Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall shows a classic GPU-limited scaling pattern as resolution increases, though the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 338.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 151.1 FPS at 3840x2160 — a 55.4% reduction. This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest graphical load, the GPU's rendering throughput becomes the dominant constraint at 4K, with the CPU able to feed frames far faster at 1080p than the Radeon RX 7900 XT can rasterize at 2160p.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. Here, the frame rate drops from 143.8 FPS at 1080p to 62.4 FPS at 4K, a 56.6% decline that is proportionally similar to Low but operates at a much lower absolute level. The Medium preset shows the same pattern: 276.4 FPS at 1080p falls to 122.9 FPS at 4K (55.5% drop). High settings see 228.7 FPS at 1080p drop to 100.1 FPS at 4K (56.2% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across all four presets — all hovering near 55-57% — strongly suggests that resolution scaling is governed almost entirely by the GPU's fill-rate and shading capacity, not by CPU or memory bandwidth limits.

At 2560x1440, the scaling from 1080p is gentler. High settings deliver 161.6 FPS (29.3% below the 1080p result), while Medium hits 197.3 FPS (28.6% lower), and Low reaches 238.6 FPS (29.5% lower). Ultra at 1440p produces 100.7 FPS, a 30.0% reduction from 1080p. This near-uniform 29-30% penalty across presets at 1440p reinforces the interpretation that the GPU is the limiting component; the CPU has ample headroom at these frame rates, particularly given the Core i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads.

The 4K results, however, reveal a more nuanced picture. At Low settings, the 151.1 FPS average suggests the GPU is still not fully saturated — a stronger CPU might push higher — but the fact that Ultra drops to 62.4 FPS indicates that the RX 7900 XT's 20 GB of VRAM and 800.0 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed heavily by the higher-fidelity geometry and textures. The data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking at any resolution; the consistent scaling ratios point to a GPU-bound scenario throughout.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT achieves a combo rank of 327 out of 1,741 tested combinations in Downfall. This places the pairing in the top 18.8% of all tested combos, which is a strong showing for a horror title that appears to favor high refresh rate play. The percentile ranking reflects the balanced nature of this pairing: the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,642) and the GPU's raw rasterization power (51.48 TFLOPS FP32) combine to deliver frame rates that exceed the vast majority of systems.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 38,358 places it at the 82nd percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU's average score of 49,166 sits at the 93rd percentile among all CPUs. The CPU is clearly the stronger component relative to its peers, yet in Downfall the GPU still manages to be the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as shown by the resolution scaling data. This suggests the game's rendering workload is heavily shader-bound rather than CPU-physics-bound.

The nearest rivals for the CPU include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (average score 49,062, a 0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i5-14600KF (49,367, -0.4% delta), indicating that the 14600K's processing power is essentially interchangeable with those parts for this game's CPU demands. The GPU's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile (38,349, 0.0% delta), which is a laptop part — the desktop RX 7900 XT matches it in average score, though the mobile chip's power constraints would likely alter sustained performance. The ranking data shows that in Downfall, this combo outperforms 1,414 other tested configurations, a signal of the synergy between the 14-core CPU and the 20 GB GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K brings 14 cores and 20 threads to the pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. These specifications, combined with a 24 MB shared L3 cache, provide substantial headroom for Downfall's CPU demands. The benchmark data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this game: the 1080p Low preset reaches 338.5 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show, and the CPU's single-thread Cinebench R23 score of 4,642 suggests it can handle the game's main-thread logic without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's multicore performance is equally robust — Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32,881 and Geekbench multicore of 15,846 — which matters for Downfall if the game spawns numerous AI-driven entities or physics objects. The 14 cores are split between performance and efficiency cores, a design that allows the operating system to schedule background tasks away from the gaming threads. The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 mounting are standard for this class, and the CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its capability.

