Downfall

Downfall, a 2016 horror title, responds strongly to both CPU and GPU resources, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a wide envelope of performance across resolutions and presets. The measured data shows this pairing is capable of high refresh-rate gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K Ultra remains demanding. The following analysis breaks down the measured frames per second, scaling behavior, and the specific roles of the processor and graphics card in shaping the experience.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this combination provides a clear hierarchy of performance across four presets at three resolutions, allowing for a data-driven recommendation on the optimal settings for different display targets. The most balanced experience, prioritizing both high frame rates and visual fidelity, is the High preset. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 268 FPS, which is a substantial 100 FPS advantage over the Ultra preset at the same resolution. This gap narrows at higher resolutions but remains significant: at 2560x1440, High achieves 191 FPS compared to Ultra's 120 FPS, and at 3840x2160, High reaches 119 FPS versus Ultra's 74 FPS.

For users with high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors (144Hz or higher), the High preset is the clear choice, as it is the only preset that consistently exceeds the 144 FPS threshold at that resolution. The Medium preset also performs well, averaging 233 FPS at 1440p, but the incremental fidelity gain from High is worth the slight performance trade-off for most users. At 4K, the High preset's 119 FPS average is borderline for 120Hz displays, but it provides a much smoother experience than the Ultra preset, which drops to 74 FPS.

The Ultra preset should be reserved for scenarios where visual detail is paramount and frame rate targets are more modest. At 4K, the 74 FPS average is playable on a 60Hz display but will not fully utilize higher refresh rate panels. The data indicates that the performance cost of Ultra is steep across all resolutions—a 37% reduction in average FPS compared to High at 1080p (168 vs 268 FPS), a 37% reduction at 1440p (120 vs 191 FPS), and a 38% reduction at 4K (74 vs 119 FPS). This consistent ~37-38% penalty suggests that the Ultra preset introduces a significant computational load that this hardware combination cannot fully absorb at high refresh rates.

The Low preset offers the highest frame rates—395 FPS at 1080p, 285 FPS at 1440p, and 178 FPS at 4K—but these figures are far beyond the refresh rate of most displays and come with a substantial visual quality reduction. For competitive play or esports-style scenarios where maximum FPS is the sole objective, Low is viable, but for the vast majority of users, the High preset provides the best compromise between image quality and performance. The Medium preset, which has measured minimum and maximum FPS data (e.g., 278-376 FPS at 1080p), offers a slightly more stable frame time experience than High in some cases, but the average FPS advantage of High makes it the recommended starting point.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset to use with this hardware for a 144Hz 1440p monitor?

A: The High preset is the recommended choice. The data shows an average of 191 FPS at 2560x1440 on High, which comfortably exceeds 144Hz. The Ultra preset averages only 120 FPS at this resolution, failing to fully utilize a 144Hz display.

Q: Can this combination run the game at 4K with high settings?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 on High is 119 FPS. This is excellent for 60Hz displays and borderline for 120Hz panels. For a locked 120 FPS experience, the Medium preset, which averages 145 FPS, would be a more reliable choice.

Q: How much performance is lost by using Ultra settings instead of High?

A: The performance penalty is consistent across all resolutions. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 268 on High to 168 on Ultra, a 37% reduction. At 1440p, it drops from 191 to 120, also a 37% reduction. At 4K, it drops from 119 to 74, a 38% reduction.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the limiting factor at 1080p with this setup?

A: The data suggests the CPU plays a significant role at 1080p. The jump from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a massive spread (395 to 168 FPS), but the fact that even Low does not exceed 400 FPS indicates the CPU is likely capping the maximum frame rate. The Ryzen 7 5800XT's 8 cores and 16 threads, with a boost clock of 4.80 GHz, are being heavily utilized at this resolution.

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

A: The measured data includes minimum FPS only for the Medium preset. At 1920x1080, the minimum is 278 FPS. At 2560x1440, it is 198 FPS. At 3840x2160, it is 123 FPS. These minimums are still very high, indicating good frame pacing.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested combinations in Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 265th out of 3716 tested combinations. This places it in the top 7.1% of all tested systems, indicating a high-performance pairing that outperforms the vast majority of other configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, revealing the shifting balance between CPU and GPU load. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 268 at 1920x1080 to 191 at 2560x1440, a 28.7% decrease, and then to 119 at 3840x2160, a further 37.7% decrease from 1440p. This steep decline indicates that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K while the CPU workload remains relatively constant.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more dramatic: 395 FPS at 1080p, 285 FPS at 1440p, and 178 FPS at 4K. The 1080p result is likely limited by the CPU's single-thread performance, as the RTX 4080 is capable of much higher frame rates in less demanding scenes. The 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p (395 to 285 FPS) and the 37.5% drop from 1440p to 4K (285 to 178 FPS) show that even at Low settings, the GPU is still the primary scaling factor.

