Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-12400 + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a mid-range gaming combination that lands at rank 1667 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 57th percentile of all configurations. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings tiers reveal a system that handles 1080p and 1440p gaming comfortably while struggling to maintain smooth 4K performance at higher visual presets. This analysis walks through the data to determine optimal settings, identify the bottlenecking component, and provide context for how this specific CPU-GPU pairing behaves in this horror title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combo shows a clear pattern: lower settings yield dramatically higher frame rates, while the Ultra preset creates a substantial performance cliff at every resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 210 FPS average, Medium drops to 172 FPS, High settles at 141 FPS, and Ultra falls to 88 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is 53 FPS, which represents a 37.6% performance penalty for the highest quality tier. Given that the High preset still produces 141 FPS — well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay — High is the recommended setting for 1080p if visual fidelity matters.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with more severity. Low runs at 150 FPS, Medium at 123 FPS, High at 101 FPS, and Ultra drops to 63 FPS. The High preset at 1440p remains playable at 101 FPS, making it the best balance between visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset at 1440p exactly hits 63 FPS average, which is technically above 60 but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. For players who prioritize frame rate stability, High is the optimal choice at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes fundamentally. Low produces 93 FPS, Medium drops to 76 FPS, High falls to 63 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 39 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is unplayable by any standard, and even High at 63 FPS hovers right at the edge of acceptable performance. The Medium preset at 4K, delivering 76 FPS with a recorded minimum of 65 FPS, offers the best combination of playability and visual quality for 4K displays. The minimum FPS data for Medium at 4K (65 FPS) confirms that this preset maintains acceptable frame times without dipping below the 60 FPS mark.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings 6 cores and 12 threads to this pairing, operating with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, features an 18 MB shared L3 cache and a dual-channel memory bus supporting both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The CPU's benchmark scores indicate solid multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 15989, Geekbench multi-core hits 8564, and PassMark multi-thread scores 18747. Single-thread performance is equally respectable, with Cinebench R23 single-core at 2257 and Geekbench single-core at 1848.

In Downfall, a horror title from 2016, the CPU's role appears moderate given the frame rates achieved. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 210 FPS, suggesting the game is not heavily CPU-bound at lower settings. The CPU's 3DMark scores — 910 single-thread, 1692 for 2 threads, and 3012 for 4 threads — indicate adequate per-core performance for a game that likely relies on fewer threads. The 12-thread configuration provides headroom for background tasks, though the 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and max-thread score of 5890 show diminishing returns beyond 8 threads (4745).

The CPU's percentile ranking of 72 (versus all CPUs) places it above the majority of processors, with nearest rivals including the AMD EPYC 7643 (0.1% lower avg score) and Intel Core i7-1355U (0.3% lower). The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18683 is marginally higher than these competitors. The 65W TDP suggests efficient operation, and the PCIe Gen 5 interface with 16 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the GPU. However, the data suggests that at higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 288.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Clock speeds include a 1700 MHz base, 2400 MHz game clock, and 2990 MHz boost, with memory running at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The GPU's compute resources include 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The FP32 performance reaches 21.43 TFLOPS, with a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s.

The GPU's benchmark results show a mixed profile. PassMark G3D scores 17631, while Geekbench OpenCL reaches 88183 and Vulkan hits 39476. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 reflects modern API performance. The GPU's percentile ranking of 59 (versus all GPUs) places it in the upper-mid range, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (0.7% higher avg score) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 (1% higher). The average benchmark score of 16014 puts it slightly below the RTX 3060 Ti but above several competitors.

In Downfall, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity proves adequate across all tested settings, with no indication of memory-related stuttering in the minimum FPS data. The 128-bit memory bus and 288 GB/s bandwidth appear sufficient for this game's requirements. The GPU's performance scaling across resolutions shows a clear pattern: from 1080p to 1440p, frame rates drop by 28-33% depending on settings, and from 1440p to 4K, the drop is 38-40%. This consistent scaling suggests the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, particularly at Ultra settings where 4K performance falls to 39 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves rank 1667 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 57th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack ranking reflects the balanced but not exceptional nature of this pairing. The CPU's percentile of 72 and GPU's percentile of 59 suggest the GPU is the weaker component relative to their respective populations, which influences the overall combo ranking.

