Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall shows a clear pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combo produces 154.4 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 113.2 FPS, a 26.7% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 69.8 FPS, which represents a 54.8% drop from the 1080p figure. These reductions are consistent with what the data shows for a GPU whose average benchmark score places it at the 51st percentile among all tested GPUs.

The scaling behavior becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At Ultra settings, the combo delivers 67.4 FPS at 1080p, 47.6 FPS at 1440p, and 30.5 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half the 1080p Ultra number, indicating that the GTX 1070's 8 GB GDDR5 memory and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed hard by the combination of high resolution and demanding settings.

The data suggests that at 1080p Low and Medium settings, the CPU has enough headroom to keep the GPU fed. The Ryzen 5 5500's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.20 GHz, provide sufficient processing power for this horror title. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 30.5 FPS, which is below the 46.3 FPS seen at 4K High. This indicates that the graphical settings, rather than the CPU, are the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In Downfall specifically, this CPU and GPU combination ranks 1470 out of 1741 tested combos. This places it in the lower portion of the overall distribution, at roughly the 84th percentile from the bottom. The ranking reflects the age and tier of both components: the GTX 1070 is from the GeForce 10-series with a 2016 release date, while the Ryzen 5 5500 is a 2022 desktop processor.

The CPU itself sits at the 79th percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 20875. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12500, scores 20897, a delta of -0.1%. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE matches at 20900 (-0.1%), while the AMD EPYC 7J13 scores 20845 (+0.1%) and the Intel Core i5-12600T scores 20917 (-0.2%). These tight deltas indicate the Ryzen 5 5500 is positioned in a crowded performance band.

The GPU tells a different story. The GTX 1070's average benchmark score of 12331 places it at the 51st percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K4200, scores 12241 with a delta of +0.7%. The GeForce GTX 880M scores 12490 (-1.3%), the GTX 1650 SUPER scores 12504 (-1.4%), and the Tesla K20Xm scores 12547 (-1.7%). The GTX 1070 is thus a mid-pack GPU, which aligns with its 1470th rank in this game's combo list.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 5 5500 brings 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz can boost to 4.20 GHz, and it carries 16 MB of L3 cache. In Downfall, a horror title from 2016, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU at most settings, but the data reveals where it matters.

At 1080p Low, the combo hits 154.4 FPS, which is high enough that the CPU's single-thread performance becomes relevant. The 3DMark single-thread score of 836 and the Cinebench R20 single-core score of 973 indicate moderate single-thread capability. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2319 further confirms this. For a game that likely relies on a few main threads, the 4.20 GHz boost clock helps maintain frame rates above 150 FPS at the lowest settings.

The multi-threaded picture is stronger. Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 16429, while 3DMark 16-thread scores 5386 and max-thread scores 5411. The PassMark multi-thread score of 19330 and integer math score of 65001 show that the 12 threads are well-utilized in synthetic workloads. In Downfall, the difference between 1080p Low (154.4 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (67.4 FPS) is substantial, but the CPU is not the bottleneck at Ultra — the GPU's 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 107.7 GPixel/s pixel rate are the limiting factors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings sweep shows a wide range. Low produces 154.4 FPS average, Medium drops to 130.8 FPS, High yields 102.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 67.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 87 FPS, which is substantial. The step from Medium to High costs 27.9 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 35.5 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces rendering features that heavily tax the GTX 1070.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 113.2 FPS, Medium 90.3 FPS, High 73.8 FPS, and Ultra 47.6 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is roughly 26-30%, which is consistent with the increased pixel count. The Ultra setting at 1440p is the first configuration that dips below 50 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the results become more constrained. Low averages 69.8 FPS, Medium 56.1 FPS, High 46.3 FPS, and Ultra 30.5 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 30 FPS, and it sits just above the threshold for playability. The difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 39.3 FPS, showing how much headroom the settings offer.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Downfall?

A: The highest measured average is 154.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 30.5 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

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

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 averages 20875 in benchmark scores, which is within 0.2% of the Intel Core i5-12500 (20897), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE (20900), AMD EPYC 7J13 (20845), and Intel Core i5-12600T (20917).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data shows the GTX 1070 is the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 30.5 FPS, while the CPU's 79th percentile ranking suggests it has more headroom than the GPU's 51st percentile ranking.

Q: What settings are needed to exceed 60 FPS at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium produces 90.3 FPS and High produces 73.8 FPS, both above 60 FPS. Ultra drops to 47.6 FPS, below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems in this game?

A: It ranks 1470 out of 1741 tested combos, placing it in the lower portion of the distribution.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the combo delivers 102.9 FPS at 1080p and 46.3 FPS at 4K, a difference of 56.6 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

For a balance of visual quality and playable frame rates, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 delivers 130.8 FPS, which is well above the typical 60 FPS target. This setting preserves the game's horror atmosphere while maintaining smooth motion. At 2560x1440, Medium produces 90.3 FPS, still comfortably above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for users with 1440p displays.

The High preset at 1920x1080 yields 102.9 FPS, which is also excellent, but the step from Medium to High costs 27.9 FPS. Given that the data shows a substantial drop from High to Ultra (35.5 FPS at 1080p), the Ultra preset is difficult to recommend even at 1080p, where it produces 67.4 FPS. At higher resolutions, Ultra becomes marginal: 47.6 FPS at 1440p and 30.5 FPS at 4K.

For users targeting 4K, the Low preset at 69.8 FPS is the only measured configuration that clears 60 FPS. Medium at 4K produces 56.1 FPS, which may be acceptable for a horror game where slower pacing is common. The High preset at 46.3 FPS is playable but below the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset at 30.5 FPS should be avoided unless the user prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate.

The data indicates that the GTX 1070's 8 GB of memory and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for Medium settings across all resolutions. The 1080p Medium result of 130.8 FPS and 1440p Medium result of 90.3 FPS show that this preset offers the best compromise between image quality and performance. At 4K, users should accept Medium or Low settings to maintain smooth gameplay, as the GPU's 51st percentile ranking limits its ability to handle higher presets at that resolution.