Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 action RPG from Spiders, presents an interesting study in hardware scaling when paired with the Intel Core i7-12700K and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. The measured data shows a system that is generally capable of smooth gameplay across most settings, but with clear performance boundaries that emerge at higher resolutions and graphical presets. This analysis breaks down how this specific CPU-GPU combination behaves in the game, relying solely on the benchmark data provided.

Resolution Scaling

The performance trajectory from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound curve. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces an average of 149 FPS, which is exceptionally fluid for an action RPG. Dropping to Low settings at the same resolution pushes the average to 209 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU have substantial headroom. However, the most telling data point at 1080p is the Ultra preset, which yields only 95 FPS average—a significant drop from High, suggesting that the game’s Ultra settings introduce a heavy computational load that limits even this capable pairing.

Moving to 2560x1440, the scaling pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. High settings deliver 103 FPS average, while Low settings reach 145 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution produces 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS, showing that the system maintains playable frame rates even in demanding scenes. At Ultra, the average falls to 66 FPS, which is still smooth for most players but represents a 31% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result. This indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as pixel count increases.

The 4K results at 3840x2160 are where the RX 7700 XT begins to struggle. High settings yield an average of 62 FPS, which is borderline for a smooth experience. Medium settings improve this to 68 FPS average with a minimum of 58 FPS and a maximum of 78 FPS, suggesting that the game remains playable but with visible frame-time variance. Low settings at 4K produce 86 FPS average, which is surprisingly strong and indicates that reducing graphical complexity can unlock much higher performance at this resolution. Ultra at 4K is the outlier, with only 39 FPS average—this is where the combo clearly falls short of a consistent 60 FPS target.

The data shows that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the CPU and GPU are both capable, with the game’s Ultra preset being the main bottleneck. At 1440p, the GPU starts to exert more influence, and at 4K, the RX 7700 XT is definitively the limiting factor, especially with higher presets. The scaling from 1080p High (149 FPS) to 1440p High (103 FPS) represents a 31% drop, while the drop from 1440p High to 4K High (62 FPS) is a 40% reduction, showing that the GPU load increases disproportionately with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested system combinations for Greedfall, this pairing holds a specific position. The comboRankInGame data places this i7-12700K and RX 7700 XT combination at rank 1399 out of 3703 total tested combos. This places it in the upper-middle tier of systems, meaning it outperforms the majority of tested hardware but is not at the very top. Percentile-wise, this rank indicates that the system is in the 62nd percentile of all tested combos, which is a solid but not elite standing.

The CPU’s individual benchmark percentile is higher, at 84th percentile among all CPUs tested, which reflects the i7-12700K’s strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance. The GPU sits at the 67th percentile among all GPUs, showing that the RX 7700 XT is a competent performer but not a top-tier card. The delta between the CPU and GPU percentiles suggests that in many games, the GPU could be a bottleneck, and the Greedfall data supports this to some degree.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the CPU, the i7-12700K scores an average benchmark of 35287, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, delta -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, delta -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, delta -0.3%), and the Intel Core 5 213PE (35428, delta -0.4%). These deltas are all within one percent, meaning that in synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700K is essentially on par with these rivals. For Greedfall, this suggests that the CPU is not the primary differentiator in performance, as any of these processors would likely yield similar frame rates.

For the GPU, the RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score is 22549. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (22435, delta 0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile (22729, delta -0.8%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, delta -1.5%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (22170, delta 1.7%). These deltas are also small, indicating that the RX 7700 XT is in a tightly contested performance bracket. In Greedfall, this means that swapping to any of these GPUs would likely produce similar results, with frame rate differences of only a few percent.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is substantial for a game like Greedfall, which is an open-world action RPG with detailed environments. The 12 GB capacity ensures that texture-heavy scenes at 4K resolution will not run into VRAM limits, allowing the GPU to focus on shading and compute tasks.

The GPU’s clock speeds are notable: a base clock of 1435 MHz, a boost clock of 2544 MHz, and a game clock of 2171 MHz. The boost clock is what the GPU can achieve under load, and the data suggests that this headroom is utilized effectively at lower resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is able to maintain high frame rates, but at 4K with Ultra settings, the boost clock is not enough to overcome the sheer pixel workload, resulting in the 39 FPS average.

