Downfall

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pairing in Downfall presents a fascinating case of bottleneck dynamics, where the data reveals a system that shifts its limiting component depending on the resolution and quality settings chosen. The measured FPS across the twelve configurations paints a clear picture of a GPU that is powerful enough to dominate at lower resolutions but quickly becomes the primary constraint as pixel count and graphical fidelity rise.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K is where the character of this combo becomes most evident. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the system produces an average of 139.7 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, that figure drops to 98.3 FPS, a significant 29.6% reduction. The jump to 3840x2160 is even more punishing, with the average plummeting to 65 FPS, representing a further 33.9% decline from the 1440p result. This steep and consistent drop-off as resolution increases is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The RTX 2070 SUPER is working progressively harder to fill those additional pixels, and the frame rate scales accordingly.

However, the data at lower settings tells a slightly different story. At the Low preset, the system achieves 212.3 FPS at 1080p, but this drops to 153.2 FPS at 1440p and then to 95.8 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27.9%, which is similar to the High preset. Yet, the absolute headroom at 1080p suggests the CPU is starting to play a larger role. The fact that the 1080p Low score is more than double the 4K High score indicates that when the GPU load is light, the Ryzen 5 2600 can still push very high frame rates, but the GPU's workload at higher resolutions is the dominant factor in determining the final output. The scaling is not perfectly linear, but the trend is unambiguous: this combination is heavily reliant on the GPU, and its performance degrades predictably as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the optimal balance between visual quality and performance, the Medium preset emerges as the most compelling option across all three resolutions. The data shows that at 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 173.6 FPS, which is 33.9 FPS higher than High and only 38.7 FPS lower than Low. This suggests that Medium captures a significant portion of the performance available at Low while offering substantially better visual fidelity than High. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 123.9 FPS, a very playable figure that remains well above the 60 FPS threshold. Even at 3840x2160, Medium manages an average of 77.5 FPS, making 4K gaming viable.

The Ultra preset, in contrast, appears to be a demanding step too far. At 4K, Ultra produces just 39.1 FPS, which is unplayable for a smooth experience. Even at 1440p, Ultra dips to 61.3 FPS, and at 1080p it reaches 87.8 FPS. The performance cost of moving from High to Ultra is substantial; at 4K, the average frame rate drops by 25.9 FPS, a 39.8% reduction. This indicates that the Ultra preset includes settings that impose a heavy load on the RTX 2070 SUPER, likely related to advanced lighting or shadow effects that are not well optimized. The benchmark results suggest that High is the ceiling for this card, with Medium being the sweet spot for maintaining high refresh rates, particularly at 1080p and 1440p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is unequivocally the workhorse of this pairing in Downfall. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a substantial 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for handling the texture data required at higher resolutions. The card's 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs are responsible for the raw pixel-pushing power that dictates the frame rates observed in the measured data. The GPU's percentile rank of 65 versus all GPUs places it firmly in the mid-to-upper tier, and its performance in Downfall aligns with this standing.

The clock speeds, with a base of 1605 MHz and a boost of 1770 MHz, are relatively modest by modern standards, but the Turing architecture's efficiency is evident in the results. The data indicates that the GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the primary resource being taxed. The massive frame rate differences between Low and Ultra settings at the same resolution—for example, 212.3 FPS versus 87.8 FPS at 1080p—highlight how sensitive the card is to the graphical workload. The card is not bottlenecked by its memory capacity in this game, as the 8 GB buffer appears sufficient, but its raw compute throughput is the limiting factor at higher settings. The nearest rival data shows it trading blows with the RTX 4060 Mobile, which is only 2.3% faster on average, but the desktop 2070 SUPER's sustained performance in this title is clearly capable of delivering high frame rates when settings are managed appropriately.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Downfall with this hardware?*

A: The data suggests 2560x1440 is the optimal resolution. At High settings, it achieves an average of 98.3 FPS, providing a smooth experience. 4K is only playable on Medium or Low settings, while 1080p, though capable of very high frame rates, does not fully utilize the GPU's potential.

