Downfall

FAQ

Q: Can the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combo run Downfall at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 82 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playability threshold. The verdict data confirms all four settings presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—are playable at this resolution.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4090 at 1080p compared to 4K?

A: The average frame rate scales from 82 FPS at 4K Ultra to 185 FPS at 1080p Ultra, representing a 2.26x increase. At Low settings, the jump is even larger: from 196 FPS at 4K to 442 FPS at 1080p, a 2.25x improvement.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's performance more dependent on resolution or graphics settings?

A: The data shows resolution has a larger impact. Moving from 4K to 1080p at the same preset roughly doubles frame rates. In contrast, dropping from Ultra to Low at the same resolution increases FPS by about 2.4x at 4K (82 to 196 FPS) and 2.4x at 1080p (185 to 442 FPS). The scaling is consistent across both axes, but resolution changes produce the largest absolute FPS swings.

Q: What is the best settings preset at 2560x1440 to maintain high frame rates?

A: Ultra settings are fully playable at 1440p, delivering an average of 132 FPS. This is the most demanding preset that stays well above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64,640, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. It sits within 0.7% of the AMD EPYC 7343 (64,202) and is 0.3% behind the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64,438). The closest rival above is the AMD EPYC 4464P at 64,823, which is just 0.3% faster.

Q: Does the GPU's benchmark percentile reflect its in-game performance?

A: The RTX 4090 sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 60,347. In Downfall, the combo ranks 109th out of 3,716 tested configurations, placing it in the top 3% of all CPU-GPU pairings for this specific title—indicating the hardware is better suited to this game than its general GPU percentile might suggest.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, with an average of 185 FPS. The frame rate headroom is enormous—even the heaviest settings leave more than 3x the playability threshold.

At 2560x1440, Ultra again is the highest preset that clears 60 FPS, averaging 132 FPS. This is the sweet spot for high-refresh monitors, as the system maintains 132 FPS average while running the game at maximum visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, Ultra remains playable, averaging 82 FPS. This is the most demanding preset at 4K and still clears the 60 FPS threshold by a comfortable 22 FPS margin. For those who prefer maximum smoothness over visual detail, dropping to High yields 132 FPS, but it is not necessary for playability.

The pattern is clear: this combination runs Downfall at Ultra settings across all three resolutions without dipping below 60 FPS. The only compromise scenario is 4K Ultra, where the 82 FPS average leaves moderate headroom but remains firmly in playable territory.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data reveals that GPU scaling dominates this game's performance profile. When moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings preset, frame rates drop by a factor of roughly 2.2 to 2.4. For example, at Medium settings, 1080p yields 361 FPS, while 4K yields 161 FPS—a 55% reduction. This scale factor is consistent with GPU-bound rendering, where pixel throughput becomes the primary bottleneck.

At 1080p, the CPU's role becomes more prominent. The jump from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows only a 28% FPS reduction (442 to 315 FPS), while the jump from 1440p to 4K at Low shows a 38% reduction (315 to 196 FPS). The smaller drop at lower resolutions suggests that at 1080p Low, the Core Ultra 7 265's processing power is partially limiting the RTX 4090. The CPU's 20 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide strong single-thread performance (5,960 in Cinebench R23 single-core), which helps maintain high frame rates in lighter settings.

The settings preset scaling also indicates GPU dependence. At 4K, dropping from Ultra to Low increases FPS from 82 to 196—a 2.4x improvement. At 1080p, the same preset drop yields a 2.4x improvement (185 to 442 FPS). The consistent multiplier across resolutions points to the GPU's shading and rasterization throughput as the dominant factor. The RTX 4090's 16,384 shading units and 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance scale predictably with workload intensity.

Resolution scaling is steeper than settings scaling. At Ultra settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS by 29% (185 to 132), and moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it by 38% (132 to 82). This indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU's memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) and pixel rate (443.5 GPixel/s) become increasingly critical. The CPU's contribution diminishes as resolution rises, with the GPU becoming the near-exclusive performance determinant at 4K.

Similar Performance Alternatives

For the CPU, the closest performing alternatives are all within 1% of the Core Ultra 7 265's average benchmark score of 64,640. The AMD EPYC 4464P (64,823) is 0.3% faster, making it the nearest competitor above. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F (64,438) is 0.3% slower, essentially identical in synthetic workloads. The AMD EPYC 7343 (64,202) trails by 0.7%, and the AMD EPYC 9124 (65,104) leads by 0.7%. For Downfall specifically, any of these CPUs would produce nearly indistinguishable frame rates, as the game's bottleneck at most resolutions is the GPU, not the processor.

For the GPU, the RTX 4090's nearest rivals in average benchmark score are surprisingly close. The Intel Arc Pro A60 matches within 0.0% (60,326 vs. 60,347). The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140) is 0.3% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896) is 2.5% faster. The AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657) trails by 2.9%. These workstation-oriented GPUs would deliver similar synthetic benchmark results, though real-world gaming performance may vary due to driver optimization and architecture differences.

In the context of Downfall specifically, the combo's rank of 109 out of 3,716 configurations means that the vast majority of other CPU-GPU pairings perform worse. The nearest rival GPUs, despite similar benchmark averages, may not translate their scores into identical in-game frame rates, as Downfall's rendering demands favor the RTX 4090's dedicated ray tracing cores (128) and tensor cores (512), which are not present in the rival AMD or Intel workstation cards.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low settings: 442 FPS average
• Medium settings: 361 FPS average, with a minimum of 307 FPS and maximum of 416 FPS
• High settings: 296 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 185 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low settings: 315 FPS average
• Medium settings: 258 FPS average, with a minimum of 219 FPS and maximum of 297 FPS
• High settings: 212 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 132 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low settings: 196 FPS average
• Medium settings: 161 FPS average, with a minimum of 136 FPS and maximum of 185 FPS
• High settings: 132 FPS average
• Ultra settings: 82 FPS average

The data includes min/max values only for Medium settings at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the frame time variance is 109 FPS (307 to 416), indicating occasional dips but never approaching the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p Medium, the spread narrows to 78 FPS (219 to 297). At 4K Medium, the spread is 49 FPS (136 to 185), showing tighter frame pacing at higher resolutions due to GPU-bound consistency. The minimum recorded frame rate across all tested configurations is 136 FPS at 4K Medium, which still exceeds the playability threshold by more than 2x.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution follows a consistent pattern: Ultra settings reduce FPS by roughly 58% compared to Low at every resolution. This uniform reduction indicates that the game's Ultra preset adds a proportional workload increase regardless of pixel count.

The Verdict

This PC configuration can run Downfall at 60+ FPS across all tested resolutions and settings. The verdict data confirms that every settings preset—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—is playable at 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves a minimum of 185 FPS at Ultra settings, leaving 125 FPS of headroom above the playability threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra settings deliver 132 FPS average, still more than double the 60 FPS requirement. At 3840x2160, Ultra settings produce 82 FPS average, which clears the threshold by 22 FPS.

The weakest recorded performance point is 4K Ultra at 82 FPS average, but even this remains comfortably playable. The minimum frame rate observed across all tests is 136 FPS (4K Medium), meaning the system never drops below 60 FPS in any measured scenario.

For competitive or high-refresh gameplay, 1080p Low settings at 442 FPS or 1440p Low at 315 FPS would be suitable for 240Hz+ displays. For visually demanding single-player horror experiences, 4K Ultra at 82 FPS provides the best balance of fidelity and smoothness. The combination of the Core Ultra 7 265's strong single-thread performance and the RTX 4090's massive rasterization and ray tracing capabilities ensures that Downfall runs flawlessly at maximum settings on any resolution.