Downfall

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a performance profile in Downfall that is defined by high refresh rates at standard resolutions and a steep drop-off at 4K Ultra settings. The data shows a 16-core, 24-thread processor from the Raptor Lake-S architecture working alongside a 12 GB Ampere-generation GPU, with measured results spanning 1080p, 1440p, and 4K across Low, Medium, High, and Ultra presets. This combination ranks 970th out of 3,716 tested combos in the game, placing it in the upper quartile of all configurations, though specific settings reveal where the bottleneck shifts between CPU and GPU.

FAQ

*Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in Downfall?*

A: The Intel Core i7-13700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination ranks 970th out of 3,716 tested combos, which places it in the top 26% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46,881, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (46,971) and 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (47,022). It is 0.5% higher than both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (46,654) and Intel Xeon w3-2535 (46,653).

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested GPUs?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti sits in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,187. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, scores 40,870, which is 0.8% lower.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS in the measured data is 311, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 58, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings.

Q: Does the data include minimum or maximum FPS values for all settings?

A: No, the data only includes min and max FPS values for Medium settings at each resolution. For example, at 2560x1440 Medium, the min is 154 FPS and max is 209 FPS, while Low, High, and Ultra presets report only average FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. This processor supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory and uses PCIe Gen 5 with 20 lanes from the CPU.

Benchmark data positions this CPU in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 46,881. Multi-threaded performance is strong: 3DMark 16-thread score is 10,717, Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 30,745, and Geekbench multicore hits 19,429. Single-thread performance is also solid, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,136 and Cinebench R23 single-core at 2,116. PassMark multithread score is 45,887, and single-thread is 4,333.

In the context of Downfall, the CPU's role appears most critical at lower resolutions and settings where frame rates are highest. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 311 FPS average, which is 2.4 times higher than the 130 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This gap suggests that at Low settings, the game's rendering load is light enough for the CPU to feed the GPU efficiently. The 16 cores and 24 threads provide ample headroom for the game's horror-genre workloads, which often involve AI-driven enemy behavior and physics calculations. The 30 MB L3 cache helps maintain data locality for scene streaming, while the 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures responsive single-threaded logic.

The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900, scores nearly identically (0.2% higher on average), indicating that the i7-13700K is not uniquely advantaged in synthetic benchmarks. However, in Downfall, the measured FPS at 1080p Low (311) versus 1440p Low (222) versus 4K Low (138) shows a clear progression that scales more with resolution than with CPU load, hinting that the CPU is not the primary limiter until very high frame rates are demanded.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. It contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs. The GPU has 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. Its base clock is 1,365 MHz with a boost clock of 1,665 MHz. Memory consists of 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth at 19 Gbps effective speed.

The RTX 3080 Ti achieves an 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,187. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, scores 40,870 (0.8% lower), while the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB scores 41,707 (1.2% higher). The GPU's raw compute is rated at 34.10 TFLOPS for FP32, with a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s.

In Downfall, the GPU's influence becomes dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (311 FPS) and Ultra (130 FPS) is 181 FPS, a 139% increase in frame rate when dropping from Ultra to Low. At 4K, the same comparison shows Low at 138 FPS and Ultra at 58 FPS, a spread of 80 FPS or 138%. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for the game's textures even at 4K, as evidenced by the playable 93 FPS average at 4K High. However, the Ultra preset at 4K drops to 58 FPS, suggesting that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are saturated by the highest quality settings.

The GPU's 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth is a key asset for Downfall's horror environments, which often feature dense fog, dynamic lighting, and high-resolution textures. The 80 RT cores may be leveraged for any ray-traced effects, though the game's 2016 release date suggests rasterization is the primary workload. The 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 throughput provides ample headroom for the game's shader complexity at 1440p High, where the combo delivers 149 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 970th out of 3,716 tested configurations in Downfall, placing it in the 73.9th percentile of all combos. This rank reflects the balance between the i7-13700K's 89th percentile CPU score and the RTX 3080 Ti's 83rd percentile GPU score. The combination is neither the fastest nor a budget option, but it sits comfortably in the upper echelon of tested systems.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that the i7-13700K is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (0.2% lower average score) and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (0.3% lower). This means that swapping the CPU for either of these alternatives would result in negligible changes to overall system performance in synthetic benchmarks. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, is 0.8% slower, while the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB is 1.2% faster in average benchmark score.

