Greedfall

Greedfall’s performance with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER shows a predictable but steep curve as resolution increases. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s headroom becomes apparent only at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured frames per second (FPS) across all settings and resolutions, contextualizes the combo’s standing among 2,938 tested combinations, and examines the specific roles of the processor and graphics card in shaping these results.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a dramatic reduction in frame rates, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 119 at 1080p to 83 at 1440p, a 30% decrease, and then falls further to 49 at 4K, which is 59% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU with an 8 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and a 256-bit bus, as the pixel throughput demand at 4K overwhelms the card’s compute capabilities.

The scaling becomes even more pronounced when comparing Low settings across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 167 FPS, which drops to 116 at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 69 at 4K (a 59% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across both High and Low settings suggests that the GPU’s rasterization throughput, rather than memory bandwidth or CPU overhead, is the dominant constraint. The gap between 1440p and 4K remains nearly identical in percentage terms, indicating that the RTX 2070 SUPER’s 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K, regardless of how light the settings are.

At Ultra settings, the bottleneck is even more severe. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is just 31, which is 59% lower than the 76 FPS achieved at 1080p Ultra. This suggests that the combination of highest quality assets and 4K resolution places an insurmountable load on the GPU, pushing it to its absolute limits. Interestingly, the gap between Medium and High settings at each resolution is relatively small (e.g., 54 vs. 49 FPS at 4K), while the jump from High to Ultra causes a massive 37% drop at 4K (49 to 31 FPS). This non-linear scaling indicates that Ultra presets introduce effects or texture loads that disproportionately tax the card’s 8 GB memory capacity and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The data also shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. At 1080p Low, where CPU overhead typically becomes more visible, the system still delivers 167 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Core Ultra 7 265’s 20 cores and 20 threads, combined with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide ample headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The bottleneck analysis is clear: resolution scaling is entirely governed by the RTX 2070 SUPER’s performance envelope, with the CPU contributing negligible variance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and playability is found at Medium settings for 1440p and 1080p, while High settings are more appropriate for 4K if frame rate is prioritized. At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 131 FPS average, which is 12% higher than High (119 FPS) and only 22% lower than Low (167 FPS). The min FPS of 112 at Medium also indicates a stable experience, whereas the Ultra preset drops to 76 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter in a fast-paced action RPG. For competitive or high-refresh-rate monitors, Low settings at 1080p (167 FPS) is the only option that fully utilizes a 144Hz display, but Medium provides a more visually rich experience without sacrificing fluidity.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings (91 FPS average, 77 min) are the clear recommendation. High settings (83 FPS) are acceptable but offer a marginal 9% reduction in frame rate for a modest visual gain. Ultra at 1440p (53 FPS) is too demanding for consistent play, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for a smooth action RPG. Low settings at 1440p (116 FPS) are viable for players who prioritize frame rate over graphics, but the jump from Low to Medium only costs 25 FPS (from 116 to 91) while providing substantially better textures and lighting.

For 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. High settings (49 FPS) is the highest preset that remains playable, though it sits below 60 FPS. Medium settings (54 FPS) offer a slight improvement but do not cross the 60 FPS barrier either. Low settings (69 FPS) is the only preset that achieves a smooth 60+ FPS experience at 4K, making it the recommended choice for players with 4K displays who cannot tolerate sub-60 FPS. Ultra at 4K (31 FPS) is effectively unplayable, and the data suggests that this combination is not suited for maximum quality at 4K. The measured min FPS of 46 at 4K Medium further underscores the instability at this resolution, as the GPU struggles to maintain consistent frame pacing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1,672 out of 2,938 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 57th percentile of all systems measured. This is a middling result, reflecting the GPU’s age relative to newer cards. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 20,282 places it in the 65th percentile among all GPUs, but its nearest rivals—the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480 score, -1% delta), the RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534 score, -1.2% delta), and the Intel Arc B570 (20,556 score, -1.3% delta)—are all within 1.5% of its performance. This clustering suggests that the 2070 SUPER is at the edge of a performance tier, and any modern mid-range card would likely outperform it by a wider margin in Greedfall’s specific workload.

The CPU, on the other hand, is a top-tier component. The Core Ultra 7 265’s average benchmark score of 64,640 places it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals like the AMD EPYC 4464P (64,823 score, -0.3% delta) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64,438 score, +0.3% delta) showing that it sits at the apex of consumer desktop performance. However, this CPU strength does not translate into a high combo rank because Greedfall is GPU-bound, as evidenced by the FPS scaling. The combo’s rank of 1,672 is likely dragged down by the GPU, meaning that a system with the same CPU but a faster graphics card would rank significantly higher.

