Downfall

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combination ranks 280th out of 3,716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 7.5% of all configurations. This is a strong showing for a horror title that typically favors raw GPU throughput, but the ranking also reflects the substantial headroom provided by the 12-core processor. The combo’s position suggests it outperforms the vast majority of systems, yet the data indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of the experience, with the CPU rarely becoming a bottleneck even at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame of 280 out of 3,716 places this pairing in the 92.5th percentile of all tested systems in Downfall. This is an elite tier, but not the absolute top, which is expected given that the RTX 4080 SUPER, while powerful, is not the fastest GPU available. The ranking reflects a balanced system where neither component is severely mismatched. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus of 92 and the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus of 86 are closely aligned, indicating that this pairing is well-matched for this specific title.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 9900X posts an average benchmark score of 57,498, which is within 0.1% of the AMD EPYC 9015 (57,555) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313 (57,399). It trails the Intel Core i9-14900 by 1.1% (58,115) and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M by 1.4% (58,323). These deltas are minimal, suggesting that in CPU-bound scenarios, the 9900X is competitive with high-end server and desktop parts, though it does not lead this specific pack. For the GPU, the RTX 4080 SUPER’s average score of 54,209 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 (54,247, -0.1% delta), while it lags the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1% and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.7%. The performance parity with the non-SUPER RTX 4080 is notable, as it suggests the SUPER variant offers a marginal improvement in synthetic tests, which translates to a similarly small edge in real-world gaming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC, housing 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for Downfall’s texture-heavy horror environments. The GPU’s base clock is 2295 MHz with a boost clock of 2550 MHz, and memory runs at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 10,240 shading units and 80 RT cores, allow the card to handle the game’s lighting and shadow effects efficiently.

In Downfall, the GPU’s role is dominant, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 74, which is a significant reduction from 4K High at 118 FPS. This 37% performance penalty from High to Ultra highlights the GPU’s sensitivity to the game’s most demanding preset. The RTX 4080 SUPER’s 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs is reflected in these results; it is a high-end card, but not the absolute fastest, so it struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra. The FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are impressive on paper, but Downfall’s Ultra settings appear to stress the memory subsystem and shading units more than raw compute, given the 16 GB VRAM is sufficient but the bus width limits bandwidth in extreme cases.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor from the 9000 series, based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) on a 4 nm TSMC process. It has a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 64 MB of L3, which is substantial for a desktop part. Its memory support is dual-channel DDR5 with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, and it offers PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes.

In Downfall, the CPU’s role is secondary, but the 9900X ensures that frame rates remain stable even at low settings where the GPU is less taxed. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 397 FPS, which is a 48% increase over 4K Low (177 FPS). This scaling suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU enough data to avoid a bottleneck, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU’s single-thread score of 1,286 in 3DMark and 2,253 in Cinebench R23 single-core indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for a horror game that may have physics or AI calculations running on a few threads. The 9900X’s 92nd percentile ranking among all CPUs is justified, as its multi-threaded scores (e.g., 32,172 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) are competitive with server chips, though Downfall likely does not utilize all 24 threads fully.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers high frame rates across all settings. Low settings average 397 FPS, Medium averages 325 FPS (with a minimum of 276 and maximum of 374), High averages 267 FPS, and Ultra averages 167 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 58%, which is steep but expected given the GPU’s workload. At 1080p, the GPU is rarely the bottleneck; even at Ultra, the 167 FPS average suggests the CPU can keep up, though the frame rate is still high enough for a smooth experience.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably. Low averages 284 FPS, Medium averages 232 FPS (min 197, max 267), High averages 190 FPS, and Ultra averages 119 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra results in a 29% FPS drop (167 to 119), which indicates that the GPU is starting to become more relevant. At 1440p High, the 190 FPS average is still very playable, and the minimum FPS data for Medium (197) shows that frame pacing remains consistent.

At 3840x2160, the GPU’s limitations become clear. Low averages 177 FPS, Medium averages 144 FPS (min 123, max 166), High averages 118 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset, and it’s a 56% drop from 4K Low (177 to 74). This is a significant penalty, suggesting that Ultra settings at 4K are beyond the card’s comfortable range for this title. The Medium preset at 4K (144 FPS) is the sweet spot for high refresh rate monitors, while High (118 FPS) remains above 60 FPS, but Ultra will require compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the bottleneck dynamics. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 397 at 1080p to 284 at 1440p (a 28% decrease) and then to 177 at 4K (a 38% decrease from 1440p). This shows that even at Low, the GPU is increasingly taxed as resolution increases, but the CPU is not the limiting factor; otherwise, the 1080p Low result would be closer to the 1440p Low result. The 1080p Low score of 397 FPS is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame generation capability, but the 9900X handles it without issue.

At High settings, the scaling is more linear: 267 FPS at 1080p, 190 FPS at 1440p (a 29% drop), and 118 FPS at 4K (a 38% drop from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiter at High, as the FPS drops are proportional to the pixel count increase. At Ultra, the scaling is steeper: 167 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p (a 29% drop), and 74 FPS at 4K (a 38% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result is disproportionately low, suggesting that the GPU’s memory bandwidth (736.3 GB/s) is insufficient for the game’s Ultra textures and effects at this resolution.

The data confirms that the RTX 4080 SUPER is the limiting component in this pairing for Downfall. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to avoid becoming a bottleneck, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low (397 FPS), which is likely near the upper limit of what the game engine can produce. As resolution increases, the GPU’s workload grows, and the FPS drops accordingly, reinforcing that this is a GPU-bound scenario at 1440p and above.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 280th out of 3,716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 7.5% of systems tested for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER compare to its closest rival, the RTX 4080?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 54,209, which is 0.1% lower than the RTX 4080’s 54,247. This indicates near-identical synthetic performance.

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achieved at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 397 FPS, which is the highest average FPS recorded in the dataset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the FPS is 397, but at 4K Low it drops to 177, showing that the GPU’s workload scales with resolution. The CPU, ranked in the 92nd percentile, does not limit performance.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded, and at what settings?

A: The lowest average FPS is 74, achieved at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only result below 100 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X’s average score of 57,498 is within 0.2% of the AMD EPYC 7313 (57,399) and 1.1% behind the Intel Core i9-14900 (58,115), showing it is competitive with high-end server and desktop parts.