Downfall

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data for Downfall with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Intel Arc B580 shows a clear progression of performance across resolutions and presets. At 1920x1080, the combination delivers 183.7 FPS on Low settings, 150.7 FPS on Medium, 121 FPS on High, and 75.6 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is substantial — the Ultra preset runs at roughly 41% of the Low preset's frame rate — but every preset clears the 60 FPS playability threshold with room to spare.

Moving to 2560x1440, the measured averages are 129 FPS on Low, 105 FPS on Medium, 88.6 FPS on High, and 54.3 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across presets: Low falls by 54.7 FPS, Medium by 45.7 FPS, High by 32.4 FPS, and Ultra by 21.3 FPS. Notably, the Ultra preset at 1440p falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the first unplayable configuration in this data set.

At 3840x2160, the results compress further. Low settings yield 79.9 FPS, Medium produces 66.5 FPS, High drops to 54.3 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 31.5 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steepest on the Low preset, which loses 49.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset loses 22.8 FPS. At 4K, only Low and Medium maintain averages at or above 60 FPS. The High preset sits just below the threshold, while Ultra delivers less than half the frame rate of Low.

The min and max FPS fields are null across all measurements, so the analysis relies on average frame rates. The data indicates that the most demanding preset at each resolution consistently produces the largest performance penalty: Ultra at 1080p is 108.1 FPS below Low, Ultra at 1440p is 74.7 FPS below Low, and Ultra at 4K is 48.4 FPS below Low. These deltas suggest that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy rendering load that scales with pixel count.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark results indicate that the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU retains more headroom at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, the Ryzen 5 9600X's six cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, are sufficient to feed the Arc B580 across all presets. The 1080p Low result of 183.7 FPS demonstrates that the CPU can drive very high frame rates when the GPU is not heavily taxed.

The scaling between resolutions provides evidence of GPU-bound behavior at higher pixel counts. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all presets drops by approximately 30-40%, while from 1440p to 4K, the drop is roughly 35-50% depending on the preset. The Arc B580's 12 GB GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth, along with its 2560 shading units, appear to be the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the 31.5 FPS result indicates severe GPU saturation.

At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes because the GPU's rendering workload dominates frame time. The Ryzen 5 9600X scores 17528.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2183.5 in single-core, placing it in the 81st percentile among all CPUs. These scores suggest ample compute headroom for a horror game like Downfall, which likely does not stress multi-threaded CPU performance as heavily as the GPU. The PassMark multi-thread score of 30027 and single-thread score of 4570 reinforce this interpretation.

The preset scaling within each resolution further clarifies the balance. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 108.1 FPS, which is larger than the 4K gap of 48.4 FPS. This pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the GPU has spare capacity to respond to preset changes, whereas at 4K, even the Low preset pushes the GPU close to its limits. The 4K Low result of 79.9 FPS versus 4K Ultra at 31.5 FPS shows that the GPU's pixel throughput is the decisive factor, not CPU processing.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Downfall at 1920x1080 with the Ultra preset?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 75.6, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold. All four presets at this resolution — Low at 183.7 FPS, Medium at 150.7 FPS, High at 121 FPS, and Ultra at 75.6 FPS — are playable.

Q: What is the best playable preset at 2560x1440?

A: The High preset delivers the highest playable average at 88.6 FPS. Low and Medium also clear the threshold with 129 FPS and 105 FPS respectively, but Ultra falls to 54.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS playability threshold.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware combination?

A: Yes, but only with lower presets. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 79.9 FPS and Medium averages 66.5 FPS, both above 60 FPS. The High preset at 54.3 FPS and Ultra at 31.5 FPS are not playable according to the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Ultra preset performance compare across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average is 75.6 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it drops to 54.3 FPS; and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 31.5 FPS. The progression shows a 21.3 FPS loss from 1080p to 1440p and a further 22.8 FPS loss from 1440p to 4K.

Q: Does the CPU limit performance in Downfall?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary limiter at higher resolutions. The Ryzen 5 9600X's single-thread score of 2183.5 in Cinebench R23 and its 81st percentile ranking among all CPUs indicate strong processing capability. The frame rate drops between resolutions align more closely with GPU workload scaling.

Q: What is the lowest measured FPS across all tested configurations?

A: The lowest average FPS is 31.5 at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. The next lowest is 54.3, which appears twice: at 4K High and at 1440p Ultra.

The Verdict

This PC can run Downfall at 1920x1080 across all presets, with the most demanding Ultra preset averaging 75.6 FPS. At 2560x1440, the combination clears 60 FPS on Low, Medium, and High presets, with High providing the best playable experience at 88.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low and Medium are playable, with Medium offering 66.5 FPS as the best option.

The verdict data confirms that the 60 FPS threshold is achievable at every resolution, but the available settings narrow as resolution increases. At 4K, the Ultra preset's 31.5 FPS result and the High preset's 54.3 FPS result are both below the playability threshold. The 1440p Ultra preset also falls short at 54.3 FPS. For players targeting 4K, the Medium preset is the most demanding option that remains playable, while at 1440p, the High preset is the ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Intel Arc B580 combination ranks 2849 out of 3716 tested combos for Downfall. This places the pairing in the lower portion of the distribution, around the 23rd percentile from the top. The rank reflects the Arc B580's 68th percentile standing among all GPUs, which tempers the Ryzen 5 9600X's stronger 81st percentile CPU ranking.

The composite rank suggests that while the CPU is above average compared to all tested processors, the GPU's mid-range positioning limits the overall gaming performance. The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021, alongside its PassMark G3D score of 15748, indicates a GPU that competes with older high-end cards but does not reach the top tier. For Downfall, this translates to solid 1080p and 1440p performance with limitations at 4K Ultra.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the most demanding option that stays at or above 60 FPS, delivering 75.6 FPS. This is the recommended setting for full visual fidelity at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the best playable option, averaging 88.6 FPS. While Low and Medium are also playable, High provides the highest visual quality without crossing below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the most demanding playable setting, with an average of 66.5 FPS. The Low preset at 79.9 FPS is also playable, but Medium offers better visual quality while maintaining a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest CPU rivals to the Ryzen 5 9600X, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE with a delta of 0.2% (29656 versus 29713), the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H at -0.5% (29868), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT at -0.6% (29879), and the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS at -0.8% (29955). These processors would deliver effectively identical CPU-bound performance in Downfall, meaning the frame rates would remain within a fraction of a percent of the measured results.

On the GPU side, the Intel Arc B580's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP with a delta of -0.2% (23061 versus 23021), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 0.6% (22895), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at -0.7% (23172), and the NVIDIA P106-100 at -1% (23249). Swapping the Arc B580 for any of these cards would produce nearly identical average FPS in Downfall, with the RTX 2080 being slightly slower and the P106-100 slightly faster in aggregate benchmarks.

The practical implication is that users with any of these nearby CPUs or GPUs can expect similar Downfall performance characteristics: playable at 1080p Ultra, playable at 1440p High, and limited to Medium at 4K. The differences between these alternatives are within 1% of each other, so the choice among them would not meaningfully alter the gaming experience in this title.