Greedfall

# Greedfall: Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti

This combo pairing Intel's Arrow Lake-based Core Ultra 5 235 with NVIDIA's Ampere-generation RTX 3060 Ti delivers a playable but heavily settings-dependent experience in Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG. The measured data shows a system that can exceed 180 FPS at 1080p Low, yet drops to just 35 FPS at 4K Ultra, revealing a clear GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions and a CPU that has ample headroom throughout the testing range.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K tells a classic story of GPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 187 FPS average; stepping up to 1440p Low yields 130 FPS, and 4K Low drops to 77 FPS. That represents a 59% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count.

The scaling pattern shifts with quality presets. At High settings, the averages are 133 FPS (1080p), 92 FPS (1440p), and 55 FPS (4K). The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 41 FPS, while 1440p to 4K is 37 FPS — a relatively consistent drop. At Ultra, the numbers become 85 FPS, 59 FPS, and 35 FPS respectively, showing a similar proportional decline.

What the data reveals is that the RTX 3060 Ti becomes the limiting component well before 4K is reached. Even at 1440p Ultra, the 59 FPS average suggests the GPU is struggling with the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings. At 1080p, however, even Ultra settings produce 85 FPS, which is comfortably playable. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is the only configuration that falls below a 40 FPS threshold, making it the sole truly problematic preset in the measured set.

The Medium preset provides the only complete min/max FPS data, allowing for frame-time analysis. At 1080p Medium, the average is 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 and maximum of 169 — a tight 44 FPS spread. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 102 FPS with min/max of 87/117, and at 4K Medium, it's 61 FPS with min/max of 52/70. The consistency of these ranges suggests stable frame pacing, with the minimums staying within about 15% of the averages across all three resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 2,938 tested CPU-GPU combinations in Greedfall, this pairing ranks 1,413th. That places it almost exactly in the middle of the database — percentile 51.9, just slightly above the median. Given that the RTX 3060 Ti sits at the 59th percentile among all GPUs and the Core Ultra 5 235 ranks at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, the combo's middling rank in this game suggests that Greedfall's performance is constrained more by the GPU than by the processor.

The rank position is notable because the CPU is a high-percentile part while the GPU is only slightly above average. In a game that scales well with GPU power, this combo's rank would be expected to align more closely with the GPU's percentile. The fact that it lands near the 50th percentile indicates that many other combos in the database feature stronger GPUs paired with weaker CPUs, and they still outperform this setup in Greedfall.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 5 235 is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% ahead), Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% behind), AMD EPYC 4364P (0.2% ahead), and AMD EPYC 7303 (0.2% ahead). These are all high-end parts with average scores in the 46,000 range, confirming the CPU is not the bottleneck in this pairing. For the GPU, the nearest rivals show a tighter cluster: the AMD Radeon RX 9060 is 0.7% ahead, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M is 1.4% behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is 1.4% behind. The RTX 3060 Ti's average benchmark score of 16,129 places it in a competitive but not dominant position.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the GA104 chip using Samsung's 8 nm process, with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. Its memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's base clock is 1410 MHz with a boost of 1665 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

In Greedfall, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at those resolutions. At 4K, however, the combination of higher resolution and Ultra settings likely stresses both the VRAM capacity and the memory bandwidth. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS suggests the card is hitting its limits on multiple fronts — pixel throughput, memory bandwidth, and possibly VRAM allocation.

The GPU's compute specifications are substantial: 4,864 shading units, 152 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 38 RT cores, and 152 tensor cores. The FP32 throughput of 16.20 TFLOPS is identical to the FP16 rate, indicating a 1:1 ratio. The pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 253.1 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra workload appears to overwhelm these capabilities.

