Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The combination of Intel's Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a robust experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that remains demanding at higher settings. The measured data shows this pairing ranks 862nd out of 3,716 tested combos, placing it in the upper quarter of all systems. The CPU holds a 94th percentile ranking against all processors, while the GPU sits at the 81st percentile, suggesting a well-balanced setup that leans slightly toward compute headroom. Across three resolutions and four quality presets, the system never drops below 58 FPS in any measured configuration, making it a viable choice for high-refresh displays at 1440p and even playable 4K performance on reduced settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system transitions from CPU-bound to GPU-bound behavior. At 1080p Low, the system produces 312 FPS, which drops to 223 FPS at 1440p Low and 139 FPS at 4K Low. That represents a 55.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a relatively modest drop that indicates the CPU still has headroom even at the highest pixel counts. The High preset tells a different story: 210 FPS at 1080p, 150 FPS at 1440p, and 93 FPS at 4K — a 55.7% decrease overall, but with the 1080p-to-1440p step costing 28.6% while the 1440p-to-4K step costs 38.0%.

The Medium preset shows the most balanced scaling pattern, with 256 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p, and 114 FPS at 4K. The minimum FPS values for Medium are also recorded: 217 at 1080p, 155 at 1440p, and 97 at 4K, meaning even the worst-case frames stay comfortably above 60 FPS at every resolution. Ultra settings produce the steepest curve — 131 FPS at 1080p falls to 94 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 58 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that dips below 60 FPS, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at this extreme combination.

The gap between Low and Ultra widens as resolution increases. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 131 FPS versus 312 FPS at Low (a 58.0% penalty). At 1440p, that gap grows to 57.8% (94 vs 223 FPS). By 4K, Ultra produces 58 FPS against Low's 139 FPS — a 58.3% penalty. This consistent percentage suggests the settings impact scales linearly with pixel count, pointing to a system where neither component is dramatically overspending its role. The limiting component shifts clearly: at 1080p and 1440p Low/Medium, the CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads provide ample headroom, while the RTX 4070's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth become the binding constraint at 4K Ultra.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, provides the graphical muscle for this configuration. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus delivers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate for all tested presets but shows strain at 4K Ultra. The GPU's 58 FPS average at 4K Ultra, with no minimum recorded, indicates it is operating near its practical ceiling for this title. At 4K Medium, the card produces 114 FPS with a 97 FPS minimum, demonstrating that one step down in quality relieves enough pressure to maintain high frame rates.

The clock behavior of the RTX 4070 — a 1920 MHz base and 2475 MHz boost — supports consistent performance across the resolution ladder. The 35,800 million transistors packed into a 294 mm² die give it a compute capacity of 29.15 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 operations. This raw throughput translates directly to the 4K Low result of 139 FPS, which remains highly playable for a horror title where atmosphere matters more than competitive response times. The GPU's 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores are present in the hardware, though Downfall's 2016 release predates widespread ray tracing adoption, so these units likely see limited use in this title.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 26,927 places it at the 81st percentile among all graphics cards, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% slower) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% slower). Notably, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 1.3% higher, indicating the desktop 4070 is positioned just below mobile flagship territory. The 200 W TDP and dual-slot design make it a practical fit for most mid-tower builds, though the 1x 16-pin power connector and 550 W suggested PSU should be factored into any system planning. At 1440p High, the GPU delivers 150 FPS, which suggests it is not the bottleneck at this resolution — the CPU likely has more influence on the 210 FPS result at 1080p High.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF brings substantial processing headroom to Downfall, with 20 cores and 28 threads running at a 3.40 GHz base clock and 5.60 GHz boost. This Raptor Lake-R architecture on Intel's 10 nm process (with a 257 mm² die) produces a PassMark multithread score of 52,425 and a single-thread score of 4,480. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking against all processors places it just 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, 0.4% ahead of the Ryzen 9 7940HX, and 0.9% ahead of the Ryzen 9 7950X, while trailing the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1.0%. These margins are tight, suggesting the 14700KF is competitively positioned in its class.

