Greedfall

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a wide performance envelope in Greedfall, stretching from a 261 FPS average at 1080p Low to a 49 FPS average at 4K Ultra. This spread of over 200 frames per second highlights how dramatically the rendering load shifts between presets and resolutions, and where the bottleneck sits in this particular mobile configuration. The data shows a system that can obliterate the game at lower settings but gets brought to heel by the most demanding preset at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K reveals a steep and predictable performance curve, but the magnitude of the drop depends heavily on the graphics preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 261 FPS at 1920x1080 to 181 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of roughly 31%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields 108 FPS, which is 59% below the 1080p result. This indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is still doing substantial work at higher resolutions, though the CPU remains capable of feeding it enough frames to keep the experience fluid.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when moving to Medium settings. The 1080p Medium average of 205 FPS drops to 142 FPS at 1440p, a 31% decrease, and then to 85 FPS at 4K, a further 40% decline from the 1440p figure. The measured minimum and maximum frame rates at Medium provide additional context: at 1080p, the range is 174 to 236 FPS, while at 1440p it narrows to 121 to 163 FPS, and at 4K it compresses to 72 to 98 FPS. This tightening of the frame time variance as resolution increases suggests the GPU is becoming the primary limiter, smoothing out the spikes and dips that occur when the CPU can push ahead of the renderer.

High settings follow a similar trajectory but with steeper cliffs. The 186 FPS average at 1080p falls to 129 FPS at 1440p, a 31% drop, and then plummets to 77 FPS at 4K, which is 59% below the 1440p result. The most punishing scenario is Ultra, where the 1080p average of 119 FPS drops to 82 FPS at 1440p, a 31% reduction, and then collapses to 49 FPS at 4K, a 40% decline from 1440p. Notably, the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistently around 31% across all presets, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 40%, indicating a predictable scaling factor tied to pixel count rather than preset complexity.

The limiting component becomes clear when examining the 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS. This is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, and it does so by a significant margin. The RTX 5090 has a passmark G3D score of 39,650 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Yet even this hardware cannot maintain playable frame rates at 4K with every setting maxed out. The data suggests that Greedfall's Ultra preset contains settings that are disproportionately expensive at high pixel counts, likely related to shadow quality or post-processing effects that scale super-linearly with resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 40,642 and a single-core score of 5,737. The PassMark multithread score of 47,985 and single-thread score of 4,500 further confirm its capability. This processor sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 63,173, placing it just 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13790F and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX.

In Greedfall, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU has headroom. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 261 FPS, a figure that suggests the CPU is not the bottleneck at this point, as the RTX 5090 is capable of rendering frames faster than the game logic can update. However, the fact that the 1080p Low result is not substantially higher than the 1080p Medium result of 205 FPS indicates that the CPU is starting to impose limits on frame generation. The 27% difference between Low and Medium at 1080p narrows to 24% at 1440p and 21% at 4K, showing that the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes more heavily loaded.

The 20-core configuration with 20 threads means the processor has no hyper-threading, but it compensates with a high boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This combination is well-suited to Greedfall, which is a 2019 title that likely does not scale beyond a handful of threads. The data supports this interpretation: the PassMark physics score of 2,978 is relatively modest compared to the overall multithread score, suggesting that the processor's raw single-thread speed is more relevant for this game. The single-core Cinebench R23 score of 5,737 is a strong indicator that the CPU can keep up with the GPU at most settings, but the 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS suggests that even this processor's capabilities are insufficient to prevent the GPU from becoming the sole limiting factor.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s via DDR5 dual-channel support is adequate for feeding the GPU, but the 30 MB of shared L3 cache is a more critical resource for game performance. The data shows that the CPU's average benchmark score of 63,173 is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G and 0.2% below the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P185, indicating that it is competitive with other high-end mobile processors. However, the benchmark results alone do not tell the full story of gaming performance, and the measured FPS data in Greedfall suggests that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck except in the most extreme low-resolution, low-settings scenarios.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Greedfall with this hardware?*

A: The 2560x1440 Medium configuration provides the best balance, with an average FPS of 142 and a minimum of 121 FPS. This keeps the frame rate well above 60 FPS while offering higher visual fidelity than Low settings.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Greedfall?*

A: Yes, but with limitations. The 4K High preset achieves 77 FPS on average, and 4K Medium achieves 85 FPS, both of which are playable. However, the 4K Ultra preset drops to 49 FPS, which is below the ideal smoothness threshold.

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX has an average benchmark score of 63,173, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Core i7-13790F and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX. It is also 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G.

Q: What is the difference in frame rate between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 181 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 82 FPS. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings.

