Greedfall

Greedfall is a 2019 Action RPG that responds well to modern hardware, yet the pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 9060 shows a clear imbalance. The data indicates that this combo is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance ensures high frame rates when the load is lighter. The measured results reveal a system that can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming with ease, but struggles to maintain smooth performance at 4K with maximum settings.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, clearly indicating that the AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the limiting component as resolution increases. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 119 at 1920x1080 to 83 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 30%. Pushing further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 49 FPS, which is 59% lower than the 1080p result. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets, confirming that the GPU’s rendering throughput, not the CPU, dictates performance at higher pixel counts.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly punishing. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 91 at 2560x1440 down to 54 at 3840x2160, a 41% loss. Even at Low settings, where the GPU has less work to do, the drop from 116 FPS at 1440p to 69 FPS at 4K represents a 40% decline. This behavior suggests that the RX 9060’s memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s and 8 GB of GDDR6 memory become significant bottlenecks at 4K, as the fill rate and pixel processing demands exceed what the 64 ROPs and 1792 shading units can deliver efficiently.

Interestingly, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K. At High settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p costs 36 FPS, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs 34 FPS. This non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU approaches its limits around 1440p, and the additional pixel count at 4K overwhelms it. For users targeting 4K, the data shows that even Low settings only yield 69 FPS, which is playable but far from the headroom seen at lower resolutions. The Core i7-14700K, with its 5.60 GHz boost clock and 20 cores, is not the constraint here; the frame rate ceiling is set by the RX 9060’s compute capabilities.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear picture of which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 119 FPS average, which is smooth for most displays and leaves room for dips without dropping below 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p yields 131 FPS, but the 12 FPS gain over High is marginal relative to the visual fidelity loss. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 76 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 36% reduction compared to High, making it a poor trade-off for the graphical uplift.

At 2560x1440, the High preset stands out as the sweet spot. The 83 FPS average is respectable for a 1440p panel, and the Medium preset’s 91 FPS is only 10% higher, which is unlikely to be perceptible in fast-paced combat. The Low preset at 1440p produces 116 FPS, but the visual downgrade is severe enough that it undermines the purpose of playing at a higher resolution. The Ultra preset at 1440p, at 53 FPS, falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it unsuitable for consistent smoothness.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. The High preset averages 49 FPS, which is borderline for a 4K experience, while Medium drops to 54 FPS. The Low preset at 4K achieves 69 FPS, which is the only preset that stays comfortably above 60 FPS, but it requires significant visual compromises. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unplayable at 31 FPS. Based on the data, the best experience per the measured rows is the High preset at 1080p or 1440p, where the frame rates are high enough to leverage the CPU’s capabilities without exposing the GPU’s weaknesses. For 4K users, Low is the only viable option, but the 31 FPS at Ultra confirms that this combo is not designed for maxed-out 4K gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 33440.5 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 20767. However, in Greedfall, the CPU’s role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, which relies more on single-threaded speed than raw core count. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4472 indicate that this processor has excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in a 2019 Action RPG.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 167, which is a strong indication that the CPU can push well beyond the GPU’s limits. The fact that the frame rate drops to 76 FPS at 1080p Ultra, while the CPU’s single-threaded capabilities remain constant, confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. The Core i7-14700K’s 33 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provide ample bandwidth for game data, but Greedfall’s engine does not appear to stress the processor heavily, given the high frame rates at lower settings.

The CPU’s percentile rank of 94 versus all CPUs places it in the top tier, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which has an average score 0.2% higher, and the AMD EPYC 9115, which is 0.1% lower. These deltas are negligible in gaming scenarios. The 14700K’s 20 cores and 28 threads are more than sufficient for Greedfall, which likely uses only a fraction of them. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz is the key asset, as higher single-threaded frequencies directly translate to better frame pacing and reduced input lag, which is evident in the 167 FPS average at 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1672 out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all systems tested. This ranking is modest, reflecting the GPU’s mid-range position rather than the CPU’s high-end status. The CPU is in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, but the GPU is only in the 59th percentile among all GPUs, which drags the overall combo performance down. This disparity is a clear indication that the system is unbalanced for this game, with the CPU being overqualified relative to the GPU.

