Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER delivers a playable but heavily GPU-bound experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. At 1080p, the combo achieves a 149.3 FPS average on Low settings, but that figure collapses to 59.4 FPS on Ultra, demonstrating that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the primary bottleneck across most configurations. The combo ranks 1539th out of 1741 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the bottom 12% of all tested systems, a reflection of the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than any CPU deficiency. The Ryzen 9 5900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, never approaches saturation in this title, leaving the GTX 1660 SUPER to determine the experience at every resolution and quality preset.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture (codenamed Vermeer) using TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates with a 3.70 GHz base clock and a 4.80 GHz boost clock, with a 105 W TDP. The chip features 64 MB of L3 cache, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 64 KB of L1 per core, alongside dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. Its 8,300 million transistors are spread across a dual-die design measuring 2x 74 mm².

In Downfall, the CPU's role is largely secondary. The game is a horror title from 2016, and its rendering demands scale more aggressively with resolution and settings than with thread count. The Ryzen 9 5900X's synthetic benchmarks show strong multithreaded performance—a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 33150 and a Geekbench multicore score of 11877—but the game's frame rates do not reflect this headroom. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 149.3 FPS, while at 1440p Low it drops to 106.9 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 66.3 FPS. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is the limiting factor; the CPU's single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 941 and a PassMark single-thread score of 3469, is more than sufficient for the game's workload.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs (with an average benchmark score of 39453) places it well above the GTX 1660 SUPER's 55th percentile among GPUs (average score 14286). This disparity is the key takeaway: in Downfall, the processor is never the constraint. The data shows that reducing resolution from 1440p to 1080p at Ultra settings yields a frame rate increase from 44.7 FPS to 59.4 FPS, a 33% improvement, while the CPU's load remains largely unchanged. The Ryzen 9 5900X's nearest rivals—the AMD EPYC 4245P (0.2% higher average score), Intel Core i7-13700F (0.9% higher), and AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8845HS (0.7% lower)—would all behave identically in this title, as the bottleneck sits squarely on the graphics card.

FAQ

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5900X bottlenecking the GTX 1660 SUPER in Downfall?

A: No. The data shows the CPU is far more powerful than the GPU needs, with the processor ranking in the 90th percentile of all CPUs while the GPU sits in the 55th percentile. Frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings changes, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average is 97.1 FPS. This drops to 59.4 FPS at Ultra settings, showing that the quality preset has a dramatic impact on performance.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score of 14286 is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14314, 0.2% higher), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14315, 0.2% higher), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14389, 0.7% higher). These are effectively performance peers.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Downfall?

A: At 4K, the combo produces 44.2 FPS on High settings and 52 FPS on Medium. At Ultra, it falls to 27.1 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. Low settings yield 66.3 FPS, so 4K is feasible only with reduced quality.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking among tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 1539th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems tested for this game.

Q: Does the CPU's 12-core, 24-thread configuration provide any advantage in this game?

A: No measurable advantage in frame rates. The game's performance is dictated by the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops across resolution changes regardless of the CPU's substantial multithreaded capabilities.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data reveals a textbook GPU-bound scenario. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average frame rate drops from 97.1 FPS to 70.9 FPS, a 27% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, it further drops to 44.2 FPS, another 38% reduction. The total drop from 1080p High to 4K High is 54.5%, with the frame rate falling from 97.1 FPS to 44.2 FPS.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar in percentage terms: 149.3 FPS at 1080p, 106.9 FPS at 1440p (28.4% drop), and 66.3 FPS at 4K (38% drop from 1440p). The total reduction from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 55.6%. This consistent ~55% reduction across all settings presets, regardless of whether the starting frame rate is 149.3 FPS or 59.4 FPS, strongly indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput is the limiting factor. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 336.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 192-bit bus width, combined with its 1408 shading units, dictate these scaling characteristics.

The CPU's role in resolution scaling is negligible. If the Ryzen 9 5900X were the bottleneck, the frame rates would remain flat across resolutions, as the CPU's workload is resolution-independent. Instead, the data shows consistent degradation with increasing pixel counts, confirming the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting component. The Ultra preset at 4K (27.1 FPS) versus 1080p (59.4 FPS) represents a 54.4% reduction, nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling, which reinforces that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the governing factors.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combo ranks 1539th out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall, placing it in the bottom 11.6% of all systems tested. This low ranking is driven entirely by the GPU's modest standing in the broader market. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 55th percentile among all GPUs means it sits below the median, and when paired with a top-tier CPU like the Ryzen 9 5900X, the combination's performance is still constrained by the graphics card's 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 85.68 GPixel/s pixel rate.

In the context of the 1741 tested combos, this pairing is closer to the bottom than the top. The GPU's nearest rivals—AMD Radeon RX Vega 11, Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics, AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT—all have average benchmark scores within 0.7% of the GTX 1660 SUPER, meaning any of these would produce nearly identical rankings in Downfall. The CPU's high percentile (90th) does not boost the combo's rank because the game's performance is not CPU-limited. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 59.4 FPS, which is playable but not exceptional, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 27.1 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

The ranking reflects the GPU's market position rather than any deficiency in the CPU. A combo with a weaker CPU but a stronger GPU would rank higher in Downfall, as the game's frame rates are determined by graphics processing. The 1539th rank out of 1741 indicates that this pairing is suited for 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings, with 1440p possible at reduced quality, but it is not competitive at higher resolutions or maximum settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 149.3 FPS average
• Medium: 118.3 FPS average
• High: 97.1 FPS average
• Ultra: 59.4 FPS average

At 1080p, the combo delivers smooth gameplay across all settings. The jump from Low to Medium costs 31 FPS (149.3 to 118.3), while High to Ultra costs 37.7 FPS (97.1 to 59.4), with the Ultra preset imposing a 38.8% performance penalty over High.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 106.9 FPS average
• Medium: 88.9 FPS average
• High: 70.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 44.7 FPS average

At 1440p, the frame rates remain playable at Low through High, but Ultra drops below 45 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at each setting is consistent: Low drops 28.4%, Medium drops 24.9%, High drops 27%, and Ultra drops 24.7%.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 66.3 FPS average
• Medium: 52 FPS average
• High: 44.2 FPS average
• Ultra: 27.1 FPS average

At 4K, only the Low preset produces frame rates above 60 FPS. Medium maintains a playable 52 FPS, but High falls to 44.2 FPS, and Ultra is effectively unplayable at 27.1 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K at each setting shows a 38% drop for Low, 41.5% for Medium, 37.7% for High, and 39.4% for Ultra.

The data reveals that the combo's sweet spot is 1080p at High settings, where 97.1 FPS provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p, Medium settings (88.9 FPS) offer the best balance, while 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings (66.3 FPS). The Ultra preset at any resolution above 1080p fails to maintain 60 FPS, and at 4K, even High settings (44.2 FPS) fall short of smooth gameplay.