Comparing to the nearest rivals in the CPU and GPU benchmarks provides context. The CPU sits within 0.9% of the AMD EPYC 7643 and Intel Core i7-1355U in average benchmark score, indicating performance parity with those processors. The GPU is within 2.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon R9 370X, showing it competes closely with these cards. However, the combo rank of 1667 reflects that many other pairings outperform this specific combination in Downfall.

The ranking data suggests that this combo is better suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming than 4K. The measured frame rates at 1440p High (101 FPS) and 1080p High (141 FPS) represent solid performance for most gaming scenarios. The Ultra preset at 4K, with its 39 FPS average, drags down the overall capability assessment. Players considering this combo should target 1080p or 1440p with High settings for the best experience, reserving 4K for Medium or Low presets.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals important information about the system's bottleneck. At High settings, frame rates progress from 141 FPS at 1080p to 101 FPS at 1440p to 63 FPS at 4K. This represents a 28.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 37.6% drop from 1440p to 4K. At Medium settings, the progression is 172 FPS to 123 FPS to 76 FPS, with drops of 28.5% and 38.2% respectively. At Low settings, the progression is 210 FPS to 150 FPS to 93 FPS, showing drops of 28.6% and 38.0%.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings suggest that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences between resolutions at lower settings, where the CPU has more work to do relative to the GPU. Instead, the uniform scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's rendering capabilities, including its 8 GB VRAM and 288 GB/s memory bandwidth, determine the performance ceiling at each resolution.

At 4K specifically, the Ultra preset's 39 FPS represents a 56% drop from the 88 FPS at 1080p Ultra, which is a more severe decline than the other settings tiers. This suggests that the Ultra preset at 4K pushes the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range, likely due to the combination of increased pixel count and the most demanding visual effects. The Medium preset at 4K, with its minimum FPS of 65, provides the most stable 4K experience, indicating that this resolution requires a settings reduction to maintain playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset delivers 141 FPS average at 1920x1080, which is more than double the 60 FPS target. While Low runs at 210 FPS and Medium at 172 FPS, High provides the best visual quality without sacrificing smoothness, making it the recommended choice for 1080p displays.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Downfall?

A: Yes, but only with reduced settings. At 3840x2160, Low runs at 93 FPS, Medium at 76 FPS, and High at 63 FPS. The Ultra preset at 39 FPS is not playable. For 4K, Medium is the recommended preset, delivering 76 FPS with a minimum of 65 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the primary limiting factor. The resolution scaling data shows consistent FPS drops from 1080p to 1440p to 4K across all settings, which indicates the GPU determines the performance ceiling. The CPU's benchmark scores, including its 72nd percentile ranking, suggest it has sufficient headroom.

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

A: This combo ranks 1667 out of 2928 tested combos, placing it in the 57th percentile. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, scores 0.7% higher on average, while the CPU's nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, scores 0.1% lower.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 produces an average of 63 FPS. This is exactly at the 60 FPS threshold, which means performance may dip below 60 FPS in demanding scenes. For a more comfortable margin, the High preset at 101 FPS is recommended.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM cause any issues in this game?

A: The measured data shows no VRAM-related problems. The minimum FPS readings, available for Medium settings at all resolutions, show stable performance without drops that would indicate memory exhaustion. The 8 GB capacity appears sufficient for Downfall's requirements across all tested settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 210 FPS average, no min/max recorded
• Medium: 172 FPS average, 146 FPS minimum, 198 FPS maximum
• High: 141 FPS average, no min/max recorded
• Ultra: 88 FPS average, no min/max recorded

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 150 FPS average, no min/max recorded
• Medium: 123 FPS average, 104 FPS minimum, 141 FPS maximum
• High: 101 FPS average, no min/max recorded
• Ultra: 63 FPS average, no min/max recorded

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 93 FPS average, no min/max recorded
• Medium: 76 FPS average, 65 FPS minimum, 88 FPS maximum
• High: 63 FPS average, no min/max recorded
• Ultra: 39 FPS average, no min/max recorded

The Medium preset is the only setting tier with complete minimum and maximum FPS data across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 146 FPS ensures consistent high-refresh-rate gameplay. At 1440p Medium, the 104 FPS minimum keeps performance well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K Medium, the 65 FPS minimum confirms that even the lowest recorded frame rate remains playable. These minimum FPS values provide confidence in the stability of Medium settings across all resolutions, reinforcing the recommendation that Medium is the safest choice for consistent performance, particularly at 4K.