Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 action RPG, presents an interesting stress test for the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is overwhelmingly dominant, yet the scaling patterns expose distinct bottlenecks depending on resolution and settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS data to show where this pairing excels and where its immense power is held back by the game's engine.

Resolution Scaling

The performance delta between 1080p and 4K is stark, demonstrating a classic shift in system limitation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves a massive 363.1 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 250.3 FPS, a decrease of roughly 31%. At 4K, the average falls further to 148.6 FPS, which is about 41% lower than the 1440p result. This steep decline as resolution increases indicates that the game becomes progressively more dependent on the graphics card.

However, the story changes when we look at the highest settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 165.9 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 114.1 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 71 FPS. The scaling here is more linear, suggesting that at Ultra presets, the GPU is the primary limiting factor across all resolutions. The data indicates the CPU has enough headroom to push high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the RTX 5090's workload at 4K Ultra caps the experience.

The difference between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution highlights the GPU's raw power. At 4K, the jump from Low (148.6 FPS) to Ultra (71 FPS) is a 52% reduction in performance. This is a significant hit, but it still yields a very playable frame rate. The pattern is consistent at 1440p, where Ultra (114.1 FPS) is less than half of Low (250.3 FPS). This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are computationally expensive for the GPU, even one with the RTX 5090's capabilities.

In this title, the 1080p Low result of 363.1 FPS is the outlier, showcasing the CPU's ability to feed frames at an extraordinary rate. But as resolution climbs, the GPU's rendering load takes over. The data shows that for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming, this combo is more than sufficient, but 4K Ultra is where the RTX 5090's limits are reached in this specific title.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest measured average frame rate for this combo in Greedfall?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 363.1, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 71, while at 1080p Ultra it is 165.9. This represents a 57% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the Ultra preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: The extremely high frame rate of 363.1 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the CPU is the primary driver, as the GPU has a lighter workload at the lowest settings and resolution.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset yields 250.3 FPS, while Medium yields 196.8 FPS. This is a drop of 53.5 FPS, or about 21%, when increasing from Low to Medium.

Q: Does the combo maintain over 100 FPS at 4K with any settings?

A: Yes, the combo achieves over 100 FPS at 4K with Low (148.6 FPS), Medium (115.4 FPS), and High (105.7 FPS) settings. Only the Ultra preset drops below this threshold.

Q: What is the frame rate at the most demanding settings tested?

A: The most demanding settings tested are 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, which produces an average of 71 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the undeniable powerhouse in this pairing, and its role becomes more pronounced as resolution and graphical fidelity increase. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a massive 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This is crucial for 4K textures and high-detail rendering, ensuring the card does not run out of memory or bandwidth in Greedfall. The data supports this, as the frame rate drops consistently from Low to Ultra at 4K, indicating the GPU is working progressively harder.

Clock speeds are also a factor. The GPU has a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz. This boost behavior allows the card to dynamically increase its performance under load, which is evident in the high frame rates at lower resolutions. The benchmark results for the GPU are strong, with a Passmark G3D score of 39650 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 380114. These numbers place the RTX 5090 in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, confirming its position as a top-tier part.

The RTX 5090's nearest rival in the benchmark database is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, which has an average score of 84241, a negligible 0.1% difference. This shows that the standard RTX 5090 is at the very peak of graphics performance. In Greedfall, this translates to the ability to run the game at very high settings smoothly. The 4K High result of 105.7 FPS is particularly telling, as it demonstrates that the GPU can handle the game's demands at the highest resolution without compromising the experience. The GPU's 575 W TDP reflects its power, and the data shows that this power is effectively translated into raw frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations, this pairing sits at an elite level. The combo rank for this specific CPU and GPU in Greedfall is 24 out of 1705 tested combos. This places it in the top 1.4% of all systems tested, showcasing its exceptional capability. The data suggests that very few other pairings are able to produce higher frame rates in this title.

This high ranking is a direct result of the individual components' strengths. The CPU and GPU are both near the top of their respective benchmark charts, and their combined performance in Greedfall is outstanding. While the RTX 5090 has a percentile rank of 94, the combo's rank of 24 out of 1705 indicates that the combination is more than just the sum of its parts, or that other high-end GPUs are paired with less capable CPUs.

The fact that it is not rank 1 suggests that there are a few other combinations that can outperform it, likely involving other top-tier components. However, a rank of 24 is a clear indicator of a high-end system. Users with this setup will have a top-tier experience in Greedfall, and the bottleneck will rarely be the hardware itself. The data confirms that this is a flagship-level combination, delivering performance that is only surpassed by a very small fraction of the systems in the database.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K plays a critical role in ensuring the RTX 5090 is not starved of data, especially at lower resolutions. With 24 cores and 32 threads, this CPU offers immense parallel processing power. Its boost clock of 6.00 GHz is exceptionally high, which directly translates to strong single-thread performance. This is evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7040 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4697. These scores are crucial for game logic and physics, which often rely on a single core.

The CPU's multicore performance is equally impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 49872 and a Passmark multithread score of 58674. This power is what allows the system to hit frame rates like 363.1 FPS at 1080p Low, where the CPU must process a high number of frames per second. The data shows that even at this high frame rate, the CPU is not a limiting factor. Its nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7413, has an average score of 80041, a delta of -0.3%, showing they are effectively tied in overall synthetic benchmarks.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role is to handle the game's simulation and draw calls. The high core count and clock speed ensure that the RTX 5090 can operate at its full potential. The data suggests that the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU in this title, as the frame rates scale logically with resolution changes. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would see similar frame rates across different resolutions. Instead, we see a clear drop from 1080p to 4K, proving the GPU is the deciding factor at higher resolutions. The i9-14900K provides the necessary foundation for the RTX 5090 to deliver its top-tier performance.