Downfall

Downfall, the 2016 horror title, proves surprisingly demanding on modern hardware, and the pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER creates a distinct bottleneck profile. The benchmark data reveals a system where the GPU is the clear limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the CPU's substantial headroom ensures that even at 1080p, the graphics card is pushed to its absolute limit. This analysis breaks down the measured performance across resolutions, settings, and component roles, providing a clear picture of what this specific configuration can deliver.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall shows a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 210 FPS, but this drops to 150 FPS at 1440p and further to 94 FPS at 4K. This represents a 55% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, indicating that the rendering load is scaling almost linearly with the pixel count. The RTX 2070 SUPER, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is the component being stressed here; the CPU has more than enough capability to feed it frames at these rates.

The scaling pattern shifts slightly when looking at higher quality presets. At High settings, the frame rate drops from 141 FPS at 1080p to 101 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 63 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1080p to 1440p only costs 40 FPS, while the jump to 4K costs another 38 FPS, showing that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute throughput are being saturated more aggressively at the higher resolutions. This is typical for a Turing-based card like the RTX 2070 SUPER, which was designed for 1440p gaming in its era but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K in newer or more demanding titles.

The most telling data point for resolution scaling comes from the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the system manages 88 FPS, but this falls to 63 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 39 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, making it unplayable for smooth gameplay, while the 1440p Ultra result is barely playable. This indicates that the RTX 2070 SUPER's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 64 ROPs are insufficient to handle the full visual fidelity of Downfall at higher resolutions. The data clearly shows that the GPU is the limiting component across all resolutions, with the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads providing no visible constraint even in the most demanding scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the definitive bottleneck in this configuration, and the benchmark results confirm its performance tier. The GPU sits in the 65th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20282, placing it just slightly behind rivals like the Intel Arc A750, which has a deltaPct of -1.5. This means the RTX 2070 SUPER is a mid-range performer by today's standards, and its age is showing in Downfall's heavy use of lighting and shadow effects. The card's boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1605 MHz are the key clock speeds driving performance, but they cannot compensate for the limited 8 GB VRAM capacity in scenarios where texture memory is stretched.

The VRAM situation is a critical factor. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the card has a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. At 1080p and 1440p, this capacity appears sufficient, as the frame rates remain reasonably high. However, at 4K with Ultra settings, the frame rate drops to 39 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is not only compute-bound but may also be hitting memory capacity limits. The 14 Gbps effective memory speed is standard for the GeForce 20-series, but it is not enough to maintain fluid performance at the highest resolutions in a game like Downfall, which has a horror aesthetic that relies on dense textures and dynamic lighting.

The GPU's raw compute metrics further explain the results. With 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 283.2 GTexel/s. These figures are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as evidenced by the 141 FPS and 101 FPS results at High settings, respectively. But at 4K, the pixel throughput required to fill 3840x2160 pixels becomes prohibitive, and the card's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute cannot keep up with the demand. The data shows a clear performance cliff between 1440p and 4K, which is the hallmark of a GPU that has been pushed beyond its designed operating envelope.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this configuration depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For players seeking a consistent 60 FPS experience, the Medium preset is the sweet spot across most resolutions. At 4K, Medium delivers 77 FPS on average with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS, which is smooth and playable. At 1440p, Medium jumps to 123 FPS with a minimum of 105 FPS, providing a fluid experience that exceeds the requirements of high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1080p, Medium achieves 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 FPS, making it the best balance of visual quality and performance for this hardware.

The High preset is also viable, but with caveats. At 1080p, High delivers 141 FPS, which is excellent, and at 1440p, it maintains 101 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS. However, at 4K, High drops to 63 FPS, which is just barely playable but may experience stutters in intense scenes. The Low preset offers the highest frame rates—210 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 94 FPS at 4K—but the visual fidelity is significantly reduced, which detracts from the horror atmosphere that Downfall relies on. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this GPU, as it only achieves 88 FPS at 1080p and falls to 39 FPS at 4K, making it unplayable at higher resolutions.

