Greedfall

The benchmark data for Greedfall with the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 reveals a pairing heavily constrained by the GPU at higher resolutions, yet surprisingly capable at 1080p. The measured FPS across four settings and three resolutions paints a clear picture of where the bottlenecks lie and what compromises deliver the most playable experience.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic collapse in frame rates, indicating the GTX 1070 is the primary limiting component. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 89 at 1080p to 62 at 1440p, then falls to 37 at 4K. That represents a 58% reduction from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern typical of a GPU that is running out of pixel-pushing capacity rather than a CPU-bound scenario.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe degradation. At 1080p, the system manages 57 FPS average, but at 1440p this drops to 39, and at 4K it plummets to just 23 FPS. This 60% loss from 1080p to 4K under Ultra settings suggests the GTX 1070’s 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus are being overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum detail.

Interestingly, the Low preset reveals what the system can achieve when the load is lighter. At 1080p Low, the average reaches 125 FPS, which is a 40% improvement over High at the same resolution. At 1440p Low, the average is 86 FPS, and even at 4K Low, the system maintains 52 FPS. This indicates that while the GPU is the bottleneck, there is enough headroom in the Core Ultra 5 245’s 14 cores and 14 threads to feed the frame pipeline when graphical demands are reduced.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground in scaling. From 1080p (98 FPS) to 1440p (68 FPS), the drop is 31%, and from 1440p to 4K (40 FPS), the drop is another 41%. The minimum FPS data for Medium shows 83 at 1080p, 58 at 1440p, and 34 at 4K, which suggests frame pacing remains consistent even as the average falls. The data implies that the GTX 1070’s 150 W TDP and 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are simply insufficient for 4K gaming at higher presets, while the CPU’s 5.10 GHz boost clock and 24 MB of shared L3 cache are never the limiting factor in these measurements.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers the best balance of performance and visual quality. With an average of 98 FPS and a minimum of 83 FPS, this configuration stays well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while offering a substantial improvement over the Low preset’s 125 FPS average in terms of graphical fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the most sensible choice. The average of 62 FPS is playable, but the lack of minimum FPS data means there is some uncertainty about frame drops. The Medium preset at 1440p, however, provides a safer experience with a 68 FPS average and a 58 FPS minimum, which suggests that Medium is the recommended setting for 1440p if consistency is prioritized over maximum detail.

For 3840x2160, the data strongly advises against Ultra settings. The 23 FPS average is below playable thresholds, and even High at 37 FPS is marginal. The Low preset at 4K delivers 52 FPS, which is the only playable option at that resolution. The medium preset at 4K sits at 40 FPS with a 34 FPS minimum, which may be tolerable for slower-paced exploration but is not ideal for combat scenarios.

Comparing presets at the same resolution, the jump from Low to Medium at 1080p costs 27 FPS (from 125 to 98) but likely yields significant visual improvements. The jump from Medium to High costs another 9 FPS (from 98 to 89), which is a smaller penalty. The leap from High to Ultra costs 32 FPS (from 89 to 57), which is a severe drop that is not worth the marginal detail increase. The data suggests that Ultra is essentially a showcase mode that cripples performance on this hardware combination.

GPU Role

The GTX 1070’s specifications explain much of the observed behavior. With 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, the card delivers 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is likely the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the 23 FPS average and lack of minimum FPS data indicate the memory subsystem is saturated. The card’s 1920 shading units and 64 ROPs provide 107.7 GPixel/s of pixel fill rate, which is insufficient for 4K resolutions at high detail levels.

The benchmark results show that the GTX 1070 sits at the 47th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 9780. Its nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro W5000 (0.2% slower) and the NVIDIA Quadro M2000M (0.5% slower), which are both significantly older or lower-tier products. This positioning suggests that the GTX 1070 is a mid-range card that is now several generations old, struggling to keep up with modern game demands.

The GPU’s boost clock of 1683 MHz is modest by today’s standards, and the 16 nm process node from TSMC means it is less power-efficient than newer architectures. The card’s 150 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU requirement are relatively low, but the performance ceiling is clearly limited. The measured FPS at 1080p High (89 FPS) shows that the card can handle esports-level framerates, but the 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS reveals its inability to handle next-generation rendering loads.

The Vulkan score of 22121 and DirectX 12 score of 48 (from Passmark) suggest that the card’s API support is adequate but not exceptional. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1082 is a more modern indicator of gaming performance, and it aligns with the observed FPS drops at higher resolutions. The GPU’s 47th percentile ranking means that over half of all tested GPUs perform better, which contextualizes why the 4K results are so poor.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Greedfall with this CPU-GPU combo?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all presets achieve playable framerates. At 1080p, even Ultra settings maintain a 57 FPS average, while Medium reaches 98 FPS. At 1440p, only Low and Medium stay above 60 FPS, and at 4K, only Low (52 FPS) is reliably playable.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 89 at 1080p to 37 at 4K, a 58% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 57 to 23 FPS, a 60% loss. The Low preset shows a smaller relative drop, from 125 to 52 FPS, which is a 58% reduction as well.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide any benefit over High in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate a substantial performance penalty with no proportional gain. At 1080p, Ultra averages 57 FPS compared to High’s 89 FPS, a 36% performance loss. At 1440p, the gap is 39 versus 62 FPS, and at 4K, it is 23 versus 37 FPS. The data suggests Ultra is not worth the framerate sacrifice.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 bottlenecking the GTX 1070 in this game?

