Downfall

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 presents a curious case in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that is clearly far more forgiving on the GPU than modern releases. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher presets, but which begins to expose the processor's limits at lower resolutions and settings. This combination sits at rank 51 out of 1741 tested configurations, placing it in the top 3% of all combos, a strong result driven almost entirely by the RTX 4090's raw power.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a dramatic and predictable drop in performance, but the shape of that drop tells a clear story about which component is in charge. At the "High" preset, the average frame rate falls from 297.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 211.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 131 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 44% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 38% reduction from 1440p to 4K. This steep, consistent decline is the signature of a GPU-limited scenario: as pixel count rises, the graphics card must work proportionally harder, and the frame rate scales accordingly.

However, the scaling pattern changes when the settings are dropped to "Low". At 1080p Low, the system produces 376.6 FPS, which is an enormous number, but at 1440p Low it still manages 317.6 FPS, and at 4K Low it delivers 197.2 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is just 15.7%, which is much smaller than the 44% drop seen at High settings. This flatter curve indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is starting to become a limiting factor at lower resolutions. The Ryzen 5 5600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is doing the heavy lifting to feed the RTX 4090, and the gap between 1080p and 1440p narrows because the processor cannot push frames much faster than 376 FPS regardless of resolution.

At the "Ultra" preset, the pattern returns to a GPU-bound shape, but with lower absolute numbers. The system achieves 187.7 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p, and just 82 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured frame rate below 100 FPS, and it represents a 56% drop from the 1080p Ultra result. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that are particularly demanding on the graphics card, such as high-quality shadows and post-processing, which scale heavily with resolution. The data strongly indicates that the RTX 4090 is the primary driver of performance at High and Ultra presets, while the CPU becomes a more significant factor only at the lowest settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a monster of a graphics card, and its specifications explain why it dominates Downfall at most settings. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for a 2016 horror game, even at 4K with Ultra settings, meaning VRAM capacity is never a bottleneck. The card's 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units provide immense compute throughput, and its boost clock of 2520 MHz keeps that hardware fed.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its top-tier status. It achieves a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 317,684, placing it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 66,473 is nearly identical to that of the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733, a delta of -0.4%) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097, a delta of -0.9%). These rivals are workstation and datacenter cards, not gaming products, which highlights how the RTX 4090 sits in a class of its own for consumer gaming. The fact that it is outscored only by professional compute cards in the benchmark database shows that its gaming performance is essentially unmatched.

In Downfall, the GPU's role is to deliver high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p without breaking a sweat. At 1440p High, it produces 211.3 FPS, and at 1440p Low it reaches 317.6 FPS. The card only begins to show effort at 4K Ultra, where the 82 FPS average is still respectable for a demanding preset. The RTX 4090's 24 GB frame buffer is overkill for this title, but it ensures that texture quality and geometric complexity never cause a memory-related stutter. The card's end-of-life production status does not diminish its current performance; it remains a top-tier option for this game.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in Downfall?*

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 376.6 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66,473, which is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (66,733) and 0.9% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67,097). It is 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P40 (66,127).

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

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the system delivers 82 FPS, and the scaling pattern from lower resolutions indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The RTX 4090's 24 GB memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are being fully utilized at this resolution.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings produce 211.3 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 133 FPS. This is a 78.3 FPS difference, or a 37% reduction in performance when moving from High to Ultra.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 5600X hold back the RTX 4090 at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data shows this. At 1080p Low, the system hits 376.6 FPS, but at 1440p Low it still manages 317.6 FPS. The relatively small drop (15.7%) suggests the CPU is limiting the maximum frame rate, as the GPU has ample headroom at these settings.

*Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations in Downfall?*

A: This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 51st out of 1,741 total tested combos, placing it in the top 3% of all systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all nine resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional frame rates across the board. Low settings produce 376.6 FPS, Medium settings produce 351.5 FPS, High settings produce 297.7 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 187.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 188.9 FPS, which demonstrates that even the most demanding settings at 1080p cannot push this GPU below the high refresh rate threshold.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows a clear drop. Low settings yield 317.6 FPS, Medium settings yield 259.6 FPS, High settings yield 211.3 FPS, and Ultra settings yield 133 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is the first sign of the GPU being pushed, but it still provides a smooth experience for high refresh rate monitors. The difference between High and Medium at this resolution is 48.3 FPS, indicating that the medium preset provides a significant performance boost over high.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings still produce a very playable 197.2 FPS, and Medium settings produce 158.8 FPS. High settings drop to 131 FPS, which is still acceptable, but Ultra settings fall to 82 FPS. This 4K Ultra result is the only sub-100 FPS measurement in the entire dataset, and it represents a 58% reduction from the 4K Low result. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings is a 38.3% drop, confirming that the RTX 4090 is working hard at this resolution. The data shows that for 4K gaming, players should stick to High settings or lower to maintain frame rates above 100 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and it is built on TSMC's 7 nm process node. Its 32 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide solid bandwidth for gaming workloads. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18,578 and a single-core score of 2,622, which places it in the 78th percentile of all CPUs.

The CPU's role in Downfall is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system produces 376.6 FPS, but this number does not increase much when moving to lower settings or resolutions, which suggests the CPU is the limiting factor. The Ryzen 5 5600X's 3DMark single-thread score of 917 and 2-thread score of 1,793 indicate that its single-core performance is strong, but it is still not enough to feed the RTX 4090 at frame rates above 380 FPS.

Comparisons with its nearest rivals show that the 5600X is well-positioned. Its average benchmark score of 20,680 is just 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT (20,740) and 0.3% lower than the Intel Core i7-10700 (20,746). It is 0.5% lower than the Intel Core i5-12490F (20,794) and 0.7% higher than the Intel Xeon 6325P (20,538). These tiny deltas mean that in Downfall, the choice of CPU among these options would have a negligible impact on frame rates. The data shows that the 5600X is not a bottleneck at 1440p or 4K, where GPU load is high, but it does cap performance at 1080p Low, where the GPU is otherwise idling. For this game, the CPU is a capable partner, but it is clearly the secondary component in this pairing.