Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

This pairing of a six-core Zen 2 CPU with an Ada Lovelace GPU delivers a strong 1080p and 1440p experience in Downfall, though the 4K Ultra preset demands serious compromises. The benchmark data shows a combination that ranks 371st out of 1741 tested configurations for this horror title, placing it comfortably in the top quarter of all systems. The RTX 4070 SUPER sits at the 84th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 5 3600 lands at the 76th percentile among all CPUs — a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically outclasses the other. The measured frame rates reveal a system that can handle high-refresh 1440p gaming with ease, but the gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is substantial enough to dictate how you approach the game’s visual options.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck shifts. At Low settings, the system produces 287.1 FPS at 1920x1080, 246.4 FPS at 2560x1440, and 156.7 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 45.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K on Low, which is a significant but not catastrophic scaling — the GPU still has headroom to push well past 144 FPS even at the highest resolution. Moving to High settings, the numbers are 234.4 FPS at 1080p, 168.9 FPS at 1440p, and 105.9 FPS at 4K, a 54.8% drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern suggests that at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 3600’s single-thread performance becomes a limiting factor — the jump from 287.1 FPS on Low to 234.4 FPS on High at 1080p is only 18.4%, whereas the same settings change at 4K produces a 32.4% reduction (156.7 to 105.9 FPS). This indicates that 1080p is partially CPU-bound, while 4K shifts the load firmly onto the GPU. The Ultra preset amplifies this effect: 147.2 FPS at 1080p, 101.7 FPS at 1440p, and just 63.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result falls below 60 FPS territory by only 3.5 frames, which is marginal for a horror game where consistent pacing matters. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combination — even Ultra settings maintain 101.7 FPS, which is smooth enough for any display. At 4K, you are firmly GPU-limited; the 63.5 FPS Ultra result is less than half of the 1440p Medium figure of 205.2 FPS, confirming that pixel count, not CPU capability, is the determining factor at that resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 brings six cores and twelve threads to this pairing, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boosting to 4.20 GHz. Built on the Zen 2 architecture with a 7 nm process, this CPU’s benchmark results show a mixed profile that explains the 1080p behavior. Its single-thread score of 696 in 3DMark and 2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core indicates modest per-core performance compared to modern chips, which aligns with the observation that 1080p Low settings top out at 287.1 FPS — likely near the CPU’s limit for this game engine. The multi-threaded picture is stronger: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 15045, and 3DMark’s max-thread test hits 4603. The nearest rival comparisons reinforce this positioning — the Intel Core i5-11400 scores 18150 on average, a delta of -0.1% relative to the Ryzen 5 3600’s 18129 average, meaning they are effectively identical in overall CPU performance. The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS sits at 18101 (0.2% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 at 18158 (-0.2% delta). This tight cluster of scores indicates that the 3600’s performance envelope is well understood: it is a capable six-core part that will not bottleneck the RTX 4070 SUPER at 1440p or 4K, but at 1080p with low graphical settings, the CPU’s single-thread performance becomes the ceiling. The L3 cache of 32 MB shared across all cores helps with game data locality, and the 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR4 bus is adequate for this workload. The 65 W TDP means the CPU runs cool, but that does not translate to higher clocks — the 4.20 GHz boost is modest by today’s standards. In practice, the data shows that for Downfall, the CPU is sufficient for anything above 100 FPS at 1440p, but chasing the absolute highest frame rates at 1080p will be limited by this processor’s per-core throughput rather than the GPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 147.2 FPS, which is already above the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays. However, the jump from Ultra to High at 1080p yields 234.4 FPS — a 59.2% improvement that costs some visual fidelity but still looks strong for a horror title. The Medium preset at 268.2 FPS and Low at 287.1 FPS show diminishing returns beyond High, suggesting that High is the best balance at 1080p if you want maximum headroom. At 2560x1440, the story changes: High produces 168.9 FPS, which is excellent, but Ultra drops to 101.7 FPS — still playable but a 39.8% reduction. For 1440p owners with high-refresh displays (144 Hz or above), High is the recommended preset because it maintains 168.9 FPS, comfortably exceeding refresh rates. Medium at 205.2 FPS offers even more headroom if you prefer competitive responsiveness over visual polish. At 3840x2160, the choices become more constrained. Ultra at 63.5 FPS is technically above 60 but leaves almost no margin for drops, which can be problematic in horror sequences with heavy effects. High at 105.9 FPS is the sensible choice for 4K — it delivers 66.8% more performance than Ultra while still looking noticeably better than Medium’s 124 FPS or Low’s 156.7 FPS. The data suggests that High is the universal sweet spot for this configuration across all resolutions, with Medium as a fallback for 4K users who want extra safety margin.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Downfall at 4K 60 FPS?

