Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i7-14700K + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The Intel Core i7-14700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 delivers a broad range of performance across Downfall, a 2016 horror title that appears to scale heavily with both CPU and GPU depending on resolution and settings. With measured frame rates spanning from 39 FPS at 4K Ultra to 210 FPS at 1080p Low, this combo demonstrates clear headroom at lower resolutions while struggling to maintain high refresh rates at the most demanding configurations. The data reveals a system that is capable of excellent 1080p and 1440p gameplay, but which becomes GPU-limited at 4K, particularly as settings escalate.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 210, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 172 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 150 FPS at 1440p Low.

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

A: The lowest average FPS is 39, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This is less than half the 88 FPS average seen at 1080p Ultra, indicating a severe performance drop at 4K with maximum settings.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, placing it just 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (which scores 16129). It sits 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862) and 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15852).

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking among all processors?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K ranks in the 94th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69355. This places it in a tight cluster with rivals like the AMD EPYC 9115 (69288, 0.1% behind) and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (69515, 0.2% ahead).

Q: What is the combo's overall rank among tested configurations in Downfall?

A: This combination ranks 1667 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the middle of the pack. This suggests that while the hardware is competent, other combinations achieve better results in this specific title.

Q: What is the only setting at 4K that provides a minimum FPS above 60?

A: At 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only one with a recorded minimum FPS above 60, showing 65 FPS minimum with an average of 76. The High preset averages 63 FPS but has no minimum recorded, while Low averages 93 and Ultra drops to 39 average.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process with a 125 W TDP. It features a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a substantial 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per core L2 cache. This is a high-end desktop part, evidenced by its 94th percentile ranking among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 69355. In synthetic tests, it achieves strong results including 33440.5 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2160 in single-core, plus 20767 in Geekbench multi-core.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is less burdened. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra settings is substantial—210 FPS versus 88 FPS—but even at 88 FPS, the processor is clearly feeding the GPU adequately. The CPU's single-thread performance, reflected in a 4472 Passmark single-thread score and 313.5 Cinebench R15 single-core, matters for a horror game that likely has physics and AI calculations. However, the data suggests that as resolution increases, the CPU becomes less of a bottleneck. At 1440p Low, the combo hits 150 FPS, which is 60 FPS lower than 1080p Low, indicating the GPU is now the limiting factor even at low settings.

The processor's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.2% higher score) and AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.7% higher), but none of these show a dramatic advantage over the i7-14700K. Given that the CPU sits in the 94th percentile, it is unlikely to be the primary constraint in Downfall except at the very lowest settings and resolutions, where the frame rates exceed 200 FPS—a domain where even minor CPU differences could matter. The data implies that the i7-14700K provides ample headroom for this game, with its 28 threads and high boost clock ensuring that the GPU receives data quickly enough to sustain high frame rates across most configurations.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is a RDNA 4.0 architecture GPU with a Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. The GPU has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its clock speeds include a 1700 MHz base, 2400 MHz game clock, and 2990 MHz boost, with a 132 W TDP and a suggested 300 W power supply. The card supports PCIe 5.0 x16 and has a 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 16014.

The RX 9060's synthetic performance places it in a competitive but not top-tier position. It scores 3322 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 88183 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 39476 in Geekbench Vulkan. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 3060 Ti (0.7% higher), R9 370X (1% lower), and RX 7700 (1% lower). In Downfall, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 288 GB/s bandwidth appear adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest memory or bandwidth constraints at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra average of 39 FPS is drastically lower than the 1080p Ultra average of 88 FPS, a 56% drop that points to the GPU being overwhelmed.

The GPU's texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s are moderate figures, and the FP32 performance of 21.43 TFLOPS suggests reasonable compute capabilities. However, in a horror game like Downfall, the GPU must handle lighting, shadows, and environmental effects, all of which stress the ROPs and memory subsystem. The fact that 4K Medium (76 FPS) beats 4K High (63 FPS) by 13 FPS, while 4K Ultra craters to 39 FPS, indicates that the jump from Medium to Ultra imposes a severe cost on the GPU. This is likely due to increased texture detail and post-processing effects exceeding the 8 GB VRAM capacity, forcing the card to swap data to system memory.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce 210 FPS average, Medium yields 172 FPS with a minimum of 146 and maximum of 198, High achieves 141 FPS, and Ultra drops to 88 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 122 FPS, demonstrating that settings have a profound impact even at this resolution. The Medium preset's minimum of 146 FPS indicates solid frame pacing, while the maximum of 198 shows the hardware can push higher when scenes are less demanding.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance scales down predictably. Low settings still reach 150 FPS average, Medium achieves 123 FPS (minimum 104, maximum 141), High hits 101 FPS, and Ultra falls to 63 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 87 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, which suggests the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor. The Medium preset at 1440p maintains a minimum of 104 FPS, which is still comfortably above 60, but Ultra's 63 FPS average leaves little headroom.

