Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT delivers a remarkably consistent experience across resolutions in Downfall, with the GPU clearly driving performance at higher settings while the CPU keeps pace at lower presets. This combination lands at rank 587 out of 1,741 tested combos for this title, placing it in the upper third of all pairings. The data reveals a system that is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, with headroom at 1080p that suggests the CPU becomes a limiting factor only at the lowest settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that decline varies heavily with the graphics preset. At Low settings, average FPS drops from 288.4 at 1080p to 204.7 at 1440p, then further to 130.9 at 4K — that is a 54.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is substantial but not catastrophic for a horror title where atmospheric pacing matters more than raw frame counts.

At High settings, the scaling is tighter: 192.7 FPS at 1080p, 142.1 at 1440p, and 87.4 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 26.3%, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 38.5%. This pattern indicates that at High preset, the GPU is doing progressively more work, but the RX 6800 XT still has enough bandwidth and compute headroom to keep frame rates well above playable thresholds even at 4K.

The Medium preset tells a similar story: 238.9 FPS at 1080p, 171.3 at 1440p, and 107 at 4K. The Ultra preset is where the GPU really strains, with 123.8 FPS at 1080p dropping to 85 at 1440p and then collapsing to 51.6 at 4K. That 58.3% loss from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is the steepest scaling in the entire dataset, suggesting that the Ultra preset's additional effects (likely ray tracing or heavy post-processing) are taxing the GPU's 72 ray accelerators and 128 ROPs far more than the standard presets.

The limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p Low, the 288.4 FPS figure is close to what a 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake chip can feed; the i5-11400F's 4.40 GHz boost clock and 12 MB shared L3 cache are doing the heavy lifting. At 4K Ultra, the 51.6 FPS result is purely GPU-bound — the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth are saturated, and no amount of CPU headroom will recover that frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 587 out of 1,741 tested pairings in Downfall, this configuration sits in the 66th percentile of all combinations. That places it firmly in the upper-middle tier — not a top-100 contender, but well above the median for a game released in 2016 that can run on modest hardware.

The CPU alone scores in the 75th percentile against all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17,181. Its nearest rivals are clustered tightly: the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U scores 17,189 (a 0% delta), the Intel Core i7-1260P scores 17,212 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17,215 (-0.2%). The i5-11400F essentially trades blows with these parts, which is notable because the 5700U and 1260P are mobile chips with lower sustained power budgets. The desktop i5's 65 W TDP and 14 nm process allow it to hold clocks better under load, which matters in a game like Downfall that benefits from consistent frame pacing.

The GPU ranks in the 87th percentile overall, with an average benchmark score of 49,982. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A550M at 49,737 (0.5% delta), the NVIDIA RTX A1000 at 50,826 (-1.7%), the NVIDIA CMP 50HX at 49,071 (1.9%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER at 48,704 (2.6%). The RX 6800 XT outperforms the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER by 2.6% in average benchmark score, which is a meaningful gap given the architectural differences between RDNA 2 and Ada Lovelace.

In game-specific terms, the combo's rank suggests that Downfall is not particularly demanding on either component. The 16 GB VRAM buffer is overkill for a 2016 horror title, and the 6-core CPU is more than sufficient for the game's threading model. The bottleneck is almost certainly the GPU at high resolutions and presets, while the CPU becomes the constraint only at 1080p Low.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium as the sweet spot for this combination across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo produces 238.9 FPS — only 17.2% below the Low preset's 288.4 FPS, but with visibly better visual quality. At 1440p Medium, 171.3 FPS is still far beyond what any 60 Hz or even 120 Hz display can show, and it leaves enough headroom for background tasks. At 4K Medium, 107 FPS is comfortable for a horror game where frame drops can break immersion.

High settings are viable but not optimal. At 1080p High, 192.7 FPS is still excellent, and at 1440p High, 142.1 FPS is great for high-refresh panels. The 4K High figure of 87.4 FPS is playable, but it is close enough to the 60 FPS threshold that any demanding scene could cause noticeable dips. For a genre where smoothness matters more than pixel count, Medium at 4K is the safer choice.

Ultra settings should be avoided except at 1080p. The 123.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra is acceptable, but the 1440p Ultra figure of 85 FPS is marginal, and 4K Ultra at 51.6 FPS is below the standard 60 FPS target. Given that the visual difference between Medium and Ultra in a dark, atmospheric horror title is often subtle — especially with the RX 6800 XT's RDNA 2 architecture handling effects efficiently — the performance cost is not justified.

