Downfall

Downfall is a 2016 horror title that stresses a system in a very specific way: it is far harder on the GPU than on the CPU at higher resolutions, but at 1080p the processor still has to keep up. The pairing analyzed here, the Intel Core i7-12700K with the AMD Radeon RX 570, produces a workable experience at 1080p, a compromised one at 1440p, and an unplayable one at 4K. The data below breaks down exactly what each component contributes, how the frame rates scale, and what settings give you the best experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent drop as resolution climbs, which is the classic signature of a GPU-limited setup. At 1920x1080, the RX 570 with the i7-12700K averages 92 FPS on Low settings. Move to 2560x1440 and that number falls to 66 FPS, a loss of about 28%. Jump again to 3840x2160 and the average drops to 41 FPS, a further 38% reduction from the 1440p figure. In total, from 1080p Low to 4K Low, the frame rate drops by more than half (from 92 to 41 FPS). This is the behavior you expect when the GPU is the bottleneck: raising resolution increases pixel count, and the GPU has to work proportionally harder, while the CPU has plenty of headroom.

The scaling across all four settings follows the same pattern. At Medium settings, the averages go from 75 FPS at 1080p to 54 FPS at 1440p to 33 FPS at 4K. At High settings, it goes from 62 FPS at 1080p to 44 FPS at 1440p to 27 FPS at 4K. At Ultra, the numbers are 39 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K. In every case, the step from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 27-30% of the frame rate, and the step from 1440p to 4K costs roughly another 35-40%. That is a very even and predictable scaling curve, meaning there are no sudden cliffs or stalls that would point to a CPU limitation at higher resolutions.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. At 1080p, the 92 FPS Low result is respectable for a card like this, and even the 62 FPS High result is playable. But as resolution climbs, the GPU's four gigabytes of VRAM and its 224.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth start to show their limitations. The 4K results — 27 FPS on High, 33 FPS on Medium, 41 FPS on Low, and a very low 17 FPS on Ultra — indicate that 4K is simply too much for this combination. The data suggests that if you want to play Downfall at 4K, you would need a significantly stronger GPU, not a faster CPU, because the CPU is not the limiting factor above 1080p.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has 25 MB of shared L3 cache and uses the Intel Socket 1700. Its benchmark scores are strong across the board: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5, a Geekbench multicore of 15790 and a single-core of 2308, and a Passmark multithread score of 34404. It sits in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, so it is well above average.

In this game, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low (92 FPS) and 1080p High (62 FPS) suggest that the CPU can feed the GPU more than enough data, because even the lowest GPU-heavy settings at 1080p still produce a high frame rate. The fact that the FPS drops so much when resolution increases — without any corresponding change in CPU load — confirms that the CPU has headroom. At 4K Low, the frame rate is 41 FPS, which is 51 FPS lower than at 1080p Low; if the CPU were the limiting factor, that gap would be much smaller, because the CPU's workload per frame does not change much with resolution.

The i7-12700K's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are Intel Core i5-13600T, Intel Core i7-12700KF, Intel Core i7-13700T, and Intel Core 5 213PE, with deltaPct values of -0.1%, -0.2%, -0.3%, and -0.4% respectively. That means the i7-12700K is within 1% of all four of those chips in synthetic benchmarks, making it essentially tied with them. In gameplay, that means a user with any of those CPUs would see nearly identical performance in Downfall, assuming the same GPU. The CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are overkill for this title, but they do ensure that there is no stutter or frame-time hiccup from CPU thread saturation, even with background tasks running. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz is also high enough to handle the game's single-threaded tasks without issue, as evidenced by the ~0% delta to the 13600T and the 13700T.

