Downfall

Downfall is a 2016 horror title that stresses both CPU and GPU heavily, and the combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers a measured performance profile that spans from extremely high refresh rate territory at 1080p to playable but demanding 4K Ultra settings. The data shows this pairing ranks 576th out of 2928 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all configurations, with the CPU sitting at the 95th percentile among all processors and the GPU at the 92nd percentile among all graphics cards. This is a mobile platform (CPU is marked as Mobile segment) with a desktop-class GPU, creating a unique blend of portability and raw power that shows clear scaling patterns across the three tested resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Downfall?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the sweet spot. At High settings it averages 157 FPS, which is 60% higher than the 4K High result of 98 FPS, while still maintaining a substantial visual quality advantage over 1080p. The 1440p Medium preset averages 192 FPS, offering a strong balance between fidelity and frame rate.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79842, which places it 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (score 79605) and 0.6% ahead of the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (score 79396). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X by 1.4% (that card scores 80959) and sits 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (score 78940).

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 8945HX competitive with other high-end CPUs?

A: Yes. The Ryzen 9 8945HX averages 76212 across all benchmarks, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155, delta 0.1%) and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D (75779, delta 0.6%). It is 0.4% behind both the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (76492) and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (76513).

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, the measured results show 61 FPS on Ultra, 98 FPS on High, 119 FPS on Medium, and 146 FPS on Low. The Medium preset includes a recorded minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 137 FPS, indicating the average is stable within that range.

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM matter for Downfall?

A: The RTX 5090 carries 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. For a 2016 horror game, this capacity is far beyond what is needed, but the bandwidth and memory clocks (1750 MHz, 28 Gbps effective) contribute to the consistent high frame rates observed across all settings, particularly the 146 FPS Low result at 4K.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance translate to gaming?

A: The Ryzen 9 8945HX scores 42713 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 17939 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. With 16 cores and 32 threads, it provides ample headroom for game logic and background tasks. The single-core score of 6030 in Cinebench R23 ensures that per-thread performance is strong enough to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5090 at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured FPS deltas. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2017 MHz and a boost clock of 2407 MHz, featuring 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The memory subsystem is particularly notable: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for high-resolution texture streaming in a horror game that often uses dark, detail-heavy environments.

The measured results show a clear pattern: at 1920x1080, the RTX 5090 produces 328 FPS on Low settings, 269 FPS on Medium, 220 FPS on High, and 138 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 190 FPS, indicating that the GPU is heavily utilized at every preset. At 2560x1440, the same settings yield 234, 192, 157, and 98 FPS respectively. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 28.7% drop at Low (328 to 234), 28.6% at Medium (269 to 192), 28.7% at High (220 to 157), and 28.6% at Ultra (138 to 98). This consistent ~29% reduction across all presets suggests that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at these resolutions, as the CPU overhead remains constant.

Moving to 3840x2160, the results drop further: 146 FPS on Low, 119 FPS on Medium, 98 FPS on High, and 61 FPS on Ultra. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a 37.6% reduction at Low (234 to 146), 38.0% at Medium (192 to 119), 37.6% at High (157 to 98), and 37.8% at Ultra (98 to 61). Again, the uniform percentage drop confirms that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors, not the CPU.

The RTX 5090's FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s explain why even the Ultra preset at 1080p maintains 138 FPS. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s is sufficient to handle the 4K Ultra workload at 61 FPS, though this is the only preset where the frame rate falls below 60 FPS. For a horror game that relies on atmospheric tension, the difference between 98 FPS at 4K High and 61 FPS at 4K Ultra is significant in terms of smoothness, and the data suggests that High is the practical ceiling for 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 576 out of 2928 tested configurations places this pairing in the 80.3rd percentile of all tested combos. This is a strong result, especially considering that the CPU is a mobile part while the GPU is a flagship desktop card. The rank reflects the overall balance: the Ryzen 9 8945HX provides enough single-thread performance (6030 in Cinebench R23 single-core) to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 5090, while the GPU's massive memory bandwidth and compute throughput drive the high frame rates.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 8945HX is effectively tied with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (delta 0.1%), which means the platform choice between AMD and Intel at this tier has minimal impact on the overall combo ranking. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, a desktop part, is only 0.6% behind in average benchmark score, suggesting that the mobile 8945HX does not sacrifice much raw performance despite its 55 W TDP. The GPU's nearest rivals are older professional cards (Tesla P100 variants) and mid-range Radeon parts (RX 6850M XT), all within 1.4% of the RTX 5090's average score. This indicates that the synthetic benchmarks are tightly clustered, but the measured FPS in Downfall shows the RTX 5090's real-world advantage.

