Greedfall

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a highly unusual configuration for Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG. The data reveals a system where a powerful 12th Gen desktop processor is paired with an integrated-class graphics solution, resulting in a profound performance bottleneck. The measured frames per second across all resolutions and settings paint a clear picture: this combo is only suitable for low-resolution, low-detail gameplay, and even then, it struggles to maintain high refresh rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based strictly on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this combination is found at the 1920x1080 Low preset, which delivers an average of 84 FPS. This is the only configuration in the entire dataset that approaches a fluid, high-refresh-rate experience. The 1080p Medium preset offers a playable 66 FPS average, but the jump to High at 60 FPS is marginal, suggesting that the graphics processor is already saturated. The Ultra preset at 1080p collapses to 38 FPS, which is a significant drop and not recommended for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more constrained. The Low preset yields a 58 FPS average, which is borderline playable, while Medium drops to 46 FPS and High to 42 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution falls to 27 FPS, making it a slideshow. At 3840x2160, the data indicates that all presets are effectively unplayable. The Low preset manages only 35 FPS, Medium drops to 27 FPS, High to 25 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 16 FPS. The 4K Medium row is the only one with min/max data (23-32 FPS), confirming the severe performance ceiling.

The data suggests that players should prioritize resolution and settings that target the 60 FPS threshold. Since only the 1080p Low preset achieves this, it is the clear "best" experience for playability. If visual fidelity is more important than frame rate, 1080p High at 60 FPS is the highest quality setting that remains nominally playable. However, the 66 FPS at Medium might be the practical sweet spot for a balance of visuals and responsiveness, as it sits above the 60 FPS mark. The 4K Ultra setting, at 16 FPS, should be avoided entirely.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark data places this specific combination at rank 2595 out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall. This percentile places it in the bottom 12% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a severely underperforming configuration for this title. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the graphics processor, as the CPU is a high-end desktop part.

The Intel Core i7-12700K itself is a formidable processor, with an average benchmark score of 35287 and a percentile of 84 against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-13600T (avgScore 35305, deltaPct -0.1) and the Intel Core i7-12700KF (avgScore 35365, deltaPct -0.2), perform within a fraction of a percent of it. This shows the CPU is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

In stark contrast, the Intel Arc B390 is a low-power integrated GPU. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is a mere 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are ancient, low-end discrete graphics cards like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (avgScore 1463, deltaPct 1.3) and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (avgScore 1460, deltaPct 1.5). The fact that this modern integrated GPU is competing with decade-old entry-level parts explains why the combo ranks so poorly. The data implies that the GPU's performance is the definitive anchor on the entire system's gaming capability.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its role in this configuration is the primary determinant of the low FPS figures. The GPU has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, but its performance is fundamentally limited by its memory configuration. It uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it borrows from the system's RAM, and its bandwidth is "System Dependent." This is a critical bottleneck for a game like Greedfall, which requires substantial texture and geometry data to be fed to the GPU.

With 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, the B390 has a theoretical pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 7.680 TFLOPS. However, the data shows that these numbers do not translate into playable frame rates at higher resolutions. The integrated nature of the GPU, with no dedicated video memory and a TDP of just 80 W, means it is severely bandwidth-starved. The benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the sole reason for the poor performance, as its 9th percentile ranking against all GPUs directly correlates with the low FPS in-game.

The API support is robust, including DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the raw hardware throughput is insufficient for demanding scenarios. The data shows a clear ceiling: even at 1080p Low, the GPU is working hard to produce 84 FPS. At 4K, the fill rate and memory bandwidth constraints become insurmountable, leading to single-digit-to-low-20s frame rates. The GPU is the clear and dominant bottleneck in this system.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the performance envelope of this combo. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low preset averages 84 FPS, Medium averages 66 FPS (with a min of 56 and max of 76), High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 38 FPS. This shows a steady and expected decline as settings are increased, with a significant 22 FPS drop from Low to Medium and a further 22 FPS drop from High to Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops considerably. The Low preset averages 58 FPS, Medium averages 46 FPS (min 39, max 53), High averages 42 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 31 FPS. This resolution demonstrates the GPU's struggle to manage the increased pixel count, with all presets except Low falling below the 60 FPS target.