A: Yes, with High settings the RTX 4070 SUPER and Ryzen 5 3600 produce 105.9 FPS at 3840x2160. Ultra settings drop to 63.5 FPS, which is above 60 but leaves minimal headroom.

Q: What is the best resolution for this pairing?

A: 2560x1440 offers the best combination of visual quality and performance. At High settings, the system achieves 168.9 FPS, and even Ultra maintains 101.7 FPS.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 3600 holding back the RTX 4070 SUPER?

A: At 1080p with Low settings, performance caps at 287.1 FPS, which suggests some CPU limitation. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, and the CPU is sufficient.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 scores 18129 on average, with the Intel Core i5-11400 at 18150 (-0.1% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 18101 (0.2% delta). Performance is effectively identical among these parts.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 268.2 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, which is only 6.6% lower than Low settings at 287.1 FPS.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a worthwhile improvement over High?

A: At 1440p, Ultra delivers 101.7 FPS versus High’s 168.9 FPS — a 39.8% performance cost. The visual gain is subjective, but the frame rate drop is significant enough that High is recommended unless you prioritize image quality over smoothness.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and the benchmark data confirms its strength. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, the GPU provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Downfall’s textures at any resolution. The boost clock of 2475 MHz (base 1980 MHz) drives 7168 shading units to a peak FP32 throughput of 35.48 TFLOPS. The GPU’s benchmark scores place it at the 84th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 42576. Its nearest rivals show how tightly grouped the competition is: the NVIDIA RTX A6000 scores 42653 (-0.2% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE scores 42723 (-0.3% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro 580X scores 41991 (1.4% delta). This means the 4070 SUPER is essentially tied with professional-grade and newer mainstream cards in raw compute terms. In Downfall specifically, the GPU’s role becomes clear when comparing settings at 4K: Low produces 156.7 FPS, Medium 124 FPS, High 105.9 FPS, and Ultra 63.5 FPS. The 59.5% drop from Low to Ultra at 4K indicates that Ultra is applying heavy shader and effect loads that the GPU’s 80 ROPs must process. The 224 texture mapping units handle texture-rich scenes well, but the 56 ray tracing cores are likely underutilized in this horror title, given the frame rates. The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design mean the card runs warm under load, but the data shows it sustains high performance across all tested scenarios. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is not stressed at 1080p or 1440p, and even at 4K Ultra, the measured 63.5 FPS suggests memory bandwidth is sufficient — the limitation is computational rather than capacity-based. Overall, the RTX 4070 SUPER provides the muscle for high-refresh 1440p gaming and solid 4K performance in Downfall, with the CPU acting as a supporting player rather than a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings produces the following results: Low averages 287.1 FPS, Medium 268.2 FPS, High 234.4 FPS, and Ultra 147.2 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 18.9 FPS (6.6%), while the gap from High to Ultra is 87.2 FPS (37.2%), showing that Ultra imposes a heavy cost. At 2560x1440, Low hits 246.4 FPS, Medium 205.2 FPS, High 168.9 FPS, and Ultra 101.7 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is consistent: Low loses 40.7 FPS (14.2%), Medium loses 63 FPS (23.5%), High loses 65.5 FPS (27.9%), and Ultra loses 45.5 FPS (30.9%). At 3840x2160, the numbers are 156.7 FPS on Low, 124 FPS on Medium, 105.9 FPS on High, and 63.5 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper: Low drops 89.7 FPS (36.4%), Medium drops 81.2 FPS (39.6%), High drops 63 FPS (37.3%), and Ultra drops 38.2 FPS (37.6%). This uniform reduction of roughly 37-40% across settings when moving to 4K confirms the GPU is the limiting factor at that resolution. The spread between Low and Ultra widens with resolution: 139.9 FPS at 1080p, 144.7 FPS at 1440p, and 93.2 FPS at 4K. Notably, the 4K Ultra result of 63.5 FPS is the only measured configuration that falls below 100 FPS, making it the sole scenario where the system struggles to maintain high refresh rates. The data consistently shows that High settings at any resolution provide the best performance-to-quality ratio, with 4K High (105.9 FPS) being the preferred option for 4K display owners.