The 576th rank out of 2928 means that 2352 other combos score lower, while 575 score higher. Given that this is a mobile CPU with a desktop GPU, the rank is likely limited by the CPU's thermal and power constraints rather than the GPU. The data shows that the combo achieves 328 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far beyond what most displays can render, so the practical bottleneck in most scenarios is the display refresh rate, not the hardware.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience in Downfall, the data suggests prioritizing resolution over preset quality. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset (269 FPS average, 228 FPS minimum) is the optimal choice because it provides a 22.3% improvement over High (220 FPS) while the visual difference between Medium and High is typically less noticeable in a dark horror game. The Ultra preset at 1080p (138 FPS) is still playable but the 131 FPS drop from Medium is not justified unless you have a 144 Hz display and want maximum fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (157 FPS) is the best balance, as it delivers a smooth experience on most high-refresh monitors while maintaining better image quality than Medium (192 FPS). The Medium preset at 1440p provides the highest frame rate above 180 FPS (192 average) and is recommended for competitive play or if you have a 240 Hz display. The Ultra preset at 1440p (98 FPS) is acceptable but falls below the 100 FPS threshold that many consider optimal for fast-paced horror sequences.

At 3840x2160, the High preset (98 FPS) is the recommended setting because it stays above 60 FPS with a comfortable margin. The Medium preset (119 FPS with a 101 FPS minimum) is the best choice if you want to guarantee no drops below 100 FPS, but High provides better visual quality for a game that relies on environmental detail. The Ultra preset at 4K (61 FPS) is technically playable but leaves no headroom for frame time spikes, which can be problematic in a horror game where sudden action sequences occur. The Low preset at 4K (146 FPS) is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of 4K resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows: Low settings average 328 FPS, Medium averages 269 FPS with a minimum of 228 FPS and maximum of 309 FPS, High averages 220 FPS, and Ultra averages 138 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 190 FPS, which represents a 57.9% reduction when moving from the lowest to highest quality preset. The Medium preset's minimum of 228 FPS is higher than the High preset's average of 220 FPS, indicating that the step from Medium to High is more costly in performance than the step from Low to Medium.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down proportionally: Low averages 234 FPS, Medium averages 192 FPS with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 221 FPS, High averages 157 FPS, and Ultra averages 98 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is consistent at approximately 29% across all presets, as noted earlier. The Medium preset at 1440p (192 FPS) is close to the High preset at 1080p (220 FPS), which means you can achieve similar frame rates at a higher resolution by dropping one quality tier.

At 3840x2160, the results show the largest absolute drops: Low averages 146 FPS, Medium averages 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 137 FPS, High averages 98 FPS, and Ultra averages 61 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K costs approximately 38% performance across all presets. The Medium preset at 4K (119 FPS) is the only 4K setting that exceeds 100 FPS, and its minimum of 101 FPS shows good frame pacing. The Ultra preset at 4K (61 FPS) is exactly at the threshold of 60 FPS, making it a borderline choice for users with VRR displays.

The data reveals that the RTX 5090's performance in Downfall is primarily bound by pixel throughput and memory bandwidth, as evidenced by the uniform percentage drops when increasing resolution. The 32 GB VRAM is never a limiting factor, even at 4K Ultra with the highest texture settings, because the game was released in 2016 and its maximum VRAM usage is far below 32 GB.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on Zen 4 architecture (Dragon Range codename) built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with 64 MB of L3 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's TDP is rated at 55 W, which is low for a 16-core part, but the boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks can reach high frequencies.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is to feed the RTX 5090 with enough draw calls and game logic calculations to keep the GPU busy. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (328 FPS) represents a scenario where the GPU is not heavily taxed, and the CPU must be capable of generating that many frames per second. The single-core score of 6030 in Cinebench R23 and 3907 in Passmark single-thread indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for the main game thread in most titles.

The multi-core performance is also relevant: the CPU scores 42713 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 17939 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Downfall, being a 2016 horror game, may not fully utilize 16 cores, but the extra threads help with background tasks like audio processing, AI, and physics. The Passmark multithread score of 51405 and integer math score of 195180 suggest that the CPU can handle heavy simulation workloads without impacting frame rates.

The CPU's 95th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms 95% of tested CPUs in synthetic benchmarks. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, is only 0.1% different in average score, indicating that platform choice has minimal impact on gaming performance at this level. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which has 3D V-Cache, is only 0.6% behind in average score, showing that the 8945HX's large 64 MB L3 cache provides similar benefits in synthetic tests.

The memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the RTX 5090, which requires high bandwidth to feed its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory. The PCIe Gen 5 interface with 28 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU, though the RTX 5090 uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 connection, which is fully supported.

In practical terms, the CPU does not bottleneck the GPU in Downfall at any tested resolution or preset. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent and proportional to the pixel count increase, which is the expected behavior when the GPU is the limiting factor. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 328 FPS and 4K Low achieves 146 FPS, a 55.5% reduction, is entirely attributable to GPU workload, not CPU limitations. The CPU's boost clock of 5.40 GHz and single-core performance ensure that even at 328 FPS, the main game thread has enough headroom to avoid becoming the bottleneck.