Downfall

This combo—AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti—delivers a distinctly GPU-bound experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. The benchmark data reveals that while the CPU is exceptionally capable, the GTX 1660 Ti consistently anchors performance across all tested resolutions and settings, making it the primary determinant of frame rates. The measured results provide a clear picture of how these components interact under the specific demands of this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 5950X and GTX 1660 Ti ranks 3202nd out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the lower percentile of all possible pairings, reflecting the significant performance ceiling imposed by the GPU. The ranking is not a measure of CPU deficiency; instead, it highlights how the GTX 1660 Ti, which sits in the 41st percentile of all GPUs, restricts the overall gaming potential of this high-end processor.

To contextualize the CPU side, the Ryzen 9 5950X alone holds the 91st percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 51947 is nearly identical to that of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX, which scores 52073 (a delta of -0.2%). Similarly, it trails the AMD EPYC 8124P by only 0.3% (52121) and the Intel Core i7-14700 by 0.7% (52301), while slightly outperforming the Intel Core i9-13900F by 0.4% (51730). These negligible deltas demonstrate that the processor is operating at the top tier of performance, yet the combo ranking remains low because the GPU cannot translate that compute power into high frame rates in this title.

For the GPU, the GTX 1660 Ti’s average benchmark score of 7723 is marginally ahead of the AMD Radeon 540 (7673, +0.7%), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580, +1.9%), the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557, +2.2%), and the Intel Arc A310 (7550, +2.3%). These close scores suggest that in synthetic tests, the GTX 1660 Ti is only slightly superior to these lower-tier cards. In Downfall, however, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor, as even at 1080p Low settings, the system only achieves 147 FPS average, which is far from the CPU’s potential headroom. The ranking effectively communicates that this combo is not optimized for high-refresh-rate or high-fidelity gaming in this specific horror title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture with a TU116 chip manufactured on a 12 nm process. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory operates at 1500 MHz, which translates to 12 Gbps effective. The GPU’s base clock is 1500 MHz, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. These specifications are modest by modern standards, and the data confirms they are insufficient for demanding settings at higher resolutions in Downfall.

The GTX 1660 Ti’s compute capabilities are defined by 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. Its pixel rate is 84.96 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 169.9 GTexel/s, with a FP32 performance of 5.437 TFLOPS. In Downfall, the GPU’s role is clearly the bottleneck. For instance, at 4K Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 27, which is unplayable, while at 4K Low, it rises to 65 FPS. This sharp decline with increasing settings underscores that the GPU’s 6 GB VRAM and raw processing power are insufficient for high-detail workloads at 3840x2160.

The GPU’s benchmark results further illustrate its limitations. In 3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12), it scores 1061, and in Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 5827. Its Passmark G3D score is 12871, but its DirectX 12 score is only 51, indicating poor performance in modern API workloads. The GPU’s 41st percentile ranking among all GPUs aligns with these observations. In the context of Downfall, the GTX 1660 Ti can handle 1080p Medium at 120 FPS, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K, particularly with higher settings that demand more from the memory subsystem and shader units.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve 60+ FPS in Downfall?*

A: According to the measured data, 2560x1440 at Medium settings averages 86 FPS, and 1920x1080 at High averages 99 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings reach 65 FPS, which is above 60, but Medium drops to 53 FPS.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti perform in synthetic benchmarks compared to its rivals?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti’s average benchmark score is 7723, which is 0.7% higher than the AMD Radeon 540 (7673), 1.9% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580), 2.2% higher than the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557), and 2.3% higher than the Intel Arc A310 (7550).

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5950X the limiting factor in this combo?

A: No. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 51947 places it in the 91st percentile, with deltas of less than 1% compared to its nearest rivals. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are primarily due to the GPU’s limitations, not the CPU.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Ultra settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Ultra, the average FPS is 62. At 3840x2160 Ultra, it drops to 27 FPS. This represents a 56% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU is overwhelmed at higher resolutions.

*Q: Does the GTX 1660 Ti support modern APIs for Downfall?*

A: The GPU supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. However, its Passmark DirectX 12 score is only 51, suggesting that while compatible, it may not excel in DX12 workloads.

Q: Which settings provide the most consistent frame times at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium settings yield an average of 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 99. High settings average 70 FPS, but no min/max data is provided. Low averages 105 FPS, but Medium offers a better balance of visual quality and performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the GTX 1660 Ti delivers its best results. With Low settings, the average FPS is 147, which is the highest recorded for this combo. Medium settings reduce the average to 120 FPS, with a minimum of 102 and a maximum of 138. High settings average 99 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 62 FPS. This shows a clear scaling pattern where each step up in settings costs roughly 20-30 FPS, with the jump from High to Ultra being particularly steep (37 FPS difference).

