Downfall

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a fascinating split in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. The 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3 processor is a solid mid-range desktop part, while the RTX 5090 is a flagship Blackwell GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory. This combination creates an extreme bottleneck scenario where the CPU frequently limits performance, especially at lower resolutions. The data shows a clear pattern: this combo is ranked 34th out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall, placing it in the top 2% of all systems tested, yet its behavior reveals that the older CPU holds back the modern GPU in many scenarios.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Ryzen 7 5700X brings 8 cores and 16 threads to the table, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This is a Zen 3 (Vermeer) architecture part on the AMD Socket AM4 platform, built on TSMC's 7 nm process with 4,150 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. The CPU has a 32 MB shared L3 cache, plus 512 KB of L2 and 64 KB of L1 per core. Its 65 W TDP is notably modest for an 8-core part, and it supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU scores 22,620 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,193 in single-core. Its 3DMark scores tell a similar story: 6,858 with 16 threads, 5,768 with 8 threads, but only 921 in single-thread testing. The Geekbench scores are 9,720 multi-core and 2,148 single-core. The PassMark multi-thread score of 26,612 and single-thread score of 3,385 round out the picture. The CPU sits at the 83rd percentile versus all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26,214.

The nearest rivals in the database show just how tightly grouped this CPU is. The Intel Core i9-11900KF scores 26,196, a delta of just 0.1% from the 5700X. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U scores 26,262 (0.2% higher), the Ryzen 5 5500GT scores 26,161 (0.2% lower), and the Ryzen 5 7600X scores 26,272 (0.2% higher). These deltas are negligible, meaning the 5700X is effectively a performance peer of these parts across the board.

For Downfall, the CPU's role is significant. At 1080p, the measured FPS exceeds 300 in most settings, which suggests the CPU is doing the heavy lifting to feed frames. The 1920x1080 Low setting hits 378.3 FPS, and Medium hits 353.8 FPS. These are extremely high frame rates that stress the CPU's single-thread and multi-thread capabilities. The 5700X's 4.60 GHz boost clock and 16 threads are clearly sufficient to push these numbers, but the data suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU is far more capable than what the measured FPS indicates.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on TSMC's 5 nm process, with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz. The memory subsystem is massive: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. Its compute capabilities are extreme: 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 performance, with a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The RTX 5090's benchmark results are equally imposing. It scores 14,411 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 380,114 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 379,571 in Geekbench Vulkan. PassMark G3D score is 39,650, with a GPU compute score of 26,756. The GPU sits at the 94th percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306.

The nearest rivals show the RTX 5090's position. The RTX 5090 D scores 84,241 (0.1% higher), the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 84,171 (0.2% higher), the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 scores 83,209 (1.3% higher), and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX scores 85,637 (1.6% lower). These deltas are tiny, indicating that the RTX 5090 is essentially at the top of the GPU hierarchy, with only marginal differences from its closest competitors.

In Downfall, the GPU's role becomes more apparent at higher resolutions. At 4K, the Ultra setting drops to 86.9 FPS, which is a substantial workload for the GPU. The 32 GB VRAM is far more than Downfall needs, but the GPU's raw compute power drives the 136.7 FPS at 4K High and 202.7 FPS at 4K Low. The RTX 5090's 1.79 TB/s bandwidth and 104.8 TFLOPS are clearly not being fully utilized at lower resolutions, where the CPU dominates the frame production.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals the classic bottleneck shift. At 1920x1080, the High setting produces 307.9 FPS, which drops to 217.5 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 29.4% decrease) and then to 136.7 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 55.6% decrease from 1080p). This pattern is consistent across all settings, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly.

For Low settings, the drop is even more dramatic: 378.3 FPS at 1080p falls to 326.5 FPS at 1440p (13.7% decrease) and then to 202.7 FPS at 4K (46.4% decrease from 1080p). Medium settings show 353.8 FPS at 1080p, 269.4 FPS at 1440p (23.9% decrease), and 165.8 FPS at 4K (53.1% decrease). Ultra settings produce 191.3 FPS at 1080p, 134.4 FPS at 1440p (29.7% decrease), and 86.9 FPS at 4K (54.6% decrease).

