Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-14600KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces an exceptionally strong showing in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that clearly rewards both high-end CPU and GPU resources. The combo ranks 22nd out of 3,716 tested configurations, placing it in the top 0.6% of all systems evaluated for this game. Across the measured resolution and settings matrix, the system never drops below 90 FPS on average, with the CPU's 14 cores and the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory combining to deliver frame rates that range from a low of 90 FPS at 4K Ultra to a high of 476 FPS at 1080p Low.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and consistent pattern: as resolution increases, average FPS drops substantially across every settings preset. At Low settings, the system delivers 476 FPS at 1080p, 345 FPS at 1440p, and 214 FPS at 4K. That represents a 27.5% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 38.0% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The cumulative drop from 1080p Low to 4K Low is 55.0%, indicating that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as pixel count rises.

At High settings, the scaling is similar in shape but slightly steeper in percentage terms. The system produces 324 FPS at 1080p, 231 FPS at 1440p, and 144 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 28.7%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 37.7%. This pattern suggests that the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, rather than the CPU — the frame rate reductions track closely with the doubling of pixel count between each resolution step.

Medium settings show the same trend with slightly different magnitudes: 395 FPS at 1080p, 282 FPS at 1440p, and 175 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p reduction is 28.6%, and the 1440p-to-4K reduction is 37.9%. Ultra settings produce the steepest relative declines: 202 FPS at 1080p, 144 FPS at 1440p, and 90 FPS at 4K, with drops of 28.7% and 37.5% respectively.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all four settings presets is notable. It indicates that resolution scaling in Downfall is largely resolution-bound rather than settings-bound — the GPU's render load scales predictably with pixel count, and the RTX 5090 D's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 512-bit bus width are sufficient to feed the rendering pipeline at all tested configurations. The fact that even 4K Ultra maintains a 90 FPS average demonstrates that this combo is never severely bottlenecked by the GPU at any resolution tested.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF brings 14 cores and 20 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU's Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,544 and a single-core score of 4,594. These synthetic results place the processor in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49,394.

In Downfall, the CPU's role appears to be primarily about maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions, where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 476 FPS — a figure that requires substantial CPU throughput to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The processor's 5.30 GHz boost clock and 24 MB of shared L3 cache are clearly sufficient for this task, as evidenced by the fact that no resolution or settings combination shows a CPU-imposed frame cap below 90 FPS.

The nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provide context for the CPU's positioning. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 0.3% higher on average, while the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G is 0.4% higher and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is 0.8% higher. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 scores 0.8% lower. These margins are narrow enough to suggest that any of these CPUs would produce nearly identical results in Downfall — the game does not appear to be particularly sensitive to the differences between these processors.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support indicate a mainstream desktop part, but its performance in this horror title is anything but mainstream. The 3,280 Cinebench R15 multi-core score and 462 single-core score reinforce the picture of a well-balanced processor that can keep up with the RTX 5090 D at every resolution tested.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience in Downfall. At 4K, High settings deliver 144 FPS on average, which is 80 FPS higher than Ultra's 90 FPS and only 31 FPS lower than Medium's 175 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 54 FPS, a 37.5% reduction, while the jump from Medium to High costs 31 FPS, a 17.7% reduction. For most users, High at 4K represents the sweet spot — it maintains a frame rate well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors while still providing substantial visual fidelity over Low.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts slightly. Medium produces 282 FPS, while High produces 231 FPS and Ultra produces 144 FPS. The 51 FPS difference between Medium and High might be noticeable on a 240 Hz display, but the 138 FPS difference between Medium and Ultra is substantial. High at 1440p offers 231 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 200 FPS for competitive play, while Ultra's 144 FPS still clears 120 Hz thresholds.

At 1080p, the system is so fast that even Ultra maintains 202 FPS. Medium reaches 395 FPS, and Low reaches 476 FPS. The 1080p Ultra result of 202 FPS suggests that players with 240 Hz monitors could reasonably choose High (324 FPS) or Medium (395 FPS) for maximum smoothness, but even the most demanding preset provides a playable experience.

