Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

The pairing of AMD's Ryzen 5 7500X3D with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1650 produces a distinctly GPU-bound experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. The benchmark data shows this combo ranks 2827th out of 2928 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the bottom 3.5% of all configurations. The GTX 1650, sitting at the 40th percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 7472, is clearly the limiting factor here; the Ryzen 5 7500X3D, by contrast, sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 44573. This massive disparity between CPU and GPU capability sets the stage for a configuration where settings and resolution choices matter far more than processor headroom.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all resolutions points to Medium settings as the optimal choice for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 75 FPS average with a minimum of 64 FPS and maximum of 86 FPS — a fully playable experience that stays above common 60 FPS thresholds. High settings at the same resolution drop to 61 FPS average, which is still acceptable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. The jump from Medium to High costs 14 FPS (75 to 61), while the jump from High to Ultra costs another 23 FPS (61 to 38), making Ultra clearly impractical.

At 2560x1440, Medium produces 53 FPS average with a minimum of 45 FPS and maximum of 61 FPS. This is borderline playable, but the minimum frame time suggests occasional stutter. High at 1440p yields 44 FPS average, and Low delivers 65 FPS average. For users who insist on 1440p, Low settings provide the most consistent experience, though Medium offers better visual quality at the cost of some smoothness. At 3840x2160, no setting produces playable results: Medium hits 33 FPS average (28 min, 38 max), High manages 27 FPS, Low reaches 41 FPS, and Ultra falls to 17 FPS.

The data indicates that 1080p Medium is the sweet spot — it delivers 75 FPS average, which is 23% higher than High's 61 FPS and 97% higher than Ultra's 38 FPS. The minimum of 64 FPS at Medium ensures that even scene transitions maintain fluidity. For players prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate, 1080p High at 61 FPS is viable, but Medium offers the best balance of performance and visual quality for this GPU-bound configuration. The 1080p Low setting at 91 FPS is available for competitive or high-refresh-rate scenarios, but the visual compromise is substantial given the 16 FPS difference between Low and Medium.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is the dominant component in this configuration, and its specifications explain the observed performance ceiling. The GPU features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 128.1 GB/s bandwidth, which proves limiting at higher resolutions and settings. Its TU117 chip, built on TSMC's 12 nm process with 4,700 million transistors and a 200 mm² die size, operates at a base clock of 1485 MHz and boosts to 1665 MHz. The 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs deliver 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s.

These specifications place the GTX 1650 at the 40th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7472. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (0.3% slower), Intel UHD Graphics 750 (0.4% slower), AMD Radeon R7 350 (0.6% slower), and Intel Arc A310 (1% faster). This clustering shows the GTX 1650 sits at a performance tier where small deltas separate competitors, and in Downfall, that tier is simply insufficient for high-end settings.

The GPU's 4 GB VRAM capacity is a critical constraint. Downfall's Ultra settings at 1080p produce only 38 FPS, and at 1440p that drops to 27 FPS, while at 4K it falls to 17 FPS. The pattern suggests that memory capacity and bandwidth are being saturated, particularly at higher resolutions where texture data exceeds the 128.1 GB/s bandwidth and 4 GB capacity. The GPU's predecessor is the GeForce 10 series and its successor is the GeForce 20 series, but the data shows that in this game, the GTX 1650's Turing architecture (despite its 12_1 DirectX support, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4) cannot overcome the fundamental memory and compute limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, confirming that the GTX 1650 is the bottleneck. At Low settings, 1080p produces 91 FPS, 1440p produces 65 FPS (a 28.6% drop), and 4K produces 41 FPS (a 54.9% drop from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 75 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p (29.3% drop), and 33 FPS at 4K (56% drop). High settings show 61 FPS at 1080p, 44 FPS at 1440p (27.9% drop), and 27 FPS at 4K (55.7% drop). Ultra settings are the most punishing: 38 FPS at 1080p, 27 FPS at 1440p (28.9% drop), and 17 FPS at 4K (55.3% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings — roughly 28-29% from 1080p to 1440p and 55-56% from 1080p to 4K — indicates a purely GPU-bound scenario. Pixel count increases by 77.8% from 1080p to 1440p and by 300% from 1080p to 4K, and the FPS drops scale accordingly. A CPU-bound configuration would show smaller FPS differences between resolutions, as the processor would become the limiting factor regardless of pixel count. Here, the Ryzen 5 7500X3D's substantial headroom never comes into play because the GTX 1650 saturates well before CPU limits are reached.

The resolution scaling data also reveals that the GTX 1650 can handle 1080p reasonably well at Low and Medium settings, but 1440p is only viable at Low (65 FPS), and 4K is never viable. The step from 1440p to 4K costs roughly 37-38% of the remaining FPS, which is a larger relative penalty than the 1080p-to-1440p step. This suggests that VRAM capacity and bandwidth constraints become more pronounced at 4K, where the 4 GB frame buffer is likely exhausted.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU/GPU combo in Downfall?

