Downfall

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT reveals a clear trend: performance degrades predictably as resolution increases, but the rate of that degradation is steepest at the highest settings. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 240 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 172 FPS, a reduction of 28%. Pushing further to 4K Low yields 107 FPS, another 38% decline from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario at lower settings, where the Radeon RX 6750 XT’s rendering throughput becomes the limiting factor.

The picture shifts when examining higher quality presets. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 197 at 1080p, to 140 at 1440p, and then to 87 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 29%, nearly identical to the Low preset’s scaling. However, the 1440p to 4K transition shows a 38% decline, matching the Low preset’s steepest drop. This suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are being taxed heavily at 4K, regardless of the modest increase in visual fidelity between Low and Medium.

The High preset tells a similar story with slightly lower absolute numbers. At 1080p High, the average is 161 FPS; at 1440p High, it is 115 FPS (a 29% drop); and at 4K High, it falls to 72 FPS (a 37% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage declines across Low, Medium, and High presets indicates that resolution scaling is governed by the same underlying bottleneck—the GPU’s fill rate and pixel processing capabilities—rather than by any particular settings configuration.

The Ultra preset, however, exhibits a more dramatic collapse. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 101 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 72 FPS, a 29% reduction. But at 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 45 FPS, a 38% drop from 1440p. This 45 FPS figure is barely above the threshold for smooth gameplay and represents a 55% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result. The data indicates that the 4K Ultra setting pushes the RX 6750 XT beyond its comfortable operating range, likely due to the combination of high-resolution pixel shading and the increased demand on the 12 GB frame buffer.

The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU. The CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is not the constraint at these resolutions. Evidence for this comes from the fact that even at 4K Low, the system produces 107 FPS, which is far above what a CPU-bound scenario would show. If the processor were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the steady decline from 240 FPS at 1080p Low to 107 FPS at 4K Low demonstrates that the Radeon RX 6750 XT’s rendering pipeline is saturated. The 4K Ultra result of 45 FPS, in particular, highlights the GPU’s limitations when handling the highest pixel count combined with the most demanding shading workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53,620. In the context of Downfall, a horror game released in 2016, this processor is massively overqualified. The game’s engine is not designed to utilize 28 threads effectively, and the measured FPS data confirms that the CPU is never the limiting factor in any of the tested configurations.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the data shows a tight cluster. The Intel Xeon 6505P has an average score of 53,701, which is 0.2% higher than the i7-14700F. The Intel Xeon Phi 7290 scores 53,469, a 0.3% deficit. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53,288, which is 0.6% lower, and the AMD EPYC 7313P scores 53,206, a 0.8% gap. These deltas are negligible in real-world gaming terms. The i7-14700F’s single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,958, is more relevant for a game like Downfall, which likely relies on one or two primary threads for game logic and physics.

The CPU’s 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample bandwidth for feeding the GPU. However, the benchmark results indicate that the processor’s role in this specific game is to maintain a high enough frame rate ceiling so that the GPU can operate at its maximum potential. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 240 FPS, which is a common cap for many displays. The fact that the CPU can sustain this frame rate without dipping suggests that it has headroom to spare. At 4K Ultra, where the GPU is struggling to produce 45 FPS, the CPU is certainly idle, waiting for the GPU to deliver frames.

The i7-14700F’s 65 W TDP and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory indicate a flexible platform, but these specifications are irrelevant to the measured performance in Downfall. The benchmark data shows that the CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities, while impressive in synthetic tests like Cinebench R23 Multi-Core (35,122) and Geekbench Multi-Core (19,620), are not exercised by this game. The processor’s 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of installed processors, but in Downfall, the GPU is the sole determinant of playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 161 FPS. This is a strong result that indicates the RX 6750 XT can easily handle 1080p gaming for this title.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra experience compare to 1440p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 45, which is a 38% reduction from the 1440p Ultra average of 72 FPS. The 4K result is likely to feel stuttery and less responsive, whereas 1440p Ultra provides a more stable experience.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The FPS drops from 107 at 4K Low to 45 at 4K Ultra, while the CPU’s strong single-thread and multi-thread performance (91st percentile) is more than sufficient. If the CPU were the limit, the FPS would not vary so much with resolution and settings.

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures recorded for Medium settings?

