Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER

This combination of Intel's 12th-generation flagship-class CPU and NVIDIA's Turing-based RTX 2070 SUPER produces a compelling 1440p gaming experience in Greedfall, though the data reveals a system that becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution climbs. The measured frame rates across four settings presets and three resolutions paint a clear picture of where this pairing excels and where its limitations surface, with the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth acting as the primary constraint at 4K Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and finally to 3840x2160 demonstrates how drastically the rendering load shifts between CPU and GPU in Greedfall. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 167 fps average, which drops to 116 fps at 1440p and 69 fps at 4K. This scaling pattern — a 30.5% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 40.5% reduction from 1440p to 4K — indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER is being pushed progressively harder as pixel count increases, while the i7-12700KF's 12 cores and 20 threads remain largely untaxed at lower resolutions.

The High preset tells a similar story with slightly different magnitudes. At 1080p High, the system produces 119 fps, dropping to 83 fps at 1440p (a 30.3% decrease) and then to 49 fps at 4K (a 41% decrease from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that Greedfall's rendering pipeline scales predictably with resolution, and the limiting factor shifts decisively toward the GPU as resolution increases.

Ultra settings reveal the steepest scaling curve. The 1080p Ultra result of 76 fps falls to 53 fps at 1440p — a 30.3% drop — and then collapses to 31 fps at 4K, representing a 41.5% reduction from the 1440p figure. This 4K Ultra result falls below the 30 fps threshold that many consider the minimum for playable frame rates, indicating that this combination cannot handle the game's maximum visual fidelity at 4K without significant compromise.

The Medium preset, which includes min and max frame data, shows the same scaling behavior: 131 fps at 1080p, 91 fps at 1440p (a 30.5% drop), and 54 fps at 4K (a 40.7% drop from 1440p). The consistent ~30% penalty for moving from 1080p to 1440p and ~40% penalty for moving from 1440p to 4K across all presets strongly suggests that the RTX 2070 SUPER's pixel throughput — rated at 113.3 GPixel/s — is the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU's 3.60 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clocks provide ample headroom even at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that 1440p Medium represents the sweet spot for this combination, delivering 91 fps average with a minimum of 77 fps and a maximum of 105 fps. This preset maintains frame rates well above the 60 fps threshold while providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low settings, which achieve 116 fps at 1440p but sacrifice the visual fidelity that Greedfall's Action RPG environments benefit from.

For users prioritizing frame rate above all else, 1080p Low delivers 167 fps average, which would satisfy even the most demanding high-refresh-rate displays. However, the gap between Low and Medium at 1080p — 167 fps versus 131 fps — indicates that Medium settings consume only 21.6% of the performance headroom while providing noticeably improved visuals, making 1080p Medium (131 fps, min 112 fps, max 151 fps) a more balanced choice for competitive play.

At 4K, the options are more constrained. High settings produce 49 fps average, which falls short of the 60 fps ideal but remains playable for slower-paced exploration. Ultra settings at 4K drop to 31 fps, which approaches the lower boundary of acceptable performance for an Action RPG with real-time combat. The Medium preset at 4K (54 fps, min 46 fps, max 63 fps) provides the best compromise for 4K users, offering frame rates that occasionally dip below 50 fps during demanding scenes but remain within a playable range.

The data indicates that Ultra settings provide diminishing returns across all resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from High (119 fps) to Ultra (76 fps) costs 36.1% of performance, while at 1440p the same jump costs 36.1% (83 fps to 53 fps), and at 4K it costs 36.7% (49 fps to 31 fps). This consistent penalty suggests that Ultra settings enable effects that disproportionately strain the RTX 2070 SUPER's 2,560 shading units and 64 ROPs, making High settings the more efficient choice when visual quality is still a priority.

GPU Role

The RTX 2070 SUPER's specifications explain much of its behavior in Greedfall. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, the card has sufficient memory capacity for most scenarios at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 31 fps suggests that memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate become critical bottlenecks at higher resolutions. The card's boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1605 MHz provide the computational foundation for its 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 performance, which drives the measured results.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (avg score 20480, delta -1%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (avg score 20534, delta -1.2%), Intel Arc B570 (avg score 20556, delta -1.3%), and Intel Arc A750 (avg score 20582, delta -1.5%) — all cluster within 1.5% of the RTX 2070 SUPER's average benchmark score of 20,282. This tight grouping indicates that the card sits in a well-populated performance tier, and its 65th percentile ranking among all GPUs reflects its position as a mid-to-upper-range option.

The RTX 2070 SUPER's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility are relevant for Greedfall, which was released in 2019 and likely does not utilize ray tracing or other modern features that would leverage the card's 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The measured performance therefore reflects the card's traditional rasterization capabilities, with its 160 TMUs handling texture work at 283.2 GTexel/s and its 64 ROPs managing pixel output at 113.3 GPixel/s.

The card's 12 nm process node and 215 W TDP, with a suggested 550 W power supply, position it as a power-hungry component that requires adequate cooling and power delivery. The 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors indicate the card's draw is substantial, though the benchmark results show that this power budget translates into consistent performance across the measured presets rather than thermal throttling issues.

FAQ

Q: Can this system achieve 60 fps at 4K in Greedfall?