At 3840x2160, the system is overwhelmed. The Low preset averages 35 FPS, Medium averages 27 FPS (min 23, max 32), High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is only 19 FPS, which suggests that the GPU is so heavily limited by memory bandwidth that increasing settings has a diminishing impact on frame rate. The 4K Medium row is the only one with variance data, showing a tight 9 FPS spread, indicating a consistent, hard performance cap.

The data reveals a pattern: the FPS penalty for each step up in settings is not linear. For example, at 1080p, the drop from Low to Medium is 18 FPS, but from High to Ultra it is 22 FPS. At 1440p, the drop from Low to Medium is 12 FPS, and from High to Ultra it is 15 FPS. This suggests that the GPU's fill rate and shading resources are exhausted at higher settings, leading to larger relative performance hits.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and diagnostic. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 84 at 1080p to 58 at 1440p, a 31% decrease, and then to 35 at 4K, a further 40% decrease. This scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering workload increases exponentially with pixel count. The data shows that the performance per pixel decreases significantly, confirming the GPU is the limiting factor.

The scaling pattern becomes even more telling at higher settings. At the High preset, the FPS drops from 60 at 1080p to 42 at 1440p (a 30% drop) and then to 25 at 4K (a 40% drop). At Ultra, the numbers are 38, 27, and 16, respectively. The percentage drops are consistent, indicating that the GPU's compute and memory resources are being scaled proportionally with the resolution.

This behavior strongly implies that the CPU is not the bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU workload does not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the FPS falls dramatically as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-limited system. The Intel Core i7-12700K, with its high multi-threaded performance, is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the Arc B390 can render. The data suggests that lowering the resolution is the only effective way to improve performance, as it directly reduces the load on the GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a high-end desktop processor with 12 cores (8 performance and 4 efficiency) and 20 threads. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 25 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are strong, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5. Its 84th percentile ranking confirms it is a top-tier CPU for general and multi-threaded workloads.

However, in this specific Greedfall configuration, the CPU's role is largely passive. The benchmark results show that the GPU is so weak that the CPU is never challenged. The CPU is likely idling or running at low utilization while the GPU struggles to maintain even 30 FPS at 1440p. The data supports this by showing that the FPS scales inversely with resolution, a clear sign that the CPU is not the limiting component.

The CPU's memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 is irrelevant here, as the GPU uses "System Shared" memory. The CPU's high single-thread performance (Geekbench single-core score of 2308) is also underutilized, as the game's frame rate is dictated by the GPU's render time, not the CPU's frame preparation time. The data implies that this CPU is overkill for this GPU pairing in Greedfall. The system is massively imbalanced, with the CPU's potential completely untapped due to the graphics bottleneck. The nearest rivals to the CPU, such as the Intel Core i7-12700KF, show it is performing as expected, but this does not translate into gaming performance because the GPU cannot keep up.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings to use for this combo in Greedfall?

A: The data shows that the 1920x1080 Low preset is the only configuration that achieves a playable average of 84 FPS. For a balance of quality and speed, 1080p Medium at 66 FPS is the highest setting that stays above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Why is the performance so low when the CPU is powerful?

A: The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated GPU with a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The FPS drops significantly with resolution, indicating a GPU bottleneck, while the CPU's high benchmark scores (e.g., 84th percentile) show it is not the limiting factor.

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

A: No. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 35 at the Low preset. The Medium preset averages 27 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages only 16 FPS, making all 4K settings unplayable.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-12700K compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, scores 35305, a deltaPct of -0.1. The Intel Core i7-12700KF scores 35365, a deltaPct of -0.2, showing the CPU is performing on par with its direct competitors.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to other GPUs in the database?

A: The Arc B390's average benchmark score is 1482. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower, indicating the B390 is in the same performance class as these very old, low-end parts.

Q: Is there any benefit to lowering the resolution from 1440p to 1080p?

A: Yes, the data shows a substantial benefit. At the Low preset, the average FPS jumps from 58 at 2560x1440 to 84 at 1920x1080. At the High preset, it goes from 42 to 60 FPS, making 1080p the only viable resolution for smoother gameplay.