Downfall

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an exceptionally high-end combination for Downfall, a 2016 horror title. The measured data shows this setup delivers extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings, firmly placing it in the top tier of tested configurations. The key takeaway is that this hardware is so powerful that the game's demands are easily met, making the choice of settings more about balancing visual fidelity against the diminishing returns of ultra-high refresh rates.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combination, the data indicates that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At 4K, the High preset delivers an average of 130.4 FPS, which is a substantial 46.7 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 83.7 FPS. This difference is significant for maintaining smoothness on high-refresh-rate 4K displays. While the Ultra preset is playable, the performance cost is steep for the marginal visual gain it provides over High in this older title.

At lower resolutions, the High preset becomes even more compelling. At 1440p, it achieves 213.6 FPS, and at 1080p, it reaches 296.7 FPS. These figures are well beyond the refresh rates of most monitors, ensuring a consistently fluid experience. The Medium preset offers a slight performance boost but with a noticeable reduction in visual quality. The Low preset, while hitting 194.6 FPS at 4K and 439.6 FPS at 1080p, sacrifices too much visual fidelity for a system of this caliber.

The Ultra preset, while technically the highest visual setting, is the most demanding. The gap between High and Ultra is consistent across resolutions, suggesting a heavy load on the GPU. Given that the High preset already provides such high frame rates, the extra visual polish of Ultra is not worth the significant performance penalty, especially at 4K where it drops below the 100 FPS threshold. Therefore, High is the recommended default for the best experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing for Downfall. The data shows that performance scales significantly with settings changes, which is a hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario. The GPU's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is far more than this game requires, ensuring that texture loading and memory bandwidth are never a bottleneck. The 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth provides ample headroom for the game's data streams.

The RTX 4090's core clocks, with a base of 2235 MHz and a boost of 2520 MHz, are clearly sufficient to drive the massive frame rates observed. The jump from Low to Ultra settings at 4K results in a performance drop from 194.6 FPS to 83.7 FPS, a reduction of 110.9 FPS. This dramatic scaling shows that the GPU's compute units are doing the heavy lifting, and the game is not limited by the CPU's capabilities. The GPU's performance percentile of 91 versus all other GPUs underscores its top-tier status.

The data suggests that even at the highest settings, the RTX 4090 is not fully saturated at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the frame rate of 439.6 FPS is extraordinarily high, indicating there is little to no GPU bottleneck. The game's demands are so low relative to the card's power that it can push frame rates to extreme levels without breaking a sweat. The RTX 4090's 16,384 shading units are more than capable of handling the horror game's effects.

FAQ

Q: What is the best 4K preset for this combo?

A: The High preset is the best choice for 4K gaming. It delivers an average of 130.4 FPS, which is significantly smoother than the Ultra preset's 83.7 FPS, while still providing a high level of visual detail.

Q: How much faster is the High preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the High preset achieves 213.6 FPS, which is 81.3 FPS faster than the Ultra preset's 132.3 FPS. This shows a substantial performance gain for a single step down in settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck in this game?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. The performance scales dramatically with settings changes, from 317.6 FPS at 1440p Low to 132.3 FPS at 1440p Ultra, showing the load is on the graphics card.

Q: Can this setup handle 1080p at maximum refresh rates?

A: Yes. At 1080p with the High preset, the combo produces 296.7 FPS. Even at the Ultra preset, it maintains 183.6 FPS, which is well beyond the refresh rates of most gaming monitors.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Medium settings at 4K?

A: The Low preset at 4K yields 194.6 FPS, while the Medium preset yields 161.2 FPS. This is a 33.4 FPS difference, showing a moderate performance hit for the increased visual quality of Medium.

Q: How does the combo's performance rank overall?

A: This combination ranks 33rd out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 2% of all configurations tested for this game.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 33rd out of 1741 tested combos in Downfall. This places the setup in the top 1.9% of all configurations, an exceptional result that confirms its high-end status. The CPU itself has a percentile ranking of 96 versus all other CPUs, and its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, from which it is separated by less than 1%.

The GPU, with a percentile of 91 versus all other GPUs, is also a top performer. Its nearest rivals are professional workstation cards like the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56, which are all within a few percentage points of its average benchmark score. This shows that while the RTX 4090 is a consumer gaming card, its raw compute power rivals that of professional-grade hardware.

The high combo rank is a direct result of both components being at the top of their respective hierarchies. The CPU's strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 scores of 44557 and 6290, ensures it can feed the powerful GPU without becoming a bottleneck. The RTX 4090's immense compute capability, demonstrated by its 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, allows for the extremely high frame rates seen in the data.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and predictable pattern of performance scaling across resolutions. The frame rates drop as the resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop is more pronounced at higher settings. This behavior is characteristic of a GPU-bound workload, where the rendering resolution directly impacts the load on the graphics card.

At the Low setting, the FPS drops from 439.6 at 1080p to 317.6 at 1440p, a 122 FPS decrease (27.8%). Moving to 4K, it further drops to 194.6 FPS, a 123 FPS decrease from 1440p. This shows that even at low settings, the resolution scaling has a significant impact on performance. The pattern is similar for the Medium setting, with FPS going from 359.9 at 1080p to 260.9 at 1440p, and then to 161.2 at 4K.

The High setting shows a more pronounced drop. From 296.7 FPS at 1080p, it falls to 213.6 FPS at 1440p (a 28% decrease), and then to 130.4 FPS at 4K (a 39% decrease from 1440p). The Ultra setting is even more demanding, with FPS falling from 183.6 at 1080p to 132.3 at 1440p and finally to 83.7 at 4K. This consistent scaling confirms that the RTX 4090 is the primary component determining performance in this game, as the CPU's capabilities are not being challenged by the resolution changes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete set of measured average FPS data for this hardware combination in Downfall.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Ultra: 83.7 FPS
• High: 130.4 FPS
• Medium: 161.2 FPS
• Low: 194.6 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Ultra: 132.3 FPS
• High: 213.6 FPS
• Medium: 260.9 FPS
• Low: 317.6 FPS

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Ultra: 183.6 FPS
• High: 296.7 FPS
• Medium: 359.9 FPS
• Low: 439.6 FPS

The data shows that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset is highly playable, with an average of 183.6 FPS. The performance gap between presets widens at lower resolutions, with the Low preset at 1080p achieving 439.6 FPS, which is 256 FPS higher than the Ultra preset at the same resolution. This indicates that the GPU has a massive amount of headroom at 1080p, and the game's frame rate is only limited by the graphics settings chosen. At 4K, the Ultra preset is the only one that dips below 100 FPS, making the High preset the recommended choice for a smooth and visually rich experience.