Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Ti produces a fascinating split personality in Downfall: at 1080p the system is clearly CPU-bound, with frame rates that barely separate the Low and Medium presets, while at 4K the GPU takes full control and the scaling becomes steep and predictable. The measured data shows this is a combo that can deliver high refresh rates at 1440p, but the Ultra preset at 4K drops to 70.8 FPS, suggesting that even a top-tier GPU like the RTX 4070 Ti cannot fully overcome the demands of this horror title at maximum settings. The 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM and the 192-bit memory bus are sufficient for the game’s needs, but the 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 2600 from the Zen architecture becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is not uniform across presets, which reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, the system goes from 252.8 FPS at 1920x1080 to 161 FPS at 3840x2160 — a drop of 91.8 FPS, or roughly 36% of the 1080p figure. At High settings, the drop is from 219.9 FPS to 107.6 FPS, which is a 112.3 FPS reduction, or about 51% of the 1080p value. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: from 157 FPS at 1080p down to 70.8 FPS at 4K, a 86.2 FPS decrease that represents a 55% performance loss. This pattern indicates that as the workload increases, the GPU becomes the dominant factor, while at 1080p the CPU’s single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1579) is what keeps the frame rate from climbing even higher.

The Medium preset offers an interesting case study in scaling. At 1080p it achieves 234.3 FPS, only 18.5 FPS below the Low preset’s 252.8 FPS, suggesting the CPU is already near its limit at this resolution. Moving to 1440p, Medium delivers 207.6 FPS, which is still extremely high, but the gap to Low widens to 14.5 FPS. At 4K, Medium drops to 133.7 FPS, while Low manages 161 FPS — a 27.3 FPS difference. This growing spread across resolutions indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti is being increasingly taxed by the Medium preset’s additional visual effects, while the CPU’s influence fades. The 285 W TDP GPU, with its boost clock of 2610 MHz and 7680 shading units, is clearly the star performer at higher resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly suggests that the Medium preset at 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo. At 2560x1440, Medium delivers 207.6 FPS, which is only 14.5 FPS below Low’s 222.1 FPS but a massive 99.5 FPS above Ultra’s 108.1 FPS. The visual quality improvement from Low to Medium comes at a remarkably small cost in this resolution, making it the best experience per the measured rows. At 4K, Medium’s 133.7 FPS is the second-best result on that resolution, trailing Low’s 161 FPS but beating High’s 107.6 FPS by 26.1 FPS — a significant margin that justifies the graphical upgrade. The Ultra preset, however, should be avoided at 4K, as the 70.8 FPS result is below the 107.6 FPS of High and represents a 62.9 FPS penalty over Medium.

At 1080p, the situation is more nuanced. The High preset hits 219.9 FPS, which is only 14.4 FPS below Medium’s 234.3 FPS, while Ultra manages 157 FPS. Given that the CPU is likely the limiting factor at this resolution — the Ryzen 5 2600’s boost clock of 3.90 GHz and 16 MB shared L3 cache constrain performance — players might prefer High over Medium to gain visual fidelity for a modest FPS cost. However, the data shows that Low’s 252.8 FPS is the only setting that pushes beyond 250 FPS, making it the choice for competitive play if the display supports such high refresh rates. For most users, Medium at 1440p offers the best balance, as it stays well above 200 FPS while providing a clear visual upgrade over Low.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Downfall?*

A: The highest measured result is 252.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This is the only configuration that exceeds 250 FPS in the data.

Q: How does the Ultra preset perform at 4K compared to High?

A: At 3840x2160, Ultra drops to 70.8 FPS, which is 36.8 FPS below High’s 107.6 FPS. This represents a 34% performance penalty for the highest settings.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 Ti the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: No, the data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p, Low and Medium presets achieve 252.8 and 234.3 FPS respectively — a difference of only 18.5 FPS — while at 4K the gap widens to 27.3 FPS, indicating the GPU becomes the constraint at higher resolutions.

*Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations in Downfall?*

A: This combo ranks 392 out of 1741 tested combos, placing it in the top 22.5% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p at High settings?

A: Yes, the measured 176.2 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings is well above 144 Hz, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and is it sufficient?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. This is sufficient for Downfall’s requirements, as the data shows no VRAM-related stutters or performance anomalies.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 392 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, this pairing sits in the 77.5th percentile of all configurations tested. This is a strong showing, especially considering the CPU’s age — the Ryzen 5 2600 was released in 2018 and its average benchmark score of 19616 places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with the nearest rival being the Intel Core i5-1345U at 19691 (a 0.4% delta). The GPU, meanwhile, ranks in the 85th percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 44900, and its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile at 45152 (a 0.6% delta). The rank of 392 indicates that while the GPU is capable of pushing high frame rates, the CPU’s limitations at lower resolutions prevent this combo from climbing higher in the rankings.

