Greedfall

# Greedfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + Intel Arc B580

The benchmark data for Greedfall with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Intel Arc B580 reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions but shows distinct bottlenecks depending on the graphics preset. At 1080p, the combination delivers playable framerates across all settings, with the Ultra preset dropping to 67 FPS average from a Low preset peak of 147 FPS. Moving to 1440p, the average framerates compress into a tighter band—from 46 FPS at Ultra to 102 FPS at Low—while 4K presents the greatest challenge, where only the Low preset manages to stay above 60 FPS with a 61 FPS average. The measured data suggests this pairing is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but 4K Ultra settings push the system to its limits at 28 FPS average.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K follows an expected pattern but reveals important details about where the bottleneck lies. At High settings, the average framerate drops from 105 FPS at 1080p to 73 FPS at 1440p—a 30% reduction—then further to 43 FPS at 4K, representing another 41% drop from the 1440p figure. This progressive decline indicates that the Intel Arc B580's rendering capabilities become increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, with the GPU, not the CPU, emerging as the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The Low preset tells a similar story with steeper absolute declines. Starting at 147 FPS in 1080p, the framerate falls to 102 FPS at 1440p and then to 61 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is particularly telling: a 61 FPS average suggests the GPU is still capable of maintaining playable framerates even at the highest resolution when graphical load is minimized, but headroom is nearly exhausted. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Low settings—86 FPS difference—demonstrates how dramatically resolution alone can impact performance on this hardware.

Medium settings show the most consistent scaling pattern, with 115 FPS at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. The 1440p result includes a minimum of 68 FPS and maximum of 92 FPS, indicating some variance but generally stable performance. Ultra settings, however, exhibit the steepest relative drops: from 67 FPS at 1080p to 46 FPS at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 28 FPS at 4K (a 39% further reduction). The 4K Ultra result at 28 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below the generally accepted threshold for smooth gameplay.

What the data implies is that the Arc B580's 12 GB of VRAM and 456.0 GB/s memory bandwidth become increasingly relevant as resolution climbs. At 4K, the GPU's 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for Ultra settings, where the 28 FPS average suggests the rendering pipeline is saturated. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at every preset shows a consistent 35-40% performance penalty, which points to memory bandwidth and pixel throughput as the primary constraints rather than any CPU limitation.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K brings substantial processing power to this pairing, with 20 cores and 20 threads running at a base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This Arrow Lake architecture chip, built on a 3 nm process from TSMC, ranks in the 94th percentile against all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 70879. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P at 71051 (0.2% slower), the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 at 71370 (0.7% slower), the Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70163 (1% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F at 69996 (1.3% faster). This positioning suggests the 265K is a high-end desktop processor that should not bottleneck most gaming workloads.

In Greedfall specifically, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU across all measured configurations. The evidence lies in the resolution scaling: if the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect framerates to remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU workload (draw calls, physics, game logic) stays constant while GPU load grows. Instead, the data shows framerates dropping by roughly 30-40% at each resolution step, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. At 1080p Low settings, the 147 FPS average suggests the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently to reach high framerates, but the 105 FPS at 1080p High (a 29% reduction) indicates that GPU rendering load, not CPU throughput, is the constraint.

The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth provide ample data delivery for game assets, but Greedfall's 2019 release date means it likely does not heavily utilize the 265K's modern features. The processor's passmark single-thread score of 4928 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2020 indicate strong single-threaded performance, which matters for older game engines that may not scale well across many cores. However, with 20 threads available, even a poorly optimized game engine would struggle to bottleneck this CPU in a GPU-bound title like Greedfall at higher resolutions.

The 125 W TDP and 17,800 million transistors suggest a power-efficient design that maintains high clock speeds without thermal throttling, which is beneficial for sustained gaming sessions. The data shows no evidence of CPU-related framerate instability—the minimum FPS figures recorded for Medium settings (98 at 1080p, 68 at 1440p, 41 at 4K) are all within reasonable ranges of their respective averages, indicating consistent frame delivery rather than CPU-induced hitches.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B580 is the decisive component in this system's Greedfall performance. Built on the Xe2-HPG architecture with the BMG-G21 chip on a 5 nm process from TSMC, this GPU packs 19,600 million transistors across a 272 mm² die. Its 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs provide the raw compute resources, while 20 ray tracing cores add modern rendering capabilities. The GPU operates at a fixed clock speed of 2670 MHz for both base and boost, with memory running at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus for 456.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark positioning shows it sits in the 68th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23021. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP at 23061 (0.2% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 22895 (0.6% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at 23172 (0.7% slower), and the NVIDIA P106-100 at 23249 (1% slower). This clustering around the 23000 score range indicates the B580 performs similarly to several previous-generation high-end cards, though the RTX 3080 comparison is notable given that card's much higher power draw and older architecture.

In Greedfall, the GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory proves adequate even at 4K, but the compute throughput becomes the limiting factor at higher settings. The 13.67 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 427.2 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming across all presets, as evidenced by the 46-147 FPS range at 1440p and below. However, at 4K Ultra, the 28 FPS average reveals that the GPU's pixel throughput (213.6 GPixel/s) and shading capacity cannot handle the increased resolution combined with maximum graphical fidelity.

