Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

Downfall’s measured frame rates across three resolutions show a system that scales predictably with settings, but the shape of that scaling changes dramatically as resolution rises. At 1080p, the combo delivers 335.5 FPS on Low, 276.8 FPS on Medium, 224.5 FPS on High, and 140.2 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, those numbers drop to 237.5, 195.6, 158.8, and 102.4 FPS respectively. At 4K, the same settings yield 150.9, 124.3, 99.5, and 63.5 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K is substantial: on Ultra, the drop is roughly 55% from 140.2 FPS to 63.5 FPS, while on Low the drop is about 55% as well, from 335.5 FPS to 150.9 FPS. This consistency across settings suggests the limiting component shifts as resolution climbs, but the overall headroom remains strong even at 4K Ultra.

The 4K Ultra result of 63.5 FPS is the only measured value that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combination can handle demanding scenarios but will require settings tuning for the most fluid experience at maximum resolution. At 1440p, every setting stays above 100 FPS, and at 1080p, even the heaviest preset exceeds 140 FPS. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K, while at lower resolutions the CPU’s role becomes more apparent. The scaling from 1440p to 1080p is smaller than from 4K to 1440p, which is typical for a system where the graphics card becomes less of a bottleneck as pixels decrease.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions reveals where the bottleneck lies. From 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, the drop is from 140.2 to 102.4 FPS, a reduction of about 27%. From 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the drop is from 102.4 to 63.5 FPS, a reduction of about 38%. The larger relative decline at higher resolution indicates that the Radeon RX 7900 XT is being pushed harder as pixel count increases, and its compute resources become the dominant factor. At 1080p, the system is likely CPU-limited at lower settings: the jump from Low to Ultra at 1080p is from 335.5 to 140.2 FPS, a 58% reduction that reflects the GPU’s workload increasing with visual fidelity. At 4K, the same settings change yields a drop from 150.9 to 63.5 FPS, a 58% reduction as well, showing that the relative cost of Ultra settings is consistent regardless of resolution.

The fact that 4K Low (150.9 FPS) is still higher than 1440p Ultra (102.4 FPS) underscores how much headroom this GPU has at lower resolutions. Similarly, 1440p Low (237.5 FPS) exceeds 1080p Ultra (140.2 FPS) by a wide margin, meaning users prioritizing frame rate over visual quality can achieve very high refresh rates at 1440p. The data suggests that for a 60 Hz display, 4K Ultra is borderline viable, but for 144 Hz or higher refresh panels, dropping to High or Medium at 1440p is the safer choice.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7900 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, featuring 5376 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units. Its 20 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 320-bit bus provides 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Downfall’s texture-heavy horror environments. The GPU’s boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz are relatively high, and the memory runs at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed. These specifications align with the measured results: the card delivers 335.5 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that even at maximum draw calls, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor at that resolution.

At 4K, the GPU’s compute throughput becomes the key constraint. The FP32 performance of 51.48 TFLOPS and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s are substantial, yet the 4K Ultra result of 63.5 FPS suggests that Downfall’s Ultra preset imposes heavy shading and fill-rate demands. The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s helps explain why the card can maintain playable frame rates at 4K High (99.5 FPS) and 4K Medium (124.3 FPS). Comparing the RX 7900 XT to its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database, it sits within 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile and within 0.4% of the NVIDIA GeForce MX570, though those comparisons are synthetic averages, not game-specific. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 82 among all GPUs places it in the upper tier, consistent with its strong 4K performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 8000 series, based on the Zen 4 architecture with a 4 nm process. Its base clock of 4.20 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz, combined with 16 MB of shared L3 cache, provide solid single-threaded performance that matters for Downfall’s frame pacing. The CPU’s single-thread benchmark scores—951 in 3DMark, 296 in Cinebench R15, 1236 in R20, and 2943 in R23—indicate strong per-core capability. The multi-threaded scores, such as 20,851 in Cinebench R23 and 6,165 in 3DMark max threads, show that the 6-core design handles parallel workloads adequately, though Downfall is unlikely to use all 12 threads heavily.

In this pairing, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p, where the GPU has excess capacity. The 1080p Low result of 335.5 FPS is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this game, as the frame rate does not scale linearly with resolution reductions beyond that point. The CPU’s 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,064, positions it close to the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (25,057, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (25,099, -0.1% delta). The Ryzen 5 7500F is a near-match at 24,993, just 0.3% behind. This indicates the 8400F is a mid-to-high-tier processor that will not bottleneck the RX 7900 XT at 1440p or 4K, but at 1080p with Low settings, the CPU’s frame generation ceiling may be reached.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1,741 tested combinations in Downfall, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 8400F and Radeon RX 7900 XT ranks 369th. That places it in the top 21% of all combos, which is respectable given that the list includes many high-end configurations. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU’s solid but not elite performance and the GPU’s strong but not top-tier standing. In the GPU benchmark hierarchy, the RX 7900 XT’s average score of 38,358 places it just behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile (38,349, 0% delta) and ahead of the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (38,225, 0.3% delta), while the CPU’s average score of 25,064 is nearly identical to the Ryzen 7 2700X.

The 369th rank suggests that while this combo is not a top-100 contender, it outperforms the majority of tested systems in Downfall. The measured frame rates support this: at 1440p High, the 158.8 FPS average is well above typical gamer expectations, and even at 4K Ultra, the 63.5 FPS result is playable. The rank is likely influenced by the fact that many other combos pair higher-end CPUs with this GPU, but the 8400F’s 4.70 GHz boost clock and Zen 4 architecture keep it competitive. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p displays, the 224.5 FPS at High settings is excellent, and the combo’s 82nd percentile GPU ranking ensures future-proofing for more demanding titles.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. At 4K, Ultra settings produce an average of 63.5 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while High settings deliver 99.5 FPS, a significant improvement. Medium yields 124.3 FPS, and Low reaches 150.9 FPS. For a 60 Hz display, 4K High is the best balance, offering a 57% improvement over Ultra while maintaining visual quality. For 144 Hz panels at 4K, Medium or Low are necessary, with Low providing the only result above 144 FPS (150.9 FPS). At 1440p, the situation is more flexible: High settings produce 158.8 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, while Ultra drops to 102.4 FPS, still sufficient for 100 Hz displays. Medium at 195.6 FPS and Low at 237.5 FPS are options for competitive play or maximum smoothness.

At 1080p, every setting exceeds 140 FPS, and Low reaches 335.5 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming. The recommendation is to use High at 1080p for a 240 Hz display (224.5 FPS), or Medium for 280 Hz panels (276.8 FPS). The Ultra preset at 1080p is the only one below 200 FPS, but 140.2 FPS still clears 120 Hz. Overall, the sweet spot for this combo is 1440p High, which balances visual fidelity with a 158.8 FPS average, or 4K High for those prioritizing resolution over raw frame rates. The data shows that dropping from Ultra to High provides the largest relative gain in FPS across all resolutions, making it the optimal trade-off between image quality and performance.