Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress profile for the Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. The measured frame rates reveal a configuration that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet progressively more dependent on CPU overhead as resolution drops. The data shows a system capable of extreme performance, but the scaling behavior indicates that the processor’s headroom is only fully exposed at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The performance delta between 1080p and 4K is stark and defines the bottleneck characteristics of this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 352.1 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Low preset drops that figure to 241.3 FPS, a reduction of roughly 31%. The jump to 3840x2160 at Low yields 148.2 FPS, which is 58% lower than the 1080p result. This progressive decline demonstrates that even a processor as capable as the Core i7-13700K, with its 16 cores and 24 threads, is not the limiting factor at higher pixel counts; the GPU is shouldering the load.

The scaling pattern shifts notably when looking at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 158.5 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 112.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 69.1 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K on Ultra is about 56%, similar to the Low preset’s scaling. This consistency across settings suggests that Greedfall’s rendering load scales predictably with resolution, and the RTX 4090’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is not causing a capacity-based cliff.

The most telling observation is the spread between Low and Ultra at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap is 193.6 FPS (352.1 vs 158.5), indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU enough data to exploit lower graphical loads. At 4K, that gap narrows to 79.1 FPS (148.2 vs 69.1). This compression of frame rates at higher resolutions is the classic signature of a GPU-limited scenario; the RTX 4090 is working harder per frame, and the CPU’s superior single-thread and multi-thread capabilities—evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 39000 and a single-core score of 5505—are not the binding constraint. The data suggests that at 4K, the RTX 4090 is the primary arbiter of performance, while at 1080p, the CPU’s ability to process draw calls and physics becomes more critical.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications align with the measured results. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, built on the AD102 chip with 16,384 shading units. The memory subsystem is substantial: 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This memory bandwidth is crucial for Greedfall’s texture-heavy environments, particularly at 4K where the demand for data throughput rises.

The benchmark results show that the GPU’s raw compute capabilities translate directly into high frame rates. The RTX 4090 posts a Passmark G3D score of 38194 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 317684, placing it in the 91st percentile among all GPUs. In the context of this game, the GPU’s FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS ensures that pixel shading and post-processing effects are handled with ease. The measured FPS at 4K High (104.2 FPS) is a clear indicator that the card is not struggling with the game’s visual fidelity.

The VRAM capacity of 24 GB is not a limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios. Greedfall, released in 2019, does not require the massive memory pool that newer titles might, and the data shows no anomalous frame drops that would suggest memory swapping. The GPU’s role is purely computational here; it is rendering frames as fast as the CPU can supply them, and at 4K, it is the sole determinant of the average FPS figures. The RTX 4090’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, has a deltaPct of -0.4% in average benchmark score, but that comparison is irrelevant in gaming contexts; the data confirms that this consumer card is operating at the top of its class for this title.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the Ultra preset offers the most demanding experience, but it also shows the largest performance cost. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 69.1, which is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. The High preset at 4K yields 104.2 FPS, a significant improvement of 50.8% over Ultra, while presumably maintaining most of the visual quality. For 1440p users, the High preset delivers 176.6 FPS, which is an excellent target for a 144Hz monitor. The data strongly suggests that High is the optimal balance between visual fidelity and raw performance for this hardware.

The Medium preset provides a marginal uplift over High. At 1080p, Medium averages 278.9 FPS compared to High’s 253.9 FPS, a difference of 25 FPS. At 1440p, the gap is 16 FPS (192.5 vs 176.6). At 4K, the gap narrows to 8.9 FPS (113.1 vs 104.2). This diminishing return indicates that the visual improvements from Medium to High are likely more impactful than the minor FPS gain from dropping down a tier. Low settings are only advisable for competitive play or extreme frame rate chasing, where the 352.1 FPS at 1080p might be useful. For the vast majority of users, High is the recommended preset, as it offers a substantial frame rate advantage over Ultra without the steep performance penalty.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset provides a clear matrix of performance. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low yields 352.1 FPS, Medium yields 278.9 FPS, High yields 253.9 FPS, and Ultra yields 158.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is a 54.9% reduction in frame rate, showing that Greedfall’s Ultra preset includes heavy effects that tax the GPU even at a modest resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 241.3 FPS for Low, 192.5 FPS for Medium, 176.6 FPS for High, and 112.3 FPS for Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, averaging around a 30% decrease. This is a typical result for a game that is GPU-bound, as the pixel count increases by roughly 78% from 1080p to 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the figures are 148.2 FPS for Low, 113.1 FPS for Medium, 104.2 FPS for High, and 69.1 FPS for Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-70 FPS figure in the entire dataset, confirming that this is the most demanding configuration. The 4K Low result of 148.2 FPS is still remarkably high, indicating that the RTX 4090 has ample headroom even at 4K when graphical effects are reduced. The data shows a consistent hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra, with no anomalies or unexpected inversions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand database of tested combinations, this pairing sits at rank 33 out of 1705 combos for Greedfall. This places it in the top 2% of all tested systems, which is expected given the caliber of the components. The Core i7-13700K itself holds a percentile rank of 93 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 47282. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13700KF, scores marginally higher at 47334, a delta of -0.1%, which is within statistical noise. The AMD EPYC 4364P trails by 0.3%, and the Intel Core i9-12900F by 0.4%, showing that the i7-13700K is at the apex of CPU performance for this workload.

The RTX 4090 also ranks highly, in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its rivals—the NVIDIA Tesla T4, Tesla P40, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, and NVIDIA Quadro P6000—are all professional or older workstation cards, and their deltaPct values range from -0.4% to -1.3%. In gaming, the RTX 4090 is unmatched in this dataset. The combination of a top-tier CPU and GPU results in a rank that reflects the synergy of these components. The data shows that this combo is not just powerful on paper; it delivers top-tier frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, making it one of the most potent configurations in the database for Greedfall.