Greedfall

Greedfall with the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 presents a clear picture: this is a 1080p and 1440p machine for this Action RPG, with 4K reserved only for those willing to drop settings significantly. The benchmark data shows a combo that is competent but not elite, ranking 2454th out of 3703 tested combinations. The most balanced experience is found at Medium settings, where frame pacing and average FPS align to deliver smooth gameplay without sacrificing visual fidelity.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows across three resolutions and four presets make the optimal settings path obvious. At 1920x1080, the Low preset hits 156 FPS average, which is excellent for high-refresh displays, but the Medium preset still delivers 122 FPS average with a minimum of 104 FPS, making it the superior choice for those who want both fluidity and better visuals. The jump to High at 1080p yields 111 FPS average, which is still playable, but the drop from Medium to High is only 9%, while the visual improvement may not justify losing that headroom. Ultra at 1080p falls to 71 FPS average, which is a significant 42% reduction from High, indicating the RTX 5060 starts to strain under the heaviest settings even at the lowest resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern repeats but with tighter margins. Medium preset provides 85 FPS average with a minimum of 72 FPS, which keeps the experience above the 60 FPS threshold for most of the time. High at 1440p drops to 77 FPS average, still acceptable, but the gap between Medium and High narrows to 10%, suggesting diminishing returns. Low at 1440p reaches 108 FPS average, offering a smoother experience for competitive play, though the visual downgrade is noticeable. Ultra at 1440p crashes to 49 FPS average, which is below the smooth-play threshold and should be avoided unless the user prioritizes maximum fidelity over responsiveness.

At 3840x2160, the data tells a stark story. Low preset manages 64 FPS average, which is the only 4K setting that stays above 60 FPS. Medium drops to 51 FPS average with a minimum of 43 FPS, and High falls to 46 FPS average. Ultra at 4K is nearly unplayable at 29 FPS average. The recommendation is clear: for 4K, use Low settings to maintain playability; for 1440p, Medium offers the best balance of performance and quality; for 1080p, Medium is the sweet spot, with High as a viable alternative for those who prefer better shadows and textures. The data does not support using Ultra at any resolution with this combo, as the lowest measured average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 71, which is above 60 but still a 36% penalty versus Medium.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a 24 MB shared L3 cache. These specifications indicate a strong multi-threaded performer, and the benchmark data supports this: the CPU scores 17984.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1810.5 in single-core. The average benchmark score is 35670, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, the Intel Core 7 250H scores 35728 (0.2% higher), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 scores 35719 (0.1% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 scores 35802 (0.4% higher). The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is effectively tied with these competitors, with a deltaPct of -0.1 to -0.4, meaning it is slightly slower but within noise.

In Greedfall, an Action RPG that relies on single-thread performance for game logic and AI, the Core Ultra 9 185H's single-core score of 1810.5 in Cinebench R23 is the more relevant metric. The game is not heavily multi-threaded, so the 22 threads are underutilized, but the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz helps maintain consistent frame delivery. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is not the bottleneck, as the GPU pushes 156 FPS. However, at 1080p Ultra, the FPS drops to 71, which is a 54% reduction, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU, and with a PassMark single-thread score of 3697, it does so adequately at all measured settings. The 45 W TDP is typical for a mobile processor, and the fact that the CPU maintains performance across resolutions without significant frame drops suggests it is not throttling under load.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with a die size of 181 mm² and 21,900 million transistors. It has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 2280 MHz, boosting to 2497 MHz, and the GPU offers 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. With 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FP32 performance is 19.18 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 119.9 GPixel/s. The GPU's benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3628 and a PassMark G3D score of 20891, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals show a tight grouping: the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26011 (1.2% lower, meaning the RTX 5060 is faster), while the AMD Radeon 860M scores 26401 (0.3% lower) and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 26421 (0.3% lower). The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 26553, which is 0.8% higher than the RTX 5060.

