Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-14600K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The measured frame rates for this combination in Downfall show a system capable of extreme performance across all resolutions, with the RTX 4090 clearly dominating the workload at lower settings while the CPU begins to assert itself as resolution drops. This pairing of Intel's Core i5-14600K with NVIDIA's RTX 4090 delivers results that place it in the top percentile of tested configurations, though the scaling patterns reveal interesting dynamics about where the bottleneck shifts depending on resolution and quality preset.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates classic GPU-bound scaling, but with a twist: the drops are far less severe than typical because the RTX 4090 is so powerful that even 4K Ultra remains playable. At High settings, the average frame rate moves from 297.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 211.3 FPS at 2560x1440, then settles at 134.7 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 29% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 55% reduction from 1080p to 4K — substantial, but the absolute numbers remain very high.

The pattern shifts when looking at Low settings. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces 442.4 FPS, which drops to 313.8 FPS at 1440p and 196.4 FPS at 4K. The scaling here is steeper in percentage terms, suggesting that at lower quality presets, the CPU becomes a more significant limiting factor even at 1440p. The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 400 FPS indicates the Core i5-14600K is pushing frames faster than most displays can even refresh, and the RTX 4090 has ample headroom to render the simple scenes.

Ultra settings tell a different story entirely. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 85.4, which is less than half of the 4K High result. This dramatic drop points to the heavy GPU workload from the Ultra preset, where the RTX 4090's 24 GB of VRAM and massive compute resources are fully engaged. The scaling from 1080p Ultra (188.8 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (133.7 FPS) to 4K Ultra (85.4 FPS) shows a consistent 29-36% reduction at each step, which is the expected pattern for a GPU-bound scenario.

The Medium preset offers a middle ground: 363.6 FPS at 1080p, 262.1 FPS at 1440p, and 164.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result being higher than 4K High (164.1 vs 134.7) confirms that Downfall's quality settings have a meaningful impact on GPU load, with each step up in quality costing a measurable chunk of performance across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Downfall, this pairing holds the 16th position out of 1,741 combos. That places it in the top 1% of all configurations tested, which is remarkable given that the CPU is a mainstream Core i5 rather than a flagship HEDT or threadripper part. The RTX 4090 is the clear driver of this high ranking, as its raw performance in this horror title boosts the entire system.

The CPU's benchmark standing provides context for why this combo ranks so high. The Core i5-14600K achieves a 93rd percentile score among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,166. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores 49,062, a mere 0.2% delta — statistically a tie. The Intel Core i5-14600KF (same chip, no integrated graphics) is 0.4% ahead, while the AMD EPYC 4345P leads by 0.9%. This CPU is essentially at parity with much more expensive workstation-class parts, which means it is not holding back the RTX 4090 in most scenarios.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4090 sits at the 91st percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 66,473. Its nearest rivals are all professional or workstation cards: the NVIDIA Tesla T4 is 0.4% higher, the Tesla P40 is 0.5% lower, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 trails by 0.9%. This is telling — the RTX 4090's nearest competitors in aggregate benchmarks are not even gaming cards, which underscores its dominance in this pairing.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 brings overwhelming specifications to Downfall, and the measured FPS reflects that. Its AD102 chip on TSMC's 5 nm process contains 76,300 million transistors across a 609 mm² die, with a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter. The GPU runs at a base clock of 2235 MHz and boosts to 2520 MHz, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). This combination of high clocks and massive parallel compute delivers 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is directly relevant to the heavy shader work in a horror game's lighting and particle effects.

Memory capacity is a strong asset here: 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. In Downfall, this means texture streaming and high-resolution assets never become a constraint, even at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs give it a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s, which explains why even the most demanding settings remain fluid.

The 4K Ultra result of 85.4 FPS, while the lowest in the measured set, is still well above standard 60 Hz refresh rates. The 4K High result of 134.7 FPS and 4K Medium of 164.1 FPS show that the RTX 4090 can handle 4K with room to spare. The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for any ray-traced or DLSS-enhanced content, though Downfall's 2016 release likely does not leverage these features heavily.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Downfall?

A: Based on measured data, 1440p High delivers 211.3 FPS, which balances visual quality with very high frame rates. For maximum frame rate, 1080p Low produces 442.4 FPS, while 4K Ultra still maintains 85.4 FPS for those prioritizing visual fidelity.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its closest rivals in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090 scores 66,473 on average, sitting 0.4% below the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and 0.5% above the Tesla P40. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 trails by 0.9%, and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 is 1.3% lower.

Q: Is the Core i5-14600K a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 442.4 FPS, which indicates the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU very high frame rates. However, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (442.4 to 313.8 FPS, a 29% drop) suggests some CPU limitation at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested CPU-GPU pairs in Downfall?

A: This configuration ranks 16th out of 1,741 tested combos, placing it in the top 1% of all systems benchmarked in this game.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4090 have, and does it matter for Downfall?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. This large capacity ensures texture loading is never a limiting factor, even at 4K Ultra settings.

Q: What are the CPU's benchmark scores relative to its nearest competitors?

A: The Core i5-14600K averages 49,166 across benchmarks, which is 0.2% above the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (49,062). The Intel Core i5-14600KF is 0.4% higher, the AMD EPYC 4345P is 0.9% higher, and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 1% lower.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low produces 442.4 FPS, Medium reaches 363.6 FPS, High achieves 297.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 188.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 253.6 FPS, showing that quality presets have a massive impact on performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers remain exceptionally high. Low yields 313.8 FPS, Medium 262.1 FPS, High 211.3 FPS, and Ultra 133.7 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 29% at Low to 30% at Ultra, which is a consistent scaling pattern indicating the GPU is handling the increased pixel count without disproportionate losses.

At 3840x2160, performance stays well within playable territory for all settings. Low produces 196.4 FPS, Medium 164.1 FPS, High 134.7 FPS, and Ultra 85.4 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured value below 100 FPS, but 85.4 FPS is still smooth for most users. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows reductions of 37% at Low, 37% at Medium, 36% at High, and 36% at Ultra, which is remarkably consistent.

The largest single gap in the entire dataset is between 1080p Low (442.4 FPS) and 4K Ultra (85.4 FPS), a difference of 357 FPS or roughly 81% lower performance. This range demonstrates the full envelope of what this hardware can achieve in Downfall, from esports-level frame rates at minimum settings to cinematic quality at maximum resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boosts up to 5.30 GHz, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. Its benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance — a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,642 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2,803 — which is critical for maintaining high frame rates in a game like Downfall that likely relies heavily on a few main threads.

The CPU's multicore capabilities are equally impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 32,881, and PassMark multithread reaches 38,682. These numbers matter because Downfall, as a 2016 horror title, may not be perfectly optimized for modern many-core processors, but the 14600K's combination of high single-thread boost and decent multicore throughput ensures it handles both legacy single-threaded code and any multithreaded elements.

The measured FPS data provides indirect evidence of the CPU's role. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 442.4 FPS, which is an extreme frame rate that requires excellent per-core performance. The fact that 4K Low still delivers 196.4 FPS shows that even when the GPU is heavily loaded, the CPU keeps pace. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 49,166, places it at parity with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (within 0.2%), meaning there is no meaningful performance gap at this level.

The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 form factor make this a mainstream part, yet its benchmark scores rival workstation CPUs like the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, which is 1% lower in average score. This CPU's ability to match far more expensive processors in synthetic benchmarks translates directly to its gaming performance, as the data shows no scenario where the CPU becomes a severe bottleneck — even the most CPU-demanding case (1080p Low) still produces 442.4 FPS.