Greedfall

Greedfall is an Action RPG that stresses the graphics subsystem heavily, and the measured results for the Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the Intel Arc B390 show a combo that is firmly at the low end of the performance spectrum. With a combo rank of 2595 out of 2938 tested configurations, this pairing delivers playable frame rates only at 1080p with reduced settings, and it struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at higher resolutions or with maximum visual fidelity. The data indicates that the Intel Arc B390, which sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, is the primary limiting factor in this configuration, as the CPU provides ample processing headroom that the GPU simply cannot exploit in this title.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience for this hardware combination in Greedfall is achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings, where the measured average frame rate is 84 FPS. This is the only preset and resolution combination that delivers a frame rate comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a smooth and responsive experience for gameplay. The 1080p Medium preset also reaches a playable average of 66 FPS, but it comes with a measurable minimum frame rate of 56 FPS, which could result in occasional stutters during intense action sequences. For players who prioritize visual quality over raw frame rate, the 1080p High preset achieves an average of 60 FPS, which is exactly at the standard target, but this leaves no headroom for drops during complex scenes.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more challenging. The Low preset delivers an average of 58 FPS, which is slightly below the 60 FPS target, and the Medium preset drops to 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS. Neither of these settings provides a consistently smooth experience at this resolution. The High preset at 1440p averages 42 FPS, which is playable for slower-paced RPG exploration but not ideal for combat encounters. At 3840x2160, all settings produce average frame rates below 40 FPS, with the Low preset reaching only 35 FPS and the High preset dropping to 25 FPS. The Ultra preset at any resolution is not recommended, as it yields an average of 38 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p, and a barely interactive 16 FPS at 4K.

The data strongly suggests that for the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the 1080p High preset is the highest quality option that remains playable, though it does not provide a large safety margin. For those who demand smoothness above all else, the 1080p Low preset is the clear choice, offering a 40% improvement over High settings in average frame rate. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a middle ground, with a 10% improvement over High and a minimum frame rate that is still above 55 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant factor in this combo's performance in Greedfall, and its specifications explain why the frame rates are so constrained. The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, and it features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units. The memory configuration is listed as "System Shared," meaning the GPU relies on the system's main memory rather than dedicated VRAM, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." This shared memory architecture is a significant drawback for a game like Greedfall, which features large, detailed environments that require substantial memory bandwidth for texture streaming and geometry processing.

The GPU's benchmark results confirm its limited capabilities. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the Arc B390 scores 1482 points, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with a score of 1463 (1.3% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce 800M with 1460 (1.5% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM with 1446 (2.5% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 with 1443 (2.7% behind). These are all entry-level or legacy mobile/desktop GPUs, and the Arc B390 only barely outperforms them, indicating that it is not designed for demanding modern games at high resolutions.

The GPU's pixel rate is rated at 60.00 GPixel/s and its texture rate at 120.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 compute of 7.680 TFLOPS. While these figures are not directly cited in the game's measured results, they contextualize why the GPU struggles at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU must render four times as many pixels as at 1080p, and the data shows that increasing resolution from 1080p to 4K at Low settings cuts the average frame rate from 84 FPS to 35 FPS, a reduction of 58%. This steep drop is consistent with a GPU that is severely bandwidth-limited and lacks the raw fill rate to handle 4K output. The CPU, a 20-core, 28-thread Intel Core i7-14700F with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, is far more powerful than what this game requires, as evidenced by its 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration of the Intel Core i7-14700F and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2595 out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems tested for this game. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU, as the CPU is a high-end part that would be expected to pair with a much more capable graphics card. The combo's position in the database indicates that it will struggle to deliver a satisfactory experience in most modern games, and Greedfall is no exception.

The CPU's performance relative to its rivals further highlights the mismatch. The Intel Core i7-14700F has an average benchmark score of 53620, which is 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon 6505P (score 53701), 0.3% ahead of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (score 53469), 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (score 53288), and 0.8% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P (score 53206). This places the CPU in the upper echelon of processors, with a 91st percentile ranking. In contrast, the GPU's average benchmark score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile, and its closest rivals are all decades-old or ultra-low-end parts. The delta between the CPU's high standing and the GPU's low standing is stark, and in Greedfall, the GPU's limitations cap the entire system's performance.

