Greedfall

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Greedfall with the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 shows a clear hierarchy across settings presets, and the optimal choice depends heavily on target resolution. At 1080p, the High preset delivers an average of 146 FPS, which is already well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the Low preset reaches 204 FPS, a 40% improvement over High, and the Medium preset sits at 160 FPS. For competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, Low at 1080p is the standout option, but for most players, the High preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, as it remains far above playable thresholds.

At 1440p, the picture shifts. High averages 101 FPS, which is excellent for a 1440p panel, while Medium delivers 111 FPS and Low hits 141 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 64 FPS, which is still playable but shows a significant penalty. The data indicates that High at 1440p is the sweet spot, providing a 58% uplift over Ultra while maintaining a triple-digit frame rate. Pushing to Low yields 141 FPS, a 40% gain over High, which may appeal to those with 144Hz or 165Hz displays, but the visual compromise is substantial for a game like Greedfall that emphasizes atmosphere and environment detail.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. High averages 60 FPS, which is exactly at the standard 60Hz refresh rate, making it the recommended preset for 4K gaming. Medium averages 66 FPS, a modest 10% improvement, while Low reaches 84 FPS, a 40% gain over High. Ultra, however, collapses to 38 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users and should be avoided at this resolution. The data strongly suggests that for 4K, High or Medium are the only viable presets, with High offering the best image quality at a locked 60 FPS experience.

The verdict is clear: High preset is the recommended baseline across all resolutions, as it consistently delivers playable frame rates (60 FPS at 4K, 101 FPS at 1440p, 146 FPS at 1080p) without the steep performance penalty of Ultra. For those with high-refresh monitors at 1080p or 1440p, Low provides a significant FPS boost, but the Medium preset offers a more balanced compromise between visual quality and speed. Ultra is only viable at 1080p, where it still averages 93 FPS, but the 37% drop from High to Ultra at that resolution makes it a questionable trade-off.

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. In Greedfall, an Action RPG that typically favors GPU throughput but still requires solid CPU headroom for AI, scripting, and world simulation, this processor's capabilities are more than sufficient. The benchmark data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 204 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU is not a bottleneck even at high frame rates. At 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 93 FPS, a change driven by GPU load rather than CPU limitations.

The processor's benchmark scores reinforce its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 19,784 in multi-core and 1,850.5 in single-core tests. The single-core performance is particularly relevant for Greedfall, as many game logic threads rely on strong single-threaded execution. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,276 and 2-thread score of 2,065 suggest balanced scaling across core counts, which is typical for a hybrid architecture with 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. The PassMark multithread score of 34,404 and single-thread score of 4,013 place it in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, indicating that it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the database.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the i7-12700K shows remarkable consistency. It is 0.1% slower than the Intel Core i5-13600T, 0.2% slower than the Intel Core i7-12700KF, 0.3% slower than the Intel Core i7-13700T, and 0.4% slower than the Intel Core 5 213PE. These delta percentages are negligible, meaning the i7-12700K performs essentially identically to its closest competitors in synthetic benchmarks. In Greedfall specifically, the frame rates achieved across all resolutions and settings indicate that the CPU is never the limiting factor; the GPU does the heavy lifting as resolution increases.

The 25 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample memory bandwidth for game data, though Greedfall's engine is not particularly cache-hungry compared to modern titles. The processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, which gives flexibility, but the benchmark results do not isolate memory performance. Overall, the i7-12700K delivers a 12-core, 20-thread foundation that easily handles Greedfall's demands, with headroom for background tasks and streaming. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 204 FPS, which is a strong testament to the CPU's ability to feed the RTX 3070 without introducing frame pacing issues.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 3840x2160 delivers an average of 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K. Medium averages 66 FPS, offering a slight performance boost, while Ultra drops to 38 FPS, which is not recommended. Low reaches 84 FPS but sacrifices visual quality.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17,208, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, 1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7970M. It is 1.5% slower than the NVIDIA Tesla K40c. This places it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-12700K a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 204 FPS, and at High it reaches 146 FPS. These frame rates indicate the CPU is not limiting performance, as the GPU is still the primary driver of frame output at these settings.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Ultra to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 64 FPS while High averages 101 FPS. This means High is 58% faster than Ultra, a substantial gain with only a modest reduction in visual fidelity, making High the better choice for smoother gameplay.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1,584 out of 3,703 tested combos in Greedfall. This places it in the upper half of all configurations, indicating strong performance but with room for higher-tier components to exceed it.

Q: Does the CPU's single-thread performance matter for Greedfall?

A: Yes. The i7-12700K scores 1,850.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4,013 in PassMark single-thread, which are strong results. Greedfall's game logic and AI benefit from single-threaded speed, and the high frame rates at 1080p Low (204 FPS) confirm that single-thread headroom is sufficient.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Greedfall, the Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 achieves a rank of 1,584 out of 3,703 combos. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 43% of combos perform better while 57% perform worse. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component is severely mismatched, but there is clear headroom for higher-end GPUs or CPUs to push higher frame rates, especially at lower resolutions.

Breaking down the rank, the CPU's 84th percentile standing among all processors suggests that the i7-12700K is a strong performer, while the GPU's 61st percentile indicates the RTX 3070 is more mid-pack in the current landscape. The combination of a top-quartile CPU with a mid-tier GPU means that at higher resolutions (1440p and 4K), the GPU is the limiting factor, which is expected. At 1080p, the CPU's strength allows the GPU to stretch its legs, resulting in the 204 FPS Low preset score.

The rank is influenced by the fact that Greedfall is not a particularly demanding title by modern standards, as evidenced by the playable frame rates even at 4K High (60 FPS). This means that many combos with similar or better GPUs will rank higher, but the i7-12700K's strong single-thread performance ensures it doesn't drag the combo down. The nearest CPU rivals—i5-13600T, i7-12700KF, i7-13700T, and Core 5 213PE—all score within 0.4% of the i7-12700K in average benchmarks, so swapping the CPU would not meaningfully change the rank.

For users with this combo, the rank suggests that it is well-suited for 1440p gaming at High settings, where it delivers 101 FPS, and acceptable for 4K at High with 60 FPS. To improve the rank, upgrading the GPU would be the logical step, as the CPU still has headroom to drive higher frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo hits 204 FPS, which is near the ceiling for many displays, so the CPU is not the constraint in most scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, with the GPU becoming the dominant bottleneck at higher pixel counts. At 1080p High, the combo averages 146 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 101 FPS, a 31% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 60 FPS, a further 41% reduction from 1440p. This scaling is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload, where the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly strained by larger frame buffers.

The Low preset shows a similar trend but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 204 FPS, dropping to 141 FPS at 1440p (a 31% decrease) and 84 FPS at 4K (a 40% decrease from 1440p). The consistency of the percentage drops across presets indicates that the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. The Medium preset, which has min/max data, shows 160 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K, with the 1440p to 4K drop being 41%.

The Ultra preset tells a more dramatic story. At 1080p, it averages 93 FPS, but at 1440p it falls to 64 FPS (a 31% drop) and at 4K it crashes to 38 FPS (a 41% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 38 FPS is the only sub-60 FPS reading in the entire dataset, highlighting that the RTX 3070 simply cannot handle the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution. This is consistent with the GPU's 61st percentile ranking, suggesting it is a mid-range performer in the current market.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The CPU's benchmark scores, particularly the 3DMark 16-thread score of 9,276 and Cinebench R23 multi-core of 19,784, indicate it can process frames far faster than the GPU can render them at high resolutions. The data supports this: if the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect frame rates to remain relatively flat as resolution increases, but the consistent 31-41% drops across each resolution step confirm that the GPU is the constraint. For users seeking higher 4K performance, reducing settings to Low yields 84 FPS, but even that requires a significant visual compromise.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for Greedfall with the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the High preset delivers an average of 60 FPS with no min/max recorded. The Low preset averages 84 FPS, while Medium averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 38 FPS, which is the lowest score in the entire dataset and below the playable threshold for most users. The Medium preset's min FPS of 56 indicates that even at Medium, there can be brief dips below 60 FPS, though the average remains acceptable.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the High preset averages 101 FPS. Low averages 141 FPS, Medium averages 111 FPS with a minimum of 94 FPS and a maximum of 128 FPS, and Ultra averages 64 FPS. The Medium preset's min FPS of 94 is well above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. The jump from Ultra (64 FPS) to High (101 FPS) is a 58% improvement, making High the clear choice at this resolution for most users.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the High preset averages 146 FPS. Low averages 204 FPS, Medium averages 160 FPS with a minimum of 136 FPS and a maximum of 184 FPS, and Ultra averages 93 FPS. The Low preset's 204 FPS is the highest measured score in the entire dataset, demonstrating the combo's capability at lower resolutions. The Medium preset's min FPS of 136 ensures that even the most intensive scenes stay well above 120 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate displays.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Ultra settings incur a significant penalty at every resolution, with the drop from High to Ultra being 37% at 1080p, 37% at 1440p, and 37% at 4K. This consistency suggests that the Ultra preset introduces a uniform increase in GPU workload, likely from higher shadow quality, draw distance, or post-processing effects. The Medium preset offers a middle ground, with performance that is 10% higher than High at 4K, 10% higher at 1440p, and 10% higher at 1080p. The Low preset provides the highest frame rates but sacrifices visual fidelity, making it suitable only for competitive play or very high refresh rate monitors.

For users with a 60Hz display, the 4K High preset at 60 FPS is perfectly matched, while 1440p High at 101 FPS provides headroom for future demanding scenes. For 1080p users, the High preset at 146 FPS is ideal for 144Hz monitors, and the Medium preset at 160 FPS offers a slight boost without significant visual loss. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K due to its 38 FPS average, but it is playable at 1080p with 93 FPS.