Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 5 135H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

The benchmark data for this horror title shows a mobile combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 delivering playable frame rates across most resolutions, with a clear performance hierarchy tied to both graphics settings and output resolution. This analysis walks through the measured FPS rows to determine optimal settings, the roles of the CPU and GPU, scaling behavior, and how this pairing ranks among all tested combos.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data spans four quality presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—at three resolutions. The best experience per the measured rows balances average FPS against visual quality, and the data strongly favors the High preset for most users. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 112 FPS, which is comfortably above the 70 FPS average seen at Ultra and only slightly below the 136 FPS average at Medium. Given that High typically offers significantly better visuals than Medium in modern titles, the 24 FPS delta between the two presets at 1080p is a reasonable trade-off for the visual uplift. The High preset also avoids the steep drop to Ultra, which at 70 FPS average is still playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 80 FPS, which remains smooth for a horror game that benefits from consistent frame pacing. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 97 FPS, but the jump to High costs only 17 FPS on average—a modest penalty for improved fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 50 FPS average, which is borderline for a title that may have fast-moving horror sequences. The Low preset at 1440p hits 119 FPS, but that setting sacrifices too much visual detail for a game where atmosphere and lighting are likely central to the experience.

At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 50 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a horror game where sudden frame drops could be jarring. The Medium preset at 4K averages 61 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 31 FPS average, which is effectively unplayable for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 4K averages 74 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial.

The data suggests that the High preset is the sweet spot for 1080p and 1440p, while Medium is the most sensible choice for 4K if the user prioritizes frame rate over maximum fidelity. For users with high-refresh-rate 1080p displays, the Medium preset at 136 FPS average offers a smoother experience, but the High preset at 112 FPS still exceeds the 100 FPS threshold that most gamers consider fluid. The Ultra preset is only recommended for users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate and are willing to accept the 70 FPS average at 1080p or the 50 FPS average at 1440p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is the primary driver of the measured FPS results, given that Downfall is a graphically demanding horror title. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s. The base clock is 2317 MHz with a boost clock of 2572 MHz, and the memory operates at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed. The GPU has 2560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units, along with 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores. The FP32 performance is 13.17 TFLOPS, with matching FP16 throughput at a 1:1 ratio.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM is a critical consideration for Downfall at higher resolutions. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS collapses to 31, which suggests that the combination of VRAM capacity and memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. The 320.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest for 4K rendering, and the 8 GB capacity may be insufficient for Ultra settings at 4K if the game loads high-resolution textures. The fact that the 4K Medium preset achieves 61 FPS average while 4K High drops to 50 FPS indicates that the GPU is sensitive to the memory footprint of higher settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (average score 21153, deltaPct -0.6%), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (average score 21237, deltaPct -1%), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (average score 20713, deltaPct 1.6%), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (average score 21379, deltaPct -1.6%). These deltas are all within 1.6% of the RTX 5050's average score, indicating that the GPU sits in a tightly contested performance band. The passmark G3D score of 17326 and the Geekbench OpenCL score of 90334 reflect the GPU's compute capabilities, though the DirectX 12 passmark score of 66 is notably low and may indicate driver or API-specific limitations.

The GPU's 130 W TDP and dual-slot design suggest it is a mid-range mobile part, and the measured FPS results align with that positioning—capable at 1080p and 1440p, but struggling at 4K with higher presets.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and expected degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High preset, the average FPS drops from 112 at 1080p to 80 at 1440p, a 28.6% reduction, and then to 50 at 4K, a 55.4% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The 1440p High result of 80 FPS is exactly 71.4% of the 1080p High result, which is close to the 56.25% pixel count ratio between 1440p and 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is scaling reasonably linearly with resolution until the 4K point.

At 4K High, the 50 FPS average is only 44.6% of the 1080p High average, which is a steeper drop than the pixel count ratio (25% of 1080p pixels would predict 28 FPS if purely linear, but the actual 50 FPS suggests some efficiency gains or cache effects). The Low preset shows a similar pattern: 166 FPS at 1080p, 119 FPS at 1440p (a 28.3% drop), and 74 FPS at 4K (a 55.4% drop). The Medium preset follows the same trend: 136 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p (a 28.7% drop), and 61 FPS at 4K (a 55.1% drop).

