Greedfall

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this Intel Core Ultra X9 388H + RTX 4090 combo in Greedfall?

A: The combo ranks 837th out of 3,703 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the top ~22% of all tested systems.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H scores 44,466 in average benchmark score, which is 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (44,573), 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i9-13950HX (44,342), 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (44,309), and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i5-13600 (44,240).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347.

Q: What is the best 4K preset for playable frame rates?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset delivers 103 FPS average, Medium delivers 81 FPS, High delivers 74 FPS, and Ultra drops to 47 FPS. For smooth 4K gameplay, Medium or High are the viable options.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data suggests a CPU limitation at 1920x1080. The frame rate difference between Low (250 FPS) and High (178 FPS) is only 72 FPS, while at 4K the same preset gap produces a 29 FPS difference (103 vs 74), indicating the GPU becomes more influential at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the RTX 4090's memory configuration?

A: The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, with a base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process. The GPU contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 125.3M per mm². With 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, the card is a brute-force rasterization monster. It also carries 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores, though Greedfall's 2019 engine likely does not leverage these heavily.

The memory subsystem is critical for high-resolution gaming. The 24 GB GDDR6X pool runs at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective), and the 384-bit bus yields 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. For a game like Greedfall, which was released in 2019, the texture and geometry workloads at 4K Ultra are substantial, but the RTX 4090's raw throughput handles them with ease. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s provide the fill-rate headroom needed for the game's dense environments.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and a PassMark GPU compute score of 26,613. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 9,223, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores reach 255,416 and 271,631 respectively. The 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms this is a top-tier part, though its nearest rivals in average benchmark score are unexpected: the Intel Arc Pro A60 matches it at 60,326 (0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M actually scores higher at 61,896 (2.5% above). This anomaly likely reflects the diverse workloads captured in the average benchmark metric rather than gaming-specific performance.

The measured FPS data reveals how the GPU scales with settings. At 4K, the jump from Low to Medium costs 22 FPS (103 to 81), while Medium to High costs only 7 FPS (81 to 74). The Ultra preset, however, demands a massive 27 FPS penalty over High (74 to 47). This non-linear scaling suggests the Ultra preset enables effects that disproportionately stress the GPU, such as volumetric lighting or advanced shadows. The 47 FPS at 4K Ultra is the only sub-60 result across the entire measured set, indicating the GPU is nearly always sufficient.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1920x1080, even the Ultra preset delivers 114 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset offers 196 FPS with a minimum of 167 FPS and maximum of 226 FPS, providing excellent smoothness. For 1080p users, High (178 FPS) strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and headroom, as the jump to Ultra costs 64 FPS for diminishing returns.

At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 123 FPS, while Medium offers 136 FPS with a minimum of 116 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 79 FPS, which is still playable but noticeably lower. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset because it maintains a minimum above 115 FPS, ensuring no perceptible stutter. High is acceptable at 123 FPS, but the 13 FPS gain from dropping to Medium is worth considering for competitive or fast-paced play.

At 3840x2160, the choices narrow significantly. The Ultra preset at 47 FPS is below the 60 FPS standard and should be avoided for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 74 FPS is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS is the safest choice for 4K, as it stays above 60 FPS even in worst-case moments. The Low preset at 103 FPS is available for those prioritizing frame rate over visuals, but the visual degradation is substantial for a 22 FPS gain over Medium.

The data shows that Medium at 4K (81 FPS) outperforms High at 4K (74 FPS) by only 7 FPS, so the visual upgrade to High is relatively cheap. However, the Ultra preset's 47 FPS result indicates that the final settings tier is poorly optimized for this GPU, or that it enables features that are disproportionately heavy. For the best experience, Medium at 4K or High at 1440p are the sweet spots.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4090 produces exceptional frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 250 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium averages 196 FPS with a minimum of 167 and maximum of 226 FPS, showing tight frame pacing. High averages 178 FPS, while Ultra averages 114 FPS. The 136 FPS gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates the GPU's headroom is sufficient to absorb even the heaviest settings at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low averages 173 FPS, Medium averages 136 FPS (minimum 116, maximum 156), High averages 123 FPS, and Ultra averages 79 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p costs 77 FPS on Low (250 to 173), 60 FPS on Medium (196 to 136), 55 FPS on High (178 to 123), and 35 FPS on Ultra (114 to 79). The decreasing absolute cost at higher presets indicates the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain respectable but show the GPU's limits. Low averages 103 FPS, Medium averages 81 FPS (minimum 69, maximum 93), High averages 74 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS. The 4K to 1440p transition costs 70 FPS on Low (173 to 103), 55 FPS on Medium (136 to 81), 49 FPS on High (123 to 74), and 32 FPS on Ultra (79 to 47). The narrowing gaps at higher presets suggest that Ultra settings impose a fixed cost regardless of resolution, likely from CPU-bound draw calls or physics.