The recommended approach: run Medium at 4K for the best balance of fidelity and frame rate, or High at 1440p if the display supports high refresh rates. At 1080p, High is the sensible default, with Ultra available to those who prioritize image quality over the extra 68.9 FPS headroom that Medium offers.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K in Downfall?

A: Yes, at Medium and High settings. The measured 4K Medium average is 107 FPS, and 4K High averages 87.4 FPS. However, 4K Ultra drops to 51.6 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS target.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the 288.4 FPS result is near the practical limit for what the i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads can feed. At higher presets, the RX 6800 XT takes over as the limiting factor, as shown by the 123.8 FPS Ultra result.

Q: How does the RX 6800 XT compare to the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in this context?

A: The RX 6800 XT has a 2.6% higher average benchmark score (49,982 vs 48,704). In Downfall specifically, the AMD card's 16 GB VRAM and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth provide ample headroom for the game's textures at 4K.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz 1440p monitor?

A: High settings at 1440p produce 142.1 FPS, which is just above a 144 Hz refresh rate. Medium at 171.3 FPS gives more margin, while Ultra at 85 FPS is not suitable for high-refresh gaming.

Q: Does the i5-11400F hold back the RX 6800 XT in this game?

A: Only at 1080p Low, where the 288.4 FPS result suggests the CPU is nearing its limit. At 1080p High, the 192.7 FPS figure indicates the GPU still has room to work, so the CPU is not a meaningful constraint at reasonable settings.

Q: Is 16 GB of VRAM necessary for Downfall?

A: No, but it provides future-proofing. The game's 2016 release date means it was designed for GPUs with far less memory, so the RX 6800 XT's 16 GB GDDR6 buffer is never stressed, even at 4K Ultra.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured frame rates. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than enough for Downfall's textures and geometry at any resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 51.6 FPS is the only data point where the card appears genuinely taxed, and that is likely due to the 72 ray accelerators being engaged heavily — a feature that the 2016 game was not designed around.

The clock behavior is telling: the base clock of 1825 MHz and boost clock of 2250 MHz, with a game clock of 2015 MHz, allow the card to maintain high frequencies under sustained load. The 288.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 648.0 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient for a horror title that relies on lighting and shadow effects rather than high-poly geometry. The 20.74 TFLOPS FP32 compute performance is also far beyond what Downfall requires, which explains why the card never dips below 51.6 FPS even at the most demanding preset.

The GPU's 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,982, puts it in the same class as the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (2.6% lower) and above the Intel Arc A550M (0.5% higher). In Downfall, the card's strengths align well with the game's needs: high memory bandwidth for texture streaming, strong rasterization throughput, and enough VRAM to avoid any swapping or compression artifacts. The 128 ROPs handle the pixel fill rate demanded by 4K resolutions, while the 288 TMUs ensure texture sampling never becomes a bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 12 MB shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but they are entirely adequate for Downfall's threading model. The CPU's 75th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 17,181, places it in the same performance bracket as the Ryzen 7 5700U (0% delta) and Intel Core i7-1260P (-0.2% delta).

In this game, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The measured results show that at 1080p Low, the 288.4 FPS figure is likely near the CPU's ceiling — the 6-core, 12-thread configuration can process the game's single-threaded bottleneck (common in 2016 engines) at roughly that rate. The single-thread benchmark scores support this: a 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,029 demonstrate solid per-core performance for a 14 nm chip.

The 4.40 GHz boost clock is critical for Downfall's frame pacing. Horror games rely on consistent frame times to maintain atmosphere, and any CPU stutter breaks immersion. The i5-11400F's ability to sustain high clocks on 1-2 cores, combined with 12 threads for background tasks, keeps frame times stable across all tested settings. The 65 W TDP also means the CPU does not throttle in typical desktop cases, which is important for prolonged gaming sessions.

The CPU's nearest rival data shows it is essentially equal to the Ryzen 7 5700U, which is a mobile chip with a lower sustained clock. This suggests that the i5-11400F has headroom at lower resolutions, but the 1080p Low result of 288.4 FPS indicates the practical limit is around 300 FPS in this title. At 1440p and above, the CPU is never the limiting factor, as the GPU's workload scales with resolution while the CPU's workload remains constant.