Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 9 7900X + Intel Arc B570

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a fascinatingly uneven performance profile in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that clearly favors raw GPU throughput at higher resolutions while exposing CPU limitations at lower ones. Measured FPS data across three resolutions and four settings presets reveals a system that can hit 163 FPS at 1080p Low but drops to just 30 FPS at 4K Ultra — a spread that raises immediate questions about where the bottleneck truly lies and whether this $549 launch MSRP CPU is being fully utilized by a $219 launch MSRP GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves in Downfall?

A: The highest measured average is 163 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At the same resolution, Medium settings produce 133 FPS, High produces 109 FPS, and Ultra drops to 68 FPS.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations in Downfall?

A: It ranks 2343rd out of 2928 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This rank reflects the Arc B570's 65th percentile among all GPUs, while the Ryzen 9 7900X sits in the 91st percentile among all CPUs — a significant imbalance.

Q: What is the worst performance scenario for this pairing?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS falls to 30, which is below the standard 60 FPS target. The 4K Medium preset yields 59 FPS average with a minimum of 50 and maximum of 68, showing that even moderate settings struggle at this resolution.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU appear to be the limiting factor in Downfall?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU limits at higher resolutions and settings, as FPS drops dramatically from 163 FPS at 1080p Low to 30 FPS at 4K Ultra. However, the CPU's 91st percentile ranking versus the GPU's 65th percentile indicates the processor has far more headroom than the graphics card can exploit.

Q: How does the Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 places it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and within 0.1% of the Intel Arc A750 (20582). It also sits 0.4% above the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M and 0.5% above the AMD Radeon R9 M390X, showing near-identical aggregate performance to these competitors.

Q: What is the only settings preset that maintains 60 FPS at all tested resolutions?

A: None of the presets achieve this. At 4K, even Low settings only produce 72 FPS, while Medium drops to 59 FPS. At 1440p, Low hits 116 FPS and Medium 95 FPS, but at 1080p all presets from Low through High exceed 100 FPS, with only Ultra falling to 68 FPS.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 brings 10 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth — a configuration that appears adequate for Downfall's demands at lower settings but becomes a limiting factor as resolution increases. The GPU's base and boost clocks are both locked at 2500 MHz, and its 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines define a mid-range compute footprint that the measured FPS data reflects.

The GPU's synthetic benchmarks paint a consistent picture: a Passmark G3D score of 14195, a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 96844. These numbers correlate with the GPU's 65th percentile ranking among all graphics cards, which helps explain why Downfall's 4K Ultra preset crushes performance to 30 FPS. The gap between the GPU's modest 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and the CPU's enormous multithreaded capacity creates an inherent mismatch.

At 1080p, the Arc B570's 10 GB frame buffer and 380 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient, as evidenced by the 163 FPS Low result. However, the transition to 4K exposes the GPU's limitations: even at Low settings, FPS drops by more than half from the 1080p result, and at Ultra, the 30 FPS average suggests the rasterization and memory subsystems are saturated. The GPU's 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate provide theoretical ceilings that the measured data indicates are approached at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a pronounced resolution scaling penalty that intensifies as settings increase. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings, average FPS drops from 109 to 78 — a 28% reduction. Scaling from 1440p to 4K at High further reduces FPS from 78 to 49, another 37% drop. This compounding effect suggests the GPU becomes progressively more bandwidth-limited as pixel count rises.

