Downfall

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a dominant performance in Downfall, with the data showing triple-digit frame rates at nearly every resolution and settings combination. This pairing ranks 524th out of 3,716 tested combos, placing it in the top 14% of all configurations. The 14-core, 20-thread Raptor Lake CPU and the 24 GB Navi 31 GPU combine to make this a formidable system for this horror title, though the scaling patterns reveal a nuanced story about where the bottlenecks lie.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with Low settings for this combo?

A: The measured data shows an average of 364 FPS at 1920x1080 on Low settings, which is the highest frame rate recorded across all tested configurations for this pairing.

Q: How does the i5-14600K compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 48,618, which is 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48,698) and 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4345P (48,470). It also sits 0.7% above the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48,287) and 0.8% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48,995).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all graphics cards?

A: The Radeon RX 7900 XTX holds a 64th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,410. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, scores 19,334, a difference of only 0.4%.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 244 FPS at 1920x1080 to 175 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 109 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 55.3% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K.

Q: Does the combo exceed 60 FPS at 4K on Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the data indicates an average of 68 FPS at 3840x2160 on Ultra settings. This is the lowest recorded average for this pairing but remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded at Medium settings across all resolutions?

A: The measured minimum FPS values are only available for Medium settings: 253 FPS at 1080p, 181 FPS at 1440p, and 113 FPS at 4K. These represent the lowest instantaneous frame rates captured during testing for these configurations.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the clear driving force behind this combo's high frame rates in Downfall. With 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, the card provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth—ample headroom for a 2016 horror title that does not appear to stress memory capacity in the measured results. The GPU's 96 ray accelerators and 192 ROPs support the game's visual effects, while the 61.39 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power handles the rendering workload.

The card's clock behavior is telling: a base clock of 1929 MHz, a game clock of 2365 MHz, and a boost clock of 2498 MHz. The close proximity between the game and boost clocks suggests the card sustains high frequencies under load, which directly contributes to the strong average FPS figures. The 20 Gbps effective memory speed, paired with the 384-bit interface, ensures texture streaming and geometry data never become a limiting factor at any resolution tested.

Interestingly, the GPU's percentile ranking (64th among all GPUs) and its benchmark scores (31,238 in Passmark G3D, 85,612 in Geekbench Vulkan) do not fully reflect its in-game performance. In Downfall, the RX 7900 XTX delivers 109 FPS at 4K High and 153 FPS at 1080p Ultra, indicating that the game is well-optimized for this architecture. The 355 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest a power-hungry card, but the measured FPS data shows it handles the game's demands without issue.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the CPU can push the frame rate to 364 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU's workload increases significantly, pulling the average down to 68 FPS. This demonstrates that while the RX 7900 XTX is exceptionally capable, the game's Ultra preset at 4K still presents a substantial challenge that even this high-end card cannot fully overcome.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent scaling pattern across all four settings presets as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 364 FPS at 1080p to 260 FPS at 1440p (a 28.6% reduction) and then to 162 FPS at 4K (a 55.5% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck as pixel count rises.

For High settings, the pattern is similar but less severe in percentage terms: 244 FPS at 1080p, 175 FPS at 1440p (28.3% drop), and 109 FPS at 4K (55.3% drop). The absolute frame rates remain high throughout, suggesting the combo has substantial headroom even when the resolution quadruples. The Medium settings show the most complete data with min and max FPS recorded: 298 average (253 min, 343 max) at 1080p, 213 average (181 min, 245 max) at 1440p, and 132 average (113 min, 152 max) at 4K.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates but also the most interesting scaling behavior. The average drops from 153 FPS at 1080p to 109 FPS at 1440p (28.8% drop) and then to 68 FPS at 4K (55.6% drop). The consistency of the percentage drops across all settings—roughly 28% from 1080p to 1440p and 55% from 1080p to 4K—strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting component throughout. The CPU, with its 5.30 GHz boost clock and 24 MB of shared L3 cache, has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that the relative frame rate declines match the pixel count increases almost exactly.