At 3840x2160, the performance picture changes dramatically. Low settings average 93 FPS, Medium averages 76 FPS (minimum 65, maximum 88), High averages 63 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 39 FPS. The step from Medium to High at 4K costs 13 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs 24 FPS—a much steeper penalty than at lower resolutions. The 4K Medium minimum of 65 FPS is the only 4K preset that stays above 60 FPS on average, and even that is close to the threshold. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS is the worst measured figure in the entire dataset, underscoring the GPU's limitations at this resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal a clear pattern of GPU limitation. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 210 at 1080p to 150 at 1440p (a 29% reduction) and then to 93 at 4K (a 38% reduction from 1440p). At Medium settings, the progression is 172→123→76, representing a 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 38% drop from 1440p to 4K. High settings show 141→101→63, with a 28% drop and 38% drop respectively. Ultra settings exhibit the most severe scaling: 88→63→39, with a 28% drop to 1440p and a 38% drop to 4K.

The consistency of these percentage drops across settings—roughly 28-29% from 1080p to 1440p and 38% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the scaling is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven. This is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance, where the pixel count increases quadratically with resolution. From 1080p (approximately 2 million pixels) to 1440p (approximately 3.7 million) the load increases by about 79%, and to 4K (approximately 8.3 million) it increases by another 124%. The measured FPS drops are less than these pixel count increases, suggesting that the CPU is still contributing some headroom, but the trend is unmistakably toward GPU limitation.

The fact that Ultra settings scale similarly to Low settings—both showing roughly 38% drops from 1440p to 4K—implies that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute throughput are the bottlenecks, not the specific effects enabled at Ultra. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the scaling to be more pronounced at low settings where frame rates are higher. Instead, the uniform scaling suggests that the RX 9060's 288 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are the primary constraints at 4K, with the 128-bit bus being a particular weakness for high-resolution texture streaming.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot. It delivers an average of 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay even in intense horror scenes. This configuration provides a 22 FPS improvement over High settings (101 FPS) while sacrificing only a modest amount of visual fidelity. The 104 FPS minimum means the frame rate never dips below 100, which is ideal for maintaining immersion in a genre where sudden frame drops can break tension.

At 1080p, Medium is also a strong choice, offering 172 FPS average with a minimum of 146 FPS. However, players with high-refresh-rate monitors might prefer Low settings at 210 FPS, particularly if competitive or twitch-based gameplay is a priority. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 31 FPS (172→141), which is a significant penalty for what may be subtle visual improvements in a horror game. Ultra at 1080p, at 88 FPS, is playable but does not provide enough of a visual upgrade over High to justify the 53 FPS loss.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset is the only viable option, with a 76 FPS average and 65 FPS minimum. High settings at 4K average 63 FPS, which is marginal for smooth gameplay, and Ultra's 39 FPS is effectively unplayable. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the recommended configuration for this resolution, as it provides a 13 FPS advantage over High and a 37 FPS advantage over Ultra. Players who prioritize frame rate over resolution should consider dropping to 1440p High or 1080p Ultra instead, as those configurations offer superior performance with only a resolution penalty.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination ranks 1667 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems. The rank reflects the balance between the i7-14700K's strong CPU performance (94th percentile) and the RX 9060's more modest GPU standing (59th percentile). The CPU is clearly not the limiting factor in this pairing; rather, the GPU holds the combo back from higher rankings, especially at 4K where the RX 9060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become bottlenecks.

Compared to other combos in the database, this system's 1080p results are competitive, with Low settings reaching 210 FPS—a figure that would place it well above average for 1080p gaming. However, the 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS likely drags the overall rank down, as many other combos with higher-tier GPUs achieve better 4K performance. The nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks—the RTX 3060 Ti (0.7% higher score) and RX 7700 (1% lower)—suggest that this combo would perform similarly to systems using those cards, assuming the CPU is not a bottleneck.

The rank of 1667 out of 2928 indicates that while this is not a top-tier configuration for Downfall, it is also far from the bottom. The data implies that the i7-14700K provides excellent CPU headroom that could support a future GPU upgrade, but as configured, the RX 9060 limits the system to mid-pack performance. Players using this combo should target 1080p or 1440p with Medium or High settings to maximize their experience, as the 4K results confirm that this resolution is beyond the GPU's comfortable operating range.