Downfall

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT combination delivers a playable experience in Downfall, but the data reveals a system where the GPU is the dominant force. This pairing ranks 1090th out of 1741 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The benchmark results show that the 6-core CPU is rarely the limiting factor, while the 16 GB graphics card dictates performance scaling across all resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and clearly indicates a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 132.2 FPS at 1920x1080 to 96.7 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 35.5 FPS. The jump to 3840x2160 brings the average down to 57.6 FPS, a 74.6 FPS decline from the 1080p result. This steep curve across every preset confirms that the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the component handling the bulk of the rendering workload.

The pattern holds for other settings. At Medium, the system produces 164.6 FPS at 1080p, 117.4 FPS at 1440p, and 72.3 FPS at 4K. Even the Low preset, which typically reduces GPU strain, shows a sharp drop from 197.8 FPS at 1080p to 89.2 FPS at 4K. The scaling factor between 1080p and 4K is roughly 2.2x at Low settings, but only 2.3x at High, suggesting that the GPU's compute resources are being saturated similarly regardless of the quality level. This is a classic sign of a graphics card that is the primary performance limiter.

Notably, the gap between 1440p and 4K is larger than the gap between 1080p and 1440p in most cases. For instance, at Ultra settings, the difference between 1080p and 1440p is 21.5 FPS, while the difference between 1440p and 4K is 21.4 FPS. This consistent decline indicates that the RX 7600 XT simply cannot maintain its throughput when pixel count increases dramatically, making 4K a demanding target for this setup.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the star of this benchmark. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, it delivers 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The card's boost clock of 2755 MHz and game clock of 2470 MHz provide the raw speed needed for Downfall's horror scenes. The GPU's average benchmark score of 20146 places it in the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals show a tight cluster of performance.

The data shows the RX 7600 XT sits just 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and 1.9% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. This close grouping explains why the card performs consistently across resolutions. At 1080p High, the card produces 132.2 FPS, which is a solid result for a title from this era. However, the 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS is the low point, showing that the 64 ROPs and 2048 shading units struggle when pushed to extreme pixel counts.

The card's 190 W TDP and 1x 8-pin power connector suggest it is a mid-range part designed for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The benchmark results confirm this. The 4K Low result of 89.2 FPS is respectable, but the 4K High result of 57.6 FPS is borderline for smooth play. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 17132 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2348 indicate it has enough compute power for modern titles, but Downfall's demands at 4K exceed its comfortable zone.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides six cores and six threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. This Coffee Lake processor has a 9 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 memory. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 places it in the 50th percentile of all CPUs, making it an average performer by today's standards.

In this pairing, the CPU's role is secondary. The benchmark results show that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU has less work, the system reaches 197.8 FPS. This high frame rate suggests the i5-9400 is keeping up with the GPU's output. The processor's nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scores just 0.2% higher in average benchmarks, and the Intel Core i7-8809G is 0.6% faster. These small deltas indicate that the CPU is not a bottleneck in this configuration.

The data shows that the CPU's 6 threads are sufficient for Downfall. The game, released in early 2016, likely does not scale beyond a few cores, so the 6-core layout is adequate. The 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR4 is also sufficient, as the GPU's VRAM handles most of the texture data. At 1080p Ultra, the system still manages 82.9 FPS, which is a strong result and indicates the CPU is not holding back the GPU in any meaningful way.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to Medium settings as the best balance for this combo. At 1440p Medium, the system delivers 117.4 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1080p Medium, the result is 164.6 FPS, offering a high-refresh-rate experience. The jump from Medium to High costs performance: at 1440p, High drops to 96.7 FPS, and at 1080p, it falls to 132.2 FPS.

For 4K gaming, the situation is different. High settings at 3840x2160 produce 57.6 FPS, which is close to playable but not ideal. Dropping to Medium at 4K yields 72.3 FPS, which is a safer choice for maintaining frame time consistency. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it produces 40 FPS at 4K and 61.4 FPS at 1440p, making it the least efficient option.

The Low preset offers the highest frame rates but sacrifices visual quality. At 1080p Low, the system hits 197.8 FPS, but this is only useful for competitive play, which is unlikely in a horror title. The best experience is Medium at 1440p, where the frame rate is high enough to feel responsive without pushing the GPU to its limits.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 1090th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the lower 37% of all configurations, which is a fair reflection of its performance. The rank is influenced by the GPU's mid-range positioning and the CPU's older architecture.

The GPU's 63rd percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests it is a capable part, but the combo rank is dragged down by the CPU. The i5-9400's 50th percentile ranking is average, and the two components together do not boost the system above the median. The nearest rival combos are likely those using the RX 7600 XT with a stronger CPU or the i5-9400 with a faster GPU.

The data shows this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 4K, it is borderline, and the rank reflects that limitation. The 16 GB of VRAM is a future-proofing feature, but the card's 128-bit memory bus limits its bandwidth, which is a constraint at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system achieves 197.8 FPS on Low, 164.6 FPS on Medium, 132.2 FPS on High, and 82.9 FPS on Ultra. The step from Low to Medium is a 33.2 FPS drop, while the step from High to Ultra is a 49.3 FPS drop, showing the Ultra preset is computationally expensive.

Moving to 2560x1440, the results are 140.7 FPS on Low, 117.4 FPS on Medium, 96.7 FPS on High, and 61.4 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings, averaging around 45-50 FPS. At 3840x2160, the results are 89.2 FPS on Low, 72.3 FPS on Medium, 57.6 FPS on High, and 40 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is the only sub-60 FPS reading in the entire dataset, confirming that this resolution is not viable for the highest quality settings.

The data shows that the GPU's performance scales predictably with resolution. The 16 GB VRAM is never exhausted, as the card relies on its 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7600 XT's boost clock of 2755 MHz helps maintain frame rates, but the 4K Ultra result of 40 FPS highlights the card's limitations. For this combo, the sweet spot is 1440p Medium, where the frame rate is high and the visual quality is acceptable.