Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

This combination pairs one of Intel's most capable desktop processors with an entry-level Turing-based GPU that has reached end-of-life status. The data reveals a profound imbalance: the Core i7-14700K sits in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, while the GTX 1650 languishes in the 43rd percentile among GPUs. In Greedfall, an Action RPG from 2019, this pairing produces playable frame rates only at lower resolutions and settings, with the GPU consistently acting as the performance ceiling. The benchmark results show a system where CPU headroom is vast and largely unused, while the graphics card struggles to maintain smooth motion even at 1080p with medium presets.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor built on Raptor Lake-R architecture using Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz boosts up to 5.60 GHz, and it carries 33 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 2 MB L2 per core. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44534 and single-core score of 6287 establish it as a top-tier performer, with a PassMark multithread score of 52392 and single-thread score of 4472 reinforcing that positioning. Its average benchmark score of 70074 places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs tested, with nearest rivals including the Core i7-14700KF at 70104 (0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X at 70420 (-0.5% delta).

In Greedfall, however, the CPU's capabilities are essentially untapped. The measured frame rates across all resolutions and settings show a pattern typical of GPU-bound scenarios: performance scales primarily with resolution and graphics settings rather than with CPU workload. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 72.1 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. This suggests the CPU can easily feed the GPU at that level, but as settings rise to Medium (58.4 FPS) and High (51.1 FPS), the frame rate drops in a manner consistent with increased GPU load rather than CPU limitations. The Core i7-14700K's 20 cores and 28 threads are far more than Greedfall requires, but the data indicates no CPU bottleneck at any measured configuration — the limiting factor lies elsewhere.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is a Turing-architecture chip (TU117) built on TSMC's 12 nm process, featuring 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Its base clock runs at 1485 MHz with a boost of 1665 MHz, and memory operates at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 128.1 GB/s of bandwidth and 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 7880 and average benchmark score of 8713 place it in the 43rd percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the RTX 3050 A Mobile at 8746 (-0.4% delta) and the Quadro P2200 at 8671 (0.5% delta). Its FP32 performance is rated at 2.984 TFLOPS.

The GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM and modest compute resources directly explain the measured FPS degradation as settings increase. At 1080p, the frame rate drops from 72.1 FPS on Low to 58.4 on Medium, 51.1 on High, and 33.9 on Ultra — a 53% reduction from Low to Ultra. This scaling pattern points to the GPU's limited shading throughput and memory bandwidth being saturated by higher-quality textures and effects. The 128.1 GB/s bandwidth is a particular constraint in Greedfall, which features dense environments and detailed character models. The GPU's 43rd percentile ranking versus the CPU's 96th percentile underscores the mismatch: this is a processor waiting for a graphics card that cannot keep pace.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data tells a clear story of GPU dominance. At High settings, average FPS falls from 51.1 at 1080p to 36.5 at 1440p (a 28.6% drop) and then to 18.8 at 4K (a 63.2% drop from 1080p). At Low settings, the progression is 72.1 → 49.8 → 31.4 FPS, representing a 30.9% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 56.4% drop from 1080p to 4K. Medium settings show 58.4 → 42.6 → 23.2 FPS, with a 27.1% drop to 1440p and a 60.3% drop to 4K. Ultra settings yield 33.9 → 21.4 → 16.4 FPS, the most severe relative decline at 36.9% to 1440p and 51.6% to 4K.

These scaling patterns are textbook GPU-bound behavior. If the CPU were the limiting factor, resolution changes would have minimal impact on FPS since the CPU workload remains constant. Instead, every resolution increase produces substantial frame rate penalties, with 4K proving particularly punishing — no setting at 3840x2160 exceeds 31.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 16.4 FPS. The data indicates that the GTX 1650's pixel fill rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s are simply inadequate for 4K rendering in Greedfall. Even at 1440p, only Low settings (49.8 FPS) approach smoothness, while higher presets fall below 43 FPS. The 1080p resolution is the only viable option for this GPU, and even there, Ultra settings drop to 33.9 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 ranks 1649 out of 1705 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the bottom 3.3% of all configurations. This rank is remarkably low given the CPU's 96th percentile standing, which strongly implies that the GPU is dragging the entire system down. The data suggests that pairing a top-tier processor with an entry-level GPU produces results that are nearly indistinguishable from pairing that same GPU with a much weaker CPU — the graphics card is the sole arbiter of performance in this game.