*Q: Does the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of VRAM cause any issues in Downfall?*

A: No, the benchmark data does not indicate any VRAM-related performance anomalies. The card's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s appears sufficient, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings without sudden drops that would suggest memory swapping.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 153.2 FPS, while Ultra achieves 61.3 FPS. This means Low is approximately 2.5 times faster, or 91.9 FPS higher, than Ultra.

Q: Is this CPU or GPU combo better for 1080p or 4K gaming in this title?

A: The hardware is far more effective at 1080p. The data shows that at 1080p High, the system produces 139.7 FPS, while at 4K High it produces 65 FPS. The 4K result is less than half the frame rate, indicating that the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Q: Can this system maintain a stable 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only with specific settings. At 4K Medium, the average is 77.5 FPS, and at Low, it is 95.8 FPS. However, at High and Ultra, the averages fall to 65 FPS and 39.1 FPS, respectively, meaning High is borderline and Ultra is not viable.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its direct rivals in synthetic tests?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600's average benchmark score of 19616 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals. It is 0.4% slower than the Intel Core i5-1345U and 0.6% slower than the Intel Core i5-11600KF, while being 0.6% faster than the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U and 0.7% faster than the Intel Core i7-10700F.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, plays a supporting role in Downfall, but its influence is measurable. The CPU's base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz are modest, and its performance in synthetic benchmarks shows it to be a mid-range part. Its percentile rank of 77 versus all CPUs places it above the majority of processors, but its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-11600KF and i7-10700F, have nearly identical average scores, with deltas of -0.6% and 0.7% respectively.

In the context of the game's measured FPS, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the frame rates at low settings and low resolutions. The 212.3 FPS result at 1080p Low is likely approaching the ceiling of what the Ryzen 5 2600 can feed to the GPU. If the CPU were a more powerful model, the 1080p Low score might be even higher, but the data is limited to this specific pairing. The fact that the frame rate scales so dramatically with resolution suggests that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in most scenarios. However, the gap between 1080p Low (212.3 FPS) and 1080p Medium (173.6 FPS) is 38.7 FPS, which is a significant difference that demonstrates the GPU's workload is the main driver of performance changes. The CPU's dual-channel memory support and 16 MB of shared L3 cache are adequate for this game, but they do not boost the system beyond what the GPU can deliver. The 12 threads provide enough parallelism for modern game engines, but the single-thread performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1579, is not exceptional.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is wide. The Low preset delivers an average of 212.3 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium follows at 173.6 FPS, High at 139.7 FPS, and Ultra at 87.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is a substantial 124.5 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset is computationally expensive. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline of roughly 35-40 FPS per step, suggesting a linear increase in GPU workload.

At 2560x1440, the scores are lower but still robust. Low yields 153.2 FPS, Medium 123.9 FPS, High 98.3 FPS, and Ultra 61.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 91.9 FPS. The pattern remains consistent, with each setting tier costing approximately 25-30 FPS. The High setting at 1440p provides a very playable 98.3 FPS, which is close to the 100 FPS mark, making it a strong choice for high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly under maximum load. Low averages 95.8 FPS, Medium 77.5 FPS, High 65 FPS, and Ultra 39.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 56.7 FPS. Notably, the 4K Low score is higher than the 1440p Ultra score, which illustrates the massive performance cost of the Ultra preset. The 4K High result of 65 FPS is just above the 60 FPS threshold, but it is not a comfortable margin, and any demanding scene could cause dips below that target.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER holds a rank of 1034 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all possible pairings. Given that the GPU is in the 65th percentile of all GPUs and the CPU is in the 77th percentile, this ranking is slightly lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest. This indicates that the pairing is not perfectly balanced; the CPU's performance, while adequate, does not fully unlock the GPU's potential in this specific title, or the GPU is being held back by the CPU in certain low-resolution scenarios.

The rank of 1034 out of 1741 means that 707 other combos perform better, which is a significant number. This suggests that while the system is capable of playing Downfall well at most settings, it is not an optimal pairing for achieving the absolute highest frame rates. The data implies that a more modern CPU with higher single-thread performance would likely push this GPU to better results, particularly at 1080p where the frame rates are highest. Conversely, a more powerful GPU would be needed to make the 4K Ultra preset playable. The combination is a competent mid-range performer, but it does not punch above its weight class, and its ranking reflects that it is a solid, but not exceptional, match for this game.