Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces exceptional frame rates in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that clearly favors raw GPU throughput at higher resolutions. This combination ranks first out of 2,928 tested combos for this game, placing it at the absolute top of the performance hierarchy. The data reveals a system that delivers playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra, but the scaling pattern across resolutions tells a nuanced story about where the bottleneck shifts between CPU and GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable degradation as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly depending on the quality preset. At Low settings, the system delivers 482 FPS at 1920x1080, dropping to 345 FPS at 2560x1440 (a reduction of 137 FPS), and further to 214 FPS at 3840x2160 (another 131 FPS drop). This represents a 55.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count grows.

At Medium settings, the pattern shifts slightly. The 1080p result of 395 FPS falls to 282 FPS at 1440p (a 113 FPS drop), then to 175 FPS at 4K (a 107 FPS drop). The percentage decrease from 1080p to 4K here is 55.7%, remarkably similar to the Low preset. This consistency suggests the GPU is the primary limiting factor across these settings, with the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth being taxed proportionally to the pixel workload.

High settings show a steeper relative decline: 324 FPS at 1080p, 231 FPS at 1440p (down 93 FPS), and 144 FPS at 4K (down 87 FPS). The 1080p-to-4K reduction is 55.6%, again matching the other presets almost exactly. This uniformity across Low, Medium, and High strongly implies that Downfall's rendering pipeline scales linearly with resolution, and the RTX 5090 D's compute resources — 21,760 shading units and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 — are being utilized efficiently without unexpected bottlenecks.

Ultra settings break the pattern. At 1080p, Ultra yields 202 FPS; at 1440p, it drops to 144 FPS (a 58 FPS reduction); and at 4K, it collapses to 90 FPS (a 54 FPS further drop). The total decline from 1080p to 4K is 55.4%, still consistent with the other presets. However, the absolute numbers are dramatically lower — Ultra at 4K produces 90 FPS, which is less than half the 214 FPS achieved at Low 4K. The gap between Ultra and lower presets widens with resolution, suggesting that the additional visual effects at Ultra impose a fixed overhead that becomes relatively more expensive at higher pixel counts.

The 1440p Medium result includes a minimum of 240 FPS and maximum of 324 FPS, while the 1080p Medium shows a minimum of 335 FPS and maximum of 454 FPS. These variance ranges indicate that even at high frame rates, the system maintains consistent performance without severe frame-time spikes. The data suggests that for most presets, the RTX 5090 D remains the dominant factor, with the CPU only becoming relevant at extremely high frame rates where per-frame CPU overhead starts to matter.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture, with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This is a Granite Ridge chip built on a 4 nm process, featuring 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded capabilities: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 32,172, while single-core reaches 2,253. Geekbench results show 22,174 multi-core and 3,010 single-core.

In Downfall, the CPU's role appears secondary at most settings, but the 1080p Low result of 482 FPS hints at where CPU limitations could emerge. At such high frame rates, the CPU must process draw calls and game logic fast enough to feed the GPU. The Ryzen 9 9900X's single-thread performance, evidenced by a PassMark single-thread score of 4,672 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,286, appears sufficient to avoid becoming a bottleneck at these frame rates. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 2,519 and 4-thread score of 4,886 show that even limited thread utilization yields strong results.

The CPU's 12 cores likely provide headroom for background tasks and any multi-threaded game systems, but Downfall's horror genre typically doesn't demand extreme CPU parallelism. The data shows that moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings reduces FPS from 482 to 345, a 28.4% drop that cannot be attributed to CPU limitations since resolution scaling is purely a GPU workload. The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 480 FPS suggests the CPU is capable of sustaining very high frame rates, but the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity ultimately cap performance.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the Ryzen 9 9900X's average benchmark score of 57,498 places it just 0.1% behind 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 margins are negligible in gaming scenarios, and the CPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is a top-tier processor. The boost clock of 5.60 GHz is the key asset for gaming, as Downfall's frame rates at 1080p demonstrate the CPU can keep up with the RTX 5090 D's output.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows playable frame rates at all tested resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the system achieves 90 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. For higher refresh rate displays, 1440p Ultra delivers 144 FPS, and 1080p Ultra reaches 202 FPS. The choice depends on display capabilities, but every resolution and preset combination exceeds 90 FPS.

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

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 77,712, placing it 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). It also trails the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB by 2.1% (79,396) and the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB by 2.4% (79,605). The RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Downfall?

A: The scaling pattern indicates the GPU is the primary limiter. From 1080p to 4K, FPS drops by roughly 55% across all presets, which is consistent with pixel count increase. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (5.60 GHz boost, 2,253 Cinebench R23 single-core) allows it to feed the GPU effectively even at 482 FPS in 1080p Low.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 214 FPS, while Ultra drops to 90 FPS. This represents a 124 FPS difference, or a 57.9% reduction from Low to Ultra. Medium sits at 175 FPS and High at 144 FPS, showing a progressive cost for each quality tier.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM matter for Downfall?

