Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

The combination of Intel’s six-core Core i5-9400 and AMD’s Radeon RX 6800 XT produces a fascinating split personality in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that clearly rewards GPU headroom at lower settings but pivots to a more balanced workload as resolutions and presets climb. Measured data shows this pairing sitting at rank 616 out of 1741 tested combos, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all system configurations. The RX 6800 XT, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, dominates the frame rate conversation at 1080p and 1440p, while the i5-9400’s 6 cores and 6 threads become increasingly relevant at 4K Ultra where the frame rate collapses.

FAQ

Q: What is the best measured average FPS for this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 270.7, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 124.0 at Ultra, showing a significant performance spread across presets.

*Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations in Downfall?*

A: It ranks 616th out of 1741 total combos tested, which places it in the 65th percentile of all system pairings. This is a solid but not elite position, reflecting the CPU’s mid-range standing.

Q: How much faster is the RX 6800 XT compared to its nearest rival in average GPU benchmarks?

A: The RX 6800 XT has an average benchmark score of 49982, which is 0.5% higher than the Intel Arc A550M’s 49737. It also trails the NVIDIA RTX A1000 by 1.7%, which scores 50826.

Q: What is the CPU’s multi-core performance relative to its closest competitors?

A: The i5-9400 scores 3346 in Cinebench R20 multi-core. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scores 2300 on average, giving the i5-9400 a 0.2% edge. The Core i7-8809G is 0.6% faster with an average score of 2319.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for 4K Ultra settings?

A: The RX 6800 XT comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. At 4K Ultra, the combo produces only 54.5 FPS average, indicating that memory capacity is not the limiting factor—the frame rate drop points to rendering load.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the GPU?

A: The Radeon RX 6800 XT had a launch MSRP of 649 USD. This information is provided for reference only.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear pattern: Low settings deliver the highest frame rates across all resolutions, but the experience becomes increasingly playable at Medium and High with only modest FPS sacrifices at lower resolutions. At 1920x1080, Low produces 270.7 FPS, Medium drops to 234.6, and High sits at 193.5—all far above any refresh rate concern. The Ultra preset, however, cuts deeply to 124.0 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 54% reduction from Low.

At 2560x1440, the story shifts slightly. Low yields 207.6 FPS, Medium 170.0, and High 140.2, while Ultra falls to 85.7. The gap between High and Ultra widens to 39%, suggesting that the Ultra preset’s added effects are disproportionately expensive. At 3840x2160, the situation inverts: Low produces 128.6 FPS, Medium 106.3, High 86.1, and Ultra only 54.5. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS, making it borderline for smooth gameplay.

The data suggests that High settings at 1440p offer the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, with 140.2 FPS remaining well above typical display refresh rates. For 4K users, Medium at 106.3 FPS provides a strong experience without the severe cost of Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 616 out of 1741 tested configurations places it comfortably in the top 35% of all pairings. This is a noteworthy result given the CPU’s modest standing—the i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 87th percentile among all GPUs. The large gap in component percentiles means the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting in this pairing.

The CPU’s nearest rivals show how tightly clustered this processor is: the i3-10305 scores 2300 (0.2% faster), the i3-1125G4 scores 2299 (0.2% faster), and the Xeon E-2134 scores 2295 (0.4% faster). Only the i7-8809G at 2319 is meaningfully ahead at 0.6%. This suggests that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would produce near-identical frame rates in Downfall, since the game’s CPU load appears to be well within the i5-9400’s capabilities at most settings.

On the GPU side, the RX 6800 XT’s average benchmark score of 49982 is competitive with the Intel Arc A550M’s 49737 (0.5% faster) and the NVIDIA CMP 50HX’s 49071 (1.9% slower). The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 48704, making the AMD card 2.6% faster in aggregate benchmarks. These small deltas imply that the RX 6800 XT is well-positioned among its peers, and any performance differences in Downfall would stem from game-specific optimization rather than raw capability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces a full spread of playable results. Low settings lead with 270.7 FPS, followed by Medium at 234.6, High at 193.5, and Ultra at 124.0. The step from High to Ultra costs 69.5 FPS, which is the largest single-preset drop at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show compression. Low yields 207.6 FPS, Medium 170.0, High 140.2, and Ultra 85.7. The High-to-Ultra drop is 54.5 FPS, slightly smaller than at 1080p but still substantial. The Medium-to-High gap of 29.8 FPS indicates that High is a significant visual upgrade without the punishing cost of Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the numbers tell a different story. Low produces 128.6 FPS, Medium 106.3, High 86.1, and Ultra 54.5. The Ultra result is the only one below 60 FPS, and the gap between Medium and Ultra is 51.8 FPS. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a 52.5% reduction, while 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra shows a 56.0% reduction, suggesting that the GPU’s rendering load scales nearly proportionally with pixel count.

GPU Role

The RX 6800 XT is built on the Navi 21 chip using RDNA 2.0 architecture at a 7 nm process node from TSMC. It carries 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units, with 72 ray tracing cores. The GPU’s base clock is 1825 MHz, boosting to 2250 MHz, with a game clock of 2015 MHz. Memory runs at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed.

In Downfall, the GPU’s dominance is clear at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 270.7 FPS result indicates the CPU is not a bottleneck—the i5-9400’s six cores are sufficient to feed the GPU at this level. The 16 GB memory pool is never stressed, as even 4K Ultra settings fail to show memory-related stuttering in the measured data; the 54.5 FPS result is a rendering limitation, not a capacity issue.

The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 24980 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3689 reflect strong raw performance. The architecture’s 20.74 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 288.0 GPixel/s pixel rate support high fill rates, which explains why the card handles 4K Medium at 106.3 FPS—a result that many less-capable GPUs would struggle to match.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a Coffee Lake Refresh part with 6 cores and 6 threads, base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost of 4.10 GHz. It has 9 MB of shared L3 cache, 64 KB L1 per core, and 256 KB L2 per core. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth, and its 65 W TDP reflects a modest power envelope.

In Downfall, the CPU’s role becomes apparent only at the highest settings. At 1080p Low, the 270.7 FPS result shows the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output. However, the 4K Ultra result of 54.5 FPS—compared to 4K Medium’s 106.3 FPS—suggests that the Ultra preset introduces CPU-heavy calculations that the six threads cannot fully process. The i5-9400’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125 indicate adequate but not exceptional throughput.

The CPU’s 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs means half of tested processors are faster. This is consistent with the frame rate pattern: the GPU leads at low settings, but as settings increase, the CPU becomes more involved, and the frame rate drops more steeply than would be expected from GPU load alone.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, 1080p produces 270.7 FPS, 1440p 207.6 FPS, and 4K 128.6 FPS—a 52.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the progression is 193.5 to 140.2 to 86.1, a 55.5% reduction. At Ultra, the numbers are 124.0, 85.7, and 54.5, a 56.0% reduction.

The similarity in percentage drops across settings suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at all resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the drop from 1080p to 4K would be less severe at higher settings (where CPU load is constant but GPU load increases). Instead, the consistent ~52-56% reduction aligns with the 4x pixel count increase from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RX 6800 XT’s rendering throughput is the binding constraint.

However, the Ultra preset’s slightly larger drop (56.0% vs 52.5% at Low) hints that the CPU’s six threads add a secondary constraint at the highest settings. The gap between 1440p and 4K at Ultra is 31.2 FPS, while at Low it is 79.0 FPS—the smaller absolute drop at Ultra reflects the CPU’s inability to feed the GPU as efficiently when both are under maximum load. This points to a system that is GPU-bound in most scenarios, but CPU-aware at the extreme edge of performance.