Downfall

The Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB combination delivers a highly playable experience across most settings in Downfall, but the data reveals a clear tipping point. The sweet spot is the Medium preset, which offers a robust balance of visual fidelity and performance. At 1920x1080, Medium produces an average of 191.2 FPS, which is substantially higher than the 157.1 FPS seen on High, while still being a massive step up from the 97 FPS on Ultra. The jump from Medium to High costs 34.1 FPS at 1080p, a 17.8% drop, which is a significant penalty for marginal visual gains in a horror title where smooth motion is crucial for immersion. At 2560x1440, Medium maintains a strong 134.3 FPS, ensuring the experience remains fluid on higher-resolution monitors. Even at 4K, Medium holds its own with 86.4 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable gameplay. While High at 1440p (114.3 FPS) and 4K (71.8 FPS) are also viable, Medium is the most consistent choice across all resolutions. The Low preset, while offering the highest frame rates (231.4 FPS at 1080p), is only recommended for competitive play or extremely high refresh rate displays, as the visual compromises are likely too severe for a game that relies on atmosphere. Ultra is the outlier; the performance cost is steep, with frame rates dropping to 97 FPS at 1080p and a borderline 44.5 FPS at 4K, making it unsuitable for a consistently smooth experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. In Downfall, the CPU's role appears to be a supporting one, ensuring the GPU is fed with data, rather than being the primary performance bottleneck. This is evidenced by the scaling of frame rates across resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the system hits 231.4 FPS, a figure that stresses the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls. The fact that this is the highest recorded FPS suggests the i5-9400 is capable of handling high frame rate scenarios, but its 6-thread limitation might become a constraint in more complex scenes. The processor's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, place it in the 50th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals, like the Intel Core i3-10305, show a delta of only 0.2%, indicating that the i5-9400 is a middling performer in synthetic tests. In the context of this game, the data suggests that the CPU is sufficient to avoid major frame rate dips, as the performance drop from 1080p to 1440p is more consistent with a GPU-bound workload. The processor's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support provide adequate bandwidth for a game of this era, but the lack of hyper-threading means it could struggle to maintain minimum frame rates in highly populated or physics-heavy areas, though the measured data does not show this as a primary issue.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The Medium preset is the most balanced. It delivers 191.2 FPS at 1080p, 134.3 FPS at 1440p, and 86.4 FPS at 4K, all of which are smooth and playable.

Q: Can this combo run the game at 4K?

A: Yes, but not on the highest settings. At 4K with Medium settings, the average FPS is 86.4, which is playable. However, at Ultra, the frame rate drops to 44.5 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a smooth experience.

Q: How much of a performance hit is the Ultra preset compared to High?

A: The Ultra preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, it drops from High's 157.1 FPS to 97 FPS, a 38.3% decrease. At 4K, the drop is even more severe, from 71.8 FPS on High to 44.5 FPS on Ultra.

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck for this combo in Downfall?*

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions and settings. The frame rate scales consistently with resolution changes, which is a classic sign of a GPU-limited scenario.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM of the GPU sufficient for this game?

A: Yes. The measured results show playable frame rates across all settings, indicating that 8 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor for Downfall at the tested resolutions.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: The combination ranks 914th out of 1741 tested combos, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB combination finds itself ranked 914th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the 52.5th percentile, meaning it outperforms a slight majority of the tested configurations but is far from the top tier. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the GPU's modern architecture and high boost clock of 3130 MHz. The 9060 XT is a capable card, but its performance is likely held back by the aging i5-9400 CPU. The processor's 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305, suggests it is a mid-range part that can struggle to keep up with more powerful GPUs. The data implies that while the GPU can push high frame rates at lower resolutions, the CPU's 6-thread design may prevent the system from achieving the top-tier rankings seen with newer, higher-core-count processors. The combo's rank suggests that for a system aiming for high-refresh-rate 1080p or smooth 1440p gameplay, this pairing is adequate, but it will not be leading any performance charts. The delta between the CPU's nearest rivals is minimal, with the i3-10305 being only 0.2% faster, reinforcing that the CPU's performance is a stable, predictable factor in the overall result.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear and consistent pattern of frame rate scaling as resolution increases, which is a strong indicator of a GPU-bound workload. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS across all settings drops by roughly 28-31%. For example, on High settings, the frame rate drops from 157.1 FPS at 1080p to 114.3 FPS at 1440p, a 27.2% decrease. This is a typical scaling factor for a GPU that is being pushed harder. The drop from 1440p to 4K is more severe, as expected due to the 2.25x increase in pixel count. On High settings, the frame rate falls from 114.3 FPS to 71.8 FPS, a 37.2% reduction. This steeper decline at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, as the CPU's workload does not change significantly with resolution. Instead, the consistent and predictable frame rate drops with each resolution increase point directly to the RX 9060 XT being the performance ceiling. The data suggests that for maximum frame rates, 1080p is the target, but the system still provides a good experience at 1440p. At 4K, the system is playable on Medium and High, but the performance drop indicates that this resolution is pushing the GPU to its limits.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is a detailed breakdown of the average FPS recorded at each resolution and settings preset:

• 1920x1080: Low settings produce an average of 231.4 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 191.2 FPS. High settings produce an average of 157.1 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 97 FPS.
• 2560x1440: Low settings produce an average of 169.3 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 134.3 FPS. High settings produce an average of 114.3 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 67.5 FPS.
• 3840x2160: Low settings produce an average of 102.3 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 86.4 FPS. High settings produce an average of 71.8 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 44.5 FPS.

The data shows that the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that breaks the 200 FPS barrier, making it ideal for 240 Hz displays. The Medium preset is the most versatile, providing over 60 FPS at all resolutions. The High preset is a viable option for 1440p and 4K gaming, but the step up to Ultra costs a significant amount of performance, making it the least efficient preset for this hardware. The scaling between Low and Medium is roughly 17-21%, while the jump from High to Ultra is a much larger 38-42% performance hit, indicating that the Ultra preset may be using effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM or its 64 ROPs.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is a modern GPU based on the RDNA 4.0 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. It features a boost clock of 3130 MHz and a game clock of 2530 MHz, which are high frequencies that contribute to its strong performance. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 322.3 GB/s. In Downfall, this memory configuration is sufficient, as the game does not appear to exceed the VRAM capacity at the tested settings, given the playable frame rates. The GPU's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs are key to its rasterization performance. The data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in determining frame rates. The significant performance drop when moving from High to Ultra settings—a 38.3% decrease at 1080p and a 38.1% decrease at 4K—suggests that the Ultra preset includes effects that heavily tax the GPU's compute and memory subsystems. The GPU's pixel rate of 200.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 400.6 GTexel/s are high, but the Ultra preset's demands appear to overwhelm them. The card's 25.64 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is respectable, but the game's engine likely relies more on fill-rate and memory bandwidth. The fact that the GPU has a 150 W TDP and is an active product with a launch MSRP of 299 USD indicates it is a mid-range part, and its performance in Downfall aligns with that positioning, offering strong 1080p and 1440p performance, with 4K being possible on lower presets.