Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution, but the relationship between settings and resolution is not uniform. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 297.1 FPS, which drops to 216.5 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 131.3 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 55.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even at the lowest preset, the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the frame rate is so high that the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are likely the ceiling, given the i5-12400's 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and 2-thread score of 1692.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern continues: 244.6 FPS at 1080p, 173.7 FPS at 1440p, and 109.6 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 29.0%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 36.9%. This non-linear scaling suggests that the RTX 3080's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are increasingly strained at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K where the pixel throughput demand grows exponentially. At High settings, the 1080p result of 200.3 FPS falls to 144 FPS at 1440p (a 28.1% drop) and then to 91.1 FPS at 4K (a 36.7% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Medium and High indicates a well-balanced system where the GPU's 8704 shading units and 68 RT cores scale predictably with resolution.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 1080p Ultra, the system produces 124.9 FPS, dropping to 91.1 FPS at 1440p and 55.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is particularly revealing: it is less than half of the 1080p Ultra score, and the 4K Ultra frame rate of 55.4 FPS is identical to the 1440p High score of 144 FPS only in that both are exact integers — but the absolute numbers show that Ultra at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 60 FPS. This suggests that at 4K Ultra, the combination of the RTX 3080's 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 compute and the game's horror-genre rendering demands overwhelm the GPU, making it the definitive bottleneck. The limiting component across all resolutions is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the 1080p Low result of 297.1 FPS — a figure that no CPU-bound scenario would produce if the processor were the constraint.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Downfall?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 297.1, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the maximum frame rate recorded across all resolution and settings combinations.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only at Low, Medium, and High settings. The 4K results are 131.3 FPS at Low, 109.6 FPS at Medium, and 91.1 FPS at High. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 55.4, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU's thread count affect performance in this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400 has 6 cores and 12 threads. Its 3DMark max-thread score of 5890 and 16-thread score of 5873 are nearly identical, indicating that the processor's multithreading capability is sufficient for Downfall's demands, as the frame rates at 1080p Low (297.1 FPS) show no obvious CPU limitation.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 216.5 FPS, while Ultra produces 91.1 FPS. This represents a 57.9% reduction in average FPS when moving from the lowest to the highest preset at the same resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 3080's VRAM capacity a concern for this game?

A: The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 320-bit bus and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth. The benchmark data shows no memory-related stutter or min FPS anomalies, and even at 4K Ultra (55.4 FPS), the game runs consistently, suggesting the 10 GB capacity is adequate for Downfall's requirements.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 524 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall, placing it in the 70th percentile of all tested systems. This indicates strong but not top-tier performance relative to the full database.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium or High settings as the optimal balance for this hardware combination, depending on the target resolution. At 1080p, High settings deliver 200.3 FPS, which is still far above any display refresh rate, while Ultra at 124.9 FPS remains highly playable. For 1440p, High settings produce 144 FPS — a perfect match for 144Hz monitors — while Medium achieves 173.7 FPS for those prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 91.1 FPS, which is acceptable but represents a significant 47.5% drop from High, suggesting that the visual gains from Ultra may not justify the performance cost.

At 4K, the recommendation shifts decisively. High settings at 91.1 FPS offer the best experience, as Medium (109.6 FPS) and Low (131.3 FPS) provide diminishing returns in visual quality for modest frame rate gains. Ultra at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS (55.4 FPS), and given that High is 64.4% faster, there is no compelling reason to select Ultra at this resolution. The data suggests that High settings at 4K provide the best balance of visual fidelity and smoothness, while 1440p High is the sweet spot for competitive play where 144 FPS matches high-refresh displays. For users with 1080p monitors, High settings at 200.3 FPS leave substantial headroom, making even Ultra (124.9 FPS) a viable choice without sacrificing frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination ranks 524 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the upper 30% of all configurations in the database. This ranking reflects a system that is decidedly above average but not at the extreme high end. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 77, and the GPU's percentile vs all GPUs is 80, which are closely aligned — both components sit in the same performance tier, avoiding a significant bottleneck imbalance. The combo's rank of 524 out of 1741 suggests that while many systems outperform it, there are over 1200 configurations that this pairing beats, confirming its position as a strong mid-to-high-tier performer.

