Downfall

The pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700K with the AMD Radeon RX 580 in Downfall produces a dataset that clearly separates the CPU’s theoretical headroom from the GPU’s practical limits. The measurements show a system where frame rates are governed almost entirely by graphics settings and resolution, with the processor contributing little to the variance between the tested configurations.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, running at a 3.40 GHz base clock with a 5.60 GHz boost clock. Its 33 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory position it as a high-end desktop part, and its benchmark scores reflect that: it achieves 33,440.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,160 in single-core, with a 94th percentile ranking against all CPUs. These numbers indicate exceptional processing capability for any workload, including gaming.

However, the measured FPS data for Downfall shows that this CPU’s power is largely untapped. At 1080p with Low settings, the system hits 102 FPS, but at 4K with Ultra settings, it falls to 19 FPS. This massive spread — from 102 to 19 — is far too wide to be explained by CPU performance, as the i7-14700K’s single-thread score of 2,160 in Cinebench R23 would not degrade by 80% based on resolution alone. The bottleneck is clearly elsewhere, meaning the CPU is effectively idle in this scenario, waiting on the graphics subsystem.

The processor’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, which scores 69,515 on average benchmark (a delta of -0.2% versus the i7-14700K’s 69,355 average), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX at 69,875 (delta -0.7%). These rivals are within 1% of the i7-14700K, confirming that this CPU sits at the top of the performance hierarchy. In Downfall, that hierarchy does not translate into higher frame rates because the game’s demands are met well before the CPU’s limits are reached.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is the dominant factor in these results. This GPU uses the Polaris 20 chip on a 14 nm process, with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1257 MHz with a boost of 1340 MHz, and it offers 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The FP32 performance is 6.175 TFLOPS, which is modest by modern standards, and its benchmark percentile sits at 53rd among all GPUs, with an average score of 12,928.

The RX 580’s nearest rivals show how close it is to other mid-range parts: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12,986 (delta -0.4%), while the AMD Radeon 740M scores 12,870 (delta +0.5%). This tight grouping means the RX 580 is a solid mid-tier GPU, but it lacks the headroom for demanding 4K or Ultra settings in a horror title like Downfall. The data confirms this: at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 19, which is below playable thresholds, while at 1080p Low it reaches 102 FPS. The GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is likely sufficient for this game, but the raw compute power is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the steep FPS decline as settings increase.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For this combination in Downfall, the data points to a clear sweet spot at 1080p with Medium settings. This configuration yields an average of 83 FPS, with a minimum of 71 FPS and a maximum of 96 FPS, providing a smooth experience without the frame rate volatility seen at other settings. The Low preset at 1080p hits 102 FPS, which is higher, but the jump from Low to Medium (from 102 to 83 FPS) is a 19% drop that buys a significant visual upgrade, making Medium the better balance.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 60 FPS average, with a range of 51 to 69 FPS, which is acceptable for most players, but the 1080p Medium result is more stable. At 4K, no setting is truly viable: High averages 30 FPS, Medium averages 37 FPS with a 32 to 43 FPS range, and Low averages 45 FPS, but the Ultra preset falls to 19 FPS. Given that the 4K Medium result (37 FPS) is only 5 FPS above the 4K High result (30 FPS), the extra visual fidelity from High is not worth the performance cost. The recommended preset is 1080p Medium for the best combination of frame rate and visual quality, with 1440p Medium as a fallback for higher resolution displays.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the maximum average FPS this combination achieves in Downfall?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 102, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its closest rival, the GTX 1660 SUPER, in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 580 has an average benchmark score of 12,928, while the GTX 1660 SUPER scores 12,986, a difference of -0.4%, placing them nearly identical in raw performance.

Q: Is the i7-14700K a bottleneck at 4K Ultra settings in this game?

A: No, the data shows the FPS at 4K Ultra is 19, which is far below the CPU’s capability. The i7-14700K’s single-thread score of 2,160 in Cinebench R23 indicates it is not the limiting factor; the RX 580 GPU is.

Q: What is the frame rate range for 1440p Medium settings?

A: The 1440p Medium preset averages 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 69 FPS.

Q: How much does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 68, while at 4K High, it drops to 30 FPS, a reduction of 38 FPS or roughly 56% lower performance.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth and how might it affect 4K performance?

A: The RX 580 has a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 19 FPS suggests that the GPU’s compute throughput, not just bandwidth, is insufficient for the highest settings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions in Downfall shows a consistent pattern that identifies the GPU as the primary constraint. At Medium settings, the average FPS falls from 83 at 1080p to 60 at 1440p and then to 37 at 4K. This is a 26% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 38% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, which indicates that the GPU is running out of pixel throughput as resolution increases, rather than being limited by any CPU-related factor.

At Low settings, the same pattern emerges: 102 FPS at 1080p drops to 73 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 45 FPS at 4K (a 38% reduction from 1440p). The High settings show 68 FPS at 1080p, 49 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K, with similar percentage drops. The consistent decline across all settings confirms that the RX 580’s 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is simply overwhelmed by the pixel count at higher resolutions.

This behavior points to the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat as resolution increases, since the CPU’s workload does not scale with resolution. Instead, the FPS drops proportionally with the increase in pixel count, which is classic GPU-bound behavior. The i7-14700K’s 20 cores and 5.60 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient to feed the RX 580 at any resolution tested here.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The dataset provides 12 measured FPS rows, covering four resolutions and four settings each. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 102 FPS average, Medium achieves 83 FPS with a 71 to 96 FPS range, High achieves 68 FPS, and Ultra drops to 43 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS, a 58% reduction, showing that Downfall’s Ultra settings are particularly demanding on this GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers scale down proportionally: Low hits 73 FPS, Medium hits 60 FPS with a 51 to 69 FPS range, High hits 49 FPS, and Ultra hits 31 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra here is 42 FPS, a 58% drop, which is nearly identical to the 1080p percentage drop, indicating a consistent scaling factor.

At 3840x2160, the results become marginal: Low averages 45 FPS, Medium averages 37 FPS with a 32 to 43 FPS range, High averages 30 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset, and the 4K Medium result has a minimum of 32 FPS, which is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered playable. The 4K Low result of 45 FPS is the only 4K row that approaches acceptable smoothness, but it still falls short of the 60 FPS target that the 1080p Medium preset achieves.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the benchmark database’s ranking for Downfall, this combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 580 is ranked 3,395 out of 3,716 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 9% of all systems tested for this game, which is a stark contrast to the individual component rankings. The CPU’s 94th percentile and the GPU’s 53rd percentile do not translate into a high combo ranking because the game’s performance is so heavily weighted toward the GPU.

The rank of 3,395 out of 3,716 means that 321 other combinations performed worse, but the vast majority of systems outperformed this pairing. This is expected given the RX 580’s age and mid-tier status, despite the i7-14700K being a top-tier processor. The data shows that pairing a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU results in a system that is limited by the GPU in Downfall, and the combo rank reflects that limitation. The 4K Ultra result of 19 FPS is the weakest point, while the 1080p Low result of 102 FPS is the strongest, but neither changes the overall ranking, which is determined by the aggregate performance across all tested settings and resolutions.