Downfall

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1080p with High settings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 delivers an average of 61.9 FPS at 1920x1080 on High settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in overall benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 50,556, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (50,598) and 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT (50,738).

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all GPUs?

A: The Radeon RX 570 sits in the 74th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30,158.

Q: What is the best measured FPS result for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 94.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the worst measured FPS result for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 15.4 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: Where does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Downfall?

A: This combo ranks 1,637 out of 1,741 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom portion of the ranking.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using the GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm process. Its memory configuration is a critical factor in this game's results: 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock runs at 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, while memory operates at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). These clock speeds, combined with 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, define the raw throughput available for rendering.

The data shows a clear pattern across settings that points to the GPU as the limiting component. At 4K with High settings, the combo produces 28.9 FPS; dropping to Low raises this to 42.4 FPS, a substantial gain of 13.5 FPS. This sensitivity to settings indicates that the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity are being heavily taxed. The FP32 throughput of 5.095 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s are modest figures, and the game's demands at higher resolutions quickly exhaust them.

The GPU's 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it above the median, but its average benchmark score of 30,158 is nearly matched by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30,109, deltaPct 0.2%) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30,097, deltaPct 0.2%). These rivals are effectively identical in aggregate performance, yet the RX 570's age and 4 GB memory capacity become apparent in a 2016 horror title that scales aggressively with resolution and quality settings. The 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for 1080p, but at 4K the texture streaming and framebuffer demands likely exceed what the memory subsystem can efficiently deliver.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep drop as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 61.9 at 1080p to 42.3 at 1440p, a reduction of 19.6 FPS (approximately 32%). Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings further drops performance to 28.9 FPS, another 13.4 FPS decline. The cumulative effect from 1080p to 4K is a loss of 33 FPS, meaning the 4K result is less than half of the 1080p figure.

The Low settings row shows an even more pronounced absolute drop: 94.5 FPS at 1080p falls to 66.4 at 1440p, then to 42.4 at 4K. This pattern—where the 4K result is roughly 45% of the 1080p result—strongly indicates that the limiting component is the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, resolution changes would have a smaller impact on FPS because the CPU's workload does not scale with pixel count. The Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, has substantial headroom; its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 43,695 and Passmark multithread score of 51,406 are far beyond what this game would require at any resolution.

The scaling behavior also differs by quality preset. At 1080p, the spread between Low (94.5 FPS) and Ultra (41 FPS) is 53.5 FPS. At 4K, the spread narrows to 27 FPS (42.4 Low vs 15.4 Ultra). This compression at higher resolutions is expected: as pixel count rises, the GPU becomes saturated even at Low settings, so the relative cost of enabling Ultra features diminishes in absolute terms but still produces unplayable frame rates. The 4K Ultra result of 15.4 FPS is the clearest indicator that this combination is not viable at that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations in Downfall, this pairing of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 1,637 out of 1,741. This places it in the bottom 6% of all combos, which is a stark finding given the CPU's strength. The Ryzen 9 7900X itself is a high-end desktop processor—its 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs and average benchmark score of 50,556 are competitive with the Intel Core i9-13980HX (50,944, deltaPct -0.8%) and Intel Core i7-13850HX (50,827, deltaPct -0.5%). The CPU is not the constraint.

The GPU, however, drags the overall result down. The RX 570's 74th percentile ranking among GPUs is respectable for a standalone component, but in the context of a 2016 horror game that demands consistent frame rates, the combination's rank reflects the mismatch. The CPU has enough power to drive far more capable graphics hardware, and the measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution and preset. The combo rank of 1,637 is a direct consequence of the GPU's inability to keep pace with the CPU's potential.

This ranking also has implications for the CPU's perceived value. A 12-core, 24-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz and 64 MB of L3 cache is overkill for a GPU that delivers 5.095 TFLOPS. The benchmark results show that even at 1080p Low, where the combo achieves 94.5 FPS, the CPU is likely idle for significant portions of the frame time. The data suggests that pairing this CPU with a more powerful GPU would yield dramatically better results in Downfall, as the current GPU is the clear bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear basis for selecting the optimal settings based on target frame rates. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 61.9 FPS, which is generally considered playable for a horror title where atmospheric tension benefits from smooth motion. The Medium preset offers 73.4 FPS, a gain of 11.5 FPS over High, while Low reaches 94.5 FPS. Ultra drops to 41 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay and not recommended.

At 1440p, the picture changes. High produces 42.3 FPS, which is borderline, while Medium achieves 52 FPS and Low reaches 66.4 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields only 30.7 FPS, making it unsuitable for consistent play. For 1440p, the Medium preset appears to be the best balance, offering a frame rate that is 23% higher than High while still maintaining visual quality above Low.

At 4K, the results are marginal across the board. Low produces 42.4 FPS, Medium 35.6 FPS, High 28.9 FPS, and Ultra 15.4 FPS. None of these reach the 60 FPS target, and only Low approaches playability for those tolerant of lower frame rates. The 4K High result of 28.9 FPS is a 32% drop from the 1440p High result, confirming that this resolution is beyond the GPU's comfortable range.

The best experience per the measured data is at 1080p with Medium settings, where 73.4 FPS provides a smooth frame rate with a meaningful quality step above Low. For users prioritizing visual fidelity, 1080p High at 61.9 FPS is a viable alternative that stays above the 60 FPS mark. At 1440p, Medium at 52 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains playability without the large quality sacrifice of Low. The Ultra preset is only advisable at 1080p if the user accepts 41 FPS, but the data suggests that the Medium or High presets offer a superior combination of smoothness and quality.