Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting stress profile for the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination. The measured data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but shows signs of CPU limitation at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across presets and resolutions, interprets the scaling patterns, and contextualizes the performance against the component specifications.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic shift in frame rates, indicating a clear change in the bottleneck. At 1080p with High settings, the combo achieves 163 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops performance to 113 FPS, a 30.7% reduction. Scaling further to 4K High yields 67 FPS, which is a 40.7% drop from 1440p and a 58.9% drop from 1080p. This steep decline as resolution increases is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario; the RTX 4080 is working progressively harder to fill the additional pixels.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is not purely GPU-limited. The jump from 1080p High (163 FPS) to 1440p High (113 FPS) shows a significant performance cost, but the 1080p result itself is high enough to suggest the CPU is keeping pace. However, comparing the scaling from Low to High settings provides more insight. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 228 FPS. This is a 39.9% increase over the 163 FPS at High. This substantial gain from lowering graphical load implies that at 1080p Low, the GPU has enough headroom to push well over 200 FPS, and the limiting factor may be shifting toward the CPU's ability to feed the frame. The Core Ultra 7 165H, with its 16 cores and 22 threads, is a capable mobile processor, but achieving over 200 FPS in a CPU-heavy title like an RPG can still present a challenge.

At 4K, the picture is much clearer. The RTX 4080 is the definitive bottleneck. The Ultra preset at 4K produces a playable but demanding 43 FPS, while dropping to Low settings at the same resolution yields 94 FPS. The fact that Low settings at 4K (94 FPS) are still slower than High settings at 1440p (113 FPS) confirms that the sheer pixel count is the primary constraint. The performance drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 40-41% across the High and Medium presets, indicating a consistent scaling factor related to the 2.25x increase in pixel count. This scaling pattern is typical and shows the GPU's fill-rate and memory bandwidth are the key factors at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear view of the performance-per-preset trade-off. For a smooth experience, the Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot. At 2560x1440, Medium delivers an average of 124 FPS with a minimum of 106 FPS, ensuring a stable frame time. At 1920x1080, Medium reaches 179 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The High preset is also viable, but the data shows a notable jump in cost. At 1440p, moving from Medium to High drops the average from 124 FPS to 113 FPS, a 8.9% decrease. At 4K, the Medium preset's 74 FPS average with a 63 FPS minimum is right at the edge of high-refresh-rate territory, whereas High drops to 67 FPS.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding and shows a significant performance penalty. At 1440p, Ultra yields 72 FPS, which is a 41.9% drop from the Medium preset's 124 FPS. At 1080p, Ultra averages 104 FPS, which is 41.9% lower than Medium's 179 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces settings that are disproportionately heavy on the GPU, such as high levels of anti-aliasing or shadow quality, without a proportional visual benefit for this particular title. For competitive or high-refresh-rate play at 1080p, the Low preset's 228 FPS is the top performer, but it will compromise visual fidelity. For a balanced experience, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best combination of visual quality and frame rate, providing a 124 FPS average that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS standard and has a high minimum of 106 FPS to prevent stutters.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to hit 60 FPS?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 67, which is above 60. However, for a more comfortable margin, the Medium preset at 4K provides 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 FPS. At 2560x1440, even the Ultra preset achieves 72 FPS, so all settings are viable at that resolution.

Q: How much of a performance hit does the Ultra preset take compared to Medium?

A: The penalty is consistent across resolutions. At 1920x1080, Ultra is 75 FPS slower than Medium (104 vs 179). At 2560x1440, the difference is 52 FPS (72 vs 124). At 3840x2160, the difference is 31 FPS (43 vs 74). This represents a roughly 42-58% reduction in average frame rate depending on resolution.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck for this game?

A: At 4K resolution, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, as evidenced by the 40% FPS drop from 1440p to 4K. At 1080p, the GPU still has a significant role, but the high frame rates (228 FPS on Low) suggest the CPU's processing of game logic and draw calls may start to become a secondary limiting factor, preventing the frame rate from scaling entirely with GPU load.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset?

A: The measured data includes minimum FPS only for the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 152 FPS. At 2560x1440, the minimum is 106 FPS. At 3840x2160, the minimum is 63 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations for Greedfall?

A: The combo ranks 1219 out of 3703 tested combinations. This places it in the upper third of all tested systems, indicating it is a high-performing setup for this specific game.

Q: Is the RTX 4080's 16 GB of VRAM sufficient for Greedfall?

