Downfall

Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an extreme pairing for a 2016 horror title, and the measured data confirms that this combination crushes Downfall at every resolution and preset tested. The RTX 4090, with its massive 24 GB GDDR6X frame buffer and 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 compute, is vastly overqualified for this title, while the Core i5-12400’s six performance cores and 12 threads provide sufficient throughput to avoid bottlenecking at most settings. The data shows a system that delivers triple-digit frame rates across the board, with only the 4K Ultra preset dipping to 82.3 FPS average, which remains far above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest resolution tested, the combo produces absurdly high frame rates that are largely irrelevant for practical play but demonstrate the ceiling of the hardware. At Low settings, the average FPS reaches 389.2, the highest figure in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 361.5 FPS average, while High settings drop slightly to 296.9 FPS. Even the most demanding preset at 1080p, Ultra, maintains a 185.7 FPS average. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a performance reduction of roughly 52%, with the jump from High to Ultra being the most severe single-step drop (296.9 to 185.7 FPS, a 37% decrease). This indicates that the Ultra preset introduces substantial additional rendering work, likely through shadow quality and post-processing effects, but the hardware absorbs the load without issue.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but begin to show more differentiation between presets. Low settings produce a 317.7 FPS average, which is still nearly 92% of the 1080p Low result, suggesting minimal resolution scaling at the lowest quality tier. Medium settings average 260.7 FPS, while High settings hit 214 FPS. Ultra at 1440p delivers a 135.4 FPS average, which is a 37% drop from the 1080p Ultra figure but still more than double the playable threshold. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p (214 vs 135.4 FPS) represents a 37% reduction, mirroring the percentage drop seen at 1080p, which suggests the Ultra preset’s cost is consistent across these resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4090 finally starts to feel some pressure, though the results remain emphatic. Low settings average 199.2 FPS, which is 63% of the 1080p Low result, showing that 4K resolution imposes a significant fill-rate burden. Medium settings drop to 160.7 FPS, while High settings average 134.8 FPS. Ultra at 4K produces an 82.3 FPS average, the lowest figure in the entire test suite, but it still clears the 60 FPS threshold by 37%. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 59% performance reduction, the largest span of any resolution, indicating that the combination of 4K resolution and Ultra settings creates the most demanding workload the game can present to this hardware.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear division of labor between the Intel Core i5-12400 and the RTX 4090, with the GPU dominating the performance envelope at higher resolutions while the CPU becomes relatively more influential at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 185.7 (Ultra) to 389.2 (Low), and the fact that even Low settings cannot exceed 389.2 FPS suggests a CPU-imposed ceiling. The i5-12400’s boost clock of 4.40 GHz and its 3DMark single-thread score of 910 are sufficient for high frame rates, but the data indicates that the processor begins to limit the GPU’s output when the rendering workload is light. The 1080p Low result of 389.2 FPS is the highest measured, and the drop to 317.7 FPS at 1440p Low (an 18% reduction) shows that resolution scaling is already taking effect at the lowest quality tier.

At 2560x1440, the balance shifts toward the GPU, though the CPU still contributes meaningfully. The 1440p Ultra result of 135.4 FPS is 73% of the 1080p Ultra figure, while the 1440p Low result of 317.7 FPS is 82% of the 1080p Low figure. This asymmetric scaling suggests that the Ultra preset, which is more GPU-intensive, sees a larger performance hit from resolution increase compared to the Low preset, which remains partially CPU-bound. The RTX 4090’s 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and 384-bit bus width are critical here, as the higher resolution demands more texture data and framebuffer throughput.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the limiting factor. The 4K Ultra result of 82.3 FPS is just 44% of the 1080p Ultra figure, while the 4K Low result of 199.2 FPS is 51% of the 1080p Low figure. This indicates that at 4K, the rendering pipeline is saturated by the GPU’s pixel processing capabilities, and the CPU has ample headroom. The RTX 4090’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are the relevant specifications here, and the data shows that even with these enormous throughput figures, 4K Ultra demands more than the GPU can deliver to maintain triple-digit frame rates. The i5-12400’s role at 4K is reduced to feeding the GPU with draw calls, which its 12 threads handle without visible impact on the frame rate.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Downfall at 4K Ultra settings above 60 FPS?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 82.3, which is 37% above the 60 FPS playable threshold. This is the most demanding configuration in the test suite, and it still clears the bar comfortably.

