Downfall

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 delivers playable performance across most of the tested spectrum in Downfall, but the data reveals a system that transitions from a CPU-bound state at lower resolutions to a heavily GPU-bound state at 4K. The most striking observation is the performance collapse at the Ultra preset, which suggests that specific settings are disproportionately taxing the GPU’s memory subsystem.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows a classic curve, but the severity of the drop is heavily dependent on the graphics preset. At the Low preset, the transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 results in a 56.5% performance reduction, falling from 175.9 FPS to 76.4 FPS. This indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the renderer. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern, dropping by 55.2% from 141.8 FPS to 63.6 FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K.

The High preset reveals a slightly less steep decline, with a 53.3% drop from 117.8 FPS to 55 FPS across the same resolution span. This consistency suggests that the game’s rendering pipeline scales predictably with pixel count. However, the Ultra preset behaves differently. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is severe, falling from 70.4 FPS to 53 FPS, a 24.7% reduction. The subsequent drop to 4K Ultra (32 FPS) represents a 39.6% decrease from the 1440p figure. This non-linear scaling at Ultra points to a specific resource bottleneck—likely the 8 GB VRAM capacity and the 128-bit memory bus—being overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and maximum effects. The data indicates that at 4K, the GPU is the definitive limiting component across all presets, while at 1080p Low, the CPU becomes more relevant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its benchmark profile shows strong multi-threaded capability, scoring 10297 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 12115 in Passmark multithread. In Downfall, a horror game that likely benefits from consistent frame pacing, this CPU provides a solid foundation. The single-thread performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453, is adequate for the game’s primary simulation thread, as evidenced by the 175.9 FPS result at 1080p Low.

The CPU’s 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to avoid stalling the GPU at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the frame rate of 175.9 FPS is likely near the CPU’s practical limit for this workload, as the GPU (with a Passmark G3D score of 15096) is capable of rendering far more frames in less demanding scenes. The 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and 2-thread score of 1350 suggest that the game does not heavily utilize more than a few cores, but the 12 threads provide headroom for background tasks and the game’s engine overhead. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 73 versus all CPUs indicates it is a mid-range performer, which aligns with the observed results: it does not bottleneck the GPU at 4K, but it caps the maximum achievable frame rate at 1080p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock of 2491 MHz and game clock of 2044 MHz drive its 1792 shading units. The performance data in Downfall highlights the GPU’s strengths and weaknesses. The 1080p High result of 117.8 FPS is strong, but the Ultra preset at 70.4 FPS reveals a significant performance penalty that cannot be attributed to resolution alone. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 15096 places it in the 69th percentile, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, is only 0.2% slower in aggregate benchmarks.

In Downfall, the 8 GB VRAM appears to be a critical factor. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate plummets to 32 FPS, which is unplayable. The 128-bit memory bus, while providing 224.0 GB/s, is insufficient for the data throughput required by Ultra settings at 4K. The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is leveraged by the game, but the Passmark DirectX 12 score of 51 is notably low, suggesting that the GPU struggles with specific DX12 workloads. The 4K High result of 55 FPS shows that reducing settings from Ultra to High recovers substantial performance, indicating that the GPU has the raw compute power (8.928 TFLOPS FP32) but is limited by memory bandwidth and capacity at maximum settings. The texture rate of 279.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 159.4 GPixel/s are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra scenario outstrips the memory subsystem.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 6600 ranks 1415 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the bottom 18.7% of all configurations tested for this game. The low ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component scores. The CPU’s 73rd percentile and the GPU’s 69th percentile would suggest a mid-pack result, but the game’s specific demands on the GPU’s memory subsystem penalize this combination heavily.

The ranking indicates that while the combo is playable at 1080p and 1440p on most presets, it falls behind many other pairings that may have more balanced specifications. The combination of a 6-core/12-thread CPU with a mid-range GPU is common, but the RX 6600’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus are disadvantageous for Downfall’s Ultra settings. The data suggests that combos with GPUs offering wider memory buses or more VRAM would rank significantly higher, even if their raw compute scores are similar. The 1415th rank of 1741 is a clear signal that this pairing is not optimal for maximum settings in this title, despite being perfectly serviceable for High and Medium presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience balances visual fidelity with frame rate stability. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 117.8 FPS, which is smooth and visually rich. The Medium preset offers a substantial jump to 141.8 FPS, but the visual difference is often negligible in a horror game where atmosphere matters. The Ultra preset at 1080p (70.4 FPS) is playable but introduces the risk of frame drops in intense scenes; it is not recommended for consistent performance.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the clear winner, producing 83.1 FPS. The Medium preset at 100.7 FPS is also viable for competitive play, but the High preset provides a more immersive experience without sacrificing smoothness. The Ultra preset at 1440p (53 FPS) is borderline, but the 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS confirms that this setting is strictly for static screenshots. For 4K, the Low preset (76.4 FPS) is the only playable option, while High (55 FPS) is playable but requires a tolerance for lower frame rates. The best overall experience is 1080p High or 1440p High, as these presets leverage the GPU’s capabilities without exposing its memory limitations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rate progression is: Low 175.9 FPS, Medium 141.8 FPS, High 117.8 FPS, Ultra 70.4 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is 47.4 FPS, which is the largest single-preset delta at this resolution. At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 126.3 FPS, Medium 100.7 FPS, High 83.1 FPS, Ultra 53 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is less than half the frame rate of the Low preset. At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 76.4 FPS, Medium 63.6 FPS, High 55 FPS, Ultra 32 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest measured frame rate in the entire dataset and is 44.4 FPS below the 4K High result.

The data reveals that the Ultra preset incurs a consistent penalty of roughly 40-45% compared to High across all resolutions. This is a critical finding: the jump from High to Ultra is not a gradual scaling but a cliff. The Medium preset offers the best linear scaling, showing a 19.4% improvement over High at 1080p, a 17.5% improvement at 1440p, and a 13.5% improvement at 4K.

FAQ

*Q: Is this combo capable of running Downfall at 4K?*

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which produce 76.4 FPS. The High preset at 4K yields 55 FPS, which is playable, but Ultra is not viable at 32 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this setup?

A: 1920x1080 is the most consistent, with all presets except Ultra exceeding 117 FPS. 2560x1440 is also excellent, with High achieving 83.1 FPS.

Q: Why is the Ultra preset so much slower?

A: The data shows a consistent 40-45% performance drop from High to Ultra across all resolutions, indicating the Ultra preset likely exceeds the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM capacity or saturates its 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14168, which is 0.4% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552 and 1.1% higher than the Intel Core i5-8500. It trails the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C by 0.8%.

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

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6600 has an average benchmark score of 25235, which is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon 890M (0% delta) and 0.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. It is 0.2% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K on the High preset?

A: The frame rate drops from 117.8 FPS at 1080p to 83.1 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 55 FPS at 4K. This represents a 53.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K.