The GPU’s compute capabilities are also relevant. With an FP32 performance of 35.17 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 549.5 GTexel/s, the RX 7700 XT has ample raw power for most gaming scenarios. The 3456 shading units and 216 texture mapping units handle the graphical effects in Greedfall efficiently at Medium and High presets. However, the Ultra preset appears to introduce effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU’s 96 ROPs, which handle pixel output. The pixel rate of 244.2 GPixel/s is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the GPU cannot output enough pixels to maintain a high frame rate.

The GPU’s TDP is 245 W, which is moderate for a card of this class. The data shows that the GPU’s performance scales well with resolution up to 1440p, but the 4K results indicate that the card is pushed to its limits. The 43% drop in average FPS from 1440p High (103 FPS) to 4K High (62 FPS) is a clear indication that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU has more than enough headroom to feed the graphics card.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves 103 FPS average, which is well above 60 FPS. Even at 4K with High settings, the average is 62 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold, but the Medium preset at 4K offers a safer 68 FPS average with a minimum of 58 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, Ultra yields 95 FPS average compared to 149 FPS on High, a 36% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 66 FPS from 103 FPS on High, a 36% reduction. At 4K, Ultra is nearly unplayable at 39 FPS, while High manages 62 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K a bottleneck for the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT in Greedfall?

A: The data shows the CPU is not a bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 209 FPS average, indicating that the CPU can drive very high frame rates. The GPU becomes the limiter at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The only minimum FPS data available is for the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 140 FPS; at 2560x1440, it is 97 FPS; and at 3840x2160, it is 58 FPS. These figures show that Medium settings maintain playable minimums even at 4K.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 1399 out of 3703 total tested combos for Greedfall. This places it in the upper-middle tier, meaning it outperforms about 62% of tested systems but is not in the top tier of hardware.

Q: Is the 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Greedfall at high resolutions?

A: The data suggests yes, as the 12 GB GDDR6 memory is not cited as a limiting factor in the measured results. The GPU’s compute and pixel throughput, not VRAM capacity, appear to be the primary constraints at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has a 25 MB shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 19784 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1850.5 in single-core, which are strong results. Its Passmark multithread score is 34404, and its single-thread score is 4013. These numbers indicate that the CPU has ample headroom for gaming workloads.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 209 FPS average, which is a high frame rate that would stress most CPUs. The fact that the system can achieve this suggests that the i7-12700K’s 12 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for Greedfall’s demands. The CPU’s percentile of 84th among all CPUs further confirms that it is a high-performing processor.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks have average scores within 0.4% of the i7-12700K, meaning that any of these CPUs would perform nearly identically in Greedfall. This indicates that the game is not particularly CPU-intensive, or that the i7-12700K is already past the point of diminishing returns for this title. The 3DMark scores show strong multi-threaded performance: 9276 in the 16-thread test and 9979 in the max-thread test, which are relevant for games that use multiple cores. However, Greedfall’s performance scaling with resolution suggests that GPU load dominates the frame rate, making the CPU’s specific core count less critical.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a standard 60 FPS experience, the Medium preset is the most consistent choice across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 164 FPS average, at 1440p it delivers 114 FPS average, and at 4K it delivers 68 FPS average. The Medium preset also has the only recorded minimum FPS values, showing that it maintains a floor of 58 FPS at 4K and 140 FPS at 1080p, which is ideal for avoiding stutter.

For users with high-refresh-rate monitors at 1080p, the Low preset is the best option, yielding 209 FPS average. This maximizes frame rates to take advantage of 144Hz or 240Hz displays. The High preset at 1080p still offers 149 FPS average, which is sufficient for most high-refresh monitors, but the Low preset provides an extra 60 FPS headroom.

At 1440p, the High preset is the sweet spot for visual quality and performance, with 103 FPS average. This is a significant improvement over the Ultra preset’s 66 FPS, and the visual difference between High and Ultra is often minimal in action RPGs. The Low preset at 1440p yields 145 FPS average, which is excellent for competitive play if Greedfall’s single-player nature allows for it.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it provides 68 FPS average with a 58 FPS minimum. The High preset at 4K is borderline at 62 FPS average, but the lack of minimum FPS data suggests potential frame drops that could be problematic. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended, as the 39 FPS average is below the playable threshold for most users. The Low preset at 4K offers 86 FPS average, which is surprisingly strong and could be used if visual fidelity is less important than frame rate. Overall, the data indicates that Medium settings offer the best balance of performance and visual quality across all resolutions for this combo.