The pattern is clear: the FPS drops are steeper between 1440p and 4K than between 1080p and 1440p, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the FPS values are extremely high and the GPU's massive compute is not being stressed. At 4K, the GPU workload increases substantially, and the FPS drops to more reasonable values that reflect the GPU's actual capabilities. The data suggests that at 1080p, the RTX 5090 is being held back by the Ryzen 7 5700X, while at 4K, the GPU is finally able to show its full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete measured FPS data for this combo in Downfall is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low setting produces 378.3 FPS, Medium produces 353.8 FPS, High produces 307.9 FPS, and Ultra produces 191.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 187 FPS, with Ultra being roughly half the performance of Low. This wide spread suggests that Ultra settings impose a significant GPU load even at 1080p, while Low and Medium settings are more CPU-bound.

At 2560x1440, Low produces 326.5 FPS, Medium produces 269.4 FPS, High produces 217.5 FPS, and Ultra produces 134.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 192.1 FPS, slightly wider than at 1080p. The Medium setting drops by 84.4 FPS from 1080p to 1440p, while Ultra drops by 56.9 FPS, showing that higher settings scale somewhat better with resolution.

At 3840x2160, Low produces 202.7 FPS, Medium produces 165.8 FPS, High produces 136.7 FPS, and Ultra produces 86.9 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 115.8 FPS, narrower than at lower resolutions. From 1080p to 4K, Low drops by 175.6 FPS, Medium by 188 FPS, High by 171.2 FPS, and Ultra by 104.4 FPS. The diminishing returns at 4K for Ultra settings suggest that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck, while the CPU can still push high frame rates at Low and Medium settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This combo ranks 34th out of 1,741 tested combinations in Downfall. This places it in the top 1.95% of all tested systems, which is an excellent position given the hardware. The ranking reflects the overall performance across all resolutions and settings, weighted toward the game's typical usage patterns.

The rank of 34 is interesting because the RTX 5090 is at the 94th percentile of all GPUs, while the Ryzen 7 5700X is at the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. The combo rank being 34 out of 1,741 (top 2%) suggests that the GPU's high percentile is pulling the overall rank up, but the CPU's lower percentile relative to the GPU prevents this combo from cracking the top 10 or top 20. The data indicates that there are 33 other combos that outperform this pairing in Downfall, likely featuring newer or higher-end CPUs paired with the same or similar GPUs.

The ranking also implies that this combo outperforms the vast majority of systems tested, with 1,707 combos ranking below it. For a horror game like Downfall, where frame rates above 60 FPS are typically sufficient, this combo delivers far more performance than needed at all resolutions and settings. The 4K Ultra setting, which produces 86.9 FPS, is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making this combo a strong choice for high-refresh-rate 4K monitors or for future-proofing with more demanding titles.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest FPS this combo achieves in Downfall, and at what settings?

A: The highest measured FPS is 378.3 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 353.8 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 326.5 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 5700X compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 5700X has an average benchmark score of 26,214, which is within 0.2% of the Intel Core i9-11900KF (26,196), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U (26,262), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500GT (26,161), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (26,272). The performance differences are negligible.

Q: What is the RTX 5090's position relative to other GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 5090 is at the 94th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241, a 0.1% difference, while the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 scores 83,209, which is 1.3% higher.

Q: Is this combo CPU-bound or GPU-bound in Downfall?

A: At 1080p, the combo is CPU-bound, as evidenced by the extremely high FPS (378.3 at Low) that the RTX 5090 could easily exceed. At 4K, the combo becomes more GPU-bound, with FPS dropping to 202.7 at Low and 86.9 at Ultra, reflecting the GPU's workload.

Q: How much FPS is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The High setting produces 307.9 FPS at 1080p, 217.5 FPS at 1440p, and 136.7 FPS at 4K. This represents a 29.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 55.6% drop from 1080p to 4K.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 34th out of 1,741 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2% of all systems tested. This is a strong result, though the CPU's lower percentile (83rd) compared to the GPU's (94th) indicates potential bottlenecking at lower resolutions.