Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a surprisingly strong showing in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that clearly favors high-end hardware. Benchmark results show this combination achieving playable frame rates even at 4K with Ultra settings, though the scaling pattern between resolutions reveals where the performance ceiling truly sits. Across all measured configurations, the combo ranks 631st out of 2,928 tested combinations, placing it comfortably in the top quarter of all systems evaluated.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where this system's bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 312 FPS average, which drops to 223 FPS at 1440p and further to 139 FPS at 4K. That represents a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is becoming progressively more strained as pixel count increases.

With High settings, the scaling is similar but slightly less dramatic. The system delivers 210 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 60 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 57 FPS. This near-linear degradation suggests the GPU is the primary limiting factor at every resolution, with the CPU providing ample headroom even at lower pixel counts.

The Medium settings tier shows the most consistent scaling pattern. At 1080p Medium, the average is 256 FPS with a minimum of 217 FPS and maximum of 294 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium drops the average to 182 FPS (min 155, max 210), and 4K Medium yields 114 FPS (min 97, max 131). The frame time consistency, as indicated by the narrow min-max ranges, remains solid throughout, suggesting no thermal or power throttling issues.

Ultra settings present the most demanding scenario. At 1080p Ultra, the system still manages 131 FPS average, which is perfectly playable. However, 1440p Ultra drops to 94 FPS, and 4K Ultra falls to 58 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is notably close to the minimum threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating that this resolution and settings combination pushes the RTX 4070 to its limits. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra represents a 56% performance reduction, mirroring the pattern seen at other settings tiers.

The data suggests that Downfall is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but also benefits from the strong CPU when frame rates climb above 200 FPS. The 312 FPS result at 1080p Low demonstrates that the Ryzen 9 9900X3D can feed the GPU sufficiently to reach very high frame rates, though the 1440p and 4K results show diminishing returns as the GPU becomes the constraining factor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070's specifications directly explain its performance characteristics in Downfall. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, the card has sufficient memory capacity and throughput for this horror title. The 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture, built around the AD104 chip with 35,800 million transistors, provides 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base clock of 1920 MHz and boost clock of 2475 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, enable the pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. These figures correlate with the observed frame rates: the 4K Ultra result of 58 FPS aligns with what the pixel rate would suggest when rendering approximately 8.3 million pixels per frame.

The RTX 4070's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present but less relevant for Downfall, which is a 2016 title that predates widespread ray tracing adoption. However, the GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) ensures full compatibility with any modern rendering paths the game might use. The Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6 API support also provide flexibility.

In terms of raw performance metrics, the RTX 4070 achieves a Passmark G3D score of 26,927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,854. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 154,858 and Vulkan score of 174,152 further confirm its compute capabilities. The GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs places it above average, though its nearest rivals show how close the competition is. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37,628 (0.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37,507 (0.4% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38,135 (1.3% lower). This tight grouping suggests the RTX 4070 sits in a competitive performance band.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 achieves a rank of 631 out of 2,928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 78th percentile of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the synergy between the 12-core, 24-thread CPU and the 12 GB GPU, which together handle Downfall's demands effectively.

The CPU itself ranks in the 91st percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54,762. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF at 55,093 (0.6% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K at 54,053 (1.3% lower), the Intel Xeon 6505P at 53,701 (2% lower), and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 53,620 (2.1% lower). This positioning shows the Ryzen 9 9900X3D is highly competitive in CPU-bound scenarios.

The GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37,648, places it slightly below the CPU's relative standing. This disparity explains why the combo's in-game rank of 631 out of 2,928 is slightly lower than the CPU's percentile might suggest — the GPU is the limiting factor in Downfall's GPU-bound scenarios at higher resolutions.

Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing sits above systems with weaker CPUs paired with similar GPUs, and below systems with top-tier GPUs paired with comparable CPUs. The 631st rank out of 2,928 indicates that roughly 78% of tested combinations perform worse, which is a strong showing for a mid-range GPU paired with a high-end CPU.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p High settings as the sweet spot, delivering 150 FPS average. This provides high frame rates while maintaining visual quality. At 4K High, the average drops to 93 FPS, which is still playable but less comfortable for fast-paced gameplay.

