Downfall

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Downfall?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 delivers the highest frame rates, with an average of 295 FPS at Low settings and 123 FPS at Ultra settings. The 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 resolutions also produce playable results, but the data clearly shows that 1920x1080 offers the most headroom for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9850X3D compare to its closest rival in CPU benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D has an average benchmark score of 58386. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, scores 58323, which is a delta of 0.1% — meaning the Ryzen is essentially tied with that Xeon. The Intel Core i9-14900 scores 58115, placing the Ryzen 0.5% ahead.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 sits in the 69th percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23877. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, scores 23736, a delta of 0.6% in favor of the Radeon.

Q: How much VRAM does the RX 9070 have, and does it matter for Downfall?

A: The RX 9070 comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. This capacity is more than sufficient for the measured settings in Downfall, as the game is from 2016 and does not appear to stress the memory subsystem at any resolution tested.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Downfall?

A: This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 829th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. That places it in the upper half of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best balance of performance and quality?

A: The data suggests that High settings at 2560x1440, producing an average of 141 FPS, is the strongest choice for a quality-to-speed balance. At 3840x2160, High also holds up well at 88 FPS, whereas Ultra drops to 55 FPS at that resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture using the Navi 48 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It carries 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 raster output units, along with 56 ray tracing cores. The GPU's base clock runs at 1330 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. Memory operates at 2518 MHz, translating to 20.1 Gbps effective, over a 256-bit bus.

That memory configuration yields 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. For a horror title like Downfall, which launched in 2016, these specifications are far beyond what the game demands at any of the tested settings. The measured FPS data supports this: even at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the GPU still manages an average of 55 FPS, which is the lowest figure recorded across all rows. The GPU's pixel rate is 322.6 GPixel/s and texture rate is 564.5 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 36.13 TFLOPS.

The RX 9070's benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 58705. Its Passmark G3D score is 25381, and its Passmark GPU compute score is 14737. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 69, and its average benchmark score is 23877. In terms of nearest rivals, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z is 0.6% behind, the AMD Radeon RX 6800S is 0.8% ahead, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile is 1.1% behind, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER is 1.2% ahead. These deltas are small, indicating that the RX 9070 sits in a tightly contested performance band.

Looking at the measured FPS in Downfall, the GPU scales predictably with settings and resolution. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Ultra costs 172 FPS on average (295 down to 123). At 2560x1440, the same settings swing costs 122 FPS (210 down to 88). At 3840x2160, the cost is 76 FPS (131 down to 55). The GPU's role is clearly the dominant factor in these framerate differences, as the CPU remains largely constant across all rows.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 829th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. That places it in the 72nd percentile of all configurations tested for this game, meaning roughly 28% of combos perform better. The rank reflects the overall capability of the pairing, not just the GPU or CPU in isolation.

Given that the CPU ranks in the 92nd percentile versus all CPUs and the GPU ranks in the 69th percentile versus all GPUs, the combo's 829th position out of 2928 is slightly lower than what the CPU alone might suggest. This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing for Downfall's workload, which is typical for a game that relies heavily on rasterization performance rather than multi-threaded CPU throughput.

The data shows that this combo is not at the top of the chart, but it is comfortably above the median. With 2928 total combos tested, the 829th rank means that over 2000 other configurations fall below it. For a 2016 horror game, this level of performance is more than adequate, as the measured FPS numbers confirm across all resolutions and settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 295 at Low settings down to 123 at Ultra settings. The Medium preset delivers an average of 241 FPS with a minimum of 205 and a maximum of 277. High settings produce an average of 198 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial, representing a 58% reduction in average frame rate when moving to the highest quality preset.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages drop across the board. Low settings yield 210 FPS, Medium produces 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 and a maximum of 198, High delivers 141 FPS, and Ultra falls to 88 FPS. The scaling from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 is roughly consistent: Low loses 85 FPS, Medium loses 69 FPS, High loses 57 FPS, and Ultra loses 35 FPS. The absolute loss decreases as settings increase, which suggests the GPU becomes relatively more constrained at higher settings.

At 3840x2160, the averages continue to decline. Low settings still manage 131 FPS, which is respectable for 4K. Medium delivers 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 and a maximum of 123. High drops to 88 FPS, and Ultra falls to 55 FPS. The step from Medium to High at 4K is a 19 FPS loss, while the step from High to Ultra is a 33 FPS loss. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only measured configuration that falls below 60 FPS, indicating that this combo hits its practical limit at that resolution and settings level.

The Medium preset rows are the only ones that include minimum and maximum FPS values, giving a sense of frame pacing. At 1920x1080 Medium, the spread is 72 FPS (205 to 277). At 2560x1440 Medium, the spread narrows to 52 FPS (146 to 198). At 3840x2160 Medium, the spread is 32 FPS (91 to 123). This narrowing at higher resolutions suggests more consistent frame delivery as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience per the measured rows, the data points to High settings at 2560x1440 as the sweet spot. The average of 141 FPS is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the visual quality improvement over Medium is meaningful in a horror game where atmosphere and detail matter. The High preset at this resolution also leaves enough headroom for any transient drops, even though minimum values were not recorded for this row.

If the player prioritizes maximum frame rates, Low settings at 1920x1080 deliver an average of 295 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. However, the visual compromise is significant, and the data suggests that this combo is overkill for such a low-fidelity setting in a 2016 title.

For players with a 4K display, High settings at 3840x2160 produce an average of 88 FPS, which is a strong recommendation. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 55 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced horror gameplay but risks feeling less responsive. Medium at 4K offers 107 FPS, but the step down in visual quality from High is likely noticeable.

The Ultra preset is generally not recommended at any resolution based on the measured data. At 1920x1080 it still delivers 123 FPS, which is playable, but the framerate cost relative to High is 75 FPS, which is a steep penalty for marginal visual gains. At 2560x1440, Ultra's 88 FPS is barely above the 4K High result, indicating poor scaling. At 3840x2160, Ultra's 55 FPS is the only sub-60 average in the entire dataset.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor from the 9000 series, based on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and is manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC, with a transistor count of 8,315 million and a die size of 70.6 mm². The base clock is 4.70 GHz, and the boost clock reaches 5.60 GHz. The CPU has a TDP of 120 W.

The cache hierarchy consists of 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This substantial L3 cache is a key feature of the X3D lineup, providing high-bandwidth access to frequently used data. Memory support includes DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s, along with ECC memory support. The CPU also includes integrated Radeon Graphics and supports PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes from the CPU.

In benchmark tests, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D scores 3551 in Cinebench R15 multicore and 343 in singlecore. Cinebench R23 results show 22807 multicore and 2228 singlecore. Passmark scores include 41318 for multithread, 4704 for single thread, 123140 for integer math, 81998 for floating point math, and 474501 for data compression. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 92, and its average benchmark score is 58386.

The nearest rivals show tight competition. The Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M scores 58323, a 0.1% delta. The Intel Xeon w5-2545 scores 58504, a -0.2% delta. The Intel Core i9-14900 scores 58115, a 0.5% delta. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 scores 58826, a -0.7% delta. These results place the 9850X3D in a competitive band with those processors.

For Downfall, the CPU's role is less critical than the GPU, given the game's age and the measured FPS patterns. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration with high boost clocks ensures that the CPU does not bottleneck the RX 9070 at any tested resolution or setting. The 96 MB of L3 cache provides ample headroom for game logic and scene data, even in a horror title that may involve complex scripting. The CPU's single-thread performance, reflected in the 4704 Passmark single-thread score and 2228 Cinebench R23 singlecore score, supports high frame rates at lower resolutions where per-core performance matters most.