Downfall

FAQ

Q: What is the AMD Ryzen 5 5500's position among CPUs in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 sits at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,593. It is nearly tied with the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (19,617, -0.1%), and sits slightly behind the Intel Core i5-12500 (19,668, -0.4%) and Intel Core i5-11600KF (19,723, -0.7%), while edging out the Intel Core i7-10700F (19,499, +0.5%).

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 6800 XT posts an average benchmark score of 48,477, placing it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. It is 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile (47,743), but trails the Intel Arc A550M (49,737, -2.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (49,957, -3%), and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (50,001, -3%).

Q: What is the best frame rate achieved by this combo in Downfall at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate is 291 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Medium settings, the average drops to 238 FPS, with a minimum of 202 FPS and a maximum of 273 FPS.

Q: What is the worst frame rate recorded for this combo in Downfall?

A: The lowest average frame rate is 54 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating a significant performance cliff at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations in Downfall?

A: This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 1,160th out of 3,716 tested combos, placing it in the top 31% of all configurations tested in this game.

Q: What are the key specifications of the GPU's memory and bandwidth?

A: The RX 6800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its memory clock runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 21 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The GPU packs 4,608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operations pipelines, along with 72 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 compute throughput is rated at 20.74 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance reaching 41.47 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).

Clock behavior is critical to understanding Downfall's results. The GPU has a base clock of 1825 MHz, a game clock of 2015 MHz, and a boost clock of 2250 MHz. The game clock represents the expected sustained frequency during typical gaming workloads, while the boost clock is the maximum achievable under ideal thermal and power conditions. In a horror title like Downfall, which relies heavily on atmospheric rendering and lighting effects, the boost behavior directly influences how consistently the GPU can maintain high frame rates.

The 16 GB GDDR6 memory pool with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth proves substantial for this game. At 4K Ultra, where the combo drops to 54 FPS average, the memory bandwidth is likely not the limiting factor; rather, the raw compute load of Ultra settings at 3840x2160 overwhelms the GPU's 20.74 TFLOPS capacity. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the GPU produces 291 FPS, indicating that even at lower settings, the memory subsystem has ample headroom.

The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is relevant for Downfall, as the game can leverage modern rendering features. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 API support also provides flexibility for different rendering paths. The texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s give context for how quickly the GPU can fill frames; the 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS suggests that pixel throughput becomes a bottleneck at that resolution with maximum settings.

Resolution Scaling

Downfall's frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU dominance in this combo. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 195 at 1920x1080 to 139 at 2560x1440 (a 29% reduction), then to 87 at 3840x2160 (a 55% reduction from 1080p). This scaling curve is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where doubling the pixel count roughly halves the frame rate.

Low settings tell a similar story: 291 FPS at 1080p, 207 FPS at 1440p (a 29% drop), and 129 FPS at 4K (a 56% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops—around 29% from 1080p to 1440p and another 38-39% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the RX 6800 XT is the primary determinant of performance across resolutions.

Medium settings show the same trend with different absolute numbers: 238 FPS at 1080p, 170 FPS at 1440p, and 106 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS at 1080p Medium is 202, which drops to 144 at 1440p Medium and 90 at 4K Medium. These minimums track closely with the averages, suggesting consistent frame pacing rather than occasional stutters.

Ultra settings present the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 122 FPS average; at 1440p Ultra, it falls to 87 FPS; at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 54 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS, indicating that this setting combination stresses the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K (87 vs. 54 FPS, a 38% drop) suggests that Ultra enables particularly expensive rendering features.

The limiting component is unmistakably the GPU. The Ryzen 5 5500's 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a 4.20 GHz boost clock is evidently sufficient to feed the RX 6800 XT even at 1080p Low, where 291 FPS is achieved. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions—particularly at Low settings, where the GPU load is reduced.

How This Combo Ranks

In Downfall, this combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT ranks 1,160th out of 3,716 tested combos. This places the pairing in the top 31.2% of all configurations, which is a solid but not exceptional standing given the GPU's high percentile ranking (85th among all GPUs).

The rank suggests that while the RX 6800 XT is a strong performer, the Ryzen 5 5500 holds the combo back from reaching the upper echelons. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, combined with its modest single-thread score of 836 in 3DMark, means that in frame-rate-limited scenarios—particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU has spare capacity—the processor's throughput becomes a constraining factor.

