Greedfall

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Greedfall, though the data reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior as resolution increases. This combination ranks in the 76th percentile of all tested configurations for this title, indicating strong but not elite performance. The measured frame rates demonstrate that the RTX 4070 is the dominant force at 1080p and 1440p, while the 4K results expose the limits of the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute throughput.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a dramatic and consistent drop in frame rates across all settings, revealing the GPU as the primary limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 177 at 1920x1080 to 123 at 2560x1440, a 31% reduction, and then to 73 at 3840x2160, a 59% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline is characteristic of a system where the graphics card is saturated, as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K while the CPU workload remains relatively static.

The scaling pattern at Low settings is even more pronounced. The RTX 4070 produces 248 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 172 at 1440p and 103 at 4K. The 4K Low result is 58% lower than the 1080p Low result, indicating that even with minimal graphical load, the GPU cannot keep pace with the pixel throughput demands. This suggests that the RTX 4070’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K at high refresh rates, regardless of the CPU’s capability.

At Medium settings, the measured minimum and maximum frame rates provide additional insight into the scaling behavior. At 1080p Medium, the average is 195 FPS with a minimum of 166 and a maximum of 224. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 135 FPS with a range of 115 to 155. The 4K Medium result shows an average of 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 and a maximum of 93. The consistency of the minimum-to-maximum spread across resolutions suggests that frame pacing remains stable, but the absolute values confirm that the GPU is the bottleneck—the CPU is not introducing stutter or frame time spikes.

The Ultra preset presents the most demanding scenario, with 4K Ultra yielding only 47 FPS average. This is the lowest measured result in the entire dataset and represents a 58% drop from the 1080p Ultra score of 113 FPS. The fact that 4K Ultra falls below 60 FPS while 4K High reaches 73 FPS indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the RTX 4070’s 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate. The data strongly suggests that for 4K gaming, users should target High or Medium settings to maintain playability.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and RTX 4070 combination achieves a rank of 694 out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall. This places it in the top 24% of all configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a previous-generation GPU. The combo outperforms the vast majority of systems tested, though the top-tier configurations featuring higher-end GPUs and newer CPUs occupy the upper ranks.

The CPU’s individual benchmark scores support this ranking. The Core Ultra 5 225 sits in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (deltaPct 0), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (deltaPct -0.2), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (deltaPct -0.4), and the Intel Core i9-12900T (deltaPct -0.5). These deltas are all within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 225, indicating that the CPU’s processing power is competitive with these alternatives, though not decisively superior.

The GPU’s individual standing is slightly lower, at the 81st percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 37648. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (deltaPct 0.1), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (deltaPct 0.4), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (deltaPct -1.3), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (deltaPct 1.3). The RTX 4070 is essentially tied with the Tesla P4 and RX Vega 56, while being 1.3% slower than the RTX 4080 Mobile. This places the GPU in a competitive tier, but not at the very top of the performance spectrum.

The combination of a top-15% CPU and a top-20% GPU yields a combo rank in the 76th percentile, which is slightly lower than what each component’s individual percentile might suggest. This discrepancy likely stems from the fact that Greedfall is a GPU-bound title at higher resolutions, meaning the CPU’s strength is not fully utilized. The rank reflects the overall system performance in this specific game, which is heavily influenced by the GPU’s 4K limitations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the decisive component in this combo, particularly at 1440p and 4K. Its Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm TSMC process, provides substantial compute resources: 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s.

The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is a key factor in the 4K performance. The measured FPS at 4K High (73 FPS) and 4K Medium (81 FPS) suggests that the memory bandwidth is adequate for moderate settings, but the 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS indicates that the Ultra preset demands more bandwidth and compute than the RTX 4070 can deliver. The 4K Low result of 103 FPS shows that when memory pressure is reduced, the GPU can still achieve playable frame rates, but the scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is severe.

The GPU’s FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS is the primary driver of rendering performance. In Greedfall, which is an Action RPG with dense environments and particle effects, the Ultra preset likely activates additional lighting and shadow computations that heavily tax the shader units. The 47 FPS at 4K Ultra is below the 60 FPS threshold, making this setting unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compliance ensure full feature compatibility, but the hardware limitations are evident in the 4K Ultra result.

The RTX 4070’s 200 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is a power-efficient card, but the performance data shows that it is not a 4K powerhouse. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 and Passmark G3D score of 26927 reflect its mid-to-high-end positioning. The GPU’s percentile rank of 81 confirms that it is above average, but the 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is a clear indicator that this GPU is best suited for 1440p gaming or 4K at reduced settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset provides a detailed picture of performance across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the RTX 4070 delivers exceptional frame rates: 248 FPS at Low, 195 FPS at Medium (min 166, max 224), 177 FPS at High, and 113 FPS at Ultra. These results indicate that at 1080p, the combo is entirely GPU-limited, as even the Ultra preset maintains frame rates above 100 FPS, leaving headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show a clear step down. Low settings produce 172 FPS, Medium 135 FPS (min 115, max 155), High 123 FPS, and Ultra 78 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 78 FPS is still comfortably above 60 FPS, making this resolution a sweet spot for the combo. The difference between High and Ultra at 1440p is 45 FPS, which is significant and suggests that Ultra settings introduce a heavy performance cost for marginal visual gains.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings yield 103 FPS, Medium 81 FPS (min 69, max 93), High 73 FPS, and Ultra 47 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low settings can maintain a consistent 100+ FPS experience, while Medium and High are playable but not at high refresh rates. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is the only measured value below 60 FPS, making it the sole configuration that fails to meet the standard smoothness threshold.