A: The FACT PACK lists the GPU's memory size as 16 GB, but it does not include VRAM usage data for Greedfall. The benchmark results show playable performance, but whether the VRAM is fully utilized or not cannot be determined from the provided numbers.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table details the exact average FPS measurements for each resolution and settings combination. The minimum and maximum FPS are only provided for the Medium preset.

1920x1080

• Low: 228 FPS average.
• Medium: 179 FPS average, with a minimum of 152 FPS and a maximum of 206 FPS.
• High: 163 FPS average.
• Ultra: 104 FPS average.

2560x1440

• Low: 158 FPS average.
• Medium: 124 FPS average, with a minimum of 106 FPS and a maximum of 143 FPS.
• High: 113 FPS average.
• Ultra: 72 FPS average.

3840x2160

• Low: 94 FPS average.
• Medium: 74 FPS average, with a minimum of 63 FPS and a maximum of 85 FPS.
• High: 67 FPS average.
• Ultra: 43 FPS average.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, but the Medium preset provides a more stable experience with a guaranteed minimum frame rate. The High preset is a modest step down from Medium, while the Ultra preset incurs a steep performance cost. The jump from Low to Medium at 1080p is 49 FPS, a significant reduction that suggests a major increase in graphical effects. The step from High to Ultra is even more punishing, indicating that the Ultra preset includes features that are not well-optimized for the game engine.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all 3703 tested hardware combinations for Greedfall, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 1219. This places it in the 67th percentile of all tested systems, meaning it outperforms roughly two-thirds of the configurations in the database. This is a solid result, reflecting the strength of the RTX 4080 as a high-end GPU. The ranking is likely elevated by the GPU's performance, as the CPU's own benchmark scores are mid-pack compared to its rivals.

The GPU's percentile of 86 among all GPUs is high, and its average benchmark score of 54247 is closely matched by its nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, which has a deltaPct of only 0.1. This indicates that the RTX 4080 is a top-tier part. The CPU, with a percentile of 84, is also a strong performer, but its average benchmark score of 34083 is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350. The combo's rank of 1219 shows that while the individual components are strong, the overall system performance is not at the very top of the database, likely because other combinations feature even more powerful CPUs or are desktop systems with higher power limits. The data suggests that this mobile CPU and high-end desktop GPU pairing is well-balanced for this title, as the game seems to be primarily GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a mobile processor from the Meteor Lake architecture. It features 16 cores and 22 threads, with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU has a 24 MB shared L3 cache. In Greedfall, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but it becomes more relevant at 1080p. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the system can achieve 228 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU is capable of processing the game's logic at a very high rate.

However, the data does not show a direct correlation between CPU clock speed and FPS, as the CPU clocks are not variable in the measured results. The CPU's Cinebench R23 scores are 14551 for multi-core and 1759 for single-core, which are solid numbers for a mobile chip. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (deltaPct 0.3) and the AMD EPYC 4244P (deltaPct -0.4), indicating that this CPU sits in a competitive performance band. In Greedfall, the CPU is likely not the primary limiter, as the frame rate scaling from 1440p to 4K is consistent with a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.00 GHz helps ensure that single-threaded game logic does not become a major constraint, but the performance data suggests that the mobile CPU's power envelope (28 W TDP) is sufficient for this game's demands.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, it provides a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. Its boost clock is 2505 MHz, and it has a massive 9728 shading units. The GPU's benchmark scores are exceptional, with a passmark G3D score of 34457 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567. This hardware is clearly designed for high-resolution gaming, and the measured FPS data confirms this.

The GPU is the primary driver of performance differences across settings. The 41% drop in FPS from 1440p to 4K at the High preset (113 to 67 FPS) is directly attributable to the increased pixel count that the GPU must render. The 16 GB VRAM is a significant asset, though the FACT PACK does not provide specific VRAM usage data for Greedfall. The GPU's closest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, with a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the 4080 is essentially performance-equivalent to its SUPER variant in synthetic benchmarks. The data shows that the RTX 4080 is the component that determines the upper limits of frame rates in this game. The Ultra preset's poor performance (43 FPS at 4K) is a clear sign that the GPU is being pushed to its limits by the game's most demanding settings, which likely include heavy use of ray tracing or high-resolution textures. The GPU's 320 W TDP and triple-slot design indicate it is a high-power desktop part, and its performance in Greedfall is consistent with that positioning.