Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

FAQ

Q: What is the measured average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers an average of 131 FPS at 1920x1080 on Ultra settings. This is the most demanding preset tested at that resolution.

Q: How does the GPU's 16 GB memory capacity affect Downfall?

A: The Radeon RX 9070 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 644.6 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K resolution, the card maintains playable frame rates across all presets, with the Ultra preset averaging 58 FPS, indicating sufficient memory bandwidth for this horror title's high-resolution textures.

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves the highest average at 223 FPS, followed by Medium at 182 FPS and High at 150 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 93 FPS average, which remains smooth but represents a significant step down from the other presets.

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

A: This CPU-GPU combination ranks 667th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 23% of all configurations evaluated. This percentile positioning reflects strong overall performance for the game.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low?

A: At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 312 FPS at 1920x1080 to 139 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a reduction of 173 FPS, or roughly 55% lower performance when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Does the CPU's 96 MB L3 cache influence results?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D features 96 MB of shared L3 cache, a hallmark of the 3D V-Cache lineage. Benchmark data shows the CPU achieving a PassMark multithread score of 20363 and a single-thread score of 2941, indicating strong cache-sensitive performance that supports the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT serves as the primary rendering engine in this configuration, built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1660 MHz, a boost clock of 2970 MHz, and a game clock of 2400 MHz. Memory runs at 2518 MHz with 20.1 Gbps effective speed, delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus. The 16 GB GDDR6 frame buffer provides ample capacity for Downfall's horror environments, which frequently employ dense atmospheric effects and high-resolution textures.

The GPU's compute resources include 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operation pipelines. With 64 ray tracing cores and a pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s, the card handles the game's lighting and shadow work efficiently. The FP32 throughput of 48.66 TFLOPS supports the shader complexity typical of modern horror titles. The 304 W TDP and dual-slot design with dual 8-pin power connectors indicate a power-hungry but capable board, with a suggested PSU of 700 W.

Benchmark results for the GPU show a PassMark G3D score of 26795 and a PassMark GPU compute score of 15864. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 65879 provide additional reference points. The GPU's percentile rank against all GPUs sits at 55, meaning it outperforms just over half of all tested graphics cards in aggregate benchmarks. In Downfall specifically, the measured frame rates show the card scaling effectively from 1080p through 4K, with the most pronounced performance gains appearing at lower resolutions where the GPU's raw throughput dominates.

The 4 nm process node from TSMC, with 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die, contributes to the card's efficiency. The PCIe 5.0 x16 bus interface ensures adequate bandwidth for data transfer with the CPU. Display outputs include one HDMI 2.1b and three DisplayPort 2.1a connectors, supporting modern high-refresh-rate displays. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support with version 12_2, along with Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6, ensures compatibility with Downfall's rendering requirements.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience in Downfall with this hardware, the Medium preset emerges as the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 255 FPS with a minimum of 217 FPS and maximum of 294 FPS, providing a wide margin above typical display refresh rates. At 1440p, Medium achieves 182 FPS average with 155 FPS minimum and 210 FPS maximum, still comfortably smooth. At 4K, Medium maintains 113 FPS average with 96 FPS minimum and 131 FPS maximum, ensuring consistent frame pacing in demanding scenes.

The High preset offers improved visuals but at a measurable cost. At 1080p, High produces 209 FPS average, which is 46 FPS lower than Medium. At 1440p, High drops to 150 FPS average, a 32 FPS reduction from Medium. At 4K, High delivers 93 FPS average, which remains playable but approaches the edge of the 90 FPS comfort zone. The Ultra preset pushes the hardware further, with 131 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and only 58 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay.

The Low preset maximizes frame rates but sacrifices visual quality. At 1080p, Low achieves 312 FPS average, at 1440p it reaches 223 FPS, and at 4K it maintains 139 FPS. These numbers suit competitive play or high-refresh-rate displays, but the visual downgrade may detract from the atmospheric horror experience this game aims to deliver. For most users, Medium at 1440p or 4K provides the sweet spot, combining high frame rates with acceptable visual detail. The measured data indicates that Medium consistently maintains minimum frame rates above 96 FPS across all resolutions, ensuring no significant stutter or frame-time spikes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rate hierarchy across presets shows clear separation. Low settings produce an average of 312 FPS, representing the peak performance ceiling at this resolution. Medium settings deliver 255 FPS average with a measured range from 217 FPS minimum to 294 FPS maximum. High settings achieve 209 FPS average, while Ultra settings drop to 131 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra spans 181 FPS, indicating that each preset tier imposes meaningful additional rendering load.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern persists but with reduced absolute values. Low settings average 223 FPS, Medium averages 182 FPS with a range of 155 FPS minimum to 210 FPS maximum, High averages 150 FPS, and Ultra averages 93 FPS. The step from High to Ultra at 1440p represents a 57 FPS drop, the largest single-preset reduction at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 155 FPS ensures that even the most demanding scenes remain fluid.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings average 139 FPS, Medium averages 113 FPS with a range of 96 FPS minimum to 131 FPS maximum, High averages 93 FPS, and Ultra averages 58 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it marginal for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset's minimum of 96 FPS provides a solid floor, while High at 93 FPS average approaches the 90 FPS comfort line. The 4K results demonstrate that this hardware combination handles high-resolution gaming effectively, though the Ultra preset requires compromise.

