Downfall

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. Measured data shows this combination exceeding the 60 FPS playable threshold by a wide margin at every tested resolution and preset. The RTX 5090's raw power, combined with the i7-14700KF's strong single-thread performance, produces triple-digit averages even at 4K Ultra, making this a system that effectively maxes out the game's performance envelope.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak capability. The Low preset yields an average of 452 FPS, while the Medium preset produces 370 FPS average, with a minimum of 314 FPS and a maximum of 425 FPS. Moving to High, the average drops to 303 FPS. The most demanding Ultra preset still maintains an average of 190 FPS, ensuring buttery-smooth gameplay with no risk of dropping near the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably but remains overwhelmingly fast. The Low preset achieves 323 FPS average. Medium delivers 264 FPS average, with a minimum of 225 FPS and a maximum of 304 FPS. The High preset reaches 217 FPS average, and Ultra maintains a strong 135 FPS average. All settings at this resolution comfortably clear the playable threshold, with the lowest observed minimum still being more than three times the 60 FPS baseline.

At 3840x2160, the system still has substantial headroom. The Low preset produces 201 FPS average, while Medium averages 164 FPS, with a minimum of 140 FPS and a maximum of 189 FPS. The High preset yields 135 FPS average. Even at the maximum Ultra preset, the average remains at 84 FPS, which is still 40% above the 60 FPS target. The data shows no scenario where this combination struggles, as even the most intensive configuration at the highest resolution maintains a comfortable margin above playability.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the best playable setting is Ultra, which delivers an average of 190 FPS. This is the most demanding preset tested, and it clears the 60 FPS threshold by more than three times. Given the enormous headroom, users can confidently enable every graphical option without concern.

At 2560x1440, the best setting is also Ultra, with an average of 135 FPS. This represents a 29% drop compared to the same preset at 1080p, but still provides a very high refresh rate experience. The system is clearly GPU-limited at this resolution, yet the RTX 5090's bandwidth and compute resources are sufficient to keep frame rates well above 120 FPS.

At 3840x2160, Ultra remains the best setting, averaging 84 FPS. This is the only resolution where the average dips below 100 FPS, but it still exceeds the 60 FPS playable threshold by 24 FPS. The margin indicates that even with future driver optimizations or additional background tasks, the system should maintain smooth performance in most scenes.

CPU and GPU Roles

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals a clear shift in component roles. At 1080p, the CPU plays a more significant role, as evidenced by the 452 FPS average on Low settings. This high frame rate suggests the i7-14700KF's 20 cores and 28 threads, with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU without bottlenecking. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 262 FPS, indicating that GPU load scales dramatically with settings while the CPU maintains consistent throughput.

As resolution increases to 1440p, the GPU becomes more dominant. The drop from 1080p Ultra (190 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (135 FPS) represents a 29% reduction, which aligns with the increased pixel count. The CPU's role diminishes relatively, as the RTX 5090's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 512-bit bus width handle the larger frame buffer requirements. The 217 FPS average at High settings confirms that the GPU still has substantial headroom even at this resolution.

At 4K, the GPU is almost entirely the limiting factor. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth are taxed heavily, but the i7-14700KF continues to provide adequate frame pacing. The difference between 1440p Ultra (135 FPS) and 4K Ultra (84 FPS) is 38%, which is slightly larger than the pixel count increase, suggesting memory bandwidth constraints begin to appear. However, the 201 FPS average at 4K Low indicates that when the GPU load is reduced, the CPU can still drive very high frame rates, proving the i7-14700KF is not a bottleneck even at 4K.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 84 FPS, which is 24 FPS above the 60 FPS playable threshold. This is the most demanding configuration tested, and it remains comfortably playable.

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combination can achieve?

A: The highest measured average is 452 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this CPU-GPU pairing in this game, limited by both the CPU's single-thread performance and the GPU's raw throughput.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the GPU becomes the primary performance driver. The RTX 5090's compute resources and memory bandwidth determine the frame rate, as evidenced by the drop from 323 FPS on Low to 135 FPS on Ultra. The CPU still provides sufficient headroom, as the 217 FPS average on High settings demonstrates.

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

A: The average FPS drops from 190 at 1920x1080 to 84 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 106 FPS or 56%. This is a significant scaling loss, but it is expected given the 4x increase in pixel count and the correspondingly higher memory bandwidth demands.

Q: Does this system ever drop below 60 FPS in the tested configurations?

A: No. The lowest recorded minimum FPS is 140 at 3840x2160 Medium settings. Even the most demanding configuration, 4K Ultra, maintains an 84 FPS average, and the data shows no measured instance of the frame rate falling below the playable threshold.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values for the Medium preset at each resolution?

A: At 1920x1080, the minimum is 314 FPS. At 2560x1440, the minimum is 225 FPS. At 3840x2160, the minimum is 140 FPS. These minimums represent the lowest frame rates recorded during testing and all remain well above 60 FPS.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores are the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, which scores 0.2% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, which scores 0.4% lower. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 0.9% lower, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K scores 1% higher. These processors would offer nearly identical frame pacing in Downfall, as the game's CPU demands are modest and all these chips provide ample single-thread performance.

For the GPU, the closest competitors are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scoring 0.3% lower, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB, scoring 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 1.1% lower, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 1.4% higher. These GPUs would produce very similar average frame rates, though the Tesla products are compute-oriented and may lack the same gaming-specific optimizations. The practical difference between the RTX 5090 and these rivals is negligible, with all falling within a 1.5% performance band.

The Verdict

This system can run Downfall exceptionally well at all tested resolutions and presets. The verdict by resolution confirms that 3840x2160, 2560x1440, and 1920x1080 all have playable settings, with the best setting being Ultra at each resolution. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 84, which clears the 60 FPS threshold by 40%. At 1440p Ultra, the average is 135 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, the average is 190 FPS. The system never drops below 60 FPS in any measured configuration, making it a definitive high-refresh-rate solution for this horror title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination ranks #63 out of 3716 tested combos for Downfall. This places it in the top 1.7% of all systems evaluated, which is consistent with the measured frame rates exceeding 135 FPS at 1440p Ultra and 84 FPS at 4K Ultra. The high ranking reflects both the GPU's massive compute throughput and the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance, though the game's relatively simple rendering pipeline means that the GPU's 92nd percentile standing among all tested GPUs is the more dominant factor in this ranking.