Downfall

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 222nd out of 1,741 tested combos for Downfall, placing it in the top 12.7% of all configurations. This is a strong result for a horror title that demands both raw ray tracing throughput and consistent frame pacing. The CPU sits at the 88th percentile among all processors, while the GPU lands at the 85th percentile among all graphics cards — a balanced pairing where neither component drags the other down significantly.

Against its nearest rivals, the i5-14400F posts an average benchmark score of 32,508, essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-12800H (32,513, 0% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32,584, -0.2% delta). The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 trails by a hair at 32,446 (0.2% delta). On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 Ti's average score of 44,900 sits 0.6% below the RTX 5090 Mobile (45,152) and 1.5% below the Intel Arc A730M (45,592), but it beats the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (44,195) by 1.6%. These margins are tiny; in practice, the RTX 4070 Ti is firmly in the upper echelon for this game.

The data shows a combo that excels at high refresh rates across all resolutions, with the only meaningful compromise appearing at 4K Ultra settings. Given the horror genre's reliance on dark scenes and sudden motion, the measured frame rates suggest this setup can handle Downfall's scariest moments without stutter — provided the settings are tuned appropriately, which we explore below.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo overkill for 1080p gaming in Downfall?

A: At 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 364.4, and even at High it holds 246.3. These figures far exceed the refresh rates of most monitors, so the hardware is clearly not the limiting factor at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti compare to its closest GPU rival in raw compute?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti's average benchmark score of 44,900 is 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 580's 44,195, but 0.6% lower than the RTX 5090 Mobile's 45,152. The differences are under 700 points, indicating near-parity among these cards.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance like for this title?

A: The i5-14400F scores 21,914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 11,209 in Geekbench multi-core. With 10 cores and 16 threads, it provides ample headroom for Downfall's background tasks, though the game appears more GPU-bound at most settings.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, but just barely for a smooth experience. The measured average is 69.9 FPS at 4K Ultra, which is playable but noticeably lower than the 4K High result of 107.6 FPS. For a horror game, the extra headroom at High may be preferable.

Q: How does the GPU's memory bandwidth factor into performance?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for Downfall's textures at all tested settings, as the frame rate drops from 1080p to 4K follow a predictable curve rather than a cliff.

Q: Is the CPU's single-core performance a bottleneck?

A: With a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,093 and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, the i5-14400F keeps up well. The data shows that at 1080p Low, FPS reaches 364.4, suggesting the CPU can feed the GPU effectively even in less demanding scenes.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, High settings are the clear winner across all resolutions. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 246.3 FPS — more than enough for any high-refresh monitor. At 1440p High, it stays at 177.2 FPS, which remains fluid and visually rich. Even at 4K High, the 107.6 FPS average is excellent for a horror title, where smooth motion is critical for immersion.

Ultra settings are not recommended for competitive or high-refresh play. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 69.9 FPS, which is the only configuration below the 100 FPS mark. At 1440p Ultra it recovers to 108.6 FPS, but the jump from High to Ultra costs roughly 39% of the frame rate at 1440p (177.2 down to 108.6). The visual gains in a dark, atmospheric game like Downfall rarely justify sacrificing that much smoothness.

Medium settings offer a middle ground: 303.1 FPS at 1080p, 212.3 FPS at 1440p, and 131.1 FPS at 4K. These are strong numbers, but High provides better image quality with only a 19% drop at 1080p (303.1 to 246.3) and a 16% drop at 1440p (212.3 to 177.2). Low settings push frame rates to extremes (364.4 at 1080p, 261.7 at 1440p, 160.4 at 4K) but are only useful for esports-style play, which is irrelevant in a single-player horror experience.

The verdict: High everywhere, with the option to drop to Medium at 4K if you prioritize frame rate above all else.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the RTX 4070 Ti and i5-14400F deliver outstanding numbers across the board. Low settings produce 364.4 FPS, Medium 303.1 FPS, High 246.3 FPS, and Ultra 152 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 212.4 FPS, showing the GPU's headroom at this resolution.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds with lower absolute values: Low hits 261.7 FPS, Medium 212.3 FPS, High 177.2 FPS, and Ultra 108.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 153.1 FPS, indicating the resolution is starting to tax the GPU more evenly.

At 4K, the hierarchy compresses further: Low averages 160.4 FPS, Medium 131.1 FPS, High 107.6 FPS, and Ultra 69.9 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread is now just 90.5 FPS. Notably, 4K Low (160.4 FPS) still exceeds 1440p Ultra (108.6 FPS), suggesting that resolution scaling is smooth but settings scaling becomes more impactful as pixel count rises.

The data shows no anomalies — frame rates scale monotonically with settings at every resolution, and the relative ordering is consistent. This indicates a well-behaved game engine with no sudden bottlenecks.

Resolution Scaling

Moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings drops the average from 246.3 FPS to 177.2 FPS, a reduction of 28%. The 1440p to 4K transition at High is steeper, falling from 177.2 FPS to 107.6 FPS, a 39% drop. Across the full 1080p-to-4K span at High, the frame rate declines by 56%.

At Low settings, the scaling is similar but slightly shallower: 364.4 FPS at 1080p, 261.7 FPS at 1440p, and 160.4 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 28%, and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 39% — identical percentages to High, which suggests the limiting factor is consistent regardless of settings.

Ultra settings show the steepest degradation: 152 FPS at 1080p, 108.6 FPS at 1440p, and 69.9 FPS at 4K. Here, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is 29%, and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 36%. The similarity across all settings — roughly 28-29% for the first step and 36-39% for the second — points to the GPU being the primary constraint. If the CPU were limiting, the 1080p numbers would show less scaling, but they don't.

The 4K Low result of 160.4 FPS being higher than 1080p Ultra's 152 FPS reinforces that pixel count (GPU load) matters more than settings complexity for this combo. The RTX 4070 Ti's 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 208.8 GPixel/s pixel rate are the key drivers here.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F brings 10 cores and 16 threads from the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost of 4.70 GHz. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core provide ample data locality for Downfall's asset streaming.

Benchmark results show a capable mid-range processor: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 21,914, single-core 3,093, and Geekbench multi-core 11,209. The 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms it is above average but not top-tier.

In this game, the CPU's role appears secondary. The frame rates at 1080p Low (364.4 FPS) approach the limits of what most displays can show, yet the GPU still scales down from that figure as settings increase. If the i5-14400F were a bottleneck, we would expect to see a plateau at high FPS regardless of resolution — but the data shows no such plateau. The 65W TDP and 10 nm process node indicate an efficient chip that won't thermally throttle in extended sessions, which matters for a horror game's sustained tension.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the star here, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 7,680 shading units, 60 RT cores, and 240 tensor cores. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock of 2610 MHz and 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute drive the raw performance.

The 85th percentile GPU ranking places it just behind the RTX 5090 Mobile (0.6% lower average score) and ahead of the Radeon Pro 580 (1.6% higher). The 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die (TSMC 5 nm) allow for high clock speeds without excessive power draw, though the 285W TDP and 600W suggested PSU indicate a power-hungry part.

The data shows the GPU is the primary scaling factor across resolutions. The pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s explain why 4K Ultra drops to 69.9 FPS — the card is simply running out of fillrate headroom at that extreme. Yet at 1440p High, the 177.2 FPS result proves the RTX 4070 Ti has ample reserves for high-refresh gameplay. For a game like Downfall, where ray-traced lighting and shadows are likely used, the 60 RT cores provide the necessary acceleration to maintain playable frame rates at 4K High.