Downfall

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers exceptional performance in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that proves to be highly scalable on modern hardware. Benchmark results confirm that this pairing does not merely meet the 60 FPS playability threshold; it obliterates it at every resolution tested. The data shows a system capable of running the game at maximum settings with substantial headroom, even at 4K Ultra where the average frame rate remains well above the target.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across the three tested resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system operates at extremely high frame rates that approach the limits of display refresh rates. The Low preset produces an average of 442 FPS, while Medium delivers 361 FPS (min 307, max 416). High settings still achieve a robust 296 FPS, and even the demanding Ultra preset maintains an average of 185 FPS. This represents a scaling pattern where the jump from Low to Ultra reduces performance by approximately 58%, yet every setting remains far above any competitive gaming threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but show the expected impact of increased pixel count. Low settings yield 315 FPS, Medium drops to 258 FPS (min 219, max 297), and High produces 212 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution delivers 132 FPS, which still provides a substantial cushion above the 60 FPS target. The transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a roughly 29% reduction in average FPS across comparable settings, indicating that the GPU is beginning to take on a more significant role.

At 3840x2160, the performance profile becomes more stratified. The Low preset achieves 196 FPS, Medium runs at 161 FPS (min 136, max 185), and High settles at 132 FPS. The Ultra preset, which represents the most demanding configuration, still manages an average of 82 FPS. This marks a 58% decrease from the Low preset's performance at the same resolution, highlighting that Ultra settings impose a substantial load even on this flagship GPU. The gap between 1440p and 4K is approximately 38% for the Ultra preset, showing that resolution scaling remains a dominant factor.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data indicates that this game scales primarily with GPU performance as resolution increases, but the CPU still plays a meaningful role at lower resolutions. The Intel Core i7-14700K, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, provides sufficient processing headroom that the system never appears CPU-bound at any tested configuration. However, the frame rate deltas between resolutions reveal where the balance shifts.

At 1920x1080, the CPU's influence is most apparent. The difference between Low (442 FPS) and Ultra (185 FPS) is dramatic, but the fact that even Ultra exceeds 180 FPS suggests that the RTX 4090 is not fully saturated at this resolution. The i7-14700K's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2569, ensures that the engine's draw call and physics threads do not bottleneck the GPU. The 1080p results show a 2.4x difference between Low and Ultra, which points to the rendering pipeline rather than CPU limitations as the primary constraint.

At 2560x1440, the GPU begins to assert more influence. The scaling from Low (315 FPS) to Ultra (132 FPS) shows a 2.4x reduction, similar to 1080p, but the absolute numbers indicate that the additional pixels are consuming GPU throughput. The CPU's role diminishes here; the i7-14700K's PassMark multi-thread score of 52392 and Cinebench R23 multi-core result of 33440.5 are far beyond what this game requires, so the processor remains in a supporting capacity.

The 3840x2160 results confirm a GPU-dominated scenario. The drop from Low (196 FPS) to Ultra (82 FPS) represents a 58% reduction, and the min FPS at Medium (136 FPS) shows that the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s and 24 GB of GDDR6X are adequate for 4K textures. The RTX 4090's FP32 throughput of 82.58 TFLOPS is the deciding factor here, as the CPU's contribution becomes negligible when the GPU is fully engaged. The data suggests that for this game, the CPU matters most at 1080p, while the GPU dominates at 1440p and 4K.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core i7-14700K provide context for its CPU performance. The AMD EPYC 9115 has an average score of 69288, which is a 0.1% delta from the i7-14700K's average of 69355. This places the two processors at near parity, though the EPYC's server orientation makes it an unconventional choice for gaming. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69515, a -0.2% delta, indicating that these two desktop flagships perform almost identically in aggregate benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (69875, -0.7% delta) and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (69996, -0.9% delta) round out the comparison, showing that the i7-14700K sits in a tightly clustered group where no competitor exceeds a 1% performance difference. In practical terms, any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical frame rates in Downfall.

For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090's nearest rivals present a more varied picture. The Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60326, a 0% delta from the RTX 4090's average of 60347, which is surprising given the vast architectural differences between these cards. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, 0.3% delta) and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58657, 2.9% delta) fall slightly below, while the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896, -2.5% delta) actually scores higher in the aggregate metric. These rival comparisons are based on overall benchmark averages rather than game-specific data, so the RTX 4090's massive VRAM allocation and ray tracing capabilities may provide advantages in Downfall that these aggregate scores do not fully capture. The RTX 4090's percentile ranking of 88 among all GPUs, combined with the i7-14700K's 94 percentile among CPUs, indicates that this is a top-tier pairing that would outperform most other combinations in this game.

The Verdict

The data confirms that this system can run Downfall at every resolution and preset combination tested, with all configurations clearing the 60 FPS playability threshold. At 3840x2160, the verdict lists High, Low, Medium, and Ultra as playable settings, with the best settings being Ultra at an average of 82 FPS. This means the system can run the game at maximum visual quality in 4K with a 22 FPS margin above the target, which is a compelling result for a horror title where smooth motion is essential for atmosphere.

At 2560x1440, all four presets are also playable, with Ultra achieving 132 FPS. This provides a substantial buffer that would accommodate any future driver optimizations or additional background processes without dropping below 60 FPS. The 1920x1080 results are equally decisive, with Ultra running at 185 FPS. This level of performance suggests that the system would also support high refresh rate displays at 1440p, though the data does not specify refresh rate compatibility. The combination rank of 109 out of 3716 tested combos places this configuration in the top 3% of all systems tested for this game, confirming its elite status.

Best Settings per Resolution

For players seeking the most demanding preset that maintains at least 60 FPS, the verdict data provides clear guidance. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers 82 FPS on average, making it the recommended choice for maximum visual fidelity. This is the most demanding configuration the game offers, and the system handles it with room to spare. The min FPS data is not available for Ultra at this resolution, but the average suggests that even the worst-case frame times would likely remain above 60 FPS given the 22 FPS headroom.

At 2560x1440, Ultra again emerges as the best setting, with an average of 132 FPS. This is more than double the playability threshold and provides an excellent experience for players who prioritize both image quality and smoothness. The Medium preset's min FPS of 219 at this resolution indicates that lower settings offer even greater stability, but Ultra's margin is already substantial. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves 185 FPS, which is the highest frame rate available at maximum settings across all three resolutions. The performance scaling shows that Ultra at 1080p is actually faster than Medium at 1440p (361 FPS vs 258 FPS), underscoring how resolution dominates the performance equation.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 109th out of 3716 tested combos for Downfall, placing it in the top 2.9% of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the exceptional synergy between the CPU and GPU, where the i7-14700K's 20-core configuration and the RTX 4090's 16,384 shading units work together without introducing a meaningful bottleneck at any resolution. The CPU's percentile of 94 among all processors and the GPU's percentile of 88 among all graphics cards both contribute to this high placement.

The ranking is particularly notable because the RTX 4090's nearest GPU rivals include professional workstation cards like the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, which suggests that consumer gaming performance is not perfectly correlated with aggregate benchmark scores. The measured FPS data confirms that this combo is not merely competitive but dominant in Downfall specifically, with the 4K Ultra result of 82 FPS being a figure that many lower-ranked systems would struggle to achieve at 1080p. The data indicates that this pairing is overqualified for Downfall's requirements, delivering performance that exceeds the needs of even the most demanding horror gaming experiences.