Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-9400 + Intel Arc B570

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable experience in Downfall, but the data shows a clear ceiling at higher settings. Across all tested resolutions, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, while Ultra settings push the combo to the edge of playability. At 1080p, Medium averages 133 FPS with a minimum of 113 FPS, making it the sweet spot for smooth horror gameplay. High settings at 1080p still hold at 109 FPS, but the jump to 1440p drops that to 78 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 49 FPS. The Arc B570's 10 GB of VRAM and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this title, but the CPU's six cores and six threads become a limiting factor as resolution scales down.

Settings Recommendations

The Medium preset is the recommended starting point for this combo. The measured data shows Medium at 1080p delivering 133 FPS average with a minimum of 113 FPS and a maximum of 153 FPS. That minimum frame rate is critical in a horror title where sudden stutters ruin tension. At 1440p, Medium drops to 95 FPS average with a minimum of 81 FPS, still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, Medium averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS — playable but with occasional dips that may be noticeable.

High settings are viable only at 1080p, where the combo manages 109 FPS average. At 1440p, High drops to 78 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 49 FPS. The frame rate loss from Medium to High is consistent: at 1080p, High is 24 FPS slower than Medium; at 1440p, the gap narrows to 17 FPS; at 4K, High is 10 FPS slower. This suggests the GPU is handling the extra detail, but the returns diminish as resolution increases.

Low settings are unnecessary for this combo at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p, Low hits 163 FPS, and at 1440p it reaches 116 FPS. Even at 4K, Low averages 72 FPS. The problem with Low is that it sacrifices the atmospheric lighting and shadows that make Downfall effective as a horror game. The data indicates that Medium provides a 30 FPS improvement over High at 1080p while retaining enough visual quality to maintain immersion.

Ultra settings are not recommended for any resolution. At 1080p, Ultra averages 68 FPS, which sounds playable, but the drop from Medium is 65 FPS — a 49% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra falls to 49 FPS, and at 4K it bottoms out at 30 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is effectively unplayable for a horror game that requires responsive controls. The gap between Medium and Ultra at 1080p (133 FPS vs. 68 FPS) indicates that Ultra settings are loading the GPU with effects that yield diminishing visual returns.

For players with 1080p monitors, Medium is the clear choice. For 1440p displays, Medium remains the best option with 95 FPS average and an 81 FPS minimum. At 4K, players should accept Medium at 59 FPS or drop to Low for a smoother 72 FPS, depending on their tolerance for frame rate dips in dark scenes.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo run Downfall at 4K?*

A: Yes, but only on Low or Medium settings. The measured data shows 72 FPS at 4K Low and 59 FPS at 4K Medium. High settings at 4K drop to 49 FPS, and Ultra falls to 30 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth horror gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p?

A: Medium is the best choice at 1440p, delivering 95 FPS average with a minimum of 81 FPS. High settings at 1440p average 78 FPS, which is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 1440p drops to 49 FPS, making it a poor trade-off.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B570 the bottleneck in this combo?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary limiter at higher settings. At 1080p, dropping from Medium to Low increases FPS from 133 to 163, a 30 FPS gain. At 4K, the same settings change yields a 13 FPS gain (72 vs. 59). The CPU's six cores and six threads are sufficient for this title, as evidenced by the strong low-resolution performance.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 scores 2254 average, which is within 0.4% of the Intel Core i3-10305 (2264) and 0.3% of the Intel Core i7-10710U (2248). It sits slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (2246) by 0.4%. This places the CPU in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, indicating mid-range performance.

Q: What is the expected frame time consistency at 1080p Medium?

A: The measured minimum of 113 FPS and maximum of 153 FPS at 1080p Medium show a 40 FPS spread. This indicates reasonably consistent frame pacing, with the minimum still well above the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p Medium, the spread is 29 FPS (81 to 110), showing tighter consistency at higher resolution.

Q: Should I use Low settings to maximize frame rate?

A: Low settings at 1080p produce 163 FPS, which is 30 FPS higher than Medium. However, the visual trade-off in a horror game is significant. Low settings at 1440p yield 116 FPS, and even at 4K Low provides 72 FPS. The data shows that Medium offers a better balance unless you are targeting a 144 Hz or 165 Hz display at 1080p.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the dominant component in this combo for Downfall. The GPU's specifications — 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus with 380.0 GB/s bandwidth — are sufficient for this 2016 horror title. The 2304 shading units and 80 ROPs provide the raw throughput needed for the game's lighting effects. The GPU's 2500 MHz base and boost clocks are identical, which suggests stable sustained performance under load.

The Arc B570's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649 and PassMark G3D score of 14195 place it in the 65th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Arc A750, which scores 20582 in the average benchmark — a mere 0.1% difference. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, also within 0.1%. This means the B570 sits in a tight performance cluster, and the measured FPS in Downfall reflects that positioning.

The GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate explain the scaling between settings. When you increase from Medium to High at 1080p, FPS drops from 133 to 109 — a 24 FPS penalty that corresponds to the additional texture and shader work. At 4K, the penalty is smaller (59 to 49 FPS) because the CPU begins to contribute more to the overall frame time.

