Downfall

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a playable but heavily GPU-bound experience in Downfall, with the data showing a clear progression of frame rates that scales inversely with resolution and graphical fidelity. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches an average of 209.2 FPS, which drops to 140.3 FPS at High and 88.3 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the same settings produce 150.6 FPS, 103 FPS, and 65.8 FPS respectively. At 4K, the strain becomes evident: High settings yield 64.4 FPS, Medium 78.4 FPS, Low 92.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 41.4 FPS. The pattern strongly suggests that the RTX 2070 SUPER, with its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the 20-core, 28-thread processor has ample headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas across resolutions reveal a classic GPU-bound scenario. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the average FPS drops from 209.2 to 150.6, a reduction of approximately 28%. The same settings pair sees a further drop to 92.6 FPS at 4K, which is a 56% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput—rated at 113.3 GPixel/s—is being saturated as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K. The CPU's role here is minimal; its boost clock of 5.60 GHz and high single-core performance (a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290) ensure that it is not the bottleneck even at 1080p Low, where frame rates exceed 200 FPS.

Looking at High settings, the scaling is similarly aggressive: 140.3 FPS at 1080p, 103 FPS at 1440p, and 64.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is notably 54% lower than the 1080p High result. This nonlinear drop suggests that memory bandwidth constraints—the GPU's 448.0 GB/s—become more pronounced as resolution increases, particularly with the higher texture and shading loads of High settings. The Ultra preset amplifies this effect, with 4K Ultra producing 41.4 FPS, which is a 53% drop from 1440p Ultra's 65.8 FPS and a 53% drop from 1080p Ultra's 88.3 FPS. The data shows no evidence of CPU limiting, as the frame rate declines are consistent with pure rendering load.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the measured rows indicate that 4K High is the ceiling for this combination, averaging 64.4 FPS. However, the margin is thin, and 4K Ultra drops to 41.4 FPS, which is below smooth playability. At 1440p, Medium settings provide a comfortable 121.8 FPS, while High offers 103 FPS—both well above the 60 FPS threshold. The data suggests that 1440p High is the sweet spot for visual fidelity and performance, balancing the GPU's 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute against the horror genre's need for consistent frame pacing.

At 1080p, even Ultra settings deliver 88.3 FPS, which is excellent for a game that likely benefits from high frame rates for responsive camera movement. The Low preset at 1080p hits 209.2 FPS, which is overkill for most displays but useful for high-refresh-rate monitors. The medium preset at 1080p (171 FPS) and 1440p (121.8 FPS) both represent strong choices if the user prioritizes frame rate over visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1440p (65.8 FPS) is borderline, while 4K Ultra (41.4 FPS) should be avoided unless the user accepts a sub-60 FPS experience. The data indicates that Medium settings at 1440p offer the best balance of resolution and headroom, as the 78.4 FPS at 4K Medium is playable but leaves little room for dips.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz provide substantial single-threaded capability, as evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2972 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6290. In Downfall, a horror title, the CPU's job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The benchmark results show no scenario where the CPU becomes the limiting factor; even at 1080p Low with 209.2 FPS, the processor's high clock speeds and 33 MB of shared L3 cache are sufficient to maintain frame delivery.

The multi-threaded performance is equally strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a Passmark multithread score of 52425. However, this game does not appear to leverage the full 28-thread capacity, as the frame rate scaling is purely resolution-driven. The CPU's percentile ranking of 96 among all CPUs indicates top-tier performance, but in this specific title, its role is secondary. The nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, has a nearly identical average benchmark score of 70074 compared to this chip's 70104, with a deltaPct of 0%, confirming that the KF variant's lack of integrated graphics does not impact game performance. The data suggests that the CPU's 125 W TDP and dual-channel memory support are more than adequate for this workload.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU combination ranks 1037 out of 1741 tested combos for Downfall. This places it in the lower-middle tier of all configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's age and market position. The RTX 2070 SUPER sits in the 65th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU is in the 96th percentile, creating a significant imbalance. The combo rank reflects this mismatch—the processor is overqualified for the graphics card, but the overall result is still playable at most settings. Compared to other combos in the database, this pairing benefits from the CPU's high single-thread performance, which prevents any CPU-related frame drops, but it is held back by the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity and 256-bit bus width.

The rank of 1037 out of 1741 means that roughly 40% of tested combos outperform this setup in Downfall. This is expected given that the RTX 2070 SUPER is an end-of-life product, while the CPU is current-generation. The data shows that the combo's strength lies in its consistency across resolutions—there is no setting where it becomes unplayable, but also no setting where it excels relative to higher-end GPUs. The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (0.9% faster) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (2.5% slower), highlight that the 2070 SUPER is positioned in a crowded mid-range segment. This ranking suggests that users with this combo should focus on 1080p or 1440p gaming, as the 4K results, while playable at Medium, do not justify the performance trade-off.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is a Turing-architecture GPU with 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. Its base clock of 1605 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz, combined with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, produce a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. In Downfall, this GPU is clearly the constraint at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 41.4 FPS is the lowest measured, and it aligns with the GPU's compute throughput of 9.062 TFLOPS. The 4K Medium result of 78.4 FPS shows that reducing settings can recover performance, but the gap between 1080p Ultra (88.3 FPS) and 4K Ultra (41.4 FPS) is a 53% reduction, which is consistent with the doubling of pixel count.

The GPU's 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores do not appear to provide a measurable benefit in this title, as the frame rates follow a predictable rasterization pattern. The 12 nm process node and 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die indicate a power-hungry design, but the 215 W TDP is within the range of a typical 550 W PSU. The data shows that the GPU's 65th percentile ranking is reflected in its performance: it is capable but not exceptional. At 1080p, the GPU can push beyond 140 FPS at High settings, but at 4K, it struggles to maintain 60 FPS at anything above Medium. The nearest rivals, including the RTX 4060 Mobile (2.3% slower in synthetic benchmarks), confirm that this desktop GPU is still competitive in raw compute, but its memory capacity and bandwidth limit its longevity in modern titles. For Downfall, the GPU's role is decisive: it governs the frame rate at every resolution, and the CPU simply follows its lead.