Downfall

# Downfall with AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average framerate this combo achieves in Downfall?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 345.8 FPS average, which is the peak measured performance across all tested resolution and settings combinations.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D scores 1.8% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X in average benchmark score, and it sits 0.9% ahead of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270, while trailing the Intel Xeon 6517P by 1.9%.

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER places in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, with its average benchmark score of 42576 nearly matching the NVIDIA RTX A6000, which is only 0.2% higher.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable framerates at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, but barely — the measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 63.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold but represents a dramatic drop from lower settings at the same resolution.

Q: How many total combos does this pairing rank against in Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 294th out of 1741 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17% of all systems evaluated for this game.

Q: What is the framerate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 249.8 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 102.8 FPS — a reduction of 147 FPS, showing the heavy cost of Ultra quality presets.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D brings substantial processing headroom to Downfall, a horror title that benefits from high thread counts in complex scenes. With 16 cores and 32 threads, this Zen 5 architecture processor operating on the AMD Socket AM5 platform delivers a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz. The 4 nm process node from TSMC packs 16,630 million transistors across a dual-chiplet design with 128 MB of shared L3 cache, which is critical for keeping frequently accessed game data close to the cores.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark results reveal its strengths. In Cinebench R23, it scores 59712 in multicore and 8430 in single-core tests, demonstrating that both heavily threaded workloads and single-threaded tasks are handled with authority. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1292 in single-thread to 17184 in max-threads, confirming that the processor efficiently utilizes its core count. PassMark multithread score of 70255 further reinforces this pattern, while the single-thread score of 4737 suggests that even lightly threaded game logic will not bottleneck this system.

For Downfall specifically, the data implies that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, where GPU load is diminished, the system still produces 345.8 FPS — a figure that suggests the processor is feeding frames faster than most displays can refresh. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 71660, places it just ahead of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 by 0.9% and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X by 1.8%. The largest competitor gap is a 2.2% lead over the Intel Core i7-14700KF. These margins are small in absolute terms, but they indicate that this processor sits at the top tier for gaming workloads, ensuring that frame delivery is consistent even in demanding horror sequences with dynamic lighting and particle effects.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the graphics engine driving Downfall's visuals, and its specifications are well-suited to the game's atmospheric rendering demands. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 7168 shading units and 56 RT cores, this GPU operates at a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is essential for streaming high-resolution textures in horror environments that rely on detailed surfaces and shadow work.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows strong DirectX performance, with PassMark DirectX 11 scoring 273 and DirectX 12 scoring 110. In compute tasks, PassMark GPU Compute reaches 17108, while 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 produces 4627. The 84th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 42576, places it in close competition with the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (0.2% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE (0.3% higher). Interestingly, the RTX 4070 SUPER outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6%, showing that it holds its own against professional-grade hardware.

In Downfall, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. The measured FPS data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 63.7 FPS, which suggests the GPU is being pushed hard by the combination of high pixel count and demanding visual effects. The 220 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a card that balances power draw with performance, and the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface ensures adequate bandwidth for data transfer. The 5 nm process node and 35,800 million transistors underscore the architectural efficiency that allows this card to maintain competitive framerates in a game released well before its 2024 launch.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER achieves a rank of 294 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing this system in the upper tier of all configurations evaluated. This ranking is notable because it reflects the balance between a top-tier CPU and a mid-high-range GPU; the CPU's 96th percentile standing and the GPU's 84th percentile standing combine to produce a system that outperforms the vast majority of setups, though it does not reach the very top echelons.

What the data reveals is that the GPU is likely the constraining factor in this pairing. The CPU's synthetic scores — such as 59712 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 70255 in PassMark multithread — far exceed what Downfall's engine would require, even at high frame rates. Meanwhile, the GPU's 84th percentile ranking and the observed FPS scaling across resolutions suggest that graphical processing is the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system hits 345.8 FPS, which is a CPU-limited scenario; at 4K Ultra, it falls to 63.7 FPS, a GPU-limited outcome. The rank of 294 indicates that there are 293 combos that outperform this pairing, likely those with higher-tier GPUs such as the RTX 4080 or 4090, even if their CPUs are less capable.

