Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reveals a clear scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 156.5 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same preset drops the average to 107.9 FPS, a reduction of 48.6 FPS. At 3840x2160, the average falls further to 69.3 FPS. This progression shows that the frame rate penalty from 1080p to 1440p is steeper than from 1440p to 4K in absolute terms, suggesting the rendering load scales more aggressively at lower resolutions where the GPU still has headroom.

The Low preset tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 226.7 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 163.4 FPS, and at 4K Low, it maintains 101.1 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Low is 63.3 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Low is 62.3 FPS. This near-linear drop indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is the primary limiting factor across all three resolutions, as the CPU has enough headroom to feed the graphics card even at high frame rates.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 94.5 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 71.9 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it drops to 44.5 FPS. The percentage loss from 1080p to 4K Ultra is substantial, confirming that the heaviest settings place an outsized burden on the GPU. The data indicates that the RX 6700 XT becomes the bottleneck at Ultra settings even at 1080p, as the frame rate drops below the 100 FPS threshold that lower presets easily exceed.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 948 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects the pairing of a modest quad-core CPU with a capable mid-range GPU. The percentile position suggests that while the RX 6700 XT delivers solid raw performance, the i3-12100F holds the combo back in a game that appears to benefit from additional cores.

The GPU sits at the 77th percentile among all graphics cards, while the CPU sits at the 72nd percentile among all processors. The GPU's average benchmark score of 33721 places it near the AMD Radeon RX 6800, which scores 33493 with a delta of 0.7 percent. It also edges out the NVIDIA RTX A5000, which scores 33294, putting the RX 6700 XT 1.3 percent ahead. The CPU's average score of 13516 puts it within 0.1 percent of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which scores 13534, and 0.4 percent ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U at 13462.

The rank of 948 out of 1741 means that roughly 45 percent of tested combos perform better in this game. This is a meaningful data point because it shows that the combination, while capable of high frame rates at lower settings, does not reach the top tier of performance in Downfall. The bottleneck appears to be the CPU, as the GPU's percentile ranking is higher than the combo's overall ranking.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F features 4 cores and 8 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The CPU has 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core. In synthetic tests, the processor achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11912 and a single-core score of 1681. The Geekbench multicore score is 7413, with a single-core score of 2224.

The 3DMark results show interesting scaling with thread count. The 2-thread score is 1659, the 4-thread score is 2859, and the 8-thread score is 4026. The max-thread score of 4023 is nearly identical to the 8-thread score, confirming that the CPU has no more than 8 threads to utilize. The single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark is notably lower than the multi-thread scores, suggesting that the processor relies heavily on its boost clock for single-threaded performance.

For Downfall, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates at lower settings, as evidenced by the 226.7 FPS at 1080p Low. However, at Ultra settings, the frame rates drop significantly across all resolutions. This suggests that the game's Ultra preset introduces CPU-intensive effects that strain the quad-core design. The data shows that the i3-12100F can push well over 200 FPS when the GPU is not the limiting factor, but the Ultra preset's demands on the CPU reduce the ceiling.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 226.7 FPS, Medium delivers 185.9 FPS, High delivers 156.5 FPS, and Ultra delivers 94.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 40.8 FPS, Medium to High costs 29.4 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 62.0 FPS. The Ultra preset imposes a particularly heavy penalty, suggesting that it enables effects that disproportionately impact performance.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low delivers 163.4 FPS, Medium delivers 133.3 FPS, High delivers 107.9 FPS, and Ultra delivers 71.9 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 30.1 FPS, Medium to High is 25.4 FPS, and High to Ultra is 36.0 FPS. The Ultra penalty at 1440p is less severe in absolute terms than at 1080p, but the relative drop is similar.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further. Low delivers 101.1 FPS, Medium delivers 84.5 FPS, High delivers 69.3 FPS, and Ultra delivers 44.5 FPS. The Low to Medium gap is 16.6 FPS, Medium to High is 15.2 FPS, and High to Ultra is 24.8 FPS. At 4K, even the Low preset barely exceeds 100 FPS, while Ultra falls below 45 FPS, making it the only preset that drops below the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz. The memory operates at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed. The GPU contains 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units, along with 40 ray tracing cores.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2435 and a Passmark G3D score of 19786. The Geekbench Vulkan score is 108032, with OpenCL at 100730 and Metal at 129041. These scores place the RX 6700 XT in the 77th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 33721.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is capable of handling Downfall at high frame rates when settings are lowered. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 226.7 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. Even at 4K Low, the GPU maintains 101.1 FPS, demonstrating that the RX 6700 XT has sufficient raw power for this game at lower presets. The GPU's 12 GB VRAM is more than adequate for Downfall, as the game's release date of 2016-02-28 suggests it was not designed to utilize large frame buffers.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 185.9 FPS, which is 71.9 FPS higher than High and 91.4 FPS higher than Ultra. At 1440p Medium, the frame rate is 133.3 FPS, which remains above the 120 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh displays. At 4K Medium, the system produces 84.5 FPS, which is playable and represents a 39.2 FPS improvement over Ultra.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rates. At 1080p High, the combo hits 156.5 FPS, which is still very smooth. At 1440p High, it drops to 107.9 FPS, which remains above 60 FPS. However, at 4K High, the frame rate falls to 69.3 FPS, which is only marginally above the 60 FPS baseline.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination. At every resolution, Ultra delivers the lowest frame rates, with 4K Ultra falling to 44.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable gameplay. The 1080p Ultra score of 94.5 FPS is acceptable, but the 62.0 FPS penalty over High at the same resolution suggests that the visual gains do not justify the performance cost. The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates, sacrifices too much visual quality for a game that relies on atmosphere and lighting.