Greedfall

Greedfall, the 2019 Action RPG from Spiders, presents an interesting test for the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. The data shows a combo that is firmly in the upper tier of tested configurations, ranking 1023rd out of 3703 total combos. This places it in the 72nd percentile of all tested systems, indicating a strong, but not absolute top-tier, performance profile for this specific title. The measured FPS across resolutions and settings suggests a system capable of high refresh rate gameplay at 1080p and smooth 60+ FPS experiences at 4K, with specific bottlenecks and trade-offs revealed by the frame time data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Greedfall with this combo for a smooth 60 FPS experience?

A: The data indicates that 3840x2160 (4K) at High settings yields an average of 72 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. For a more comfortable margin, dropping to Medium at 4K provides 79 FPS, while Low at 4K reaches 101 FPS. However, the most consistent high-refresh experience is found at 2560x1440, where all settings except Ultra exceed 120 FPS.

Q: How much of a performance gap is there between Ultra and High settings at 1440p?

A: The performance cost of Ultra is significant. At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops from 121 FPS on High to 77 FPS on Ultra. This is a substantial 36.4% reduction in average frame rate for the jump to the highest preset, suggesting that the Ultra preset includes effects that are particularly demanding on the GPU.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck in this configuration for Greedfall?

A: The data suggests a mixed scenario, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the average FPS is 244, but at 4K Low, it drops to 101 FPS. This 58.6% decrease in performance when moving from 1080p to 4K, even on Low settings, indicates the rendering load is scaling heavily with resolution, which points to the GPU as the primary constraint at 4K.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 1440p?

A: For the Medium preset at 2560x1440, the measured data shows a minimum FPS of 113 and a maximum FPS of 153, with an average of 133 FPS. This data is provided in the benchmark results, offering a range for frame time consistency.

Q: How does the RTX 5080's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5080 has an average benchmark score of 56083. This is 0.6% higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S and 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB. It is 2.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, but 2.2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080?

A: The launch MSRP for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is 999 USD.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the central component driving frame rates in this configuration. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s, which is a critical resource for a game like Greedfall that renders detailed environments. The GPU's high memory bandwidth allows for the quick streaming of textures and geometry, which is likely a key factor in maintaining playable frame rates at 4K resolution. The data shows the GPU's ability to scale from an average of 244 FPS at 1080p Low to 101 FPS at 4K Low, demonstrating its raw processing power but also its limits when pixel count increases dramatically.

The clock speeds of the RTX 5080, with a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2617 MHz, contribute to its compute performance. This is reflected in its synthetic benchmark scores, such as a Geekbench OpenCL score of 235901 and a Passmark G3D score of 36565. These scores, and the GPU's overall percentile rank of 87 among all GPUs, indicate a very capable graphics processor. The performance in Greedfall, however, is not purely about raw GPU power. The significant drop in average FPS from 121 FPS at 1440p High to 77 FPS at 1440p Ultra highlights how specific, demanding graphical features in the Ultra preset can disproportionately impact the GPU's workload, even with the substantial resources of the RTX 5080.

The RTX 5080's architecture, Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process from TSMC, contains 45,600 million transistors. Its FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s are impressive specifications that translate into high polygon throughput and texture fill rates. In Greedfall, this means the GPU has ample headroom for most settings, but the data shows that the Ultra preset, likely featuring advanced lighting and post-processing, can still push the GPU to its limits, reducing the average frame rate to 46 FPS at 4K. This demonstrates that while the RTX 5080 is a top-tier card, it is not impervious to the most demanding settings in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 1023 out of 3703 tested combos in Greedfall. This places the system in the top 27.6% of all configurations, a strong showing that reflects the high-end nature of both components. While the rank is impressive, it is not at the very pinnacle of the leaderboard, which suggests that other combinations, likely with more powerful desktop-class CPUs or GPUs, can achieve higher frame rates in this specific game.

This ranking is a holistic measure that takes into account performance across all tested resolutions and settings. The data shows the combo is well-balanced, with no single component acting as a severe bottleneck. The CPU, with its 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs, and the GPU, with its 87th percentile ranking, are closely matched in their relative performance levels. This synergy likely contributes to the combo's solid overall ranking, as the system can consistently deliver high frame rates without one component significantly holding back the other.

