Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG from Spiders, presents a demanding workload that scales predictably across resolutions when paired with the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and AMD Radeon 8050S. The measured data reveals a configuration that is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming, capable at 1440p, and increasingly constrained at 4K. This analysis examines the measured frame rates, component roles, and optimal settings for this specific hardware combination.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160 shows a clear and expected performance degradation, with the GPU becoming the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 106 FPS at 1080p to 74 FPS at 1440p, a 30% reduction, and then falls further to 44 FPS at 4K, a 41% reduction from the 1440p result. This steep decline indicates that the AMD Radeon 8050S's rendering capabilities are being saturated as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. With Low settings, the average frame rate goes from 149 FPS at 1080p to 103 FPS at 1440p and 62 FPS at 4K. This represents a 31% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 40% drop from 1440p to 4K. The similar percentage drops across different quality presets suggest that the resolution scaling is primarily a function of the GPU's pixel throughput, rather than being influenced by specific settings like textures or shadows.

At Medium settings, the frame rate progression is 117 FPS (1080p), 81 FPS (1440p), and 48 FPS (4K). The drop from 1440p to 4K is 41%, mirroring the High preset's behavior. This consistency points to a uniform bottleneck: the Radeon 8050S's fill rate and shading capacity. The GPU's pixel rate is listed at 179.2 GPixel/s, which is a theoretical maximum that becomes increasingly difficult to achieve as the resolution and settings load increase.

The most demanding scenario, Ultra settings at 4K, yields an average of just 28 FPS. This is a 59% reduction from the 68 FPS achieved at 1080p Ultra. The data shows that the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings overwhelms the GPU. The performance cliff between High and Ultra at 4K (44 FPS vs 28 FPS) is particularly steep, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive at high pixel counts. This suggests that for 4K gaming, the limiting component is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and AMD Radeon 8050S holds a combo rank of 2155 out of 2938 tested combos for Greedfall. This places it in the lower-middle tier of all possible system configurations, indicating that while it is not a top-tier performer, it is far from the bottom of the stack. This rank reflects a system that can play the game but requires careful settings management to achieve a smooth experience at higher resolutions.

The GPU is the stronger component in this pairing, ranking in the 89th percentile against all tested GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 62108 places it in the company of discrete mobile GPUs like the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, which scores 61896 (a 0.3% difference), and slightly behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, which scores 63693 (a -2.5% delta). This high percentile suggests the Radeon 8050S is a capable graphics processor, especially for an integrated part, but it is still limited by its 55W TDP and system-shared memory.

The CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H, sits in the 79th percentile against all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 27507 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 scoring 27535 (a -0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12600K scoring 27578 (a -0.3% delta). This indicates the CPU offers mid-range to upper-mid-range processing power, which is more than sufficient for Greedfall's requirements. The fact that the combo rank is lower than either component's individual percentile suggests that the system's overall performance in this game is not a simple sum of its parts, but is limited by the GPU's ability to render frames at the target resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the High preset provides an excellent balance, delivering an average of 106 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset at 1080p, while achieving 68 FPS, offers diminishing returns for the 36% performance cost compared to High.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the clear recommendation. It produces an average of 74 FPS, which is playable and a significant improvement over the 47 FPS of the Ultra preset. The Medium preset at 81 FPS is also viable, offering a slight performance boost, but High provides a better visual experience for only a 9% frame rate reduction. Pushing to Ultra at this resolution is not advisable, as the frame rate dips below 60 FPS.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more challenging. The Low preset is the only option that consistently maintains a playable frame rate, averaging 62 FPS. The Medium preset dips to 48 FPS average, which is below the ideal 60 FPS target for smooth action. The High preset at 44 FPS and Ultra at 28 FPS are not recommended for a responsive experience. The data shows that to play at 4K, the user must accept significant visual compromises, making the Low preset the only sensible choice for this hardware.

The best "experience per the measured rows" is achieved by using the High preset at 1080p or 1440p. This preset offers a strong balance between visual fidelity and frame rate, avoiding the performance pitfalls of Ultra while providing a clear upgrade over Medium. The data suggests that the system is best utilized as a high-refresh-rate 1080p machine or a solid 1440p gamer, rather than a 4K powerhouse.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates provides a detailed picture of the system's performance across all combinations of resolution and settings.

