Greedfall

# Greedfall — Intel Core Ultra 5 135H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile delivers a playable Greedfall experience across most tested configurations, though the data reveals a clear ceiling at 4K Ultra. This combination ranks 2262nd out of 3703 tested combos for this title, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The measured frames per second across twelve resolution/settings pairs show a system that handles 1080p and 1440p with confidence, but struggles to maintain fluid motion at 4K with higher presets. The RTX 4060 Mobile, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, emerges as the primary bottleneck in the most demanding scenarios, while the 14-core, 18-thread Ultra 5 135H provides sufficient headroom to avoid CPU-related frame drops.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and follows a predictable pattern across all settings, but the magnitude of the decline varies significantly depending on the preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 160 FPS at 1920x1080 to 111 FPS at 2560x1440, a 30.6% reduction, then further to 66 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 58.8% drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep scaling curve indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming increasingly strained as pixel count rises, though the 4K result remains well within playable territory.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern intensifies. The average FPS at 1080p is 126, dropping to 87 at 1440p (a 31.0% decrease) and then to 52 at 4K (a 58.7% reduction from 1080p). The minimum FPS values at Medium settings—107 at 1080p, 74 at 1440p, and 44 at 4K—show that frame pacing becomes more erratic at higher resolutions, with the 4K minimum dipping close to the threshold where noticeable stutter can occur.

At High settings, the scaling becomes even more pronounced. The 114 FPS average at 1080p falls to 79 at 1440p (a 30.7% drop) and then to 47 at 4K (a 58.8% decline from 1080p). The near-identical percentage drops across Low, Medium, and High presets suggest a consistent resolution scaling behavior, likely driven by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth rather than shader complexity.

Ultra settings reveal the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p, the average is 73 FPS, which drops to 51 at 1440p (a 30.1% reduction) and then plummets to 30 at 4K (a 58.9% decline from 1080p). The 4K Ultra result is effectively unplayable for smooth gameplay, falling below the 30 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for acceptable motion. The consistent ~30% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~59% drop from 1080p to 4K across all four settings strongly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU, since resolution scaling does not meaningfully change CPU workload.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the optimal preset for most users, offering the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 126 FPS average with a minimum of 107 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 87 FPS with a 74 FPS minimum—still comfortably above the 60 FPS target for most displays. At 4K Medium, the 52 FPS average and 44 FPS minimum are borderline but acceptable for slower-paced action RPG gameplay, though users with high-refresh-rate 4K displays would need to consider lower settings.

High settings present an interesting alternative for users prioritizing visual quality over frame rate headroom. At 1080p High, the 114 FPS average is only 9.5% lower than Medium, making it a strong choice for 1080p displays. At 1440p High, the 79 FPS average remains playable, though the lack of minimum FPS data for High settings means the frame pacing consistency is unknown. At 4K High, the 47 FPS average is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes; users sensitive to frame drops should prefer Medium.

Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p displays, where the 73 FPS average provides a playable experience. At 1440p Ultra, the 51 FPS average is marginal, and at 4K Ultra, the 30 FPS average is unsuitable for action-oriented gameplay. Low settings are unnecessary at 1080p and 1440p given the strong performance at Medium, but at 4K, Low's 66 FPS average offers a viable path to smooth gameplay at the cost of visual quality.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Greedfall at 4K smoothly?

A: At Medium settings, the average frame rate is 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced combat. At High settings, the average drops to 47 FPS, and at Ultra, it falls to 30 FPS. Low settings at 4K yield 66 FPS average, making Low the only preset that provides comfortable headroom at this resolution.

Q: What is the best preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: Medium settings provide the best experience, with an 87 FPS average and 74 FPS minimum. High settings deliver 79 FPS average but lack minimum FPS data, while Ultra drops to 51 FPS. Low settings at 111 FPS are unnecessary unless maximum frame rates are desired.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 Mobile compare to its closest rivals in this game?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile's average benchmark score of 22729 is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080's 22895, 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B580's 23021, and 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT's 22549. The RTX 5060 Mobile scores 1.3% lower at 22435.

Q: Is the CPU a limiting factor in Greedfall?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck. The consistent ~30% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~59% drop from 1080p to 4K across all settings indicates GPU-bound scaling. The Ultra 5 135H's 14 cores and 18 threads provide ample processing power for this 2019 release.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 114 FPS. For comparison, Medium averages 126 FPS, Low averages 160 FPS, and Ultra averages 73 FPS. The High preset offers a strong balance for 1080p displays, particularly those with 120 Hz or 144 Hz refresh rates.

Q: Why does the 4K Ultra preset perform so poorly?

A: The 30 FPS average at 4K Ultra represents a 58.9% drop from the 1080p Ultra result of 73 FPS. This steep decline is consistent with the GPU's memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s and 8 GB VRAM being insufficient for 4K with maximum settings, where the increased pixel count and texture demands exceed the RTX 4060 Mobile's capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2262nd out of 3703 tested combos for Greedfall, placing it in the 61st percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a mid-tier position, consistent with the GPU's overall percentile of 67 against all GPUs and the CPU's 81st percentile against all CPUs.