However, the gap to the top combos is likely due to the mobile nature of the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H. While its benchmark scores are excellent for a mobile processor, it may not sustain the same performance levels as a high-end desktop CPU in a prolonged gaming session. The data from the combo's rank, while strong, suggests that for Greedfall, the absolute peak performance is reserved for systems with top-tier desktop components, but this mobile combo still offers a very high level of playability and performance that would satisfy most users.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the user's target resolution and desired frame rate. For a 4K display, the High preset provides the best balance, with an average FPS of 72, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K is also a strong choice, offering 79 FPS and providing a small performance buffer, though it sacrifices some visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 4K should be avoided, as the average FPS drops to 46, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, the High preset is the clear winner for high-refresh-rate monitors, delivering an average of 121 FPS. This allows for a fluid experience on 120Hz or 144Hz displays. The Medium preset offers even higher headroom at 133 FPS, which could be beneficial for competitive play or for maintaining a strict 144 FPS cap. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with an average of 77 FPS, is still playable but does not fully utilize the potential of a high-refresh-rate panel, making it a less ideal choice for prioritizing frame rate over visual extremes.

For 1080p users, the data indicates that the system is heavily GPU-bound at lower settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 244 FPS, which is exceptionally high. The High preset at 174 FPS is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate gaming monitor and provides a significant visual upgrade over Low. The Ultra preset at 111 FPS is also a viable option, offering the highest visual quality while still maintaining a frame rate that is above 100 FPS. The best experience is likely found by selecting High or Ultra at 1080p to balance visual quality with the high frame rates the hardware can deliver.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average frame rates are exceptionally high, ranging from 244 FPS on Low to 111 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows an average of 192 FPS with a minimum of 163 and a maximum of 221, indicating very consistent frame times. This resolution is clearly where the RTX 5080 has the most headroom, allowing for maximum performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a more pronounced impact from settings. The Low preset averages 169 FPS, which is a 30.7% decrease from the 1080p Low result. The High preset averages 121 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 133 FPS with a minimum of 113 and a maximum of 153. The Ultra preset experiences a significant drop to an average of 77 FPS, a 36.4% decrease from the High preset, highlighting the high cost of the Ultra settings.

At 3840x2160, the scaling becomes more demanding. The Low preset averages 101 FPS, a 40.2% drop from the 1440p Low result. The Medium preset averages 79 FPS with a minimum of 68 and a maximum of 91. The High preset follows closely with 72 FPS. The Ultra preset drops further to an average of 46 FPS, which is the only setting and resolution combination that falls below 60 FPS. This data clearly shows that 4K Ultra is too demanding for a consistently smooth experience with this combo.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a mobile processor with 16 cores and 16 threads, based on the Panther Lake architecture. Its base clock is 2.10 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.10 GHz. This high boost clock is crucial for gaming performance, as Greedfall, like many titles, relies on strong single-core performance. The CPU's single-core benchmark results are strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2200.5 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4280.

The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache is another important factor. This cache helps to reduce latency when the CPU needs to access frequently used data from memory, which can be a bottleneck in games. The benchmark data shows the Ultra X9 388H is a capable gaming processor, with its overall average benchmark score of 44466 placing it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. This performance is very close to its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, which is only 0.2% faster, and the Intel Core i9-13950HX, which is 0.3% slower.

In the context of Greedfall, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. The significant drop in frame rates from 1080p to 4K, even at Low settings, points to the GPU being the limiting factor. However, the CPU's strong single-thread performance is essential for maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions like 1080p, where the GPU can render frames quickly. The data showing 244 FPS at 1080p Low indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to achieve such high frame rates, meaning it is not a bottleneck at these settings.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K provides insight into the system's bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 244 at 1080p to 169 at 1440p, and then to 101 at 4K. This represents a 30.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 40.2% drop from 1440p to 4K. This consistent and significant decrease in performance as resolution increases clearly indicates that the system is GPU-bound at these settings, as the CPU is capable of handling the game logic and draw calls at these frame rates.

The scaling pattern is similar for the High and Medium presets. For High settings, the average FPS goes from 174 at 1080p to 121 at 1440p (a 30.5% drop) and then to 72 at 4K (a 40.5% drop from 1440p). This consistent percentage decrease across different settings and resolutions strongly suggests that the rendering resolution is the primary factor limiting performance, which is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU's performance is likely sufficient to maintain these frame rates, as the consistent percentage drops are not indicative of a CPU limitation.

The data implies that the RTX 5080's rendering capabilities are the key constraint. While the GPU is exceptionally powerful, the sheer number of pixels at 4K requires significantly more processing power than at 1080p. The linear scaling of frame rate drops as resolution increases confirms this. This analysis suggests that for users looking to maximize frame rates, lowering the resolution is the most effective strategy. Conversely, for users who prioritize visual fidelity and are comfortable with frame rates in the 60-100 FPS range, 4K with High or Medium settings is a viable option, as the GPU has enough power to deliver a playable experience, but the Ultra preset pushes it beyond its limits.