Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates for this Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination in Downfall show a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the rate of decline is steeper than what a purely GPU-bound scenario would typically produce. At 1080p High settings, the combo delivers 172 FPS average. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 123 FPS, a reduction of roughly 28%. Stepping up to 4K High further reduces performance to 77 FPS, which is another 37% drop from the 1440p figure. This progressive decline indicates that the RTX 3070's rendering throughput becomes the dominant constraint at higher resolutions, but the magnitude of the drop between 1080p and 1440p suggests the CPU is still contributing meaningfully at the lower resolution.

The Low settings preset tells a similar story but with different absolute numbers. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 257 FPS, which drops to 183 FPS at 1440p Low (a 29% reduction) and then to 114 FPS at 4K Low (a 38% drop from 1440p). The fact that the percentage drops are nearly identical between High and Low presets is telling — it means the scaling behavior is consistent regardless of graphical load, which points to a balanced bottleneck profile where neither component is completely overwhelmed at any single resolution.

Medium settings show the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum frame times. At 1080p Medium, the average is 210 FPS with a minimum of 179 FPS and maximum of 242 FPS. The 1440p Medium average falls to 150 FPS (min 127, max 172), and 4K Medium averages 93 FPS (min 79, max 107). The spread between minimum and maximum frames narrows as resolution increases — at 1080p the delta is 63 FPS, at 1440p it is 45 FPS, and at 4K it is just 28 FPS. This tightening range at higher resolutions suggests that frame pacing becomes more consistent when the GPU is more heavily loaded, which is typical behavior for a system where the CPU can feed frames fast enough at lower resolutions but the GPU becomes the pacing mechanism at higher ones.

Ultra settings present the most dramatic scaling curve. The 1080p Ultra average of 108 FPS drops to 77 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 29% reduction) and then to 48 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 38% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS is just at the edge of what most players would consider playable for a horror title, where reaction time matters but the genre tolerates lower frame rates than competitive shooters.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its GA104 chip, built on Samsung's 8 nm process, contains 17,400 million transistors across a 392 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1725 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). With 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, the RTX 3070 delivers 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and a texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s.

In Downfall, the 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient across all tested settings and resolutions, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates at 4K Ultra (48 FPS) without any indication of memory-related stuttering or texture pop-in in the measured data. The 448 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate for this horror title's asset streaming demands, even at 4K where texture bandwidth requirements are highest. The pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and the 96 ROPs are the likely limiting factors at 4K Ultra, where the 48 FPS result suggests the GPU's fill rate is being taxed heavily by the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings.

The RTX 3070's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 22214, which places it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT with an average score of 17083 (0.7% lower) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 at 17037 (1% lower). The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 17208 sits slightly above these competitors, though the delta is small enough that real-world game performance will vary by title. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility mean it is fully prepared for modern rendering techniques, which Downfall's engine can leverage.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1592 out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 57th percentile of all system configurations in the database. This is a solid mid-pack result that reflects the balanced nature of this pairing — it is neither a top-tier enthusiast setup nor a budget compromise, but rather a well-matched mid-range configuration that delivers consistent performance across the board.