For a horror title like Downfall, the CPU is essentially a non-factor above 1080p. If a user is targeting 1440p or 4K, upgrading the CPU further would yield zero gains, because the bottleneck is already the GPU. If a user is playing at 1080p with a higher refresh rate, the i7-12700K is more than capable of delivering 92 FPS on Low settings, and even the 75 FPS Medium and 62 FPS High results are only limited by the GPU's ability to render the scene, not by the CPU's ability to process game logic or draw calls.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the GCN 4.0 architecture, with a 232 mm² die and 5,700 million transistors. It has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. Its base clock is 1168 MHz and its boost clock is 1244 MHz. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) on a 256-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its FP32 performance is 5.095 TFLOPS, and it has a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. In the benchmark database, this card sits in the 74th percentile of all GPUs.

The RX 570 is the limiting factor in this pairing at 1080p and above. At 1080p Low, the card produces 92 FPS, which is a very good result for a GPU in its class. At 1080p High, it drops to 62 FPS, which is still playable. But the card's VRAM size and bandwidth start to show their limits at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the average FPS on High is 44, and at 4K it is 27. At Ultra settings, the card produces only 39 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K. These low numbers at Ultra across all resolutions indicate that the RX 570 cannot handle the highest preset, even at 1080p.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database are AMD Radeon RX 6800M (deltaPct -0.4%), AMD Radeon R9 M295X (deltaPct 0.7%), AMD Radeon RX 470 (deltaPct -0.8%), and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (deltaPct 1.2%). These deltas are all within 2% of the RX 570, so in terms of raw average benchmark score, the RX 5700 is effectively a peer of those cards. However, in this game, the RX 5700's 4 GB VRAM is a real limitation, especially at 4K Ultra where it only manages 17 FPS. The 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth is also a limiting factor, as higher resolutions and texture-heavy presets put more pressure on memory bandwidth.

Given the GPU's 150 W TDP and dual-slot cooler, it is a modest card from 2017 that is now end-of-life. Its performance in Downfall at 1080p is still adequate for a 1080p60 experience, but only when settings are not maxed out. At 1440p, the card is borderline, with a Low setting giving 66 FPS but High giving 44 FPS. At 4K, it is not viable for smooth play, with even Low settings only reaching 41 FPS and the min/max data showing a range of 28 to 38 FPS on Medium, indicating inconsistent pacing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the i7-12700K and RX 5700 is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the results are:

• Low: 92 FPS average.
• Medium: 75 FPS average, with a min of 64 and a max of 86.
• High: 62 FPS average.
• Ultra: 39 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 66 FPS average.
• Medium: 54 FPS average, with a min of 46 and a max of 62.
• High: 44 FPS average.
• Ultra: 28 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 41 FPS average.
• Medium: 33 FPS average, with a min of 28 and a max of 38.
• High: 27 FPS average.
• Ultra: 17 FPS average.

The data shows that the 1080p Medium setting is the sweet spot for this combination. It delivers 75 FPS average, with a min of 64, meaning the frame rate stays above 60 FPS for most of the run. The 1080p High setting drops to 62 FPS average, which is still above 60 but with less headroom. The 1080p Ultra setting is not recommended, as 39 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target and the visual quality improvement is not worth the frame rate loss.

At 1440p, the Low setting gives 66 FPS, which is still playable, but the Medium setting drops to 54 FPS, which is borderline. The High and Ultra settings at 1440p are not smooth, with 44 and 28 FPS respectively. The min/max data for 1440p Medium shows a range from 46 to 62 FPS, so there are brief dips below 60, which can be noticeable in a horror game where pacing matters.

At 4K, none of the settings are playable for a smooth experience. The best result is Low at 41 FPS, but the visual quality is poor and the frame rate is still below 60. Medium sits at 33 FPS, High at 27, and Ultra at 17. The min/max data for 4K Medium is 28 to 38 FPS, which is a tight but low range. The 4K results clearly indicate that this pairing is not a 4K setup for Downfall.