A: The minimum FPS recorded for Medium settings are 167 at 1080p, 119 at 1440p, and 74 at 4K. These minimums are only available for the Medium preset and show that even the lowest frame dips remain playable at 1080p and 1440p.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Downfall?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT ranks 1,695 out of 3,716 tested combos in the game. This places it in the top half of all configurations, which is consistent with the strong FPS numbers observed.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset averages 172 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 72 FPS. This represents a 58% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest settings, highlighting the significant cost of the Ultra preset’s visual enhancements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are uniformly high. The Low preset achieves an average of 240 FPS, which is likely at or near the refresh rate limit of most monitors. The Medium preset averages 197 FPS, with a minimum of 167 FPS and a maximum of 226 FPS. The High preset averages 161 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 101 FPS. Even the lowest performing 1080p configuration, Ultra, delivers over 100 FPS, making it entirely viable for smooth gameplay.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. The Low preset averages 172 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. The Medium preset averages 140 FPS, with a minimum of 119 FPS and a maximum of 162 FPS. The High preset averages 115 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 72 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is notable because it is the first point in the data where the average FPS drops below the 100 FPS threshold, indicating that the GPU is beginning to work harder at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. The Low preset averages 107 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset averages 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 100 FPS. The High preset averages 72 FPS, which is right at the edge of what is typically considered smooth. The Ultra preset averages just 45 FPS, which is a significant drop and likely results in a less fluid experience. The minimum FPS for the 4K Medium preset of 74 FPS is close to the average of the High preset, suggesting that frame pacing may become inconsistent at these settings.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is effortless for this combo, 1440p is comfortable up to High settings, and 4K requires a significant reduction in settings to maintain playable frame rates. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration in the entire dataset that falls below the 60 FPS mark, which is often considered the minimum for a good gaming experience.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU with 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units. It operates at a base clock of 2150 MHz and a boost clock of 2600 MHz, with a game clock of 2495 MHz. The GPU is equipped with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. Its 40 ray tracing cores are present but are unlikely to be heavily utilized in a 2016 horror title like Downfall, which predates widespread RT adoption.

The GPU’s benchmark results show a 71st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26,011. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M395X (0.5% higher score), the AMD FirePro W7100 (0.6% higher), the AMD FirePro D700 (0.7% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile (1.1% higher). These deltas are minimal, indicating that the RX 6750 XT performs in a well-established performance tier. In gaming, its 13.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 416.0 GTexel/s texture rate are more than adequate for the DirectX 12 workloads that Downfall might leverage.

The measured FPS data illustrates the GPU’s role clearly. At 1080p, the GPU is rarely stressed, with the Low preset hitting 240 FPS. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 139 FPS (from 240 to 101), which shows that the GPU’s shading units and ROPs are still the limiting factor when settings increase. At 4K, the GPU’s 64 ROPs and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates with the Ultra preset, resulting in the 45 FPS average. The 12 GB VRAM is not a bottleneck at any tested setting, as the game is from 2016 and would not require more than 8 GB even at 4K Ultra.

The GPU’s power consumption is rated at 250 W TDP, with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The card is a dual-slot design and uses a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin power connector. While these power figures are not directly related to performance, they do inform the platform requirements. The GPU’s production status is end-of-life, but its performance in Downfall remains competitive, as evidenced by the FPS numbers. The data suggests that for this game, the RX 6750 XT is best utilized at 1080p or 1440p, where it can deliver high frame rates, rather than at 4K, where it struggles with the most demanding settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and the desired frame rate. For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 101 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides the highest visual quality without sacrificing smoothness. The High preset at 1080p offers 161 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the Ultra preset’s 101 FPS is likely sufficient for most users and provides a more immersive horror experience.

For 1440p displays, the High preset is the recommended balance. It averages 115 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. The Medium preset averages 140 FPS, which is also excellent, but the visual fidelity improvements of High are worth the 25 FPS cost. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 72 FPS, which is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Given that the minimum FPS for Medium at 1440p is 119, the High preset likely has a minimum in the high 90s, which is still acceptable.

For 4K displays, the data suggests that the Medium preset is the best option. It averages 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS, providing a stable experience that remains above the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 4K averages 72 FPS, which is close to the Medium preset but likely has lower minimums, as the medium preset’s minimum is 74 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K, with its 45 FPS average, is not recommended, as it will likely produce noticeable stuttering and a less responsive feel, particularly in a horror game where smooth movement is essential for atmosphere.

The Low preset is only advisable if the user prioritizes maximum frame rates over visual quality. At 1080p Low, the 240 FPS result is useful for competitive play, but Downfall is a single-player horror title where frame rate beyond 120 FPS offers diminishing returns. At 4K Low, the 107 FPS average is respectable, but the Medium preset’s 87 FPS is a better trade-off between visuals and performance. Ultimately, the data indicates that the Medium preset at 4K, High at 1440p, and Ultra at 1080p are the configurations that best utilize the RX 6750 XT’s capabilities in Downfall.