Downfall

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows for Downfall with this AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination reveal a clear pattern: the Medium preset delivers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 127.5 FPS, which is 20.6 FPS higher than High (106.9 FPS) and only 30.2 FPS below Low (157.7 FPS). The jump from Medium to High costs a substantial 20.6 FPS, while the jump from Low to Medium costs 30.2 FPS, suggesting Medium captures most of the visual uplift from Low while maintaining a significant advantage over High.

The situation becomes more telling at higher resolutions. At 2560x1440, Medium yields 88.9 FPS against High's 76.2 FPS — a 12.7 FPS gap — while Ultra collapses to 48.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, Medium still holds 55.7 FPS, which is playable, whereas High drops to 45.2 FPS and Ultra falls to 31 FPS. The data strongly suggests that Ultra is a visual showcase mode rather than a practical setting for this combo; it sacrifices over half the frame rate of Medium at every resolution. For users prioritizing smoothness, Medium is the recommended preset, with Low serving as a fallback for 4K displays where 72.1 FPS remains comfortably above Medium's 55.7 FPS.

GPU Role

The GTX 1070's specifications directly explain the frame rate scaling observed in Downfall. The card features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz, combined with 1920 shading units, produce a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s. These figures suggest a GPU that is well-suited to 1080p and 1440p gaming but begins to strain at 4K.

The benchmark data confirms this interpretation. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 106.9 FPS on High and 65.2 FPS on Ultra — the latter being a 41.7 FPS drop that aligns with the heavier shading and texture loads taxing the 1920 shading units. At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become pronounced: High produces 45.2 FPS, and Ultra only 31 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM buffer is likely sufficient for this game's assets, but the 256.3 GB/s bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 throughput appear to be the constraining factors at higher resolutions. The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 51, placing it in the middle of the pack, which matches its observed behavior: capable at mainstream resolutions but not a 4K powerhouse.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 3700X presents a contrasting story. With 8 cores and 16 threads, base clock of 3.60 GHz, and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, this Zen 2 processor (7 nm, TSMC) offers substantial parallel processing headroom. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19087 and single-core score of 2694 indicate strong throughput, while the PassMark multi-thread score of 22458 reinforces its capability. The CPU's percentile ranking of 85 versus all CPUs places it well above the GPU's 51st percentile, suggesting the processor is not the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

The FPS data supports this asymmetry. At 1920x1080 Low, the combo reaches 157.7 FPS, indicating that the CPU can feed frames far faster than the GPU can render them at higher settings. The drop from Low to Medium at 1080p (157.7 to 127.5 FPS) is more about GPU load than CPU limits. Even at 4K Low, the 72.1 FPS result shows the CPU maintaining frame delivery while the GPU struggles. The 32 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) likely help maintain consistent frame pacing, but the data indicates that Downfall's demands scale more heavily with GPU resources. This CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600, scores 28654 on average — a delta of -0.1% — confirming that the 3700X is competitively positioned, but the GPU remains the limiting factor in this combo.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Downfall?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 provides the most comfortable frame rates, with Medium hitting 127.5 FPS and even Ultra reaching 65.2 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium still delivers 88.9 FPS, making it viable, while 3840x2160 pushes the GPU to its limits with High at 45.2 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1070 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 12331, with the nearest rival being the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 at 12241 (deltaPct of 0.7%). The GeForce GTX 880M scores 12490 (deltaPct of -1.3%), meaning the GTX 1070 is slightly below that rival but above the Quadro.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 3700X holding back the GTX 1070 in this game?

A: No, the evidence points to the GPU as the bottleneck. The CPU's percentile rank is 85 versus the GPU's 51. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 157.7 FPS, showing the CPU can drive high frame rates; the GPU's load increases disproportionately as settings rise.

Q: What FPS difference exists between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low produces 112.2 FPS, while Ultra drops to 48.4 FPS — a difference of 63.8 FPS. Medium (88.9 FPS) and High (76.2 FPS) sit between these extremes, illustrating a steep performance curve as settings increase.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread results?

