Downfall

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers a remarkably strong performance profile in Downfall, a 2016 horror title. The measured data shows this combination is capable of high refresh rate gameplay even at demanding resolutions, though the choice of settings dramatically alters the experience. The sweet spot for most users is the High preset, which provides a balanced experience across all tested resolutions. At 1080p, High settings produce an average of 231.9 FPS; at 1440p, it maintains 165.9 FPS; and even at 4K, it holds a solid 101.4 FPS. This preset offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and performance headroom, ensuring smooth gameplay without the extreme frame rate dips seen at Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows clearly indicate that the High preset is the optimal choice for this hardware combination. The drop from High to Ultra is substantial at every resolution, with the 4K Ultra result falling to 66.4 FPS—a 34.5% reduction compared to High. While 66.4 FPS is technically playable, it leaves little headroom for demanding scenes common in horror titles. Conversely, the Medium preset provides a significant boost over High, delivering 126.3 FPS at 4K, 201.3 FPS at 1440p, and 287.2 FPS at 1080p. However, Medium sacrifices visual quality that the RTX 4070 SUPER can easily handle at High. The Low preset is unnecessary for this hardware, as it pushes frame rates to 350.1 FPS at 1080p and 154 FPS at 4K—far beyond what any standard display can utilize. For a horror game where atmosphere and tension matter, High offers the best balance of visual immersion and performance stability.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is the primary driver of these results. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Downfall at all tested settings. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The data shows that the GPU’s 80 ROPs and 224 texture units are more than adequate for this title. The benchmark scores place this GPU at the 84th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 42576. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A6000, scores 42653 (0.2% higher), while the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE scores 42723 (0.3% higher). The RTX 4070 SUPER outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6%. In Downfall, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck at 4K Ultra, where frame rates drop below 70 FPS, but it remains the limiting factor at all resolutions and settings, as the CPU is never the constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how demanding Downfall becomes at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the drop from 350.1 FPS at 1080p to 245.4 FPS at 1440p (a 29.9% reduction) and then to 154 FPS at 4K (a 37.2% further reduction) shows a predictable scaling curve. At Medium, the numbers are 287.2 FPS, 201.3 FPS, and 126.3 FPS respectively, with a similar percentage drop between each step. The High preset shows the most linear scaling: 231.9 FPS at 1080p, 165.9 FPS at 1440p (28.5% lower), and 101.4 FPS at 4K (38.9% lower than 1440p). The Ultra preset exhibits the steepest decline, going from 145.9 FPS at 1080p to 103.2 FPS at 1440p (29.3% lower) and finally to 66.4 FPS at 4K (35.7% lower than 1440p). This pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component throughout, as the frame rate scales almost inversely with pixel count. The RTX 4070 SUPER’s 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient even at 4K, but the raw compute demand of Ultra settings at 4K pushes the GPU to its limits.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Downfall at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes, at High settings the average FPS is 101.4 at 3840x2160, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold. However, Ultra settings drop to 66.4 FPS, which may feel less smooth during intense horror sequences.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p, the High preset delivers 165.9 FPS, which exceeds 144Hz. The Medium preset provides 201.3 FPS for even more headroom, but High offers better visual quality without sacrificing the refresh rate target.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its closest rival in this game?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 42576, which is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA RTX A6000 and 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE. It outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro 580X by 1.4% and the NVIDIA Tesla M40 by 1.6%.

*Q: Is the CPU holding back performance in Downfall?*

A: No. The Intel Core i7-12700K scores 29241 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 4128 in single-core, placing it at the 89th percentile among all CPUs. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 145.9 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. This is still high, but it represents a 37.1% drop compared to High settings at the same resolution.

*Q: Does the RTX 4070 SUPER have enough VRAM for Downfall at 4K?*

A: Yes, the 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient. The 4K High result of 101.4 FPS indicates no VRAM-related performance cliffs at these settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K, based on the Alder Lake architecture, provides ample processing power for Downfall. This 12-core, 20-thread processor runs at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and boosts to 5.00 GHz, with 25 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores are impressive: Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 29241, while single-core hits 4128. The PassMark multithread score is 34404, and the single-thread score is 4013. This CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35684. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802 (0.3% higher), while the Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35468 (0.6% lower). The i5-14500HX is 0.7% higher at 35940, and the i7-13800H is 0.8% higher at 35416. In Downfall, the CPU is never the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low settings, where the GPU produces 350.1 FPS, the CPU keeps up without bottlenecking. The 3DMark scores further confirm this: 9979 in max threads and 1043 in single thread. For a horror game that likely relies on single-threaded game logic, the i7-12700K’s strong single-core performance (4128 in Cinebench R23 single-core) ensures consistent frame pacing.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset shows consistent performance scaling across all resolution and settings combinations:

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 350.1 FPS average
• Medium: 287.2 FPS average
• High: 231.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 145.9 FPS average

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 245.4 FPS average
• Medium: 201.3 FPS average
• High: 165.9 FPS average
• Ultra: 103.2 FPS average

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 154 FPS average
• Medium: 126.3 FPS average
• High: 101.4 FPS average
• Ultra: 66.4 FPS average

The pattern is consistent: each step up in settings costs roughly 25-30% performance, while each resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs about 29%, and from 1440p to 4K costs another 36-39%. At Ultra settings, the 4K result of 66.4 FPS is the only sub-100 FPS result in the entire dataset. This hardware combination ranks 306th out of 1741 tested combinations for Downfall, placing it in the top 17.6% of all systems tested for this game. The data indicates that this is a high-end pairing that excels at 1440p High (165.9 FPS) and can comfortably handle 4K High (101.4 FPS), making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors at 1440p or smooth 4K gaming on standard 60Hz displays. The RTX 4070 SUPER’s 84th percentile GPU ranking and the i7-12700K’s 89th percentile CPU ranking combine to create a balanced system where neither component holds the other back in Downfall.