Downfall

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combination delivers an average of 112 FPS on High settings, 139.6 FPS on Medium, and 169.5 FPS on Low. The most demanding Ultra preset still clears the playable threshold comfortably, producing an average of 72.8 FPS. The scaling across presets at 4K is notable: dropping from Ultra to High raises performance by roughly 39 FPS, while moving from High to Medium adds another 27.6 FPS. Low settings push the frame rate to nearly 170 FPS, which is more than double the Ultra result, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces substantial rendering overhead at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with higher absolute numbers. High settings produce an average of 180.8 FPS, Medium reaches 225.5 FPS, and Low tops out at 244.3 FPS. Ultra at 1440p averages 111.8 FPS, which is still far above the 60 FPS playability floor. The gap between Ultra and High at this resolution is 69 FPS, a larger absolute delta than at 4K, where the same preset step only changed results by 39.2 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset's additional load is more punishing relative to the GPU's headroom at lower pixel counts, or that the CPU begins to matter more at 1440p.

At 1920x1080, the results are uniformly high. Ultra averages 160.3 FPS, High averages 233.5 FPS, Medium averages 251.9 FPS, and Low averages 269 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 108.7 FPS, which is the largest preset spread across all three resolutions. Even at the most demanding setting, the frame rate never approaches the 60 FPS threshold, leaving a massive margin of 100 FPS above playability. The minimum and maximum FPS values are not recorded in the database, so all analysis relies on average frame rates, but the averages alone demonstrate that this combination is never constrained by playability concerns at any resolution or preset.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear shift in workload balance as resolution changes. At 1080p, the RTX 5070 Ti is likely underutilized, because the i5-9400 with its 6 cores and 6 threads becomes the limiting factor. The evidence for this is the relatively small FPS gain from Medium to Low at 1080p: only 17.1 FPS, compared to the 18.8 FPS gain from High to Medium and the massive 73.2 FPS gain from Ultra to High. When the GPU is not the bottleneck, preset changes that reduce pixel shading workload have diminishing returns, because the CPU cannot feed frames fast enough. At 1080p Low, the 269 FPS average likely approaches the practical ceiling for this CPU in this title, given its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and single-core score of 935.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to take on more responsibility, as evidenced by the larger FPS drop from Low to Medium (18.8 FPS) and from Medium to High (44.7 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1440p still yields 111.8 FPS, which is 48.5 FPS lower than High, indicating that the RTX 5070 Ti is now doing enough work that its performance characteristics matter more. However, the CPU still appears to be a factor, because the 1440p Low result (244.3 FPS) is only 24.7 FPS below the 1080p Low result (269 FPS). A purely GPU-bound scenario would show a larger drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings, since pixel count increases by 77%.

At 4K, the GPU is clearly the dominant component. The Ultra preset drops to 72.8 FPS, a 35% reduction from the 1440p Ultra result of 111.8 FPS. The High preset at 4K (112 FPS) is nearly identical to the Ultra preset at 1440p (111.8 FPS), which makes sense because both scenarios present a similar total pixel load to the GPU. The Low preset at 4K (169.5 FPS) is still well below the 1440p Low result (244.3 FPS), confirming that resolution scaling is now the primary driver of performance. The i5-9400's role diminishes at 4K because the GPU's fill rate and shading throughput, as measured by its 235.4 GPixel/s pixel rate and 43.94 TFLOPS FP32 performance, become the deciding factors.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 72.8 FPS. This is a comfortable margin above the playable threshold, so 4K users can enable the highest preset without worrying about frame rate drops below playability. The database records no minimum FPS values, so it is possible that occasional dips occur, but the average suggests that Ultra is viable.

At 2560x1440, the best settings are also Ultra, with an average of 111.8 FPS. This is 51.8 FPS above the 4K Ultra result, showing that 1440p provides substantial headroom. Users who prefer higher refresh rates could drop to High for 180.8 FPS, but the Ultra preset remains the most demanding option that clears the threshold.

