Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i5-9400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a decidedly GPU-bound experience in Downfall, with frame rates that remain playable even at 4K Ultra. The combo ranks 498th out of 1,741 tested configurations, placing it in the upper third of all system pairings for this horror title. Across all twelve measured settings combinations, the data reveals a system that excels at high-refresh 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain stable 60 FPS at 4K Ultra, where the GPU's workload becomes the dominant constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about which component limits performance. At High settings, average FPS falls from 207.5 at 1920x1080 to 152.6 at 2560x1440 — a 26.5% reduction — then further to 90.7 at 3840x2160, representing a 56.3% decline from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern strongly indicates that the RTX 4070 becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, with the i5-9400's six cores providing sufficient headroom at lower resolutions.

The gap between Low and Ultra settings widens considerably at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (270.3 FPS) and Ultra (131.4 FPS) is 138.9 frames. At 1440p, that spread grows to 127 frames (222.1 vs 95.1). At 4K, the Low-to-Ultra delta expands to 84.4 frames (141.7 vs 57.3). Interestingly, the 4K Ultra result of 57.3 FPS drops below the 60 FPS threshold, while every other measured configuration exceeds it. This suggests that at 4K Ultra, the combination of pixel count and settings stress the GPU's 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth to their limits. The data indicates that 1440p is the sweet spot where the CPU and GPU balance each other — the i5-9400's 4.10 GHz boost clock keeps feeding frames to the RTX 4070 without becoming a bottleneck, but at 4K the GPU's compute resources are exhausted.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 498 out of 1,741 tested system pairings, this configuration sits in the 71st percentile of all combinations tested in Downfall. That places it ahead of roughly seven out of ten rival systems, a strong showing for a CPU released in 2018 paired with a GPU from 2023. The ranking reflects the GPU's dominant role in this title: the RTX 4070's 81st percentile standing among all GPUs and its PassMark G3D score of 26,927 far outweigh the CPU's 50th percentile rank and average benchmark score of 2,305.

The i5-9400's nearest CPU rivals illustrate that processor choice matters little at this performance tier. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2,300 (+0.2% delta), the Core i3-1125G4 scores 2,299 (+0.2%), and the Xeon E-2134 scores 2,295 (+0.4% behind). The only rival that beats the i5-9400 is the Core i7-8809G at 2,319 (-0.6% delta). These differences are negligible in real-world gaming, confirming that the RTX 4070 is the performance driver. On the GPU side, the RTX 4070's average benchmark score of 37,283 puts it on par with the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37,507, -0.6%) and ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 A (38,008, -1.9%) and RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135, -2.2%). The RTX 4070 outperforms the RX 5300M by 2.5% (36,371). This GPU-centric ranking means the combo's 498th position is almost entirely attributable to the RTX 4070's capabilities rather than the aging six-core CPU.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data strongly favors Medium or High settings at 1440p for the best balance of visual quality and frame rate. At 2560x1440 Medium, the system produces 185 FPS average, while High delivers 152.6 FPS — both well above any refresh rate concern. Ultra at 1440p still manages 95.1 FPS, making it viable for 144Hz displays. For 4K users, High settings at 90.7 FPS is the clear recommendation, as Ultra drops to 57.3 FPS and risks dipping below 60. Low settings at 4K (141.7 FPS) provide a competitive option for players prioritizing frame rate over visuals, but the jump from Low to Medium (117 FPS) costs only 24.7 FPS while presumably offering substantial visual improvements.

At 1080p, the system is so powerful that settings choice is purely a matter of preference. Even Ultra delivers 131.4 FPS, and Medium hits 251.3 FPS. The data suggests that 1080p Ultra is the maximum visual experience without sacrificing playability, while 1440p High represents the best overall compromise across all resolutions. For competitive play, 1080p Low at 270.3 FPS or 1440p Low at 222.1 FPS offer the highest headroom, but the game's horror genre typically favors visual immersion over esports-level frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Downfall at 4K 60 FPS?

A: At High settings, yes — the average FPS is 90.7. At Ultra, no — the average drops to 57.3 FPS, below the 60 FPS target.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: 2560x1440 offers the best balance, with High settings producing 152.6 FPS and even Ultra maintaining 95.1 FPS.

