Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers a benchmark profile in Downfall that is defined by extreme headroom at lower resolutions and a steep, predictable performance cliff as settings and pixel counts rise. This pairing ranks 230th out of 3,716 tested combos in the game, placing it in the top 6.2% of all configurations. The measured data shows a system that can comfortably exceed 400 FPS at 1080p on Low settings but drops to 74 FPS at 4K Ultra, revealing a component balance that shifts from CPU-bound at high frame rates to GPU-bound at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression across resolutions tells a clear story about where the bottleneck resides. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 400 FPS; moving to 1440p Low reduces this to 285 FPS, a 28.8% drop. Going from 1440p to 4K Low brings the score down to 178 FPS, another 37.5% reduction. The aggregate scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low is a 55.5% decrease, which is substantial but not catastrophic — the RTX 4080 still delivers a highly playable 178 FPS at 4K on the lowest settings.

The Ultra preset shows a different scaling pattern. At 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 168 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 120 FPS (a 28.6% reduction), and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 74 FPS (a 38.3% reduction from 1440p). The cumulative drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra is 56.0%, nearly identical to the Low preset's scaling. This consistency suggests that the RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 256-bit bus width are not being saturated at any resolution in this game; instead, the scaling is driven by raw compute throughput.

Medium settings, which are the only preset with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, show the tightest scaling curve. From 1080p Medium (327 FPS average) to 1440p Medium (233 FPS) is a 28.7% drop, and from 1440p to 4K Medium (145 FPS) is a 37.8% drop. The minimum FPS values at Medium — 278 at 1080p, 198 at 1440p, and 123 at 4K — indicate that frame pacing remains stable even under load, with no signs of VRAM spillover or thermal throttling.

The data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting component. The 400 FPS ceiling at Low settings aligns with the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's single-thread performance, which scores 1269 in 3dmark_single_thread and 4646 in passmark_single_thread. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, as evidenced by the 74 FPS result at Ultra — a figure that aligns with the RTX 4080's 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 400 FPS, which is 19.2% higher than the High preset's 268 FPS at the same resolution. However, the gap narrows considerably at higher resolutions: at 1440p, Low (285 FPS) is only 49.2% ahead of High (191 FPS), and at 4K, Low (178 FPS) leads High (119 FPS) by 49.6%. The diminishing returns suggest that Low is overkill for most display setups beyond 1080p.

The Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 1080p, Medium (327 FPS) trails Low by 18.3% but is 22.0% ahead of High (268 FPS). At 1440p, Medium (233 FPS) is 22.4% ahead of High (191 FPS) and only 18.2% behind Low (285 FPS). At 4K, Medium (145 FPS) remains above the 120 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth gameplay, while High (119 FPS) just misses that mark and Ultra (74 FPS) falls well below it.

The measured data suggests that Ultra is not a viable preset for this combination in Downfall. The 74 FPS at 4K Ultra and 120 FPS at 1440p Ultra are below what the Medium and High presets achieve at the next resolution down. Specifically, 4K Medium (145 FPS) outperforms 1440p Ultra (120 FPS) by 20.8%, and 1440p Medium (233 FPS) outperforms 1080p Ultra (168 FPS) by 38.7%. This indicates that the visual uplift from Medium to Ultra does not justify the performance cost, and players should either step down to Medium at their native resolution or step up to a higher resolution with Medium settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Downfall?*

A: The highest average FPS is 400, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: Does the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM become a limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data does not indicate VRAM saturation. The 4K Ultra result of 74 FPS is consistent with the GPU's compute limits rather than memory constraints, and the Medium preset at 4K (145 FPS) shows the memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s is sufficient for smooth operation.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 54762 is 0.6% below the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093), 1.3% above the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053), and 2.1% above the Intel Core i7-14700F (53620). Its 24 threads and 12 cores provide substantial headroom for this game's workload.

Q: What is the biggest FPS drop between consecutive settings at the same resolution?

A: At 4K, dropping from Medium (145 FPS) to Ultra (74 FPS) represents a 49.0% reduction, the largest single-setting penalty in the dataset. At 1080p, the Medium-to-Ultra drop is 48.6% (327 to 168 FPS).

Q: Is this combo better suited for 1080p or 4K gaming based on the measured data?

A: The data shows the combo is exceptional at 1080p High (268 FPS) and even 4K High (119 FPS) remains playable. However, the 4K Ultra result of 74 FPS indicates the system is not optimized for maximum settings at 4K, making 1440p Medium (233 FPS) the sweet spot for high refresh rate displays.

Q: How does the combo's rank of 230 out of 3,716 reflect its overall standing?

