Downfall

Downfall, a 2016 horror title, shows remarkably modern performance demands when paired with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. The measured data places this combination in the 862nd position out of 3,716 tested combos, putting it in the top quarter of all systems tested. This pairing delivers playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra settings, evidence of the strength of both components, though the scaling patterns reveal where each part carries the load.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The system achieves an average of 131 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, making high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p easily attainable.

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

A: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D scores 42,018 points in Cinebench R23 multi-core, placing it just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 and 0.1% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D in overall average benchmark scores.

Q: What memory bandwidth does the RTX 4070 provide?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for 4K gaming in this title.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 4070 sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 37,648.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 223 FPS average while Ultra settings drop to 94 FPS average, a reduction of over 57% from the lowest to highest quality preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the AD104 chip using TSMC's 5 nm process, packing 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die. This Ada Lovelace architecture GPU operates with a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, paired with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus. The memory runs at an effective 21 Gbps, producing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes increasingly relevant as resolution climbs.

The GPU's compute resources include 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, alongside 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores. This configuration yields 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s helps explain why the card handles 4K rendering with reasonable efficiency in Downfall's DirectX 12 environment, which the GPU supports at the 12 Ultimate (12_2) feature level.

Benchmark results show the RTX 4070 scoring 26,927 in Passmark G3D and 14,720 in Passmark GPU Compute, with a DirectX 12 score of 103 in Passmark. The GPU's overall average benchmark score of 37,648 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA Tesla P4 at 37,628 (0.1% difference) and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 at 37,507 (0.4% difference), though the RTX 4070 trails the GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3% with that mobile part scoring 38,135.

The GPU's 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU rating indicate modest power requirements for the performance delivered. The card measures 240 mm in length, 110 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, occupying a dual-slot form factor with a single 16-pin power connector. Display outputs include one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a connections.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal how the RTX 4070's memory bandwidth and compute throughput interact with resolution demands. At 1080p with High settings, the system delivers 210 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops this to 150 FPS, a 28.6% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 93 FPS, representing a 55.7% drop from the 1080p figure.

The scaling pattern holds across other settings presets. Low settings at 1080p produce 312 FPS, falling to 223 FPS at 1440p (a 28.5% decrease) and 139 FPS at 4K (a 55.4% decrease from 1080p). Medium settings show 256 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p (28.9% lower), and 114 FPS at 4K (55.5% lower). Ultra settings follow suit: 131 FPS at 1080p, 94 FPS at 1440p (28.2% lower), and 58 FPS at 4K (55.7% lower).

The consistency of these percentage drops — hovering near 28% for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and near 55% for the 1440p-to-4K transition — indicates the GPU's rendering pipeline scales predictably with pixel count. The RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth becomes the constraining factor at 4K Ultra, where the 58 FPS average suggests the card is nearing its limit for this title. At 1080p, frame rates exceed 200 FPS across most presets, demonstrating that the GPU has ample headroom when pixel throughput demands are lower.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the RTX 4070 holds the 862nd position out of 3,716 tested combinations in Downfall, placing it in the 76.8th percentile of all systems evaluated. This ranking reflects the balanced nature of the pairing — the CPU's strong single-thread performance complements the GPU's mid-range compute capabilities.

The CPU's 3DMark scores illustrate its multi-threaded strength: 17,184 in the max-threads test, 16,374 in the 16-thread test, and 9,259 in the 8-thread test. Single-thread performance reaches 1,292 in 3DMark and 3,064 in Geekbench single-core. These figures position the processor well above average, with a 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 75,779.

The GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the CPU's 95th percentile ranking, creates a system where the graphics card is the more likely bottleneck in demanding scenarios. The combo's 862nd rank out of 3,716 suggests that many higher-ranked combinations pair this CPU with more powerful GPUs, or pair this GPU with even stronger processors. However, the measured FPS data shows that this specific pairing still delivers excellent playability across all tested resolutions and settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D belongs to the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. This 16-core, 32-thread processor operates at a 4.30 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.70 GHz, drawing 170 W TDP. Manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process, the chip contains 16,630 million transistors across two 70.6 mm² dies.

Cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 128 MB of L3 cache. The processor supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth and includes ECC support. PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes provides ample connectivity for the RTX 4070's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.

Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's capabilities: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 42,018 with single-core at 2,259, while Cinebench R15 multi-core reaches 6,536 with single-core at 350. Geekbench multi-core hits 26,736 with single-core at 3,064. Passmark tests show 70,255 in multi-thread, 4,737 in single-thread, and 159,724 in floating point math. The processor's nearest rivals in average score (75,779) are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 at 75,738 (0.1% difference) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D at 75,716 (0.1% difference).

In Downfall, the CPU's single-thread performance and large L3 cache help maintain high frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1,292 and 2-thread score of 2,549 indicate strong per-core performance that prevents CPU-bound scenarios from limiting frame rates in most situations. The processor's 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of processors in the database.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates span three resolutions and four quality presets, with 12 distinct data points. At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 312 FPS average, Medium delivers 256 FPS (with a minimum of 217 and maximum of 294), High reaches 210 FPS, and Ultra drops to 131 FPS. The Medium preset data includes min/max figures, showing a 77 FPS range between the lowest and highest observed frame rates at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low settings average 223 FPS, Medium averages 182 FPS (min 155, max 210), High averages 150 FPS, and Ultra averages 94 FPS. The Medium preset's 55 FPS range at 1440p is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting more consistent frame pacing as pixel load increases.

At 3840x2160, Low settings average 139 FPS, Medium averages 114 FPS (min 97, max 131), High averages 93 FPS, and Ultra averages 58 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows a 34 FPS range, the tightest of any resolution for this preset, indicating that the GPU's workload is more uniform when pixel count is highest.

The frame rate deltas between settings presets remain relatively consistent across resolutions. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium costs 56 FPS (17.9%), Medium to High costs 46 FPS (18.0%), and High to Ultra costs 79 FPS (37.6%). At 4K, the same transitions cost 25 FPS (17.9%), 21 FPS (18.4%), and 35 FPS (37.6%) respectively. This consistency suggests the settings presets impose similar relative workloads regardless of resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 4K, Medium produces 114 FPS average with a minimum of 97 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay without dropping below 60 FPS. The 131 FPS maximum at 4K Medium shows the GPU has occasional headroom for brief spikes in scene complexity.

For players prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, Low settings at 1440p deliver 223 FPS average, which exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. Even at 4K, Low settings maintain 139 FPS average, making this preset viable for competitive play where response time matters more than graphical detail.

Ultra settings should be reserved for scenarios where visual quality is paramount and frame rate targets are modest. At 1080p Ultra, the 131 FPS average remains playable, but at 4K Ultra the 58 FPS average falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider the minimum for smooth gameplay. The 4K High preset at 93 FPS average represents a reasonable compromise for players with 4K displays who want enhanced visuals without sacrificing playability.

The Medium preset's min/max data shows frame time consistency: at 1080p the range spans 217-294 FPS, at 1440p it spans 155-210 FPS, and at 4K it spans 97-131 FPS. This consistency indicates that Medium settings avoid the frame-time spikes that can occur at higher quality presets, making it the recommended choice for general gameplay across all tested resolutions.