Downfall

Downfall’s measured performance with the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 reveals a predictable yet steep scaling curve as resolution increases. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a robust 156.2 FPS on Low settings, which drops to 103.4 FPS on High—a 33.8% reduction. Moving to 2560x1440, the same settings yield 109.8 FPS and 73.9 FPS, respectively, showing a further 29% decline from the 1080p figures. At 3840x2160, the strain becomes pronounced: High settings plummet to 46.2 FPS, a 55.3% drop from the 1080p High result, while Ultra settings fall to just 29.1 FPS. The data indicates that the GTX 1070 becomes the limiting component at 4K, as the framerate differential between Low (69.9 FPS) and Ultra (29.1 FPS) at that resolution is a massive 58.4%, whereas at 1080p the gap between Low and Ultra is 58.1%—suggesting the GPU is saturated regardless of resolution, but the absolute numbers at 4K push below playable thresholds.

The scaling pattern from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent 30% performance hit across all settings, but the jump from 1440p to 4K is harsher, with High settings losing 37.5% of their framerate. This nonlinear degradation points to memory bandwidth constraints, as the GTX 1070’s 256.3 GB/s bandwidth is strained by the pixel throughput required at 3840x2160. The i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides ample headroom at lower resolutions, but the data shows that even at 1080p Ultra (65.5 FPS), the GPU is already working near its ceiling, as evidenced by the steep drop from Medium (125.4 FPS) to Ultra. This combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but 4K gaming is only viable on Low settings, where the 69.9 FPS average is just above the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, built on the Pascal architecture with a 16 nm process, is the primary driver of Downfall’s performance in this pairing. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p but becomes a bottleneck at 4K. The GPU’s base clock of 1506 MHz and boost clock of 1683 MHz are modest by modern standards, yet they deliver consistent framerates in this horror title, which relies more on texture detail and lighting than on compute-heavy effects. The 1920 shading units and 64 ROPs handle the game’s geometry efficiently, as seen in the 73.9 FPS average at 1440p High, but the 6.463 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is insufficient for the pixel fill rate demanded at 3840x2160.

The GTX 1070’s 51st percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 12331 place it in the mid-range tier, and its nearest rivals—the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (0.7% faster), GTX 880M (1.3% slower), and GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% slower)—confirm its position. In Downfall, the GPU’s VRAM usage is not explicitly measured, but the 8 GB capacity is never a limiting factor at any resolution, as the framerate drops are consistent with compute and bandwidth limits rather than memory capacity. The GPU’s DirectX 12 support (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure it can handle the game’s modern rendering paths, though the data shows that Ultra settings at 4K (29.1 FPS) are unplayable, while Medium at 1440p (91.9 FPS) is smooth. The GPU’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot design are typical, but its end-of-life production status means no further driver optimizations are likely, making the measured results the definitive reference for this title.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested hardware combinations for Downfall, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 ranks 1479 out of 1741 combos, placing it in the bottom 15% of all systems tested. This low ranking is primarily due to the GPU’s age and mid-range performance, as the CPU is a modern 12th-gen part with a 77th percentile ranking among all processors. The i5-12400F’s average benchmark score of 19221 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K (19210, a 0.1% delta), and it slightly outperforms the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (19364, -0.7% delta) in raw compute. However, the GTX 1070’s 51st percentile GPU ranking and average score of 12331 drag the overall combo down, as the GPU is the bottleneck in most scenarios.

The combo’s rank of 1479 suggests that while the CPU is capable of driving higher framerates, the GPU cannot keep up, particularly at higher resolutions. For context, the GTX 1070’s nearest GPU rivals—the Quadro K4200, GTX 880M, and GTX 1650 SUPER—all have similar scores (within 1.7% delta), indicating that this GPU tier is the limiting factor. In Downfall, the combo’s performance is competitive with other mid-range systems from 2016-2018, but it lags behind modern entries with newer GPUs. The data shows that the CPU’s 6-core, 12-thread configuration with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz is never the bottleneck at 1080p, as framerates exceed 100 FPS on most settings, but the GPU’s 6.463 TFLOPS and 256.3 GB/s bandwidth cap the system’s potential, resulting in the low overall rank.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results: Low settings produce 156.2 FPS, Medium 125.4 FPS, High 103.4 FPS, and Ultra 65.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 58.1%, indicating that the GPU scales poorly with the game’s highest preset, likely due to excessive post-processing and shadow effects. At 2560x1440, the framerates are 109.8 FPS (Low), 91.9 FPS (Medium), 73.9 FPS (High), and 46.0 FPS (Ultra). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent at roughly 30% for Low, Medium, and High, but Ultra loses 29.8% (from 65.5 to 46.0 FPS), suggesting a similar scaling factor. At 3840x2160, the results are 69.9 FPS (Low), 58.5 FPS (Medium), 46.2 FPS (High), and 29.1 FPS (Ultra). The 4K results show a much steeper decline: High settings lose 37.5% from 1440p, and Ultra loses 36.7%, confirming that the GTX 1070 is overwhelmed at this resolution.

The data reveals that the combo can maintain 60+ FPS at 1080p on all settings except Ultra, where it still achieves 65.5 FPS—just above the threshold. At 1440p, only Low and Medium presets clear 60 FPS, with High dipping to 73.9 FPS and Ultra falling to 46.0 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings exceed 60 FPS (69.9 FPS), while Medium (58.5 FPS) and High (46.2 FPS) are playable but not smooth, and Ultra is unplayable at 29.1 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution is roughly linear, with a 58% performance penalty at 1080p, 58.1% at 1440p, and 58.4% at 4K, indicating that the game’s Ultra preset imposes a fixed overhead that the GPU cannot overcome, regardless of resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1920x1080 with High settings, yielding 103.4 FPS. This provides a smooth, high-fidelity experience that takes advantage of the game’s visual details without sacrificing framerate. For players prioritizing maximum smoothness, 1080p Low at 156.2 FPS is ideal, especially for competitive or fast-paced sections, but the visual downgrade is significant. At 2560x1440, High settings at 73.9 FPS are the best balance, offering a crisp image with acceptable performance, though Medium at 91.9 FPS is a safer choice for maintaining a high refresh rate. Ultra settings at 1440p (46.0 FPS) are not recommended, as the framerate dips below the 60 FPS threshold and introduces noticeable stutter.

At 3840x2160, the data strongly suggests avoiding Ultra (29.1 FPS) and even High (46.2 FPS), as both fail to deliver a playable experience. Low settings at 4K (69.9 FPS) are the only viable option, but the visual compromise is severe. The best overall experience is 1080p High, which balances visual quality and performance, or 1440p Medium if the user has a 1440p monitor and can tolerate slightly lower detail. The i5-12400F has ample headroom, as its benchmark scores (e.g., 16518 in Cinebench R23 multicore) far exceed what Downfall requires, so the GPU is the sole determinant. For a horror game where atmosphere matters, 1080p High is the recommended preset, as it delivers 103.4 FPS with enough detail to maintain immersion without the performance dips seen at higher resolutions.