Downfall

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers overwhelming performance in Downfall, a horror title from 2016 that presents no serious challenge to this hardware. Across every tested resolution and preset, the combo clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by a commanding margin, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration maintaining an average of 74 FPS. The data shows a system that is effectively maxing out the game at all settings, making it a reference-class pairing for this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces exceptional frame rates that approach or exceed the refresh-rate ceiling of most monitors. Low settings yield an average of 400 FPS, while Medium pushes that to 327 FPS with a minimum of 278 FPS and a maximum of 376 FPS. High settings drop to 268 FPS average, and Ultra still delivers 168 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is approximately 2.4x, indicating that the game’s preset scaling has a meaningful impact even when the hardware is not remotely stressed.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains staggering. Low settings produce 285 FPS average, Medium delivers 233 FPS with a minimum of 198 FPS and maximum of 268 FPS, and High achieves 191 FPS. Ultra at 1440p still averages 120 FPS, which is exactly double the playability threshold. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 29% of the Low preset performance and 29% of the Ultra preset performance, a consistent scaling pattern that suggests the GPU is handling the additional pixel load efficiently.

At 3840x2160, the true 4K results show where this combo begins to feel its limits, though it never approaches them. Low settings average 178 FPS, Medium delivers 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS and maximum of 167 FPS, and High reaches 119 FPS. Ultra at 4K is the only configuration below 100 FPS, averaging 74 FPS. That number still represents a 23% margin above the 60 FPS threshold, meaning even the heaviest preset at the highest resolution remains comfortably playable. The transition from 1440p to 4K costs about 38% of the Low preset performance and 38% of the Ultra preset performance, showing a slightly steeper scaling penalty than the 1080p-to-1440p step.

The only data points with recorded minimum and maximum values come from the Medium preset at each resolution. At 1080p Medium, the spread between minimum and maximum is 98 FPS; at 1440p Medium it is 70 FPS; at 4K Medium it is 44 FPS. This narrowing spread as resolution increases suggests that frame-time consistency improves at higher pixel counts, likely because the GPU becomes the limiting factor and produces more uniform frame pacing.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K provide context for CPU-bound scenarios. The Intel Xeon 6511P scores within 0.2% of the Ultra 7 265K, making it essentially a performance twin in synthetic benchmarks. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 trails by 0.7%, and the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F is 1.3% behind. The Intel Core i7-14700KF is 1% ahead. In a game like Downfall where the GPU dominates, these differences would translate to indistinguishable frame rates — any of these CPUs paired with the RTX 4080 would produce nearly identical results.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, the closest alternative is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 0.1% higher in aggregate benchmarks. That gap is within measurement noise, so users upgrading from a 4080 to a 4080 SUPER would see no practical difference in Downfall. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% slower, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 2.6% slower, and the AMD Radeon 8060S is 2.7% slower. These deltas are small enough that all of these GPUs would deliver broadly similar frame rates in this title, though the RTX 4080’s 16 GB GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth give it a structural advantage in any future titles that demand more video memory.

The practical takeaway is that anyone building a system around the RTX 4080 for Downfall could swap in any of the four nearest CPU rivals without changing the gaming experience. Conversely, replacing the RTX 4080 with the RTX 4080 SUPER — the only GPU rival within 1% — would yield no measurable improvement. The AMD options would cost a few percent of performance, which at the frame rates seen here is invisible to the player.

CPU and GPU Roles

The benchmark data makes it clear that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the primary driver of performance in Downfall, but the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is more than sufficient to keep pace. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 400 FPS average; at 1440p Low it produces 285 FPS; and at 4K Low it still manages 178 FPS. The steady reduction as resolution climbs — roughly 29% from 1080p to 1440p and another 38% from 1440p to 4K — is the classic signature of a GPU-bound workload where the rendering pipeline, not the CPU, is the bottleneck.