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

A: The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2,305 is within 0.6% of all four nearest rivals, ranging from 2,295 (Xeon E-2134) to 2,319 (Core i7-8809G).

Q: Is the RTX 4070 the limiting factor in this game?

A: Yes, particularly at 4K. The frame rate drops of 56.3% from 1080p to 4K at High settings indicate GPU-bound performance, and the RTX 4070's 81st GPU percentile versus the CPU's 50th percentile confirms this.

Q: What settings should I use for 144Hz gaming?

A: At 1440p, Medium (185 FPS) or High (152.6 FPS) both exceed 144 FPS. At 1080p, all settings except Ultra exceed 200 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank overall?

A: It ranks 498th out of 1,741 tested combos, placing it in the top 29% of all configurations tested in Downfall.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the undisputed performance anchor of this pairing. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 5 nm process technology at TSMC, the GPU packs 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for all settings up to 1440p Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 57.3 FPS suggests that VRAM capacity and bandwidth become strained at maximum resolution and settings, though the GPU still delivers playable frame rates.

The RTX 4070's clock behavior shows a base of 1920 MHz and boost of 2475 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). These clocks, combined with 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute of 29.15 TFLOPS handles the horror game's lighting and particle effects efficiently. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 26,927 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,854 reflect strong DirectX 12 performance, which Downfall likely leverages given its 2016 release but ongoing engine updates.

The RTX 4070's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs places it well above the i5-9400's 50th percentile CPU standing. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, scores nearly identically (37,507 vs 37,283, a -0.6% delta), while the RTX 4080 Mobile trails by 2.2%. This GPU's 200 W TDP and dual-slot cooler make it a power-efficient choice, and the 550 W suggested PSU indicates modest system requirements.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 plays a supporting role in Downfall, providing just enough processing power to feed the RTX 4070 without becoming a significant bottleneck. This six-core, six-thread Coffee Lake processor runs at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boosts to 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Its dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for this title, though it lags behind newer platforms.

The CPU's benchmark results paint a picture of a mid-range processor from 2018: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 7,969 and single-core of 1,125, with R20 scores of 3,346 and 472 respectively. Its average benchmark score of 2,305 places it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, meaning half of all processors tested perform better. However, the nearest rivals all score within 0.6% of the i5-9400, showing that this performance tier is densely populated.

In Downfall, the CPU's 6 cores and 6 threads (no Hyper-Threading) are sufficient because the game appears to scale well with the GPU. The evidence: at 1080p High, the system produces 207.5 FPS, which would require strong per-core performance. The 4.10 GHz boost clock delivers that single-thread capability. The CPU's 14 nm process and 65 W TDP make it an efficient, cool-running component, though its PCIe Gen 3 interface (16 lanes) could theoretically limit the RTX 4070's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The measured frame rates suggest this is not a practical limitation in Downfall.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data reveals consistent scaling across all three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the system delivers 270.3 FPS at Low, 251.3 at Medium, 207.5 at High, and 131.4 at Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium costs only 19 FPS (7.0% reduction), while Medium to High costs 43.8 FPS (17.4%), and High to Ultra costs 76.1 FPS (36.7%). This suggests diminishing returns at higher settings, with Ultra exacting a heavy toll.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts: Low produces 222.1 FPS, Medium 185 FPS, High 152.6 FPS, and Ultra 95.1 FPS. The Low-to-Medium gap is 37.1 FPS (16.7%), Medium-to-High is 32.4 FPS (17.5%), and High-to-Ultra is 57.5 FPS (37.7%). The Ultra setting at 1440p represents a significant performance cliff, likely due to increased texture and shadow complexity.

At 3840x2160, the system manages 141.7 FPS at Low, 117 at Medium, 90.7 at High, and 57.3 at Ultra. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K (84.4 FPS drop, 59.6% reduction) is the most severe of any resolution, confirming that 4K Ultra pushes the RTX 4070 to its absolute limit. The delta between 1440p High (152.6 FPS) and 4K High (90.7 FPS) is 61.9 FPS, while the delta between 1080p High (207.5 FPS) and 1440p High is 54.9 FPS — both indicating substantial resolution scaling penalties that clearly identify the GPU as the primary performance constraint.