The ranking disparity between the CPU's individual standing and the combo's placement highlights the importance of balanced builds. While the Core i7-14700K's nearest rivals (Core i7-14700KF at 0% delta, AMD EPYC 9115 at 0.3% delta) compete at the very top of CPU performance, the GTX 1650's nearest rivals (RTX 3050 A Mobile at -0.4% delta, Radeon 550X at -0.4% delta) represent mid-to-low tier graphics. The combo rank of 1649 out of 1705 suggests that most other tested combinations — even those with significantly weaker CPUs — outperform this pairing because they pair more sensible GPUs with their processors. For Greedfall specifically, the data shows this combo is far better suited to 1080p gaming than to higher resolutions, but the overall ranking reflects a fundamentally mismatched pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 72.1, Medium 58.4, High 51.1, and Ultra 33.9. This is the only resolution where any setting achieves above 60 FPS, and only Low does so. Medium and High are playable but not smooth, while Ultra dips below 34 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the results drop significantly: Low 49.8, Medium 42.6, High 36.5, and Ultra 21.4. None of these reach 60 FPS, and only Low and Medium stay above 40 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1440p is barely playable and likely to feel stuttery in combat-heavy scenes.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to: Low 31.4, Medium 23.2, High 18.8, and Ultra 16.4. Every setting at 4K is below 32 FPS, rendering this resolution impractical for any serious gameplay. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 15 FPS, which is a smaller absolute difference than at lower resolutions, indicating the GPU is uniformly overwhelmed regardless of settings.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each doubling of pixel count (from 1080p to 1440p to 4K) produces roughly proportional FPS reductions, confirming that the GTX 1650's fill rate and bandwidth are the primary constraints. The 4 GB VRAM likely also causes texture thrashing at higher settings, though the exact impact cannot be measured from average FPS alone.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For 1080p, the Low preset at 72.1 FPS offers the smoothest experience and is the only configuration that clears the 60 FPS threshold. Medium at 58.4 FPS is a viable alternative for those prioritizing visual quality, as it remains close to 60 FPS and likely provides noticeably better textures and effects. High at 51.1 FPS is acceptable for players who prefer visual fidelity over frame rate, but Ultra at 33.9 FPS is difficult to recommend given the substantial performance penalty.

At 1440p, Low at 49.8 FPS is the only setting that approaches playable smoothness. Medium at 42.6 FPS and High at 36.5 FPS are borderline, while Ultra at 21.4 FPS is not recommended for action-oriented gameplay. At 4K, no setting is truly playable — even Low at 31.4 FPS falls below typical playability thresholds, and High at 18.8 FPS and Ultra at 16.4 FPS are effectively slideshows.

The data suggests the optimal experience is 1080p Medium, which balances the 58.4 FPS average with presumably better visual fidelity than Low. Players wanting maximum smoothness should choose 1080p Low at 72.1 FPS. For those willing to accept lower frame rates for visual quality, 1080p High at 51.1 FPS is the highest setting that remains above 50 FPS. Ultra settings at any resolution provide marginal visual gains for disproportionate FPS losses and should be avoided with this GPU.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Greedfall at 60 FPS?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with the Low preset, which achieves 72.1 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p comes close at 58.4 FPS, but no other resolution or setting combination reaches 60 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core i7-14700K bottlenecking the GTX 1650 in this game?

A: No. The CPU sits in the 96th percentile of all processors with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 44534, while the GPU ranks in the 43rd percentile. The measured FPS scaling with resolution indicates the GTX 1650 is the limiting component in every configuration.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Greedfall?

A: 1920x1080 is the only viable resolution. At 1440p, the highest FPS is 49.8 (Low settings), and at 4K, the maximum is 31.4 FPS (Low settings), both of which fall short of smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals based on benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1650's average benchmark score of 8713 is within 0.5% of the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671, 0.5% delta) and within 0.4% of both the RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746, -0.4% delta) and the AMD Radeon 550X (8749, -0.4% delta). These rivals perform nearly identically in synthetic tests.

Q: Why does the combo rank so low (1649 out of 1705) despite having a top-tier CPU?

A: The combo rank reflects total system performance in Greedfall, and the GTX 1650's 43rd percentile GPU ranking dominates the outcome. The CPU's 96th percentile standing cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations, resulting in a bottom-3.3% overall ranking.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide playable frame rates with this hardware?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 33.9 FPS, which is below typical playability standards. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 21.4 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 16.4 FPS. The data indicates that Ultra settings are not recommended for this combination at any resolution.