra being the most demanding preset. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 101.7 FPS, which is a larger absolute gap than at 1080p (145.1 FPS), indicating that the GPU is working harder at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 109.9 FPS, Medium 88.3 FPS, High 80.4 FPS, and Ultra 54.1 FPS. This is the only resolution where no preset exceeds 120 FPS, confirming that 4K is the most demanding scenario for this combo. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings is from 132.8 FPS to 80.4 FPS, a 39% reduction, which is consistent with the increased pixel count. All measured data points are averages, with no minimum or maximum FPS values provided, so the consistency of frame delivery is not documented.