Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core i7-14700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER

The benchmark data for Greedfall with the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions, yet demonstrates surprising headroom at 1080p. The measured frames per second (FPS) across twelve distinct resolution and settings combinations show a clear pattern: this pairing delivers playable performance through most of the range, but the Ultra preset pushes the GPU to its limits, particularly at 4K where average FPS dips to 31. The data suggests a hardware combination where the CPU's substantial processing power (20 cores, 28 threads, boosting to 5.60 GHz) is largely underutilized in this Action RPG, with the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and Turing architecture becoming the primary performance arbiter as resolution scales.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about which component is the limiting factor. At High settings, the system produces 119 FPS at 1920x1080, which falls to 83 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 49 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 58.8% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, a steep decline that strongly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The RTX 2070 SUPER, with its 256-bit memory bus and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, simply cannot maintain the same throughput when pixel count quadruples from Full HD to Ultra HD.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling pattern is even more revealing. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 167 FPS, dropping to 116 FPS at 1440p and 69 FPS at 4K. The 58.7% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is nearly identical to the High preset drop, which suggests that even when graphical load is minimized, the GPU's raw throughput limits pixel processing. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions at Low settings, but the data does not support that hypothesis.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend with 131 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS values at Medium settings—112 at 1080p, 77 at 1440p, and 46 at 4K—demonstrate that frame pacing remains consistent even as resolution increases, with the gap between average and minimum FPS staying proportionally similar. This consistency in frame time variance across resolutions reinforces the GPU-bound conclusion, as a CPU bottleneck would typically manifest as erratic minimum FPS at lower resolutions where the GPU has spare capacity.

Ultra settings present the most extreme scaling. From 76 FPS at 1080p, the average drops to 53 FPS at 1440p and 31 FPS at 4K—a 59.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 31 FPS is barely playable, and the data indicates that this setting pushes the RTX 2070 SUPER well beyond its comfortable operating range. The uniformity of the percentage drop across all four presets (ranging from 58.7% to 59.2%) is striking; it suggests that Greedfall's rendering pipeline scales resolution demands in a consistent manner, with the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth being the decisive factors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, built on the TU104 chip with Turing architecture, is the clear performance gatekeeper in this combination. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus. In Greedfall, a game that renders dense environments with complex lighting, this memory configuration appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gameplay but becomes strained at 4K, where the 49 FPS High result indicates the GPU is working near its limits.

The GPU's clock behavior—1605 MHz base and 1770 MHz boost—combined with its 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs, directly influences the measured results. At 1080p High, the 119 FPS average suggests the GPU can feed frames rapidly, but the 76 FPS Ultra result at the same resolution reveals that raw shader throughput (9.062 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient for the most demanding preset. The texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s are adequate for 1080p but fall short of maintaining 60 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's benchmark percentile (65th percentile vs all GPUs) and its average benchmark score of 20282 place it near rivals like the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480, -1% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, -1.2% delta). These comparisons show that the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range performer by current standards, which aligns with the measured FPS data. The 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but do not appear to provide significant advantages in this title, as the Ultra preset's 31 FPS at 4K indicates that traditional rasterization performance is the binding constraint.

Memory bandwidth utilization becomes critical at higher resolutions. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is shared across all rendering tasks, and at 4K, the increased texture sampling and framebuffer traffic likely saturate this resource. The 8 GB VRAM capacity does not appear to be a hard limit at any tested setting, but the bandwidth—not capacity—is the more likely performance limiter, given the consistent FPS drops across presets at each resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 2150th out of 3703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 58th percentile of all tested systems. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the CPU's strength—the i7-14700K sits in the 94th percentile vs all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 69355—but it underscores the GPU's mediocrity in comparison. The RTX 2070 SUPER's 65th percentile GPU ranking is dragged down by its age (released 2019-07-08) and end-of-life production status, even though it remains a capable 1080p and 1440p performer.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288, 0.1% delta), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, -0.2% delta), and AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, -0.7% delta). These scores show that the i7-14700K is essentially at parity with the strongest consumer and server CPUs available, yet in Greedfall, the combo ranking is dragged down by the GPU. Conversely, the GPU's nearest rivals—Intel Arc B570 (20556, -1.3% delta) and Intel Arc A750 (20582, -1.5% delta)—are modern mid-range cards that produce slightly higher synthetic scores, suggesting that newer GPU architectures may handle Greedfall's rendering demands more efficiently.

The 2150th rank out of 3703 combos means that roughly 42% of tested systems perform worse than this pairing. For a game released in 2019, this rank is respectable but not exceptional. The data implies that users with this combo who are unsatisfied with 4K performance would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade, as the i7-14700K provides ample headroom—its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 33440.5 and PassMark multithread score of 52392 indicate processing capability far beyond what Greedfall requires.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 1440p in Greedfall?

