Downfall

Downfall, a 2016 horror title, presents an intriguing benchmark for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 pairing. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher quality presets, yet exhibits surprising headroom at lower settings. This analysis explores how the combination of an eight-core Zen 2 processor and a current-generation RDNA 4 graphics card behaves in this specific title.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a classic pattern of resolution-dependent scaling that points directly at the Radeon RX 9070 as the primary bottleneck. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo delivers an average of 123 FPS. Moving to 1440p Ultra drops that average to 88 FPS, a decrease of 28.5% from the 1080p figure. The jump to 4K Ultra is more severe, with the average plummeting to 55 FPS — a 55.3% reduction compared to 1080p Ultra. This steep degradation as pixel count increases is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

The scaling pattern is even more pronounced at the High preset. The 1440p High average of 141 FPS is 28.8% lower than the 198 FPS seen at 1080p High. Continuing to 4K High, the average drops to 88 FPS, which is 55.6% below the 1080p High result. The near-identical percentage drops between Ultra and High presets from 1080p to 4K suggest that the Radeon RX 9070's rendering throughput, rather than any specific setting, is the limiting factor.

At the Low preset, the scaling is different. The 1080p Low average of 295 FPS drops to 210 FPS at 1440p Low, a 28.8% reduction. However, the 4K Low average of 131 FPS is only a 37.6% drop from 1440p Low, a smaller proportional loss than what is seen at higher presets. This indicates that at Low settings, the game's workload changes, and the CPU begins to have a more noticeable influence, particularly at 1080p where the frame rate is exceptionally high. The Ryzen 7 3700X's 8 cores and 16 threads appear sufficient to feed the GPU at these lower resolutions, but the GPU remains the dominant factor overall.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance vs. visual quality. The Ultra preset appears to be the most demanding, with the 4K average sitting at just 55 FPS, a figure that would likely struggle to provide a smooth experience on a standard 60 Hz display. Even at 1440p, the Ultra average of 88 FPS is playable but shows a significant performance hit. The High preset offers a superior balance. At 1440p, the High setting achieves an average of 141 FPS, which is 60.2% higher than the Ultra setting at the same resolution. At 4K, the High preset's average of 88 FPS is 60.0% above the Ultra average. This suggests that for most users, the High preset is the optimal choice for this game, providing a large performance boost while presumably delivering most of the visual improvements.

The Medium preset offers an even larger performance advantage. At 4K, the Medium average of 107 FPS is 94.5% higher than the Ultra average. At 1440p, the Medium setting's 172 FPS is 95.5% above Ultra. The data also includes minimum FPS values for the Medium preset, with a 1440p low of 146 FPS and a 4K low of 91 FPS. These minimums are well above the averages of the Ultra preset, indicating a more stable and consistent experience. For users with high-refresh-rate 1440p displays, the Medium preset appears to be a strong candidate to maximize frame rates.

The Low preset is the only setting that allows the GPU to achieve truly high refresh rates at 4K, with an average of 131 FPS. While this is the easiest path to high FPS, it likely comes with substantial visual compromises. For a horror game, atmosphere and visual clarity are often paramount, and the data suggests that the High preset is the sensible middle ground, offering a dramatic improvement over Ultra with a 60% FPS boost at both 1440p and 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the undisputed performance driver in this pairing, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than adequate for a 2016 title even at 4K resolution. The card's clocks are respectable, with a base of 1330 MHz, a game clock of 2070 MHz, and a boost of 2520 MHz. These clocks, combined with its 56 RT cores and 3584 shading units, deliver the raw power that dictates the frame rates in the measured data.

The GPU's influence is most clearly shown in the 4K results. The collapse from 107 FPS at Medium to 55 FPS at Ultra represents a 48.6% performance hit, which is an enormous cost for a single preset step. This kind of drop is typical of a game engine hitting a hard wall in terms of memory or compute requirements at the highest settings, and the RX 9070 is the component that is hitting that wall. In contrast, the CPU's role is more passive at these settings.

