Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 7 9700X + AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

FAQ

Q: What average frame rate does this combination achieve at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 99 FPS. This places the combo at rank 941 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9700X compare to its nearest rival in overall CPU benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 7 9700X has an average benchmark score of 36029, which is effectively tied with the Intel Core i5-14500HX at 35940, a delta of 0.2%. It sits 0.4% below the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (36165) and 0.8% below the Intel Core Ultra 5 225H (36328).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT holds the 77th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 33721, with the nearest rival being the AMD Radeon RX 6800 at 33493, a delta of 0.7%.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU become the limiting factor at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at 3840x2160. Moving from Low to Ultra settings at 4K drops average FPS from 99.3 to 40.3, a 59 FPS reduction, while the CPU's 8-core/16-thread configuration remains capable of feeding frames at lower settings.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the GPU provide, and how does it relate to performance?

A: The Radeon RX 6700 XT has a memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s over a 192-bit bus with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory. This bandwidth supports the measured 70.7 FPS average at 4K High settings.

Q: How significant is the performance drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 186.9 at 1920x1080 to 80.5 at 3840x2160. This 106.4 FPS reduction represents a 56.9% decrease, indicating strong resolution scaling pressure on the GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and it has a 65 W TDP. The processor features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache, with support for DDR5 memory over a dual-channel bus at 89.6 GB/s.

In Downfall, a horror title released in 2016, the CPU's threading capacity is more than sufficient. Benchmark results show a 3DMark 16-thread score of 9824 and a max-thread score of 9771, while the single-thread score is 1280. Cinebench R23 results are 31588 multicore and 4459 singlecore. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36029, places it in the upper tier of processors.

The nearest rival comparison shows the 9700X is within 0.8% of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225H (36328) and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 (35802). These tight deltas suggest that in CPU-bound scenarios, the 9700X's performance is comparable to these alternatives, though Downfall's measured FPS at high resolutions indicates the game is not heavily CPU-limited.

The processor's integrated Radeon Graphics provides a fallback, but the discrete GPU handles rendering. The 9700X's PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes offers ample bandwidth for the Radeon RX 6700 XT, which uses PCIe 4.0 x16. In practice, the CPU's role in Downfall is to maintain frame pacing; with 8 cores and 16 threads, it can handle the game's engine overhead without bottlenecking the GPU at any tested resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS across settings ranges from 232 at Low to 99 at Ultra. Medium produces 186.9 FPS, and High yields 155.8 FPS. The spread of 133 FPS between Low and Ultra demonstrates that Downfall's settings have a substantial impact on GPU load even at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 164.2 FPS (Low), 134.7 FPS (Medium), 112.7 FPS (High), and 66.6 FPS (Ultra). The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 97.6 FPS, as the higher pixel count increases base GPU workload. The Ultra setting at 1440p remains above 60 FPS, indicating playable performance.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 99.3 FPS (Low), 80.5 FPS (Medium), 70.7 FPS (High), and 40.3 FPS (Ultra). The Ultra result drops below the 60 FPS threshold, which is notable for a 2016 horror game. The Low setting at 4K achieves nearly 100 FPS, showing the GPU's raw throughput is strong when settings are reduced.

The combo ranks 941 out of 1741 tested configurations in Downfall, placing it in the upper-middle range. This ranking reflects the balance between the 9700X's strong CPU performance and the RX 6700 XT's mid-range GPU capabilities. The data confirms the GPU is the more significant factor in determining final frame rates across all settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K varies by settings. At Low, the average falls from 232 FPS to 99.3 FPS, a 132.7 FPS reduction (57.2% decrease). At Medium, the drop is from 186.9 FPS to 80.5 FPS, a 106.4 FPS decrease (56.9%). High settings see 155.8 FPS to 70.7 FPS, an 85.1 FPS drop (54.6%). Ultra shows 99 FPS to 40.3 FPS, a 58.7 FPS decrease (59.3%).

The consistency of these percentage drops—roughly 55-59% across all settings—indicates that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth. The RX 6700 XT's 384.0 GB/s bandwidth and 13.21 TFLOPS fp32 performance are taxed proportionally as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU. At 1080p Low, the 232 FPS average suggests the CPU can feed frames well beyond typical display refresh rates. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 99 FPS result shows no CPU bottleneck. As resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the FPS drops accordingly. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1280 and PassMark single-thread score of 4654 indicate it can handle the game's main thread logic without constraining performance.

The data suggests that for 4K gaming in Downfall, users should consider Medium or High settings, as Ultra drops below 60 FPS. At 1440p, all settings except Ultra remain above 100 FPS, making this resolution the sweet spot for high refresh rate displays.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It has 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 40 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. Memory runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed across a 192-bit bus.

The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory provides 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is instrumental in maintaining playable frame rates at 4K. The GPU's pixel rate is 165.2 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 413.0 GTexel/s. Compute performance is rated at 13.21 TFLOPS fp32 and 26.43 TFLOPS fp16 (2:1 ratio).

The GPU holds the 77th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 33721. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6800, scores 33493 (a 0.7% delta), while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 scores 33294 (a 1.3% delta). The RX 6700 XT performs slightly above the RX 6800 in average score, though the difference is negligible. The AMD Radeon HD 7950 and RX 480 both score around 34050, placing them 1% higher, but these are older architectures with different feature sets.

In Downfall, the GPU's role dominates the FPS results. At 4K Ultra, the 40.3 FPS average indicates the GPU is saturated, while at 4K Low, the 99.3 FPS result shows the GPU can handle reduced workloads efficiently. The 230 W TDP and dual-slot design require a 550 W suggested PSU, with power delivered via one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector.

The PassMark results show a G3D score of 19786 and GPU compute score of 9336, while 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 yields 2435. These benchmarks align with the measured FPS in Downfall, confirming the GPU's mid-range positioning. The combination of 12 GB VRAM and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's textures and geometry at 4K, though Ultra settings push the GPU beyond its comfort zone.