Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 580 reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 103.3 FPS, which drops to 72.4 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 43 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 30% decline from 1080p to 1440p and a 58% decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling is consistent with a system where the graphics card is the primary limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom in this 2016 horror title.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern holds: 86.3 FPS at 1080p, 62.4 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27.7%, while the drop from 1080p to 4K is 58.3%. High settings show 72.2 FPS at 1080p, 48.6 FPS at 1440p, and 33.1 FPS at 4K, representing declines of 32.7% and 54.2% respectively.

Ultra settings present the steepest curve. The RX 580 manages 41.1 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 30.2 FPS at 1440p (26.5% reduction) and 21.5 FPS at 4K (47.7% reduction from 1080p). The diminishing returns at higher resolutions suggest that pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck; the 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 42.88 GPixel/s pixel rate of the Polaris 20 chip are being saturated.

The data indicates that resolution scaling is nearly linear for this GPU, with each step up in resolution costing roughly 25-35% performance at lower settings and slightly less at Ultra. This behavior points to the RX 580's 8 GB GDDR5 memory and 256-bit bus being adequate for the texture loads but the shader throughput being insufficient for 4K at any preset above Low.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the measured rows show that Low settings deliver 103.3 FPS, which is well above playable thresholds. Medium produces 86.3 FPS, and High yields 72.2 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 31.1 FPS (from 72.2 to 41.1), which is a 43% performance penalty. Given that Ultra at 1080p still clears 40 FPS, players seeking smooth motion should prefer High settings, which offer the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate. Medium is a safer choice for those who want to maintain 60+ FPS consistently.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low hits 72.4 FPS, Medium drops to 62.4 FPS, and High falls to 48.6 FPS. Ultra trails at 30.2 FPS. The recommended preset here is Medium, as it stays above 60 FPS while providing noticeably better visuals than Low. High is acceptable if the user prioritizes image quality over frame rate, but the data shows a 22.1% penalty versus Medium.

For 3840x2160, no preset achieves 60 FPS. Low reaches 43 FPS, Medium 36 FPS, High 33.1 FPS, and Ultra 21.5 FPS. Given that the game is a horror title where frame pacing matters for atmosphere, Low is the only sensible choice for 4K, providing 43 FPS. Medium could be considered if the user accepts 36 FPS, but the marginal visual gain over Low is not worth the 16.3% frame rate loss. Ultra at 4K is effectively unplayable.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is to favor Medium at 1080p and 1440p, and Low at 4K. The data shows that the RX 580's performance envelope is best utilized at Medium settings, where the combination of the i5-12400's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 throughput keeps frame times consistent.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 580 ranks 1595 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the bottom 8.4% of all configurations, indicating that this pairing is not optimized for this particular title. The low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU, which sits at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs in the database. The CPU, by contrast, ranks at the 77th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's nearest rivals in overall benchmark performance include the Intel Core i7-9700 (deltaPct 0.1), Intel Core i7-8700 (deltaPct -0.2), AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (deltaPct -0.4), and Intel Core i5-11600K (deltaPct 0.4). These deltas are all within 1%, meaning the i5-12400's processing power is essentially interchangeable with these other parts. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (deltaPct 0), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Radeon Pro 455 (deltaPct 1.1), and NVIDIA P106-090 (deltaPct -1.1).

Given that the CPU is performing at a high level relative to its peers, the combo's poor rank in Downfall must be attributed to the GPU. The RX 580's 53rd percentile standing means that roughly half of all tested GPUs outperform it, and in a game like Downfall that appears to scale strongly with GPU throughput, this becomes a decisive factor. The combo rank of 1595 suggests that users with this pairing will experience frame rates well below what the CPU alone could support.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low delivers 103.3 FPS, Medium 86.3 FPS, High 72.2 FPS, and Ultra 41.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 62.2 FPS, representing a 60.2% performance range. This is the widest spread across all resolutions, indicating that at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to show clear differentiation between presets.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 72.4 FPS, Medium 62.4 FPS, High 48.6 FPS, and Ultra 30.2 FPS. The spread narrows to 42.2 FPS, a 58.3% range. The relative ordering remains the same, but the gap between Medium and High grows to 13.8 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 18.4 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 43 FPS, Medium 36 FPS, High 33.1 FPS, and Ultra 21.5 FPS. The spread is 21.5 FPS, a 50% range. The differences between presets compress at this resolution, with Low to Medium being 7 FPS, Medium to High being 2.9 FPS, and High to Ultra being 11.6 FPS. The compression between Medium and High suggests that at 4K, the GPU is struggling to maintain even modest preset differences.

The data shows that the i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads are not the limiting factor, as the FPS scales consistently with resolution and preset changes. The CPU's 3DMark max threads score of 5890 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 indicate substantial processing capability that is not being fully utilized in this game.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. It operates at a base clock of 1257 MHz and a boost clock of 1340 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a key factor in how this GPU handles Downfall's texture-heavy environments.

The GPU's compute capabilities include 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s are moderate for a card of this era. The FP32 throughput of 6.175 TFLOPS is the same as FP16 (1:1 ratio), indicating no specialized half-precision acceleration. This matters for Downfall, which likely uses standard 32-bit shader operations.

The 185 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU rating indicate that this card draws a moderate amount of power. The PCIe 3.0 x16 interface is sufficient for this workload, as the game's data transfer requirements do not appear to saturate the bus. The 8 GB VRAM is adequate for 1080p and 1440p at all presets, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of higher resolution and complex effects likely stresses the memory subsystem.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context: PassMark G3D score of 8813 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1005. The Geekbench scores of 52176 (Metal), 37453 (OpenCL), and 45173 (Vulkan) show that the card performs consistently across APIs. The fact that the Vulkan score is higher than OpenCL suggests that the GCN 4.0 architecture handles Vulkan workloads well, which may explain why Downfall performs as well as it does at 1080p Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Downfall?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the combo achieves consistently playable frame rates. At Low, it hits 103.3 FPS, and at High it reaches 72.2 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (72.4 FPS) and Medium (62.4 FPS) clear 60 FPS, while 4K never exceeds 43 FPS.

Q: Why does Ultra settings perform so poorly at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the combo averages 21.5 FPS, which is a 47.7% reduction from the 41.1 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This indicates that the RX 580's 6.175 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth are insufficient for the combined load of 4K resolution and maximum visual effects.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The CPU ranks at the 77th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks at the 53rd percentile. The resolution scaling pattern—where FPS drops consistently from 1080p to 4K across all presets—indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The i5-12400's 12 threads provide ample processing headroom.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1595 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the bottom 8.4%. This poor ranking is driven by the GPU, as the CPU's nearest rivals (Intel Core i7-9700, i7-8700, i5-11600K) all perform within 0.4% of each other, while the GPU's rivals (GTX 570, GTX 950) are similarly clustered.

Q: Can I achieve 60 FPS at 1440p with this hardware?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings or lower. The measured data shows 62.4 FPS at Medium and 72.4 FPS at Low for 2560x1440. High settings drop to 48.6 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the maximum playable preset at 1080p?

A: High settings at 1920x1080 deliver 72.2 FPS, which is comfortably above 60 FPS. Ultra drops to 41.1 FPS, so High is the recommended maximum. Medium provides 86.3 FPS if the user prefers additional headroom.