Downfall

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates for this combination of Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in Downfall reveal a predictable but informative scaling pattern as resolution increases. At the Low preset, the average FPS falls from 299 at 1920x1080 to 214 at 2560x1440, then to 133 at 3840x2160. That represents a 28.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 37.9% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total scaling from 1080p to 4K is a 55.5% reduction in average frame rate.

Moving to the High preset, the pattern shifts slightly. At 1080p the average is 201 FPS, at 1440p it is 143 FPS, and at 4K it is 89 FPS. The percentage drops are 28.9% and 37.8% respectively — nearly identical percentages to the Low preset. This consistency suggests that the performance scaling is resolution-bound rather than settings-bound; the relative cost of each resolution step remains stable regardless of the quality preset.

The Medium preset shows the same trend with 245 FPS at 1080p, 175 FPS at 1440p, and 109 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, producing 125 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 56 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset's scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 28.0% drop, while 1440p to 4K is a 37.8% drop — again, the same proportional pattern.

What this tells the analyst is that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, but the CPU still has headroom at 1080p. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 299 FPS — nearly 300 frames per second — indicates that the i5-14600K is capable of feeding the RTX 3080 well beyond typical display refresh rates. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is proportionally smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K across all presets, which is characteristic of a system where the GPU becomes increasingly saturated as pixel count rises.

The data also shows that the delta between Low and Ultra at each resolution is substantial. At 1080p, the spread is from 299 FPS (Low) to 125 FPS (Ultra) — a 174 FPS difference. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 214 FPS versus 90 FPS — a 124 FPS difference. At 4K, the spread is 133 FPS versus 56 FPS — a 77 FPS difference. This narrowing spread with higher resolution is further evidence that the GPU workload dominates at 4K, while at 1080p the CPU has enough capacity to expose the full performance range of the graphics card.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA102 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. The die contains 28,300 million transistors across a 628 mm² area, giving a transistor density of 45.1M per mm². The card operates with a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz. Memory runs at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed.

The memory subsystem is a critical factor for a horror game like Downfall. The RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a generous amount of memory bandwidth for a game that appears to scale well with resolution. The measured 4K results — 89 FPS on High and 56 FPS on Ultra — suggest that the memory bandwidth is sufficient to avoid severe bottlenecks, as the frame rates remain playable even at the highest resolution.

The GPU has 8704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. It also includes 68 ray tracing cores and 272 tensor cores. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is 29.77 TFLOPS, with FP16 also at 29.77 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). These computational resources explain why the card achieves 299 FPS at 1080p Low — the raw throughput is ample for this title at lower resolutions.

The RTX 3080's power configuration includes a TDP of 320 W, with a suggested PSU of 700 W. The card is dual-slot and uses a 1x 12-pin power connector. It measures 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16. For display output, it offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its standing. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4407. Geekbench OpenCL returns 152423, while Geekbench Vulkan scores 33620. Passmark results show a G3D score of 25086, GPU compute of 14397, and DirectX 11 score of 207. The GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 68, with an average benchmark score of 23172. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA P106-100 (delta -0.3%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (delta -0.3%), AMD Radeon RX 6600M (delta -0.4%), and AMD Radeon R9 M290X (delta -0.4%). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, meaning the RTX 3080 sits in a tightly clustered performance tier.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested combinations for Downfall, this pairing of Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 holds the rank of 1057 out of 3716 total combos. This places it in the top 28.4% of all tested configurations for this game. The rank reflects the aggregate measured FPS across all resolutions and settings.

The combo's standing is consistent with the individual component percentiles. The CPU is at the 90th percentile versus all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 68th percentile versus all GPUs. The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a mid-to-upper-tier GPU produces a system that ranks in the upper quartile of game-specific combos. The fact that the combo rank (1057/3716) is slightly lower than what the CPU percentile alone might suggest indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing — the i5-14600K has more headroom than the RTX 3080 can utilize in this title.

Within the CPU's nearest rival group, the i5-14600K's average benchmark score is 48618. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, with a delta of -0.2%. The AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470, a delta of +0.3%. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287, a delta of +0.7%. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995, a delta of -0.8%. These tight deltas show that the i5-14600K is positioned among several comparable processors, and the game-specific rank reflects a balanced overall system rather than one dominated by a single exceptional component.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides clear guidance on settings selection for this combo. At 1920x1080, all four presets deliver playable frame rates. The Low preset hits 299 FPS average, Medium achieves 245 FPS with a minimum of 208 FPS, High reaches 201 FPS, and Ultra produces 125 FPS. For competitive or high-refresh-rate displays, the Low or Medium presets are the best options, as they exceed 240 FPS thresholds. For a balanced visual experience, High at 201 FPS is still well above 144 Hz refresh rates.

At 2560x1440, the picture changes slightly. Low gives 214 FPS, Medium gives 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS, High gives 143 FPS, and Ultra gives 90 FPS. The Medium preset stands out here because its minimum FPS of 149 is still above the 144 Hz threshold, making it the best choice for high-refresh 1440p gaming. High at 143 FPS is just below that threshold, while Ultra at 90 FPS is better suited to 60 Hz displays.