A: No. The highest 4K average frame rate measured is 69 fps at Low settings, but Medium settings drop to 54 fps, High to 49 fps, and Ultra to 31 fps. None of the higher-quality presets reach the 60 fps threshold at 4K.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 91 fps average with a minimum of 77 fps, providing smooth gameplay with a 30 fps buffer above the 60 fps target. High settings at 1440p achieve 83 fps, which is also viable, but Medium offers more headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The card's average benchmark score of 20,282 places it within 1.5% of the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480, -1% delta), RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534, -1.2% delta), Intel Arc B570 (20,556, -1.3% delta), and Intel Arc A750 (20,582, -1.5% delta). This indicates near-identical synthetic performance among these cards.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary constraint even at 1080p. The i7-12700KF scores 3,984 in PassMark single-thread and 34,092 in PassMark multi-thread benchmarks, ranking in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, while the RTX 2070 SUPER ranks in the 65th percentile among GPUs. The frame rate scaling from 1080p Low (167 fps) to 1080p Ultra (76 fps) reflects GPU workload changes rather than CPU limitations.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for this game?

A: The measured results indicate that 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is adequate for Greedfall at all tested settings and resolutions, as no VRAM-related crashes or severe frame rate anomalies appear in the data. The 4K Ultra result of 31 fps is more likely limited by the card's pixel fill rate and shading throughput than memory capacity.

Q: What performance improvement does the i7-12700KF offer for gaming?

A: The CPU's benchmarks — including 28,838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,071 in Cinebench R23 single-core — indicate strong gaming performance, but the Greedfall data shows that frame rates are consistently GPU-bound. The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads provide ample processing headroom, as evidenced by the fact that frame rates scale predictably with GPU load across resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2,150 out of 3,703 tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in the 42nd percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking reflects the RTX 2070 SUPER's position as a older-generation mid-range GPU paired with a high-end 12th-generation CPU, where the GPU's performance ceiling limits the overall system ranking.

The CPU itself ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 35,365, placing it near rivals like the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,403, -0.1% delta), Intel Core i5-13600T (35,305, 0.2% delta), Intel Core 5 213PE (35,428, -0.2% delta), and Intel Core i7-12700K (35,287, 0.2% delta). This tight grouping shows that the i7-12700KF is well-matched with its contemporaries in synthetic CPU workloads.

The GPU's 65th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 20,282 place it in the lower-middle portion of the GPU hierarchy, with rivals like the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M and Intel Arc A750 showing nearly identical synthetic performance. The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile ranking and the overall combo's mid-pack ranking in Greedfall suggests that the game's performance is heavily weighted toward GPU capability, and the RTX 2070 SUPER holds back what would otherwise be a top-tier system.

The 42nd percentile ranking in Greedfall specifically indicates that roughly 58% of tested combinations achieve higher frame rates in this title, which aligns with the RTX 2070 SUPER's position as a card that was competitive at launch but has been surpassed by newer generations. The data shows that this combo still delivers playable performance at 1080p and 1440p across most settings, but it cannot compete with systems featuring more modern GPUs at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF brings substantial processing power to this combination, with 12 cores and 20 threads running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This Alder Lake architecture chip, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers strong synthetic performance with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28,838 and a single-core score of 4,071. The Geekbench scores of 14,367 multi-core and 2,255 single-core further confirm the CPU's capability across diverse workloads.

In Greedfall specifically, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent frame rate scaling patterns across resolutions. The 3DMark benchmarks show the CPU scaling well with thread count — 2,065 for 2 threads, 4,011 for 4 threads, 7,211 for 8 threads, 9,282 for 16 threads, and 9,983 for max threads — suggesting that the CPU has ample headroom for games that utilize multiple cores effectively.

The CPU's 25 MB shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide substantial on-chip memory for game data, while its dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support allows for flexible system configurations. The PassMark single-thread score of 3,984 and multi-thread score of 34,092 place the CPU well above average, and its 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs indicates that it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the benchmark database.

The nearest CPU rivals — the Intel Core i7-13700T (average score 35,403, -0.1% delta), Intel Core i5-13600T (35,305, 0.2% delta), Intel Core 5 213PE (35,428, -0.2% delta), and Intel Core i7-12700K (35,287, 0.2% delta) — all show negligible performance differences, confirming that the i7-12700KF is well-matched with its immediate competitors. The marginal differences of less than 0.2% suggest that CPU choice has minimal impact on overall gaming performance in this configuration, reinforcing the conclusion that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary determinant of Greedfall's frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 167 fps average
• Medium: 131 fps average, 112 fps minimum, 151 fps maximum
• High: 119 fps average
• Ultra: 76 fps average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 116 fps average
• Medium: 91 fps average, 77 fps minimum, 105 fps maximum
• High: 83 fps average
• Ultra: 53 fps average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 69 fps average
• Medium: 54 fps average, 46 fps minimum, 63 fps maximum
• High: 49 fps average
• Ultra: 31 fps average

The frame rate progression across resolutions and settings reveals consistent relationships. At each resolution, the step from Low to Medium costs approximately 21-22% of performance, from Medium to High costs approximately 9-10%, and from High to Ultra costs approximately 36-37%. This suggests that Ultra settings enable particularly demanding effects that disproportionately impact the RTX 2070 SUPER's rendering throughput.

The Medium preset's min/max data provides insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p, the 112-151 fps range represents a 34.8% spread between minimum and maximum, while at 1440p the 77-105 fps range shows a 36.4% spread, and at 4K the 46-63 fps range shows a 37% spread. The increasing variance at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU's workload becomes more variable as pixel count rises, likely due to scene complexity interacting with the card's pixel fill rate limits.

The 4K Ultra result of 31 fps is notably lower than the 4K High result of 49 fps, representing a 36.7% performance penalty for the final quality tier. This dramatic drop suggests that Ultra settings enable effects like advanced post-processing or increased draw distances that multiply the GPU's workload, pushing the RTX 2070 SUPER beyond its comfortable operating range at 4K resolution.