Downfall

FAQ

Q: Does the Intel Core i5-10400F bottleneck the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in Downfall?

A: The recorded data does not indicate a significant bottleneck. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the combo averages 193.8 FPS, and at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, it averages 84.7 FPS. The frame rates scale smoothly across resolutions, suggesting the CPU keeps up with the GPU’s output even at lower resolutions where CPU load is relatively higher.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K in Downfall?

A: At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 84.7 FPS. High, Medium, and Low presets also clear 60 FPS, but Ultra is the maximum quality option that remains playable.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in overall GPU benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605, which is 0.3% lower. The Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (0.6% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.1% lower). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80,959, which is 1.4% higher.

Q: Is the i5-10400F a mid-range or high-end CPU according to the database?

A: The i5-10400F sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs tested. Its average benchmark score is 14,185, which places it near the Intel Xeon 6756E (14,163, 0.2% lower) and the AMD EPYC 7552 (14,115, 0.5% lower). It slightly trails the Intel Core 7 160UL (14,232, 0.3% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14,277, 0.6% higher).

Q: What frame rates can this combo achieve at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 237.5. This is well above the 60 FPS playable threshold, and it is only about 8% slower than the Low preset at the same resolution (253.1 FPS).

Q: Does the combo rank in the top 10% for Downfall performance?

A: The combo ranks 340th out of 3,716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 9.2% of all recorded systems for this game. This is a strong position, though not the absolute top tier, given that many higher-end CPU and GPU pairings exist.

Best Settings per Resolution

The database records four quality presets for Downfall: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, and all four presets clear that bar at every resolution tested. The most demanding preset that still maintains at least 60 FPS is therefore Ultra at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, Ultra settings produce an average of 193.8 FPS. This is the highest quality preset, and the frame rate remains far above the 60 FPS threshold, leaving substantial headroom for future driver updates or additional background tasks.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings average 138.5 FPS. The gap between Ultra and High at this resolution is notable: High averages 218.6 FPS, so Ultra is about 37% more demanding. Still, 138.5 FPS is comfortably above 60 FPS, making Ultra the recommended preset for 1440p.

At 3840x2160, Ultra settings average 84.7 FPS. This is the only resolution where Ultra dips below 100 FPS, but it remains well above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The next step down, High, averages 135.1 FPS, which is a substantial jump, but Ultra remains playable. For maximum visual fidelity at 4K, Ultra is the correct choice.

The data shows that this combo never requires dropping below Ultra to stay playable, even at 4K. The lowest recorded average across all resolutions and presets is 84.7 FPS (4K Ultra), which is still 41% above the 60 FPS threshold.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded FPS values reveal how the balance between CPU and GPU shifts across resolutions. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is 89.6 FPS (283.4 down to 193.8). That is a 32% reduction in frame rate when moving from the least to the most demanding preset. At 2560x1440, the same comparison shows a drop from 253.1 to 138.5 FPS, a 45% reduction. At 3840x2160, Low averages 203.5 and Ultra averages 84.7, a 58% reduction.

The increasing percentage gap between Low and Ultra as resolution rises indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant performance factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the CPU has more relative influence, but even there, the i5-10400F keeps the RTX 5090 fed. The single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,451 suggest adequate per-core performance for a horror title like Downfall.

The scaling across resolutions at a fixed preset also shows GPU dominance. For Ultra settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces average FPS from 193.8 to 138.5 (a 28% drop), and moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it further to 84.7 (a 39% drop). These are large, consistent reductions that point to the GPU being the primary limiter at higher pixel counts. The CPU’s multithreaded capabilities, reflected in a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10,283, are sufficient to avoid holding back the GPU at any resolution.

In practical terms, the i5-10400F’s role is to provide a stable baseline, and it does so: the 4K Low preset still hits 203.5 FPS, which is far above the playable threshold. The RTX 5090’s role grows as resolution and preset quality increase, and the data shows that the GPU is the component that determines whether Ultra settings remain viable at 4K.

The Verdict

Yes, this PC can run Downfall at every resolution and preset combination recorded in the database. The verdict by resolution is unambiguous: all three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) list all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) as playable.

At 1920x1080, the lowest recorded average is 193.8 FPS (Ultra), which is more than three times the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, the lowest is 138.5 FPS (Ultra), still more than double the threshold. At 3840x2160, the lowest is 84.7 FPS (Ultra), which is 41% above the threshold.