The 10 GB VRAM is never likely to be a limiting factor in Downfall, given the game's 2016 release date. The GPU's 160-bit memory bus delivers 380.0 GB/s, which is ample for the texture loads at 4K. The pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are the key metrics for this game, as Downfall relies heavily on texture detail and post-processing effects.

The PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is worth noting. With a CPU that supports PCIe Gen 3, the B570 will run at Gen 3 x8 speeds. This reduces available bandwidth compared to a Gen 4 motherboard, but the data shows this does not cripple performance. The 1080p Medium result of 133 FPS indicates that the interface bandwidth is sufficient for this workload.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 + Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2343 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the bottom 20% of all tested configurations. The ranking reflects the mid-range nature of both components. The CPU sits in the 47th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 65th percentile — but when combined in this specific game, the pairing does not boost beyond the lower quartile.

The ranking makes sense when you consider the game's age. Downfall was released in 2016, and modern components should handle it easily. However, the 2928 combos tested include many with newer, higher-end hardware. The i5-9400's six cores and six threads, while adequate, cannot match the multi-threaded performance of newer CPUs. The Arc B570's 10 GB VRAM and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are solid, but the GPU's 65th percentile ranking means there are many faster options.

The combo's position at 2343 of 2928 suggests that players with this hardware should not expect top-tier performance in Downfall. However, the measured FPS tells a more nuanced story. At 1080p Medium, the combo delivers 133 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS target. The ranking is dragged down by the Ultra settings results, particularly the 4K Ultra score of 30 FPS.

For context, the GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A750, scores nearly identically in synthetic benchmarks (0.1% difference). The CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, is also within 0.4%. This means the combo's ranking is not due to a weak pairing, but rather the overall field of tested hardware being stronger.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Medium settings, 1080p produces 133 FPS, 1440p produces 95 FPS, and 4K produces 59 FPS. The scaling is nearly linear: moving from 1080p to 1440p (a 1.78x pixel increase) reduces FPS by 28.6%, and moving from 1440p to 4K (a 2.25x pixel increase) reduces FPS by 37.9%. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases.

At Low settings, the scaling is less steep: 1080p gives 163 FPS, 1440p gives 116 FPS, and 4K gives 72 FPS. The relative drops are 28.8% and 37.9%, respectively. The consistency of these percentages across settings suggests that the pixel throughput is the bottleneck, not the CPU. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the FPS to plateau at lower resolutions.

At High settings, the pattern holds: 109 FPS at 1080p, 78 FPS at 1440p, and 49 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 28.4%, and from 1440p to 4K is 37.2%. This uniformity across all settings confirms that the Arc B570's pixel and texture throughput capabilities are what determine the frame rate.

The Ultra settings data shows a different pattern. At 1080p, Ultra averages 68 FPS; at 1440p, 49 FPS; at 4K, 30 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 27.9%, and from 1440p to 4K is 38.8%. The 4K Ultra result of 30 FPS is exactly half the 1080p Medium result of 133 FPS, highlighting how Ultra settings at high resolution overwhelm the GPU's 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate.

The i5-9400's role becomes clearer when examining the Low settings results. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 163 FPS, which is close to what a 144 Hz monitor can display. The CPU's six cores and six threads, with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, are sufficient to feed the GPU at this level. The 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth is not a constraint in this scenario.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 163 FPS average, making this the only resolution where the CPU and GPU combination can push beyond 160 FPS. Medium settings average 133 FPS with a minimum of 113 FPS and a maximum of 153 FPS — the best consistency of any settings at this resolution. High settings average 109 FPS, and Ultra drops to 68 FPS.

• 1080p Low: 163 FPS average
• 1080p Medium: 133 FPS average, 113 FPS minimum, 153 FPS maximum
• 1080p High: 109 FPS average
• 1080p Ultra: 68 FPS average

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings maintain 116 FPS average, which is still excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. Medium settings average 95 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS. High settings drop to 78 FPS, and Ultra falls to 49 FPS.

• 1440p Low: 116 FPS average
• 1440p Medium: 95 FPS average, 81 FPS minimum, 110 FPS maximum
• 1440p High: 78 FPS average
• 1440p Ultra: 49 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles at higher settings. Low settings produce 72 FPS average, which is playable. Medium settings average 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS. High settings drop to 49 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 30 FPS.

• 4K Low: 72 FPS average
• 4K Medium: 59 FPS average, 50 FPS minimum, 68 FPS maximum
• 4K High: 49 FPS average
• 4K Ultra: 30 FPS average

The Medium settings data at each resolution provides the only complete minimum/maximum measurements. At 1080p, the 40 FPS spread between minimum and maximum indicates some frame time variance. At 1440p, the spread narrows to 29 FPS, and at 4K it widens slightly to 18 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 50 FPS is the lowest recorded minimum across all Medium settings, but it remains above the 30 FPS threshold that would make the game feel unresponsive.

The Ultra settings at 4K produce a 30 FPS average, which is functionally unplayable for a horror game where quick reactions matter. The gap between 4K High (49 FPS) and 4K Ultra (30 FPS) is a 19 FPS drop that represents the cost of the most demanding visual effects. Players should avoid Ultra settings entirely with this combo, even at 1080p, where the 68 FPS average does not justify the visual improvement over Medium's 133 FPS.