In practical terms, the data shows that at 1080p Medium, the combo produces 276.4 FPS, and at High it still achieves 228.7 FPS. These numbers would be unattainable if the CPU were struggling to keep up. The 0.2% delta versus the Ryzen 9 5950X and the -0.4% delta versus the i5-14600KF indicate that swapping to those CPUs would produce nearly identical results in this game, further confirming that the 14600K is more than adequate. The CPU's 10 nm process node and Raptor Lake architecture are mature, and the 5.30 GHz boost clock provides the single-thread speed that horror games often require for scripted events and lighting calculations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values span a wide range depending on settings: Low delivers 338.5 FPS, Medium 276.4 FPS, High 228.7 FPS, and Ultra 143.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 194.7 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant rendering cost, likely through enhanced shadows, post-processing, and texture filtering. The 1080p results are consistently above 140 FPS even at the highest preset, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable: Low hits 238.6 FPS, Medium 197.3 FPS, High 161.6 FPS, and Ultra 100.7 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p is the first configuration to dip below 100 FPS, though 100.7 FPS is still smooth for most players. The drop from High to Ultra at 1440p is 60.9 FPS, a 37.7% penalty that suggests the Ultra preset's additional effects are disproportionately expensive at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results show the GPU's limits: Low produces 151.1 FPS, Medium 122.9 FPS, High 100.1 FPS, and Ultra 62.4 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, though 62.4 FPS is just above that threshold. The scaling from High to Ultra at 4K costs 37.7 FPS (37.7% reduction), mirroring the 1440p penalty. Across all resolutions, the step from Medium to High costs roughly 20-25% performance, while High to Ultra costs another 35-38%. These consistent percentages indicate that each settings tier adds a predictable computational load, with Ultra being the most demanding by a wide margin.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the primary driver of Downfall's frame rates, as evidenced by the resolution scaling analysis. The GPU's Navi 31 chip, built on a 5 nm process with 57,700 million transistors, delivers 51.48 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 800.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth across a 320-bit bus. The 20 GB of GDDR6 VRAM is more than sufficient for Downfall's textures, even at 4K Ultra, and the 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms its high-end status.

The GPU's boost clock of 2394 MHz and game clock of 2025 MHz provide the raw speed needed for the 100+ FPS results seen at 1440p High and 4K High. The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s explain why the card handles 4K High at 100.1 FPS — the fill-rate capacity is substantial. However, the Ultra preset at 4K drops to 62.4 FPS, indicating that the extra shading work (likely from volumetric effects and high-resolution shadow maps) saturates the 5,376 shading units.

The GPU's nearest rivals in average benchmark score — the RTX 5080 Mobile at 0.0% delta and the RTX 4080 Mobile at 0.6% delta — are both mobile parts that would likely throttle under sustained load, giving the desktop RX 7900 XT an advantage in real gaming scenarios. The 300 W TDP and dual-slot design mean the card requires robust cooling, but the 2x 8-pin power connectors and 700 W suggested PSU are standard for this performance class. The RDNA 3.0 architecture's DirectX 12 Ultimate support ensures compatibility with modern rendering techniques, and the 84 ray-tracing cores provide headroom for any RT effects Downfall might use, though the measured data does not isolate RT performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target display resolution and refresh rate. For 1920x1080 users with 144 Hz monitors, the High preset at 228.7 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual fidelity and speed, easily exceeding refresh rate capabilities. The Ultra preset at 143.8 FPS is also viable for 144 Hz displays and adds visual polish, though the 84.9 FPS penalty over High may not be worth it for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 161.6 FPS is the recommended choice for 144 Hz panels, as it clears the refresh rate threshold with headroom. The Medium preset at 197.3 FPS is preferable for 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors, offering a smoother experience at the cost of some visual detail. The Ultra preset at 100.7 FPS is suitable for 100 Hz or 120 Hz displays but will not fully saturate higher refresh rates.

For 3840x2160, the data shows that High settings at 100.1 FPS is the sweet spot for 4K gaming on 60 Hz or 100 Hz displays. The Medium preset at 122.9 FPS is better for 120 Hz 4K panels, while the Low preset at 151.1 FPS can drive 144 Hz 4K monitors if maximum frame rate is the priority. The Ultra preset at 62.4 FPS is only recommended for 60 Hz displays, and even then, the visual improvement over High may not justify the 37.7 FPS loss. Across all resolutions, the High preset offers the most consistent experience, with frame rates that stay above 100 FPS even at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS measured for this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 338.5, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: At 4K Ultra, does this combo maintain 60 FPS?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra preset produces an average of 62.4 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold but leaves little headroom.

Q: How much performance is lost going from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 228.7 at 1920x1080 to 100.1 at 3840x2160, a 56.2% reduction.

Q: Which settings preset provides the largest FPS jump from Ultra?

A: Dropping from Ultra to High yields the largest relative gain; at 2560x1440, High delivers 161.6 FPS versus 100.7 FPS on Ultra, a 60.9 FPS improvement.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Downfall?

A: The resolution scaling data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor; the CPU's 1080p Low result of 338.5 FPS shows it can feed frames far faster than the GPU can render at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 327th out of 1,741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 18.8% of systems.