Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT represents a mid-range desktop combination aimed at 1080p and 1440p gaming in the horror title Downfall. Measured frame rate data across three resolutions and four quality presets shows a system that can comfortably handle the game at high refresh rates on lower settings, but struggles at 4K Ultra. The combo ranks 2760th out of 3716 tested configurations in this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which aligns with the GPU's 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 85th percentile among all CPUs.

FAQ

*Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings for this combo in Downfall?*

A: The measured average frame rate is 125 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 5500X3D compare to its nearest rival, the Ryzen 5 5600F?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D has an average benchmark score of 37018, which is 0.2% higher than the Ryzen 5 5600F's average score of 36945.

Q: What is the maximum measured FPS at 1440p in this game?

A: The highest average FPS at 2560x1440 is 133 FPS, achieved with Low settings.

*Q: Does the RX 5700 XT have enough VRAM for 4K Ultra settings in Downfall?*

A: The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit bus. At 3840x2160 Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 35, indicating the memory capacity and bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) are insufficient to maintain smooth gameplay at that preset.

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

A: The combo ranks 2760th out of 3716 total tested combinations, placing it in the 74th percentile of tested systems (lower rank is worse).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The average FPS drops from 187 FPS at Low to 78 FPS at Ultra at 1920x1080, a reduction of 109 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the Navi 10 chip using RDNA 1.0 architecture on a 7 nm process from TSMC. Its base clock is 1605 MHz, with a game clock of 1755 MHz and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. The memory runs at 1750 MHz, effectively 14 Gbps, across a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth and 8 GB of GDDR6 capacity. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s. Compute performance is rated at 9.754 TFLOPS FP32.

In Downfall, the GPU's role is dominant at higher resolutions and quality settings. At 4K Ultra, the system produces only 35 FPS average, and at 4K High it reaches 56 FPS. These numbers indicate that the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB VRAM and RDNA 1.0 architecture are heavily taxed by the game's rendering demands at 3840x2160. The GPU's PassMark G3D score is 16277, with a percentile rank of 59 among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, scores 16351, a delta of 0.1% — essentially a tie. Interestingly, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell scores 16408 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 16415 (0.3% higher), showing the RX 5700 XT sits in a tightly packed cluster of similar-performance GPUs.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s appears to be the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 35 is only half of the 4K High result of 56 FPS. The transition from High to Ultra at 4K costs 21 FPS, while the same transition at 1080p costs 47 FPS (125 to 78). This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is already near its memory capacity limit at High settings, so the additional load from Ultra has a proportionally smaller absolute impact. The DirectX 12 PassMark score of 64 and DirectX 11 score of 116 are low relative to the G3D score, which may indicate driver-level bottlenecks in certain API paths, though Downfall results show playable frame rates at most settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, based on Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB L1 per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and a substantial 96 MB shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, and ECC memory is supported. The CPU uses a 74 mm² die and is fabricated by TSMC.

In Downfall, the CPU's impact is most visible at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is less taxed. At 1080p Low, the system hits 187 FPS average, which is a strong indicator that the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond typical monitor refresh rates. The PassMark multithread score is 20363, with a single-thread score of 2941. The CPU's percentile rank is 85 among all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of processors in general benchmarks.