A: The rank places this configuration in the top 6.2% of all tested combos, which is consistent with the RTX 4080's 86th percentile GPU ranking and the CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all processors.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 230 out of 3,716 tested configurations in Downfall, placing it in the 93.8th percentile of all combos. This ranking is slightly below what the individual component percentiles might suggest — the CPU sits in the 91st percentile and the GPU in the 86th — but the aggregate performance is elevated by the synergy between the 12-core, 24-thread processor and the 16 GB GDDR6X graphics card.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provide context for its contribution. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D's average score of 54762 is nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF's 55093 (a 0.6% deficit) and slightly ahead of the Core Ultra 5 245K's 54053 (a 1.3% advantage). This tight grouping means that CPU choice among these top-tier processors is unlikely to cause significant FPS variation in Downfall; the GPU does the heavy lifting at higher resolutions.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark position is similarly close to its rivals. The RTX 4080's average score of 54247 is 0.1% above the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209) and 2.6% below the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698). This suggests that the measured FPS in Downfall is near the ceiling for this GPU class, and the 230th rank reflects a configuration that is well-matched but not over-engineered for this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the primary driver of FPS at 4K resolution in Downfall. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient to maintain 145 FPS at 4K Medium and 119 FPS at 4K High. The GPU's boost clock of 2505 MHz, paired with 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs, delivers a pixel rate of 280.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s — figures that align with the measured 4K performance.

The RTX 4080's 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the key specification for understanding the Ultra preset's performance. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces 74 FPS, which is 49.0% lower than 4K Medium (145 FPS). This steep drop indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU's shading units and ray tracing cores (76 RT cores). The 74 FPS result is consistent with the GPU's 86th percentile ranking, showing it is a strong but not top-tier card for this game's most demanding settings.

The GPU's 22.4 Gbps effective memory speed and 1400 MHz memory clock are notable for a game like Downfall, which uses high-resolution textures. The fact that 4K Medium (145 FPS) performs better than 1440p Ultra (120 FPS) by 20.8% suggests that the VRAM capacity is not being stressed at 4K; otherwise, the Medium preset would show a more pronounced penalty. The 16 GB buffer is more than adequate for this title, allowing the GPU to operate at its compute limit rather than a memory limit.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 400 FPS on Low, 327 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 278 and maximum of 376), 268 FPS on High, and 168 FPS on Ultra. The 1080p results show a 58.0% reduction from Low to Ultra, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium (327) and Ultra (168) at 48.6%. The minimum FPS at Medium (278) is higher than the average FPS at Ultra (168), indicating that Medium provides a more consistent experience.

At 2560x1440, the scores are 285 FPS on Low, 233 FPS on Medium (minimum 198, maximum 268), 191 FPS on High, and 120 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Ultra is 57.9%, nearly identical to the 1080p pattern. The Medium preset's minimum of 198 FPS is above the High preset's average of 191 FPS, reinforcing that Medium offers the best frame pacing per visual investment.

At 3840x2160, the results are 178 FPS on Low, 145 FPS on Medium (minimum 123, maximum 167), 119 FPS on High, and 74 FPS on Ultra. This is the only resolution where High drops below 120 FPS, and Ultra drops below 100 FPS. The 4K Medium-to-Ultra drop of 49.0% is the largest in the dataset, while the 4K Low-to-High drop of 33.1% is the smallest, suggesting that the High preset is more efficient at 4K than at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D's 12 cores and 24 threads, based on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), provide ample processing power for Downfall's horror-themed workload. The CPU's base clock of 4.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, combined with 128 MB of L3 cache, deliver single-thread scores of 1269 in 3dmark and 4646 in passmark — figures that explain the 400 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low. The data suggests the CPU is the bottleneck at this resolution, as the GPU could likely render more frames if the processor could feed it faster.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are demonstrated by its cinebench r23 multicore score of 47737 and geekbench multicore score of 22884. These results indicate that the processor is not a limiting factor in Downfall, which appears to be lightly threaded based on the scaling patterns. The 1080p Low result of 400 FPS versus the 4K Low result of 178 FPS shows a 55.5% reduction that is almost entirely attributable to GPU load, not CPU limitations.

The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 54762, places it slightly above the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55093, -0.6%) and above the Core i7-14700F (53620, +2.1%). In Downfall, this means the Ryzen 9 9900X3D provides all the single-thread performance needed for high frame rates, and its 24 threads handle background tasks and game logic without affecting FPS. The 120W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) further ensure that memory bandwidth is not a constraint, even at 1080p where CPU-bound scenarios dominate.