Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

This pairing of Intel's 6-core Alder Lake processor with NVIDIA's Ampere flagship-class GPU delivers a broad spectrum of performance in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that scales aggressively with both resolution and graphical preset. The measured frame rates reveal a system capable of high-refresh 1080p play, smooth 1440p experiences, and even viable 4K gaming, though the Ultra preset at 2160p pushes the combination to its limits. The data shows a clear hierarchy of performance across the three tested resolutions and four quality settings, with the GPU acting as the primary scaling factor in most configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark results provide a clear picture of which preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate for this specific hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 208 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most high-frequency monitors and leaves substantial headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset pushes this to 311 FPS, but the visual cost of dropping to Low in a horror game — where atmospheric detail and lighting effects contribute heavily to the experience — is not justified when High already offers such strong performance. The Medium preset's 254 FPS average, with a minimum of 216 FPS, confirms that even this middle ground is more than sufficient for competitive or smooth play.

For 2560x1440, the High preset again emerges as the recommended choice, delivering an average of 149 FPS. This is comfortably above the 144Hz threshold that many 1440p monitors target, and it maintains the visual richness that the game's horror atmosphere benefits from. The Ultra preset at this resolution drops to 93 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices the smoothness that the High setting provides. The Medium preset's 182 FPS average, with a minimum of 154 FPS, is also a viable option for those who prefer maximum frame rate headroom, but High's balance of quality and speed is the standout.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes notably. The High preset averages 93 FPS, which is respectable for 4K gaming and provides a smooth experience on most displays. The Medium preset delivers 113 FPS with a minimum of 96 FPS, making it the better choice for 4K users who want to stay well above 60 FPS while retaining moderate visual quality. The Ultra preset, however, drops to 58 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the minimum for a responsive experience. The Low preset at 138 FPS is technically the fastest, but the visual degradation on a 4K panel is substantial. The optimal recommendation across all resolutions is the High preset, as it offers the best compromise between frame rate and image quality, with the Medium preset at 4K being a reasonable alternative for those prioritizing frame rate stability.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined performance of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti places this configuration at rank 970 out of 3,716 tested combos in Downfall. This positions the pairing in the upper quartile of all tested systems, indicating that it outperforms roughly 74% of the combinations in the database for this specific game. The rank reflects the GPU's substantial contribution, as the RTX 3080 Ti sits in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU's 72nd percentile ranking is comparatively modest. The delta between these two percentiles suggests that the graphics card is the dominant factor in this pairing's overall standing.

The CPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD EPYC 7643, which scores 18,697 against the i5-12400's 18,683, a negligible 0.1% difference. The Intel Core i7-1355U is 0.3% ahead at 18,730, and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 leads by 0.7% with 18,811. The Intel Core i3-14100F trails by 0.9% with 18,519. These margins are all within a single percentage point, indicating that the i5-12400's CPU-level performance is highly competitive with a range of modern and server-class processors, though none of these rivals directly influence the game's frame rates given the GPU-bound nature of Downfall.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark score include the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 at 40,870, which is 0.8% behind the RTX 3080 Ti's 41,187 average, and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB at 41,707, which is 1.2% ahead. The NVIDIA Tesla M40 leads by 1.7% with 41,897, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 trails by 2% with 40,377. These close margins highlight that the RTX 3080 Ti remains a potent performer even against newer and workstation-class alternatives, though the RTX 5070's slight deficit suggests generational improvements in efficiency rather than raw performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the GA102 chip using Samsung's 8 nm process, with a die size of 628 mm² and 28,300 million transistors. It operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz or 19 Gbps effective. The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 384-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s, which is critical for high-resolution textures and the demanding scenes in Downfall. The GPU's 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units deliver a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 34.10 TFLOPS.

In Downfall, the GPU's role is clearly dominant across all tested settings. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 130 FPS at Ultra to 311 FPS at Low, with the High and Medium presets hitting 208 FPS and 254 FPS respectively. This scaling with preset quality is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance, where the graphics card's shading and memory bandwidth determine the output. At 1440p, the pattern holds: Ultra drops to 93 FPS, High to 149 FPS, Medium to 182 FPS, and Low to 222 FPS. The reductions from 1080p to 1440p are proportional, indicating that the GPU is the primary limiter.