The minimum and maximum FPS data for Medium settings across all resolutions shows that frame pacing is consistent. At 1080p, the range is 166 to 224; at 1440p, 115 to 155; and at 4K, 69 to 93. The spread between minimum and maximum is roughly 30% of the average in each case, indicating stable performance without major stutter. This consistency suggests that the CPU is not causing frame time spikes, and the GPU is delivering a steady stream of frames.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 plays a secondary role in this combo, but its specifications ensure that it does not bottleneck the RTX 4070 in most scenarios. The CPU features 10 cores and 10 threads based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It has a 20 MB shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 cache per core, along with 192 KB L1 cache per core. The 3 nm TSMC process and 17,800 million transistors indicate a modern, efficient design.

The CPU’s benchmark results show strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 3655 in single-core and 25891 in multi-core. The Passmark single-thread score of 4412 and multithread score of 30459 further confirm its capability. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 36938 place it in the upper tier of desktop processors, with nearest rivals all within 0.5% of its score.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. At 1080p Low, the CPU must work harder to keep the GPU fed, resulting in 248 FPS. The fact that the combo achieves this frame rate without hitting a CPU limit suggests that the Core Ultra 5 225’s single-thread performance is sufficient for the game’s engine. The boost clock of 4.90 GHz is likely the key factor, as Greedfall is not heavily threaded and benefits from high per-core performance.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) provide a solid foundation for gaming. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 20 lanes ensures that the RTX 4070’s PCIe 4.0 x16 connection is not a bottleneck. However, the data shows that at 4K, the CPU’s performance is largely irrelevant, as the GPU is the clear limiting factor. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS would not improve with a faster CPU, as the GPU is already saturated.

The Core Ultra 5 225’s nearest rival data shows that it is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and Ryzen 5 5500X3D, which are also capable gaming CPUs. This suggests that the CPU choice is not a differentiator in Greedfall, and the GPU is the more important component for this title. The CPU’s 10 threads may limit performance in heavily threaded scenarios, but Greedfall does not appear to be one of them, as evidenced by the strong 1080p results.

FAQ

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

A: The 2560x1440 resolution provides the best balance of visual quality and performance. At High settings, the combo achieves 123 FPS average, while Ultra settings still maintain 78 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold and offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Greedfall?

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K Medium settings, the combo achieves 81 FPS average, which is playable. However, 4K Ultra drops to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard. Users should stick to Medium or High settings for 4K play.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 a bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The data indicates no significant CPU bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 248 FPS, showing that the CPU can feed the GPU effectively. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking and strong single-thread score of 3655 in Cinebench R23 support this conclusion.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4, 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, and 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6400. It sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the performance difference between Ultra and High settings?

A: The difference varies by resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 36% slower than High (113 FPS vs 177 FPS). At 1440p, Ultra is 37% slower (78 FPS vs 123 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is 36% slower (47 FPS vs 73 FPS). The consistent 36-37% penalty suggests Ultra is a significant step up in graphical demands.

Q: What is the combo’s overall ranking among tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 694 out of 2938 tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in the 76th percentile. This is a strong result, but not elite, as higher-end GPU and CPU combinations occupy the top 24% of the ranking.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for the optimal settings experience. At 1080p, all settings are viable, but Ultra is the best choice for users who prioritize visual fidelity, as it maintains 113 FPS average. However, for high-refresh-rate gaming, Low settings at 248 FPS or Medium at 195 FPS offer the smoothest experience. The 1080p High preset at 177 FPS is a balanced option that provides good visuals without sacrificing frame rate.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 78 FPS is the recommended choice for the best visual experience, as it remains above 60 FPS. The High preset at 123 FPS is a strong alternative for users who prefer higher frame rates, offering a 45 FPS advantage over Ultra. The Medium preset at 135 FPS is also acceptable, but the visual quality difference between Medium and High is more noticeable than the frame rate difference. The Low preset at 172 FPS is unnecessary at this resolution, as the CPU and GPU are capable of much better visuals.

At 4K, the Ultra preset is not recommended, as the 47 FPS average falls below the playable threshold. The High preset at 73 FPS and Medium at 81 FPS are both viable, with Medium offering a 10% improvement over High. The Medium preset is the best choice for 4K, as it provides a good balance of visual quality and smoothness, with a minimum FPS of 69 that avoids major dips. The Low preset at 103 FPS is the only option that approaches high-refresh-rate territory, but the visual sacrifices are substantial.

For the best overall experience, the 1440p Ultra preset is the clear winner, delivering 78 FPS average with no minimum FPS data to suggest instability. This configuration takes advantage of the RTX 4070’s strengths while the Core Ultra 5 225 provides sufficient CPU headroom. Users with 4K displays should select the Medium preset at 81 FPS, as it offers the best playability without the visual degradation of Low settings. The 1080p Ultra preset at 113 FPS is an excellent choice for users who prioritize maximum visual detail and have a 120Hz monitor.