The 5500X3D's nearest rivals show it is well-positioned: the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 scores 36938 (0.2% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36945 (0.2% lower), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37093 (0.2% higher). The Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37112 (0.3% higher). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating the 5500X3D performs essentially identically to these processors in synthetic benchmarks. For Downfall, the CPU's 96 MB L3 cache helps with the game's data-heavy horror environments, but the measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra (35 FPS) vs 1080p Ultra (78 FPS), the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 187 FPS, which is the fastest measured result across all resolutions and settings. Medium settings average 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 176 FPS. High settings average 125 FPS, and Ultra drops to 78 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 34 FPS, from Medium to High costs 28 FPS, and from High to Ultra costs 47 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but show a clear drop. Low averages 133 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS (min 93, max 126), High averages 89 FPS, and Ultra averages 56 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 77 FPS, which is a larger absolute drop than at 1080p (109 FPS gap) but a smaller relative drop (42% vs 58% reduction). The Medium preset at 1440p shows a tighter min-max range of 93-126 FPS, suggesting consistent frame pacing.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles at higher settings. Low averages 83 FPS, Medium averages 68 FPS (min 58, max 78), High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35 FPS. The Medium preset is the only 4K setting with recorded min/max values, showing a 20 FPS spread. Ultra at 4K is the only configuration below 60 FPS average, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The transition from High to Ultra at 4K costs 21 FPS, which is the smallest absolute drop of any resolution for that settings change, indicating the GPU is already saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2760th out of 3716 tested combinations in Downfall, placing it in the bottom 26% of all tested systems. This rank is notable because the CPU performs in the 85th percentile and the GPU in the 59th percentile individually. The discrepancy suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor for this game, pulling the overall combo rank down. The rank of 2760 means there are 956 tested combos that perform worse, but a large majority (2759) perform better.

The GPU's nearest rivals all have average scores within 0.9% of the RX 5700 XT, yet the combo rank in this specific game shows the pairing is not optimized for Downfall's requirements. For reference, the GPU's G3D score of 16277 and the CPU's average benchmark score of 37018 are both mid-pack numbers, but the game's performance at 4K Ultra (35 FPS) and even at 1440p Ultra (56 FPS) reveals that the combination struggles at higher quality presets. The rank of 2760 suggests that many other combinations of similar or slightly better components achieve higher frame rates in this title, likely due to the RX 5700 XT's RDNA 1.0 architecture not being fully optimized for Downfall's rendering pipeline.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, High settings deliver 125 FPS average, which is smooth for most displays, while Ultra drops to 78 FPS — still playable but with a significant visual quality cost. The data suggests that Medium at 1080p (153 FPS) provides a strong balance, with the min FPS of 130 ensuring no noticeable stutter. For users with 144 Hz or higher monitors, Low (187 FPS) is the only preset that fully saturates such displays.

At 2560x1440, High settings average 89 FPS, which is adequate for 60 Hz displays but falls short of 144 Hz. Medium averages 109 FPS and offers a better experience for high-refresh 1440p monitors, with min FPS of 93 keeping frame times consistent. Ultra at 1440p (56 FPS) is marginal for 60 Hz gaming, and Low (133 FPS) is the best choice for competitive play but sacrifices visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the only viable options are Low (83 FPS) or Medium (68 FPS), both of which are playable on 60 Hz displays. High (56 FPS) is borderline, and Ultra (35 FPS) is not recommended for any display. Given the data, the Medium preset at 1440p provides the best overall experience: 109 FPS average with a 93-126 FPS range, balancing visual quality and smoothness. For 4K users, Medium is the highest playable setting, while 1080p users should consider High unless they have a very high refresh rate display.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 187 at 1080p to 133 at 1440p (a 29% reduction) and then to 83 at 4K (a 38% reduction from 1440p, or 56% from 1080p). At High settings, the progression is 125 FPS at 1080p, 89 at 1440p (29% drop), and 56 at 4K (37% drop from 1440p, 55% from 1080p). At Ultra settings, the drop is 78 FPS at 1080p, 56 at 1440p (28% drop), and 35 at 4K (38% drop from 1440p, 55% from 1080p).

These consistent percentage drops across settings indicate that the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions above 1080p. The CPU's strong single-thread score (2941) and high L3 cache (96 MB) allow it to maintain high frame rates at 1080p, but as resolution increases, the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth become the bottleneck. The RX 5700 XT's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are insufficient for 4K Ultra, as evidenced by the 35 FPS result. The fact that the FPS reduction from 1440p to 4K is nearly identical across all settings (37-38%) suggests that the GPU is scaling predictably with pixel count rather than being limited by any specific setting. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads at 4.00 GHz boost are more than adequate for Downfall, as the frame rate at 1080p Low (187 FPS) demonstrates headroom that is never reached at higher resolutions.