Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates across the three tested resolutions reveal a predictable but steep scaling curve when moving from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 309.6 at 1920x1080 to 222.7 at 2560x1440, a decrease of 86.9 FPS, and then further to 135.8 at 3840x2160. This represents a roughly 56% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to the highest resolution at the Low preset, indicating that the rendering load scales significantly with pixel count.

The pattern shifts when examining the High preset. Here, the drop from 210.1 FPS at 1080p to 149.9 FPS at 1440p is substantial, but the subsequent decline to 96.1 FPS at 4K is comparatively smaller in absolute terms. This suggests that at the High preset, the GPU is beginning to become the primary limiting factor at 4K, whereas at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU still has headroom to push more frames. The Ultra preset tells the clearest story: 130.2 FPS at 1080p, 93.7 FPS at 1440p, and 59.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is less than half the 1080p Ultra figure, a clear indication that the combination of high resolution and maximum settings places an overwhelming load on the graphics subsystem.

Looking at the Medium settings, the progression from 253.4 FPS at 1080p to 179.4 FPS at 1440p to 110.7 FPS at 4K shows a consistent proportional decline. The data across all settings indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput are heavily taxed as resolution increases. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset maintains 130.2 FPS, which is highly playable, but at 4K Ultra, the system falls to 59.1 FPS, right at the edge of smooth gameplay. The scaling behavior points to the GPU being the dominant constraint at 4K, particularly with higher settings, while at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU's strong single-thread performance allows the GPU to stretch its legs.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This Zen 5 architecture processor on the AMD Socket AM5 platform shows benchmark scores that place it in the 94th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54450. The single-thread performance, as measured by 3dmark_single_thread at 1286 and cinebench_r23_singlecore at 6555, provides the foundation for high frame rates in Downfall, a horror game that typically relies on strong per-core performance for game logic and physics.

The multi-threaded capabilities are equally impressive, with cinebench_r23_multicore reaching 46438 and geekbench_multicore at 19827. However, Downfall's engine does not necessarily scale perfectly with all 24 threads. The 3dmark_16_threads score of 12552 and 3dmark_8_threads score of 9114 suggest that the processor's performance scales well up to a moderate number of threads, but the game's frame rates at 1080p Low (309.6 FPS) and 1080p Medium (253.4 FPS) indicate that the CPU is more than capable of feeding frames to the GPU at lower resolutions. The passmark_single_thread score of 4672 and geekbench_singlecore of 3341 reinforce that this processor has substantial per-core throughput, which is critical for maintaining high minimum frame rates in a genre where sudden frame drops can affect gameplay.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D scores 54681, which is 0.4% higher, while the Intel Core i7-14700F scores 54097, a 0.7% deficit. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K and 245KF are 1.5% and 1.8% ahead respectively. These deltas are small, meaning the 9900X's CPU performance is essentially at parity with its closest competitors. In the context of Downfall, the data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at 4K, where the GPU takes over, but at 1080p, the CPU's ability to process game logic quickly is what enables the GPU to reach 309.6 FPS on Low settings. The L3 cache of 64 MB shared across the cores helps maintain data locality for the game's assets, and the DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU has enough memory throughput to avoid starving the GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 912.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The base clock runs at 1365 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and the memory operates at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed. With 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, the GPU delivers 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s.

The GPU holds an 83rd percentile ranking against all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 41224. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 41441 (0.5% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 41610 (0.9% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 at 41687 (1.1% higher). These tight margins mean the 3080 Ti is competitively positioned among its peers. In Downfall, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 4K Ultra, the 59.1 FPS result reflects the heavy demand on the 12 GB frame buffer and the 384-bit memory interface. The 912.4 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the shading units at 1440p, where the Ultra preset achieves 93.7 FPS, but at 4K, the pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s is strained.

The RTX 3080 Ti's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility align with Downfall's rendering requirements. The 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores provide additional processing capabilities, though the game's measured results suggest that traditional rasterization performance is the primary factor. The GPU's 350 W TDP and 750 W suggested PSU indicate a high-power component, but the benchmark data focuses purely on output. The 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 5077 and passmark_g3d score of 26896 give context to the GPU's overall capabilities, and these translate directly to the observed frame rates in the game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 309.6 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. Medium settings reduce this to 253.4 FPS, a drop of 56.2 FPS, while High settings yield 210.1 FPS. Ultra settings at 130.2 FPS show a significant 79.9 FPS reduction from High, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects have a substantial performance cost at this resolution. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 179.4 FPS, showing that settings choices have a massive impact on frame rates when resolution is low.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset records 222.7 FPS, which is 86.9 FPS lower than the 1080p Low result. Medium settings at 179.4 FPS and High at 149.9 FPS follow a similar pattern, with each step up in settings costing roughly 30 FPS. Ultra at 1440p drops to 93.7 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS but represents a 56.2 FPS reduction from High. At this resolution, the GPU is more heavily utilized, but the CPU's performance still allows for high frame rates on lower presets.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 135.8 FPS, which is playable but significantly lower than the 1440p result. Medium settings produce 110.7 FPS, while High settings reach 96.1 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K records 59.1 FPS, the lowest measured average in the dataset. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 76.7 FPS, which is smaller than the 179.4 FPS spread seen at 1080p, confirming that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K and settings changes have less relative impact. The data shows a consistent hierarchy: at every resolution, Low > Medium > High > Ultra in terms of FPS, and the gaps between presets narrow as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ranks 481st out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places the pairing in the upper quartile of all tested systems, which is consistent with the individual component rankings: the CPU at the 94th percentile and the GPU at the 83rd percentile. The rank of 481 out of 1741 means that roughly 72% of tested combinations perform worse than this pairing, while 28% perform better. This is a strong result given that the RTX 3080 Ti is an end-of-life product from the GeForce 30-series, while many higher-ranked combos likely include newer GPUs.

The combo's rank reflects the balance between the 9900X's high single-thread performance and the 3080 Ti's substantial rasterization power. At 1080p, the combo achieves 309.6 FPS on Low, which is well above the average for the tested pool, and even at 4K Ultra, the 59.1 FPS result is respectable for a horror game. The rank of 481 suggests that while there are faster configurations, this pairing provides a consistent experience across all settings and resolutions. The CPU's nearest rival, the 9900X3D, is only 0.4% faster on average, and the GPU's closest competitor, the RTX 3090, is 0.5% faster, so the combo occupies a tight competitive band.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates at 1080p, the Low preset at 309.6 FPS is the clear choice, though even Ultra at 130.2 FPS remains highly playable. The data suggests that at 1080p, the Medium setting at 253.4 FPS offers an excellent balance between visual quality and performance, with more than double the frame rate of Ultra. At 1440p, the High preset at 149.9 FPS provides a smooth experience that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors, while Medium at 179.4 FPS is even more comfortable. The Ultra preset at 1440p at 93.7 FPS is still viable for 60 Hz displays but may not be ideal for high-refresh panels.

At 4K, the choices become more constrained. The Low preset at 135.8 FPS is the only 4K configuration that clearly exceeds 120 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh 4K monitors. Medium at 110.7 FPS and High at 96.1 FPS both provide a solid experience for standard 60 Hz displays, with High offering the best visual quality among playable options. The Ultra preset at 59.1 FPS is borderline, sitting just below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 1440p delivers 179.4 FPS, which is the best overall balance of resolution, settings, and frame rate across the dataset. For a horror game where atmosphere and smoothness matter, the High preset at 1440p at 149.9 FPS is recommended as the optimal experience, providing strong visual fidelity without sacrificing responsiveness.