Greedfall

# Greedfall with Intel Core i9-14900K + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

The pairing of a 24-core Intel Core i9-14900K with an 8 GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 creates one of the more lopsided configurations in the Greedfall benchmark database. The CPU sits in the 95th percentile among all tested processors, while the GPU lands in the 47th percentile, and the measured frame rates across resolutions reflect this imbalance. This combo ranks 3062 out of 3703 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 17% of all pairings for this title, which suggests the graphics card is the dominant constraint in nearly every scenario.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is stark and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lives. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 125 FPS average; at 1440p Low, that falls to 86 FPS; at 4K Low, it drops to 52 FPS. That is a 58.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound workload, where the GTX 1070's compute and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors as pixel count rises.

Looking at High settings, the pattern repeats: 89 FPS at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 37 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 30.3%, and from 1440p to 4K is another 40.3%. These are large, roughly linear reductions that indicate the CPU has plenty of headroom — the i9-14900K's 24 cores and 32 threads are not being stressed by Greedfall's engine at these settings, so the frame rate falls almost entirely on the GPU's ability to fill pixels.

The most telling data point is the Ultra preset at 4K: 23 FPS average. That is barely playable and represents a 63.5% drop from the 4K Low result of 52 FPS. When a resolution is held constant and only settings change, the 4K results span from 23 to 52 FPS — a 29 FPS swing that is entirely attributable to the GPU's shading units, texture units, and memory subsystem. The GTX 1070's 1920 shading units and 256.3 GB/s memory bandwidth are simply overwhelmed by Ultra settings at 4K.

At 1080p, the scaling is less severe but still GPU-dominated. The range from Low (125 FPS) to Ultra (57 FPS) is a 54.4% reduction. The CPU is not the limiting factor here; if it were, we would see smaller differences between settings and larger differences between resolutions. Instead, the data shows a smooth, predictable degradation as both resolution and settings increase, which is the signature of a GPU bottleneck.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p is the only resolution where all presets remain above 50 FPS. At 1440p, Low and Medium stay above 60 FPS, but High drops to 62 FPS and Ultra to 39 FPS. At 4K, even Low only reaches 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 23 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1070's average benchmark score is 9780, which places it 0.2% behind the AMD FirePro W5000 (9803) and 0.5% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9832). It is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9724) and 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 (9716).

Q: Is the i9-14900K holding back the GTX 1070 in this game?

A: No. The i9-14900K scores 39399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2262.5 in single-core, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. The FPS scaling across resolutions and settings follows a GPU-bound pattern, meaning the CPU has ample headroom.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The only rows with min FPS values are at Medium settings: 34 FPS at 4K, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 1080p. All other rows do not report min FPS values.

Q: How does this combo rank overall in Greedfall?

A: It ranks 3062 out of 3703 tested combos, which places it in the bottom 17% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, Low is 125 FPS and Ultra is 57 FPS (a 68 FPS gap). At 1440p, Low is 86 FPS and Ultra is 39 FPS (a 47 FPS gap). At 4K, Low is 52 FPS and Ultra is 23 FPS (a 29 FPS gap).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is built on the Pascal architecture with a GP104 chip fabricated on a 16 nm process. It has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The core runs at 1506 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost, with memory at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The GPU has 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units, producing a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GTX 1070 scores 13498 in Passmark G3D and 6102 in Passmark GPU Compute. Its percentile rank among all GPUs is 47, meaning it sits near the median of the tested pool. The nearest rivals are all professional or workstation cards — the AMD FirePro W5000 (9803 average, 0.2% higher), NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (9832, 0.5% higher), NVIDIA Tesla M10 (9724, 0.6% lower), and NVIDIA Tesla C2070 (9716, 0.7% lower). This cluster of scores around 9700-9800 shows the GTX 1070 is competitive with those cards in raw compute, but none of them are designed for gaming.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Greedfall at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS suggests the memory bandwidth and fill rate are inadequate for the highest settings at that resolution. The 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is the same regardless of resolution, but the number of pixels to shade quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the 107.7 GPixel/s pixel rate cannot keep up. The 64 ROPs are a further constraint, as they handle the final pixel output before the frame buffer.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 3062 out of 3703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 17th percentile of all combinations. The rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU, as the CPU is a top-tier part. The i9-14900K's average benchmark score is 79097, and its nearest rivals are the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79371, 0.3% higher), Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus (79574, 0.6% higher), AMD EPYC 7413 (80041, 1.2% higher), and AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (77740, 1.7% lower). The CPU is in the 95th percentile, while the GPU is in the 47th percentile, so the combo rank is dragged down by the graphics card.