The GPU's 190 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x8 interface suggest it is designed for mainstream systems, and the measured data confirms this positioning. The standard deviation in framerates, visible in the Medium preset ranges (98-133 at 1080p, 68-92 at 1440p, 41-55 at 4K), shows generally stable performance with acceptable variance. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure it can fully utilize modern rendering APIs in Greedfall, which was released in 2019 and likely benefits from these newer technologies.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Greedfall at 1080p with high settings?

A: Yes, the measured data shows a 105 FPS average at 1920x1080 with High settings, which provides smooth gameplay well above standard display refresh rates.

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

A: The data indicates 2560x1440 at High settings delivers a 73 FPS average, balancing visual quality with performance. At 1440p, even Low settings reach 102 FPS, while 4K only achieves playable framerates (61 FPS) at Low settings.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B580 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this game?

A: The B580's average benchmark score of 23021 places it within 1% of the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (23061), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172), suggesting similar overall performance capabilities, though the measured FPS data is specific to this game.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Greedfall?

A: No, the resolution scaling data shows framerates dropping consistently as resolution increases, which indicates GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking and 20 cores provide ample headroom for this game's workloads.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this combination?

A: Only with reduced settings. The measured 4K results show 61 FPS at Low, 48 FPS at Medium, 43 FPS at High, and 28 FPS at Ultra settings, meaning 4K is only recommended for Low or possibly Medium presets depending on the player's framerate tolerance.

Q: What is the framerate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce a 147 FPS average while Ultra produces 67 FPS, representing a 54% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to highest preset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for Greedfall with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Intel Arc B580 across all resolutions and settings is as follows:

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Low preset achieves a 61 FPS average, Medium reaches 48 FPS with a minimum of 41 and maximum of 55, High delivers 43 FPS, and Ultra drops to 28 FPS. No minimum or maximum values were recorded for Low, High, or Ultra presets in the dataset.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), Low produces 102 FPS average, Medium achieves 80 FPS with a range of 68 to 92, High reaches 73 FPS, and Ultra delivers 46 FPS. As with 4K, minimum and maximum values are only available for the Medium preset.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), Low provides 147 FPS average, Medium delivers 115 FPS with a range of 98 to 133, High reaches 105 FPS, and Ultra achieves 67 FPS. The Medium preset again provides the only min/max data points.

These measurements reveal a consistent pattern: Medium settings offer the most complete performance data, suggesting it may be the most commonly tested configuration. The framerate deltas between presets are largest at 1080p (80 FPS between Low and Ultra) and narrowest at 4K (33 FPS between Low and Ultra), confirming that higher resolutions compress the performance envelope as the GPU becomes the dominant constraint.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired framerate. For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 105 FPS average represents an excellent balance, providing substantial visual improvements over Low's 147 FPS while maintaining framerates well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 67 FPS is also playable but offers diminishing returns for the 38 FPS sacrifice compared to High.

At 1440p, the High preset's 73 FPS average is the recommended choice for most players, as it stays above 60 FPS while delivering good visual quality. The Medium preset at 80 FPS provides a safety margin for demanding scenes, while Ultra at 46 FPS falls below ideal smoothness. For players who prioritize framerate over visuals, Low at 102 FPS offers a high-refresh-rate experience.

For 4K, the data suggests that only Low settings (61 FPS) provide consistently playable performance, while Medium at 48 FPS and High at 43 FPS may be acceptable for players tolerant of lower framerates. The Ultra preset at 28 FPS is not recommended for gameplay, as the 41-55 FPS range observed at Medium settings indicates that even modest graphical increases cause significant performance degradation at this resolution.

The Medium preset deserves special attention across all resolutions: at 1080p it delivers 115 FPS (98 minimum), at 1440p 80 FPS (68 minimum), and at 4K 48 FPS (41 minimum). The minimum framerates suggest that Medium provides the most consistent experience, with less variance than other presets, making it a reliable choice for players who value stability over peak performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K combined with the Intel Arc B580 ranks 2787 out of 3703 tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in approximately the 25th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier positioning (68th percentile against all GPUs) rather than the CPU's high-end status (94th percentile against all CPUs), confirming that the Arc B580 is the performance-limiting component in this pairing.

The rank of 2787 out of 3703 means that 916 tested combinations (approximately 25%) perform worse, while 2786 combinations perform better. This places the system in the lower half of the database, which is consistent with the Arc B580's benchmark positioning near older high-end GPUs like the RTX 2080 and RTX 3080, but not at the level of modern flagship cards. The CPU's high percentile ranking does not translate to a higher combo rank because Greedfall is GPU-bound at the resolutions and settings tested.

The data implies that this combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers solid performance, rather than 4K gaming where it struggles at higher settings. Players with this hardware who want to improve their Greedfall experience would benefit more from upgrading the GPU than the CPU, as the 265K provides ample processing headroom for this title. The combo rank of 2787 serves as a useful reference point for understanding where this system sits relative to other configurations, and the measured FPS data provides concrete guidance for optimizing settings to achieve the best playable experience.