At 4K, the RTX 3080 Ti's 912.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth becomes increasingly important. The Ultra preset falls to 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, while High and Medium maintain 93 FPS and 113 FPS respectively. The Low preset at 138 FPS demonstrates that even at 4K, the GPU has substantial headroom when visual effects are reduced. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Downfall's requirements at all tested settings, as no stutter or texture pop-in is indicated in the measured data, and the GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs supports its strong showing here.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution to play Downfall with this hardware?*

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings provides 149 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh monitors. At 4K, the High preset delivers 93 FPS, which is also smooth, making 1440p the sweet spot for a balance of visual quality and frame rate.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of frame rate?

A: Across all resolutions, Ultra consistently delivers lower frame rates than High: 130 FPS versus 208 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS versus 149 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS versus 93 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset imposes a significant performance penalty for the added visual effects.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 Ti the limiting factor in this combination?

A: Yes, the benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The frame rate scales strongly with resolution and preset changes, which is characteristic of GPU-bound workloads, while the CPU's 72nd percentile ranking suggests it has ample headroom for this game.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Downfall?*

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K with High settings, the average frame rate is 93 FPS, which is playable and smooth. The Ultra preset drops to 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, so High or Medium settings are recommended for 4K play.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to newer GPUs like the RTX 5070?

A: In average benchmark scores, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 41,187, which is 2% higher than the RTX 5070's 40,377. This indicates that the older card still holds a slight edge in raw performance, though the newer GPU may offer better efficiency.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum frame rate is 154 FPS, with an average of 182 FPS and a maximum of 209 FPS. This ensures a consistently smooth experience without drops below typical high-refresh thresholds.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K in Downfall follows a predictable pattern that underscores the GPU's dominance in this pairing. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 208 FPS at 1080p to 149 FPS at 1440p and then to 93 FPS at 4K. This represents a 28.4% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 37.6% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 55.3%, which is consistent with the increased pixel count demanding more shading, texture, and memory bandwidth resources.

The scaling with the Low preset is even more pronounced: 311 FPS at 1080p, 222 FPS at 1440p, and 138 FPS at 4K. This translates to a 28.6% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 37.8% drop from 1440p to 4K, totaling a 55.6% reduction overall. The similarity in percentage reductions across both Low and High presets indicates that the resolution scaling is largely independent of the quality settings, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance where the pixel throughput is the limiting factor.

The Medium preset shows a slightly different pattern, with 254 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p, and 113 FPS at 4K. The drops are 28.3% and 37.9% respectively, with a total reduction of 55.5%. The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest absolute decline: 130 FPS at 1080p, 93 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K, representing a 28.5% drop and then a 37.6% drop, totaling 55.4%. This consistent scaling across all settings confirms that the RTX 3080 Ti's performance is tightly bound to resolution, and the limiting component is the GPU itself rather than the CPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 163 mm². It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. 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 CPU's benchmark results are solid: it scores 15,989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 8,564 in Geekbench multi-core, and 18,747 in Passmark multi-thread.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as the frame rates scale primarily with resolution and graphical settings rather than with CPU-intensive tasks. The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is well above average, and its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 7643, Intel Core i7-1355U, AMD Ryzen AI 5 330, and Intel Core i3-14100F — all score within 1% of the i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18,683. This suggests that the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the RTX 3080 Ti without becoming a bottleneck at any tested resolution.

The single-threaded performance of the i5-12400 is particularly relevant for gaming, where many titles rely on a few fast cores. The 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,257 demonstrate strong per-core performance, which helps maintain high frame rates in Downfall even at 1080p where the GPU is less stressed. The 12 threads provide adequate multi-threading for background tasks and any game engine threads that scale beyond 6 cores, but the data confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this configuration. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low, reaching 311 FPS, are evidence of the CPU's ability to keep up with the GPU's maximum output, and the consistent scaling across resolutions further isolates the GPU as the primary performance driver.