A: The scaling data suggests no. The FPS drops are consistent with GPU-bound behavior, and the CPU’s benchmark scores (32924 in Cinebench R23 multicore, 4648 in single-core) are in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.5% faster) and Intel Core i5-14600K (0.8% faster), indicating it has ample headroom.

Q: What minimum FPS can be expected at Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows a minimum of 83 FPS at 1080p Medium, 58 FPS at 1440p Medium, and 34 FPS at 4K Medium. This suggests that 1440p Medium is the highest resolution where the minimum framerate remains above 60 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 2423 out of 2938 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 18% of all systems tested in Greedfall. This low ranking is primarily due to the GTX 1070’s age and limited performance, while the CPU is a modern, high-performing component.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 2423 out of 2938 tested combos in Greedfall. This places it in the 17.5th percentile of all systems, meaning that over 82% of tested combinations achieve higher framerates. The low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, which is in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

The disparity between the CPU and GPU rankings is stark. The Core Ultra 5 245 has an average benchmark score of 48995, which is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and 0.8% of the Intel Core i5-14600K. In contrast, the GTX 1070’s average score of 9780 is within 0.5% of the AMD FirePro W5000, a workstation card from a previous generation. This pairing of a top-tier CPU with a mid-range, end-of-life GPU creates a system where the CPU is never the limiting factor, but the GPU holds back the entire experience.

The rank of 2423 out of 2938 suggests that this system is better suited for 1080p gaming or esports titles rather than demanding AAA games at high resolutions. The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (98 FPS) is competitive with many newer systems, but the 4K Ultra result of 23 FPS is a clear indicator of the GPU’s limitations. For a game like Greedfall, an Action RPG with detailed environments, this system will require significant settings compromises at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a modern desktop processor with 14 cores and 14 threads, based on the Arrow Lake architecture. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz, combined with 24 MB of shared L3 cache, provide substantial compute headroom. The CPU’s benchmark scores are impressive: 32924 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4648 in single-core, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Greedfall, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck, as evidenced by the near-linear FPS scaling with resolution changes. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively constant across resolutions, but instead, it drops consistently as resolution increases. This indicates that the CPU has enough processing power to keep up with the GTX 1070’s output at all tested settings.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (0.4% slower) and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (0.6% faster). These comparisons show that the Core Ultra 5 245 is a high-performing processor, but its 65 W TDP and 3 nm process node suggest it is more efficiency-focused than raw performance-focused. The CPU’s 90th percentile ranking means it outperforms the vast majority of processors on the market, making it an excellent match for a GPU that is several generations old.

The Passmark scores further illustrate the CPU’s capabilities: a multithread score of 38706 and a single-thread score of 4394. The integer math score of 91187 and floating-point math score of 120548 are particularly relevant for game logic and physics calculations. The data compression score of 400942 and encryption score of 30236 show that the CPU excels at data-intensive tasks, though these are not directly related to gaming performance. The CPU’s 5.10 GHz boost clock likely contributes to the high minimum FPS observed at lower resolutions, ensuring that frame times remain consistent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average FPS 125, no min/max data. This is the highest framerate recorded across all tests, indicating the GPU is not stressed at this setting.
• Medium: Average FPS 98, minimum 83, maximum 113. The minimum FPS is still above 60, making this a very smooth experience.
• High: Average FPS 89, no min/max data. This is a solid performance level, though the lack of minimum data means frame drops are unquantified.
• Ultra: Average FPS 57, no min/max data. This is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating noticeable stutter in demanding scenes.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average FPS 86, no min/max data. This is playable but a significant drop from 1080p Low, showing the GPU’s resolution scaling penalty.
• Medium: Average FPS 68, minimum 58, maximum 78. The minimum FPS is slightly below 60, which may cause occasional hitches.
• High: Average FPS 62, no min/max data. This is marginally playable, but the lack of minimum data leaves uncertainty about consistency.
• Ultra: Average FPS 39, no min/max data. This is not recommended for gameplay, as it falls well below playable thresholds.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average FPS 52, no min/max data. This is the only 4K preset that is consistently playable, though it requires significant graphical compromises.
• Medium: Average FPS 40, minimum 34, maximum 47. The minimum FPS suggests noticeable drops during intense action.
• High: Average FPS 37, no min/max data. This is below playable thresholds and should be avoided.
• Ultra: Average FPS 23, no min/max data. This is effectively a slideshow and is not viable for gameplay.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each resolution step up from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 30% of performance, and each step from 1440p to 4K costs another 40%. The Medium preset provides the most balanced experience, with the minimum FPS data showing that frame pacing remains stable even at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset is the worst performer, and the data suggests that this setting is intended for future hardware, not the GTX 1070.