Downfall

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers a commanding performance profile in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that proves remarkably scalable across modern hardware. This combination ranks 180th out of 1,741 tested combos, placing it in the top 10.3% of all configurations. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the CPU's substantial 20-core, 28-thread configuration only becoming a potential factor at the highest settings and resolutions. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the board are exceptionally high, indicating that this pairing is far more than sufficient for the game's demands, but the scaling patterns between settings and resolutions tell a nuanced story about where the bottleneck truly lies.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling curve, though with some interesting deviations at the extreme settings. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 369 at 1080p to 162.5 at 4K, representing a 56% reduction in frame rate. This steep decline is a textbook indicator that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the limiting component, as the CPU has ample headroom at these low graphical loads. The Medium preset shows a similar pattern, falling from 303.4 to 134.7 FPS, a 55.6% drop. High settings scales almost identically, going from 249.5 at 1080p down to 112.5 at 4K, a 54.9% decrease.

However, the Ultra preset tells a different story. The drop from 152.5 FPS at 1080p to 69.7 FPS at 4K is a 54.3% reduction, which is proportionally similar to the other presets. Yet, the absolute values are notably lower across the board. The gap between High and Ultra at 1080p is 97 FPS, while at 4K it narrows to 42.8 FPS. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce a significant increase in shading complexity that disproportionately taxes the GPU's 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly instructive: at High settings, the drop is from 176.7 to 112.5 FPS (36.3% reduction), while at Ultra, it falls from 108.6 to 69.7 FPS (35.8% reduction). This consistency indicates that the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are being utilized in a linear fashion, with the 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth and 250.6 GPixel/s pixel rate serving as the primary constraints.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 180 out of 1,741 combos, this configuration sits comfortably in the upper echelon of tested systems. This placement is particularly notable given that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER holds an 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the i7-14700F achieves a 94th percentile among all CPUs. The combination of two top-decile components yields a result that is better than either component's individual percentile, suggesting that they complement each other well in this title. The CPU's average benchmark score of 54,097 places it within 1.1% of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54,681), and it actually outperforms the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% (53,469). The GPU's average score of 48,704 is remarkably close to the NVIDIA CMP 50HX (49,071), trailing by only 0.7%, while leading the RTX A2000 by 1.6%.

The fact that this combo ranks 180th despite the GPU being in the 86th percentile suggests that there are many higher-end GPUs in the database, but the specific optimization of this pairing for Downfall pushes it higher than the sum of its parts. The 1080p Ultra score of 152.5 FPS is particularly impressive, as it demonstrates that even at maximum settings, the system maintains a frame rate well above the 144Hz refresh rate common on modern gaming monitors. The 1440p Ultra result of 108.6 FPS is also noteworthy, as it approaches the 120Hz threshold that many competitive players target.

GPU Role

The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a 2016 horror title. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, with an effective 21 Gbps data rate. This configuration delivers a texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s, both of which are critical for the game's atmospheric lighting and shadow effects. The GPU's 8,448 shading units and 96 ROPs are fully utilized at 4K Ultra, where the 69.7 FPS average represents the only sub-70 FPS result in the entire dataset.

The boost clock of 2610 MHz (with a 2340 MHz base) allows the GPU to maintain high utilization across all settings. However, the data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 369 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability. The 44.10 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the key differentiator between High and Ultra settings, as the latter introduces more complex pixel shading that drives the 29.5% performance penalty at 4K (112.5 vs 69.7 FPS). The GPU's 66 RT cores and 264 tensor cores are present but largely unused in this title, as Downfall likely predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The triple-slot cooler and 285 W TDP suggest that thermal throttling is unlikely to be an issue, allowing the GPU to sustain its boost clock under prolonged load.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for optimal settings based on target frame rates. For 4K displays, the High preset at 112.5 FPS is the most balanced choice, as it offers a 61.4% improvement over Ultra (69.7 FPS) while maintaining a smooth, high-refresh experience. The Medium preset at 134.7 FPS is also viable for those prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, but High represents the sweet spot for 4K gaming. At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 108.6 FPS is the recommended choice, as it delivers a near-120Hz experience without the need for compromise. The High preset at 176.7 FPS is excessive for most 144Hz monitors, making Ultra the better value for visual quality.