The combo rank in game is 3547 out of 3716, which places it in the lower portion of the database. This rank accounts for both the CPU and GPU, but given that the CPU is well above average (84th percentile) and the GPU is above average (74th percentile), the low combo rank is almost entirely due to the GPU's weakness at high resolutions. On a relative basis, this combination is 169 positions above the bottom of the list, so it is not the worst, but it is far from the top.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU/GPU combo in Downfall?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the best resolution. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 39 on Ultra to 92 on Low. At 1440p, the range is 28 to 66 FPS. At 4K, the range is 17 to 41 FPS. The 1080p results are the only ones that consistently hit playable frame rates across Low, Medium, and High settings.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its rivals in this test?

A: The i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287, which is within 1% of the Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, -0.1%), the Intel Core i7-12700KF (35365, -0.2%), the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, -0.3%), and the Intel Core 5 213PE (35428, -0.4%). In practice, all of these CPUs would produce nearly identical frame rates in Downfall when paired with the RX 5700.

Q: Is 4GB of VRAM enough for Downfall?

A: The 4 GB VRAM on the RX 5700 is enough for 1080p and 1440p on Low to Medium settings, but it is not enough for 4K. At 4K, the frame rates are 41 FPS on Low, 28 FPS on Medium, 27 FPS on High, and 17 FPS on Ultra. The VRAM capacity does not just cause lower frame rates; it can also cause texture pop-in or stutter, though the measured data shows a clear performance drop at 4K.

Q: Should I play on High or Medium at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, High settings give an average of 62 FPS, while Medium gives 75 FPS with a min of 64 FPS. If you have a 60 Hz monitor, High is acceptable. If you have a 75 Hz or higher, or if you want more headroom, Medium is the better choice to ensure the frame rate never drops below 60.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 5700 has an average benchmark score of 28766, which is close to the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28874, -0.4%), the AMD Radeon R9 M295X (28580, 0.7%), the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28996, -0.8%), and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (28421, 1.2%). The performance differences are under 2%, so a user would not see any meaningful difference between these GPUs in this game.

Q: Is this CPU/GPU combo good for 4K gaming in this title?

A: No. At 4K, the best result is 41 FPS on Low and 33 FPS on Medium. These are below the standard 60 FPS target, and the Ultra setting averages 17 FPS. The GPU is the limiting factor, and upgrading the CPU would not improve the 4K performance.

Settings Recommendations

The data points to a clear best setting: 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This combination produces an average 75 FPS with a min of 64 and a max of 86, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. It also leaves a small amount of headroom above 60, so if there are any demanding scenes, the frame rate will likely stay above 64. The Medium preset is the sweet spot for this GPU, as the High preset at 1080p averages 62 FPS, which is barely above 60, and the Ultra preset drops to 39 FPS, which is not a smooth experience.

If you prefer to play at 1440p, the best setting is Low, which averages 66 FPS. Medium at 1440p averages 54 FPS, which is below 60, and High and Ultra are progressively worse. If you must play at 4K, the only playable setting is Low, at 41 FPS, but this is below 60 and likely to have noticeable dips. In general, the rule is: the higher the resolution, the further down the preset scale you need to go to stay above 60 FPS.

For a 60 Hz monitor, the recommended setup is 1080p High, which averages 62 FPS. For a 144 Hz monitor, 1080p Medium is the minimum to get above 75 FPS average, and 1080p Low is the only way to approach 92 FPS. If you want to use 1440p, you will need to accept a compromise: either play at 54 FPS Medium or 66 FPS Low. The data shows that this card cannot handle Ultra settings at any resolution, with the best Ultra result being 39 FPS at 1080p, which is below the 60 FPS target for most players.

The CPU's strong 5.00 GHz boost clock and 1850.5 single-core Cinebench R23 score mean that the CPU will not cause any frame rate dips in this title. The bottleneck is exclusively the GPU. So, the settings you choose should be ones that reduce pixel load and texture memory usage, both of which are GPU-heavy features. Dropping from Ultra to Medium at 1080p increases the average FPS from 39 to 75, a 36 FPS gain. That is a massive return on investment, and it is the single best change you can make in this game.