Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The data for this pairing shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet still delivers frame rates far beyond what most displays can show. With a 12-core Intel Core i7-12700KF driving a 24 GB RTX 4090, the measured frame rates across all settings and resolutions indicate a combo that handles the horror title's demands with substantial headroom, though the scaling pattern reveals where the true bottleneck lies.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, with the magnitude of these drops varying significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 442 at 1080p to 315 at 1440p, a reduction of 127 FPS, and then to 196 at 4K, another 119 FPS drop. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the rendering load scales heavily with pixel count, though the absolute numbers remain exceptionally high.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with slightly compressed margins: 361 FPS at 1080p, 258 FPS at 1440p, and 161 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure represents a 55.4% reduction from the 1080p score, showing that the GPU is doing progressively more work per frame as resolution climbs. The High preset shows 296 FPS at 1080p, 212 FPS at 1440p, and 132 FPS at 4K — a drop of 164 FPS from the lowest to highest resolution tested.

The Ultra preset illustrates the most dramatic scaling: 185 FPS at 1080p falls to 132 FPS at 1440p, then to 82 FPS at 4K. That 4K Ultra figure is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result, demonstrating that the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution creates the heaviest load measured in this dataset. The fact that 4K Ultra still averages 82 FPS — above the 60 FPS threshold commonly used for smooth gameplay — suggests the RTX 4090 has enough headroom to keep this title playable even at the most demanding configuration tested.

The scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p and 1440p, with Low through High presets, the system is likely limited by the CPU's ability to feed frames to the GPU, given how high the FPS numbers go (442 and 315 at Low). However, at 4K and at Ultra settings across all resolutions, the GPU becomes the primary limiting component, as evidenced by the larger proportional drops in FPS when increasing resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 provides a compelling balance: 258 average FPS with a minimum of 219 and maximum of 297, which comfortably exceeds high-refresh-rate display capabilities. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 46 FPS (258 vs 212), while the jump from Medium to Low at the same resolution is 57 FPS (258 vs 315). This indicates that Medium captures most of the performance headroom while still offering better visual fidelity than Low.

For 4K users, the Medium preset at 3840x2160 delivers 161 average FPS with a minimum of 136 and maximum of 185. This is a strong recommendation for players with 144 Hz 4K displays, as the minimum frame rate stays well above typical VRR thresholds. The High preset at 4K drops to 132 average FPS, which is still smooth but leaves less margin for demanding scenes; the minimum FPS for 4K High is not provided, but the average suggests it should remain playable.

Ultra settings present a different trade-off. At 1080p, Ultra yields 185 FPS, which is excellent, but at 4K it falls to 82 FPS. Players prioritizing visual quality over refresh rate could justify 4K Ultra for slower-paced horror gameplay, but the data shows that Medium or High at 4K offers a better experience for high-refresh displays. The measured minimum FPS of 136 at 4K Medium versus the average of 82 at 4K Ultra highlights the substantial stability benefit of choosing Medium over Ultra at this resolution.

The Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates (442 at 1080p, 315 at 1440p, 196 at 4K), is only advisable for competitive play where maximum FPS trumps visuals. Given that the game is a horror title, the atmospheric benefits of higher settings likely outweigh the marginal FPS gains from dropping to Low, especially since even 4K Medium sustains 161 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 in this combo brings 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This memory capacity is far beyond what Downfall requires based on the frame rates measured, and it ensures that texture streaming and asset loading at 4K Ultra do not cause stutters or frame drops due to memory pressure. The GPU's clock speeds are listed with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective).

The RTX 4090's benchmark scores place it in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (score 60326, delta 0%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (score 60140, delta 0.3%), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (score 58657, delta 2.9%). These comparisons show the RTX 4090 performing essentially on par with the Arc Pro A60 and slightly ahead of the Pro Vega 48, though the delta percentages are small enough to suggest these are different workloads rather than direct gaming competitors.

The GPU's architectural specifications — 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs — translate to a raw compute capability of 82.58 TFLOPS FP32. This massive throughput allows the card to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra, where the measured 82 FPS average still represents a demanding workload. The 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present in the data but not directly exercised by the measured FPS rows, which do not specify ray tracing settings.