At 1920x1080, Ultra again qualifies as the best setting, averaging 160.3 FPS. This is the highest Ultra result across all resolutions, and it exceeds the 60 FPS threshold by more than 100 FPS. The data shows that this combination never needs to compromise on settings at any resolution, since even the heaviest preset at the highest resolution remains playable.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals in the database, the Intel Core i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254. The closest matches are the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 at 2259 (0.2% slower), the Intel Core i3-10305 at 2264 (0.4% slower), the Intel Core i7-10710U at 2248 (0.3% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 at 2246 (0.4% faster). These deltas are negligible, meaning any of these CPUs paired with the RTX 5070 Ti would produce nearly identical frame rates in Downfall. The i7-1068NG7 and i3-10305 are particularly close, with less than half a percent difference in average score. Since the i5-9400 sits at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, these rivals are all in the same performance tier.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 49957 and sits at the 86th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 at 50001 (0.1% slower), the Intel Arc A550M at 49737 (0.4% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT at 50951 (2% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT at 48477 (3.1% faster). The RX Vega 64 is essentially a statistical tie, so swapping to that GPU would yield almost identical FPS in Downfall. The Arc A550M is also within a rounding error. The RX 6900 XT is 2% slower, which at 4K Ultra would translate to roughly 1.5 FPS difference, imperceptible in practice. The RX 6800 XT is 3.1% faster, meaning it might push 4K Ultra from 72.8 FPS to about 75 FPS, but the overall experience would be the same.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 667th out of 3716 total combos for Downfall. This places it in the top 18% of all tested configurations. The rank reflects the balance between a mid-range CPU from 2018 and a high-end GPU from 2025. The i5-9400's 47th percentile CPU score drags the combo down relative to what the GPU alone could achieve, since the RTX 5070 Ti sits at the 86th percentile among GPUs. Many combos above this rank likely feature stronger CPUs that can better feed the GPU at lower resolutions. However, the 667th rank still represents a strong overall position, especially considering that the game is from 2016 and this hardware is far beyond its requirements.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Downfall? The data says yes, emphatically. According to the verdict by resolution, all three tested resolutions (3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080) have all four presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) marked as playable. The playable threshold is 60 FPS, and every recorded average exceeds it. The weakest result is 4K Ultra at 72.8 FPS, which is still 12.8 FPS above the threshold. At 1440p, the worst case is 111.8 FPS, and at 1080p the worst case is 160.3 FPS. This means users can run the game at maximum settings at any resolution without dropping below playability. The only caveat is that the database does not record minimum FPS values, so transient dips are unknown, but the averages are so far above the threshold that even a 30% drop would keep most presets playable.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Ultra, with an average of 72.8 FPS. All other presets (High, Medium, Low) also exceed 60 FPS at 3840x2160, with High at 112 FPS, Medium at 139.6 FPS, and Low at 169.5 FPS.

Q: How much faster is 1080p compared to 4K at the same settings?

A: At Ultra, 1080p averages 160.3 FPS versus 72.8 FPS at 4K, a difference of 87.5 FPS. At High, the gap is 121.5 FPS (233.5 vs 112). At Medium, the gap is 112.3 FPS (251.9 vs 139.6). At Low, the gap is 99.5 FPS (269 vs 169.5).

Q: Which component is the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU. The Intel Core i5-9400 has a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935, placing it at the 47th percentile among all CPUs. The GPU is at the 86th percentile, so at lower resolutions the CPU limits frame rates, as shown by the modest gains from Medium to Low at 1080p (only 17.1 FPS).

Q: Are there other GPUs that would perform similarly to the RTX 5070 Ti in this game?

A: Yes. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 scores 50001 in the database, only 0.1% different from the RTX 5070 Ti's 49957. The Intel Arc A550M is 0.4% faster, and the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is 2% slower. Any of these would produce nearly identical FPS in Downfall.

Q: Does the RTX 5070 Ti support modern graphics APIs needed for this game?

A: Yes. The GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Downfall is a 2016 horror title, so it will run on any of these APIs without issue.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 667th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 18% of all combos. This is a strong result, though the CPU's mid-range standing prevents the combo from ranking higher.