Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i7-14700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a performance profile in Downfall that is dominated by the GPU at higher resolutions, while the CPU shows its strength at lower settings. The measured FPS data spans three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a clear picture of how this hardware scales under load. The RTX 4090, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, is clearly the driving force in this pairing, while the 20-core, 28-thread i7-14700F provides ample headroom to avoid bottlenecking even at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 442 at 1920x1080 down to 315 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 127 FPS or roughly 29%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 196, which is a 38% reduction from the 1440p figure. This steep decline indicates that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as pixel count rises, though the absolute numbers remain extremely high.

At Medium settings, the scaling is slightly less aggressive in percentage terms. The average FPS at 1080p is 361, dropping to 258 at 1440p (a 29% decrease) and then to 161 at 4K (a 38% decrease from 1440p). The pattern is consistent: each resolution step costs roughly a third of the remaining performance. The High preset shows a similar trajectory: 296 FPS at 1080p, 212 at 1440p, and 132 at 4K. The percentage drops are 28% and 38% respectively, mirroring the Low and Medium results almost exactly.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates but the most interesting scaling behavior. At 1080p, the average is 185 FPS. At 1440p, it falls to 132, a 29% reduction. At 4K, the average drops to 82 FPS, which is a 38% decrease from 1440p. This consistent pattern across all four presets — roughly 29% for the first resolution step and 38% for the second — strongly suggests that the scaling is purely resolution-driven and not settings-dependent. The limiting component at 4K is unambiguously the GPU, as the pixel throughput required at 3840x2160 (over 8 million pixels) is roughly double that of 1440p and quadruple that of 1080p.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (442 FPS) and Ultra (185 FPS) is 257 FPS. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 183 FPS (315 vs 132). At 4K, the delta is 114 FPS (196 vs 82). This narrowing gap indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU is so heavily loaded that the settings preset has a relatively smaller impact on absolute frame rate, whereas at 1080p the GPU has enough headroom to fully express the differences in rendering load.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 442, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This represents the absolute ceiling of the combination when the rendering load is minimized.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 82. This is the lowest measured average across all tested configurations, but it remains above the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay.

Q: Is there a significant difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the difference is notable. At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce an average of 258 FPS, while High settings yield 212 FPS. That is a 46 FPS difference, or approximately 18% lower performance for the High preset.

Q: Does the combo maintain playable frame rates at all settings and resolutions?

A: Yes, the lowest average FPS recorded is 82 at 4K Ultra. Every other configuration exceeds 130 FPS on average, and all measured averages are above 80 FPS, indicating that the combo never drops below a playable threshold in the tested scenarios.

Q: What is the minimal and maximal FPS range at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the measured min and max FPS are available for all three resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 307 to 416 FPS. At 1440p, it is 219 to 297 FPS. At 4K, it is 136 to 185 FPS.

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

A: The combo ranks 109th out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 3% of all configurations tested for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame field places this specific pairing at rank 109 out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall. This is a strong result, indicating that the Intel Core i7-14700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination sits comfortably in the upper echelon of performance. The top 3% placement is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows triple-digit averages at every resolution and settings preset combination except 4K Ultra, which still manages 82 FPS.

To contextualize this rank, the CPU alone holds a percentileVsAllCpus of 91, meaning it outperforms 91% of all CPUs in the benchmark database. The GPU holds a percentileVsAllGpus of 88, placing it above 88% of all GPUs. When combined, these two components produce a system that is more than the sum of its parts in Downfall, as the rank of 109 out of 3716 is proportionally better than either component's individual percentile would suggest. This is likely due to the game's engine efficiently utilizing both the CPU's 20 cores and the GPU's massive compute resources.

The nearestRivals data for the CPU shows that the i7-14700F is closely matched with several high-end processors. The Intel Xeon 6505P scores 53701 in average benchmark score, just 0.2% below the i7-14700F's 53620. The Intel Xeon Phi 7290 scores 53469, which is 0.3% above the i7-14700F. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores 53288, 0.6% above, and the AMD EPYC 7313P scores 53206, 0.8% above. These tiny deltas indicate that the i7-14700F is performing at the very top of its class, essentially tied with these rivals in synthetic workloads.

The GPU's nearestRivals tell a different story. The Intel Arc Pro A60 scores 60326 in average benchmark score, which is exactly 0% different from the RTX 4090's 60347. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 scores 60140, just 0.3% below. However, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M scores 61896, which is 2.5% above the RTX 4090, and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 scores 58657, which is 2.9% below. These deltas are larger than the CPU's rival deltas, suggesting that the GPU market has more variance at the top end, but the RTX 4090 remains competitive.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the resolution with the lightest pixel load, the combo produces remarkable frame rates across all settings. Low settings deliver an average of 442 FPS, which is the highest recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 361 FPS, with a min of 307 and a max of 416 FPS. High settings yield 296 FPS on average. Ultra settings produce 185 FPS, which is still far above the refresh rate of most monitors. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a consistent step-down: Low to Medium is an 81 FPS drop, Medium to High is a 65 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 111 FPS drop. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, nearly halving the High preset's frame rate.

At 2560x1440, the pixel count increases by roughly 78% compared to 1080p, and the frame rates reflect this added load. Low settings average 315 FPS, Medium averages 258 FPS (min 219, max 297), High averages 212 FPS, and Ultra averages 132 FPS. The relative ordering remains identical to 1080p, but the absolute gaps between settings narrow. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 183 FPS, compared to 257 FPS at 1080p. This compression of the settings range is a direct consequence of the GPU working harder to fill the additional pixels.

