Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall across three resolutions reveals a consistent and predictable scaling pattern, with the most significant performance drop occurring between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 211.5 FPS, which drops to 148.5 FPS at 1440p High—a reduction of 63 FPS, or approximately 30%. Moving to 4K High, the average falls further to 91.4 FPS, representing another 57.1 FPS decline from the 1440p figure. This progressive degradation indicates that the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count, a typical characteristic for a horror title with complex lighting and shadow effects.

The scaling behavior at Low settings is particularly instructive. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 284.9 FPS, which is the highest recorded value across all configurations. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 224 FPS, and 4K Low still manages 137.9 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is roughly 51.6%, compared to a 56.8% drop at High settings. This relatively modest difference suggests that while the GPU is clearly the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions, the CPU still contributes meaningfully to overall frame rates, especially when graphical load is reduced.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 1080p Ultra, the combo produces 131.6 FPS, which is actually lower than the 4K Low result of 137.9 FPS. This unusual inversion highlights how dramatically the Ultra settings increase per-pixel work, likely through enhanced shadows, volumetric effects, and post-processing. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 94.8 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 59.6 FPS—the only configuration to dip below 60 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is particularly noteworthy because it represents a 54.7% reduction from the 1080p Ultra figure, showing that the most demanding settings at 4K push this hardware combination to its limits.

The medium preset occupies an expected middle ground: 256 FPS at 1080p, 182.4 FPS at 1440p, and 116 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 54.7%, closely mirroring the High preset's 56.8% drop. This consistency across Medium and High suggests that those two presets impose similar relative GPU loads, while Ultra introduces disproportionately heavier effects. The data indicates that for smooth 4K gameplay, users should target High settings or below, as the 91.4 FPS at High is substantially more comfortable than the 59.6 FPS at Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz boosts up to 4.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth provide adequate feeding for the Radeon RX 9070 XT in this title. The processor's benchmark results show a 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and a max-thread score of 4735, indicating moderate single-thread performance that is sufficient for Downfall's engine.

The CPU's role in Downfall becomes clearer when examining frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 284.9 FPS, which approaches the practical ceiling for many display setups. The fact that this frame rate is 51.5% higher than the 4K Low result (137.9 FPS) demonstrates that the GPU is not the only limiting factor at 1080p. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, combined with a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, are capable of sustaining high instruction throughput, but the 14 nm process and Comet Lake architecture are not recent designs. In Cinebench R23, the CPU scores 10297 in multicore and 1453 in single-core, which places it in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. This percentile ranking indicates that while it is not a top-tier processor, it outperforms a significant majority of alternatives.

The nearest rivals for this CPU, based on average benchmark scores, include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% faster), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% faster), Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% faster), and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (1.2% faster). These small deltas—all within 1.2%—suggest that the i5-10400F is positioned in a tightly contested performance band. In the context of Downfall, where frame rates at 1080p High reach 211.5 FPS, the CPU clearly has enough headroom to avoid becoming a severe bottleneck, but the scaling to 4K shows that GPU load grows more rapidly than CPU demand.

The 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 and 8-thread score of 3929 indicate that the CPU scales reasonably well with additional threads, though the 4-thread score of 2560 reveals diminishing returns beyond 4 cores. For a horror game like Downfall, which likely utilizes a limited number of threads for game logic and physics, the 6-core configuration provides a solid balance. The PassMark multithread score of 12115 and single-thread score of 2541 further corroborate this assessment, showing that the CPU can handle both lightly and heavily threaded workloads without major deficiencies.

FAQ

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

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 284.9, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this combination maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 59.6, just below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much faster is the 1080p High result compared to the 4K High result?

A: At 1080p High, the average is 211.5 FPS, while at 4K High it is 91.4 FPS, making the 1080p result approximately 2.3 times faster.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 494 out of 1741 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of the distribution.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is in the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, indicating it outperforms 82% of tested graphics cards.

Q: How does the CPU's single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The CPU scores 688 in 3DMark single-thread and 4735 in max-thread tests, showing strong multi-thread scaling, while its PassMark single-thread score is 2541 against a multithread score of 12115.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT achieves a rank of 494 out of 1741 total tested combinations in Downfall, which places it in the 71.6th percentile of all combos. This is a strong showing, indicating that the pairing outperforms the majority of tested systems in this specific game. The CPU's individual percentile of 73 and the GPU's percentile of 82 both contribute to this solid overall ranking, though the combo's rank is slightly lower than the GPU's percentile alone, suggesting that the CPU does impose some limitation on the GPU's full potential.

The gap between the GPU's 82nd percentile and the combo's 71.6th percentile (based on rank) is meaningful. It implies that while the RX 9070 XT is a high-performing graphics card, the i5-10400F cannot fully saturate it in Downfall at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 284.9 FPS result likely approaches the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability, as further increases would require a stronger processor. However, at 4K, where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, the combo's performance aligns more closely with the GPU's capability, as evidenced by the 91.4 FPS at High settings.

The ranking also reflects the balance of this pairing. With 1741 combos tested, a rank of 494 means that 1247 other combinations perform worse in Downfall. This places the combo well above average, though not in the top tier. The data shows that for a game released in 2016, this modern GPU and mid-range CPU combination delivers excellent frame rates across most settings and resolutions, with only the most demanding 4K Ultra preset falling below 60 FPS. The combo's rank suggests that users seeking very high refresh rates at 1080p or smooth 4K gameplay will find this configuration capable, while those targeting 4K Ultra may need to consider a stronger CPU to avoid leaving GPU performance on the table.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units, with 64 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. Memory is provided by 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The card's pixel rate is 380.2 GPixel/s and texture rate is 760.3 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 48.66 TFLOPS.

In Downfall, the GPU's role is dominant at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the scaling data. The 4K High result of 91.4 FPS is 56.8% lower than the 1080p High result of 211.5 FPS, demonstrating that the GPU's pixel throughput is the primary constraint as resolution increases. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking and average benchmark score of 39647 place it among capable performers, though its nearest rivals—AMD Radeon Pro 575, NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile, AMD Radeon Pro 575X, and AMD Radeon RX Vega 64—are all within 0.6% of its average score, indicating a tight competitive cluster.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant for Downfall's Ultra settings. With 16 GB of VRAM, the card is unlikely to encounter capacity limitations even at 4K Ultra, as horror games with complex textures and lighting typically require substantial memory. The 644.6 GB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and geometry processing remain smooth. The 4K Ultra result of 59.6 FPS, while below the 60 FPS target, shows that the GPU is still delivering playable performance under maximum load, and the 91.4 FPS at 4K High offers a comfortable margin for adjustments.

The GPU's compute capabilities, including 48.66 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 97.32 TFLOPS of FP16, indicate strong raw processing power. In benchmark tests, the GPU scores 26795 in PassMark G3D and 15864 in PassMark GPU Compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260. These results suggest that the RX 9070 XT is well-suited for modern DirectX 12 titles like Downfall, which can leverage the GPU's asynchronous compute and ray tracing features. The 64 RT cores, while not heavily utilized in a 2016 title, provide future-proofing for games that incorporate more advanced lighting effects. Overall, the GPU serves as the primary driver of performance at high resolutions, with the CPU providing sufficient support to avoid severe bottlenecks in most scenarios.