Q: Can this system handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but just barely. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 58 FPS. This is technically playable but leaves minimal headroom for demanding scenes. The 4K Medium settings provide a more comfortable 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54,762. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF scores 55,093 (0.6% higher), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K scores 54,053 (1.3% lower), the Intel Xeon 6505P scores 53,701 (2% lower), and the Intel Core i7-14700F scores 53,620 (2.1% lower).

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Downfall?

A: The 12 GB GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth proves adequate based on the measured results. The 4K Ultra setting achieves 58 FPS without indication of memory-related stuttering, though minimum frame data is only available for Medium settings.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1080p with different settings?

A: The measured averages are 312 FPS at Low, 256 FPS at Medium, 210 FPS at High, and 131 FPS at Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 217 FPS and maximum of 294 FPS, indicating consistent performance.

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

A: The RTX 4070's average benchmark score is 37,648. The NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37,628 (0.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37,507 (0.4% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile scores 38,135 (1.3% lower), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37,157 (1.3% higher).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 312 FPS, Medium settings yield 256 FPS with a minimum of 217 FPS and maximum of 294 FPS, High settings achieve 210 FPS, and Ultra settings maintain 131 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 58% reduction in frame rate, demonstrating the significant impact of settings on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show expected reductions. Low settings average 223 FPS, Medium settings average 182 FPS with a minimum of 155 FPS and maximum of 210 FPS, High settings average 150 FPS, and Ultra settings average 94 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 129 FPS, which is a 58% reduction — nearly identical to the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers playable frame rates across most settings. Low settings achieve 139 FPS average, Medium settings reach 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS, High settings maintain 93 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 58 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, making it the most demanding scenario in the dataset.

The complete measured dataset shows a consistent pattern: the RTX 4070 provides approximately 2.2x more performance at 1080p compared to 4K across all settings tiers. The Medium settings tier is the only one with complete min/max data, showing frame time consistency of 77 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K. This suggests the GPU maintains stable performance without throttling across all resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D's specifications position it as a high-end desktop processor capable of supporting the RTX 4070 without becoming a bottleneck. Its 12 cores and 24 threads, based on Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), provide substantial parallel processing capability. The base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensure strong single-threaded performance, which is crucial for games like Downfall that may not fully utilize all cores.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB L1 cache per core, 1 MB L2 cache per core, and 128 MB L3 cache total. This large L3 cache is particularly beneficial for gaming workloads, reducing memory latency and improving frame time consistency. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provides sufficient data throughput for the GPU to receive texture data without stalling.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D demonstrates strong performance across various workloads. Its Cinebench R23 scores are 47,737 multi-core and 6,739 single-core, while Geekbench shows 22,884 multi-core and 3,041 single-core. The 3DMark scores of 12,490 for 16 threads, 9,002 for 8 threads, 4,885 for 4 threads, and 2,512 for 2 threads show excellent scaling. The single-thread 3DMark score of 1,269 confirms strong per-core performance.

The Passmark results further illustrate the CPU's capabilities: multithread score of 56,154, single-thread score of 4,646, floating point math of 119,622, integer math of 179,727, and extended instructions of 55,426. The physics score of 5,340 is particularly relevant for gaming, as physics calculations often become CPU-bound in complex scenes.

The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all processors confirms its high-end positioning. Its average benchmark score of 54,762 places it just 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, though this rival score of 55,093 is essentially equivalent. The deltaPct values of 1.3%, 2%, and 2.1% versus the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, Xeon 6505P, and Core i7-14700F respectively show the Ryzen 9 9900X3D maintains a slight edge over its closest competitors.

In Downfall specifically, the CPU's role becomes apparent at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 200 FPS. The 312 FPS result at 1080p Low indicates the CPU can process game logic and issue draw calls rapidly enough to feed the GPU at very high frame rates. However, at 4K where the GPU becomes the limiting factor, the CPU's advantage is less apparent, with frame rates constrained by the RTX 4070's rendering capabilities rather than CPU throughput.