Low settings show the most linear scaling: 163 FPS at 1080p, 116 FPS at 1440p, and 72 FPS at 4K. The reductions from 1080p to 1440p (47 FPS) and 1440p to 4K (44 FPS) are nearly identical in absolute terms, indicating a consistent per-pixel cost that the GPU handles predictably when graphical complexity is minimal. Medium settings follow a similar pattern: 133 FPS at 1080p, 95 FPS at 1440p, and 59 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result falling just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Ultra settings exhibit the most severe scaling penalty: 68 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The 1440p Ultra result is barely playable at 49 FPS, while 4K Ultra is effectively unplayable. This suggests that Downfall's Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU's 80 ROPs and 160-bit memory interface, creating a cliff that no CPU-side optimization could overcome.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results across all settings. Low settings produce 163 FPS average, Medium achieves 133 FPS with a minimum of 113 and maximum of 153, High reaches 109 FPS, and Ultra drops to 68 FPS. The 95 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p indicates substantial headroom in the GPU for less demanding presets, but the drop from High to Ultra (109 to 68 FPS, a 37% reduction) highlights a steep cost for the Ultra preset's additional features.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains respectable but begins to show strain. Low settings yield 116 FPS, Medium produces 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 and maximum of 110, High achieves 78 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49 FPS. The 1440p results show a consistent 30-40% reduction from 1080p across all settings, with only Low maintaining a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 81 FPS suggests occasional dips that could be noticeable on high-refresh displays.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become severe. Low settings manage 72 FPS, Medium averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 and maximum of 68, High drops to 49 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 30 FPS. The 4K Medium result is particularly telling: the minimum of 50 FPS indicates frame time spikes that would cause visible stuttering, while the 30 FPS Ultra result falls below the threshold for smooth motion in a horror game where responsiveness matters.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 2343rd out of 2928 tested configurations in Downfall, placing it in the 20th percentile of all combos — a surprisingly low position given the CPU's strength. The Ryzen 9 7900X alone ranks in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288 that places it within 0.2% of the AMD EPYC 7313P and 0.3% of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290. This suggests the CPU is not the performance ceiling.

The Intel Arc B570, by contrast, ranks in the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 20556. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% higher) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% lower), indicating the GPU is firmly mid-range. The combination of a top-tier CPU with a mid-tier GPU produces a combo rank that reflects the GPU's ceiling rather than the CPU's potential.

The data implies that pairing this CPU with a stronger GPU would dramatically improve Downfall performance. The 91st percentile CPU is effectively waiting for the 65th percentile GPU to catch up, which explains why the combo's rank falls so far below what the processor alone would suggest. This imbalance is most evident at 1080p Low, where the 163 FPS result likely approaches the CPU's frame generation limit, but at 4K Ultra the GPU becomes the sole constraint.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a minimum, the data supports specific choices at each resolution. At 1080p, all presets except Ultra exceed 60 FPS, with High providing the best visual quality at 109 FPS while maintaining a comfortable margin. Ultra at 68 FPS remains playable but offers diminishing returns for a 37% FPS loss compared to High.

At 1440p, Low (116 FPS) and Medium (95 FPS) are the only presets that consistently stay above 60 FPS, with Medium offering a better visual experience while still delivering a minimum of 81 FPS. High at 78 FPS is borderline acceptable, but the 49 FPS Ultra result falls below the playability threshold and should be avoided.

At 4K, only Low (72 FPS) reliably exceeds 60 FPS, while Medium (59 FPS) hovers near the threshold with a minimum of 50 FPS that risks stuttering. High (49 FPS) and Ultra (30 FPS) are not recommended for smooth gameplay. For a balanced experience across all resolutions, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and performance, delivering 95 FPS average with a minimum of 81 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X contributes 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 Raphael architecture, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz. Its 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR5 interface provide ample bandwidth for game logic and asset streaming. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking reflects its synthetic benchmark performance, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29300 and single-core score of 2016.5.

In Downfall, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but at 1080p Low, the 163 FPS result suggests the processor is capable of feeding frames faster than the GPU can render them. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and Geekbench single-core score of 2617 indicate strong per-core performance, which matters for a 2016 horror title that may not scale perfectly across 24 threads.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-14700F, which scores 0.6% higher in average benchmarks, and the AMD EPYC 7313P, which scores 0.2% higher. This places the 7900X in elite company, yet the measured FPS data shows the combo's rank suffers due to the GPU. The CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are likely underutilized in Downfall, where the GPU becomes the bottleneck at all settings above 1080p Low.