Greedfall

Greedfall, a 2019 Action RPG, presents an interesting test for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER combination. This pairing of a modern, high-core-count processor with an older, mid-range Turing graphics card yields a combination that ranks 1026th out of 1705 tested combos in this specific title, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The performance profile is typical of a system where the graphics card is the primary bottleneck, a conclusion supported by the measured frame rate data across various resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination's rank of 1026 out of 1705 combos indicates that while it is not a top-tier performer, it is by no means an outlier at the bottom. This position is a direct consequence of the significant generational gap between the CPU and GPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a powerhouse, sitting in the 97th percentile among all CPUs, but its potential is heavily constrained by the RTX 2070 SUPER, which only reaches the 65th percentile among all GPUs. The data suggests that this pairing is heavily imbalanced for a game like Greedfall, where the GPU's capabilities in rendering and pixel throughput will define the experience. In essence, the processor is waiting on the graphics card to deliver frames, a dynamic that is clearly visible in the FPS metrics. The ranking is a reflection of the GPU's age and its position relative to contemporary hardware, rather than any deficiency in the CPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provides the computational backbone for this system. With 20 cores and 20 threads, it offers substantial multi-threading capacity, which is reflected in its strong synthetic benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 50009 and a Passmark multithread score of 58838. Its high boost clock of 5.50 GHz, up from a 3.90 GHz base, ensures that single-threaded performance is also robust, as seen in a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7060. This processor's architecture, built on a 3 nm process from TSMC, includes 30 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory, which aids in feeding data to the cores efficiently.

In the context of Greedfall, an Action RPG, this CPU is more than capable of handling the game's logic, AI, and physics calculations. The benchmark data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested. For instance, at 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 169.1, a figure that is far more likely to be constrained by the GPU's ability to process the frames than by the CPU's ability to issue draw calls. The processor's Passmark single-thread score of 4904 and its data compression score of 668420 further underscore its capability to handle complex instructions without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU's performance is so far ahead of the GPU in this pairing that its role is essentially to remain idle, waiting for the graphics card to catch up.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the decisive component in this analysis. Built on the 12 nm Turing architecture with the TU104 chip, it features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its compute capabilities are defined by 2560 shading units and a FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS. The card's boost clock of 1770 MHz, up from a 1605 MHz base, allows it to reach a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. These specifications, while respectable for its generation, place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, and it is now considered an end-of-life product.

The benchmark results for Greedfall show that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the primary constraint on performance. The GPU's average benchmark score of 22206 is closely matched by its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA RTX A400 with a deltaPct of -0.5% and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 with a deltaPct of 2.5%. This indicates that its performance level is well-established and predictable. In Greedfall, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's textures at 1080p and 1440p, but the card's raw shading and rasterization power limits the achievable frame rates, especially at higher settings and resolutions. The data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the FPS scales with resolution and settings in a manner consistent with a graphics-bound workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the combo's performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system performs well, delivering an average of 169.1 FPS at Low settings. This drops to 134.4 FPS at Medium and 122.1 FPS at High, before falling to 79.9 FPS at Ultra. These numbers show a clear progression, with the Ultra preset representing a significant 33% performance hit compared to High settings, indicating the heavy load that the highest quality assets place on the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease as expected. The system achieves 115.1 FPS at Low settings, which is a solid result, but this number declines to 92.2 FPS at Medium and 85.1 FPS at High. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops sharply to 53.4, a figure that is approaching the threshold where gameplay smoothness may be compromised. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at High settings results in a 30% reduction in performance, from 122.1 to 85.1 FPS, highlighting the increased pixel workload.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 2070 SUPER is clearly overburdened. The average FPS at Low settings is 71.1, which is playable, but the Medium preset yields 52.1 FPS, and High settings drop to 48.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the worst-case scenario, producing an average of just 31.2 FPS, which is below the standard for a smooth experience. The data shows a consistent pattern: the combo is capable of high refresh rate gaming at 1080p on lower presets, but struggles to maintain 60 FPS at 4K on anything above Medium settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the GPU-bound nature of this system. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 122.1 at 1080p to 85.1 at 1440p, and then to 48.6 at 4K. This represents a 30% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 43% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The total decrease from 1080p to 4K is approximately 60%, which aligns with the increase in pixel count, confirming that the graphics card is the limiting component.

At Low settings, the scaling is slightly different. The system achieves 169.1 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 115.1 FPS at 1440p (a 32% decrease) and then to 71.1 FPS at 4K (a 38% decrease from 1440p). The overall drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is about 58%. This pattern is consistent: as the resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become the primary constraints, and the CPU's performance headroom becomes irrelevant.

The data also shows that the delta between settings narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 89.2 FPS (from 169.1 to 79.9). At 4K, this difference shrinks to 39.9 FPS (from 71.1 to 31.2). This is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck; at lower resolutions, the CPU can push more frames, allowing the GPU to work harder and show a larger spread between settings. At 4K, the GPU is saturated even at Low settings, so the impact of increasing graphical fidelity is relatively smaller in absolute FPS terms but still significant in percentage. This behavior confirms that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the definitive performance limiter in this configuration for Greedfall.