Greedfall

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 lands at rank 3371 out of 3703 tested combos in Greedfall. That places this configuration in the bottom 9% of all tested systems, a position driven almost entirely by the graphics card's age rather than the processor's capability. The CPU alone sits at the 85th percentile among all processors tested, while the GPU languishes at the 53rd percentile. This is a stark mismatch: a top-tier modern processor harnessed to a GPU from a previous hardware generation, resulting in a combo that struggles to deliver smooth frame rates at higher resolutions.

When compared to other combos in the database, this pairing's rank reflects the GPU bottleneck. The RX 580's average benchmark score of 12928 puts it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile and 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER, yet those comparisons are academic — the real story is that even at 1080p with Low settings, this combo only manages 81 FPS average. The processor's headroom is wasted in most scenarios, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor well before the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are taxed.

# GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a Polaris 20 chip built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, featuring 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. Its memory configuration consists of 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Clock speeds are modest by modern standards: a base of 1257 MHz and a boost of 1340 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The card's compute capabilities include 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s.

In Greedfall, these specifications translate to measurable but limited performance. The GPU's 53rd percentile ranking among all GPUs indicates it sits near the middle of the pack, yet its benchmark results tell a more nuanced story. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005 and PassMark G3D score of 8813 both reflect a card that was competitive at launch but has since been outpaced. The DirectX 12 PassMark score of 43 is particularly telling — Greedfall, as an Action RPG from 2019, relies on modern API features that this GCN 4.0 architecture handles only adequately.

The RX 580's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s proves sufficient for 1080p gameplay but becomes strained at higher resolutions. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is not the constraint here; rather, the card's raw compute throughput limits how many pixels it can process per frame. At 4K Ultra settings, the combo averages just 15 FPS, a figure that reflects the GPU's inability to handle the pixel throughput required at that resolution.

# Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and clearly demonstrates where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High settings, the combo averages 58 FPS; at 1440p High, it drops to 40 FPS; and at 4K High, it falls to 24 FPS. That represents a 31% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 40% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings tiers, which indicates a GPU-bound scenario.

When examining Low settings, the trend sharpens: 81 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 31% mirrors the High setting drop, but the 1440p to 4K drop of 39% is slightly less severe. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU begins to play a more significant role at 1080p, where the GPU has less work per frame and can occasionally keep up with the processor's output.

The limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. The Core i7-12700KF, with its 3.60 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clock, can easily feed frames to the RX 580 at 1080p. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity become the constraining factor. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, the combo cannot exceed 81 FPS average, which is far below what the CPU alone could theoretically support. This is a textbook case of GPU limitation at all tested resolutions.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 81 FPS, Medium averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 54 and maximum of 73, High averages 58 FPS, and Ultra drops to 37 FPS. The jump from Ultra to Low represents a 119% improvement, showing how sensitive this GPU is to graphical fidelity settings. Even at the best case, 81 FPS is playable but not exceptional, and Ultra at 37 FPS is borderline for a smooth experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings average 56 FPS, Medium averages 44 FPS with a range of 38 to 51, High averages 40 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS. The 1440p Low result is still playable, but Medium and High hover near the 40-45 FPS range, which is acceptable for an Action RPG but not ideal. Ultra at 26 FPS is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles across the board. Low settings average 34 FPS, Medium averages 26 FPS with a minimum of 22 and maximum of 30, High averages 24 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 15 FPS. None of these results are playable for a smooth experience, and even Low settings at 4K fall below the 60 FPS target. The Medium preset's 22 FPS minimum indicates frame time spikes that would be noticeable during combat or exploration.

The scaling between settings at each resolution is consistent. At 1080p, Ultra is 54% slower than Low; at 1440p, Ultra is 54% slower than Low; and at 4K, Ultra is 56% slower than Low. This uniformity suggests the GPU's architecture handles the settings changes similarly regardless of resolution, with the absolute performance being the primary differentiator.

# FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 81, followed by 1080p Medium at 64 FPS. For a balance of quality and performance, 1080p Medium or High (58 FPS) are the most viable options, as 1440p and 4K results fall below 60 FPS even at Low settings.

Q: How does this combo's GPU rank against its nearest competitors?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 12928 is 0.1% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12940) and 0.4% below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12986), while being 0.5% above the AMD Radeon 740M (12870).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this combo?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions. Evidence comes from the resolution scaling: FPS drops by roughly 31% from 1080p to 1440p and another 40% from 1440p to 4K at High settings. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 53rd percentile confirms the imbalance.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance relative to its rivals?

A: The Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35365, which is 0.1% below the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403) and 0.2% above the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305). It also sits 0.2% above the Intel Core i7-12700K (35287) and 0.2% below the Intel Core 5 213PE (35428).

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: No. At 4K, the best result is 34 FPS average on Low settings, with High at 24 FPS and Ultra at 15 FPS. These figures are below playable thresholds for a smooth experience, and the 4K Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 22, indicating significant frame drops.

Q: How does the GPU's DirectX performance affect Greedfall?

A: The RX 580's PassMark DirectX 11 score of 60 and DirectX 12 score of 43 reflect modest API performance. Greedfall, released in 2019, likely leverages DirectX 11 or 12 features, and the card's mid-pack scores contribute to the overall frame rate limitations observed in the measured data.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory via a dual-channel interface and connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 CPU lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU demonstrates substantial performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28838 and single-core score of 4071 place it among strong performers. The Geekbench multicore score of 14367 and single-core score of 2255 further confirm its capability. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1043 (single-thread) to 9983 (max threads), indicating good thread scaling for multi-threaded workloads.

However, in Greedfall, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would typically have the most influence, the combo only reaches 81 FPS. This is far below what the Core i7-12700KF could theoretically support, given its 85th percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 35365. The processor's nearest rivals — the Core i7-13700T, Core i5-13600T, and Core i7-12700K — all exhibit similar average scores within 0.2%, confirming that the CPU is not the differentiator here.

The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for Greedfall's demands as an Action RPG. The game's AI, physics, and world simulation would be easily handled by this processor, leaving the GPU as the sole constraint. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9282 and max-thread score of 9983 show that the CPU maintains strong performance even under heavy multi-threaded loads, yet the frame rates in Greedfall never approach the levels this CPU could enable with a more capable GPU.