At 1920x1080, the lowest settings yield the highest performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 149 FPS. The Medium preset averages 117 FPS, with a minimum of 99 FPS and a maximum of 135 FPS. The High preset follows at 106 FPS average. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 68 FPS. This shows a clear hierarchy, with a 45% performance difference between Low and High, and a 36% difference between High and Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down accordingly. The Low preset averages 103 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 81 FPS, with a minimum of 69 and a maximum of 93. The High preset averages 74 FPS. The Ultra preset drops significantly to an average of 47 FPS. This represents a 28% drop from Low to High, and a 36% drop from High to Ultra, showing that the Ultra preset is disproportionately heavy on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the performance is severely constrained. The Low preset is the only one to break the 60 FPS barrier, averaging 62 FPS. The Medium preset averages 48 FPS, with a minimum of 41 and a maximum of 56. The High preset averages 44 FPS. The Ultra preset is the least playable, with an average of 28 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 23%, while the gap between Medium and High is only 8%, suggesting that the GPU is becoming saturated and further quality increases yield smaller relative frame rate penalties.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 8050S is the decisive component in this system's gaming performance. Based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture and built on a 4 nm process, this integrated GPU features 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. It operates at a base clock of 1295 MHz and can boost up to 2800 MHz. These specifications translate to a theoretical FP32 performance of 11.47 TFLOPS.

The GPU's performance in Greedfall is directly tied to its memory configuration. The Radeon 8050S uses "System Shared" memory, meaning its bandwidth is "System Dependent" and shared with the CPU. This is a critical limitation, as the GPU must compete with the processor for memory access. This configuration likely contributes to the significant performance drops at higher resolutions, where the demand for memory bandwidth increases substantially. The system's dual-channel memory bus, providing a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, is the conduit for all data, and it becomes a bottleneck in demanding 4K scenarios.

The GPU's benchmark scores confirm its position. A Geekbench OpenCL score of 65818 and a Vulkan score of 58398 place it in the 89th percentile. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, scores 61896, a 0.3% difference, indicating that the 8050S is slightly faster in synthetic tests. However, the 8050S trails the Radeon RX 7600M, which scores 63775, a -2.6% delta. The data shows that while the 8050S is a strong performer for an integrated part, it struggles with the most demanding settings in Greedfall, particularly at 4K, where its 55W TDP and shared memory architecture limit its ability to maintain high frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H plays a supporting but essential role in this configuration. With 14 cores and 18 threads, based on the Meteor Lake architecture and built on a 7 nm process, it provides ample processing power for Greedfall's game logic and AI. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.50 GHz are sufficient for the game's single-threaded and multi-threaded demands. The processor's 18 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency.

Benchmark data shows the CPU is a solid mid-range performer. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12804.5 and single-core score of 1647.5 indicate strong computational capabilities. In PassMark's multithread test, it scores 21100, and in single-thread, it scores 3399. These scores place it in the 79th percentile against all CPUs, with its average benchmark score of 27507 being essentially on par with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 (27535) and Intel Core i5-12600K (27578). This performance headroom is crucial; at 1080p, the CPU is able to feed frames to the GPU efficiently, as evidenced by the high frame rates at Low and Medium settings.

The CPU's role becomes more complex at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 149 FPS, which is a high enough frame rate that CPU limitations could become apparent in CPU-intensive scenes. However, the data shows that the GPU still manages to render these frames, suggesting the 125H provides sufficient single-thread performance for Greedfall. The CPU's 28W TDP and "Mobile" market segment classification indicate it is designed for power efficiency, which is appropriate for a laptop platform. For this game, the CPU is not the bottleneck; the GPU is the limiting factor in all measured scenarios.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 offers the best performance, with the High preset delivering 106 FPS. 2560x1440 is also viable with High settings at 74 FPS, but 3840x2160 is only playable with the Low preset, which averages 62 FPS.

Q: Can this system run Greedfall at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only with significant visual compromises. At 4K, the Low preset averages 62 FPS, while Medium drops to 48 FPS and High to 44 FPS. The Ultra preset is not playable, averaging only 28 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This specific combo ranks 2155 out of 2938 tested combinations for Greedfall. This places it in the lower-middle tier, indicating it is capable but not a high-end performer for this game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. The AMD Radeon 8050S shows significant frame rate drops as resolution increases, while the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H's benchmark scores suggest it has sufficient headroom to keep up with the GPU's output.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 74 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 47 FPS. This is a 36% performance decrease when moving to Ultra settings.

Q: What is the GPU's performance relative to its closest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon 8050S has an average benchmark score of 62108, which is 0.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896) and 2.5% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (63693). This indicates it is a competitive mid-range performer.