The data suggests that Medium is the most efficient setting for this system. It provides a 22% performance uplift over High at 4K (77 FPS vs. 63 FPS) while maintaining a minimum frame rate of 65 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p, Medium's 123 FPS average is more than adequate for competitive or immersive play. For users with 1080p monitors, Medium's 172 FPS average leaves ample headroom for background tasks or streaming, making it the recommended preset from the measured rows. The choice between Medium and High ultimately comes down to resolution, with Medium being the safe choice for 4K and High being acceptable for 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Downfall at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only on Medium settings, where it achieves an average of 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 63 FPS, which is borderline, while Ultra is unplayable at 39 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU and GPU combination?

A: The data shows that 1440p provides the best balance of visual quality and performance, with High settings delivering 101 FPS and Medium delivering 123 FPS. This resolution avoids the significant performance drop seen at 4K.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D holding back the RTX 2070 SUPER in this game?

A: No, the benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU's high multi-threaded performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807, ensures it can feed the GPU at all resolutions and settings.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in raw benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282, which is 1.3% lower than the Intel Arc B570 (20556) and 1.5% lower than the Intel Arc A750 (20582). It is 1% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480).

Q: What is the maximum FPS achievable with this setup at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average is 210 FPS on Low settings. The Medium preset achieves 172 FPS, and High achieves 141 FPS, while Ultra is limited to 88 FPS.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 2070 SUPER cause issues in Downfall?

A: The data suggests that at 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls to 39 FPS, which may indicate VRAM capacity or bandwidth limitations. At lower resolutions and settings, the frame rates are healthy, so the 8 GB capacity is likely sufficient for 1080p and 1440p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D plays a supporting role in this configuration, and the data shows it is more than capable of keeping up with the RTX 2070 SUPER. This processor, part of the 9000 series built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), features 8 cores and 16 threads with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its multi-threaded performance is strong, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22807, which places it in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs. This headroom means that in Downfall, where the GPU is the bottleneck, the CPU never becomes a limiting factor, even at 1080p where frame rates are highest.

The CPU's cache hierarchy is a notable asset for gaming. With 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and a massive 96 MB of shared L3 cache, the 9850X3D is well-suited to handle the data-intensive workloads of a horror game like Downfall. The 96 MB L3 cache is particularly beneficial for reducing memory latency, which can improve frame pacing in scenes with complex AI or physics calculations. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 4704 and multithread score of 41318 further confirm its capability to handle the game's logic without introducing stutters.

In the context of Downfall's measured performance, the CPU's role is to provide a stable platform for the GPU to operate at its peak. The fact that frame rates scale so predictably with resolution and settings—from 210 FPS at 1080p Low to 39 FPS at 4K Ultra—is a clear indication that the CPU is not introducing any bottlenecks. The processor's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M with a deltaPct of 0.1 and the Intel Core i9-14900 with a deltaPct of 0.5, all have similar average scores, but none of them would change the outcome in this GPU-bound scenario. The 9850X3D's 120 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient infrastructure for the GPU to receive data without delay.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER spans three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 210 FPS, followed by Medium at 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 FPS and a maximum of 198 FPS, High at 141 FPS, and Ultra at 88 FPS. These results show that 1080p is well within the GPU's comfort zone, with even the Ultra preset remaining above 60 FPS for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show the expected decline. The Low preset averages 150 FPS, while Medium delivers 123 FPS with a minimum of 105 FPS and a maximum of 141 FPS. High settings achieve 101 FPS, and Ultra drops to 63 FPS, which is still playable but approaches the lower limit for a smooth experience. The 1440p results demonstrate that this resolution is the sweet spot for the RTX 2070 SUPER, offering a good balance between visual fidelity and performance.

At 3840x2160, the limitations of the GPU become apparent. The Low preset averages 94 FPS, which is playable, but the Medium preset drops to 77 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS and a maximum of 88 FPS. High settings fall to 63 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold, and Ultra plummets to 39 FPS, making it unusable for most players. The 4K results highlight the GPU's compute and memory constraints, as the frame rates drop sharply with each increase in settings. Overall, the measured data indicates that this system is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K only viable on lower presets.