The GPU's nearest rivals provide context for its standing. The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 35787, sitting just 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35860) and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon 880M (35646). The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE is 0.9% faster, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile is 1% slower. These narrow deltas indicate that the RTX 3080 sits in a competitive cluster of GPUs, and its 80th percentile ranking confirms it is a well-above-average graphics solution. The CPU tells a similar story: the i5-12400's average score of 19850 is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 (19831) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K (19771), while trailing the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2% and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX by 0.4%. This tight grouping around 19800-19900 points to a processor that competes directly with previous-generation i7 parts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 brings 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Alder Lake-S architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a 163 mm² die size. Its base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, and the 65 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery for a desktop part. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's benchmark results show a single-thread 3DMark score of 910 and a max-thread score of 5890, with the 16-thread score (5873) nearly matching the max-thread figure — this suggests the processor's 12 threads are fully utilized and adding more threads would not improve performance in Downfall.

In Downfall specifically, the CPU's role is evident in the 1080p Low result of 297.1 FPS. This high frame rate, combined with the single-thread score of 910, indicates that the processor's per-core performance (boost clock of 4.40 GHz) is strong enough to feed the RTX 3080 at low resolutions. However, the 3DMark 2-thread score of 1692 and 4-thread score of 3012 reveal that the CPU scales well with additional threads, which is relevant for a horror game that may use multiple threads for AI, physics, and rendering tasks. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 further confirm the processor's balanced performance profile. The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs of 77 and its proximity to the Intel Core i7-9700 (0.1% ahead) and Intel Core i7-8700 (0.2% behind) establish it as a solid modern mid-range part that does not bottleneck the GPU in this game, as evidenced by the high frame rates at all resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 297.1, Medium 244.6, High 200.3, and Ultra 124.9. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58.0% reduction in frame rate, with the largest single-step drop occurring between High and Ultra (75.4 FPS difference). At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 216.5, Medium 173.7, High 144, and Ultra 91.1. The drop from Low to Ultra at this resolution is 57.9%, nearly identical to the 1080p percentage, indicating consistent scaling. The 1440p High result of 144 FPS exactly matches a 144Hz refresh rate, making it a notable data point for display synchronization.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 131.3, Medium 109.6, High 91.1, and Ultra 55.4. The 4K Ultra result of 55.4 FPS is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS, and the gap between High (91.1) and Ultra (55.4) is 35.7 FPS, the largest absolute drop between any two consecutive settings at any resolution. Across resolutions, the Low preset scales from 297.1 (1080p) to 216.5 (1440p) to 131.3 (4K), representing a 55.8% total reduction from 1080p to 4K. The Ultra preset scales from 124.9 (1080p) to 91.1 (1440p) to 55.4 (4K), a 55.6% reduction. The consistency of these percentages across presets suggests that Downfall's rendering load scales linearly with pixel count, and the RTX 3080's performance degradation at higher resolutions is uniform regardless of settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. Its base clock is 1440 MHz with a boost clock of 1710 MHz, and memory runs at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory operates over a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's compute capabilities include 8704 shading units, 272 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 68 RT cores, and 272 tensor cores, with FP32 performance rated at 29.77 TFLOPS. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s.

In Downfall, the GPU's dominant role is clear from the resolution scaling data. The 1080p Low result of 297.1 FPS is likely near the CPU's limit, but every other configuration shows the GPU as the primary constraint. The 4K Ultra result of 55.4 FPS, given the GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS compute and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth, indicates that Downfall's Ultra preset at 4K requires more than the RTX 3080 can deliver. The GPU's 80th percentile vs all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 35787 place it above the AMD Radeon 880M (35646, 0.4% slower) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Mobile (35435, 1% slower), while trailing the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (36101, 0.9% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35860, 0.2% faster). The GPU's passmark G3D score of 25086 and DirectX 12 score of 100 reflect strong but not class-leading performance. The VRAM capacity of 10 GB, combined with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth, proves sufficient for Downfall at all tested settings, as no memory-related performance anomalies appear in the measured data.