The overall recommendation across all resolutions is High settings, as it provides the best balance of visual quality and frame rate headroom. At 4K, High offers 144 FPS — exactly double the 72 FPS that would be the minimum for smooth gameplay on a 144 Hz display. At 1440p, High's 231 FPS leaves room for future content updates or more demanding scenes. The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates, sacrifices too much visual fidelity for the marginal gains over Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 22 out of 3,716 tested configurations places this system in the 99.4th percentile of all tested combos for Downfall. This is an exceptional result, though it is notably the rank is based on the average performance across all measured settings and resolutions, not just the most demanding configuration.

The RTX 5090 D's synthetic benchmark positioning helps contextualize this rank. The GPU scores in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals in the synthetic tests — the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 1.1% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 1.6% lower, and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at 2.1% and 2.4% lower — are all significantly different products in terms of architecture and intended use case. The fact that the RTX 5090 D ranks this high in Downfall despite these synthetic rivals suggests that the game is not particularly sensitive to the specific strengths of any one GPU architecture.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all CPUs is slightly lower than the combo's overall in-game rank, which indicates that the GPU is the more dominant factor in determining Downfall performance. The CPU's nearest rivals all score within 0.8% of each other, suggesting that any of these processors would produce nearly identical frame rates in this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the clear performance driver in this pairing. With 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, the GPU delivers 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth — a figure that is essential for maintaining high frame rates at 4K resolution. The 92,200 million transistors on TSMC's 5 nm process give the GPU 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units, which combine to produce 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

The GPU's clock behavior is straightforward: a base clock of 2017 MHz boosts to 2407 MHz under load. The memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective throughput. These specifications translate directly into the measured frame rates in Downfall. At 4K Ultra, the GPU produces 90 FPS, while at 4K Low it produces 214 FPS — a 2.4x increase that tracks closely with the reduced render load at lower settings.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark results reinforce its positioning. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 376,915 indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance, which is relevant for Downfall's horror genre rendering techniques. The Passmark G3D score of 44,065 places the GPU in the 92nd percentile, and the GPU compute score of 28,396 shows solid compute throughput for any physics or particle effects the game might employ.

The 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU indicate that this is a power-hungry component, but the dual-slot design and 304 mm length make it suitable for most high-end cases. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures that the CPU can communicate with the GPU without bandwidth limitations, which is particularly important at the high frame rates seen at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 476 FPS average, Medium produces 395 FPS with a minimum of 335 FPS and maximum of 454 FPS, High produces 324 FPS, and Ultra produces 202 FPS. The Medium settings row is the only one at this resolution with min/max data, showing a 119 FPS range between the 335 FPS minimum and 454 FPS maximum — a 35.5% swing that indicates some scene-to-scene variability.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain extremely high but show the expected reduction. Low produces 345 FPS, Medium produces 282 FPS with a minimum of 240 FPS and maximum of 324 FPS, High produces 231 FPS, and Ultra produces 144 FPS. The Medium settings range at this resolution is 84 FPS (240 to 324), representing a 35.0% swing — nearly identical to the 1080p variability, suggesting consistent scene complexity scaling.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers very playable frame rates. Low produces 214 FPS, Medium produces 175 FPS with a minimum of 149 FPS and maximum of 202 FPS, High produces 144 FPS, and Ultra produces 90 FPS. The Medium settings range at 4K is 53 FPS (149 to 202), a 35.6% swing that matches the other resolutions' variability pattern.

Across all nine measured configurations (three resolutions × three settings with complete data, plus the Medium rows with min/max), the system never drops below 149 FPS in the minimum metric. The lowest average FPS is 90 at 4K Ultra, which still exceeds the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered the minimum for smooth gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Downfall?

A: The highest average FPS is 476, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 395 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 345 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the system produces 214 FPS on Low settings, 175 FPS on Medium, 144 FPS on High, and 90 FPS on Ultra. All four settings presets maintain an average FPS above 90.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 22nd out of 3,716 tested combinations for Downfall, placing it in the top 0.6% of all systems evaluated.

Q: Which settings preset shows the most frame time variability?

A: The Medium settings preset is the only one with min/max data recorded. At 1080p, the range is 335 to 454 FPS; at 1440p, it is 240 to 324 FPS; at 4K, it is 149 to 202 FPS. The percentage swing is consistent at approximately 35% across all three resolutions.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600KF has an average benchmark score of 49,394. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 0.3% higher, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 0.4% higher, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 0.8% higher. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 scores 0.8% lower.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 5090 D has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This configuration supports the high frame rates seen at 4K resolution, where memory bandwidth is often a limiting factor.