In the context of Downfall specifically, the combo's rank of 970 out of 3,716 means there are 969 combos that perform better and 2,746 that perform worse. Given that the game is from 2016, this modern hardware combination is far more capable than the typical system from that era. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the combo can exceed 200 FPS on High settings and reach beyond 300 FPS on Low, which would satisfy even high-refresh-rate monitors. At 4K, the combo maintains above 90 FPS on High settings, which is a strong result for a 2016 horror title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 311 FPS, Medium produces 254 FPS (with min 216, max 292), High produces 208 FPS, and Ultra drops to 130 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58% reduction in average FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant rendering cost. The Medium preset's min FPS of 216 ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above 200 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clearer gap between settings. Low averages 222 FPS, Medium averages 182 FPS (min 154, max 209), High averages 149 FPS, and Ultra averages 93 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 58%, similar to the 1080p percentage. The Medium preset's min FPS of 154 still provides a smooth experience for most displays, though 1440p Ultra at 93 FPS may cause noticeable stutter on 144 Hz monitors.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 138 FPS, Medium averages 113 FPS (min 96, max 130), High averages 93 FPS, and Ultra averages 58 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops below 60 FPS, which is a critical threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset's min FPS of 96 keeps the experience above 90 FPS, but the gap between Medium and Ultra (55 FPS difference) is substantial. The 4K Low setting at 138 FPS demonstrates that the GPU can handle high frame rates at 4K when the visual load is reduced.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p displays, the High preset at 208 FPS average is the recommended choice. It offers a 60% improvement over Ultra (130 FPS) while maintaining visual quality that is likely indistinguishable from Ultra on most monitors. For those with 240 Hz or higher refresh rates, the Medium preset at 254 FPS average provides the best balance, with a minimum FPS of 216 that stays above the refresh rate threshold.

At 1440p, the High preset at 149 FPS average is optimal for 144 Hz monitors, as it exceeds the refresh rate with headroom. The Medium preset at 182 FPS (min 154) is better suited for 165 Hz or 180 Hz displays, while the Ultra preset at 93 FPS is only recommended for 60 Hz or 90 Hz panels. The Low preset at 222 FPS is excessive for most 1440p monitors and sacrifices too much visual fidelity.

At 4K, the High preset at 93 FPS average is the best experience for 60 Hz displays, providing a 35 FPS buffer above the refresh rate. The Medium preset at 113 FPS (min 96) is preferable for 100 Hz or 120 Hz monitors, though the Low preset at 138 FPS offers the highest frame rate at the cost of visual quality. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold and may cause perceptible frame pacing issues.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear pattern of frame rate degradation as resolution increases. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 311 at 1080p to 222 at 1440p (a 29% reduction) and then to 138 at 4K (a 38% reduction from 1440p). At High settings, the progression is 208 at 1080p, 149 at 1440p (a 28% reduction), and 93 at 4K (a 38% reduction from 1440p). This consistent pattern—roughly 28-29% drop from 1080p to 1440p and 38% drop from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor.

The 4K to 1080p ratio at Low settings is 138/311, or 44.4% of the 1080p frame rate. At High settings, the ratio is 93/208, or 44.7%. This near-identical ratio across settings suggests that the GPU's workload scales linearly with pixel count, which is characteristic of a pixel-bound scenario. The CPU's role is limited to frame preparation and physics, which does not scale with resolution in the same way.

The limiting component shifts depending on settings. At 1080p Low (311 FPS), the CPU's ability to issue draw calls and update game logic becomes the ceiling, as the GPU can render frames faster than the CPU can supply them. At 4K Ultra (58 FPS), the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are fully saturated, and the CPU has ample idle capacity. The sweet spot where both components are balanced appears to be around 1440p High (149 FPS) and 4K Medium (113 FPS), where the frame rates are high enough to indicate neither component is severely bottlenecked.