Greedfall

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 is a strikingly lopsided combination for Greedfall, ranking 1569th out of 1705 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 10% of configurations, a direct result of the RX 580's age relative to the 2019 title. While the CPU is a top-tier performer, the GPU acts as a hard ceiling, making this a pairing that only makes sense if the graphics card is a temporary placeholder. The data shows a system that can handle the game's logic and physics effortlessly but struggles to push pixels, particularly at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 1569 out of 1705 combos, this pairing sits in the lower echelon of tested systems for Greedfall. The bottleneck is unambiguous: the RX 580's benchmark percentile sits at 53, meaning it performs better than just over half of all GPUs, but its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 and GTX 570, with deltaPct values of 0.1 and 0 respectively. This indicates the GPU is firmly in the mid-range of 2016-2017 era hardware, which struggles with a demanding action RPG like Greedfall on modern settings.

Conversely, the i9-14900K is in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. The gap between the CPU's capability and the GPU's output is enormous. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Ultra, the system only manages 37.9 FPS, which is far below what the CPU alone could theoretically support. This combo's rank is dragged down entirely by the graphics card, making it a poor match for anyone expecting balanced performance. The data suggests the CPU is operating at a fraction of its potential in this configuration.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear path for playability. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 79.5 FPS, which is the only setting that achieves a truly fluid experience. Medium at 1080p drops to 62.8 FPS, which is still acceptable, but High at 60.4 FPS is borderline. For a consistent 60 FPS target, the Medium preset at 1080p is the highest quality option that meets that goal.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more demanding. The Low preset yields 59.1 FPS, just shy of 60, while Medium falls to 46.4 FPS. For a smooth experience at this resolution, Low is the only viable choice. The Ultra preset at 1440p is essentially unplayable at 26 FPS, and High at 41.6 FPS is a compromise that many would find too choppy for an action RPG. The recommendation is clear: prioritize 1080p Medium for a balance of visual quality and performance, or drop to 1080p Low for maximum fluidity. For 4K, the data shows the combo is not suitable for gaming, as even Low only achieves 30.4 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Greedfall at 4K?

A: No. The measured data shows that even at the Low preset, the average FPS is 30.4 at 3840x2160. The Ultra preset drops to 15.6 FPS. This pairing is not viable for 4K gaming in this title.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: The data indicates 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo approaches smooth performance. At 1080p Low, it achieves 79.5 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 62.8 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor?

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The RX 580 has a benchmark percentile of 53 and an average benchmark score of 13559, while the i9-14900K sits in the 97th percentile with an average score of 79824. The FPS data at all resolutions is consistent with GPU-bound performance.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RX 580's average benchmark score is 13559, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 at 13564 (0% delta) and the GTX 950 at 13549 (0.1% delta). It is slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 455 by 1.1%.

Q: Will lowering settings from High to Low help at 1440p?

A: Yes, significantly. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 41.6 FPS, while the Low preset averages 59.1 FPS. That is a 17.5 FPS improvement, which can make the difference between a stuttery experience and a playable one.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent pattern of performance scaling across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo starts at 79.5 FPS on Low, drops to 62.8 FPS on Medium, and then to 60.4 FPS on High. The Ultra preset is a significant step down, averaging only 37.9 FPS. This shows that the RX 580 has enough headroom at 1080p to handle lower presets but struggles to maintain frame rates when graphical effects are maxed out.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are more pronounced. The Low preset averages 59.1 FPS, which is just below the 60 FPS threshold. Medium averages 46.4 FPS, High averages 41.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 26 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is notable, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces effects that the GPU cannot handle at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo is overwhelmed. The Low preset averages 30.4 FPS, Medium averages 26.1 FPS, High averages 23.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 15.6 FPS. None of these are playable for an action RPG. The data suggests that the RX 580's 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K textures and geometry in this game, resulting in a slideshow regardless of settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the primary determinant of this combo's performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but becomes a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The GPU's base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost of 1340 MHz, and it operates on the GCN 4.0 architecture built on a 14 nm process. With 2304 shading units and 144 TMUs, the card has a texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s and an FP32 throughput of 6.175 TFLOPS.

The benchmark data shows the RX 580's average score is 13559, placing it in the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, has a virtually identical score of 13564 with a 0% delta, confirming the RX 580's position as a mid-tier card from its era. In Greedfall, the GPU's limitations are exposed immediately. The 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate is insufficient for the game's dense environments and lighting effects at high settings. The measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (37.9 FPS) versus 1080p Low (79.5 FPS) indicates that the card's compute resources are quickly saturated by the game's higher-quality shaders and post-processing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a flagship processor that is vastly overqualified for this GPU pairing. With 24 cores and 32 threads, it has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process, includes 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark results are exceptional: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics, which it does with ease. The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution, as the FPS drops are directly correlated with the GPU's workload. The i9-14900K's nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, has a deltaPct of -0.3, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF and Core Ultra 7 265KF are both 0.7% ahead. However, these differences are irrelevant in this gaming scenario. The CPU's massive single-thread performance ensures that frame times are not impacted by processor limitations, but the GPU cannot keep up. The result is a system where the CPU is idle most of the time, waiting for the RX 580 to finish rendering each frame, a classic case of severe bottlenecking.