Downfall

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a distinctly GPU-bound experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets show a clear pattern: the RTX 3080 Ti is the primary driver of performance, with the i5-14400F providing ample headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck except at the very lowest settings. This combo ranks 436th out of 1741 tested configurations, placing it in the top quartile of all systems tested for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound curve. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 311 FPS, dropping to 220.9 FPS at 1440p and 140.2 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p represents a 29% reduction in frame rate, while moving from 1440p to 4K costs another 36%. This steep drop-off indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti is being pushed harder as pixel count increases, with the CPU becoming less relevant at higher resolutions.

The High preset shows a similar but slightly softer curve: 207.6 FPS at 1080p, 152.1 FPS at 1440p, and 93.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is particularly telling—it sits above the 60 FPS threshold but requires the user to accept a significant performance hit versus lower resolutions. At Ultra settings, the scaling becomes even more pronounced: 133.2 FPS at 1080p drops to 93.3 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 59.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is barely playable, suggesting that the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings overwhelms the RTX 3080 Ti's capabilities in this title.

The data suggests that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p Low, the i5-14400F may be approaching its limit—the 311 FPS figure is extraordinarily high and likely constrained by the CPU's single-thread performance. As resolution climbs, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck, evidenced by the proportional drops in frame rate that track with pixel count increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti brings substantial hardware to Downfall: 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is critical for high-resolution play, as the 4K results demonstrate. The card's base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz, combined with 10240 shading units, provide the raw compute needed for the game's horror visuals.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position. With a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 and a Passmark G3D score of 26896, the RTX 3080 Ti sits at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores 41441 in average benchmarks—just 0.5% higher—while the RTX 5070 comes in 1.1% lower. This places the 3080 Ti in a tight performance band where small differences in game optimization can shift results.

At 4K Ultra, the 59.1 FPS average highlights the GPU's limits. The card's 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 186.5 GPixel/s pixel rate are substantial, but Downfall's Ultra preset clearly demands more than the card can deliver at 4K. The transition from High to Ultra at 4K costs 34.6 FPS (from 93.7 to 59.1), a 37% drop that reflects the heavy additional load of Ultra settings on the GPU's shading and texture units.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides a solid foundation with 10 cores and 16 threads, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosting up to 4.70 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory give it flexibility, though the game's performance does not appear to be memory-sensitive based on the measured results.

The CPU's benchmark scores show it sits at the 88th percentile of all processors. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and single-core score of 3093 indicate strong all-around performance, with the single-core result being particularly relevant for Downfall's frame rate ceiling. In Passmark testing, the CPU scores 25783 in multi-thread and 3723 in single-thread, with a physics score of 1594 that directly relates to game performance.

Comparing the i5-14400F to its nearest rivals, the data shows it is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-12800H (0% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (0.2% faster), AMD Ryzen 7 250 (0.2% slower), and Intel Core i7-13705H (0.2% slower). This tight grouping means the CPU choice is unlikely to produce meaningful differences in Downfall—the GPU dominates the performance equation.

The 1080p Low result of 311 FPS suggests the CPU can handle high frame rates, but the game's engine likely has a ceiling around this range. The fact that 1080p Medium (252.5 FPS) and 1080p High (207.6 FPS) scale down smoothly indicates the CPU has headroom to spare; only at 1080p Low does it approach its practical limit in this title.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset at 1440p emerges as the sweet spot. This combination produces 152.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play and leaves room for future driver improvements or background tasks. The 4K High result of 93.7 FPS is also viable for users with 4K displays who prioritize frame rate over maximum detail.

The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K, where it drops to 59.1 FPS—right at the edge of playability and likely to cause noticeable stutter in a horror game that relies on atmosphere. At 1440p Ultra, the 93.3 FPS result is acceptable but offers diminishing returns over High's 152.1 FPS. The 38.8% performance cost of Ultra over High at 1440p (a drop of 58.8 FPS) is difficult to justify given the subtle visual improvements typical of this preset in older titles.

For competitive or high-refresh-rate play, the Medium preset at 1080p delivers 252.5 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display currently on the market. The Low preset at 1080p pushes to 311 FPS, but the visual degradation in a horror game—where lighting and shadow effects matter—makes this a poor trade-off. The data suggests most users will find the High preset to be the best all-around choice, with Medium as a fallback for those prioritizing frame rate above all else.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 436th out of 1741 tested combinations for Downfall, placing it in the top 25% of all configurations. This is a strong result, though not elite—the ranking reflects that many higher-end GPU and CPU pairings can exceed this combo's performance, particularly at 4K Ultra where the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB VRAM and 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are stretched thin.

The ranking is likely held back by the 4K Ultra result. While the combo excels at 1080p and 1440p, the 59.1 FPS at 4K Ultra is below what many top-tier combinations achieve. The GPU's 83rd percentile standing among all GPUs, combined with the CPU's 88th percentile, suggests this is a balanced pairing that performs as expected—neither component is notably holding back the other, except at 1080p Low where the CPU may cap the frame rate.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 3080 Ti is within 1.6% of the RTX 3090, AMD Radeon Pro 5300, RTX 5070, and Tesla M40 in average benchmark scores. This means the 436th rank is likely representative of what any of these GPUs would achieve with a similar CPU. The combo's position in the rankings is thus more a function of the GPU's absolute performance level than any synergy or deficiency in the pairing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers 311 FPS on Low, 252.5 FPS on Medium, 207.6 FPS on High, and 133.2 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 177.8 FPS, showing that settings have a massive impact at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 1080p is 57% slower than Low, a stark illustration of how quality settings scale in this game.

At 2560x1440, the results are 220.9 FPS on Low, 180.3 FPS on Medium, 152.1 FPS on High, and 93.3 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is 127.6 FPS, with the Ultra preset costing 58% of the Low frame rate. The Medium-to-High transition at 1440p costs 28.2 FPS, while High-to-Ultra costs 58.8 FPS—a much steeper penalty that suggests Ultra setting effects are particularly demanding at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the numbers are 140.2 FPS on Low, 115.7 FPS on Medium, 93.7 FPS on High, and 59.1 FPS on Ultra. The Low-to-Ultra spread is 81.1 FPS, and every preset step costs between 21.9 and 34.6 FPS. The High-to-Ultra drop of 34.6 FPS is the largest single-step penalty in the entire dataset, confirming that 4K Ultra is the most demanding configuration tested.

Comparing across resolutions, the 4K Low result (140.2 FPS) is nearly identical to the 1080p Ultra result (133.2 FPS), suggesting that resolution scaling and quality scaling have similar performance costs. The 1440p High result (152.1 FPS) outperforms the 4K Medium result (115.7 FPS) by 31%, making the lower resolution a better choice for users who want higher frame rates without sacrificing visual quality. Overall, the measured data shows this combo thrives at 1080p and 1440p, handles 4K well on High, and should avoid 4K Ultra for consistent performance.