The rank is somewhat lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest, indicating that Greedfall's specific demands favor combinations with stronger GPUs relative to CPUs. The RTX 4060 Mobile's nearest rivals—the RTX 2080 (0.7% higher average score), Intel Arc B580 (1.3% higher), AMD RX 7700 XT (0.8% lower), and RTX 5060 Mobile (1.3% lower)—all fall within a narrow performance band, meaning the 2262nd rank could shift noticeably with small changes in driver optimization or game updates.

In practical terms, this ranking means the combo sits in the lower half of the database's tested configurations for Greedfall. Users upgrading from a significantly weaker GPU would see a substantial improvement, but those comparing against higher-tier mobile GPUs or desktop cards would find the RTX 4060 Mobile lacking in the most demanding scenarios. The 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS is the primary factor dragging the rank down, as 1080p and 1440p performance is competitive with many higher-ranked combos.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.60 GHz, combined with 18 MB of shared L3 cache, provide strong multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 11875.5 in multi-core and 1700 in single-core tests, while PassMark multi-thread and single-thread scores are 22422 and 3521 respectively.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the Ultra 5 135H's average benchmark score of 29093 is 0.1% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X's 29123, 0.5% lower than the Intel Xeon Phi 7210's 29245, 0.5% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT's 28940, and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i5-13500HX's 29270. These near-identical scores indicate that the CPU is well-matched to its peers in synthetic benchmarks.

In Greedfall specifically, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The consistent resolution scaling percentages across all settings—regardless of whether the game is running at Low or Ultra—strongly suggest that frame rates are GPU-limited. The CPU's 81st percentile ranking against all CPUs, combined with the 18 threads available, means it can comfortably handle the game's AI, physics, and draw call overhead even at 1080p Low where the GPU is least stressed.

The low TDP of 28 W for the CPU, paired with the GPU's 115 W TDP, indicates a balanced power envelope for a mobile platform. The CPU's performance characteristics—particularly its strong single-thread score of 1700 in Cinebench R23—ensure that Greedfall's game logic and scripting do not introduce frame pacing issues, as evidenced by the relatively tight minimum FPS values at Medium settings (107 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, 44 FPS at 4K).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest performance. Low settings average 160 FPS, Medium averages 126 FPS with a minimum of 107 FPS and maximum of 145 FPS, High averages 114 FPS, and Ultra averages 73 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 87 FPS, representing a 54.4% reduction from Low to Ultra. Notably, the Medium preset's 107 FPS minimum indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows clear scaling pressure. Low averages 111 FPS, Medium averages 87 FPS with a minimum of 74 FPS and maximum of 100 FPS, High averages 79 FPS, and Ultra averages 51 FPS. The Medium minimum of 74 FPS is still above the 60 FPS target for most displays, but the Ultra preset's 51 FPS average suggests users should avoid maximum settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor. Low averages 66 FPS, Medium averages 52 FPS with a minimum of 44 FPS and maximum of 60 FPS, High averages 47 FPS, and Ultra averages 30 FPS. The Medium preset's maximum of 60 FPS and minimum of 44 FPS illustrate significant frame time variation, which could be noticeable in fast-paced combat sequences. The Ultra result of 30 FPS is at the edge of playability, and users seeking consistent 60 FPS at 4K would need to use Low settings, which still only achieve 66 FPS average.

Comparing resolution scaling across settings, the data shows remarkably consistent percentage drops. From 1080p to 1440p, the reductions are 30.6% (Low), 31.0% (Medium), 30.7% (High), and 30.1% (Ultra). From 1080p to 4K, the reductions are 58.8% (Low), 58.7% (Medium), 58.8% (High), and 58.9% (Ultra). This uniformity strongly indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth are the determining factors, with no evidence of CPU or memory system bottlenecks at any resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die. Its 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units are complemented by 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1545 MHz and boost clock of 1890 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient for Greedfall at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, as evidenced by the strong frame rates at these resolutions. However, at 4K Ultra, the 30 FPS average suggests that the combination of VRAM capacity and bandwidth becomes strained. The 256.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest by modern standards, and the 128-bit bus width limits the memory throughput available for high-resolution textures and effects.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4060 Mobile scores 17469 in PassMark G3D, with a GPU compute score of 6816. Its average benchmark score of 22729 places it at the 67th percentile against all GPUs. The nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the RTX 2080 scores 22895 (0.7% higher), the Intel Arc B580 scores 23021 (1.3% higher), the AMD RX 7700 XT scores 22549 (0.8% lower), and the RTX 5060 Mobile scores 22435 (1.3% lower). This narrow performance band means the RTX 4060 Mobile is competitive with its direct peers, but the 4K Ultra results in Greedfall reveal that none of these GPUs are truly optimized for 4K maximum settings.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (with a 12_2 feature level), along with Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6, ensures full compatibility with Greedfall's rendering requirements. The 11.61 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 181.4 GTexel/s texture rate provide adequate fill for 1080p and 1440p, but the 90.72 GPixel/s pixel rate is the limiting factor at 4K, particularly with the increased pixel count demanding more from the ROPs and memory subsystem. The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is sufficient for this workload, as the game's data transfer requirements do not appear to saturate the bus bandwidth.