Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a playable horror experience in Downfall, though the combination's strengths and weaknesses shift dramatically depending on resolution and quality preset. At 1080p, this combo is a high-refresh-rate performer, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to just 39 FPS. The data shows a system that scales predictably with settings, with the GPU becoming the dominant constraint as resolution climbs. This 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake processor, with its 2.60 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost clock, couples with the RDNA 4.0-based Navi 44 GPU to produce a pairing that ranks 1667th out of 2928 tested combinations in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 141 FPS at 1920x1080 to 101 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 63 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 55.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the RX 9060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus are being pushed hard as pixel count quadruples.

The Low preset tells a similar story: 210 FPS at 1080p drops to 150 FPS at 1440p and then to 93 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings represents a 38% performance loss, which is substantial but less severe than the 55.3% drop seen at High settings. This suggests that at Low settings, the bottleneck shifts slightly toward other system components, though the GPU still carries most of the load.

Medium settings show the most linear scaling, with 172 FPS at 1080p, 123 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K transition at Medium costs 38.2% of performance, while the 1080p to 1440p step costs 28.5%. Ultra settings are the most punishing: 88 FPS at 1080p, 63 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, and the 55.7% drop from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra mirrors the High preset's scaling pattern.

What this scaling tells us is that Downfall is heavily GPU-limited at 1440p and 4K, regardless of preset. The i5-11400F, with its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support, appears to be more than adequate at 1080p, where even Ultra settings produce 88 FPS. The frame rate differences between presets at 1080p—ranging from 88 FPS at Ultra to 210 FPS at Low—indicate that the CPU is not the limiting factor at this resolution. However, at 4K, the gap between Low (93 FPS) and Ultra (39 FPS) shows the GPU's rendering load dominating the equation.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the Navi 44 chip using RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It packs 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU's boost clock reaches 2990 MHz, with a game clock of 2400 MHz and a base clock of 1700 MHz. Memory runs at 2250 MHz, delivering 18 Gbps effective speed across a 128-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

This 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is the key constraint at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo manages only 39 FPS, likely due to memory pressure and the sheer pixel throughput required. The GPU's pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s are respectable for a mid-range card, but Downfall's horror environments with dynamic lighting and shadows tax the render pipeline heavily.

The RX 9060's FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS places it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16,014. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16,129 (0.7% higher), and the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15,862 (1% lower). The Radeon RX 7700 scores 15,852, also 1% lower, while the Radeon Pro W5500 sits at 15,679, 2.1% below. These close margins suggest the RX 9060 is competitive with the RTX 3060 Ti in general compute, though Downfall-specific results may differ.

At 1080p Medium, the GPU delivers 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 FPS and maximum of 198 FPS, showing smooth frame pacing. The 1440p Medium result of 123 FPS (min 104, max 141) maintains playability, while 4K Medium at 76 FPS (min 65, max 88) remains fluid. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure modern API utilization in Downfall, which likely contributes to the solid performance at mid-range settings.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1667th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all configurations. That ranking is modest, reflecting the mid-range nature of both components. The CPU, however, performs better in isolation: it sits in the 71st percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 17,177. The GPU's 59th percentile ranking is lower, suggesting the graphics card is the weaker link in this pairing.

The i5-11400F's nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks are closely matched: the AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 17,120 (0.3% lower), the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 17,239 (0.4% higher), the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 17,278 (0.6% higher), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 17,074 (0.6% lower). These deltas are minimal, showing the i5-11400F is positioned in a dense performance cluster. The GPU's nearest rivals show a wider spread: the RTX 3060 Ti is 0.7% faster, while the R9 370X and RX 7700 are 1% slower, and the Pro W5500 trails by 2.1%.

The combo's rank of 1667 out of 2928 means it outperforms roughly 43% of tested configurations in Downfall, which is respectable for a system built around a $157 launch MSRP CPU and a current-generation GPU. The data indicates that many higher-ranked combos likely pair the RX 9060 with a stronger CPU, or pair a stronger GPU with this i5-11400F, but the measured results show this pairing is balanced enough to handle 1080p and 1440p gaming well.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that Medium settings provide the best balance of visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 172 FPS average with a 146 FPS minimum, ensuring smooth gameplay in Downfall's tense horror sequences. The 1440p Medium result of 123 FPS (min 104) is also excellent, offering high refresh rate capability on 1440p monitors. Even 4K Medium at 76 FPS (min 65) is playable, making this preset the most versatile choice.

High settings are also viable for those prioritizing visual fidelity. At 1080p High, the combo hits 141 FPS, while 1440p High maintains 101 FPS. However, 4K High drops to 63 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game where frame pacing matters. For 4K users, Medium is strongly preferred over High, as the 76 FPS at Medium versus 63 FPS at High represents a 20.6% performance gain with presumably modest visual sacrifices.

Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p displays, where the combo achieves 88 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, the 63 FPS result is playable but not ideal, and 4K Ultra at 39 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience. Low settings provide maximum frame rates—210 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K—but these come at significant visual cost in a game that relies on atmosphere and lighting for its horror impact.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 210 FPS average, Medium settings hit 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 FPS and maximum of 198 FPS, High settings reach 141 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 88 FPS. The spread from 88 to 210 FPS across presets shows the GPU has ample headroom at this resolution, and even the most demanding preset remains comfortably above 60 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong but begins to show GPU limitations. Low settings achieve 150 FPS, Medium settings average 123 FPS with a 104 FPS minimum and 141 FPS maximum, High settings deliver 101 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 63 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 104 FPS ensures consistent frame delivery, while the Ultra result at 63 FPS is right at the edge of smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Low settings produce 93 FPS, Medium settings average 76 FPS with a 65 FPS minimum and 88 FPS maximum, High settings drop to 63 FPS, and Ultra settings plummet to 39 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K provides the only consistently smooth experience, with its 65 FPS minimum keeping frames above typical vsync thresholds. The Ultra result at 39 FPS is the only measured value below 60 FPS at any resolution, highlighting the GPU's limitations at 4K with maximum settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake family, built on Intel's 14 nm process with a 276 mm² die size. It runs at 2.60 GHz base and boosts to 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is limited to dual-channel DDR4 with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, and the CPU connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F shows solid multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 14,340, while single-core reaches 2,024. Geekbench multi-core hits 7,737 and single-core 1,777. PassMark multi-thread scores 16,908 with single-thread at 2,981. The 3DMark results show scaling from 1,691 for 2 threads to 5,652 for max threads, indicating reasonable multi-core efficiency.

In Downfall, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions, but at 1080p, it enables the high frame rates seen. At 1080p Low, the 210 FPS result suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at high frame rates, with the 12 threads handling game logic and physics without becoming a bottleneck. The 4.40 GHz boost clock provides strong single-thread performance, which is critical for horror games that often have scripting and AI systems running on main threads.

The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,177, confirms it is a capable mid-range processor. Its nearest rivals include the EPYC 7H12 (0.3% faster) and the Core i5-12450H (0.4% slower), showing it sits in a competitive performance band. For Downfall specifically, the data shows the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution tested, as frame rates scale consistently with GPU load rather than showing CPU-bound plateaus.