The measured data reveals consistent scaling behavior across resolutions. At each resolution, the difference between Low and Medium averages approximately 57 FPS at 1080p (312 to 255), 41 FPS at 1440p (223 to 182), and 26 FPS at 4K (139 to 113). The diminishing absolute differences at higher resolutions reflect the increasing GPU bottleneck, where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor rather than shader complexity.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 667th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places the configuration in the 77th percentile of all combinations evaluated, meaning it outperforms roughly three-quarters of tested systems. The rank reflects balanced performance across the measured resolution and settings matrix, with no weak points in the tested scenarios.

Comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals provides context for the combo's standing. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D achieves an average benchmark score of 37018, placing it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (score 36945) and 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (score 36938). It trails the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 by 0.2% (score 37093) and the Intel Core i9-12900T by 0.3% (score 37112). These margins are minimal, indicating near-parity with these competing processors.

The GPU's benchmark comparisons show a similar pattern. The Radeon RX 9070 XT achieves an average score of 13543, placing it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (score 13536) and 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (score 13515). It leads the NVIDIA P106-090 by 0.5% (score 13470) and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 by 1% (score 13407). These deltas are small, but the GPU's percentile rank of 55 against all GPUs indicates it sits near the median of the broader GPU landscape.

The combo's 667th rank out of 2928 suggests that while individual components perform near their peer averages, the combination's overall effectiveness in Downfall benefits from the CPU's high L3 cache and the GPU's substantial memory bandwidth. The rank does not place this system among the top performers, but it positions it well above the median, making it a capable configuration for this horror title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D operates as a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture with the Vermeer codename. It runs at a base clock of 3.00 GHz and boosts to 4.00 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. The CPU uses the AMD Socket AM4 interface and supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. Built on TSMC's 7 nm process with a 74 mm² die size, the processor features 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 cache per core, and a substantial 96 MB shared L3 cache.

The 96 MB L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming workloads, as it improves data locality and reduces memory latency. The CPU's PassMark benchmarks reflect this strength: a multithread score of 20363, single-thread score of 2941, and integer math score of 60033. The floating point math score of 34511 and extended instructions score of 15925 indicate robust compute capabilities. The CPU achieves a percentile rank of 85 against all CPUs, meaning it outperforms 85% of tested processors in aggregate benchmarks.

In Downfall, the CPU's role becomes more pronounced at lower resolutions where the GPU is not fully saturated. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 312 FPS average, indicating that the CPU can feed the GPU with sufficient draw calls and physics calculations. The data compression score of 230392 and random string sorting score of 23675 suggest strong general-purpose throughput that supports game logic and asset loading. The CPU's 85th percentile rank, combined with near-parity to rivals like the Ryzen 5 5600F (0.2% ahead) and Core Ultra 5 225 (0.2% ahead), positions it as a solid mid-range performer.

The CPU's nearest rival comparisons show no significant weakness. It trails the Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 by only 0.2% and the Core i9-12900T by 0.3%, both within noise margins. The 6-core, 12-thread configuration handles the multithreaded aspects of modern game engines, while the high L3 cache minimizes the performance penalty from memory access patterns typical of horror game environments with complex geometry and dynamic lighting.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals the scaling behavior of this hardware combination. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 312 at 1080p to 223 at 1440p (a 28.5% reduction) and then to 139 at 4K (a 37.7% reduction from 1440p). The total reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low is 55.4%. At Medium settings, the progression goes from 255 FPS at 1080p to 182 FPS at 1440p (28.6% reduction) and 113 FPS at 4K (37.9% reduction from 1440p), totaling 55.7% from 1080p to 4K.

At High settings, the scaling shows 209 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p (28.2% reduction), and 93 FPS at 4K (38% reduction from 1440p), a total reduction of 55.5%. The Ultra preset follows a slightly different pattern: 131 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p (29% reduction), and 58 FPS at 4K (37.6% reduction from 1440p), totaling 55.7% from 1080p to 4K. The consistency of these percentages across all presets indicates that the scaling is resolution-driven rather than settings-driven.

The near-uniform percentage drops point to the GPU as the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. The 4K resolution contains 4 times the pixels of 1080p, but the frame rate does not drop to one-quarter; instead, it falls to roughly 44-45% of the 1080p value. This sub-linear scaling suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s and pixel rate of 380.2 GPixel/s provide sufficient headroom to mitigate the pixel count increase partially.

The CPU's influence diminishes as resolution increases, since the GPU becomes the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the 312 FPS average approaches the CPU's ability to issue draw calls, but the frame rate remains high, indicating the processor handles the workload adequately. The consistent percentage reductions across presets confirm that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the dominant factors in resolution scaling, with the CPU maintaining sufficient throughput to avoid becoming a limiting factor even at 4K.