*Q: Does the RTX 5090's performance in Greedfall match its overall GPU ranking?*

A: The RTX 5090 is in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 79,842. In Greedfall, it achieves 77 FPS at 4K High, which is a strong result but not exceptional for a GPU of this class, indicating the game is not fully optimized for the latest hardware.

Q: Are there any settings where the frame rate exceeds 200 FPS?

A: Yes, the 1080p Low preset averages 261 FPS, and the 1080p Medium preset averages 205 FPS. These are the only two configurations in the measured data that exceed the 200 FPS mark.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance ranges from 261 FPS on Low to 119 FPS on Ultra. The High preset averages 186 FPS, while Medium averages 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS and a maximum of 236 FPS. The gap between Low and High is 75 FPS, and the gap between High and Ultra is 67 FPS. This resolution is clearly GPU-bound at all settings, as even the most demanding preset produces frame rates well above what most displays can show.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop across the board: Low produces 181 FPS, High produces 129 FPS, Medium produces 142 FPS with a minimum of 121 FPS and a maximum of 163 FPS, and Ultra produces 82 FPS. The ordering of presets remains consistent, but the relative differences shrink slightly. The Low-to-High gap is 52 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is 47 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p is particularly noteworthy because it is only 13 FPS slower than High but provides better visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low averages 108 FPS, Medium averages 85 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 98 FPS, High averages 77 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS. The Low-to-High gap is 31 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra gap is 28 FPS. The 4K Medium result of 85 FPS is the only configuration at this resolution that clears the 80 FPS mark, while 4K Ultra is the only configuration across all resolutions and settings that falls below 60 FPS.

The data reveals an interesting anomaly: at every resolution, the High preset is slower than Medium. At 1080p, the difference is 19 FPS; at 1440p, it is 13 FPS; at 4K, it is 8 FPS. This suggests that the High preset may enable certain effects that are disabled at Medium, or that the preset naming does not correspond to a simple linear progression of quality settings. The measured minimum and maximum frame rates are only available for the Medium preset, but they show a consistent pattern: the range narrows as resolution increases, from 62 FPS at 1080p to 42 FPS at 1440p and 26 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 813th out of 3,703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the top 22% of all configurations. This rank reflects the overall performance across all measured settings and resolutions, and it is a strong showing for a mobile CPU paired with a flagship mobile GPU. The rank is likely held back by the 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS, which is a significant outlier compared to the rest of the data.

The GPU's individual benchmark scores support the strong combo ranking. The RTX 5090 has a PassMark G3D score of 39,650, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB and 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18,355 further validates its performance. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, combined with the GPU's 92nd percentile, suggests that this combo is well-matched in terms of overall capability.

However, the combo rank of 813 indicates that there are 812 other configurations that perform better in Greedfall specifically. This is not surprising given that the game is from 2019 and may not take full advantage of the latest hardware features. The data shows that the combo's performance is strongest at lower resolutions, where the CPU's high boost clock and the GPU's raw throughput combine to produce exceptional frame rates. At higher resolutions, the combo's rank likely suffers as the GPU becomes the limiting factor and the game's engine struggles to maintain efficiency at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, the 1080p Low preset at 261 FPS is the clear choice, though this sacrifices most of the visual fidelity that Greedfall offers. A more balanced approach at 1080p is the Medium preset, which delivers 205 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS, ensuring no noticeable dips even in demanding scenes. The 1080p High preset at 186 FPS is also viable, but the 19 FPS advantage of Medium over High suggests that the Medium preset offers better performance without a commensurate loss in quality.

At 1440p, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, with an average of 142 FPS and a minimum of 121 FPS. This configuration provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and maintains smooth frame pacing, as evidenced by the 42 FPS range between minimum and maximum. The High preset at 129 FPS is also playable, but the 13 FPS gap to Medium makes it less attractive. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is acceptable for players who want maximum quality, but the 60 FPS drop from Medium is significant.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 85 FPS is the best option, offering a solid experience above the 60 FPS threshold with a minimum of 72 FPS. The High preset at 77 FPS is also playable, but the 8 FPS difference to Medium suggests that Medium provides better value in terms of frame rate. The Low preset at 108 FPS is the highest-performing 4K option, but it diminishes the purpose of playing at such a high resolution. The Ultra preset at 49 FPS is not recommended, as the frame rate falls below 60 FPS and the minimum frame rate is likely to cause noticeable stuttering.

The overall best experience across all resolutions is the 1440p Medium configuration, which delivers 142 FPS average with a minimum of 121 FPS. This combination of resolution and settings offers a high level of visual detail while maintaining frame rates that are smooth on high-refresh-rate displays. The 1080p Medium preset is the best choice for players with 240Hz monitors, while the 4K Medium preset is the most sensible option for those with 4K displays who refuse to compromise on resolution.