Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that clearly separates capable hardware from the rest. The measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the Intel Arc B390 reveals a configuration that is severely constrained by its graphics component, resulting in a playability profile that is limited to lower resolutions and settings. The benchmark results indicate a system where the CPU's substantial processing power is largely left on the table, as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck across most scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which settings presets deliver a playable experience versus which ones are purely aspirational. At 1920x1080, the Low preset is the only setting that provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, achieving an average of 84 FPS. The Medium preset also crosses the 60 FPS line with an average of 66 FPS and a minimum of 56 FPS, making it a viable choice for those seeking a balance between visual fidelity and performance. The High preset sits exactly at the 60 FPS average mark, but the lack of a recorded minimum suggests it may dip below this level during intense scenes, making it a riskier proposition for consistent smoothness. The Ultra preset, with an average of 38 FPS, is not suitable for fluid gameplay at this resolution.

Moving up to 2560x1440, the performance envelope tightens considerably. The Low preset is the only option that approaches acceptable playability, with an average of 58 FPS. The Medium preset drops to an average of 46 FPS, which is playable but will exhibit noticeable stutter in action-heavy moments. The High preset averages 42 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27 FPS, making both unsuitable for a responsive experience. At 3840x2160, the situation is dire for this combo. Even the Low preset only manages an average of 35 FPS, while Medium and High sit at 27 and 25 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at 16 FPS. The data strongly suggests that for the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1080p is the optimal choice, offering a 66 FPS average with a recorded minimum of 56 FPS, which represents the best playable experience this hardware combination can deliver while still providing a moderate level of graphical detail.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations for Greedfall, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and the Intel Arc B390 holds a rank of 2595 out of 2938 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 12% of all configurations, a position that highlights its significant performance limitations in this particular title. The data indicates that the overwhelming majority of other hardware combinations tested are capable of delivering higher frame rates. This low ranking is a direct consequence of the graphics card's performance profile, which is the limiting factor in this pairing. The CPU, as its own benchmark scores suggest, is a high-performance part, but its capabilities are effectively neutralized by the GPU in a gaming scenario like this. This ranking serves as a strong indicator that while the processor is a top-tier component, the overall system is not well-suited for demanding modern games like Greedfall at higher settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is a mobile-class integrated graphics processor based on the Xe3-LPG architecture. Its performance in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, a score of 1482, places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, which is a very low standing. The nearest rivals in the database are all older, low-end dedicated graphics cards, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (score 1463, 1.3% slower) and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (score 1460, 1.5% slower). This comparison firmly establishes the B390's performance tier as being far below that of any modern discrete gaming GPU. A key characteristic of this GPU is its memory configuration; it uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and instead relies on the system's main memory. The bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which means its performance is heavily influenced by the speed and configuration of the host system's DDR5 RAM. The GPU's clock speeds are 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost, which are respectable for an integrated part, but they are insufficient to overcome the fundamental limitations of sharing system memory and having a low overall compute throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS FP32. The combination of low compute power, shared memory, and a 9th percentile ranking directly explains the sub-60 FPS performance seen in Greedfall at most settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The FPS measurements for this combination show a consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution and graphical settings increase. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 84 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. The Medium preset averages 66 FPS with a minimum of 56 FPS and a maximum of 76 FPS, showing a playable range. The High preset averages 60 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops significantly to an average of 38 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 58 FPS, a substantial drop from its 1080p counterpart. The Medium preset averages 46 FPS with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS. The High preset averages 42 FPS, and Ultra falls to 27 FPS. The performance at this resolution indicates that the GPU is struggling to maintain fluid frame rates even on lower settings.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes critically low. The Low preset averages 35 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset averages 27 FPS with a minimum of 23 FPS and a maximum of 32 FPS. The High preset averages 25 FPS, and the Ultra preset plummets to an average of 16 FPS. These numbers confirm that 4K gaming is not a viable option for this hardware in Greedfall, as even the lowest settings fail to produce a consistently playable frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal a classic GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 on the Low preset, the average FPS falls from 84 to 58, a reduction of roughly 31%. This is a significant drop, but it is expected as the pixel count increases by about 78%. However, the frame rate does not drop proportionally, which is an interesting data point. A purely GPU-limited workload would see a more linear relationship with pixel count.

The most telling data comes from comparing the Low preset at 1080p (84 FPS) with the Low preset at 4K (35 FPS). This represents a 58% reduction in frame rate for a 4x increase in pixel count. This disproportionate drop strongly indicates that the system is not purely GPU-bound at lower resolutions. If it were, the frame rate would scale more predictably with the pixel count. The fact that the frame rate collapses at 4K suggests that the GPU is hitting a hard architectural or memory bandwidth wall. The reliance on System Shared memory for the GPU is a likely culprit; at 4K, the demand for memory bandwidth increases dramatically, and the shared memory bus becomes a severe bottleneck, causing the performance to plummet far more than the pixel count alone would suggest. This indicates that while the GPU is the primary limiting factor at all resolutions, its inefficiency becomes dramatically more pronounced at higher resolutions due to memory constraints, preventing the otherwise powerful CPU from providing any meaningful assistance.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a formidable processor, featuring 24 cores and 24 threads based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. Its benchmark scores are exceptionally high, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44253 and a single-core score of 2439. It also achieves a Passmark single-thread score of 5068, placing it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals to this CPU are high-end server processors like the Intel Xeon 6520P (0% delta) and AMD EPYC 4564P (-1.5% delta), which underscores its position as a top-tier performer in synthetic benchmarks.

However, the gaming data for Greedfall tells a different story. Despite this immense processing power, the measured FPS in the game is consistently low. This is because the game's performance is not limited by the CPU's ability to process game logic or physics, but by the GPU's ability to render frames. In this configuration, the GPU is so underpowered that the CPU is left effectively idle, waiting for the graphics card to finish its work. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and other data. Given the GPU's low performance tier, it cannot consume data fast enough to utilize the CPU's high throughput. The fact that the same CPU is ranked 96th percentile while the combo is ranked in the 12th percentile in this game is a clear demonstration of this bottleneck. The CPU is a high-performance part, but its capabilities are entirely wasted in this pairing for gaming, as the GPU cannot translate that CPU power into higher frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset to use for this CPU and GPU combo in Greedfall?

A: The data shows that the Medium preset at 1920x1080 provides the best playable experience, with an average of 66 FPS and a minimum of 56 FPS. This is the highest settings level that maintains an average above 60 FPS and a minimum above 50 FPS.

Q: How does this system's overall performance in Greedfall compare to other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 2595 out of 2938 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems. This indicates that the vast majority of other hardware configurations tested for this game deliver higher frame rates.

Q: Is this system capable of running Greedfall at 4K resolution?

A: No, the measured data shows that 4K performance is not viable. At 3840x2160, even the Low preset only achieves an average of 35 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset is unplayable at 16 FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus CPU the bottleneck in this system for Greedfall?

A: No, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The Intel Arc B390 GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU is a top-tier processor (96th percentile), but the GPU's performance is so low that it cannot keep up, preventing the CPU from reaching its full potential in this game.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad. Its nearest rivals are all older, low-end NVIDIA GPUs, such as the GeForce GT 520MX, which is 1.3% slower, and the GeForce 800M, which is 1.5% slower. This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the impact of the GPU's memory configuration on performance?

A: The Intel Arc B390 uses System Shared memory instead of dedicated VRAM. Its bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent." The data suggests this is a major issue, as performance drops disproportionately from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the shared memory bus becomes a severe bottleneck at higher resolutions.