The delta between the combo’s rank and the GPU’s percentile (65th) versus the CPU’s percentile (93rd) illustrates that the overall system performance is constrained by the weakest link. In this case, the RTX 2070 SUPER, with its end-of-life production status and Turing architecture, is the bottleneck. The data does not show any CPU-related stutters or frame drops, so the combo rank is purely a reflection of the GPU’s inability to push higher frame rates at the tested settings. For a 2019-era GPU, this ranking is expected, but it also highlights that upgrading the graphics card would yield a disproportionate improvement in Greedfall performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best results. Low settings achieve 167 FPS average, which is the highest recorded across all configurations. Medium settings drop to 131 FPS (112 min, 151 max), High settings come in at 119 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 76 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 91 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU have significant headroom at this resolution, and the player can choose between maximum frame rate and maximum visual quality. The min FPS of 112 at Medium shows that even the lowest frames are well above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS values are 116 (Low), 91 (Medium, 77 min, 105 max), 83 (High), and 53 (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 25 FPS, while the drop from Medium to High is only 8 FPS, suggesting that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for balancing quality and performance. The Ultra preset’s 53 FPS is a 42% reduction from High, which is a steep penalty for the highest settings. The min FPS of 77 at Medium is still respectable, but the 53 FPS average at Ultra will likely result in visible frame pacing issues on a 60Hz display.

At 3840x2160, the results are more challenging. Low settings average 69 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS (46 min, 63 max), High averages 49 FPS, and Ultra averages 31 FPS. The min FPS of 46 at Medium is below the 60 FPS mark, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain a consistent frame rate even at medium quality. The gap between Low and Medium is 15 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is only 5 FPS, showing that the GPU’s performance curve flattens as it approaches its limits. Ultra at 31 FPS is nearly unplayable, and the data suggests that 4K is only viable with Low settings for a stable experience.

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: Low settings always provide a playable frame rate, Medium settings are acceptable at 1080p and 1440p but marginal at 4K, High settings are only recommended at 1080p, and Ultra settings are only viable at 1080p. The min and max FPS values, where recorded, show that Medium settings have the tightest variance (e.g., 112-151 at 1080p, 77-105 at 1440p, 46-63 at 4K), which suggests that this preset avoids the extreme frame time spikes seen at other quality levels.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture (TU104 chip) using a 12 nm process at TSMC, with 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. It features 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, along with 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. Its base clock is 1605 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and it has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card’s FP32 performance is rated at 9.062 TFLOPS, and its pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s, with a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s.

In Greedfall, the GPU’s 8 GB memory capacity is a likely limiting factor at Ultra settings, particularly at 4K, where the 31 FPS average suggests that the card is running out of memory or bandwidth. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for 4K Ultra textures, which is why the drop from High to Ultra is so severe (49 to 31 FPS at 4K). The card’s 12 nm process node, which is older than the CPU’s 3 nm node, contributes to its higher power draw (215 W TDP) and lower performance per watt, but this is not directly measurable in the FPS data.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reflect its mid-range standing. Its Passmark G3D score of 18,169 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 83,358 are consistent with its 65th percentile ranking. The nearest rivals—the Quadro M4000M, RTX 3070 Mobile, and Arc B570—all score within 1.5% of the 2070 SUPER, confirming that it is at the bottom of a performance tier that has been surpassed by newer cards. The RTX 2070 SUPER’s end-of-life status means that it lacks the architectural advantages of newer GeForce 30-series cards, such as improved ray tracing and DLSS, which could help in Greedfall’s more demanding scenes. However, the data shows that at 1080p Medium, the card is still capable of delivering a high frame rate, and its 40 RT cores are underutilized in this game, which likely uses traditional rasterization.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture (Arrow Lake-S), manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, and it has integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 32 execution units, though this is irrelevant for discrete GPU gaming.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is minimal, as evidenced by the FPS scaling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 167 FPS, which is close to the GPU’s maximum output at that resolution. The CPU’s 20 threads are far more than what Greedfall can utilize, as the game is an Action RPG with moderate CPU demands. The processor’s high boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures that even single-threaded tasks, such as game logic and physics, are handled with ease. The CPU’s benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42,216 and a single-core score of 5,960, place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, but this power is untapped in this GPU-bound scenario.

The CPU’s nearest rivals—the AMD EPYC 4464P (64,823 score, -0.3% delta) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64,438 score, +0.3% delta)—are essentially identical in performance, confirming that the 265 is a top-tier desktop part. However, in Greedfall, the CPU’s performance is irrelevant to the frame rates, as the RTX 2070 SUPER is the bottleneck at all resolutions. The data shows no CPU-induced frame drops or stutters, and the consistent FPS across settings indicates that the processor is never starved for data. For players who upgrade the GPU in the future, the Core Ultra 7 265 would provide ample headroom to support faster graphics cards without becoming a limiting factor.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 Medium provides 131 FPS average (112 min, 151 max), offering a smooth experience with good visual quality. For 2560x1440, Medium (91 FPS) is recommended, while 3840x2160 requires Low settings (69 FPS) to maintain 60+ FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20,282, which is 1% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480), 1.2% lower than the RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534), and 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B570 (20,556). This places it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 a bottleneck for this GPU in Greedfall?

A: No. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 64,640 is in the 93rd percentile, and the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is entirely governed by the GPU. At 1080p Low, the system hits 167 FPS, showing no CPU limitation.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, High settings average 49 FPS, while Ultra settings average 31 FPS, a 37% reduction. This indicates that Ultra settings impose a severe load on the GPU’s 8 GB memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems in Greedfall?

A: The combo ranks 1,672 out of 2,938 tested combinations, placing it in the 57th percentile. This is lower than the CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking, confirming the GPU is the performance limiter.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium, and is it playable?

A: The minimum FPS at 2560x1440 Medium is 77, with an average of 91 FPS (max 105). This is above the 60 FPS threshold, ensuring a stable and playable experience.