Q: What is the best settings preset at 1440p for maximum visual quality?

A: Ultra settings at 2560x1440 produce a 135.4 FPS average, which is more than double the 60 FPS threshold. Since all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are marked as playable at 1440p, Ultra is the recommended choice for maximum visual fidelity.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same preset?

A: At Low settings, the drop is from 389.2 FPS to 199.2 FPS, a 49% reduction. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 185.7 FPS to 82.3 FPS, a 56% reduction. The GPU becomes progressively more dominant as resolution increases.

Q: Is the Core i5-12400 a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The data suggests a partial CPU bottleneck at 1080p Low, where the 389.2 FPS result appears capped by the processor’s single-thread performance. At higher resolutions and presets, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU’s 12 threads provide sufficient throughput.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of frame rate and visual fidelity?

A: 2560x1440 Ultra delivers a 135.4 FPS average while providing the highest visual quality at that resolution. This is more than double the playable threshold and only 37% below the 1080p Ultra result, making it the sweet spot for this hardware.

Q: Does the RTX 4090’s 24 GB memory capacity matter for Downfall?

A: The game’s measured performance does not indicate memory capacity as a limiting factor, as even at 4K Ultra the frame rate remains above 60 FPS. The 24 GB GDDR6X capacity is far beyond what this 2016 title requires, and the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is the more relevant specification for resolution scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 139th out of 3,716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 3.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the extraordinary GPU performance, as the RTX 4090 sits in the 88th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 60,347. The CPU, while less impressive, still ranks in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 18,683. The disparity between the GPU’s percentile (88) and the CPU’s percentile (72) suggests that the combo’s overall ranking is buoyed by the GPU’s dominance, and the 4K results in particular benefit from the RTX 4090’s extreme compute capabilities. The rank of 139 out of 3,716 indicates that 3,577 other combos score lower, which reflects the raw power of this pairing, even though the CPU is not the fastest available.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the Intel Core i5-12400, the nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score include the AMD EPYC 7643, which scores 18,697 (a 0.1% difference), and the Intel Core i7-1355U, scoring 18,730 (0.3% difference). The AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 scores 18,811 (0.7% higher), while the Intel Core i3-14100F scores 18,519 (0.9% lower). These alternatives would behave nearly identically to the i5-12400 in Downfall, meaning any of them paired with an RTX 4090 would produce frame rates within a few percent of the measured results. The i3-14100F is particularly interesting as a lower-cost alternative, though its performance delta is negligible in this context.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, the nearest rivals are the Intel Arc Pro A60 with a score of 60,326 (0% difference), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scoring 60,140 (0.3% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scoring 61,896 (2.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scoring 58,657 (2.9% lower). These GPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Downfall, meaning a system with any of these GPUs paired with the i5-12400 would see results within roughly 3% of the measured data. The Arc Pro A60 is the closest match, with a negligible 0% delta, suggesting that the game does not heavily favor NVIDIA-specific features like ray tracing or DLSS, which the RTX 4090 supports but Downfall likely does not use.

The Verdict

This PC can absolutely run Downfall, and it does so with overwhelming headroom at every resolution and preset combination tested. At 1920x1080, all four presets are playable, with the best settings being Ultra at a 185.7 FPS average. At 2560x1440, all presets are again playable, with Ultra delivering 135.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, the most demanding scenario, all four presets including Ultra at 82.3 FPS are playable, meaning the 60 FPS threshold is cleared in every configuration. The verdictByResolution data confirms that no resolution or preset in the test suite falls below the playable threshold, and the worst-case result (4K Ultra at 82.3 FPS) still provides a 37% margin above 60 FPS. For a game released in 2016, this hardware is massively overprovisioned, and the data shows that users could enable the highest settings at 4K and still enjoy a smooth experience, or push for triple-digit frame rates at 1440p if they prefer high refresh rate displays. The combination of the i5-12400’s solid single-thread performance and the RTX 4090’s raw compute power ensures that Downfall will never present a meaningful challenge to this system.