Downfall

Downfall, a horror title from 2016, responds dramatically to hardware changes, making it an excellent stress test for the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and presets reveal a system with substantial headroom, particularly at lower settings where the CPU's high clock speeds can push frame rates to extreme levels. This analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU roles, scaling behavior, and overall ranking of this specific pairing in the database.

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 based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This high boost clock is critical for a game like Downfall, which, given its 2016 release, relies heavily on single-thread performance for game logic and physics. The CPU's benchmark data supports this strength, showing a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2803, placing it in the 93rd percentile among all CPUs.

In the measured results, the CPU's capability becomes evident at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not the primary bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 364.6 FPS, a figure that is clearly CPU-bound, as the graphics card is not being tasked with heavy rendering. The transition from 1080p Medium to 1080p High shows a drop from 297.7 FPS to 244.3 FPS, indicating that even as the GPU load increases, the processor maintains a high frame delivery rate. The processor's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 and DDR5) provide ample bandwidth for feeding the GPU in this scenario.

The CPU's overall average benchmark score of 49166 places it in a tight competitive group. It sits a mere 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and trails the Intel Core i5-14600KF by only 0.4%. This indicates that the i5-14600K's performance is virtually identical to its direct rivals, meaning the differences in this game's frame rates are primarily dictated by the GPU and settings rather than any meaningful CPU performance gap. The processor’s 125W TDP and unlocked multiplier also suggest it is designed for sustained high performance, which is necessary to maintain the high frame rates observed in this benchmark.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2610 MHz and its 7680 shading units are the primary drivers of its raw rasterization power, which is essential for handling the visual effects and textures in Downfall. Its Passmark G3D score of 31624 places it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 44900, making it a high-end part that is now marked as end-of-life.

In this game, the GPU's role becomes the dominant factor as resolution and settings increase. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 68.4 FPS, a significant reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 154.8 FPS. This indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti is being fully utilized at the highest settings, and its 12 GB of VRAM is sufficient for the textures at this resolution. Interestingly, its performance compared to rivals is close; it is 0.6% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile and 1.5% slower than the Intel Arc A730M. The data suggests that the GPU's performance is consistent with its class, and the main lever for improving frame rates in this game is adjusting the graphics preset rather than the resolution.

The GPU's memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) and its 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power provide the necessary throughput for the game's rendering demands. The 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores are present but are likely not heavily utilized by a 2016 title that predates widespread ray tracing adoption. Therefore, the RTX 4070 Ti's traditional shading performance, as measured by its pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s, is what primarily influences the results seen in the benchmark data.

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

The measured data shows a clear and expected trend: frame rates decrease as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies depending on the settings preset. For the High preset, the average FPS scales from 244.3 at 1080p to 175.2 at 1440p, and finally to 108 at 4K. This represents a 55.7% drop from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the CPU can still feed frames at a high rate.

The Low preset shows a different scaling pattern. At 1080p, the combo hits 364.6 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 260.4 FPS (a 28.6% decrease), and at 4K, it falls to 162.1 FPS (a 55.5% decrease from 1080p). The initial drop from 1080p to 1440p is relatively modest, suggesting that at 1080p Low, the system is heavily CPU-limited. The larger drop from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU starts to become more of a bottleneck as the pixel count increases, but the absolute frame rates remain high.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most significant scaling. From 154.8 FPS at 1080p, it drops to 107.6 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 68.4 FPS at 4K. The 55.8% drop from 1080p to 4K is similar in percentage to the High preset, but the absolute values are much lower. This analysis reveals that the system is balanced at 1440p, where both the CPU and GPU are contributing significantly to performance. At 1080p, the CPU is the limiting component, while at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, particularly on higher presets.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti achieves a rank of 225 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall. This places the combo in the top 12.9% of all systems in the database, which is a strong showing for a pairing of a high-end CPU and a high-end GPU. The rank reflects the system's ability to maintain high average frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions.

This ranking is particularly impressive given the game's age and the fact that many of the 1741 combos likely include more modern, top-tier components. The i5-14600K's performance is competitive, sitting within 1% of its nearest rivals, and the RTX 4070 Ti, while not the fastest GPU, is still significantly faster than the majority of the field. The data indicates that the combo is well-balanced, avoiding severe bottlenecks at typical gaming resolutions like 1440p, which is where it delivers a strong average of 175.2 FPS on High settings. The 225th rank out of 1741 demonstrates that this setup is more capable than the vast majority of systems in the database for this particular title.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate this combo can achieve in Downfall?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 364.6 FPS at 1080p with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-14600K compare to its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X?

A: The i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 49166, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X's score of 49062.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K on the Ultra preset?

A: The average frame rate drops from 154.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra to 68.4 FPS at 4K Ultra, a decrease of 86.4 FPS.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more of a bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. For instance, on the High preset, performance drops from 175.2 FPS at 1440p to 108 FPS at 4K, indicating the rendering load is outrunning the GPU's capacity.

Q: How does this combo's performance rank against all other tested combinations in the database?

A: It ranks 225th out of 1741 total tested combos for Downfall.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti?

A: The launch MSRP for the GPU is 799 USD.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the user's performance target and resolution. At 1080p, the High preset provides an excellent balance, delivering 244.3 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor. While the Low preset reaches 364.6 FPS, the visual quality reduction is likely not worth the extra frame rate. For 1440p gaming, the High preset is again the sweet spot, offering 175.2 FPS, which is ideal for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 107.6 FPS, which is still playable but may not be necessary unless users prioritize maximum visual fidelity.

At 4K, the situation changes. The High preset delivers 108 FPS, which is a very good experience for 4K gaming. However, the Ultra preset drops to 68.4 FPS, which is still within the playable range but represents a significant performance hit. Given the marginal visual differences between High and Ultra, the High preset is the recommended choice for 4K to maintain a higher frame rate. The Medium preset at 4K offers 132.5 FPS, which is a strong alternative for those with high refresh rate 4K displays. Overall, the data suggests that the High preset provides the best combination of visual quality and performance across all resolutions, with the Medium preset serving as a good fallback for higher frame rates at 4K.