A: Yes, at High and Medium presets. The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 is 83 for High and 91 for Medium, both comfortably above 60. However, the Ultra preset drops to 53 FPS, so achieving 60 FPS at 1440p requires staying below Ultra settings.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the smoothest experience across all presets, with average FPS ranging from 76 (Ultra) to 167 (Low). At 1080p High, the 119 FPS average is well above refresh rates of typical monitors, making this resolution the sweet spot for consistent performance.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with the RTX 2070 SUPER and i7-14700K?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 69. At Medium settings, the average drops to 54 FPS, and at High, it falls to 49 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K produces just 31 FPS, which is generally considered unplayable for an Action RPG requiring responsive controls.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i7-14700K's average benchmark score of 69355 is within 0.9% of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996), which is its closest rival with a -0.9% delta. It also sits between the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288, 0.1% delta) and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, -0.2% delta), showing near-identical performance to these alternatives.

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB VRAM cause any issues in Greedfall?

A: The measured data does not indicate VRAM capacity problems at any resolution or settings combination tested. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is more likely the limiting factor, especially at 4K where average FPS drops significantly across all presets.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with all settings maxed?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the system produces an average of 76 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold but not as high as the 119 FPS achieved at High settings, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects have a meaningful performance cost.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the High preset at 1920x1080 offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, delivering 119 FPS average. This is more than double the 60 FPS target and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. For users prioritizing frame rate above all else, the Low preset at 1080p yields 167 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays, though it sacrifices visual quality.

At 2560x1440, the High preset's 83 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains smooth gameplay while offering better image clarity than 1080p. The Medium preset at 91 FPS is also viable, but the visual uplift from Medium to High appears worth the 8 FPS cost. The Ultra preset at 1440p (53 FPS) should be avoided unless the user accepts sub-60 FPS gameplay.

For 3840x2160, the data suggests that only Low settings (69 FPS) provide a consistently playable experience. Medium at 54 FPS is borderline, and High at 49 FPS will likely produce noticeable stutter in combat scenarios. The Ultra preset at 31 FPS is not recommended for this GPU. Users who want 4K High or Ultra would need a more powerful graphics card, as the RTX 2070 SUPER's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 9.062 TFLOPS FP32 throughput are insufficient for these demands.

Interestingly, the FPS scaling between presets is not linear; the jump from Medium to Ultra at each resolution incurs a disproportionate performance cost. At 1080p, going from Medium (131 FPS) to Ultra (76 FPS) costs 55 FPS, while High (119 FPS) sits much closer to Medium than to Ultra. This suggests that the Ultra preset enables expensive effects that heavily tax the GPU, making High the most efficient setting in terms of performance per frame.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. With a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, it delivers exceptional single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2160 and PassMark single-thread score of 4472. In Greedfall, a game that likely relies on a few primary threads for game logic and rendering commands, this single-thread strength is more relevant than the multicore capability.

The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample low-latency data access, which helps maintain consistent frame times. However, the measured FPS data shows that the CPU is never the bottleneck in this pairing. Even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work, the system produces 167 FPS, but this is not the CPU's maximum—it is the GPU's limit for that preset. The CPU's PassMark physics score of 2964 and data compression score of 695234 indicate it has far more processing headroom than Greedfall requires.

The CPU's 94th percentile ranking vs all CPUs and its nearest rivals (AMD EPYC 9115, Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7940HX, and Ryzen 7 9700F) all within 0.9% of its average score, confirm that this is a top-tier processor. In Greedfall, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates, and the data shows it performs this task without introducing frame rate limitations. The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility are irrelevant to game performance but indicate the platform's power characteristics.

The fact that FPS scales so consistently with resolution and settings—rather than plateauing due to CPU limits—is the strongest evidence that the i7-14700K is not a performance constraint. If the CPU were limiting, we would see similar FPS across different resolutions at the same settings, but the data shows FPS dropping by roughly 59% from 1080p to 4K at every preset. This pattern is the signature of a GPU-bound system, and it confirms that the i7-14700K provides a stable foundation for the RTX 2070 SUPER without imposing any measurable performance penalty.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance across all presets. The Low preset produces an average of 167 FPS, which is the maximum measured in this dataset. Medium settings yield 131 FPS average with a minimum of 112 and maximum of 151, showing tight frame pacing. High settings average 119 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 76 FPS. The 1080p results span a wide range—from 76 to 167 FPS—demonstrating that this resolution is well within the GPU's capabilities for all but the most demanding settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance ceiling lowers significantly. Low settings average 116 FPS, Medium averages 91 FPS with a minimum of 77 and maximum of 105, and High averages 83 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 53 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The delta between 1080p and 1440p at each preset ranges from 30.5% (Low: 167 to 116) to 30.3% (High: 119 to 83), showing consistent scaling.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overburdened. Low settings average 69 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS with a minimum of 46 and maximum of 63, and High averages 49 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 31 FPS, which is the lowest measured value in the entire dataset. The 4K results are consistently below 60 FPS for Medium and above, making this resolution suitable only for Low settings if a 60 FPS target is desired.

The Medium preset at each resolution provides the only complete data with minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p, the range is 112 to 151 FPS; at 1440p, it is 77 to 105 FPS; and at 4K, it is 46 to 63 FPS. The spread between minimum and maximum FPS is 39 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K. This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently saturated, with less variance in frame delivery as it approaches its throughput limits. The minimum FPS values—112, 77, and 46—all sit roughly 15-20% below their respective averages, indicating that even in the most demanding scenes, the frame rate does not collapse dramatically.