Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for Downfall show a clear and predictable progression as resolution increases, but the rate of that drop tells an important story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers 129 FPS on average. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same High preset, the average drops to 89.7 FPS, a reduction of roughly 30%. At 3840x2160, the average falls further to 58.3 FPS, which is another 35% decline from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern — where each resolution step costs approximately a third of the remaining performance — indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, while the CPU has ample headroom.

The Low preset amplifies this trend. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 190.8 FPS, which is a very high frame rate for a horror title. At 1440p Low, it drops to 134.2 FPS, a 30% reduction. At 4K Low, the average is 85.3 FPS, a 36% drop from 1440p. The consistency of these percentage declines across presets reinforces that the Radeon RX 6600 XT is the constraining factor once resolution increases, as the Ryzen 5 9600X's six cores and twelve threads are more than sufficient to feed the GPU at these frame rates. The data shows that even at 4K Low, the system maintains a playable average, but the margin narrows considerably.

The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 158.5 FPS at 1080p, 110 FPS at 1440p, and 69.2 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 31% and 37%, respectively. Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling: 80.4 FPS at 1080p, 59.2 FPS at 1440p, and 36.1 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K on Ultra is 39%, which is the steepest decline in the dataset. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU's 8 GB of memory and 128-bit memory bus, particularly at 4K where the bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s becomes a limiting factor. The benchmark results indicate that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with 1440p still viable for most presets, while 4K should be reserved for Low or Medium settings if smooth gameplay is the priority.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this specific CPU-GPU pairing. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 129 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay in a horror title where responsiveness matters. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 80.4 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 38% performance penalty compared to High. Given that the jump from High to Ultra typically adds marginal visual improvements in most games, the data suggests that High at 1080p is the optimal choice for this combo.

At 2560x1440, the High preset produces 89.7 FPS, which remains comfortably playable. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 110 FPS, offering a 23% performance uplift over High, but with reduced visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 59.2 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game where frame pacing can affect the experience. For 1440p users, the recommendation is to stick with High, as it provides a solid frame rate without sacrificing the visual atmosphere that horror games rely on. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 134.2 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too severe for the genre.

At 3840x2160, the picture changes significantly. The High preset yields only 58.3 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a smooth experience. The Medium preset at 4K produces 69.2 FPS, which is more acceptable, while Low reaches 85.3 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unplayable at 36.1 FPS. For 4K, the data strongly favors Medium as the best experience per the measured rows, as it offers a 19% improvement over High while maintaining a frame rate that avoids the stutter associated with lower averages. The trade-off between Medium and Low at 4K is a 23% performance difference, but Medium's visual benefits likely justify the cost for most users.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT ranks 1238 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall. This places the combo in the 71st percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 29% of combinations perform better. The rank of 1238 is notable because it sits in the lower-middle portion of the distribution, which is surprising given the individual components' standings. The CPU alone ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 71st percentile among all GPUs. The combo rank of 1238 out of 1741 suggests that the pairing is slightly less than the sum of its parts, likely due to the GPU becoming the bottleneck at higher resolutions as the resolution scaling data indicates.

The nearest rivals for the CPU provide context for its performance. The Intel Core i5-13490F has an average score of 28173, which is 0.3% higher than the Ryzen 5 9600X's average of 28246. The AMD Ryzen 5 230 scores 28164, also 0.3% higher. The AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS scores 28369, which is 0.4% lower, and the Intel Core i5-14500T scores 28377, 0.5% lower. These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating that the Ryzen 5 9600X is competitively positioned among its peers. For the GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti scores 27956, 0.1% higher than the RX 6600 XT's 27985, while the AMD Radeon R9 M395X scores 27883, 0.4% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 scores 28238, 0.9% higher, and the AMD FirePro S7150 scores 28409, 1.5% higher. These small deltas show that the RX 6600 XT is closely matched with its immediate rivals.

The combo rank of 1238 out of 1741 means that while the individual components are strong, the overall system performance in Downfall is not exceptional. The data suggests that the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory interface limit the system at 4K, pulling the combo rank down relative to configurations with more capable graphics cards.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS is 129 at 1920x1080 with High settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 36.1, which is the lowest measured value in the dataset.

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

A: The combo ranks 1238 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall.

Q: Which preset provides the highest frame rate at 1440p?

A: The Low preset at 2560x1440 delivers the highest average at 134.2 FPS, followed by Medium at 110 FPS.

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

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K, as frame rates drop consistently across all presets when resolution increases.

Q: How does the RX 6600 XT compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 6600 XT has an average benchmark score of 27985, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti's score of 27956.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 23 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz. These clock speeds are relatively high for the architecture, and the data shows that the GPU can sustain strong performance at lower resolutions. The 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs contribute to a pixel rate of 165.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 331.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 10.60 TFLOPS.

In Downfall, the GPU's role is critical at higher resolutions. The benchmark results show that at 4K, even the Low preset only achieves 85.3 FPS, while Ultra drops to 36.1 FPS. This 58% reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K highlights the GPU's memory bandwidth limitations. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K with Ultra settings, the memory capacity and bandwidth become strained. The GPU's percentile ranking of 71 places it in the upper third of all GPUs, but its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, scores 0.9% higher in synthetic benchmarks, indicating a competitive but not dominant position.

The GPU's TDP of 160 W and suggested PSU of 450 W indicate it is a mid-range power draw, but the performance data shows it is well-suited for 1080p gaming and capable at 1440p. The 128-bit memory bus is a notable limitation for 4K, as the bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s cannot keep up with the demands of high-resolution textures and effects. The data suggests that the RX 6600 XT is best paired with a CPU that can feed it enough frames at lower resolutions, which the Ryzen 5 9600X does effectively.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge, and manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The CPU's synthetic benchmarks are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 25525 and a single-core score of 3603, placing it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is to provide enough frame throughput to avoid bottlenecking the GPU. The resolution scaling data shows that at 1080p, the combo achieves 129 FPS on High and 190.8 FPS on Low, which are high values that indicate the CPU is not the limiting factor. At 4K, the frame rates drop significantly, but this is due to the GPU, not the CPU. The Ryzen 5 9600X's six cores and twelve threads are sufficient for Downfall, as the game's horror genre typically does not demand high core counts. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-13490F, score within 0.3% of the Ryzen 5 9600X in average benchmark scores, confirming that the CPU is competitive for this workload.

The CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz is particularly beneficial for single-threaded performance, which is often important in games. The Cinebench R15 single-core score of 363 and PassMark single-thread score of 4570 indicate strong per-core performance. The data shows that the CPU can maintain high frame rates at 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, and it does not become a bottleneck until frame rates exceed 190 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of most displays. The CPU's 32 MB of L3 cache and DDR5 memory support also contribute to its ability to keep the GPU fed with data, as evidenced by the consistent FPS at 1440p across presets.