In practical terms, the combo's rank means that most other tested systems, including those with mid-range GPUs, will outperform this pairing. The data shows that at 1080p High settings, this combo achieves 60 FPS, but many other systems would achieve significantly higher frame rates at the same settings. The rank of 2595 out of 2938 suggests that roughly 88% of tested combos deliver better performance in Greedfall, which makes this configuration suitable only for users who are not sensitive to frame rate drops or who are willing to play at the lowest settings and resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates for this combo in Greedfall are as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 84 FPS, with no minimum or maximum values recorded. The Medium preset averages 66 FPS, with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS. The High preset averages 60 FPS, with no min/max data. The Ultra preset averages 38 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth playability.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 58 FPS, a 31% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS, representing a 30% reduction from 1080p Medium. The High preset averages 42 FPS, a 30% drop from 1080p High. The Ultra preset averages 27 FPS, a 29% drop from 1080p Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 35 FPS, a 40% drop from 1440p Low and a 58% drop from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 27 FPS, with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS, representing a 41% reduction from 1440p Medium. The High preset averages 25 FPS, a 40% drop from 1440p High. The Ultra preset averages 16 FPS, a 41% drop from 1440p Ultra and a 58% drop from 1080p Ultra.

These numbers reveal a consistent pattern: the frame rate scales nearly linearly with resolution for each settings preset, with each step up in resolution (1080p to 1440p to 4K) producing a roughly 30-40% reduction in average FPS. The only exception is the Low preset, where the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 31%, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 40%, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more strained as the pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data in Greedfall clearly indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck in this system. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings reduces the average frame rate from 60 FPS to 42 FPS, a 30% decrease. Moving from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at High settings further reduces it to 25 FPS, another 40% decrease. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings is 58%, which is close to the theoretical 4x increase in pixel count (though not exactly proportional due to other factors).

The same pattern holds for Low settings, where the drop from 1080p to 4K is 58%, and for Medium settings, where the drop from 1080p to 4K is 59%. The Ultra preset shows a 58% drop as well. This consistency suggests that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints, and the CPU is not limiting performance at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show a less dramatic decline at higher resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not increase with resolution in the same way the GPU's does.

The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 84 FPS while the CPU is capable of far more (as indicated by its high benchmark scores) further supports the conclusion that the GPU is the limiting component. At 1080p, the GPU is still able to keep up with the CPU's frame generation, but as resolution increases, the GPU's inability to process pixels quickly enough becomes the dominant factor. The system's performance in Greedfall is therefore entirely dependent on the Intel Arc B390, and upgrading to a more powerful GPU would yield substantial improvements, while upgrading the CPU would provide no benefit in this title.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers the highest average frame rate at 84 FPS. The 1080p Medium preset achieves 66 FPS, and the 1080p High preset achieves 60 FPS. For the smoothest experience, 1080p Low is recommended, while 1080p High offers the best visual quality that still reaches the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems in Greedfall?

A: This combo ranks 2595 out of 2938 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems. This low ranking is primarily due to the Intel Arc B390 GPU, which is in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the Intel Core i7-14700F CPU is in the 91st percentile.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The Intel Arc B390 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482, which is only 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX. The CPU, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122, is far more powerful than needed. The frame rates drop by 58% from 1080p to 4K, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited system.

Q: Can this system run Greedfall at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average frame rate is 35 FPS on Low settings. The Medium preset averages 27 FPS, High averages 25 FPS, and Ultra averages 16 FPS. None of these are playable for a smooth experience, so 4K is not recommended for this combo.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 84 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 38 FPS. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra, indicating that the GPU's limited compute resources are heavily taxed by the highest visual settings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, which is 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% ahead of the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% ahead of the GeForce GT 710 (1443). These are all very low-end GPUs, confirming the Arc B390's position in the 9th percentile.