At 1080p Low, the combo produces 291 FPS, which is an extremely high frame rate. However, faster CPUs paired with the same GPU would likely achieve even higher numbers, as the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads at 3.60 GHz base and 4.20 GHz boost may not keep up with the GPU's pixel-pushing ability at very high frame rates. The combo's rank reflects this imbalance: it outperforms many configurations but falls short of those pairing the RX 6800 XT with higher-tier CPUs.

The GPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score—the RTX A1000 Mobile, Arc A550M, RTX 5070 Ti, and RX Vega 64—all have similar overall compute scores. Yet in Downfall specifically, the combo's rank of 1,160 suggests that the game's rendering characteristics favor certain architectural features. The RX 6800 XT's 72 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support may provide advantages in this horror title, but the CPU's performance ceiling prevents the combo from climbing higher.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture with the Cezanne codename. It operates at a 3.60 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.20 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a 16 MB L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth and interfaces via PCIe Gen 3.

In Downfall, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the frame rate data across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 291 FPS average. This high frame rate tests the CPU's ability to process game logic, physics, and draw calls quickly enough to feed the GPU. The Ryzen 5 5500's single-thread performance—evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 836 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,319—determines how fast the game's main thread can execute.

The 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a 4.20 GHz boost clock is adequate for Downfall's demands, as evidenced by the CPU's ability to sustain 291 FPS at 1080p Low. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16,429 and a PassMark multithread score of 19,330, provides sufficient headroom for background tasks and game threads that scale across cores.

However, the CPU's 73rd percentile ranking and its proximity to rivals like the Ryzen AI 5 430 (19,617 avg score, -0.1%) and Core i5-12500 (19,668, -0.4%) indicate that it is a mid-range processor. The 3DMark scores show progressive scaling: 1,645 with 2 threads, 3,151 with 4 threads, 4,593 with 8 threads, and 5,411 with max threads. This scaling pattern suggests that the CPU benefits from additional threads but reaches diminishing returns beyond 8 threads.

The PCIe Gen 3 interface is worth noting. The RX 6800 XT supports PCIe 4.0 x16, but the Ryzen 5 5500 only provides Gen 3 lanes. In Downfall, this bandwidth limitation does not appear to significantly impact performance, as the game's frame rates remain high across all resolutions except 4K Ultra. The 16 GB of VRAM on the GPU likely mitigates any potential PCIe bandwidth bottlenecks by keeping most assets in local memory.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce 291 FPS average, representing the highest frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 238 FPS average, with a minimum of 202 FPS and a maximum of 273 FPS, indicating consistent frame delivery. High settings drop to 195 FPS average, while Ultra settings reduce performance to 122 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 58% reduction in frame rate, highlighting the significant cost of Ultra settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable. Low settings achieve 207 FPS average, a 29% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings deliver 170 FPS average, with a minimum of 144 FPS and a maximum of 195 FPS—the minimum exactly at the 144 Hz refresh threshold, suggesting smooth gameplay for high-refresh monitors. High settings produce 139 FPS average, while Ultra settings fall to 87 FPS average. The Ultra setting at 1440p represents a 50% drop from Low, consistent with the pattern seen at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings still deliver a respectable 129 FPS average, confirming the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB VRAM and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 4K at lower quality presets. Medium settings yield 106 FPS average, with a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 121 FPS. High settings drop to 87 FPS average, which remains above the 60 FPS threshold. However, Ultra settings produce just 54 FPS average, the only sub-60 FPS result in the dataset. This 4K Ultra configuration represents a 38% drop from High settings at the same resolution, indicating that Ultra enables particularly demanding rendering features that the GPU cannot sustain at 4K.

The minimum and maximum FPS values are only provided for Medium settings across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the range spans 202 to 273 FPS (a 71 FPS spread); at 1440p Medium, 144 to 195 FPS (a 51 FPS spread); at 4K Medium, 90 to 121 FPS (a 31 FPS spread). The narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that as the GPU becomes more loaded, frame time variance decreases—the GPU is consistently busy rather than occasionally idling.

For Ultra settings, the absence of minimum FPS data means we cannot assess frame pacing at the highest quality preset. The 54 FPS average at 4K Ultra is concerning, as it falls below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. Users targeting 4K gaming with this combo should stick to High settings, where the 87 FPS average provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra settings at 87 FPS are viable for high-refresh displays, while 1080p Ultra at 122 FPS offers an excellent balance of visual quality and performance.