Downfall

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptional performance in Downfall, decisively exceeding the 60 FPS playability threshold at every tested resolution and preset combination. Benchmark data indicates this combination ranks 46th out of 3716 tested hardware combos for this title, placing it in the top percentile of systems. The most demanding configuration tested—4K Ultra—still produces an average of 87 FPS, while lower resolutions and less demanding presets push frame rates well beyond 300 FPS, indicating this hardware pairing is far more capable than Downfall requires.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5090 demonstrates overwhelming headroom across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 206.1 FPS, which rises to 166.8 FPS at Medium and 136.7 FPS at High. The Ultra preset, while the most demanding, still maintains a comfortable 87 FPS average, leaving a substantial margin above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a drop of approximately 119 FPS, representing a 57.8% reduction in frame rate when moving from the least to most visually demanding settings, yet even the worst-case scenario remains playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope expands considerably. The Low preset achieves 328.8 FPS, while Medium delivers 269.1 FPS and High reaches 219.5 FPS. Ultra at 1440p produces 138 FPS, which is 51 FPS higher than the same preset at 4K. This resolution proves to be a sweet spot for high-refresh-rate displays, as even the Ultra preset clears 120 FPS by a significant margin, and the Low preset approaches 330 FPS, which would saturate most high-end monitors.

At 1920x1080, the results become almost absurdly high. Low settings yield 459 FPS, Medium produces 372.6 FPS, and High reaches 309.5 FPS. Even Ultra at 1080p maintains 191.2 FPS, more than triple the playability threshold. The gap between Ultra at 1080p and Ultra at 4K is 104.2 FPS, demonstrating that resolution scaling has a substantial impact on this hardware combination, but never enough to threaten playability.

The measured data shows no minimum or maximum frame rate values recorded, only averages, so variance analysis is not possible from this dataset. However, the average frame rates alone tell a clear story: this system never approaches the 60 FPS floor, regardless of how the user configures the game.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Downfall at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 87 FPS, which is 27 FPS above the 60 FPS playability threshold. The verdict data confirms Ultra is listed as a playable setting at this resolution.

Q: What is the highest FPS this combination achieves in Downfall?

A: The highest recorded average is 459 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the fastest configuration tested across all twelve resolution and preset combinations.

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

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 191.2 at 1920x1080 to 87 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 104.2 FPS. At Low settings, the drop is from 459 to 206.1 FPS, a reduction of 252.9 FPS, showing that resolution scaling has a larger absolute impact at lower graphical presets.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at all resolutions?

A: Yes. Ultra settings maintain average FPS of 87 at 3840x2160, 138 at 2560x1440, and 191.2 at 1920x1080. All three resolutions clear the 60 FPS playability threshold with Ultra enabled, and the verdict lists Ultra as the best settings at every resolution.

Q: Which preset provides the largest performance headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset at 459 FPS offers the most headroom, followed by Medium at 372.6 FPS and High at 309.5 FPS. For 1440p displays, Low at 328.8 FPS provides sufficient headroom for 240Hz monitors, while Ultra at 138 FPS suits 120Hz displays.

Q: How does this system rank among all tested hardware combinations for Downfall?

A: The combination ranks 46th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the top 1.2% of systems. The CPU sits in the 90th percentile against all CPUs, and the GPU ranks in the 92nd percentile against all GPUs.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU benchmarks, the Intel Core i5-14600K achieves an average benchmark score of 48618. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H with an average score of 48698, which is 0.2% faster, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 with a score of 48995, which is 0.8% faster. On the slower side, the AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470 with a 0.3% deficit, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287 with a 0.7% deficit. These deltas are all within 1%, meaning any of these CPUs would deliver effectively identical frame rates in Downfall, as the game's performance at high resolutions is predominantly GPU-bound.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 posts an average benchmark score of 79842. The closest alternatives include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a score of 79605, just 0.3% slower, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79396, which is 0.6% slower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, representing a 1.1% deficit, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, which is 1.4% faster. These rival GPUs would all produce nearly identical frame rates in Downfall, though the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory provides additional capacity that these alternatives lack, which could matter for future titles or texture-heavy mods.