A: Medium settings at 1920x1080 provide the best experience, delivering 75 FPS average with a minimum of 64 FPS and maximum of 86 FPS. This balances visual quality with consistent performance, staying above 60 FPS throughout.

Q: Can this configuration handle 4K gaming in Downfall?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only reach 41 FPS average, and Medium drops to 33 FPS (28 min, 38 max). Ultra settings are unplayable at 17 FPS. The GTX 1650's 4 GB VRAM and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K in this title.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 7472, placing it at the 40th percentile. It is 0.3% faster than the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7447), 0.4% faster than the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (7441), 0.6% faster than the AMD Radeon R7 350 (7425), and 1% slower than the Intel Arc A310 (7550).

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 7500X3D bottlenecking the GTX 1650 in Downfall?

A: No. The CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 44573, while the GPU sits at the 40th percentile with a score of 7472. The FPS scaling across resolutions (roughly 28-29% drops from 1080p to 1440p and 55-56% from 1080p to 4K) indicates the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 53 FPS average at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 45 FPS and maximum of 61 FPS. This is playable but may experience occasional dips below 60 FPS during demanding scenes.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7500X3D has an average benchmark score of 44573. It is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (44466), 0.5% faster than the Intel Core i9-13950HX (44342), 0.6% faster than the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (44309), and 0.7% slower than the Intel Core i5-14600 (44889).

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, based on the Raphael codename and Zen 4 architecture. It operates at a base clock of 4.00 GHz and boosts to 4.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache — a substantial amount that benefits gaming workloads. It supports DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration with 83.2 GB/s bandwidth, and includes Radeon Graphics as integrated graphics. The chip is built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 11,270 million transistors on a 71 mm² die.

In benchmark tests, the Ryzen 5 7500X3D achieves a multithread score of 25047, single-thread score of 3494, and a physics score of 2779. Its integer math score is 70774, floating-point math is 43594, and it handles data compression at 271649 in the PassMark test. The processor's average benchmark score of 44573 puts it at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (0.2% slower), Intel Core i9-13950HX (0.5% slower), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (0.6% slower), and Intel Core i5-14600 (0.7% faster).

Despite this robust CPU performance, the data shows that the Ryzen 5 7500X3D is not the limiting factor in Downfall. The consistent FPS drops across resolutions — regardless of whether settings are Low, Medium, High, or Ultra — point to the GTX 1650 as the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the configuration produces 91 FPS; at 4K Low, it produces 41 FPS. If the CPU were limiting, these numbers would converge at some point, but they diverge consistently with pixel count. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, combined with its large 96 MB L3 cache, provide ample headroom for a game from 2016, even at 1080p where CPU load is typically highest relative to GPU load.

The processor's release date of November 2025 and active production status indicate it is a current-generation part, while the GTX 1650's end-of-life status and April 2019 release date confirm it is a legacy component. This generational gap explains the performance mismatch: a modern 89th-percentile CPU paired with a 40th-percentile GPU from two generations prior will always favor the GPU as the limiting factor in GPU-bound scenarios like Downfall.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 91 FPS average. This is the highest frame rate measured in any configuration, offering smooth performance with minimal visual fidelity.
• Medium: 75 FPS average, 64 FPS minimum, 86 FPS maximum. The minimum stays above 60 FPS, making this the most balanced preset.
• High: 61 FPS average. This sits right at the 60 FPS threshold, with no minimum or maximum recorded in the data.
• Ultra: 38 FPS average. This is a 50% drop from High and a 58% drop from Medium, demonstrating that Ultra settings overwhelm the GTX 1650 even at 1080p.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 65 FPS average. This is the only 1440p setting that maintains playable frame rates, though it's 28.6% lower than the 1080p Low result.
• Medium: 53 FPS average, 45 FPS minimum, 61 FPS maximum. The 45 FPS minimum indicates occasional stutter, making this a marginal experience.
• High: 44 FPS average. This is a 27.9% drop from the 1080p High result, showing consistent scaling.
• Ultra: 27 FPS average. This is a 28.9% drop from 1080p Ultra and is not playable for a horror title requiring responsive controls.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 41 FPS average. This is the best 4K result but still below the 60 FPS threshold, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay.
• Medium: 33 FPS average, 28 FPS minimum, 38 FPS maximum. The low minimum of 28 FPS would cause noticeable hitches during intense moments.
• High: 27 FPS average. This is a 55.7% drop from the 1080p High result, confirming severe GPU limitations at 4K.
• Ultra: 17 FPS average. This is the worst measured result and is effectively a slideshow.

The data across all twelve measured configurations shows a clear pattern: the GTX 1650 delivers playable performance only at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, and marginally at 1440p with Low settings. The 4K results are uniformly unplayable, with even the best case (Low at 41 FPS) falling well short of acceptable frame rates. The combo's overall rank of 2827 out of 2928 in Downfall reflects this performance reality, placing it in the bottom 3.5% of all tested configurations for this game.