Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 7 7700 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a robust performance profile in Downfall, a Horror title from 2016. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is firmly GPU-bound at higher quality presets, while the CPU's strong multi-threaded capabilities (8 cores, 16 threads, boosting to 5.30 GHz) ensure headroom at lower settings. The data indicates this combo ranks 291st out of 1,741 tested combinations, placing it comfortably in the top percentile of systems evaluated for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, clearly identifying the GPU as the primary limiting factor. At Low settings, the system delivers 346 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 249.6 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 27.9% reduction) and further to 156.7 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 54.7% reduction from 1080p). This scaling pattern is typical of a game where pixel throughput dominates at higher resolutions, and the RTX 4070 SUPER's 12 GB GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed by the increasing pixel count.

At Medium settings, the same trend holds: 286 FPS at 1080p falls to 201.1 FPS at 1440p (29.7% lower) and 128 FPS at 4K (55.2% lower). The High preset shows 234.8 FPS at 1080p, 165.2 FPS at 1440p (29.6% lower), and 102.4 FPS at 4K (56.4% lower). The consistent ~55% drop from 1080p to 4K across these three settings suggests a uniform resolution penalty that is not mitigated by lowering quality, reinforcing that the GPU's rendering pipeline is the bottleneck.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling, with 145.6 FPS at 1080p dropping to 105.3 FPS at 1440p (27.7% lower) and 63.9 FPS at 4K (56.1% lower). Notably, the relative drop from 1440p to 4K at Ultra (39.3%) is similar to other settings, but the absolute frame rates are much lower, indicating that the combination of high resolution and Ultra effects pushes the GPU to its limits. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains playable frame rates above 60 FPS, but the headroom for demanding scenes is minimal.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience for this combination, delivering 201.1 FPS while leaving substantial headroom for frame time spikes common in horror titles. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 35.9 FPS (17.8% reduction) but still maintains 165.2 FPS, which is acceptable for high-refresh-rate displays. However, the step from High to Ultra at 1440p is punishing, costing 59.9 FPS (36.3% reduction) to reach 105.3 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the High preset at 234.8 FPS is the sweet spot, as it provides a 51.2 FPS advantage over Ultra (145.6 FPS) while still looking substantially better than Medium (286 FPS). The Low preset at 346 FPS offers diminishing returns for competitive play, but the visual quality degradation in a horror game may undermine the atmospheric experience. For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 128 FPS is recommended, as High drops to 102.4 FPS and Ultra falls to 63.9 FPS, which is close to the threshold where motion smoothness degrades noticeably.

The data suggests that the Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p (145.6 FPS) or for users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate consistency at 1440p (105.3 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is borderline at 63.9 FPS, making it unsuitable for the demanding scenes that horror games often present. The Medium preset provides the best frame rate headroom across all resolutions, ensuring that the system can handle sudden loads without dipping below playable thresholds.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, is the dominant component in this configuration for Downfall. Its boost clock of 2475 MHz and 7,168 shading units deliver substantial raw compute power, as evidenced by the 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance. The 12 GB GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for the texture-heavy environments and lighting effects typical of horror games.

The GPU's performance in Downfall is characterized by its ability to maintain high frame rates even at 4K, but the scaling data shows that the 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for this game's requirements. The 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 42,576, positions it as a strong mid-to-high-end contender. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks include the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (0.2% higher score) and AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (0.3% higher), indicating that the RTX 4070 SUPER sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

The GPU's memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) and 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate contribute to its ability to handle the resolution scaling observed. The 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores, while not directly benchmarked in Downfall, suggest that the card is future-proof for ray-traced titles even if this 2016 game does not utilize those features. The 220 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU indicate a power-efficient design that does not require exotic cooling solutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 346 FPS on Low, 286 FPS on Medium, 234.8 FPS on High, and 145.6 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 200.4 FPS, representing a 57.9% reduction in frame rate when maxing out all settings. This resolution shows the highest absolute frame rates, with even Ultra exceeding 144 Hz refresh rates, making it ideal for high-refresh monitors.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 249.6 FPS (Low), 201.1 FPS (Medium), 165.2 FPS (High), and 105.3 FPS (Ultra). The step from Low to Medium costs 48.5 FPS, while Medium to High costs 35.9 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 59.9 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first configuration to drop below 120 FPS, indicating that this is the threshold where the GPU begins to struggle with the combination of resolution and quality.

At 3840x2160, the system produces 156.7 FPS (Low), 128 FPS (Medium), 102.4 FPS (High), and 63.9 FPS (Ultra). The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 92.8 FPS reduction (59.2% lower), which is the most severe drop across all resolutions. The High preset at 4K is the first to fall below 120 FPS, and Ultra dips below 64 FPS, which may cause perceptible stuttering in fast-moving horror sequences. The data shows that the system is capable of 4K gaming, but only at lower quality presets for smooth performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 291st out of 1,741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 16.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects a balanced pairing where the CPU's 91st percentile performance (with an average benchmark score of 40,468) complements the GPU's 84th percentile standing. The CPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H (0.1% higher score) and Intel Core i9-13905H (0.6% higher), showing that the Ryzen 7 7700 is competitive with mobile and desktop parts in its class.

The combo's position in the rankings is driven more by the GPU than the CPU, as the measured FPS scales predictably with resolution and settings. The CPU's 3DMark scores (8,484 at 16 threads, 1,049 at single thread) and Cinebench R23 results (29,302 multi-core, 4,136 single-core) indicate ample processing headroom that does not constrain the GPU in this title. The 0.1% delta with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H and 1.2% with the Intel Core Ultra 5 235T suggest that CPU choice has minimal impact on the final ranking, as the GPU-bound nature of Downfall at higher settings dominates the performance envelope.

The 291st rank out of 1,741 combos is a strong showing, but the data implies that higher-ranked configurations likely pair the RTX 4070 SUPER with faster CPUs or use multi-GPU setups. For this specific pairing, the limiting factor at 4K Ultra is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the 63.9 FPS result. Upgrading the CPU would yield negligible gains, while a more powerful GPU would push the combo higher in the rankings, particularly at 4K resolutions where the current card is taxed to its limits.