The min FPS values at Medium settings also scale predictably: 253 at 1080p, 181 at 1440p, and 113 at 4K. These minimums suggest that frame time consistency holds up well even as resolution increases, with no sudden spikes or stutters that would indicate a CPU bottleneck. The delta between average and min FPS remains roughly 45 FPS at each resolution, indicating stable performance across the board.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 364 FPS, which is the highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings follow with 298 FPS average (253 min, 343 max), while High settings achieve 244 FPS. Ultra settings bring the average down to 153 FPS, but even this represents a frame rate that far exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains impressive but shows the expected decline. Low settings average 260 FPS, Medium settings hit 213 FPS (181 min, 245 max), and High settings reach 175 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 109 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 1440p results demonstrate that this combo is overkill for this resolution, with even the most demanding preset maintaining triple-digit averages.

At 3840x2160, the 4K results show the true capabilities of this pairing. Low settings average 162 FPS, Medium settings average 132 FPS (113 min, 152 max), and High settings average 109 FPS. Ultra settings produce the lowest measured average of 68 FPS, which remains playable but begins to approach the limits of what this GPU can deliver. The absence of min and max FPS data for most 4K configurations means the full picture of frame time consistency is incomplete, but the available Medium data (113 min) suggests the combo holds up well.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows a consistent pattern: Ultra settings reduce the average FPS by approximately 58% compared to Low settings at the same resolution. This consistency indicates that the game's Ultra preset adds a predictable amount of rendering workload, and the RX 7900 XTX handles that additional load uniformly across resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific configuration ranks 524th out of 3,716 tested combos, placing it in the top 14.1% of all systems tested in Downfall. This is a strong showing, particularly given that the dataset includes a wide range of hardware combinations. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of the i5-14600K and the RX 7900 XTX, which together deliver frame rates that surpass the vast majority of competing systems.

The CPU's individual benchmarks provide context for this ranking. The i5-14600K scores 24,491 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,064 in single-core, with a 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, scores only 0.2% higher on average, indicating that the i5-14600K is at the top of its class. The GPU's 64th percentile ranking is less impressive, but its in-game performance in Downfall clearly exceeds what that percentile suggests, likely due to the game's specific rendering requirements.

The combo rank of 524 suggests that only a small fraction of tested systems—roughly 14%—achieve higher frame rates in this game. Given that the dataset likely includes multiple high-end configurations, this ranking indicates that the i5-14600K and RX 7900 XTX combination is well-balanced for Downfall, with neither component acting as a significant bottleneck at most settings. The 14-core CPU provides ample processing power, while the 24 GB GPU ensures memory capacity and bandwidth are never concerns.

When compared to the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the RX 7900 XTX's in-game advantage becomes apparent. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB scores 0.4% higher in average benchmark score, yet the RX 7900 XTX delivers 109 FPS at 4K High in this game—a result that the GTX 1060 could not approach. This discrepancy highlights the importance of measuring actual game performance rather than relying solely on synthetic benchmarks.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1080p, Medium delivers 298 FPS average with a minimum of 253 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even during intense horror sequences. At 1440p, Medium maintains 213 FPS average (181 min), which is well above the threshold for high-refresh-rate monitors. Even at 4K, Medium achieves 132 FPS average (113 min), making it the only preset that provides both measured minimum frame rate data and triple-digit averages at all resolutions.

For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, the High settings preset is a strong alternative. It delivers 244 FPS at 1080p, 175 FPS at 1440p, and 109 FPS at 4K. While the minimum FPS data is not available for High settings, the averages indicate that this preset is perfectly viable at every resolution. The step from Medium to High appears to offer meaningful visual improvements, and the performance cost is relatively modest—a 18.1% reduction in average FPS at 1080p (from 298 to 244) and a 17.4% reduction at 4K (from 132 to 109).

The Ultra preset is only recommended for users with 1080p displays, where it achieves 153 FPS average. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 109 FPS, which is acceptable for 60 Hz displays but marginal for 144 Hz monitors. At 4K, Ultra produces just 68 FPS average, which may be playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates (364 FPS at 1080p), should be avoided unless maximum performance is absolutely required, as the visual quality reduction likely outweighs the frame rate benefits for a horror game where atmosphere is critical.

The data suggests that Medium at 4K (132 FPS) provides a better experience than Ultra at 1440p (109 FPS) in terms of both resolution and frame rate. This indicates that the combo has sufficient headroom to prioritize resolution over settings for the best visual experience. For most users, the recommended configuration would be 1440p with High settings (175 FPS), which offers an excellent balance of visual fidelity and performance without approaching any potential frame rate limits.