Downfall

Downfall is a 2016 horror title, and the pairing of an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 makes it look easy at every resolution in the database. The measured data covers 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160 across four presets, and the short version is this: only one configuration in the entire test matrix drops below the 60 FPS playability threshold — Ultra at 4K. Everything else clears it, most with huge headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Starting at 1920x1080, the frame rates are far beyond what a horror game needs for smooth play. Low averages 258.2 FPS, Medium averages 210.3 FPS, High averages 172.9 FPS, and even Ultra holds a 107.7 FPS average. Those are esports-title numbers applied to a game whose pacing is built on atmosphere rather than twitch reaction. Minimum and maximum frame values were not captured for these runs, so the averages are the figure to anchor on — but at over 100 FPS average on the top preset, dips below 60 are statistically unlikely to be a recurring problem.

At 2560x1440, the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 across a 256-bit bus starts to work a little harder, and the numbers taper accordingly: Low at 185.3 FPS, Medium at 148.3 FPS, High at 125.2 FPS, and Ultra at 80.1 FPS. Ultra still clears the 60 FPS line by a comfortable 20.1 FPS margin. That makes 1440p a free upgrade for this pairing — the maximum preset remains on the table without compromise.

3840x2160 is where the hierarchy finally shifts. Low averages 112.7 FPS, Medium averages 94.9 FPS, High averages 77.6 FPS, but Ultra falls to 48 FPS average — the only result in the dataset below the playable threshold. Dropping one preset from Ultra to High at 4K buys 29.6 FPS on average, which is the single most valuable settings trade available in this game for this hardware. The jump from Low to Ultra at 4K costs 64.7 FPS average, showing how sharply pixel count amplifies preset cost on the 3070's Ampere-class GA104 silicon.

Best Settings per Resolution

• 1920x1080 — Ultra at 107.7 FPS average. The maximum preset is fully playable; there is no reason to lower anything.
• 2560x1440 — Ultra at 80.1 FPS average. Again, the top preset stays above 60 FPS, so run everything maxed.
• 3840x2160 — High at 77.6 FPS average. Ultra's 48 FPS average misses the threshold, making High the most demanding preset that holds at or above 60 FPS.

The pattern is clean: presets are unlimited up to 1440p, and only 4K forces a single-step step-down. This mirrors the verdictByResolution data exactly — all four settings are listed as playable at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K lists High, Medium, and Low as playable.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling data points clearly to a GPU-limited profile at every resolution, which is exactly what you want from a balanced build. Consider the Ultra results: 107.7 FPS at 1080p, 80.1 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K. Frame rate falls steadily as pixel count rises while the CPU stays constant — that is the signature of a graphics-bound game, not a processor bottleneck. Downfall, released in 2016, simply doesn't ask much of the 9800X3D's eight cores and sixteen threads.

On the CPU side, the 9800X3D sits in the 87th percentile against all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 39768. Its nearest rivals cluster remarkably tight: the AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 averages 40048 (0.7% ahead), the Ryzen 7 7700 averages 40081 (0.8% ahead), the Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS averages 39603 (0.4% behind), and the Ryzen AI 7 450 averages 39485 (0.7% behind). In practical terms, any of these chips delivers identical Downfall performance, because the game never stresses the CPU enough to separate them. The 9800X3D's single-thread strength — a Geekbench single-core score of 2964 and Cinebench R23 single-core of 2080 — is largely wasted here.

The GPU is the component setting the ceiling. The RTX 3070 ranks in the 61st percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 17208, statistically neck-and-neck with the Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083, 0.7% behind), the GTX 690 (17037, 1% behind), the Radeon HD 7970M (17019, 1.1% behind), and the Tesla K40c (17468, 1.5% ahead). The preset-to-preset scaling confirms the GPU is the limiter: at 1080p, each step up the preset ladder trims frame rate (258.2 → 210.3 → 172.9 → 107.7), which is fill-rate and shader cost landing on the 3070's 5888 shading units, not CPU scheduling overhead. If you want more frames in Downfall, the upgrade path is the graphics card, full stop.

FAQ

Q: Can the RTX 3070 run Downfall at 4K Ultra?

A: No. The 4K Ultra average is 48 FPS, below the 60 FPS threshold. High is the best playable 4K preset at 77.6 FPS average.

Q: What FPS does this combo get at 1440p on max settings?

A: 80.1 FPS average at Ultra, with all lower presets faster — High at 125.2, Medium at 148.3, and Low at 185.3.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D overkill for Downfall?

A: Yes, based on the scaling data. Frame rates track resolution and preset changes almost entirely, indicating a GPU-limited game. The CPU sits in the 87th percentile and rivals like the Ryzen 7 7700 and Ryzen AI 9 365 — within 0.8% of its average score — would produce the same results.

Q: Which single settings change gives the biggest FPS gain at 4K?

A: Dropping from Ultra to High at 3840x2160 raises the average from 48 to 77.6 FPS — a 29.6 FPS improvement and the difference between unplayable and comfortable.

Q: Does this build maintain 60 FPS at 1080p on any preset?

A: Every preset. The lowest average at 1920x1080 is Ultra at 107.7 FPS, well above the threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to rival GPUs in this database?

A: Its average score of 17208 sits within about 1.5% of the Radeon RX 7600 XT, GTX 690, Radeon HD 7970M, and Tesla K40c, and it ranks in the 61st percentile of all tested GPUs.

The Verdict

Yes — this PC runs Downfall, and comfortably. At 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) exceed the 60 FPS threshold, with Ultra averaging 107.7 and 80.1 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, High, Medium, and Low are playable, peaking at a 77.6 FPS High average, while Ultra's 48 FPS average is the sole miss. For a 2016 horror game, that is the expected outcome for this hardware class: the 9800X3D provides vastly more CPU throughput than the game can use, and the 3070 has enough headroom for max settings at 1440p and near-max at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the Downfall results table, the 9800X3D + RTX 3070 pairing ranks 1569 out of 3716 tested combinations — roughly the 42nd percentile of tested pairings for this game. That placement is consistent with the component percentiles: an 87th-percentile CPU strapped to a 61st-percentile, end-of-life GPU lands you in the middle of the pack overall, with the graphics card acting as the pacing component. For a horror title this old, that mid-pack rank still translates to max-settings play at two of the three tested resolutions, which is all the ranking needs to mean in practice.