This ranking also highlights the diminishing returns of pairing a flagship CPU with a mid-range GPU in a game like Downfall. The data suggests that the system's position in the rankings is driven more by GPU capability than CPU headroom, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops at higher settings. For users considering this combo, the implication is that upgrading the GPU would yield more performance gains in Downfall than upgrading the already-powerful CPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings presets provides clear guidance on the optimal configuration for Downfall. At 1920x1080, all settings presets produce playable framerates, with High achieving 234.7 FPS, Medium at 287.2 FPS, and Ultra at 147.1 FPS. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 52.5 FPS, while High to Ultra costs 87.6 FPS, making High the sweet spot for visual fidelity without sacrificing excessive performance.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. High settings deliver 166.2 FPS, which is excellent for competitive or smooth gameplay, while Medium hits 203.3 FPS. Ultra drops to 102.8 FPS, which is still playable but represents a significant loss of 63.4 FPS from High. For 1440p users, High settings offer the best balance, as they maintain high refresh rates while preserving visual quality.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations become more conservative. High settings achieve 107 FPS, which is solid for 4K gaming, while Medium produces 124.3 FPS. Ultra drops to 63.7 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold but may feel less smooth on high-refresh displays. Low settings at 4K reach 151.6 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too severe for a horror game that relies on atmosphere. The data suggests that 4K High is the recommended preset, offering 107 FPS while maintaining the game's intended visual presentation. Across all resolutions, Medium or High presets provide the best experience per the measured rows, with Ultra reserved for users who prioritize visuals over framerate stability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured framerates for this combo in Downfall show a clear pattern of scaling across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 345.8 FPS, Medium reaches 287.2 FPS, High produces 234.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 147.1 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p reduces performance by 198.7 FPS, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra at 87.6 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the framerates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings deliver 249.8 FPS, Medium hits 203.3 FPS, High achieves 166.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 102.8 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 147 FPS, with the High-to-Ultra drop of 63.4 FPS again being the most significant. At 1440p, even Ultra remains above 100 FPS, indicating that this resolution is well within the combo's comfort zone.

At 3840x2160, the performance impact becomes pronounced. Low settings produce 151.6 FPS, Medium reaches 124.3 FPS, High achieves 107 FPS, and Ultra drops to 63.7 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra delta at 4K is 87.9 FPS, and the High-to-Ultra drop of 43.3 FPS is the largest absolute decrease at this resolution. Notably, 4K Ultra is the only configuration that falls below 100 FPS, and it barely clears the 60 FPS threshold. The data also shows that 4K Low outperforms 1080p Ultra by 4.5 FPS, highlighting how settings presets can impact performance more than resolution in certain scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals how Downfall scales with resolution for this combo, and the patterns indicate where the bottleneck lies. Comparing 1080p to 1440p at each settings preset, the performance drop is consistent: Low falls from 345.8 to 249.8 FPS (a 27.8% reduction), Medium from 287.2 to 203.3 FPS (29.2% reduction), High from 234.7 to 166.2 FPS (29.2% reduction), and Ultra from 147.1 to 102.8 FPS (30.1% reduction). These relatively uniform drops suggest that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as pixel count increases, but the CPU still has enough headroom to maintain high frame rates.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a more dramatic scaling pattern. Low settings drop from 249.8 to 151.6 FPS (39.3% reduction), Medium from 203.3 to 124.3 FPS (38.9% reduction), High from 166.2 to 107 FPS (35.6% reduction), and Ultra from 102.8 to 63.7 FPS (38.0% reduction). The larger percentage drops at 4K indicate that the GPU is significantly stressed by the quadrupling of pixel count from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p, the CPU is likely the primary limiter, especially at Low settings where 345.8 FPS approaches the maximum frame rate the processor can feed. As resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck, with 4K Ultra exposing its limits at 63.7 FPS.

The scaling analysis suggests that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain framerates well above 100 FPS even at Ultra settings. At 4K, the system is playable but requires settings compromises to achieve smooth performance. The data implies that the RTX 4070 SUPER, despite its capable specifications, is not sufficient for 4K Ultra in Downfall, while the CPU's high-end performance is underutilized at lower resolutions where the GPU is already saturated.