At 3840x2160, the pixel count quadruples compared to 1080p, and the frame rates show the heaviest impact. Low settings average 196 FPS, Medium averages 161 FPS (min 136, max 185), High averages 132 FPS, and Ultra drops to 82 FPS. The gaps between settings continue to narrow: Low to Medium is 35 FPS, Medium to High is 29 FPS, and High to Ultra is 50 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that drops below 100 FPS, and it is the only one where the average approaches the 60 FPS threshold. The min FPS recorded at Medium 4K is 136, which is still well above any playability concern.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones that include min and max FPS data, and they provide useful insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the range from min to max is 109 FPS (307 to 416). At 1440p, the range is 78 FPS (219 to 297). At 4K, the range is 49 FPS (136 to 185). This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded as pixel count increases, reducing the variability in frame delivery.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing for Downfall, and its specifications explain why. The GPU features 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipeline units. It has 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, which are part of the Ada Lovelace architecture. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). This translates to a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 82.58 TFLOPS.

The memory subsystem is particularly relevant for Downfall's resolution scaling. The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This massive bandwidth is what allows the GPU to maintain high frame rates at 4K, where the data requirements are multiplied. The fact that the combo still achieves 132 FPS at 4K High settings indicates that the memory bandwidth is sufficient to feed the GPU's compute units without becoming a bottleneck.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals in the database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, 0.3% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896, -2.5% delta), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58657, 2.9% delta). The fact that the RTX 4090 is essentially tied with the Arc Pro A60 in average score is noteworthy, but the measured FPS in Downfall shows that the RTX 4090 is more than capable of handling the game's demands.

The GPU's 5 nm process node (TSMC foundry) and 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die contribute to its high performance. The transistor density of 125.3M per mm² is among the highest in the database. In Downfall specifically, the GPU's role as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions is evident from the scaling data: the consistent 29% and 38% drops across settings at each resolution step point to a GPU that is fully utilized, rather than a CPU or memory constraint.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends on the user's resolution and target frame rate. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver averages above 185 FPS, so the choice comes down to visual quality versus raw performance. The Ultra preset at 1080p produces 185 FPS, which is still far above the 144 Hz refresh rate of typical high-end monitors. The High preset at 296 FPS provides a nearly 60% increase over Ultra, but the visual difference in a horror game like Downfall may justify the lower frame rate for enhanced effects. For users with 240 Hz or higher refresh displays, Medium at 361 FPS or Low at 442 FPS would be the better choice to fully utilize the display's capabilities.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset drops to 132 FPS, which is still above 120 FPS and provides a smooth experience on most 1440p monitors. The High preset at 212 FPS is the best balance for 144 Hz displays, as it offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (258 FPS) while still maintaining a frame rate that exceeds the refresh rate. The Medium preset with its 219 min FPS ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay above 200 FPS, making it the safest choice for competitive play or motion-sensitive users.

At 3840x2160, the settings recommendation becomes more critical. The Ultra preset at 82 FPS is the only configuration that dips below 100 FPS, but it remains playable on 60 Hz displays. The High preset at 132 FPS is the recommended choice for 4K gaming, as it provides a 50 FPS increase over Ultra while likely maintaining most of the visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 161 FPS (min 136) is excellent for 144 Hz 4K displays, which are still rare but becoming more common. The Low preset at 196 FPS is only necessary for users with 200 Hz or higher 4K displays, which are extremely uncommon.

Overall, the data suggests that High settings at 4K or Medium settings at 1440p provide the best balance of visual quality and performance. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users who prioritize maximum visual fidelity over frame rate, and even then, the 82 FPS average at 4K is sufficient for a smooth experience on standard 60 Hz displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F serves as the supporting component in this combo, but its specifications ensure that it never becomes the limiting factor in Downfall. The CPU has 20 cores and 28 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture (Raptor Lake-R codename) built on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and it has ECC memory support.

The CPU's benchmark results are strong. In Cinebench R23, it scores 35122 in multi-core and 4958 in single-core. In Geekbench, it scores 19620 multi-core and 2429 single-core. The Passmark multithread score is 41317, and the single-thread score is 4257. These numbers place the CPU in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53620. The nearest rivals are all within 0.8% of the i7-14700F's score, indicating that it is at the very top of the performance curve.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p with Low settings, where the GPU has less work to do and the CPU must feed it with frames. The 442 FPS average at 1080p Low suggests that the i7-14700F can generate enough draw calls and game logic updates to sustain this frame rate. The fact that the frame rate drops by roughly 29% when moving to 1440p at every settings preset indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck at higher resolutions — the GPU is. This is a healthy balance for a gaming system.

The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample headroom for Downfall's single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. The high boost clock of 5.40 GHz ensures strong single-thread performance, which is often critical in game logic and physics. The 33 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, and the dual-channel memory support (with both DDR4 and DDR5 compatibility) allows for flexible system configuration. The CPU's 65 W TDP is relatively low for a 20-core part, suggesting that thermal management is not a concern in most systems.

The CPU's launch MSRP is $359, and it is part of the Core 14th Gen series on the Intel Socket 1700 platform. Its production status is Active, and it was released on 2024-01-07. The CPU does not have integrated graphics (N/A), which is typical for F-series parts, but this is irrelevant when paired with a discrete GPU like the RTX 4090. In the context of Downfall, the i7-14700F provides all the processing power needed to keep the RTX 4090 fed at any resolution, and its 91st percentile ranking confirms that it is one of the best CPUs available for gaming workloads.