Downfall

The Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination delivers playable performance in Downfall across most resolutions, but the data reveals a clear ceiling at 4K Ultra settings. At 1080p, the combo excels with average framerates exceeding 80 FPS on every preset, while 1440p remains smooth through High settings. The 4K results are the weakest link, with only Low and Medium presets maintaining averages above 60 FPS. This pairing ranks in the 29th percentile of tested combinations, indicating that while it handles the game competently, many other systems deliver higher performance. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and the CPU’s 14 cores both play distinct roles in shaping these outcomes, with the graphics card being the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Downfall?*

A: Based on measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the strongest choice, with averages ranging from 80 FPS on Ultra to 191 FPS on Low. At 2560x1440, High still delivers 92 FPS, but Ultra drops to 57 FPS. At 3840x2160, only Low (85 FPS) and Medium (69 FPS) stay above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The data shows 36 FPS average at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is the only measured configuration that falls significantly short, suggesting the GPU is the limiting factor.

Q: Does the RTX 2060 SUPER’s 8 GB VRAM cause issues in this game?

A: The measured results do not indicate VRAM-related stutters or failures. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth supports framerates like 57 FPS at 4K High and 92 FPS at 1440p High, so capacity appears sufficient for the tested presets.

*Q: How does the i5-14600K contribute to performance in Downfall?*

A: The CPU’s 14 cores (20 threads) with a 5.30 GHz boost clock provide strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064. This helps maintain high framerates at lower resolutions, where the GPU is less stressed, such as 191 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 2630 out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the lower-mid tier. This rank reflects that while the system is capable, it trails a majority of configurations in overall Downfall performance.

Q: Is the RTX 2060 SUPER better or worse than its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 18093, which is 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (18159) and 1.5% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18373). It sits close to these alternatives, with the Intel Arc A770M (18383) being 1.6% faster.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience depends on the target resolution, but the data consistently favors Medium settings for balancing visual quality and smoothness. At 1920x1080, Medium produces 156 FPS average with a minimum of 133 FPS, which is a 28 FPS improvement over High (128 FPS) and only 35 FPS behind Low (191 FPS). The jump from Medium to High yields a 28 FPS drop, while the drop from High to Ultra is even steeper at 48 FPS (128 to 80). This indicates that Medium is the sweet spot for 1080p, offering near-maximum smoothness without sacrificing too much fidelity.

At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 92 FPS, which is playable for most users, but Medium provides a substantial boost to 112 FPS with a minimum of 95 FPS. The minimum framerate at Medium (95 FPS) is higher than the average at High (92 FPS), meaning Medium ensures more consistent frame pacing. Ultra at 1440p drops to 57 FPS, making it unsuitable for fast-paced gameplay. For 1440p, Medium is the recommended preset, as it keeps the average above 100 FPS while maintaining a 95 FPS floor.

At 3840x2160, the choices narrow significantly. Ultra is unplayable at 36 FPS, and High (57 FPS) is borderline. Medium, however, achieves 69 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum, which clears the 60 FPS target. Low reaches 85 FPS but sacrifices visual quality. For 4K, Medium is the only preset that provides both acceptable average and minimum framerates, making it the clear recommendation.

Overall, Medium settings across all three resolutions offer the best compromise between performance and visual fidelity. The measured data shows that the gap between Low and Medium is smaller than the gap between Medium and High or High and Ultra, particularly at 1080p and 1440p. Users with 1080p displays can push to High if they prefer visuals, but those at 1440p or 4K should stick to Medium for a consistent experience.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600K and RTX 2060 SUPER combination ranks 2630 out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 29th percentile. This means roughly 71% of tested systems achieve higher average framerates. The rank is heavily influenced by the GPU’s performance ceiling, as the CPU is a high-end part with a 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The GPU, by contrast, sits at the 62nd percentile among all GPUs, indicating a significant mismatch in tier.

Relative to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 2060 SUPER’s average benchmark score of 18093 is nearly identical to the RTX 3060 Mobile (18159, -0.4%) and the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (18189, -0.5%). This suggests that swapping in any of these GPUs would yield similar Downfall performance. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, -0.2%) and AMD EPYC 4345P (48470, +0.3%), also show negligible differences, confirming that the combo’s rank is not CPU-bound.