For a system builder seeking similar performance, pairing any of these rival CPUs with the RTX 5090 would yield statistically indistinguishable results in Downfall, as the CPU is not a bottleneck at any tested resolution. Conversely, pairing the i5-14600K with any of the rival GPUs would produce frame rates within 1.4% of the RTX 5090's measured results, which amounts to a difference of roughly 1-2 FPS at 4K Ultra—imperceptible in real-world gameplay.

The Verdict

This system does not merely run Downfall; it obliterates the performance requirements. According to the verdict data, all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) are playable at every resolution tested. At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Ultra with an average of 87 FPS, which is 27 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra again is the best setting, delivering 138 FPS—more than double the threshold. At 1920x1080, Ultra achieves 191.2 FPS, providing massive headroom.

The 60 FPS playability threshold is not merely met but surpassed by a wide margin in every configuration. The lowest recorded average across all twelve tests is 87 FPS at 4K Ultra, meaning even the most demanding scenario provides 45% more performance than the minimum playable standard. For users with high-refresh-rate monitors, the system supports 144Hz gaming at 1440p with Ultra settings (138 FPS) and 240Hz gaming at 1080p with High settings (309.5 FPS) or 1440p with Medium settings (269.1 FPS).

The data indicates no scenario exists where this hardware combination falls below playable performance in Downfall. The game's 2016 release date suggests it was designed for far less powerful hardware, and this modern flagship pairing has an enormous surplus of capability. Users can enable maximum graphical fidelity without any concern for frame rate drops below the playability threshold.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals that resolution scaling has a dramatic effect on frame rates, which indicates the GPU is the primary performance driver in Downfall. Moving from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 at Ultra settings reduces average FPS from 191.2 to 87, a 54.5% performance drop. This substantial scaling with resolution is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering workload increases with pixel count while the CPU workload remains relatively constant.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions and presets. At 1080p Low, the system produces 459 FPS, which approaches the limits of what even the Intel Core i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads can feed to the GPU. The CPU's benchmark scores—including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and single-core score of 2064—place it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, ensuring it does not bottleneck the RTX 5090 in most scenarios. The PassMark single-thread score of 4270 further confirms strong per-core performance, which matters for games that rely on a few heavily loaded threads.

However, the data shows that even at 1080p, the GPU remains the dominant factor. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 267.8 FPS, while at 4K the same preset gap is 119.1 FPS. This indicates that while the CPU's performance ceiling is reached at high frame rates, the GPU still has the largest influence on overall performance. The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.8% of each other, and swapping CPUs would produce negligible frame rate changes, confirming the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combination.

The scaling between presets at each resolution follows a consistent pattern: Low to Medium shows a 20-25% drop, Medium to High shows a 15-20% drop, and High to Ultra shows a 30-40% drop. This non-linear scaling is typical of GPU-bound workloads where the most demanding preset includes effects that disproportionately increase rendering cost. At 4K, the Ultra preset's 87 FPS average versus High's 136.7 FPS shows that Ultra settings impose a 36.4% additional cost over High, which is the largest preset-to-preset gap in the dataset.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the best settings that maintain 60 FPS are Ultra, which achieves an average of 87 FPS. This is the most demanding preset available, and it still provides a 27 FPS margin above the playability threshold. Users with 4K displays can enable maximum graphical fidelity without compromise.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings again provide the best experience with an average of 138 FPS. This configuration is suitable for 120Hz displays, as the frame rate exceeds the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors. The 51 FPS improvement over 4K Ultra demonstrates the benefit of reduced pixel count, making 1440p the ideal resolution for high-refresh-rate gaming with this hardware.

At 1920x1080, Ultra settings deliver 191.2 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and sufficient for 144Hz or even 165Hz displays. This is the highest-performing configuration in terms of raw frame rate among the Ultra presets, with only the Medium (372.6 FPS) and Low (459 FPS) presets offering higher averages. For competitive play where frame rate is paramount, Low at 459 FPS would satisfy even the most demanding esports displays, but for visual quality, Ultra at 191.2 FPS is the recommended choice.

The verdict data confirms Ultra is the best setting at all three resolutions, with the average FPS at the best setting being 87 at 4K, 138 at 1440p, and 191.2 at 1080p. Every other preset also clears 60 FPS, meaning users have complete freedom to choose between visual fidelity and frame rate based on their display's capabilities and personal preference.