The minimum FPS values are only recorded for Medium presets: 167 at 1080p, 116 at 1440p, and 69 at 4K. These minimums are 85%, 85%, and 85% of their respective averages, indicating consistent frame delivery without severe dips. The maximum values follow a similar pattern: 226 at 1080p, 156 at 1440p, and 93 at 4K, which are 115%, 115%, and 115% of averages.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior reveals the balance between CPU and GPU load. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS drops by 31% on Low (250 to 173), 31% on Medium (196 to 136), 31% on High (178 to 123), and 31% on Ultra (114 to 79). This consistent 31% reduction across all presets indicates a uniform scaling factor, suggesting the GPU is the primary bottleneck at these resolutions.

From 1440p to 4K, the drops are 40% on Low (173 to 103), 40% on Medium (136 to 81), 40% on High (123 to 74), and 41% on Ultra (79 to 47). The slightly larger drop at 4K, particularly on Ultra, points to the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate becoming more critical. The 4K resolution requires 2.25 times the pixel count of 1440p, and the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is being taxed heavily.

The scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor for most presets. The 250 FPS on Low at 1080p is likely near the engine's frame rate ceiling or the CPU's single-thread limit. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H has a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, which helps maintain high frame rates, but the 16 cores and 16 threads (no hyperthreading) may limit multi-threaded game workloads. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2200.5 and multi-core score of 18,911 indicate strong per-core performance.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The 47 FPS on Ultra at 4K versus 79 FPS at 1440p Ultra shows a 41% drop, which is close to the pixel count difference. This indicates that the GPU's compute resources are fully saturated at 4K Ultra, and the CPU has headroom to spare. The fact that 4K Low (103 FPS) is still below 1440p Low (173 FPS) by 40% reinforces that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 3, built on the Panther Lake architecture at 3 nm process node. It features 16 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The lack of hyperthreading means the 16 threads match the core count, which can impact heavily threaded workloads but is less relevant for Greedfall's engine.

The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The L3 cache is relatively modest for a 16-core part, which could affect performance in games that rely on large shared caches. However, the CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance: Cinebench R23 single-core at 2200.5, R20 single-core at 1849, and R15 single-core at 309.5. Multi-thread scores are equally robust: R23 multi-core at 18,911, R20 at 13,101, and R15 at 2,955.

The PassMark results provide additional context. The multi-thread score is 36,811, single-thread is 4,280, and the average benchmark score is 44,466, placing it at the 88th percentile among all CPUs. The nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, scores 44,573, which is only 0.2% higher. This near-tie suggests the two CPUs are essentially equivalent in synthetic benchmarks, though the 7500X3D's 3D V-Cache may give it an edge in cache-sensitive games.

For Greedfall, the CPU's role is primarily in maintaining frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the 250 FPS on Low suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but the drop to 178 FPS on High and 114 FPS on Ultra indicates that higher settings increase CPU overhead. The 16 threads may be sufficient for the game's AI and physics, but the 5.10 GHz boost clock is the key asset for single-threaded game logic.

The TDP of 25 W is remarkably low for a 16-core processor, which means thermal throttling is unlikely in a well-designed laptop. The LPDDR5X memory support with dual-channel configuration and 153.6 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for gaming, though not exceptional. The PCIe Gen 5 with 4 lanes (CPU only) provides ample bandwidth for the RTX 4090, though the GPU itself uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 837th out of 3,703 tested combinations in Greedfall, placing it in the top 22.6% of all systems. This ranking is surprisingly modest given the hardware involved. The RTX 4090 is an end-of-life flagship that launched at 1,599 USD, and the CPU is a top-tier mobile part from the Panther Lake generation. Yet, 836 other combinations achieve higher frame rates in this specific game.

The ranking suggests that Greedfall's engine does not scale perfectly with modern hardware. The game was released in 2019, and its engine may not fully utilize the RTX 4090's advanced features like DLSS or ray tracing. The 47 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that the game's Ultra preset includes effects that are not optimized for Ada Lovelace architecture. The GPU's PassMark DirectX scores are telling: DirectX 11 at 326, DirectX 12 at 150, and DirectX 9 at 397. The low DirectX 12 score relative to DirectX 11 suggests the GPU excels in older APIs, which aligns with Greedfall's likely DirectX 11 renderer.

The CPU's ranking at the 88th percentile among all CPUs is more respectable, but its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, which is a desktop part. The mobile form factor of the Ultra X9 388H means it must balance power and thermals, which may limit sustained performance in gaming scenarios. The 25 W TDP is a constraint that desktop rivals do not face.

The gap between the combo's hardware potential and its in-game ranking highlights the importance of game-specific optimization. The RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM is overkill for Greedfall, which likely uses less than 8 GB at 4K. The 16-core CPU is similarly underutilized by a game that may only use 4-6 threads effectively. The 837th ranking is not a reflection of weak hardware, but rather of a game that cannot leverage the full capabilities of this high-end combination. For users seeking the absolute highest frame rates in Greedfall, the data suggests that a less powerful but more game-optimized combo may achieve better results.