In the context of this game's results, the RTX 4090 appears to be the dominant component at 4K and at Ultra presets, given the large FPS drops when resolution increases. The 450 W TDP and the suggested 850 W PSU indicate this is a power-hungry part, but the performance data justifies the power draw for users seeking maximum frame rates in this title.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-12700KF and RTX 4090 combination ranks 109th out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 2.9% of all systems in the database. This rank reflects the overall capability of the pairing, with the CPU contributing its 85th percentile standing among all CPUs and the GPU its 88th percentile among all GPUs.

The combo rank of 109 is notably high, but it is not the top result among the 3716 combos, which suggests that there are systems with even faster processors that can push the RTX 4090 further in this game, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes more relevant. The delta between this combo and the very best is not specified in the data, but the rank position indicates that only a small fraction of tested systems outperform it.

Given that the RTX 4090 is end-of-life per its production status, this combo represents a top-tier configuration from the previous generation. The CPU's nearest rivals — the Intel Core i7-13700T (avg score 35403, delta -0.1%), Intel Core i5-13600T (avg score 35305, delta 0.2%), Intel Core 5 213PE (avg score 35428, delta -0.2%), and Intel Core i7-12700K (avg score 35287, delta 0.2%) — all show essentially identical average benchmark scores, indicating that the i7-12700KF is right at the performance level of its closest alternatives. This means that swapping to a 13700T or 12700K would likely produce near-identical frame rates in Downfall.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700KF brings 12 cores and 20 threads, with base and boost clocks of 3.60 GHz and 5.00 GHz respectively. This Alder Lake-S architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, features a 25 MB shared L3 cache and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus, with PCIe Gen 4 providing 20 lanes for expansion.

In Downfall, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the FPS scaling at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 442 FPS, and at 1440p Low it reaches 315 FPS — these numbers are so high that the CPU's per-thread performance and inter-core communication are likely the limiting factors, not the GPU. The processor's single-thread benchmark scores (1043 in 3DMark, 4071 in Cinebench R23, 2255 in Geekbench) indicate strong per-core performance that supports high frame rates in games that don't scale perfectly across all cores.

The CPU's multithreaded performance is robust, as shown by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 28838 and 3DMark max-threads score of 9983. This suggests that Downfall, if it utilizes multiple threads, benefits from the 20-thread count. However, the game's release date of 2016-02-28 means it likely predates the era of heavily threaded game engines, so the 12 cores may not all be fully utilized. The CPU's 85th percentile rank among all CPUs places it above the majority of processors, and its average benchmark score of 35365 is within 0.2% of its nearest rivals.

The fact that this combo ranks 109th out of 3716 suggests that while the CPU is strong, there are faster processors available that could extract slightly higher frame rates at 1080p and 1440p. At 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance becomes less critical, which is why the combo still achieves 132 FPS at 4K High despite not having the absolute fastest processor in the database.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Downfall with this combo for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo achieves 258 average FPS with a minimum of 219, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz. At 4K Medium, it delivers 161 average FPS with a minimum of 136, which is also above 144 Hz but with less margin.

Q: Can this system run Downfall at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the measured 4K Ultra average FPS is 82, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. However, the 4K Medium preset offers 161 FPS, which is a better choice for high-refresh displays.

Q: How does the i7-12700KF compare to its closest rivals in overall CPU performance?

A: The i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35365, which is within 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-13700T (35403, delta -0.1%) and Intel Core i5-13600T (35305, delta 0.2%). The Intel Core 5 213PE scores 35428 (delta -0.2%), and the i7-12700K scores 35287 (delta 0.2%).

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo in Downfall?

A: The minimum FPS values are only recorded for the Medium preset at each resolution: 307 at 1080p, 219 at 1440p, and 136 at 4K. Other presets do not have min FPS data in the measured rows.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB memory sufficient for Downfall?

A: The 24 GB GDDR6X memory with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is more than sufficient for this game, as evidenced by the high frame rates even at 4K Ultra. The memory capacity does not appear to be a limiting factor in any measured configuration.

Q: How does this combo's rank in Downfall compare to other tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 109th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the top 2.9% of all systems. This indicates that while it is a very high-performing configuration, there are a small number of combos that achieve better results in this game.