The ranking position is particularly interesting when considering the individual component percentiles. The CPU sits in the 71st percentile of all processors, while the GPU is in the 61st percentile of all graphics cards. The combo's overall rank of 1592/3716 suggests that the pairing performs slightly better than what the individual component percentiles might predict, indicating good synergy between the i5-11400F's six cores and the RTX 3070's Ampere architecture in this particular title. The fact that the combo outperforms nearly 57% of all tested configurations while using components that individually rank in the 61st-71st percentiles points to efficient utilization rather than any single component dragging the system down.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the i5-11400F + RTX 3070 delivers its highest frame rates across the board. The Low preset achieves 257 FPS average, which is an exceptionally high result that will easily drive any high-refresh-rate monitor to its limits. Medium settings still produce 210 FPS average with a minimum of 179 FPS and maximum of 242 FPS, providing a very smooth experience even during intense horror sequences where frame times can spike. High settings reduce the average to 172 FPS, which remains well above the threshold for competitive play. Ultra settings at 1080p yield 108 FPS average, which is still perfectly playable and represents the best balance of visual quality and performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but the scaling becomes more pronounced. Low settings produce 183 FPS average, which is still excellent for 1440p gaming. Medium settings deliver 150 FPS average with a minimum of 127 FPS and maximum of 172 FPS, providing a consistently smooth experience. High settings drop to 123 FPS average, which is still very playable and represents a good target for players with 144Hz displays. Ultra settings at 1440p produce 77 FPS average, which is a significant reduction from the 1080p Ultra figure but still maintains acceptable smoothness for a horror title.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limits. Low settings produce 114 FPS average, which is surprisingly high for 4K and suggests that Downfall's engine is not particularly demanding when graphical features are turned down. Medium settings deliver 93 FPS average with a minimum of 79 FPS and maximum of 107 FPS, providing a stable experience that should feel smooth on most displays. High settings drop to 77 FPS average, which is still playable but begins to show the strain of 4K rendering. Ultra settings at 4K produce 48 FPS average, which is the only result in the entire dataset that falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered the baseline for smooth gameplay. Players who want to run 4K Ultra will need to accept this compromise or consider a more powerful GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a six-core, twelve-thread processor from the Rocket Lake-S generation, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65W TDP. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is dual-channel DDR4 with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth, and the processor connects via PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes.

In Downfall, the CPU's influence is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. The jump from 1080p Low (257 FPS) to 1440p Low (183 FPS) represents a 29% reduction, which is a larger drop than would be expected if the GPU were the sole constraint. This suggests that at 1080p, the i5-11400F's six cores are capable of feeding frames faster than the RTX 3070 can render them, but the CPU's ceiling is still being approached. The 3DMark benchmarks support this interpretation — the processor scores 5619 in the 16-thread test and 5652 in the max-thread test, indicating that its multi-threaded performance is consistent and well-balanced.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by the 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024, is sufficient for Downfall's horror gameplay, which typically relies more on consistent frame delivery than on extreme CPU throughput. The processor's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177, places it just above the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher) and just below the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower) and AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower). These near-identical scores suggest that the i5-11400F's performance profile is very much in line with its direct competitors, and its 12 MB of L3 cache is well-matched to the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM for this game's data flow requirements.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1080p, the High preset at 172 FPS average is the recommended starting point. It provides a significant visual uplift over Medium (210 FPS) while still maintaining frame rates well above 144Hz, and the 38 FPS difference between High and Ultra (108 FPS) is not worth the visual gain for most users. The Medium preset at 210 FPS is the better choice for competitive players with 240Hz monitors, as the minimum frame rate of 179 FPS ensures the display never drops below its refresh rate.

At 1440p, the Medium preset with 150 FPS average and a minimum of 127 FPS offers the best combination of visual quality and performance. The High preset at 123 FPS is also viable for 144Hz displays, but the Medium setting's minimum of 127 FPS provides more headroom for frame time spikes that are common in horror games. The Ultra preset at 77 FPS is only recommended for players who prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness and are willing to accept occasional dips below 60 FPS during intense scenes.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 114 FPS is the only setting that provides a truly smooth experience, though it sacrifices most of the visual enhancements that make 4K worthwhile. The Medium preset at 93 FPS (79 minimum) is the recommended compromise for players who want 4K resolution with acceptable visual quality, as it maintains frame rates above 75 FPS even in the worst cases. The High preset at 77 FPS is playable but marginal, and the Ultra preset at 48 FPS is not recommended for any scenario — the visual improvements over High are minimal compared to the 29 FPS performance cost. Players who insist on 4K Ultra should look to a GPU with more compute throughput than the RTX 3070, as the data clearly shows this combo is not capable of maintaining 60 FPS at that configuration.