Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 delivers a surprisingly capable experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that clearly favors high frame rates over visual extremes. The measured data shows this combo ranks 2009th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems. What makes this pairing interesting is how the balance shifts across resolutions—at 1080p the CPU becomes the limiting factor, while at 4K the GPU takes over, creating a predictable but informative scaling pattern. The data reveals a system that can handle 4K gaming at respectable settings, though the Ultra preset appears to be a bridge too far for smooth play.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Downfall presents a clear hierarchy of presets, and the optimal choice depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 226 FPS average, Medium achieves 185 FPS, and High reaches 152 FPS. The Ultra preset drops significantly to 95 FPS. For most players, the Medium preset at 1080p represents the sweet spot—it delivers 185 FPS average with a minimum of 157 FPS and a maximum of 213 FPS, providing both smoothness and visual quality. The min FPS of 157 is well above typical display refresh rates, meaning no perceptible stuttering.

At 1440p, the same pattern emerges but with lower headroom. Medium preset offers 132 FPS average with min/max of 112/152, while High delivers 108 FPS. The Low preset reaches 162 FPS, which might appeal to competitive players, but the Medium preset's 132 FPS with a 112 FPS minimum still comfortably exceeds 60 FPS displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 68 FPS, which is playable but lacks the margin that faster presets provide.

At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. The Medium preset delivers 82 FPS average with a 70 FPS minimum and 95 FPS maximum—this is the only 4K preset that maintains a minimum above 60 FPS. High settings at 4K reach 68 FPS average, but the lack of min/max data leaves uncertainty about frame dips. Low settings at 4K hit 101 FPS, suggesting the GPU still has headroom at lower visual fidelity. Ultra at 4K collapses to 42 FPS, which falls below acceptable smoothness for most users.

The clear recommendation is the Medium preset across all resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, it offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate stability. At 4K, it is the only preset that guarantees a minimum above 60 FPS. Players prioritizing maximum frame rates should consider Low settings, which deliver 226 FPS at 1080p and 162 FPS at 1440p, but Medium provides a more complete experience without sacrificing smoothness.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Downfall at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which produce an average of 82 FPS with a 70 FPS minimum. High settings average 68 FPS with no min/max data, while Low settings reach 101 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 42 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

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

A: Medium settings offer 185 FPS average with a 157 FPS minimum and 213 FPS maximum. This combination provides both high frame rates and visual quality, making it superior to Low (226 FPS) for most users and far better than Ultra (95 FPS).

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Medium at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Ultra delivers 68 FPS average compared to Medium's 132 FPS. The Ultra preset's average is barely above 60 FPS, while Medium provides more than double the frame rate with a 112 FPS minimum, making Medium clearly preferable.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the data suggests the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The frame rates are exceptionally high (152-226 FPS depending on preset), which indicates the RTX 4060 is capable of producing far more frames than the Core i5-12400F can feed at lower resolutions.

*Q: Does this system support ray tracing in Downfall?*

A: The GPU features 24 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, but the measured FPS data does not include any ray tracing benchmarks. The game's settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) indicate standard rasterization performance only.

Q: How does the 8 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is sufficient for Medium settings at 4K (82 FPS), but the Ultra preset's 42 FPS suggests either VRAM limitations or compute constraints. The bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s appears adequate for this game's needs at Medium settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 achieves a rank of 2009 out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall. This places the system in the 54th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly 54% of tested combos perform worse and 46% perform better. This middle-of-the-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the hardware's individual benchmark scores—the CPU sits in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile of all GPUs.

The discrepancy between component percentiles and the combo's in-game rank suggests that Downfall may not be particularly demanding on modern hardware, allowing even mid-range components to perform well. The game's 2016 release date means it was designed for hardware of that era, so the modern components in this combo likely exceed the game's requirements substantially. The rank of 2009 indicates that many higher-end combos (likely with more powerful GPUs or CPUs) achieve higher frame rates, but the measured data shows this combo still delivers excellent playability at all tested resolutions.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS with an average score of 19047 (0% difference), the Intel Core 3 201E at 19056 (-0.1% difference), and the Intel Core i5-1335U at 18982 (+0.3% difference). The GPU's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon HD 7790 with an average score of 17666 (-0.2% difference), the AMD Radeon 780M at 17588 (+0.3% difference), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 at 17551 (+0.5% difference). These close margins suggest that both components are positioned near other mid-range options, and the combo's rank reflects this balanced positioning.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the data shows a full range of settings performance. The Low preset achieves 226 FPS average, which is the highest measured frame rate for this combo. Medium settings deliver 185 FPS average with a minimum of 157 FPS and maximum of 213 FPS, providing the most complete data set. High settings reach 152 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 95 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 131 FPS difference (226 to 95), representing a 58% performance reduction from the lowest to highest quality preset.