At 3840x2160, the options narrow. Low gives 133 FPS, Medium gives 109 FPS with a minimum of 92 FPS, High gives 89 FPS, and Ultra gives 56 FPS. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset offers the best combination of visual quality and performance, with an average of 109 FPS and a minimum of 92 FPS. High at 89 FPS is still acceptable for 60 Hz displays, but Ultra at 56 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the least recommended option at this resolution.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize Medium settings for most scenarios. At 1080p, Medium provides 245 FPS with a minimum of 208 FPS, which is excellent. At 1440p, Medium maintains 175 FPS with a 149 FPS minimum. At 4K, Medium delivers 109 FPS with a 92 FPS minimum. This consistent performance across all resolutions makes Medium the most versatile preset for this hardware combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080:

• Low: 299 FPS average
• Medium: 245 FPS average, 208 FPS minimum, 282 FPS maximum
• High: 201 FPS average
• Ultra: 125 FPS average

2560x1440:

• Low: 214 FPS average
• Medium: 175 FPS average, 149 FPS minimum, 201 FPS maximum
• High: 143 FPS average
• Ultra: 90 FPS average

3840x2160:

• Low: 133 FPS average
• Medium: 109 FPS average, 92 FPS minimum, 125 FPS maximum
• High: 89 FPS average
• Ultra: 56 FPS average

The Medium preset is the only one that provides minimum and maximum FPS data across all resolutions, allowing for a more complete picture of frame time consistency. At 1080p, the minimum of 208 FPS is 85% of the average, indicating good frame pacing. At 1440p, the minimum of 149 FPS is 85% of the average of 175 FPS. At 4K, the minimum of 92 FPS is 84% of the average of 109 FPS. This consistent ratio suggests that the game's frame delivery is stable regardless of resolution when using Medium settings.

The Low preset shows the largest absolute frame rates, with 299 FPS at 1080p being the highest measured value in the entire dataset. The Ultra preset shows the lowest values, with 56 FPS at 4K being the only measured average below 60 FPS. The High preset sits between Medium and Ultra in all cases, providing a moderate step in both visual quality and performance cost.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if I want to stay above 144 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, all presets except Ultra exceed 144 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Low preset (214 FPS) and Medium preset (175 FPS average, 149 FPS minimum) stay above 144 FPS, while High falls just short at 143 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset achieves 144 FPS; the highest is Low at 133 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from High to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 143 FPS, while Ultra averages 90 FPS. This represents a 53 FPS reduction, or about 37% lower performance, for the jump to the highest quality settings.

Q: Is the RTX 3080's 10 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: The measured data shows playable frame rates at 3840x2160 across all presets, with the lowest being 56 FPS on Ultra. The 10 GB GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth appears adequate, as no resolution-specific crashes or failures are indicated in the benchmark results.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 1057 out of 3716 total tested combinations for Downfall, placing it in the top 28.4% of all systems in the database for this game.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded in the entire dataset?

A: The highest recorded average is 299 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Does the Medium preset maintain consistent frame pacing across all resolutions?

A: Yes. The Medium preset is the only one with minimum and maximum FPS data at all three resolutions. The minimum FPS is 208 at 1080p, 149 at 1440p, and 92 at 4K. In each case, the minimum is approximately 84-85% of the average FPS, indicating stable frame delivery.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on the Raptor Lake architecture with the Raptor Lake-R codename. It is fabricated on Intel's 10 nm process with a die size of 257 mm². The base clock is 3.50 GHz with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The TDP is 125 W, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with ECC memory support. It features UHD Graphics 770 as integrated graphics, though the discrete RTX 3080 handles all rendering duties in this game.

The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor uses PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes (CPU only). It has an unlocked multiplier for overclocking. The CPU was released on 2023-10-16 with a launch MSRP of $319. The part number is SRN43.

Benchmark results for the i5-14600K show strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. In Cinebench R15, it scores 3640 multi-core and 297 single-core. Cinebench R20 shows 13709 multi-core and 1935 single-core. Cinebench R23 gives 24491 multi-core and 2064 single-core. Geekbench results are 16673 multi-core and 2491 single-core. Passmark tests show a multithread score of 38682 and a single-thread score of 4270.

The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 90, with an average benchmark score of 48618. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, delta -0.2%), AMD EPYC 4345P (48470, delta +0.3%), Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48287, delta +0.7%), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48995, delta -0.8%). These closely matched scores indicate that the i5-14600K is competitively positioned in its performance tier.

For Downfall, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 299 FPS, which demonstrates that the i5-14600K can feed the RTX 3080 sufficiently to saturate its capabilities. The single-core performance — 297 in Cinebench R15, 1935 in R20, 2064 in R23, and 2491 in Geekbench — is particularly relevant for a horror game that may rely on single-threaded game logic. The high boost clock of 5.30 GHz contributes to this strong single-thread showing.

The multi-core results are also substantial, with 3640 in Cinebench R15, 13709 in R20, 24491 in R23, and 16673 in Geekbench. These scores indicate that the 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample parallel processing headroom, though the game's frame rate scaling with resolution suggests that the GPU becomes the bottleneck as pixel count increases. The fact that 1080p frame rates are much higher than 4K frame rates, across all settings, confirms that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions in this title.