Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a robust experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that scales broadly across resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates place this combo at rank 678 out of 1741 tested configurations, indicating a solid mid-to-upper tier position. The data reveals a system that is clearly GPU-limited at higher resolutions but shows surprising CPU headroom at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 270 FPS on low settings. This analysis breaks down the performance characteristics by resolution, component role, and competitive standing, using only the measured data from the benchmark database.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 272.6 FPS, which drops to 190.4 FPS at 1440p and further to 118 FPS at 4K — a 56.7% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This pattern indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU has significant headroom to push frames, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

Looking at High settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 181.2 FPS at 1080p falls to 127.8 FPS at 1440p (a 29.5% drop), then to 79.3 FPS at 4K (a 56.2% drop from 1080p). The Ultra preset tells a similar story, with 117.1 FPS at 1080p dropping to 80.4 FPS at 1440p and finally to 52.4 FPS at 4K. The consistent pattern across settings — where 4K performance is roughly half of 1080p performance — strongly suggests the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB GDDR6X memory and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

The Medium preset shows the same trend: 219.9 FPS at 1080p, 158.7 FPS at 1440p, and 98.9 FPS at 4K. The relative consistency of these scaling ratios across all settings indicates that Downfall's rendering load scales predictably with resolution, and the GPU's compute throughput — 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 — is the determining factor. At 1080p, even Ultra settings produce 117.1 FPS, suggesting the CPU can feed frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower pixel counts.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF brings 20 cores and 28 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This Raptor Lake-R architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, shows strong synthetic benchmarks: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44557 and a single-core score of 6290. The CPU's percentile rank of 96 against all processors indicates it sits near the top of the performance distribution.

In Downfall, the CPU's role becomes evident when comparing frame rates across settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the jump from Low (272.6 FPS) to Ultra (117.1 FPS) is a 57% reduction, which is primarily a GPU-side effect of increased rendering complexity. However, the fact that 1080p Low exceeds 270 FPS suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU well beyond what the RTX 3070 Ti can render at higher settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals in overall benchmark scores include the Intel Core i7-14700K (deltaPct 0), AMD EPYC 9115 (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (deltaPct -0.4), and Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (deltaPct -1.3). These tiny deltas — all within 1.3% — indicate that the i7-14700KF is essentially performance-equivalent to these top-tier chips in synthetic workloads. In gaming, the 5.60 GHz boost clock likely ensures that single-threaded game logic is never a limiting factor at 1080p, where frame rates are highest.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, based on the GA104 chip with Ampere architecture, provides 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. Its 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. The GPU's percentile rank of 74 against all GPUs places it in the upper-middle tier, and its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Radeon RX 6700 (deltaPct -0.8), NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (deltaPct -0.9), and NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (deltaPct -1.2).

In Downfall, the GPU's limitations surface most clearly at 4K Ultra, where the combo manages only 52.4 FPS. This is the only measured configuration that drops below 60 FPS, indicating that the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM and compute resources are stretched thin at 4K with maxed settings. The transition from 1440p Ultra (80.4 FPS) to 4K Ultra (52.4 FPS) represents a 34.8% drop, which is steeper than the corresponding drop from 1080p Ultra (117.1 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (31.3% drop). This accelerating decline suggests memory bandwidth pressure at higher resolutions.

The GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score of 91 and DirectX 11 score of 192 from PassMark provide context for its DirectX 12 Ultimate API support. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3478 further indicates its compute capability. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at any given resolution — for example, 118 FPS to 52.4 FPS at 4K — shows how much headroom the GPU has when graphical load is reduced.

FAQ

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

A: The highest measured average FPS is 272.6, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Does this combo maintain 60+ FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, except at Ultra settings. At 4K, the combo delivers 118 FPS on Low, 98.9 FPS on Medium, 79.3 FPS on High, but drops to 52.4 FPS on Ultra.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-core performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 44557 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. Its nearest rivals are within 1.3% of its average benchmark score, with the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X being 0.4% faster and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 being 1.3% slower.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and how does it affect performance?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti has 8 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 256-bit bus and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth. This configuration appears to be the bottleneck at 4K Ultra, where FPS drops to 52.4.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the combo achieves 190.4 FPS on Low and 80.4 FPS on Ultra, a difference of 110 FPS or 57.8% lower performance on Ultra.

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

A: The combo ranks 678th out of 1741 tested combos, placing it in the 61st percentile of tested systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 678 out of 1741 tested configurations places this pairing in the upper third of all systems tested in Downfall. This ranking reflects the balance between the i7-14700KF's strong CPU performance — evidenced by its 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs — and the RTX 3070 Ti's more modest 74th percentile GPU standing. The data shows that the CPU is outperforming its GPU counterpart significantly, which explains why the combo's overall rank (678/1741) sits below what the CPU alone would suggest.

The 4K Ultra result of 52.4 FPS is the weakest point in the dataset and likely drags the combo's ranking down, as many other configurations with higher-end GPUs would achieve better scores in this demanding scenario. However, at 1080p and 1440p, the combo demonstrates strong performance, with 1440p High hitting 127.8 FPS and 1080p High reaching 181.2 FPS. These mid-range resolutions are likely where this combo is most competitive.

The rank position — 678 out of 1741 — represents a solid middle-upper tier placement. Systems ranked above this combo likely pair the i7-14700KF with more powerful GPUs, given that the CPU's performance is close to top-tier rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, which is only 0.4% faster in average benchmark scores. The GPU's nearest rivals all score within 1.2% of the RTX 3070 Ti, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor in this pairing relative to higher-ranked combos.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset produces 272.6 FPS, Medium achieves 219.9 FPS, High reaches 181.2 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 117.1 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 155.5 FPS, representing a 57% performance reduction when maxing out settings. This range shows the GPU's capability when CPU bottlenecking is minimal.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are consistent but manageable. Low settings yield 190.4 FPS, Medium produces 158.7 FPS, High achieves 127.8 FPS, and Ultra delivers 80.4 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap at 1440p is 110 FPS, again a 57.8% reduction, closely mirroring the 1080p scaling pattern. The 1440p results suggest this combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution with medium to high settings.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings still produce a playable 118 FPS, while Medium achieves 98.9 FPS and High reaches 79.3 FPS. However, Ultra settings drop to 52.4 FPS, which is the only measurement below 60 FPS in the entire dataset. The 4K Ultra result represents a 55.7% reduction from 4K Low, and a 55.2% reduction from 1080p Ultra. This data indicates that 4K Ultra is beyond the comfortable range for this GPU, while 4K High remains viable at 79.3 FPS.