At 1440p, the frame rates remain strong but show the expected reduction. Low settings produce 162 FPS average, Medium reaches 132 FPS with a 112 FPS minimum and 152 FPS maximum, High achieves 108 FPS, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 94 FPS (162 to 68), a 58% reduction that mirrors the 1080p pattern. The Medium preset's minimum of 112 FPS ensures smooth gameplay even during intense scenes.

At 4K, the performance gap widens significantly. Low settings deliver 101 FPS average, Medium reaches 82 FPS with a 70 FPS minimum and 95 FPS maximum, High achieves 68 FPS, and Ultra drops to 42 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS (101 to 42), representing a 58% reduction. The Medium preset's 70 FPS minimum is the only 4K configuration that guarantees frame rates above 60 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K displays.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data reveals a consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the frame rate drops from 185 FPS at 1080p to 132 FPS at 1440p (a 29% reduction), then to 82 FPS at 4K (a 56% reduction from 1080p). This scaling indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count increases, which is expected behavior for a mid-range graphics card.

At Low settings, the pattern shows 226 FPS at 1080p, 162 FPS at 1440p (28% reduction), and 101 FPS at 4K (55% reduction from 1080p). The High preset follows a similar trend: 152 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1440p (29% reduction), and 68 FPS at 4K (55% reduction). The Ultra preset shows 95 FPS at 1080p, 68 FPS at 1440p (28% reduction), and 42 FPS at 4K (56% reduction).

The remarkably consistent 28-29% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and 55-56% reduction from 1080p to 4K across all settings presets indicates that the scaling is purely resolution-driven. This consistency suggests that neither the CPU nor GPU is disproportionately limiting at any particular resolution—the performance degradation is directly proportional to the increase in pixel count. The RTX 4060 with 8 GB of VRAM and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth handles the additional pixel throughput predictably, with no evidence of memory capacity issues until possibly the 4K Ultra preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its Alder Lake architecture with 10 nm process technology provides a solid foundation for gaming workloads. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong multithreaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 12380, Geekbench multicore hits 9472, and Passmark multithread achieves 19433. Single-thread performance is equally respectable, with Cinebench R23 singlecore at 1680 and Geekbench singlecore at 1964.

In Downfall, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p where frame rates reach 226 FPS at Low settings. At these high frame rates, the CPU must process game logic, physics, and draw calls quickly enough to feed the GPU. The data suggests the i5-12400F is capable of sustaining these frame rates, but the 73rd percentile ranking versus all CPUs indicates it is not a top-tier processor. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache likely contribute to the CPU's ability to maintain consistent frame delivery.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (0% delta), Intel Core 3 201E (-0.1% delta), and Intel Core i5-1335U (+0.3% delta). These close margins indicate that the i5-12400F performs similarly to these alternatives in synthetic benchmarks. However, in Downfall, the measured frame rates suggest the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions—the consistent resolution scaling points to GPU limitations at 1440p and 4K, while the 1080p frame rates (152-226 FPS) indicate the CPU handles the game's single-threaded and multithreaded demands effectively.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, featuring 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. Its 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores provide modern feature support, though Downfall's 2016 release predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The GPU's clock speeds reach 1830 MHz base and 2460 MHz boost, with memory running at 2125 MHz (17 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 272.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory proves sufficient for Medium settings at 4K (82 FPS), but the Ultra preset's 42 FPS suggests the GPU's compute capabilities or memory bandwidth become strained at maximum settings. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 19545 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 95057 indicate solid overall performance, placing it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. The FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS provides ample compute for this game's rendering requirements.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (-0.2% delta), AMD Radeon 780M (+0.3% delta), and AMD Radeon Pro 560 (+0.5% delta). These close benchmark scores suggest the RTX 4060 performs similarly to these alternatives in synthetic tests, though its modern architecture likely provides better real-world gaming performance. In Downfall, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K, where the 55-56% frame rate reduction from 1080p clearly demonstrates the pixel throughput limits of the 128-bit memory interface and 8 GB VRAM capacity. The GPU's 61st percentile ranking and the combo's 54th percentile in-game rank both point to a mid-range component that delivers playable performance without exceptional headroom.