The combo’s rank suggests that many other pairings, particularly those with higher-end GPUs, achieve better frame rates in Greedfall. The RX 9060’s average benchmark score of 16014 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129 and is 0.7% higher, and the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which scores 15852 and is 1% lower. These rivals are all in the same performance tier, so the combo’s rank is consistent with the GPU’s capabilities. However, the 14700K’s strong CPU performance does not boost the combo significantly, as the game is clearly GPU-bound at the resolutions tested.

For context, the 1672nd rank out of 2938 means that roughly 57% of tested combos perform better in this game. This is not a poor result, but it indicates that users seeking higher frame rates should consider a more powerful GPU. The data shows that the combo excels at 1080p, where the CPU’s headroom allows the GPU to run at full utilization, but at 4K, the GPU’s limitations become apparent, and the combo falls behind. The ranking is a useful metric for potential buyers, as it quantifies the expected performance relative to other systems, but it should be interpreted with the knowledge that the CPU is not the limiting factor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines, with a boost clock of 2990 MHz and a game clock of 2400 MHz. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the benchmark results reflect this, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and a Passmark G3D score of 17631.

In Greedfall, the GPU’s role is paramount, as the game’s visual effects and draw calls are primarily handled by the rasterizer. The data shows that the GPU’s performance scales poorly with resolution, which is typical for a card with limited memory bandwidth and ROPs. At 1080p High, the 119 FPS average is solid, but the drop to 49 FPS at 4K High indicates that the GPU is overwhelmed by the pixel workload. The 64 ROPs are insufficient for 4K rendering, and the 128-bit memory bus constrains the data throughput needed for high-resolution textures.

The GPU’s percentile rank of 59 versus all GPUs is middling, and its nearest rivals include the RTX 3060 Ti, which is 0.7% faster, and the Radeon RX 7700, which is 1% slower. The RX 9060’s 8 GB of VRAM is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, it may struggle with high-resolution textures, contributing to the frame rate drops. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (31 FPS) and 4K High (49 FPS) suggests that the GPU’s compute power, rated at 21.43 TFLOPS FP32, is not enough to maintain playable frame rates at maximum settings. The GPU’s TDP of 132 W and a suggested PSU of 300 W indicate it is a power-efficient card, but efficiency does not compensate for raw performance in this demanding scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RX 9060 delivers strong performance. The Low preset averages 167 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors and shows the CPU’s ability to feed frames. The Medium preset averages 131 FPS, with a minimum of 112 FPS and a maximum of 151 FPS, providing a stable experience. The High preset averages 119 FPS, which is still very smooth, and the Ultra preset drops to 76 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play. The 1080p results show a clear progression: each step up in settings costs roughly 15-20% performance, with the biggest drop from High to Ultra (36%).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but show the GPU’s strain. The Low preset averages 116 FPS, which is close to the 1080p Low result, suggesting the CPU is still capable. The Medium preset averages 91 FPS, with a minimum of 77 FPS and a maximum of 105 FPS, which is a comfortable range for most games. The High preset averages 83 FPS, which is acceptable for 1440p gaming, but the Ultra preset falls to 53 FPS, dipping below the 60 FPS threshold. The 1440p data shows that the GPU’s performance scales almost linearly with settings, and the gap between Low and Ultra is 54%, indicating that the card is hitting its limits.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. The Low preset averages 69 FPS, which is the only playable option for 4K. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS, with a minimum of 46 FPS and a maximum of 62 FPS, which is inconsistent and likely to cause noticeable stutters. The High preset averages 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages just 31 FPS, making it unplayable. The 4K results are dominated by the GPU’s fill rate and bandwidth limitations, with the CPU’s performance having no measurable impact. The measured data confirms that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K only feasible at Low or Medium settings.