The Ultra preset shows the most resolution-sensitive behavior: 168 FPS at 1080p, 120 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 28.6% and 38.3%, respectively, which are nearly identical to the High preset's scaling. This consistency across presets suggests that the game's rendering pipeline scales predictably with resolution, regardless of the quality settings. The data indicates that at 1080p, the system is not fully GPU-bound, as frame rates above 300 FPS (as seen in Low and Medium) suggest headroom that the CPU cannot fill. At 4K, however, the GPU is unquestionably the limiting factor, as even the Low preset drops to 178 FPS, a figure that is still high but shows the GPU's workload increasing substantially.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets delivers very high frame rates that exceed the refresh rates of most displays. The Low preset averages 395 FPS, the Medium preset averages 327 FPS with a measured range of 278 to 376 FPS, the High preset averages 268 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 168 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 227 FPS, showing the significant performance cost of the highest quality settings. The Medium preset's minimum of 278 FPS is higher than the High preset's average, indicating that Medium provides a more consistent frame time experience than High, though both are well above playable thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. Low averages 285 FPS, Medium averages 233 FPS (with a range of 198 to 268 FPS), High averages 191 FPS, and Ultra averages 120 FPS. The 1440p results show that the High preset is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate gaming, as it is the only setting that maintains an average above 144 FPS while providing better visuals than Medium. The Ultra preset's 120 FPS is still highly playable but represents a significant drop from High.

At 3840x2160, the performance scales down as expected, but remains respectable. Low averages 178 FPS, Medium averages 145 FPS (with a range of 123 to 167 FPS), High averages 119 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The 4K data reveals that the Low preset is the only one that exceeds 144 FPS, while High and Medium are suitable for 60Hz or 120Hz displays. The Ultra preset, at 74 FPS, is only recommended for 60Hz displays or users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate. The Medium preset's minimum of 123 FPS at 4K ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate does not dip below 120 FPS, making it the safest choice for 120Hz 4K panels.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global rankings for Downfall, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 holds the 265th position out of 3716 tested combinations. This places the pairing in the top 7.1% of all systems tested, a strong result that reflects the high performance of both components. The percentile ranking for the CPU is 81st, meaning it outperforms 81% of all CPUs in the benchmark database, while the GPU's percentile is 86th, outperforming 86% of all GPUs.

The combo's rank of 265 out of 3716 suggests that while this is a high-end setup, it is not the absolute fastest configuration for Downfall. The game's engine appears to scale with both CPU and GPU resources, and systems with newer, higher-clocked processors or more powerful graphics cards would rank higher. However, the data shows that this combination delivers frame rates that are more than sufficient for smooth gameplay at all tested resolutions and settings. The nearest rival CPUs, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (avg score 29868, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X (avg score 29713, 0.6% delta), are extremely close in synthetic benchmarks, but the 5800XT's 8 cores and 16 threads provide a solid foundation for gaming workloads. On the GPU side, the RTX 4080's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER (avg score 54209, 0.1% delta), is virtually identical in performance, confirming that this graphics card is positioned at the upper echelon of the database.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT plays a critical role in this game's performance, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. This processor features 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture (codename Vermeer), with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. The 32 MB of shared L3 cache is substantial for gaming, helping to reduce memory latency and improve frame pacing. The CPU's benchmark scores are strong: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 23794 and a single-core score of 3359, with a 3DMark max-threads score of 7680.

In Downfall, the CPU's impact is most evident at 1080p. The fact that the Low preset only reaches 395 FPS, rather than a higher figure, suggests that the CPU's single-thread performance is the limiting factor at this resolution. The boost clock of 4.80 GHz is high, but the game's engine appears to have a ceiling that this processor cannot exceed, even with the RTX 4080 providing ample GPU headroom. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, but the 8-core/16-thread configuration ensures that there is no CPU-induced stuttering or frame drops in complex scenes. The measured data shows that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at all settings except for the very highest frame rates at 1080p, where the 395 FPS ceiling is observed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this pairing, providing the raw rendering power necessary for high frame rates at all resolutions. This GPU features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The Ada Lovelace architecture (chip AD103) is built on a 5 nm process, with a boost clock of 2505 MHz. The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial, with 9728 shading units and a FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS, as well as 76 RT cores for ray tracing workloads.

In Downfall, the GPU's role is most pronounced at 4K, where the pixel count stresses the rendering pipeline. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a consistent 50-55% reduction in average FPS across all presets, which is expected given the 4x increase in pixel count. The 16 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, even at Ultra settings, and the high memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck. The GPU's benchmark scores, such as a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and a Passmark G3D score of 34457, place it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. The data indicates that the RTX 4080 is the primary driver of performance at 1440p and 4K, and its capabilities allow the system to achieve 119 FPS at 4K High, a figure that would be unattainable with a lower-tier graphics card. The GPU's performance is so high that at 1080p, it is often waiting on the CPU, which is why the frame rates do not scale linearly with GPU clock speed at that resolution.