Downfall

The Intel Core i5-12600KF pairs with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 in this benchmark of Downfall, a horror title that scales aggressively across settings and resolutions. The CPU’s Alder Lake architecture brings 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. That configuration produces a strong synthetic profile, but the game’s measured FPS reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at high settings, with the processor only becoming a meaningful factor at lower graphical loads. The data shows a combo that ranks 60th out of 1741 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3.5% of all matchups—a position driven primarily by the RTX 5080’s raw throughput rather than any CPU advantage.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The i5-12600KF’s 10 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient for Downfall’s engine, which does not appear to be heavily multithreaded. Synthetic benchmarks show a balanced processor: the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23444 and single-core score of 3309 indicate strong per-thread performance, while the 3DMark 16-thread score of 7956 and 2-thread score of 1995 suggest scaling that is efficient but not exceptional past eight threads. For a horror game focused on atmospheric rendering and lighting effects, the single-thread capability matters more; the PassMark single-thread score of 3925 and Geekbench single-core score of 2529 point to a CPU that can feed a high-end GPU without bottlenecking in most scenarios.

The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide ample buffering for game assets, though the game’s data demands are modest. More telling is how the CPU behaves under load: the 3DMark max-thread score of 7952 is nearly identical to the 16-thread result, implying that the processor’s hybrid design—comprising performance and efficiency cores—delivers consistent throughput without thermal throttling concerns at its 125 W TDP. However, in Downfall, the CPU’s role is secondary. At 1080p Low, the average FPS of 426 and the gap to 1440p Low (301.9 FPS) suggest that the CPU can push frames far beyond typical display refresh rates, but the GPU still sets the ceiling. The delta between the i5-12600KF and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-10900K, is a flat 0% in average benchmark score (27827 vs 27829), indicating that this CPU is not the differentiator in this combo; the RTX 5080’s 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is what defines the experience.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

With a combo rank of 60 out of 1741, this pairing sits in the 96.6th percentile of all tested combinations in Downfall. That placement is consistent with the GPU’s 89th percentile ranking among all graphics cards and the CPU’s 84th percentile among all processors. The ranking gap between the CPU and GPU percentiles suggests that the combo’s high position is attributable almost entirely to the RTX 5080. In practical terms, this means the i5-12600KF is not holding back the GPU in most scenarios, but it also isn’t improving the combo beyond what the GPU alone would achieve. The nearest CPU rival, the i9-10900K, has an average benchmark score of 27829 versus 27827 for the i5-12600KF—a negligible 0% delta—so swapping to another high-end Intel chip would not materially change this combo’s rank. The data indicates that the 60th position is a function of the RTX 5080’s 36565 PassMark G3D score and 8637 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result, which place it ahead of 89% of GPUs, while the CPU’s 27575 PassMark multithread score merely keeps pace.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling in Downfall reveals a classic GPU-bound curve, but with nuances that highlight the CPU’s contribution at lower loads. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 286.4 at 1080p to 201.9 at 1440p, then to 123.6 at 4K—a 56.8% reduction from 1080p to 4K. That steep decline indicates that the RTX 5080’s rendering throughput is the primary constraint once pixel count rises. However, at Low settings, the curve tells a different story: 1080p delivers 426 FPS, 1440p drops to 301.9, and 4K falls to 188.3. The 1080p-to-1440p drop of 29.1% is larger than the 1440p-to-4K drop of 37.6% when expressed as a percentage of the prior resolution, which suggests the CPU begins to limit at 1080p Low—the game engine cannot fully utilize the GPU’s potential at such high frame rates. The i5-12600KF’s 4.90 GHz boost clock helps, but the 426 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low is likely near the processor’s practical limit for this engine. At Ultra settings, the 4K average of 81.8 FPS versus 1080p’s 176.4 FPS—a 53.6% drop—confirms that the GPU’s shader and memory bandwidth (960.0 GB/s) are the bottlenecks, not the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5080 delivers 426 FPS on Low, 344.9 on Medium, 286.4 on High, and 176.4 on Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 81.1 FPS (19.0%), while Medium to High costs 58.5 FPS (17.0%), and High to Ultra costs 110 FPS (38.4%). The Ultra setting is disproportionately expensive, likely due to heavy post-processing or volumetric effects common in horror titles. At 2560x1440, the averages are 301.9 (Low), 250.2 (Medium), 201.9 (High), and 126.6 (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 51.7 FPS (17.1%), Medium to High is 48.3 FPS (19.3%), and High to Ultra is 75.3 FPS (37.3%). The pattern holds: Ultra is the most demanding setting tier, with nearly double the cost of other transitions. At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further: 188.3 (Low), 157.1 (Medium), 123.6 (High), and 81.8 (Ultra). Here, the Low-to-Medium gap is 31.2 FPS (16.6%), Medium-to-High is 33.5 FPS (21.3%), and High-to-Ultra is 41.8 FPS (33.8%). Across all resolutions, the RTX 5080 maintains playable frame rates even at 4K Ultra, with the 81.8 FPS average comfortably above 60 FPS. The 1080p Low result of 426 FPS is the standout, indicating a scenario where the CPU is the limiting factor—no setting reduction can push higher.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this combo, and its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample headroom for Downfall’s textures and effects. The GPU’s base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2617 MHz, combined with 10752 shading units and 84 RT cores, deliver the compute power needed for the game’s horror visuals. The 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput and 879.3 GTexel/s texture rate explain why the GPU scales so well across resolutions—it has raw resources to spare. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637 places the RTX 5080 in the 89th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rival, the Intel Arc A570M, trails by 1.6% in average benchmark score (58239 vs 59188). That margin is small, but the RTX 5080’s advantage grows in gaming workloads, as evidenced by the measured FPS.

The VRAM capacity is particularly relevant for Downfall, a 2016 title that may not be optimized for modern memory allocations, but 16 GB ensures no texture streaming bottlenecks even at 4K Ultra. The GPU’s 293.1 GPixel/s pixel rate and 112 ROPs handle the game’s resolution scaling without issue, as the 4K Ultra average of 81.8 FPS demonstrates. Notably, the RTX 5080’s PassMark G3D score of 36565 is nearly double its DirectX 12 score of 151, which reflects the synthetic nature of those tests rather than real-world performance. In Downfall, the GPU’s role is to push frame rates to the CPU’s limit at low settings, and to sustain high averages at 4K regardless of settings. The 188.3 FPS at 4K Low and 123.6 FPS at 4K High show that even at the highest pixel count, the RTX 5080 is rarely the sole bottleneck—the CPU begins to matter more as settings drop. The data confirms that this combo’s 60th rank is a GPU-driven result, with the i5-12600KF providing just enough single-thread performance to avoid being the weak link at all but the most extreme frame rates.