A: The Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2694, while multi-core reaches 19087, a ratio of roughly 7.1x. This indicates strong scaling across its 8 cores and 16 threads, which benefits tasks like Downfall that can use multiple threads.

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

A: This specific pairing ranks 1464 out of 1741 total combos tested for Downfall, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This rank reflects the GPU's mid-tier standing more than the CPU's high percentile.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound pattern. At 1920x1080 High, the combo achieves 106.9 FPS; at 2560x1440 High, it drops to 76.2 FPS; and at 3840x2160 High, it falls to 45.2 FPS. This represents a 61.7 FPS decline from 1080p to 4K, with the largest single drop occurring between 1440p and 4K (31 FPS). The scaling is steeper than linear, indicating that pixel count growth outpaces the GPU's ability to fill those pixels.

The Low settings tell a similar story but with higher absolute values: 157.7 FPS at 1080p, 112.2 FPS at 1440p, and 72.1 FPS at 4K — a total drop of 85.6 FPS. This pattern confirms that resolution is the dominant factor, not settings complexity. Medium follows suit: 127.5, 88.9, and 55.7 FPS across the three resolutions. The consistent 40-45% FPS reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and another 40-50% reduction from 1440p to 4K, points squarely at the GPU's 256.3 GB/s bandwidth and 6.463 TFLOPS throughput as the limiting factors. The CPU's role remains secondary, as evidenced by the fact that even at 4K Low (72.1 FPS), the system maintains frame rates far above what would indicate a CPU stall.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset for this combo is as follows. At 1920x1080: Low produces 157.7 FPS, Medium 127.5 FPS, High 106.9 FPS, and Ultra 65.2 FPS. The step from High to Ultra is the most punishing — a 41.7 FPS loss — while Medium to High costs 20.6 FPS and Low to Medium costs 30.2 FPS. This suggests that Ultra enables effects that disproportionately tax the GPU, likely related to shadow quality or post-processing.

At 2560x1440: Low yields 112.2 FPS, Medium 88.9 FPS, High 76.2 FPS, and Ultra 48.4 FPS. The relative gaps narrow slightly in percentage terms, with Medium to High dropping 12.7 FPS and High to Ultra dropping 27.8 FPS. The 1440p results remain playable across all but Ultra, which dips below 50 FPS.

At 3840x2160: Low achieves 72.1 FPS, Medium 55.7 FPS, High 45.2 FPS, and Ultra 31 FPS. Here, even High falls below the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra becomes marginal. The data shows that 4K requires Low or Medium settings for a smooth experience, with Medium providing the best compromise between visual quality and playability. Across all resolutions, the FPS deltas between Low and Ultra range from 92.5 FPS at 1080p to 41.1 FPS at 4K, indicating that settings have less impact at higher resolutions where the GPU is already saturated.

How This Combo Ranks

This AMD Ryzen 7 3700X + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 pairing ranks 1464 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 16th percentile of the database (calculated as 1464/1741). This low ranking is notable given that the CPU alone sits at the 85th percentile among all processors. The discrepancy highlights the GPU's role as the performance ceiling: the GTX 1070's 51st percentile standing drags the overall combo down.

The nearest rival GPUs provide context. The NVIDIA Quadro K4200 scores 0.7% higher in average benchmarks, while the GeForce GTX 880M scores 1.3% lower and the GTX 1650 SUPER 1.4% lower. These narrow deltas suggest the GTX 1070 is surrounded by similarly-performing cards, none of which would likely improve the combo's rank significantly. On the CPU side, the Ryzen 7 3700X's nearest rivals — Intel Core i5-12600 (deltaPct -0.1%), Intel Core i5-12600H (-0.1%), AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (0.1%), and AMD EPYC 7203P (0.2%) — all sit within a fraction of a percent, confirming that swapping the CPU would have minimal impact on this game's performance.

The data implies that to move this combo substantially up the rankings, a GPU upgrade would be necessary. The CPU has headroom to spare, as evidenced by its high percentile and the fact that 1080p Low exceeds 150 FPS. The rank of 1464 reflects a system where the processor is overqualified relative to the graphics card for Downfall's demands, making the GTX 1070 the clear target for any future improvement.