Downfall

The data for Downfall with the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti presents a clear hierarchy of performance across its four presets. At 1080p, the Low preset produces an average of 272.4 FPS, while the Medium preset delivers 219.6 FPS, and High yields 179.3 FPS. The Ultra preset, however, drops significantly to 114.8 FPS. The scaling is similar at 1440p, where Low achieves 195 FPS, Medium 157.8 FPS, High 132.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 83.1 FPS. At 4K, the gap between presets narrows in relative terms but remains substantial: Low hits 121.4 FPS, Medium 98.2 FPS, High 82.9 FPS, and Ultra 49.9 FPS.

The optimal choice for this combination is the High preset. It provides a strong balance, maintaining an average above 130 FPS at both 1080p and 1440p, and remaining comfortably above 80 FPS at 4K. While the Low preset offers a higher frame rate, the jump from Low to High is modest in cost at 1080p (a drop from 272.4 to 179.3 FPS) but yields a substantially better visual experience. The Medium preset is a viable alternative if maximum smoothness is preferred over fidelity, but High offers the best overall experience without approaching the steep performance penalty of Ultra. The Ultra preset, which nearly halves the frame rate compared to High at every resolution, is not recommended for this pairing, as the visual uplift does not justify the 49.9 FPS result at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. The processor’s role in Downfall is best understood through its multi-threaded capabilities. Its benchmark scores show a strong scaling from 2 threads (1350 in 3dmark) to 8 threads (3929), though the jump to max threads (4735) is relatively small, indicating that the 12-thread configuration provides diminishing returns beyond 8 threads. This suggests that the game leverages multiple cores effectively, but the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in most scenarios.

The processor’s performance relative to its peers is modest. In the database, it sits at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14168. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552, which scores 14115 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, which scores 14277 (-0.8% relative). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the i5-10400F is a mid-pack performer. In Downfall, the CPU’s 12 threads and boost clock are sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The measured data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 272.4 FPS, a frame rate that is likely limited by the CPU’s single-thread performance rather than the GPU. However, as resolution increases, the CPU load remains constant while the GPU load rises, shifting the bottleneck.

The benchmark results indicate that the CPU’s single-thread score (688 in 3dmark single-thread) is not exceptionally high, which may explain the relatively flat scaling from 1080p to 1440p at the Low preset (272.4 to 195 FPS, a 28% drop). This is a larger drop than expected from resolution alone, suggesting the CPU is struggling to maintain the highest frame rates. Conversely, at the Ultra preset, the frame rate drops more steeply with resolution (114.8 to 49.9 FPS from 1080p to 4K), indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads are adequate for Downfall’s horror gameplay, but they place a ceiling on the maximum achievable frame rate at lower settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA104 chip, manufactured on an 8 nm process by Samsung. It features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. Its base clock is 1575 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and the memory operates at 19 Gbps effective. The GPU’s compute power is substantial, with a FP32 throughput of 21.75 TFLOPS.

In Downfall, the GPU’s role is dominant at higher resolutions and quality settings. The measured frame rates show that the GPU is the primary limiting factor when the preset is set to Ultra. At 1080p Ultra, the system achieves 114.8 FPS, but this drops to 83.1 FPS at 1440p and 49.9 FPS at 4K. This scaling is consistent with the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for the game’s textures, but the 256-bit bus and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are taxed heavily at 4K Ultra, causing the significant frame rate reduction.

The GPU’s performance relative to its peers places it at the 74th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30849. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (score 30755, 0.3% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (score 31112, -0.8% relative). These deltas are small, indicating that the RTX 3070 Ti is a solid mid-range performer. The PassMark G3D score of 23356 reinforces this, showing strong DirectX 11 and 12 performance (scores of 192 and 91, respectively). The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is adequate for Downfall’s 2016 release, but its memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck at 4K, particularly on the Ultra preset where the frame rate falls below 60 FPS. The data shows that the GPU can handle the game comfortably at 1080p and 1440p on High, but pushes the limits at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 654th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations, which is a reasonable result given the individual component rankings. The CPU is at the 73rd percentile, and the GPU is at the 74th percentile, so the combo’s rank is slightly below what a simple average of those percentiles might suggest. This indicates that the pairing is not perfectly balanced, with one component potentially limiting the other’s full potential.

The rank of 654 out of 1741 means that roughly 62% of tested combinations perform better, while 38% perform worse. This is a competitive position, but not a top-tier one. The data suggests that the combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it delivers high frame rates, but it is not optimized for 4K Ultra settings. The combo’s performance is likely constrained by the CPU’s 6-core/12-thread configuration at lower resolutions, while the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and memory bandwidth limit it at higher resolutions. The result is a system that excels in most scenarios but lacks the headroom for the most demanding settings.

The gap between this combo and the top performers is significant, but it is a reliable mid-range option. The measured FPS data shows that it can achieve over 200 FPS at 1080p Medium, which is excellent for a horror game where smoothness is critical. The combo’s rank in the database reflects its balanced performance, but it also highlights that for 4K gaming, users would need to step down to High settings to maintain playable frame rates, as the Ultra preset’s 49.9 FPS average is below the ideal threshold.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component for this combo. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 272.4 at 1080p to 195 at 1440p (a 28.4% decrease) and then to 121.4 at 4K (a 37.7% decrease from 1440p). This scaling is steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest, indicating that the CPU is the primary limiter at 1080p, and the GPU becomes more involved as resolution rises. The CPU’s single-thread performance is insufficient to maintain the highest frame rates, so the system cannot fully utilize the GPU’s potential at 1080p.

At the High preset, the frame rates are 179.3 at 1080p, 132.8 at 1440p (a 25.9% drop), and 82.9 at 4K (a 37.6% drop from 1440p). This scaling is more consistent, showing that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck. The drop from 1440p to 4K is particularly pronounced, reflecting the GPU’s memory bandwidth limitations. At the Ultra preset, the scaling is even more severe: 114.8 at 1080p, 83.1 at 1440p (a 27.6% drop), and 49.9 at 4K (a 40% drop from 1440p). This pattern confirms that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are inadequate for 4K Ultra, causing the frame rate to fall below 60 FPS.

The data shows that the system is CPU-limited at 1080p, particularly on the Low preset where the frame rate exceeds 270 FPS, but becomes GPU-limited at 4K. The transition point is around 1440p, where the scaling becomes more uniform across presets. At 4K, the GPU’s limitations are clear, with the Ultra preset delivering less than half the frame rate of the High preset. This suggests that for 4K gaming, users should stick to High settings to maintain a playable experience, as the jump to Ultra is not worth the 40% performance penalty. The resolution scaling analysis indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it offers a wide range of settings to achieve high frame rates.