The only scenario that approaches the playable boundary is 4K Ultra, but even that remains comfortable. The margin over 60 FPS is 24.7 FPS, or roughly 41%. For a horror game, where frame rate consistency can affect the experience, this margin is adequate. The data indicates that no settings compromise is required for any resolution. The RTX 5090’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for the game’s textures and effects at 4K Ultra.

The combo’s rank of 340 out of 3,716 tested combinations (top 9.2%) reinforces the conclusion that this system is well above average for Downfall. The CPU’s 68th percentile among all CPUs and the GPU’s 92nd percentile among all GPUs combine to produce a system that clears the playable threshold with ease.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the i5-10400F’s nearest rivals in the database are all within 0.6% of its average benchmark score of 14,185. The Intel Xeon 6756E (14,163, 0.2% lower) and the AMD EPYC 7552 (14,115, 0.5% lower) would behave almost identically in Downfall, given their similar aggregate performance. The Intel Core 7 160UL (14,232, 0.3% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14,277, 0.6% higher) are marginally faster, but the differences are negligible for gaming. Any of these CPUs paired with the RTX 5090 would likely produce frame rates within a few percent of what the i5-10400F achieves.

For the GPU, the RTX 5090’s nearest rivals are within 1.4% of its average score of 79,842. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% lower) and the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% lower) are essentially equivalent in aggregate performance, though their different memory configurations could affect specific workloads. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.1% lower) is slightly behind, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (80,959, 1.4% higher) is slightly ahead. In Downfall, these GPUs would deliver frame rates within a small margin of the RTX 5090, assuming the rest of the system remains unchanged.

It is notably these rival GPUs are not necessarily consumer gaming cards; the Tesla P100 series is a datacenter product, and the Radeon Pro Vega 64X is a workstation card. The comparison is based purely on aggregate benchmark scores, not on gaming-specific performance. Still, the data shows that the RTX 5090 sits at the top of its immediate performance cluster, with no rival exceeding it by more than 1.4%.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 340th out of 3,716 tested combinations in Downfall. This places it in the 91st percentile of all recorded systems, meaning it outperforms roughly 91% of the combinations in the database for this specific game.

The rank is consistent with the component-level percentiles: the CPU is at the 68th percentile, and the GPU is at the 92nd percentile. The combo’s overall rank is driven primarily by the GPU, which contributes the bulk of the rendering performance. The CPU’s lower percentile does not drag the combo down significantly, because Downfall’s frame rates are high enough that even a mid-range CPU can keep up.

Compared to the 3,716 total combinations, a rank of 340 means there are 3,376 combos that perform worse and 339 that perform better. The better-performing combos likely pair the RTX 5090 or similar high-end GPUs with faster CPUs, such as high-core-count Ryzen or Core i9 parts. The margin between this combo and those above it is not captured directly, but the fact that all presets at all resolutions clear 60 FPS suggests that the practical difference is small for this game.

The rank also indicates that this system is not a top-100 combination, but it is firmly in the upper echelon. For a horror game like Downfall, which is not typically as demanding as AAA shooters or simulators, this level of performance is more than sufficient.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database provides average FPS values for each resolution and preset combination. Minimum and maximum FPS are not recorded, so the analysis relies on averages.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are uniformly high. Low settings average 283.4 FPS, Medium averages 263.2 FPS, High averages 244.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 193.8 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is the largest single drop (50.7 FPS), which suggests that Ultra enables effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU. Even at Ultra, the frame rate is more than three times the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the results are slightly lower but still excellent. Low averages 253.1 FPS, Medium averages 237.5 FPS, High averages 218.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 138.5 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra is 80.1 FPS, which is even larger than at 1080p. This indicates that the Ultra preset’s additional demands scale with pixel count, likely due to higher-resolution textures and more complex lighting calculations.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain playable across all presets. Low averages 203.5 FPS, Medium averages 168.9 FPS, High averages 135.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 84.7 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra is 50.4 FPS, which is comparable to the drop at 1080p. The 4K Ultra result of 84.7 FPS is the only recorded average below 100 FPS, but it is still 41% above the playable threshold.

The overall pattern is consistent: the combo delivers playable performance at every setting, with the largest quality step (Ultra) costing the most performance but never dropping below 60 FPS. The data shows a smooth, predictable scaling curve from Low to Ultra at each resolution, with no anomalies that would suggest driver issues or CPU bottlenecks.