The card's 200 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 12-pin power connector are standard for this performance class. The suggested 550 W PSU and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface provide sufficient headroom and bandwidth. The card's production status is end-of-life, with a launch MSRP of 399 USD, positioning it as a mid-range offering from the GeForce 30-series that remains relevant for 1080p and 1440p gaming but struggles at 4K Ultra in demanding titles like Greedfall.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p is the sweet spot, with all settings producing at least 85 FPS average. At 1440p, High settings yield 92 FPS, which is also playable, but Ultra drops to 59 FPS. 4K is only viable at Low settings (77 FPS) or Medium (61 FPS).

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46,062, placing it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, 0.1% behind the Intel Core i9-13900HX, and 0.2% ahead of both the AMD EPYC 4364P and AMD EPYC 7303.

Q: Is the RTX 3060 Ti the bottleneck in this system?

A: Yes, the evidence strongly suggests GPU limitation. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 187 FPS, but this drops to 77 FPS at 4K Low — a 59% reduction. The CPU ranks at the 89th percentile while the GPU ranks at the 59th percentile, and the combo's game rank of 1,413 out of 2,938 aligns more closely with the GPU's position.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average is 147 FPS with a minimum of 125 and maximum of 169. At 1440p Medium, it's 102 FPS average with 87/117 min/max. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 61 FPS with 52/70 min/max. The minimums stay within roughly 15% of the averages across all resolutions.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 133 at 1080p to 92 at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 55 at 4K (a 40% reduction from 1440p). The total loss from 1080p to 4K is 78 FPS, or approximately 59% of the original performance.

Q: Is this combo ranked higher or lower than average in Greedfall?

A: The combo ranks 1,413th out of 2,938 tested combinations, placing it just above the median. This is slightly lower than expected given the CPU's strong 89th percentile ranking, confirming that the GPU holds back the overall performance in this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 187 FPS average, Medium hits 147 FPS (min 125, max 169), High reaches 133 FPS, and Ultra drops to 85 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 102 FPS, showing a significant performance cost for maximum quality settings at this resolution. Even at Ultra, the 85 FPS average is well above playable thresholds for most users.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings yield 130 FPS, Medium averages 102 FPS (min 87, max 117), High produces 92 FPS, and Ultra falls to 59 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 71 FPS, narrower than at 1080p but still substantial. The Ultra result of 59 FPS is borderline for high-refresh-rate displays but acceptable for standard 60 Hz monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings still manage 77 FPS, Medium averages 61 FPS (min 52, max 70), High drops to 55 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 35 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 42 FPS, and the Ultra preset is the only measured configuration that falls below 40 FPS average. Users targeting 4K will need to stick with Low or Medium settings to maintain playable frame rates.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions, providing the most detailed frame-time picture. At 1080p, the 125 FPS minimum ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. At 1440p, the 87 FPS minimum is still solid. At 4K, the 52 FPS minimum shows occasional dips below the 60 FPS target but remains playable.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on TSMC's 3 nm process. It packs 17,800 million transistors into a 243 mm² die, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration, providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Greedfall, the CPU's synthetic benchmark scores suggest it is more than capable of feeding the RTX 3060 Ti. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and single-core score of 2,085 indicate strong threaded and single-threaded performance. The 14 threads — matching the 14 cores with no hyperthreading — are sufficient for a 2019 Action RPG, which typically relies on fewer than eight threads.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 46,062, places it in the upper tier of processors. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098), AMD EPYC 4364P (45,970), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45,960) — all within 0.2% of each other. This clustering indicates the Core Ultra 5 235 delivers performance comparable to flagship mobile and server parts.

The evidence from the measured FPS data supports the conclusion that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. At 1080p Low, the 187 FPS average is well below what the CPU could theoretically deliver, suggesting the GPU is already the bottleneck even at this low resolution. The CPU's high percentile ranking, combined with the GPU's more modest 59th percentile, means the RTX 3060 Ti is the component determining the combo's performance in Greedfall.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1851 platform are part of the Core Ultra Series 2 lineup, with a launch MSRP of $257. Its 3 nm process node from TSMC and Arrow Lake-S codename represent Intel's latest desktop architecture. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 24EU provides basic display output, but all gaming performance in this analysis comes from the discrete RTX 3060 Ti.