Downfall

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

The measured FPS data for Downfall with the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 7600 reveals a clear pattern of resolution-dependent performance scaling. At 1080p with Ultra settings, the combo delivers 80.5 FPS, but stepping up to 1440p drops that figure to 59.7 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls further to 34.8 FPS. This represents a 57% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at the highest preset, which is a substantial penalty that suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The scaling behavior becomes more telling when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 195.8 FPS, which is an impressive figure that indicates the CPU has ample headroom to push frames when graphical load is minimal. However, at 4K Low, the same settings yield only 84.1 FPS — a drop of 57% as well. This near-identical percentage reduction across both Low and Ultra presets strongly implies that resolution scaling is governed by the GPU's rendering capabilities rather than CPU limitations. The Radeon RX 7600, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, simply cannot maintain the same throughput as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

Interestingly, the Medium preset shows a slightly different scaling profile. From 1080p Medium at 156.2 FPS to 1440p Medium at 113.9 FPS, the drop is 27%, but moving from 1440p to 4K Medium brings a further 39% reduction to 69.8 FPS. This nonlinear behavior suggests that at 4K, the GPU is hitting memory bandwidth constraints — the 288.0 GB/s figure becomes a limiting factor when texture and buffer demands increase with resolution. The data points to a system where the Core i7-14700KF is rarely the bottleneck, except perhaps at the very lowest settings where frame rates exceed 195 FPS.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 33 chip manufactured on a 6 nm process. Its base clock runs at 1720 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz and a boost clock reaching 2655 MHz. These clock speeds are relatively high for a mid-range GPU, but the card's 8 GB VRAM capacity appears to be the critical constraint in Downfall at higher settings. The game, released in 2016, was designed in an era when 8 GB was generous, yet the measured data shows that Ultra settings at 4K produce only 34.8 FPS, which is barely playable.

The memory subsystem consists of GDDR6 running at 2250 MHz with an 18 Gbps effective data rate, paired with a 128-bit bus width. This yields a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, which is modest by modern standards. In Downfall's horror environments, which likely feature dense shadow maps and high-resolution textures, this bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs are capable of producing 169.9 GPixel/s, yet the pixel throughput alone doesn't tell the full story — the measured frame rates suggest that memory bandwidth, not pixel fill rate, is the primary constraint at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20258. Its nearest rivals include the RX 7600 XT, which scores only 0.6% higher, and the RX 460, which surprisingly scores 0.8% higher in aggregate benchmarks despite being an older architecture. This close clustering indicates that the RX 7600 sits in a competitive mid-range tier where small performance differences are common. In Downfall specifically, the 4K Ultra result of 34.8 FPS demonstrates that this GPU is positioned at the edge of playability for demanding settings at 4K.

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

Examining the measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings, the most balanced experience appears to be the High preset at 1440p, which delivers 89.8 FPS. This setting provides a smooth frame rate that exceeds the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining visual quality above the Low and Medium presets. At 1080p, High yields 129 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate displays, but the 1440p High result offers a better balance between image sharpness and performance headroom.

For 4K gaming, the Medium preset at 69.8 FPS emerges as the practical choice. The Ultra preset drops to 34.8 FPS, which is below the playability threshold for most users, while High at 59.5 FPS is borderline. Medium at 4K provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS, making it the recommended setting for this resolution. The Low preset at 4K achieves 84.1 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely too severe for a horror game where atmospheric detail matters.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset's 80.5 FPS is playable, but the jump from High at 129 FPS to Ultra at 80.5 FPS represents a 38% performance cost. Given the Core i7-14700KF's substantial compute capabilities — evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 — the CPU is not the limiting factor here. The data suggests that High settings at 1080p or 1440p provide the best experience, with Medium as a fallback for 4K. The Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, and even then, the frame rate drops below what competitive or fast-paced gameplay would require.