For 1080p, the Ultra preset at 152.5 FPS is the clear recommendation, as it provides the best visual experience while still exceeding 144Hz. The Medium preset at 303.4 FPS and Low at 369 FPS are only relevant for extreme competitive play or for users with 360Hz monitors, but the visual degradation is unlikely to be worth the frame rate increase. The data suggests that the game scales efficiently across all settings, with no single preset causing unexpected performance cliffs. The 29.5% difference between High and Ultra at 4K (112.5 vs 69.7 FPS) is the largest gap in the dataset, indicating that Ultra's additional effects (likely including advanced shadow mapping and ambient occlusion) are computationally expensive but not essential for the core horror experience.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Downfall?*

A: The data shows 1440p Ultra at 108.6 FPS provides the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 4K, High settings (112.5 FPS) are recommended, while 1080p Ultra (152.5 FPS) is optimal for high-refresh displays.

Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 180th out of 1,741 combos, placing it in the top 10.3% of all systems tested. This is higher than both the CPU's 94th percentile and GPU's 86th percentile individually.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting component, as evidenced by the 56% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The CPU only becomes relevant at 1080p Low, where 369 FPS likely approaches its maximum frame delivery rate.

Q: What are the CPU's benchmark scores relative to its rivals?

A: The i7-14700F scores 54,097 on average, which is 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (54,450) and 1.1% behind the 9900X3D (54,681). It beats the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 by 1.2% (53,469).

Q: How much VRAM does the GPU have and does it matter?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with 672.3 GB/s bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for Downfall, as the game's 2016 release date means it cannot fully utilize this capacity.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 69.7 FPS, which is the lowest result in the dataset. For smoother 4K performance, the High preset (112.5 FPS) is recommended.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F provides a formidable foundation with 20 cores (likely a mix of P-cores and E-cores) and 28 threads, running at a base clock of 2.10 GHz and boosting to 5.40 GHz. This Raptor Lake-R architecture chip features 33 MB of shared L3 cache, with 2 MB of L2 cache per core and 80 KB of L1 cache per core. The CPU's passmark multithread score of 41,765 and single-thread score of 4,261 indicate strong performance across both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads. In Downfall, which is primarily GPU-bound, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations without becoming a bottleneck.

The data shows that the CPU's 20 cores are largely underutilized in this title, as evidenced by the minimal FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at the same settings when compared to the GPU's scaling. The cinebench R23 multicore score of 35,443 and single-core score of 5,003 confirm that this CPU can handle even the most demanding game logic without breaking a sweat. The 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it just 0.6% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X in average benchmark score, and its 1.7% lead over the AMD EPYC 7313P (53,206) shows that it competes well even against server-class silicon. The 65 W TDP is notably low for a 20-core processor, suggesting that thermal headroom is excellent, though the data does not measure actual power draw in-game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system achieves exceptional frame rates across all settings: 369 FPS at Low, 303.4 FPS at Medium, 249.5 FPS at High, and 152.5 FPS at Ultra. These results indicate that at 1080p, the GPU is never the bottleneck, and the CPU's single-thread performance (4,261 passmark) becomes the limiting factor at Low settings. The 21.6% drop from Low to Medium (369 to 303.4 FPS) is smaller than the 17.8% drop from Medium to High (303.4 to 249.5 FPS), but the 38.9% drop from High to Ultra (249.5 to 152.5 FPS) is the most significant, reflecting the increased GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the results show 260.9 FPS at Low, 217.4 FPS at Medium, 176.7 FPS at High, and 108.6 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a 29.3% reduction (369 to 260.9 FPS), while Ultra shows a 28.8% reduction (152.5 to 108.6 FPS). This consistency indicates that the GPU's pixel processing capabilities are being scaled linearly. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 68.1 FPS (176.7 vs 108.6), which is proportionally similar to the 97 FPS gap at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the measured results are 162.5 FPS at Low, 134.7 FPS at Medium, 112.5 FPS at High, and 69.7 FPS at Ultra. The 4K to 1440p scaling shows a 37.7% reduction at Low (260.9 to 162.5 FPS) and a 35.8% reduction at Ultra (108.6 to 69.7 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that dips below 100 FPS, highlighting the significant computational cost of the game's maximum visual settings at high pixel densities. The overall dataset demonstrates that this combo is more than capable of delivering a smooth experience in Downfall, with even the most demanding configuration (4K Ultra) maintaining a playable 69.7 FPS average.