Downfall

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a robust 1080p and 1440p experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title, with frame rates that remain highly playable even at 4K Ultra settings. The data indicates a configuration that scales predictably with resolution and settings, consistently keeping average FPS above 60 at the most demanding preset tested.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At 1080p High settings, the combo produces an average of 234.5 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 High drops this to 168 FPS, a reduction of approximately 28%. At 4K High, the average falls further to 102.4 FPS, which is about 39% lower than the 1440p result and 56% lower than the 1080p figure.

This scaling behavior indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the extremely high frame rates (345.3 FPS on Low) suggest the CPU and its 96 MB of L3 cache are capable of feeding the GPU well beyond typical display refresh rates. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s single-thread score of 1212 in 3DMark and multi-thread score of 10067 in the max-threads test support this, showing ample headroom. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth of the RTX 4070 SUPER become more significant factors. The GPU’s 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth and 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate are taxed more heavily, which is why the percentage drop between 1440p and 4K is steeper than the drop between 1080p and 1440p.

The scaling from 1440p High (168 FPS) to 4K High (102.4 FPS) represents a 39% decline, which is substantial and indicates a GPU-bound scenario at the higher resolution. Conversely, the 1080p to 1440p transition only loses 28% of performance, suggesting the system is better balanced there. This is typical for a high-end CPU paired with a mid-to-high-end GPU; the 9800X3D provides enough compute headroom that the RTX 4070 SUPER becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The game’s 2016 release date means it does not leverage newer technologies like ray tracing heavily, placing the emphasis on raw rasterization performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 146.1 FPS.

Q: How does the performance at 1440p High compare to 4K High?

A: At 2560x1440 High, the average FPS is 168. At 3840x2160 High, it drops to 102.4 FPS, which is a 39% reduction in performance.

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

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K. The frame rate drops significantly from 1440p to 4K (e.g., from 168 FPS to 102.4 FPS on High), while the CPU’s high multi-threaded score (34004 in Cinebench R23) indicates it is not the bottleneck at these lower frame rates.

Q: What is the maximum average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 345.3, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER’s memory bandwidth affect performance?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for the 4K High preset (102.4 FPS) but becomes a limiting factor when comparing the scaling from 1440p to 4K.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings yield an average of 250.9 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 102.2 FPS. This represents a 59% reduction in frame rate for the highest quality preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary driver of visual fidelity in Downfall, and its specifications directly correlate with the measured FPS numbers. The GPU’s 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is ample for this title, even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS remains at a playable 67.6. The memory operates at 1313 MHz with a 21 Gbps effective speed, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s across a 192-bit bus. This bandwidth is a key factor in the 4K results; the difference between 4K High (102.4 FPS) and 4K Ultra (67.6 FPS) is a 34% drop, showing the increased memory pressure of the Ultra preset.

Clock speeds are another critical element. The GPU has a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. The boost clock is sustained under load in most scenarios, allowing for the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 282.4 FPS, which is only 18% lower than the Low preset’s 345.3 FPS. This indicates that the GPU has enough compute throughput (35.48 TFLOPS FP32) to handle the additional shading work at Medium without a proportional frame rate penalty. However, the Ultra preset’s demands (146.1 FPS at 1080p) show a more significant cost, likely due to increased texture detail and post-processing effects that stress the 224 TMUs and 80 ROPs.

The GPU’s architecture, Ada Lovelace, includes 56 RT cores and 224 Tensor cores, but Downfall’s 2016 release predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The performance is therefore dictated by traditional rasterization metrics. The data shows a linear progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution, with the gap widening at higher resolutions. For example, at 1080p, the difference between Low (345.3 FPS) and Ultra (146.1 FPS) is 199.2 FPS. At 4K, the same comparison shows a difference of 87.9 FPS (155.5 vs. 67.6), reinforcing that the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional results: Low settings average 345.3 FPS, Medium averages 282.4 FPS, High averages 234.5 FPS, and Ultra averages 146.1 FPS. The scaling from Low to High is consistent, with each step up in quality costing roughly 30-40 FPS, while the jump to Ultra costs an additional 88.4 FPS, indicating a significant increase in shader complexity.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a tighter grouping. Low settings produce 250.9 FPS, Medium produces 202.2 FPS, High produces 168 FPS, and Ultra drops to 102.2 FPS. The relative cost of Ultra is more apparent here, as it is only 61% of the High preset’s performance. This suggests that the Ultra preset’s additional effects, possibly including higher shadow resolutions or ambient occlusion, have a fixed cost that becomes more noticeable as the GPU is loaded with more pixels.

At 3840x2160, the data shows a playable but more constrained experience. Low settings average 155.5 FPS, which is still very fluid. Medium averages 126 FPS, High averages 102.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 67.6 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra at 4K is 34.8 FPS, which is the largest absolute drop between any adjacent settings at this resolution. This indicates that the Ultra preset pushes the GPU’s memory subsystem and compute units to their limits, as the 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is likely a bottleneck for the increased texture streaming and post-processing load. Overall, the data shows that 1080p and 1440p are GPU-bound at higher settings, while 4K is consistently GPU-bound across all presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination ranks 295th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 17% of all configurations measured. This is a strong showing, reflecting the high performance of both components. The CPU alone sits in the 90th percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 37780, while the GPU is in the 84th percentile with an average score of 42576. The combination of a top-tier CPU and a high-mid-range GPU yields a system that is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p and solid 4K performance.

Relative to its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database, the 9800X3D performs nearly identically to several Intel parts. Its average score of 37780 is only 0.1% lower than the Intel Xeon 6353P (37811) and 0.1% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (37831). It is 0.6% behind the Intel Core i9-13900HK (38020) and 0.7% behind the Intel Core i5-13600KF (38028). These negligible deltas indicate that the CPU is not providing a unique advantage in this title, but its high absolute performance ensures it does not bottleneck the GPU.

For the GPU, the RTX 4070 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 42576 is 0.2% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (42653) and 0.3% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (42723). It outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% (score of 41991) and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6% (score of 41897). These margins are small, suggesting that the 4070 SUPER is competitive with these workstation and upper-midrange cards in synthetic benchmarks. In the context of Downfall, this GPU performance translates into the high FPS numbers observed, particularly at 1080p and 1440p, where the combo’s frame rates are suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The 295th rank out of 1741 underscores that while not the absolute fastest, this pairing offers a balanced and powerful experience for this horror title.