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

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values span from 80.5 at Ultra to 195.8 at Low. The Medium preset achieves 156.2 FPS, while High reaches 129 FPS. This ordering is expected, but the magnitude of the gaps is notable: Low is 24% faster than Medium, which is 21% faster than High, which is 60% faster than Ultra. The Ultra preset's 80.5 FPS is surprisingly low relative to High's 129 FPS, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive on this GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with lower absolute values. Low delivers 138.9 FPS, Medium achieves 113.9 FPS, High reaches 89.8 FPS, and Ultra drops to 59.7 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at each setting shows a consistent reduction: Low drops 29%, Medium drops 27%, High drops 30%, and Ultra drops 26%. This consistency indicates that the GPU's rendering load scales uniformly with pixel count, with no single setting causing an anomalous penalty.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low at 84.1 FPS, Medium at 69.8 FPS, High at 59.5 FPS, and Ultra at 34.8 FPS. The 4K to 1440p scaling shows Low dropping 39%, Medium dropping 39%, High dropping 34%, and Ultra dropping 42%. The Ultra preset's 42% reduction is the steepest of any setting, reinforcing that the most demanding preset amplifies the GPU's memory bandwidth limitations. The 4K Ultra result of 34.8 FPS is the only measured value below 50 FPS across the entire dataset.

# How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and AMD Radeon RX 7600 achieves a rank of 1174 out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the 33rd percentile of all configurations, meaning roughly two-thirds of tested combos perform better in this game. Given the CPU's strong benchmark standing — the i7-14700KF sits at the 96th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 70104 — the rank is clearly held back by the GPU. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Core i7-14700K with a 0% delta, the AMD EPYC 9115 with a 0.3% higher score, and the Ryzen 9 9950X which scores 0.4% lower.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 63rd among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20258, aligns with the combo's mid-pack position. The RX 7600's nearest rivals show tight clustering: the RX 7600 XT is 0.6% faster, the RX 460 is 0.8% faster, the RTX 3070 Mobile is 1.3% slower, and the Arc B570 is 1.5% slower. This suggests that the GPU is performing near its expected level, and the combo's rank in Downfall reflects the GPU's mid-range positioning rather than any pairing inefficiency.

The gap between the CPU's top-tier standing and the GPU's mid-tier performance creates an interesting dynamic. At lower resolutions where the CPU matters more, the combo likely punches above its rank, but at 4K, the GPU's constraints dominate. The 1741 total combos tested mean that the 1174th rank is firmly in the lower half, indicating that most other GPU pairings with this CPU class would achieve better results in Downfall.

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

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, and it carries a 125 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications place it among the most capable consumer CPUs available, and its benchmark results confirm this: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 44557, while single-core reaches 6290.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 195.8 FPS, which is a strong indicator of CPU headroom. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau regardless of settings at lower resolutions. Instead, the 1080p results show a clear progression from 195.8 FPS at Low down to 80.5 FPS at Ultra, meaning the GPU is capping performance even at this modest resolution.

The CPU's single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2972 and PassMark single-thread score of 4480, is more than sufficient for a 2016 horror game. The 20-core configuration is vastly overprovisioned for this workload, which uses only a fraction of available threads. The data implies that the i7-14700KF is never the limiting component in this pairing — even the 4K Ultra result of 34.8 FPS is determined by GPU constraints rather than CPU throughput. This is a classic example of a high-end CPU paired with a mid-range GPU, where the resulting performance is dictated almost entirely by the graphics card.

# FAQ

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

A: Based on measured data, 1440p with High settings delivers 89.8 FPS, which balances visual quality and performance. At 1080p, High reaches 129 FPS, but the 1440p result offers a better pixel density without sacrificing smoothness.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Downfall?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which achieves 69.8 FPS. The High preset at 4K drops to 59.5 FPS, while Ultra falls to 34.8 FPS, making Medium the only 4K preset that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Core i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70104, which is essentially tied with the Core i7-14700K at 70074, and 0.3% higher than the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69887. It trails the Ryzen 9 9950X by 0.4% and the Xeon Platinum 8270 by 1.3%.

Q: Why is the 4K Ultra performance so much lower than 1080p Ultra?

A: The 4K Ultra result of 34.8 FPS represents a 57% drop from 1080p Ultra's 80.5 FPS. This is attributed to the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, which become saturated at 4K with maximum settings.

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

A: The GPU is the limiting component. Evidence comes from the 1080p Low result of 195.8 FPS, which shows the CPU can push far beyond what the GPU delivers at higher settings. The CPU's 96th percentile ranking versus the GPU's 63rd percentile confirms this imbalance.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 1174th out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the lower third of all configurations. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range performance rather than any CPU deficiency.