Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-14400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers a striking performance profile in Downfall, a horror title from 2016 that clearly favors high refresh rates. Across all measured resolutions and settings, the combo produces triple-digit frame rates, with the lowest recorded average being 72.8 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data suggests a system that can handle the game's demands with substantial headroom, though the scaling patterns reveal where the bottleneck shifts as resolution and visual fidelity increase.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution climbs from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 255.9 FPS at 1080p to 180.7 FPS at 1440p, then further to 111.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 56.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which is substantial but not catastrophic. The pattern holds across all settings presets, with the scaling factor remaining relatively stable regardless of quality level.

At Low settings, the drop is even more pronounced in absolute terms: 381.3 FPS at 1080p, 274.2 FPS at 1440p, and 168.6 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is still remarkably high, indicating that even at the most demanding resolution, the GPU has plenty of headroom. However, the scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings results in a 55.8% performance decrease, suggesting that the resolution scaling is primarily GPU-bound across the board.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 314 FPS at 1080p, 224.2 FPS at 1440p, and 139.4 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, drops from 160 FPS at 1080p to 115.5 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 72.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured scenario that falls below the 100 FPS mark, which is notable for a game with horror elements where smooth motion can be critical.

The scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p, the CPU likely becomes a more significant factor, especially at Low and Medium settings where frame rates exceed 300 FPS. The i5-14400F has a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and 10 cores with 16 threads, which provides ample headroom. However, the data suggests that the RTX 5070 Ti is the primary limiter as resolution increases, with the GPU's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth being exercised more heavily at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured rows, the High preset emerges as the most balanced choice across all three resolutions. At 1080p, High yields 255.9 FPS, which is 80.1 FPS lower than Low but 95.9 FPS higher than Ultra. The visual quality improvement from Low to High is typically substantial in horror games, where lighting and shadow effects contribute heavily to atmosphere. At 1440p, High delivers 180.7 FPS, which is still well above the 115.5 FPS seen at Ultra. At 4K, High produces 111.3 FPS, which is a solid experience, especially when compared to the 72.8 FPS at Ultra.

The Medium preset offers an alternative for those prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity. At 1080p, Medium delivers 314 FPS, which is 58.1 FPS higher than High. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 43.5 FPS (224.2 vs 180.7). At 4K, Medium produces 139.4 FPS, which is 28.1 FPS higher than High. The scaling suggests that Medium provides a meaningful performance boost without the dramatic visual compromise that Low entails.

Ultra settings, while offering the best visual experience, come with a significant performance cost. The drop from High to Ultra at 1080p is 95.9 FPS (37.5% reduction), at 1440p it is 65.2 FPS (36.1% reduction), and at 4K it is 38.5 FPS (34.6% reduction). Given that High already provides frame rates well above the typical 60 FPS target, the Ultra preset's visual gains may not justify the performance hit for most users. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot, with Medium as a viable alternative for competitive or high-refresh-rate displays.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 381.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the measured average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 72.8 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to the RTX 4080 in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 52086, while the RTX 4080 scores 52085, resulting in a deltaPct of 0%.

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

A: The i5-14400F scores 21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 11209 in Geekbench multi-core, placing it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs.

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have, and what type?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory with a 256-bit bus width.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low averages 274.2 FPS while Ultra averages 115.5 FPS, a difference of 158.7 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is exceptionally wide. Low settings produce 381.3 FPS, Medium 314 FPS, High 255.9 FPS, and Ultra 160 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 221.3 FPS spread, with each preset tier reducing performance by roughly 60-70 FPS. This indicates that Downfall at 1080p is highly scalable, and the GPU's 43.94 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability is more than sufficient for this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but the gaps narrow. Low averages 274.2 FPS, Medium 224.2 FPS, High 180.7 FPS, and Ultra 115.5 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 158.7 FPS, which is tighter than at 1080p. This suggests that the GPU is beginning to work harder, but the RTX 5070 Ti's 8960 shading units and 280 TMUs still provide ample throughput.

At 3840x2160, the demands increase significantly. Low averages 168.6 FPS, Medium 139.4 FPS, High 111.3 FPS, and Ultra 72.8 FPS. The spread narrows further to 95.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is now the dominant factor. The 4K Ultra result of 72.8 FPS is the only scenario below 100 FPS, but it remains perfectly playable. The pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s are being taxed more heavily at this resolution.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, with a transistor density of 120.6M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 2295 MHz and boosts to 2452 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s, which is critical for high-resolution textures and effects in a horror game like Downfall.

The benchmark results place the RTX 5070 Ti in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 52086. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which scores 52085, showing a deltaPct of 0%. This indicates that the 5070 Ti is essentially performance-equivalent to the previous generation's high-end offering in synthetic tests. In Downfall, the GPU's capabilities are evident in the high frame rates across all settings, particularly at 1080p and 1440p where the GPU is not fully saturated.

The GPU's 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores are relevant for modern rendering techniques, though Downfall is from 2016 and may not fully utilize these features. The DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility ensure broad software support. The 300 W TDP and suggested 700 W PSU indicate a power-hungry component, but the performance data justifies the requirement.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a Raptor Lake architecture processor with 10 cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU is built on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 215 mm². It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and features 20 MB of shared L3 cache, 1.25 MB per core L2 cache, and 80 KB per core L1 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-14400F scores 21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3093 in single-core, placing it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 32508, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i7-12800H at 32513 (0% deltaPct) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 at 32446 (0.2% deltaPct). The i5-14400F's performance is competitive with mobile high-end parts, which is notable for a desktop processor.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the frame rate reaches 381.3 FPS. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough draw calls to maintain such performance. The 4.70 GHz boost clock and 16 threads provide strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The PassMark single-thread score of 3723 and multi-thread score of 25783 indicate a balanced processor that can handle both the game's logic and the high frame rate demands.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti combination ranks 154th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the top 8.8% of all configurations tested for this game. The rank reflects the strong performance of both components, with the GPU's high score (87th percentile) and the CPU's solid showing (88th percentile) contributing to the overall standing.

The rank of 154 out of 1741 is particularly impressive given that the CPU is a mid-range desktop part and the GPU is a high-end offering. The data suggests that the i5-14400F does not bottleneck the RTX 5070 Ti in Downfall, as the combo achieves frame rates that are competitive with much more expensive configurations. The 0% deltaPct between the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 4080 in synthetic benchmarks further supports the notion that this combo provides near-flagship GPU performance.

The combination of a 10-core CPU with a 16 GB GPU proves effective for this game. The measured frame rates, which never drop below 72.8 FPS, indicate that the system has substantial headroom even at maximum settings and resolution. The 154th rank out of 1741 combos suggests that most other configurations either have weaker GPUs, weaker CPUs, or a less balanced pairing. For a horror game that benefits from smooth motion and atmospheric detail, this combo delivers a compelling experience across all tested scenarios.