Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG from Spiders, presents an interesting study in hardware scaling when paired with the Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT. The measured data reveals a configuration that is heavily influenced by graphics settings and resolution, with the GPU acting as the primary performance arbiter across the board. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy where the CPU's substantial headroom is rarely the limiting factor, allowing the Radeon RX 5700 XT's capabilities to dictate the final frame rates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, marking the Radeon RX 5700 XT as the definitive bottleneck at higher resolutions. At the "High" preset, the average frame rate falls from 110 FPS at 1920x1080 to 73.9 FPS at 2560x1440, a significant reduction, and then further down to 45.9 FPS at 3840x2160. This trajectory indicates that the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and its compute resources are being saturated as the pixel count increases, which is typical for a card in the 68th percentile of all GPUs.

The scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p, the system is still somewhat balanced, but the GPU's workload grows exponentially with resolution. The transition from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing, with the "Ultra" preset dropping from 45.4 FPS to just 30.1 FPS. This 33.7% performance loss when moving to 4K Ultra clearly demonstrates that the RX 5700 XT, while capable at lower resolutions, struggles to maintain playable frame rates at the highest fidelity and pixel density. The data shows that 4K gaming with this card is only viable when settings are reduced to "Low," where it manages 64.3 FPS, or "Medium," at 52.1 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, is the central figure in these results. Its specifications, including a base clock of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz, provide a solid foundation for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, is sufficient for most titles at these resolutions, but the data shows it is a limiting factor at 4K with high detail settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 68th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 24731. It sits very close to rivals like the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, which has a deltaPct of -0.1, and the Intel Arc A350M, with a deltaPct of 0.3. This proximity in average scores reinforces that the RX 5700 XT is a mid-range performer in the current landscape. The measured FPS in Greedfall reflects this positioning. At 1080p "Ultra," it produces 69.5 FPS, which is playable, but the 4K "Ultra" result of 30.1 FPS is below the threshold for a smooth experience, showing that the card's 9.754 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is overwhelmed by the game's demands at that resolution and preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K serves as a high-end counterpart to the GPU, and the data indicates its performance is largely untaxed in Greedfall. With 16 cores and 24 threads, stemming from its Raptor Lake architecture, the CPU has a massive amount of parallel processing power. Its benchmark results, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and a Geekbench multicore score of 17731, place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47282. This is only 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-13700KF and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i9-12900F.

Given this immense processing capability, the CPU is not the bottleneck in any of the measured scenarios. The frame rates are consistently dictated by the GPU. The CPU's single-thread performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5505, which ensures that even if Greedfall's engine relies on a few primary threads, the i7-13700K will not hold back the system. The fact that the FPS scales downward with resolution, while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant, confirms that the Radeon RX 5700 XT is the limiting component. The CPU's high clocks and core count provide a stable platform, but they do not influence the performance differences seen between the various resolution and settings combinations.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo to achieve a solid 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that at 1920x1080 with "High" settings, the system averages 110 FPS, and at 2560x1440 with "High" settings, it averages 73.9 FPS. Both are comfortably above 60 FPS. However, at 3840x2160 with "High" settings, the average drops to 45.9 FPS, which is below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Radeon RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The Radeon RX 5700 XT has an average benchmark score of 24731. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile has an average score of 24763, which represents a deltaPct of -0.1. This indicates the two GPUs perform nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-13700K a bottleneck for the Radeon RX 5700 XT in Greedfall?

A: No. The benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the limiting factor. The i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 47282, placing it in the 93rd percentile. The frame rates are seen to scale directly with resolution changes, which is a classic sign of GPU limitation, not CPU limitation.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the "Medium" and "Ultra" presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the "Medium" preset yields an average of 84.8 FPS. The "Ultra" preset drops this to an average of 45.4 FPS. This represents a significant 39.4 FPS difference, showing that the "Ultra" preset is much more demanding.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at lower settings. The data shows that at 3840x2160 with "Low" settings, the average FPS is 64.3. With "Medium" settings, it drops to 52.1 FPS. The "High" preset at 45.9 FPS and "Ultra" at 30.1 FPS are less ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its single-threaded performance?

A: The CPU shows a strong scaling from single to multi-threaded workloads. For example, in Cinebench R23, the single-core score is 5505, while the multicore score is 39000. This indicates that the 16-core, 24-thread configuration provides a substantial performance uplift in multi-threaded tasks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at the system's performance across three resolutions and four settings levels.

At 1920x1080, the system is most comfortable. The "Low" preset achieves an average of 151.3 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. The "Medium" preset follows closely at 120.2 FPS, and the "High" preset at 110 FPS. The "Ultra" preset at 1080p brings the average down to 69.5 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold but shows a considerable performance cost for the highest fidelity.

Moving to 2560x1440, the strain on the GPU becomes more apparent. The "Low" preset still yields a high average of 101.8 FPS. The "Medium" preset drops to 84.8 FPS, and the "High" preset to 73.9 FPS. The "Ultra" preset at 1440p takes a significant hit, landing at 45.4 FPS, which is the first sub-60 FPS result in the lower resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. The "Low" preset is the only one that remains above 60 FPS, with an average of 64.3 FPS. The "Medium" preset averages 52.1 FPS, the "High" preset averages 45.9 FPS, and the "Ultra" preset bottoms out at 30.1 FPS. This data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern where each step up in resolution and settings has a measurable impact on performance, with the gap between presets widening as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience is a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. For users with a 1080p display, the "High" preset is an excellent choice, as it delivers an average of 110 FPS, which is well above the standard for smooth gameplay and leaves headroom for any demanding scenes. The "Ultra" preset is also viable at 1080p, with 69.5 FPS, but the drop of over 40 FPS from "High" may not justify the marginal visual improvements for all users.

For 1440p displays, the "High" preset with an average of 73.9 FPS is the recommended setting. It offers a great balance, providing a high frame rate while still maintaining a high level of detail. The "Medium" preset at 84.8 FPS is also a strong option if a higher frame rate is preferred, but "High" is the sweet spot for this resolution. The "Ultra" preset at 1440p is not recommended, as the 45.4 FPS average falls into a range where the game may feel less responsive.

At 4K resolution, the recommendations are much more conservative. The "Low" preset, with an average of 64.3 FPS, is the only setting that provides a consistently smooth experience. The "Medium" preset at 52.1 FPS is playable but may exhibit occasional dips. The "High" and "Ultra" presets at 4K are not recommended for a comfortable gaming experience, as their averages of 45.9 FPS and 30.1 FPS, respectively, are likely to be too stuttery for most players. In this case, sacrificing visual quality for performance is necessary.