Despite its high performance, the RX 9070's percentile vs all GPUs is 69, and its average benchmark score is 23877. This places in a group with rivals such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, which has an average score of 24170 and a deltaPct of -1.2, meaning the RX 9070 is 1.2% slower on average. This data suggests that while the GPU is powerful, it is not in the top echelon of graphics cards, and its performance in Downfall is consistent with its general standing.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all 3716 tested system combinations for Downfall, this pairing of the Ryzen 7 3700X and Radeon RX 9070 holds the 1122nd position. This places it in the top 31% of all combos, which is a strong result for a game that is heavily dependent on the GPU. The ranking confirms the GPU's capability, as the CPU is a relatively older model.

The Ryzen 7 3700X itself has a percentile vs all CPUs of 84, with an average benchmark score of 34260. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 with an average score of 34222 and a deltaPct of 0.1, and the Intel Core i5-13450HX with an average score of 34333 and a deltaPct of -0.2. This indicates that the 3700X's general-purpose performance is still very competitive despite its age. However, in the specific context of Downfall, the game's engine is likely more sensitive to the GPU's capabilities, which is why the combo is ranked as high as it is.

The fact that this combo ranks at 1122 rather than higher suggests that the game might still be bottlenecked by the CPU in certain scenarios, especially at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 295 FPS average is an extremely high frame rate that requires a very strong CPU to maintain. While the 3700X with its 3.6 GHz base and 4.4 GHz boost can manage it, it's clear that the CPU is working hard to keep the GPU fed. If the game's engine is not well-optimized for multiple threads, the 3700X's 16 threads might not be fully utilized, which could explain why the combo doesn't rank higher in the overall list.

FAQ

Q: What is the frame rate difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The Low preset achieves an average of 295 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 123 FPS. This is a difference of 172 FPS, with Low being 139.8% faster.

Q: Is the AMD Radeon RX 9070 a significant part of the system's performance in this game?

A: Yes, the benchmark results indicate strong GPU scaling. Moving from 1440p to 4K at the High preset results in a 53 FPS drop (from 141 to 88 FPS), showing the GPU is a primary factor in performance.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 3700X's CPU performance compare to its rivals on average?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 34260 is effectively matching its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, which has a score of 34222 and a deltaPct of 0.1%. It is also 0.2% faster than the Intel Core i5-13450HX, which has a score of 34333.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for the Medium preset at 1440p?

A: The measured data shows a minimum of 146 FPS for the Medium settings at 2560x1440 resolution.

Q: What does the combo rank indicate about its overall performance universe?

A: The combo has a rank of 1122 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 30.2% of all systems in the database for this game.

Q: Can the system achieve a stable 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes. The High preset at 4K delivers an average of 88 FPS, and the Medium preset at 4K provides an even higher average of 107 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, on the other hand, averages only 55 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following are the exact measured values from the benchmark database for the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination in Downfall.

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: Average 295 FPS
• Medium: Average 241 FPS, Minimum 205 FPS, Maximum 277 FPS
• High: Average 198 FPS
• Ultra: Average 123 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: Average 210 FPS
• Medium: Average 172 FPS, Minimum 146 FPS, Maximum 198 FPS
• High: Average 141 FPS
• Ultra: Average 88 FPS

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: Average 131 FPS
• Medium: Average 107 FPS, Minimum 91 FPS, Maximum 123 FPS
• High: Average 88 FPS
• Ultra: Average 55 FPS

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, part of the 3000 series, is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz are modest by modern standards, but its 32 MB of L3 cache is a significant amount for a gaming CPU. Its benchmark results, such as a Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 2092 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1593, show it is a solid, if not top-tier, performer.

In the context of Downfall, the CPU's role appears to be to provide a stable foundation for the GPU. The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is just able to keep up with the GPU's output, yielding 295 FPS. However, the 3700X's performance is also reflected in its nearest rivals, which include the AMD EPYC 4244P. This shows that the 3700X is positioned as a workhorse CPU that can handle a full load, but its single-threaded performance, which is often important for older games, may be its limiting factor. The 0.1% deltaPct against the EPYC 4244P indicates a near-identical average score, but how that translates to gaming is a different story. The CPU is likely not the main bottleneck at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, it is the frame rate cap.