The 3703 total combos include many configurations with far weaker CPUs paired with much stronger GPUs, and those outperform this setup in Greedfall because the game is GPU-bound at most settings. The data shows that even a mid-range modern GPU would likely push this combo higher in the rankings, since the i9-14900K is clearly not the limiting factor. The 3062 rank means there are 641 combos that perform worse, which likely feature both older CPUs and older or lower-end GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

For a playable experience, the data suggests 1080p with High settings provides 89 FPS average, which is smooth and visually acceptable. Medium at 1080p offers 98 FPS with a documented min of 83 FPS, making it the safest choice for maintaining frame times. Low at 1080p hits 125 FPS, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the extra 27 FPS over Medium.

At 1440p, Medium is the best balance: 68 FPS average with a min of 58 FPS. High at 1440p drops to 62 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. Low at 1440p is 86 FPS, but again, the visual tradeoff is steep. Ultra at 1440p is 39 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 4K, only Low (52 FPS) approaches playability; Medium is 40 FPS, High is 37 FPS, and Ultra is 23 FPS. None of these are ideal for a fast-paced action RPG, so 4K is not recommended for this combo unless the user accepts significant compromises.

The measured data shows that Medium settings consistently provide the best balance of average FPS and documented minimum FPS across all three resolutions. The min FPS values for Medium are 83 (1080p), 58 (1440p), and 34 (4K), which are 84.7%, 85.3%, and 85% of the average FPS respectively. This consistency suggests Medium is the most stable preset for this GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS across settings is as follows: Low delivers 125 FPS, Medium delivers 98 FPS (min 83, max 113), High delivers 89 FPS, and Ultra delivers 57 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 68 FPS, with the largest single step being from High to Ultra (32 FPS drop). Medium is closer to High than to Low, suggesting diminishing returns at the upper end of settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 86 FPS, Medium at 68 FPS (min 58, max 78), High at 62 FPS, and Ultra at 39 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 18 FPS, between Medium and High is 6 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 23 FPS. The Ultra preset takes a disproportionate penalty at 1440p, indicating that the highest quality textures and effects are particularly demanding on the GTX 1070.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 52 FPS, Medium at 40 FPS (min 34, max 47), High at 37 FPS, and Ultra at 23 FPS. The differences are compressed compared to lower resolutions — the total spread is only 29 FPS. This is because the GPU is already near its limit at 4K Low, so additional settings increases have a smaller absolute effect on FPS. The min FPS of 34 at 4K Medium is only 8 FPS below the average, indicating relatively consistent frame pacing even under heavy load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh generation, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, and it includes integrated UHD Graphics 770, though this is irrelevant for gaming with a discrete GPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i9-14900K scores 39399.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2262.5 in single-core. Its Passmark multithread score is 58674, and its Passmark single-thread score is 4697. The CPU's percentile rank is 95, meaning it outperforms 95% of all tested processors. Its average benchmark score of 79097 is 1.7% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (77740), 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i9-14900KF (79371), and 1.2% lower than the AMD EPYC 7413 (80041).

Greedfall is an Action RPG from 2019, and its engine is not designed to use 24 cores or 32 threads effectively. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU limitation — the frame rates scale with resolution and settings in a way that is characteristic of GPU-bound rendering. The CPU's 6.00 GHz boost clock and high single-thread performance (2262.5 in Cinebench R23 single-core) are more than sufficient for the game's main thread, which typically handles game logic and draw calls. The CPU's role in this combo is to stay out of the way, which it does easily, leaving the GTX 1070 as the sole determinant of performance.