Downfall

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in Downfall?

A: The data suggests the pairing is balanced enough to produce very high frame rates across all tested settings. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 333 FPS, and even at 4K Ultra it holds 84 FPS. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, keep up with the GPU's demands, though the CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs does place it lower than the GPU's 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve a high refresh rate?

A: For 144Hz displays, 1440p High is the sweet spot at 217 FPS, while 1440p Medium hits 264 FPS. At 1080p, all settings except the highest exceed 280 FPS, with Low at 333 FPS. At 4K, only High (135 FPS) and Medium (164 FPS) break past the 120 FPS threshold; Ultra drops to 84 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090's 32 GB of VRAM affect Downfall performance?

A: The 32 GB GDDR7 memory with a 512-bit bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is far more than this game needs, but it ensures zero memory-related hitches even at 4K Ultra. The high bandwidth allows the GPU to stream textures rapidly, contributing to the high average FPS at 4K Medium (164 FPS) and 4K High (135 FPS).

Q: Should I use the Ultra preset for the best visual experience?

A: Only if you prioritize visuals over frame rate. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 84 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced horror movement. At 1440p Ultra, it averages 135 FPS. The High preset at 1440p (217 FPS) or 4K (135 FPS) offers a better balance of visual fidelity and smoothness.

Q: Does the CPU's 12 MB of L3 cache matter for this game?

A: The shared 12 MB L3 cache, combined with per-core 80 KB L1 and 512 KB L2, provides adequate data locality for a 2016 horror title. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14340 and single-core score of 2024 indicate strong per-thread performance, which is more critical for this game than raw cache size.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This specific combination ranks 193rd out of 3,716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 5.2% of all configurations. The ranking reflects the GPU's massive compute headroom (104.8 TFLOPS FP32) compensating for the CPU's mid-range standing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process and 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, ensuring that Downfall's textures and geometry are fed to the 21,760 shading units without throttling. The GPU's base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz allow it to sustain high utilization across all resolutions.

The measured FPS data confirms the GPU's headroom. At 4K, the difference between Low (201 FPS) and Ultra (84 FPS) is 117 FPS, showing that the card scales predictably with settings load. The 4K Medium result of 164 FPS (with a 140-189 FPS range) demonstrates that the GPU can handle intermediate settings with ease, while the 4K Ultra result of 84 FPS indicates a more demanding shader and post-processing load. The RTX 5090's 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores are underutilized in this title, as Downfall is a 2016 release without ray tracing requirements.

The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 79,842, places it near the top of the database. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79,605 (0.3% delta), confirming that the RTX 5090 is at the performance ceiling. This explains why the combo achieves 333 FPS at 1080p Low — the GPU is never the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads from the Rocket Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 14 nm process and 65 W TDP make it a modest, efficient part compared to the GPU's 575 W TDP. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s via dual-channel DDR4 is sufficient for this game, though it lags behind the GPU's 1.79 TB/s.

Synthetic benchmarks show the CPU's capabilities: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 14,340, single-core scores 2,024, and Geekbench multi-core hits 7,737. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,619 and single-thread score of 868 indicate that the CPU handles both multi-threaded and single-threaded loads competently. For a horror game like Downfall, which typically relies on strong single-thread performance for game logic and physics, the 4.40 GHz boost clock is the key asset.

The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs places it below the GPU's 92nd percentile. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher average score), Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), and AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower). These small deltas show the i5-11400F sits in a tight performance cluster, meaning it won't dramatically bottleneck the RTX 5090 in most scenarios. At 1080p, the CPU's role becomes more pronounced, but the data shows it still delivers 333 FPS at Low settings, suggesting it can feed the GPU adequately even at high frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 193rd out of 3,716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 5.2% of all configurations. This rank reflects a significant imbalance: the GPU is near the top of its class (92nd percentile), while the CPU is mid-range (71st percentile). The combo's position at 193rd, rather than higher, indicates that some combinations with stronger CPUs achieve better frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

At 1080p Low, the combo hits 333 FPS, which is close to the practical limit for most displays. The 1440p results show the combo's strength: 298 FPS at Low, 264 FPS at Medium, 217 FPS at High, and 135 FPS at Ultra. These numbers suggest that the GPU's raw power overcomes any CPU limitations at these resolutions. At 4K, the combo still performs well, with 201 FPS at Low, 164 FPS at Medium, and 135 FPS at High, before dropping to 84 FPS at Ultra.

The rank of 193rd out of 3,716 means that roughly 3,500 other combos perform worse in this game, but about 190 perform better. Those better-performing combos likely pair the RTX 5090 with newer, higher-clocked CPUs like the Core i9-14900K or Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which would reduce CPU bottlenecks at 1080p. However, for a 2016 horror title, this combo's ranking is strong, and the measured FPS at 1440p and 4K shows that the CPU rarely limits the experience.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for the best experience. At 4K, the Medium preset offers the best balance: 164 FPS average with a 140-189 FPS range, which is smooth on high-refresh displays and visually superior to Low. The High preset at 4K (135 FPS) is also viable, but the 29 FPS drop from Medium to High suggests diminishing returns. The Ultra preset at 4K (84 FPS) is only recommended if you have a 60Hz display and want maximum visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset (217 FPS) is the standout choice, offering near-identical visual quality to Ultra (135 FPS) at a 60% higher frame rate. The Medium preset (264 FPS) is also excellent if you prefer higher refresh rates. At 1080p, the High preset (289 FPS) is ideal for 240Hz displays, while Medium (310 FPS) and Low (333 FPS) are overkill for most monitors. The Ultra preset at 1080p (190 FPS) is a reasonable choice for 144Hz displays.

The optimal recommendation is to prioritize High settings at your target resolution, as the data shows this preset delivers the best visual-to-performance ratio. For 4K users, Medium is the sweet spot. For 1440p and 1080p users, High provides the best experience without the frame rate penalty of Ultra.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 201 FPS average
• Medium: 164 FPS average (140 min, 189 max)
• High: 135 FPS average
• Ultra: 84 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 298 FPS average
• Medium: 264 FPS average (225 min, 304 max)
• High: 217 FPS average
• Ultra: 135 FPS average

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 333 FPS average
• Medium: 310 FPS average (264 min, 357 max)
• High: 289 FPS average
• Ultra: 190 FPS average

The scaling pattern is consistent across resolutions. Moving from Low to Medium costs roughly 15-20% of average FPS, while High to Ultra costs about 40-50%. The 4K Ultra result of 84 FPS is the only sub-100 FPS measurement, indicating that the game's highest settings impose a significant load even on this flagship GPU. The 1080p Medium range of 264-357 FPS shows the combo can push past 300 FPS consistently, while 1440p Medium (225-304 FPS) remains above 225 FPS at all times. These numbers confirm that the RTX 5090 provides massive headroom in this title, and the i5-11400F keeps up sufficiently to avoid major frame rate drops.