In Greedfall, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p at all settings, but at 4K Ultra, the memory bandwidth and capacity become stressed, contributing to the 29 FPS average. The 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for the game's textures, but the 128-bit bus limits higher-resolution performance. The GPU's role is dominant in this combo: as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K at the same settings, the FPS drops significantly, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound scenarios. For example, at High settings, the FPS goes from 111 at 1080p to 77 at 1440p (a 31% drop) and then to 46 at 4K (a 40% further drop). This pattern confirms that the RTX 5060 is the primary limiter, not the CPU. The GPU's boost clock of 2497 MHz helps at lower resolutions, where the CPU can feed it frames faster, but at 4K, the raw compute and memory bandwidth are insufficient for high presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 2454th out of 3703 tested combos in Greedfall, placing it in the 66th percentile of all systems tested. This rank reflects a mid-tier position: it is not a top performer, but it is also far from the bottom. The combo's performance is constrained by the GPU, which, while capable at 1080p and 1440p, cannot handle 4K Ultra. The CPU's percentile of 85 is significantly higher than the GPU's percentile of 72, meaning the processor has more headroom than the graphics card. In practical terms, this means that upgrading the GPU would yield larger FPS gains than upgrading the CPU. The rank of 2454 suggests that many other combos with more powerful GPUs or better-balanced pairings outperform this one in Greedfall. However, for a mobile setup, the combination is reasonable, offering playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p across most settings. The data indicates that the combo is best suited for users who prioritize portability and are willing to adjust settings to achieve smooth gameplay, rather than those seeking maximum visual fidelity at high resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 156 at 1080p to 108 at 1440p (a 31% reduction) and then to 64 at 4K (a 41% further reduction). This steep decline is typical of a GPU that lacks the bandwidth and compute power to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions. At Medium settings, the drop is similar: 122 at 1080p, 85 at 1440p (a 30% reduction), and 51 at 4K (a 40% further reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the resolution scaling is independent of the preset, which is a sign that the GPU's memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) and 8 GB VRAM are the limiting factors. At High settings, the FPS goes from 111 to 77 to 46, with reductions of 31% and 40% respectively. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 71 at 1080p, 49 at 1440p (a 31% reduction), and 29 at 4K (a 41% further reduction). This pattern indicates that the GPU is consistently the bottleneck, as the CPU's performance does not change with resolution. The data shows that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with 1440p being acceptable at Medium or Low, and 4K only viable at Low. The scaling also implies that enabling upscaling technologies would be beneficial, though the data does not include such measurements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo's performance in Greedfall.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 156 FPS, which is the highest measured value across all resolutions and settings. The Medium preset delivers 122 FPS average, with a minimum of 104 FPS and a maximum of 141 FPS, showing stable frame pacing. The High preset drops to 111 FPS average, which is still smooth but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. The Ultra preset falls to 71 FPS average, a 54% reduction from Low, indicating that the GPU struggles with the highest settings even at 1080p. The minimum FPS data is only available for Medium, but the 104 FPS minimum suggests that frame drops are rare and the experience remains fluid.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 108 FPS, which is a 31% drop from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 85 FPS, with a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 98 FPS. This is the most balanced setting at 1440p, as the average stays above 60 FPS and the minimum does not dip below the playable threshold. The High preset averages 77 FPS, which is acceptable but shows a 10% reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset averages 49 FPS, which is below the smooth-play threshold and would result in noticeable stutter in combat-heavy scenes. The data shows that 1440p is viable, but users must choose between Medium for smoothness or High for better visuals, with a trade-off of 8 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 64 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS target, making it the only 4K setting that is playable. The Medium preset averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 43 FPS and a maximum of 58 FPS. The minimum of 43 FPS indicates that frame drops are more frequent, and the experience may feel inconsistent. The High preset averages 46 FPS, which is below 60 FPS and would be noticeable to most users. The Ultra preset averages 29 FPS, which is nearly unplayable and confirms that 4K Ultra is beyond the capabilities of this combo. The data shows a clear hierarchy: at 4K, only Low settings provide a consistently smooth experience, while Medium and above require compromises. The minimum FPS data for Low, High, and Ultra at 4K is not provided, but the averages alone indicate that 4K is not a primary use case for this system. The combination of the Core Ultra 9 185H and RTX 5060 is best utilized at 1080p with Medium to High settings, or at 1440p with Medium settings, based on the measured FPS values.