Downfall

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo can achieve in Downfall?

A: The highest recorded average is 106 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 87 FPS at Medium and 71 FPS at High for the same resolution.

Q: Can this system hit 60 FPS at 3840x2160?

A: No. The data shows no playable settings at 3840x2160. The best average at that resolution is 47 FPS on Low, with Medium at 39 FPS, High at 32 FPS, and Ultra at 20 FPS.

Q: What is the most demanding setting that stays above 60 FPS at 2560x1440?

A: Medium settings, which produce an average of 62 FPS with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS. Low settings average 76 FPS, while High falls to 51 FPS.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 46062. It sits 0.1% above the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030), 0.1% below the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098), and 0.2% above both the AMD EPYC 4364P (45970) and the AMD EPYC 7303 (45960).

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 1482. It is 1.3% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443).

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank among tested configurations for Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 3303 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the lower portion of the database for this specific game.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data for Downfall shows a clear pattern where the GPU is the primary constraint at every resolution. The Intel Arc B390, with its 1536 shading units and 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, appears to limit performance well before the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 becomes a bottleneck. Evidence for this comes from the scaling behavior across resolutions, where frame rates drop significantly as pixel count increases.

At 1920x1080, the CPU has relatively light work, and the system reaches 106 FPS on Low settings. Increasing to 2560x1440 reduces the Low-setting average to 76 FPS, a drop of roughly 28%. Moving further to 3840x2160 brings the Low average down to 47 FPS, another 38% reduction. These steep declines with resolution indicate that rendering load, not CPU logic, is the limiting factor.

The preset scaling reinforces this conclusion. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is 62 FPS (106 down to 44). At 2560x1440, the same span is 44 FPS (76 down to 32). At 3840x2160, the span narrows to 27 FPS (47 down to 20). The shrinking gap between presets at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU is saturated even on Low settings at 4K, leaving little headroom for additional graphical features.

The CPU’s role is more prominent at lower resolutions and lower presets, where the GPU has spare capacity. The Core Ultra 5 235, with 14 cores and 14 threads, boosts to 5.00 GHz and posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769. Its single-core score of 2085 in the same test indicates strong per-thread performance. Yet even at 1080p Low, the system only reaches 106 FPS, which is not an exceptionally high ceiling. This suggests that while the CPU is capable, the game’s engine or the GPU’s driver overhead may cap performance below what the processor could theoretically support.

At 3840x2160, the CPU’s influence nearly vanishes. The gap between Low and Ultra is just 27 FPS, and even the best setting averages only 47 FPS. The GPU’s fill rate and pixel throughput, rated at 60.00 GPixel/s, are simply insufficient for 4K rendering in this title. The data indicates that at 4K, the Arc B390 is the sole meaningful factor.

For 1440p, the balance shifts slightly. Medium settings achieve 62 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold. This is the highest resolution where the combo remains playable, and it requires turning settings down from High to Medium. The CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at this resolution, as evidenced by the fact that High settings drop to 51 FPS, a 17.6% reduction from Medium, which is a larger proportional drop than seen at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest results. Low settings average 106 FPS. Medium settings average 87 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. High settings average 71 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 44 FPS. All three of the lower presets clear the 60 FPS threshold, while Ultra falls short.

At 2560x1440, performance declines across the board. Low settings average 76 FPS. Medium settings average 62 FPS, with a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 71 FPS. High settings average 51 FPS. Ultra settings average 32 FPS. Only Low and Medium maintain an average above 60 FPS, and Medium’s minimum of 53 FPS indicates occasional dips below the threshold.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to remain playable. Low settings average 47 FPS. Medium settings average 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 44 FPS. High settings average 32 FPS. Ultra settings average 20 FPS. No preset at this resolution reaches the 60 FPS average required for playability.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each step up in resolution costs roughly 25-30 FPS at Low settings, while each step up in preset costs roughly 15-20 FPS at 1080p. The Medium preset at 1440p, with an average of 62 FPS, is the only configuration that combines a higher resolution with playable frame rates.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 sits in a tight cluster of CPUs with nearly identical average benchmark scores. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030, just 0.1% lower. The Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098, 0.1% higher. The AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45970, and the AMD EPYC 7303 scores 45960, both 0.2% lower. In practice, any of these processors would deliver nearly indistinguishable performance in Downfall, provided the GPU is the same. The CPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all tested CPUs confirms that it is not the limiting component in this combo.