The consistent percentage drops across all presets—roughly 28-29% from 1080p to 1440p and 55% from 1080p to 4K—indicate that the limiting component is the GPU's raw rendering throughput rather than a CPU bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would not scale as dramatically with resolution. The data also shows that the Ultra preset at 4K (31 FPS) is disproportionately lower than the 4K High (50 FPS), suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces additional GPU workloads beyond just pixel count, likely related to shadows, reflections, or post-processing effects that stress the GPU's compute resources.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 2332 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 20th percentile (the bottom 20% of all combos). This rank reflects the mid-range nature of both components. The CPU sits in the 81st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29093, while the GPU sits in the 66th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035. The combination's low rank in this specific game suggests that Downfall is particularly demanding on the GPU, and the RTX 5050's performance relative to other GPUs drags the overall combo rank down.

The combo rank of 2332 out of 2928 means that only 596 tested combos performed worse in Downfall. This places the pairing in the lower third of the field, which is consistent with the measured FPS results showing that 4K Ultra is unplayable and 4K High is marginal. The rank would likely be much higher if the game were more CPU-bound, but the data clearly indicates that the GPU is the performance limiter in this title.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H is a 14-core, 18-thread mobile processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with a TDP of 28 W. The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel bus with a memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s.

In the context of Downfall's measured FPS data, the CPU appears to be more than sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The fact that the 1080p Low preset achieves 166 FPS average indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at that resolution, as the GPU is still capable of rendering frames quickly. However, at 4K Ultra, the 31 FPS average is clearly GPU-limited, as the CPU would have no trouble maintaining higher frame rates at such a low output.

The CPU's benchmark scores support this interpretation. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 11875.5 and single-core score of 1700 suggest strong multi-threaded and adequate single-threaded performance. The Passmark single-thread score of 3521 is respectable for a mobile part. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (average score 29123, deltaPct -0.1%), the Intel Xeon Phi 7210 (average score 29245, deltaPct -0.5%), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (average score 28940, deltaPct 0.5%), and the Intel Core i5-13500HX (average score 29270, deltaPct -0.6%). These deltas are all within 0.6%, indicating that the Ultra 5 135H performs essentially on par with these desktop and mobile counterparts in synthetic benchmarks.

The CPU's 18 threads and 14 cores are likely underutilized in Downfall, which is a horror game that may not scale perfectly with many cores. The single-core performance, as measured by the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 244 and the R20 single-core score of 1105, is sufficient for the game's main thread, but the GPU remains the primary bottleneck in all measured scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values are as follows across the four settings presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 166 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. The Medium preset averages 136 FPS, with a minimum of 116 FPS and a maximum of 157 FPS, indicating good frame pacing. The High preset averages 112 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 70 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 96 FPS, showing that the settings preset has a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 119 FPS, which is a 47 FPS drop from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 97 FPS, with a minimum of 83 FPS and a maximum of 112 FPS. The High preset averages 80 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 50 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 69 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p but still significant. The minimum FPS of 83 FPS at Medium 1440p suggests that even the lower end of performance remains playable.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 74 FPS, which is the only 4K preset with an average above 70 FPS. The Medium preset averages 61 FPS, with a minimum of 51 FPS and a maximum of 70 FPS. The High preset averages 50 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 31 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is 43 FPS, which is the smallest absolute delta across all resolutions, but the Ultra average of 31 FPS is below the playability threshold for most users.

The data shows that the Medium preset at 4K (61 FPS average, 51 FPS minimum) is the most reliable option for 4K gaming, while the High preset at 4K (50 FPS average) is marginal. The Ultra preset at 4K is fundamentally unplayable for smooth gameplay, as the 31 FPS average would result in noticeable stutter and input lag.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming in Downfall?

A: The High preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 112 FPS, which offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance. The Medium preset achieves 136 FPS, but the High preset provides better visuals with only a 24 FPS penalty.

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

A: The data shows that 4K gaming is only viable at lower presets. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 averages 61 FPS with a minimum of 51 FPS, while the High preset averages 50 FPS. The Ultra preset averages only 31 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Downfall?

A: The GPU is the clear limiting factor. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows consistent percentage drops of roughly 28% from 1080p to 1440p and 55% from 1080p to 4K across all presets, indicating that the GPU's rendering throughput determines performance.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21035, which is within 1.6% of its nearest rivals. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21153 (deltaPct -0.6%), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21237 (deltaPct -1%), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20713 (deltaPct 1.6%), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21379 (deltaPct -1.6%).

Q: What is the combo's overall rank in Downfall?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination ranks 2332 out of 2928 tested combos, placing it in the lower 20% of all tested configurations for this specific game.

Q: Does the Ultra preset ever provide a playable experience?

A: The Ultra preset is playable at 1080p with an average of 70 FPS and at 1440p with an average of 50 FPS, but at 4K it drops to 31 FPS. For a horror game where smooth frame pacing is important, the Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended.