Greedfall

Greedfall, an Action RPG from 2019, presents a fascinating case study when paired with the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. The benchmark data for this combination reveals a system that is overwhelmingly powerful for this title, but the scaling patterns across resolutions and settings expose where the bottlenecks lie and how the hardware's immense capabilities are being utilized.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and dramatic decline as resolution increases, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-bound scenario. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 244 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, that figure drops to 168.7 FPS, a reduction of approximately 31%. The jump to 3840x2160 at High settings yields 100.1 FPS, which is a further 41% decrease from the 1440p result. This steep curve indicates that the RTX 5080 is the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions, with its workload scaling heavily with pixel count.

However, the most telling observation comes from the Low settings row. At 1080p Low, the system produces an average of 336.6 FPS. When this is compared to the 4K Low result of 139.9 FPS, the drop is a massive 58%. This massive delta at the lowest settings strongly suggests that at 1080p, the CPU begins to play a more significant role in limiting performance, as the GPU is able to render frames so quickly that it waits on the processor to issue draw calls. At 4K, the GPU's rendering load becomes the dominant factor, and the CPU has ample time to keep up.

The data implies that this hardware combination is capable of far exceeding the refresh rates of most standard monitors at 1080p and 1440p. The 4K Ultra result of 64.8 FPS is the only measured point that dips below the 100 FPS mark, showing that even at the most demanding settings, the system remains highly playable. The scaling pattern confirms that Greedfall is not a title that stresses the CPU to its limits, but rather one where the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the key determinants of frame rate at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is clearly the workhorse in this configuration. Its specifications paint a picture of a high-end Blackwell 2.0 architecture part with a 16 GB GDDR7 memory pool on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This memory subsystem is critical for 4K gaming, as high-resolution textures and complex scenes demand significant data throughput. The GPU's boost clock of 2617 MHz and its 10752 shading units provide the raw compute power needed to push the high frame rates observed in the 1080p and 1440p benchmarks.

Examining the GPU's benchmark scores provides context for its performance. Its Passmark G3D score of 36565 places it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. In the synthetic 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 8637. These figures, while not game-specific, corroborate the high average FPS observed. The GPU's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Arc A570M (with an average score 1.6% higher) and the Intel Arc Pro A60 (1.9% lower), which are not comparable in tier but show the relative positioning in the database's scoring system.

The RTX 5080's role becomes more nuanced when considering the settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 156.9, which is significantly lower than the 244 FPS at High. This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU, likely including high-resolution shadows and post-processing. The fact that the 4K Ultra setting produces only 64.8 FPS shows that the combination of 4K resolution and the Ultra preset is the most demanding scenario for the GPU, pushing it to its limits in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. Its benchmark scores are substantial, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128. This processing power is more than sufficient for a game like Greedfall, which was released in 2019 and is not known for being heavily threaded.

The CPU's role is best understood by observing the FPS differences at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system hits 336.6 FPS, while at 1440p Low, it achieves 230.8 FPS. The fact that performance scales down significantly when the resolution increases from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the frame rate is still highly dependent on the GPU's workload. However, the gap between 1080p High (244 FPS) and 1080p Low (336.6 FPS) is substantial, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough data to achieve over 300 FPS when the GPU load is minimal.

The i7-12700K's 25 MB of shared L3 cache and high boost clock are likely contributors to its ability to maintain high minimum frame rates, though the data does not provide min FPS values. The CPU's percentile rank of 89th against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35684, puts it in a strong position. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, has an average score that is only 0.3% lower, demonstrating that the two are statistically tied in synthetic tests. This suggests that the i7-12700K is not a bottleneck for the RTX 5080 in Greedfall, as its performance is more than adequate to keep up with the GPU's frame generation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver exceptionally high frame rates, making the choice dependent on the user's display refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 156.9 FPS, which is still a very high number. However, the jump from Ultra to High at 1080p represents a significant 55% performance increase (from 156.9 to 244 FPS). Given that the visual difference between High and Ultra in many games is often subtle, the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance for maximizing frame rate without a major visual compromise.

At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 168.7 FPS, which is an excellent result for a high-refresh-rate monitor. The Ultra preset drops to 103.6 FPS, which is still playable but may not be optimal for competitive play. For a smooth and visually rich experience, the High preset is the recommended choice at 1440p, as it provides a comfortable margin above 144 Hz. The Medium preset at 181.5 FPS offers another viable option for those who prefer a higher frame rate over minor visual enhancements.

At 3840x2160, the choices become more critical. The High preset achieves 100.1 FPS, which is a solid result for 4K gaming. The Ultra preset, however, falls to 64.8 FPS, which is playable but may not feel as fluid. Based on the data, the High preset at 4K is the optimal recommendation, as it provides a 54% performance increase over Ultra (from 64.8 to 100.1 FPS) while likely maintaining a high level of visual fidelity. The Low and Medium presets at 4K offer 139.9 and 111.2 FPS respectively, but these settings would likely degrade the visual experience too much to be worthwhile on such a capable system.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 holds a rank of 76 out of 1705 tested combinations for Greedfall. This places it in the top 4.5% of all tested systems, indicating that it is a very high-performing combo for this game. The rank is a direct reflection of the measured FPS data, which shows that the system can handle the game at high settings across all resolutions.

The ranking suggests that there are only 75 other combinations that perform better in this specific title. These could potentially include newer generation CPUs or GPUs with higher benchmark scores. However, the data shows that this combo is far ahead of the average tested system. Given that the RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 59188 and the i7-12700K has an average score of 35684, the combination of these two top-tier components results in a system that is exceptionally well-suited for Greedfall. The rank of 76th overall reflects the hardware's strength, and the data indicates that this combo would provide an excellent gaming experience without the need for further optimization.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a complete breakdown of the measured average FPS for every resolution and settings combination in the data set.

1920x1080:

• Low: 336.6 FPS
• Medium: 265.8 FPS
• High: 244 FPS
• Ultra: 156.9 FPS

2560x1440:

• Low: 230.8 FPS
• Medium: 181.5 FPS
• High: 168.7 FPS
• Ultra: 103.6 FPS

3840x2160:

• Low: 139.9 FPS
• Medium: 111.2 FPS
• High: 100.1 FPS
• Ultra: 64.8 FPS

This data shows a consistent pattern: for each resolution, the FPS decreases as settings increase from Low to Ultra. The performance penalty for moving from High to Ultra is steep across all resolutions, with an average drop of roughly 35-40%. The data also shows that the scaling from 1440p to 4K is more severe than from 1080p to 1440p, indicating that the GPU is under increasing stress at higher pixel counts. The 1080p Low result of 336.6 FPS is the highest recorded average in the entire set, highlighting the system's ability to generate extremely high frame rates when the GPU load is low.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 4K display?

A: Based on the data, the High preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 100.1 FPS, which is significantly better than the Ultra preset's 64.8 FPS. The High preset is recommended for 4K as it offers a much smoother experience.

Q: Can this system achieve over 200 FPS at 1080p?

A: Yes, the measured data shows that at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 336.6 FPS. With Medium settings, it still achieves 265.8 FPS, and at High settings it maintains 244 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35684. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, has an average score of 35802, which is 0.3% higher. The Intel Core i7-13700T is 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core i5-14500HX is 0.7% lower.

Q: Is the game more CPU-bound or GPU-bound at 1440p?

A: The data suggests it is primarily GPU-bound. The FPS drops from 230.8 at Low to 103.6 at Ultra at 2560x1440, a 55% reduction, which indicates that the GPU is the main bottleneck when settings are increased.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS in the data set is 336.6, which was measured at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Greedfall?

A: This Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 76th out of 1705 tested combinations, placing it in the top percentile of systems tested for this game.