Greedfall

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 delivers playable frame rates in Greedfall at 1080p and 1440p, but the combination struggles at 4K Ultra, where average performance drops to 26 FPS. This pairing ranks in the 21st percentile among all tested combos for this title, at position 2313 out of 2938, indicating that the RTX 2060 is the primary constraint in demanding scenarios. Benchmark results show a clear pattern: the CPU has ample headroom, while the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM and Turing architecture limit high-resolution performance.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep decline as resolution increases, with the gap between settings widening at higher pixel counts. At 1080p, the combo averages 138 FPS on Low, 109 FPS on Medium, 99 FPS on High, and 63 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, those figures drop to 96 FPS on Low, 75 FPS on Medium, 68 FPS on High, and 44 FPS on Ultra. At 4K, the averages fall further: 57 FPS on Low, 45 FPS on Medium, 41 FPS on High, and just 26 FPS on Ultra.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is dramatic. On High settings, the average FPS drops from 99 to 41, a reduction of 58 FPS. On Low, the drop is from 138 to 57, a loss of 81 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the CPU’s performance is largely unaffected by pixel count. The RTX 2060, with its 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 192-bit bus, simply cannot sustain high frame rates when pixel throughput demands quadruple.

The pattern also shows that the gap between Medium and High settings is smaller than the gap between High and Ultra. At 1080p, Medium averages 109 FPS while High averages 99 FPS, a 10 FPS difference. Ultra drops to 63 FPS, a 36 FPS loss from High. This trend holds at 1440p (75 to 68 to 44) and at 4K (45 to 41 to 26). The Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU, likely related to shadow quality or post-processing, pushing the RTX 2060 beyond its comfortable range.

At 4K, even Low settings only reach 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players prefer. The data suggests that 4K is only viable at Low settings for this combo, and even then, frame pacing may suffer in busy scenes. The 1440p results are more encouraging, with High hitting 68 FPS and Medium at 75 FPS, both smooth enough for most action RPG gameplay. At 1080p, the combo is well-suited for high refresh rate monitors on Medium or High, with Ultra still playable at 63 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the best experience hinges on the target resolution and the willingness to compromise visual fidelity. For 1080p, Medium settings deliver 109 FPS average with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 125 FPS. This preset offers a balance between visual quality and performance, providing a smooth experience without the heavy cost of Ultra. High at 1080p is also excellent at 99 FPS, but the 10 FPS gain from dropping to Medium is minimal compared to the 36 FPS loss when moving to Ultra.

At 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset, yielding 75 FPS average with a minimum of 64 FPS and maximum of 87 FPS. This keeps the frame rate above 60 FPS for the majority of gameplay, even during demanding sequences. High at 1440p averages 68 FPS, which is still playable, but the minimum FPS data is not provided, so there is risk of dips below 60. Ultra at 1440p drops to 44 FPS, which is noticeably less smooth and should be avoided unless visual quality takes precedence.

For 4K, the data is less forgiving. Low settings average 57 FPS, which is the only preset that approaches playability. Medium averages 45 FPS, High 41 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. Given the action RPG genre, which requires responsive combat, 4K is not recommended for this combo. If 4K is a must, Low settings are the only viable option, and even then, the experience will be marginal. The 1440p Medium preset appears to be the sweet spot, offering a balance that leverages the CPU’s strength while not overwhelming the GPU.

The measured FPS rows include minimum and maximum values only for Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 92 FPS indicates stable performance, while at 1440p Medium, the minimum of 64 FPS shows occasional dips but remains above 60. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 38 FPS, which confirms the GPU is struggling. These variance figures reinforce the recommendation for Medium at 1080p and 1440p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the decisive factor in this combo’s Greedfall performance. With 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, the card offers 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The base clock is 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1680 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications place the GPU in the 58th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (score 15283, delta 0%), AMD Radeon 680M (score 15270, delta 0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (score 15199, delta 0.6%), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (score 15171, delta 0.8%). The RTX 2060 outperforms all of these by a small margin, but the differences are within 1%.

The GPU’s Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, includes 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. It also features 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, though Greedfall is not a ray tracing showcase, so these units likely have minimal impact on the measured results. The pixel rate is 80.64 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance at 6.451 TFLOPS. These numbers explain why the card performs adequately at 1080p but falls short at 4K, where the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become bottlenecks.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is a critical limitation. At 4K Ultra, the game likely exceeds this capacity, causing texture thrashing and the observed 26 FPS average. Even at 4K High, the VRAM pressure is evident with 41 FPS. The card’s memory bus width of 192 bits is narrower than higher-tier GPUs, which further constrains bandwidth at high resolutions. The RTX 2060’s TDP is 160 W, and it requires a 450 W suggested PSU, indicating it is a mid-range power draw, but that does not compensate for the VRAM shortfall.