At 2560x1440, performance degrades notably. Low settings average 105 FPS, which is still smooth. Medium settings average 86 FPS, with a minimum of 73 and a maximum of 99. High settings average 70 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 44 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings results in a 29% drop for Low (147 to 105), a 28% drop for Medium (120 to 86), a 29% drop for High (99 to 70), and a 29% drop for Ultra (62 to 44). This consistent reduction indicates that the GPU is scaling linearly with resolution, which is typical for a pixel-bound workload.

At 3840x2160, the GPU struggles significantly. Low settings average 65 FPS, which is marginally playable. Medium settings average 53 FPS, with a minimum of 45 and a maximum of 61. High settings average 44 FPS, and Ultra settings average 27 FPS. The 4K results show that the GTX 1660 Ti cannot maintain 60 FPS at any setting above Low. The spread from 65 FPS at Low to 27 FPS at Ultra highlights the GPU’s inability to handle the increased shader and memory demands at this resolution. The minimum FPS data for Medium settings at 4K (45) also indicates potential stuttering, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal a consistent pattern that points to the GPU as the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 147 (1080p) to 105 (1440p) to 65 (4K). This represents a 29% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 56% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the averages are 120, 86, and 53 FPS, respectively, with drops of 28% and 56%. High settings show 99, 70, and 44 FPS, which are drops of 29% and 56%. Ultra settings show 62, 44, and 27 FPS, with drops of 29% and 56%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings is a strong indicator that the bottleneck is purely resolution-driven, not settings-driven. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, because the CPU’s workload (draw calls, physics, etc.) does not scale with pixel count. Instead, the near-uniform ~29% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and ~56% reduction from 1080p to 4K suggests that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are being saturated. The GTX 1660 Ti’s 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 84.96 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply inadequate for 4K workloads, even at Low settings, where the 65 FPS average is barely above the 60 FPS target.

Furthermore, the scaling behavior indicates that the Ryzen 9 5950X is not contributing to frame rate limitations. The CPU’s 16 cores and 32 threads, with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, provide ample headroom for Downfall’s single-threaded or lightly-threaded workload. The 3DMark single-thread score of 944 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1614 confirm strong per-core performance. The data shows that as resolution increases, the FPS drops are entirely attributable to the GPU’s inability to keep up with pixel processing demands.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 105 W. The CPU features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a 64 MB L3 cache. In Downfall, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain frame rates, but the measured FPS data shows that it is not the bottleneck.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are consistently high. In Cinebench R23, it scores 26017 in multi-core and 1614 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 15233 multi-core and 2083 single-core. Its Passmark multithread score is 45424, and its single-thread score is 3470. These numbers place the Ryzen 9 5950X in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals—the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX, AMD EPYC 8124P, Intel Core i9-13900F, and Intel Core i7-14700—are all within 0.7% of its average score. This suggests that any of these CPUs would perform similarly in Downfall.

In practice, the CPU’s performance is more than sufficient for this game. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 147 FPS, which is a high frame rate that many CPUs would struggle to maintain if they were the bottleneck. The fact that the FPS drops to 27 at 4K Ultra, while the CPU is idle, confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor. The Ryzen 9 5950X’s large L3 cache and high boost clock ensure that it can handle the game’s logic and draw calls without introducing frame time spikes. The data does not show any situation where the CPU’s performance would be a concern, even at the lowest resolution and settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the resolution and the desired frame rate target. For a 60 FPS baseline, the GTX 1660 Ti can achieve this at 1080p with Ultra settings (62 FPS average), but with no min/max data, there is a risk of dips below 60. A safer choice at 1080p is High settings, which average 99 FPS and provide a comfortable margin above 60. Medium settings at 1080p average 120 FPS with a minimum of 102, ensuring smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes.

At 1440p, the data suggests that Medium settings (86 FPS average, 73 min) offer the best balance between visual quality and performance. High settings at 1440p average 70 FPS, which is above 60 but leaves less headroom. Low settings at 1440p average 105 FPS, but the visual quality reduction may not be worth the extra frames. Ultra settings at 1440p average 44 FPS, which is not recommended for a smooth experience.

At 4K, the GPU is heavily taxed. Low settings average 65 FPS, which is just above 60, but Medium settings drop to 53 FPS with a minimum of 45. For a playable experience at 4K, Low settings are the only viable option, though users may prefer to reduce the resolution to 1440p for a more consistent frame rate. High and Ultra settings at 4K (44 and 27 FPS, respectively) are not recommended. Overall, the data indicates that 1080p Medium or High provides the best experience in Downfall, delivering high frame rates with minimal risk of stuttering, while 1440p Medium is the best choice for users seeking a higher resolution without sacrificing playability.