Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-13400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

This combination of Intel's Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 Ti produces a striking spread of results across Downfall's four settings presets and three resolutions, with the data revealing a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at 1440p but begins to show its limits at 4K Ultra. The measured frames per second range from a low of 57 FPS at 4K Ultra to a high of 311.8 FPS at 1080p Low, which suggests a wide performance envelope that depends heavily on how the user configures the game.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that the High preset offers the best balance between visual quality and performance across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, High delivers 209 FPS, which is only 46.4 FPS below Medium but provides substantially better visual fidelity than Low. Moving to 2560x1440, High still maintains 149.1 FPS, comfortably above the 144 Hz refresh rate that many monitors support. Even at 3840x2160, High produces 93.3 FPS, which is playable for a horror title where smoothness matters less than atmosphere.

The Ultra preset is where the system struggles. At 4K, Ultra drops to 57 FPS, which is 36.3 FPS below High at the same resolution, a reduction of roughly 39 percent. At 1440p, Ultra yields 93.8 FPS, still playable but significantly below the High preset's 149.1 FPS. The data suggests that Ultra's additional graphical effects exact a heavy toll on the RTX 3080 Ti, and given that High already provides a strong experience, users should prefer High unless they absolutely require maximum settings.

Low and Medium presets are useful primarily for competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays. At 1080p Low, the system hits 311.8 FPS, which exceeds the capabilities of most monitors. Medium at 1080p produces 255.4 FPS, still exceptionally high. For most players, High at 1440p represents the sweet spot, offering 149.1 FPS with good visuals and a large margin above typical display refresh rates.

GPU Role

The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit bus providing 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for Downfall's performance at 4K, where the GPU must handle high-resolution textures and effects. The card's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores suggest it is well-equipped for modern rendering techniques, and the benchmark results confirm that the GPU is the primary driver of frame rates at higher resolutions.

The RTX 3080 Ti's boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with its 10240 shading units, delivers 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This raw compute power translates directly into the measured frame rates. At 1080p Low, the GPU produces 311.8 FPS, indicating that even at lower settings, the card is not fully utilized, as the CPU likely becomes the limiting factor. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly saturated, with performance dropping to 57 FPS, a 4.5x reduction from the 1080p Low result.

The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in the upper tier, and its nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores only 0.5 percent higher on average. This close margin suggests that the RTX 3080 Ti is performing near its expected level in Downfall, with no unusual bottlenecks or driver issues affecting the results. The card's 350 W TDP indicates it is a power-hungry component, but the benchmark data shows it delivers consistent performance across all tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals where the GPU becomes the limiting factor. At High settings, the system produces 209 FPS at 1080p, 149.1 FPS at 1440p, and 93.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 55 percent reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is substantial but not unexpected for a horror game with demanding visuals. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a 37 percent drop, from 149.1 to 93.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is being pushed harder at higher pixel counts.

At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced. The system achieves 311.8 FPS at 1080p, 224 FPS at 1440p, and 136 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 4K drop of 56 percent is similar to High, but the absolute numbers are much higher, suggesting that the CPU is still capable at lower resolutions. The fact that 4K Low (136 FPS) outperforms 1080p High (209 FPS) by a significant margin indicates that settings have a larger impact on performance than resolution alone.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling, with 132.4 FPS at 1080p dropping to 93.8 FPS at 1440p and then to 57 FPS at 4K. The 1440p to 4K reduction of 39 percent is the largest relative drop across all settings, implying that Ultra effects are particularly demanding at high pixel counts. This pattern suggests that Downfall's Ultra preset includes features that scale poorly with resolution, and users with 4K displays should avoid Ultra unless they accept sub-60 FPS performance.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 423rd out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 24 percent of all configurations. This percentile ranking is respectable but not exceptional, given that the RTX 3080 Ti is an upper-tier GPU and the Core i5-13400F is a capable mid-range processor. The ranking suggests that while this combo delivers strong performance, there are many other pairings that achieve higher frame rates, likely with more powerful CPUs or newer GPUs.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 82 places it above 82 percent of all CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13620H with a delta of 0.1 percent and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D at -0.5 percent. This indicates that the i5-13400F is well-matched to the RTX 3080 Ti in terms of avoiding CPU bottlenecks, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU is more heavily loaded. The combo's overall rank in the 24th percentile of all tested combos suggests that users can expect solid performance in Downfall, but there is room for improvement with a higher-end CPU or GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this system in Downfall?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with High settings provides 149.1 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and performance. This configuration maintains high frame rates while offering good graphical fidelity.

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

A: Yes, at 4K High the system produces 93.3 FPS, which is playable. However, 4K Ultra drops to 57 FPS, which may be too low for some users. For 4K, High settings are recommended.

Q: How much performance is gained by lowering settings from Ultra to High?

A: At 1080p, the gain is 76.6 FPS (from 132.4 to 209 FPS). At 1440p, the gain is 55.3 FPS (from 93.8 to 149.1 FPS). At 4K, the gain is 36.3 FPS (from 57 to 93.3 FPS).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this system?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 311.8 FPS, suggesting the CPU may be limiting at lower resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, with performance dropping to 57 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to similar configurations?

A: The combo ranks 423rd out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 24 percent. The CPU ranks in the 82nd percentile, and the GPU ranks in the 83rd percentile.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High settings?

A: At 1080p, Medium produces 255.4 FPS versus High's 209 FPS, a difference of 46.4 FPS. At 1440p, the difference is 36 FPS (185.1 vs 149.1). At 4K, the difference is 22.1 FPS (115.4 vs 93.3).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low produces 311.8 FPS, Medium yields 255.4 FPS, High achieves 209 FPS, and Ultra drops to 132.4 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system has substantial headroom above standard 60 Hz and 144 Hz displays, with even Ultra clearing 120 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low delivers 224 FPS, Medium produces 185.1 FPS, High achieves 149.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 93.8 FPS. The 1440p results show that High and below all exceed 144 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high refresh rate gaming.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases significantly. Low produces 136 FPS, Medium yields 115.4 FPS, High achieves 93.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 57 FPS. These 4K results show that the system can handle 4K gaming at High settings with playable frame rates, but Ultra requires a significant sacrifice in performance. The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern of diminishing returns, with Ultra offering the smallest incremental visual improvement relative to its performance cost.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This Raptor Lake architecture CPU has 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its benchmark scores include a Cinebench R23 multicore result of 21279 and a single-core score of 3004, indicating strong multi-threaded performance for a mid-range processor.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the system achieves 311.8 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to maintain very high performance, but the fact that 1080p Low does not reach even higher frame rates implies that the CPU may be imposing some limit. At 4K Ultra, the CPU's influence diminishes, as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck with only 57 FPS.

The CPU's 82nd percentile ranking and its proximity to rivals like the Intel Core i7-13620H (0.1 percent delta) and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (-0.5 percent delta) indicate that it is a well-balanced processor for gaming. The 10-core, 16-thread configuration provides ample parallel processing capability for modern games, and the boost clock of 4.60 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance when needed. For Downfall specifically, the CPU appears to be a capable partner for the RTX 3080 Ti, enabling high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p while allowing the GPU to dominate at 4K.