The CPU’s role becomes more apparent when examining preset scaling at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, moving from Low to Ultra reduces the average from 400 FPS to 168 FPS, a 58% drop. At 1440p, the same preset change drops from 285 FPS to 120 FPS, a 58% reduction. At 4K, Low to Ultra goes from 178 FPS to 74 FPS, a 58% decline. This consistent 58% penalty across all resolutions indicates that the game’s preset settings are scaling uniformly, with the Ultra preset adding roughly the same relative workload regardless of pixel count.

The Ultra 7 265K’s 20 cores and 20 threads are far beyond what Downfall requires, and its single-threaded performance — evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2713 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2020 — ensures it never becomes the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where CPU overhead is most likely to surface, the system delivers 400 FPS, which is well above what any mainstream display can show. The data suggests that this game would run at playable frame rates even with a significantly weaker CPU, making the Ultra 7 265K effectively invisible in the performance equation.

The Verdict

This combination can absolutely run Downfall, and it does so with extraordinary headroom. The verdict data confirms that all four settings — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — are playable at every resolution tested, with no configuration falling below the 60 FPS playability threshold.

At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Ultra, which averages 74 FPS. That is 23% above the threshold, providing a comfortable margin for demanding scenes. High averages 119 FPS, Medium 145 FPS, and Low 178 FPS, so even the most conservative settings deliver triple-digit frame rates.

At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 120 FPS, exactly double the threshold, and every other preset exceeds 190 FPS. At 1920x1080, Ultra hits 168 FPS, and Low reaches 400 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of virtually every consumer monitor. In practical terms, this system can run Downfall at maximum settings with V-Sync enabled on a 144 Hz 1440p display without ever dropping below the refresh rate. On a 4K 60 Hz display, the Ultra preset’s 74 FPS average means the game will run at the display’s maximum refresh rate with enough spare performance to prevent any perceptible stutter.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 74 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS playability threshold. This is the best setting available at that resolution.

Q: What is the highest frame rate this combo achieves in Downfall?

A: The highest recorded average is 400 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The Medium preset at that resolution has a maximum of 376 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its closest rival in this game?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER scores 0.1% higher in aggregate benchmarks, which is a negligible difference. In practice, both cards would produce identical frame rates in Downfall.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck for this game at any resolution?

A: No. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K’s nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6511P, scores within 0.2%, and the CPU’s single-core performance is sufficient to deliver 400 FPS at 1080p Low. The GPU is the limiting factor at all resolutions.

Q: What is the slowest preset at 1440p?

A: Ultra at 2560x1440 averages 120 FPS. Even at this slowest preset, the frame rate is double the 60 FPS playability threshold.

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

A: At the Low preset, the average drops from 400 FPS at 1080p to 178 FPS at 4K, a 55% reduction. At Ultra, it drops from 168 FPS to 74 FPS, also a 56% reduction.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3,716 tested combinations in the database, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 230th in Downfall. That places it in the top 6.2% of all tested systems, a strong showing that reflects the GPU’s capability more than the CPU’s contribution. The ranking is consistent with the measured frame rates: this combo outperforms the vast majority of systems while trailing a small cohort of higher-end configurations that likely pair the RTX 4080 with faster CPUs or pair stronger GPUs with similar processors.

The 230th position is notable because it demonstrates that the RTX 4080, despite being an end-of-life product with a successor already released, still ranks highly in a 2016 horror title. The CPU’s 94th percentile ranking among all processors and the GPU’s 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs combine to produce a result that is greater than either component’s individual standing. This is a case where the GPU’s raw rasterization power — derived from its 9728 shading units and 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance — is the dominant factor, and the CPU simply stays out of the way.

For anyone considering this exact configuration, the data indicates it is a top-tier choice for Downfall and likely for similarly demanding titles from that era. The 74 FPS floor at 4K Ultra provides enough headroom to enable additional features or higher refresh rates, and the 400 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low means the system will never feel sluggish. The rank of 230 out of 3,716 puts it in the upper echelon, and the only meaningful upgrade path would be moving to a stronger GPU, as the CPU has no discernible impact on this game’s performance.