The GPU’s end-of-life production status and 2019 release date mean it predates Greedfall’s 2019-09-09 launch by roughly eight months. The game’s engine appears to favor raw fill rate and memory capacity, which are not the RTX 2060’s strengths. Benchmark results show the card’s PassMark G3D score of 14111 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1242, but these synthetic tests do not fully capture the game-specific VRAM pressure seen at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Greedfall, this CPU-GPU pair ranks 2313 out of 2938 combos. This places it in the bottom 21% of all configurations, which is a low standing given the CPU’s high-end positioning. The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a flagship processor, but the RTX 2060 drags the overall result down. The combo rank reflects the GPU’s inability to keep pace with the CPU’s potential in this title.

The CPU alone sits in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84003. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (score 83807, delta 0.2%), AMD EPYC 4584PX (score 83090, delta 1.1%), AMD EPYC 9135 (score 82980, delta 1.2%), and AMD EPYC 7F72 (score 85072, delta -1.3%). This shows the 290K Plus is marginally faster than most rivals, but the GPU’s percentile of 58 and score of 15290 create a massive imbalance in gaming scenarios.

The rank of 2313 out of 2938 means that 625 other combos perform worse, but 2312 perform better. Given that the CPU is top-tier, the ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU. In Greedfall, which is not particularly CPU-intensive at lower resolutions, the RTX 2060 becomes the limiting factor. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a higher-end GPU would dramatically improve the combo rank, as the CPU has plenty of headroom. The deltaPct values for the CPU’s rivals are all under 1.3%, indicating that CPU choice has little impact on the final ranking compared to GPU selection.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. It has a 125 W TDP and uses the Intel Socket 1851. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This is built on a 3 nm process from TSMC, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. Memory support is DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 115.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is ample for gaming.

In Greedfall, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 138 FPS, which is close to the CPU’s practical limit for this title, but the RTX 2060 is still capable of higher frame rates in less demanding scenes. The CPU’s single-thread performance is strong, as shown by Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and PassMark single-thread score of 4823. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle the game’s main thread without bottlenecking.

The multi-threaded performance is exceptional, with Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and PassMark multithread score of 60860. However, Greedfall is not a heavily threaded game, so the 24 cores are underutilized. The CPU’s PassMark physics score of 3315 and integer math score of 166194 suggest that it can handle complex simulations, but these are unlikely to be the limiting factor in this game. The CPU’s percentile of 96 confirms it is among the fastest processors available, but the combo rank shows that raw CPU power does not translate to gaming performance when the GPU is weak.

The CPU’s boost clock of 5.80 GHz is key for maintaining high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios. At 1080p Medium, the combo hits 109 FPS, and the minimum of 92 FPS suggests the CPU is keeping frame times consistent. At 4K Low, the average of 57 FPS is well below what the CPU could deliver, proving the GPU is the bottleneck. The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s is sufficient for the game’s asset streaming, and the 36 MB L3 cache helps with data locality. Overall, the CPU is not a limiting factor in any measured scenario; the GPU is always the constraining component.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1080p is the most comfortable, with Medium settings averaging 109 FPS and High at 99 FPS. 1440p Medium averages 75 FPS, which is also playable, but 4K is not recommended as even Low only averages 57 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, which is 0% higher than the GTX 580 (15283), 0.1% higher than the Radeon 680M (15270), 0.6% higher than the RTX 3050 OEM (15199), and 0.8% higher than the RX 7600 (15171). These are all within 1% of each other.

Q: Why does 4K Ultra perform so poorly at 26 FPS?

A: The 4K Ultra preset likely exceeds the RTX 2060’s 6 GB VRAM capacity, causing memory pressure. The card’s 192-bit memory bus and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K Ultra demands, leading to the low average FPS.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus bottlenecking the RTX 2060?

A: No. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile with an average score of 84003, and its nearest rival, the Core Ultra 9 285K, is only 0.2% slower. The combo rank of 2313 out of 2938 is due to the GPU, as the CPU has ample headroom at all resolutions tested.

Q: What settings should I use for a smooth 1440p experience?

A: Medium settings at 1440p provide the best measured result, with an average of 75 FPS, a minimum of 64 FPS, and a maximum of 87 FPS. High settings average 68 FPS, but the minimum is not recorded, so Medium is safer for maintaining 60+ FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested configurations in Greedfall?

A: This combo ranks 2313 out of 2938, placing it in the bottom 21%. The low rank is a direct result of the RTX 2060’s performance, which sits in the 58th percentile, while the CPU is in the 96th percentile. A stronger GPU would significantly improve the rank.