The delta between the CPU and GPU percentiles — 77 vs 85 — highlights the imbalance in this pairing. In Downfall, this manifests as a 35 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p (252.8 vs 157), while at 4K the same settings gap is 90.2 FPS (161 vs 70.8). This suggests that the combo’s rank is held back by the CPU’s inability to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, while at 4K the GPU’s raw power (40.09 TFLOPS FP32) drives the system to respectable results. The rank of 392 out of 1741 means the combo outperforms roughly 77% of tested configurations, which is a solid outcome for a CPU that is several generations old.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen architecture (Pinnacle Ridge), manufactured on a 12 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 3.90 GHz are modest by modern standards, and its Cinebench R23 scores of 11186 (multi-core) and 1579 (single-core) reflect this. In Downfall, the CPU’s role becomes evident when comparing 1080p results across presets: Low achieves 252.8 FPS, but Medium only improves to 234.3 FPS, and High drops to 219.9 FPS. This narrow spread suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU is capable of far higher frame rates — its Passmark G3D score of 31624 indicates substantial headroom.

At 1440p, the CPU’s influence diminishes, but it still plays a role. The gap between Low (222.1 FPS) and Medium (207.6 FPS) is 14.5 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p, but the overall frame rates remain high. The 16 MB shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (46.9 GB/s bandwidth) are sufficient for the game’s data transfer needs. However, the CPU’s Passmark single-thread score of 2239 and its 77th percentile ranking suggest that it cannot fully keep up with the RTX 4070 Ti’s capabilities. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-11600KF, scores 19740 in average benchmarks (a 0.6% delta), indicating that the Ryzen 5 2600 is competitive with newer mainstream processors but not exceptional.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are: Low 252.8 FPS, Medium 234.3 FPS, High 219.9 FPS, and Ultra 157 FPS. The 95.8 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is the largest of any resolution, reinforcing the CPU-bound analysis. At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 222.1 FPS, Medium 207.6 FPS, High 176.2 FPS, and Ultra 108.1 FPS. The spread here is 114 FPS, with Ultra taking a significant hit. At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 161 FPS, Medium 133.7 FPS, High 107.6 FPS, and Ultra 70.8 FPS. The 90.2 FPS spread at 4K is notable, but the absolute numbers show that Ultra is the only preset that drops below 100 FPS at any resolution.

The scaling pattern across resolutions is revealing. From 1080p to 1440p, Low drops by 30.7 FPS (12%), Medium by 26.7 FPS (11%), High by 43.7 FPS (20%), and Ultra by 48.9 FPS (31%). From 1440p to 4K, the drops are: Low 61.1 FPS (28%), Medium 73.9 FPS (36%), High 68.6 FPS (39%), and Ultra 37.3 FPS (35%). This shows that Ultra has the most abrupt drop from 1080p to 1440p, likely due to the GPU being pushed harder, while High and Medium show more gradual declines. The data indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti is most efficient at Medium settings, where the frame rate at 1440p (207.6 FPS) is still within 10% of the 1080p result (234.3 FPS).

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a 5 nm Ada Lovelace chip with 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and its boost clock of 2610 MHz allows it to reach 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. In Downfall, the GPU’s role is most apparent at 4K, where it is the primary driver of performance. The 70.8 FPS Ultra result at 3840x2160 is a clear indication that the GPU is being heavily taxed, while the 161 FPS Low result shows it can handle the game comfortably at lower settings. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 31624 and its 85th percentile ranking confirm its high-end status, with the nearest rival being the RTX 5090 Mobile at 45152 (a 0.6% delta).

The GPU’s memory configuration plays a significant role in Downfall’s performance. The 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for the game’s textures, even at 4K Ultra, and the 504.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures smooth data transfer. The 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are likely utilized for the game’s horror effects, though the data does not specify RT usage. The GPU’s 285 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU indicate a power-hungry component, but the measured FPS results show it delivers accordingly. At 1440p High, the 176.2 FPS result demonstrates that the GPU can easily push beyond 144 Hz, while at 4K High, the 107.6 FPS result is still playable but approaches the limit of smooth 60 Hz gameplay. The GPU’s end-of-life production status and 2023 release date suggest it is a mature product that performs consistently across resolutions.