The CPU's 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample storage for game assets, while the 80 KB per-core L1 cache handles immediate data needs. In a horror title like Downfall, where unpredictable enemy spawns and atmospheric scripting can create sudden CPU load spikes, the 28 threads offer redundancy that prevents stuttering. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the system reaches 312 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show, indicating the CPU is not struggling to feed the GPU. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 131 FPS result shows no CPU bottleneck, as the GPU's raw performance at this resolution is sufficient to maintain high frame rates.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it a flexible choice for builders who want to push performance further, though the stock configuration clearly handles Downfall without issue. The combination of DDR4 and DDR5 memory support with dual-channel bandwidth means the platform can be tailored to either older or newer memory standards without sacrificing compatibility. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,167 and single-core score of 6,235 indicate strong sustained performance, which matters for long gaming sessions where thermal throttling could otherwise reduce frame rates. At 1440p Medium, the 182 FPS average with a 155 FPS minimum suggests the CPU maintains consistent frame delivery even when the GPU is working harder, as the minimum-to-average ratio of 85.2% shows no significant frame time spikes.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data offers clear guidance for different display targets. For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 131 FPS is the obvious choice — it delivers the highest visual quality while maintaining frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the gap to Medium's 256 FPS is unlikely to be perceptible on most monitors. At 1440p, High settings at 150 FPS strike the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as Ultra drops to 94 FPS — a 37.3% reduction for what may be marginal visual gains in a game with dark, atmospheric scenes. The Medium preset at 182 FPS remains viable for 1440p high-refresh displays (165 Hz or above), but High offers a better compromise for standard 144 Hz panels.

For 4K displays, the situation is more nuanced. Ultra at 58 FPS is technically playable but risks dropping below 60 FPS during intense scenes, which could break immersion in a horror title. The Medium preset at 114 FPS with a 97 FPS minimum is the safest recommendation for 4K, as it provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS floor while maintaining solid visual quality. The High preset at 93 FPS is also acceptable, but the 97 FPS minimum on Medium offers more headroom for frame-time spikes. Low settings at 139 FPS are unnecessary for 4K unless the display supports 120 Hz or higher, in which case the trade-off in visual quality may be worth the smoothness.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the most consistent performer across all resolutions, with minimum FPS values of 217 at 1080p, 155 at 1440p, and 97 at 4K. This consistency suggests that Medium avoids the GPU load spikes that affect Ultra while still providing richer visuals than Low. For players prioritizing frame rate stability — a critical factor in horror games where sudden frame drops can ruin tension — Medium is the recommended default. Players with 1440p 144 Hz monitors should strongly consider High, while 4K users should start with Medium and only experiment with High if their tolerance for occasional dips below 100 FPS is high.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Downfall at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only on reduced settings. The measured data shows 58 FPS at 4K Ultra, 93 FPS at 4K High, and 114 FPS at 4K Medium. For a stable experience above 60 FPS, Medium is the recommended 4K preset, as its 97 FPS minimum provides a safety margin.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: High settings at 1440p deliver 150 FPS average, which is ideal for 144 Hz displays. Ultra drops to 94 FPS, which may still be acceptable but sacrifices 37.3% of the frame rate for visual gains that are less impactful in a dark horror game. Medium offers 182 FPS for high-refresh panels.

Q: How does the Core i7-14700KF compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 14700KF's average benchmark score of 70,163 places it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, 0.4% ahead of the Ryzen 9 7940HX, and 0.9% ahead of the Ryzen 9 7950X. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1.0%. These are marginal differences in synthetic tests, and in Downfall the CPU is rarely the bottleneck.

Q: Is the RTX 4070's 12 GB VRAM sufficient for Downfall?

A: The measured results show no VRAM-related issues at any resolution or settings combination. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth handles 4K Ultra (58 FPS) without reported problems, though the performance drop suggests the GPU is compute-limited rather than memory-limited at that extreme preset.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with this setup?

A: At 1080p, the system produces between 131 FPS (Ultra) and 312 FPS (Low). Medium delivers 256 FPS with a 217 FPS minimum, while High produces 210 FPS. All presets exceed 120 FPS, making this an excellent 1080p high-refresh setup.

Q: How does this system rank among all tested configurations for Downfall?

A: The combo ranks 862nd out of 3,716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 23.2% of all systems. The CPU's 94th percentile and GPU's 81st percentile rankings indicate a balanced pairing that performs above average without being a top-tier enthusiast setup.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance across all presets. Low settings produce 312 FPS, Medium yields 256 FPS with a minimum of 217 FPS and maximum of 294 FPS, High reaches 210 FPS, and Ultra drops to 131 FPS. The 1080p results show no configuration below 131 FPS, making this resolution ideal for competitive play or maximum visual quality without compromise.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down but remains strong. Low settings hit 223 FPS, Medium averages 182 FPS with a 155 FPS minimum and 210 FPS maximum, High reaches 150 FPS, and Ultra delivers 94 FPS. The 1440p results maintain playable frame rates at every preset, with even Ultra staying above 90 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its limits. Low settings produce 139 FPS, Medium averages 114 FPS with a 97 FPS minimum and 131 FPS maximum, High delivers 93 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS, making it the sole preset where frame rate concerns become legitimate. The Medium preset at 4K is the sweet spot, offering 114 FPS with a minimum that stays above 90 FPS.