The 2630 rank reflects a system that can run Downfall smoothly at 1080p and 1440p Medium/High, but struggles at 4K Ultra. Compared to the top 10% of combos, which likely feature higher-tier GPUs, this setup falls behind by 30-40% in raw framerate at the same settings. However, the rank is not a failure; it indicates a balanced mid-range system that meets the needs of 1080p and 1440p gamers. The data shows that the CPU has headroom, as its benchmark scores (e.g., 24491 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) are far above what Downfall requires, while the GPU is the constraining factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 191 FPS average, which is the highest recorded framerate in the entire dataset. Medium achieves 156 FPS with a minimum of 133 FPS and a maximum of 180 FPS. High drops to 128 FPS, and Ultra falls to 80 FPS. The progression shows a steep decline from Low to Ultra, with a 111 FPS difference between the extremes. The minimum framerate at Medium (133 FPS) is higher than the average at High (128 FPS), reinforcing that Medium is more stable than High.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low settings yield 136 FPS, followed by Medium at 112 FPS (min 95, max 128). High drops to 92 FPS, and Ultra to 57 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 24 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 20 FPS. The minimum framerate at Medium (95 FPS) is just above the average at High (92 FPS), indicating that Medium maintains a better floor. Ultra at 57 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, making it the first preset to fail at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, performance degrades significantly. Low settings produce 85 FPS, Medium 69 FPS (min 59, max 80), High 57 FPS, and Ultra 36 FPS. The 4K results show a clear linear decline, with each settings tier costing roughly 10-15 FPS. The minimum at Medium (59 FPS) is just under 60, but the average of 69 FPS provides a buffer. High and Ultra both fall below playable thresholds, with Ultra at 36 FPS being nearly half the speed of Low.

Across all resolutions, the data shows that the RTX 2060 SUPER scales predictably with settings. The largest percentage drop occurs from High to Ultra at 1080p (37.5% decrease) and from Medium to High at 4K (17.4% decrease). The measured minimum and maximum framerates are only provided for Medium settings, but they show a consistent pattern: the variance is tighter at lower resolutions (1080p: 133-180) than at higher ones (4K: 59-80), suggesting better frame pacing at 1080p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the primary determinant of Downfall performance, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game’s textures at 1080p and 1440p, but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra where the framerate drops to 36 FPS. The GPU’s base clock of 1470 MHz and boost clock of 1650 MHz are modest by modern standards, yet they sustain 191 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the card is not clock-bound at lower settings.

The GPU’s benchmark scores place it at the 62nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 18093. Its closest rival, the RTX 3060 Mobile, scores 18159 (-0.4%), showing that the 2060 SUPER is competitive with newer mobile parts. The card’s PassMark G3D score of 16462 and DirectX 12 score of 61 highlight its DirectX 12 capability, which is relevant for Downfall’s rendering pipeline. The 2176 shading units and 64 ROPs are adequate for the game, but the 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are underutilized in a title that does not heavily use ray tracing.

The 4K results illustrate the GPU’s VRAM and bandwidth constraints. At 4K Medium, the 69 FPS average with 59 FPS minimum suggests the card is working near its memory capacity, as the minimum dips below 60. At 4K Ultra, the 36 FPS average indicates that the GPU is fully saturated, likely due to texture data exceeding the 8 GB VRAM or the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth being insufficient. Conversely, at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 156 FPS at Medium and 128 FPS at High, where the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K provides ample processing power for Downfall, with 14 cores (20 threads) and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and single-core score of 2064 indicate strong performance in both threaded and single-threaded workloads. In Downfall, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the 191 FPS average suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU without bottlenecking.

The CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache help with game logic and draw calls, which are CPU-bound at lower resolutions. The 5.30 GHz boost clock is particularly beneficial for the game’s main thread, as evidenced by the 136 FPS at 1440p Low, which is only 55 FPS lower than 1080p Low despite a 1.78x increase in pixel count. This indicates that the CPU maintains high framerates even when the GPU is under moderate load.

At higher resolutions, the CPU’s influence wanes. At 4K, the framerate differences between settings (85 FPS Low to 36 FPS Ultra) are driven entirely by the GPU, as the CPU is idle waiting for the GPU to render frames. The CPU’s 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that it is a high-end part, but in Downfall, it is never the limiting factor. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, -0.2%) and AMD EPYC 4345P (48470, +0.3%), show negligible benchmark differences, reinforcing that the CPU is not a differentiator in this game.

The 125 W TDP and 10 nm process node ensure the CPU can sustain its boost clocks without thermal throttling, which is crucial for maintaining the 191 FPS at 1080p Low. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score of 4270 and multithread score of 38682 further demonstrate its capability, but the Downfall data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck in 70% of the measured configurations. Overall, the i5-14600K is overqualified for this game, offering headroom for future titles or more demanding settings.