The Intel Arc B390, by contrast, sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, and its nearest rivals are all much older, lower-end parts. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, 1.3% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% lower. These deltas are small enough that swapping the Arc B390 for any of these GPUs would produce similar frame rates in Downfall, with differences of only a few FPS at most.

For a user considering alternatives, the CPU side offers many options with essentially identical behavior. The GPU side is more constrained, as the nearest rivals are all legacy parts with comparable, limited performance. The data suggests that the Arc B390’s performance class is the determining factor for this game, and any of the listed rival GPUs would provide a similar experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 3303 out of 3716 tested combos for Downfall. This places it in the bottom 11% of all configurations in the database for this game. The low rank is driven almost entirely by the GPU, which sits at the 9th percentile among all tested GPUs. The CPU, at the 89th percentile, is far stronger than the GPU and does not compensate for the graphics bottleneck.

The rank indicates that this combo is not competitive with most other systems for Downfall. The vast majority of tested combinations achieve higher frame rates. The data shows that the GPU’s performance class, comparable to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710, is simply too weak for this game’s rendering demands. Even with a top-tier CPU paired alongside it, the system would still rank low because the GPU limits every resolution and preset.

The measured frame rates confirm this ranking. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages just 44 FPS, which is below the playable threshold. At 1440p High, it averages 51 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches even 50 FPS. These results are consistent with a GPU that scores only 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, a benchmark where the nearest rivals are all entry-level parts from previous generations.

The Verdict

This PC can run Downfall at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, but only at specific settings. At 1920x1080, the system clears the 60 FPS threshold on Low (106 FPS), Medium (87 FPS), and High (71 FPS). Ultra settings fall short at 44 FPS. At 2560x1440, Low (76 FPS) and Medium (62 FPS) are playable, while High (51 FPS) and Ultra (32 FPS) are not. At 3840x2160, no setting reaches 60 FPS, with the best result being 47 FPS on Low.

The verdict by resolution is clear: the combo is playable at 1080p and 1440p with reduced settings, but not at 4K. The playable settings list for 2560x1440 includes Low and Medium, with Medium as the best option at 62 FPS average. For 1920x1080, the playable settings include High, Low, and Medium, with High as the best option at 71 FPS average.

For users targeting 60 FPS, the system meets this goal at 1080p High and 1440p Medium. Anything more demanding, such as 1080p Ultra, 1440p High, or any 4K preset, will result in average frame rates below the threshold. The minimum frame rate at 1440p Medium is 53 FPS, so there will be occasional dips below 60 FPS even in the best playable 1440p configuration.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, with an average of 71 FPS. This is the optimal balance for visual quality and performance at this resolution. Medium averages 87 FPS and Low averages 106 FPS, but High provides the highest visual fidelity while still maintaining a comfortable margin above the threshold.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding playable preset is Medium, with an average of 62 FPS. This barely clears the 60 FPS threshold, and the minimum of 53 FPS indicates some frame time variance. Low settings average 76 FPS and offer a more stable experience, but Medium is the highest quality option that remains playable on average.

At 3840x2160, there is no playable preset. The best average is 47 FPS on Low, followed by 39 FPS on Medium, 32 FPS on High, and 20 FPS on Ultra. Users who insist on 4K will need to accept frame rates well below the 60 FPS target, or reduce the resolution to 1440p for a playable experience. The data shows no configuration at 4K that meets the playable threshold.