A: Downfall is a 2016 horror game, so it likely does not require 32 GB of VRAM. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and 512-bit bus width are more relevant to performance. The data shows consistent scaling with resolution, suggesting VRAM capacity is not a constraint at any tested setting.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks first out of 2,928 tested combos for Downfall. This top ranking reflects the GPU's dominant performance in this title, as well as the CPU's ability to avoid bottlenecking at high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates. Low settings yield 482 FPS average, with no minimum or maximum reported. Medium settings produce 395 FPS average, with a minimum of 335 FPS and maximum of 454 FPS. High settings reach 324 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 202 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 280 FPS, showing the significant impact of quality presets on this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers compress somewhat. Low settings deliver 345 FPS average, Medium achieves 282 FPS (minimum 240 FPS, maximum 324 FPS), High reaches 231 FPS, and Ultra dips to 144 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread here is 201 FPS, narrower than at 1080p but still substantial. The 1440p Medium result's minimum of 240 FPS indicates that even under heavy load, the system does not drop below 240 FPS at this setting.

At 3840x2160, the performance hierarchy remains consistent. Low settings produce 214 FPS average, Medium delivers 175 FPS (minimum 149 FPS, maximum 202 FPS), High reaches 144 FPS, and Ultra drops to 90 FPS. The 4K Medium result includes the only reported minimum below 149 FPS — wait, the only minimum below 200 FPS in the entire dataset is the 4K Medium's 149 FPS. This suggests that 4K Medium is the first setting where the system experiences noticeable frame dips, though the average remains well above playable thresholds.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reduces FPS by roughly 28-35% at each preset level. For High settings, the drops are 324→231→144 FPS; for Low, 482→345→214 FPS; for Medium, 395→282→175 FPS; and for Ultra, 202→144→90 FPS. The Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute drop from 1440p to 4K (54 FPS), which may indicate that the GPU's shading resources are already saturated at 1440p Ultra, leaving less headroom for resolution scaling.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks first out of 2,928 tested combos in Downfall. This top position is notable given the GPU's synthetic benchmark standing — the RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. The fact that this combo outperforms all others in Downfall suggests that the game's engine responds particularly well to this hardware configuration, possibly due to the GPU's high FP32 throughput or the CPU's fast single-thread performance.

The CPU's ranking among all processors is also at the 92nd percentile, with an average benchmark score of 57,498. The combination of two 92nd-percentile components yields a first-place finish, indicating that Downfall may not be heavily dependent on features like ray tracing (the GPU has 170 RT cores) or AI acceleration (680 tensor cores), but rather on raw rasterization performance. The RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are likely the key contributors to this top ranking.

This ranking is particularly impressive because the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants — score slightly higher on average, yet the RTX 5090 D's integration with the Ryzen 9 9900X produces the best Downfall results. This implies that the combination's real-world gaming performance exceeds what synthetic averages alone would predict, possibly due to driver optimizations or the specific workload characteristics of Downfall's horror-themed rendering.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K displays, the data suggests that Ultra settings at 90 FPS provide the most visually immersive experience while remaining above 60 FPS. However, High settings at 144 FPS offer a significant frame rate advantage with presumably minor visual trade-offs. The 4K Medium result of 175 FPS, with a minimum of 149 FPS, represents a solid middle ground for players who prioritize smoothness over maximum quality.

At 1440p, Ultra settings achieve 144 FPS, which is ideal for 144 Hz monitors. The system has enough headroom that even the most demanding preset remains comfortably playable. Players with 240 Hz displays might prefer High settings at 231 FPS or Low at 345 FPS, though the visual quality loss may not be worth the frame rate gain for a horror game where atmosphere matters.

For 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 202 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. The Medium preset's 395 FPS and Low's 482 FPS are likely beyond what any display can show, making Ultra the sensible choice for visual fidelity. The 1080p Medium minimum of 335 FPS and maximum of 454 FPS show minimal variance, ensuring consistent performance.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize High settings at any resolution, as this preset offers the best balance between visual quality and frame rate. At 4K High, the 144 FPS result is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay, while at 1440p High, the 231 FPS result is excellent. The Ultra preset's significant frame rate cost — roughly 40-50% lower than High across resolutions — may not justify the visual improvements in a game from 2016.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this system for Downfall, and the data confirms its central role. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 2017 MHz boosts to 2407 MHz, and the chip contains 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The Blackwell 2.0 architecture on a 5 nm process packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark results show strong DirectX performance: PassMark DirectX 9 scores 434, DirectX 11 scores 371, and DirectX 12 scores 219. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674 and Vulkan score of 376,915 indicate robust compute capabilities. In Downfall, the GPU's role is clearly resolution-bound, as evidenced by the consistent 55% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K across all presets.

The RTX 5090 D's memory configuration is particularly relevant for 4K gaming. The 32 GB capacity and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensure that texture streaming and memory allocation never become constraints, even at Ultra settings. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s provide the raw throughput needed to maintain 90 FPS at 4K Ultra, a demanding workload for any GPU.

The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712, places it near the top of the performance spectrum. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, scores 76,904 (1.1% lower), while the RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.6% higher). The fact that this GPU achieves first place in Downfall despite not having the highest synthetic average suggests that its architectural strengths align well with this game's rendering requirements. The 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores may contribute to specific effects in Downfall, though the game's 2016 release date likely predates widespread ray tracing adoption.