Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT delivers a playable experience in Downfall, a 2016 horror title, but with significant variation across resolutions and settings. The measured data shows a system that is clearly GPU-bound at higher resolutions while the CPU provides ample headroom at 1080p, resulting in a wide performance envelope from 35 FPS at 4K Ultra to 187 FPS at 1080p Low. The combo ranks 2169 out of 2928 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of systems evaluated for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals a classic GPU-limited scenario. At High settings, performance falls from 125 FPS at 1920x1080 to 89 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 28.8% reduction — and then to 56 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a 55.2% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern is steeper than linear, indicating that the Radeon RX 5700 XT's compute resources are being saturated as pixel count increases.

The Low settings preset shows an even more pronounced resolution penalty. The RX 5700 XT delivers 187 FPS at 1080p Low, drops to 133 FPS at 1440p (a 28.9% decrease), and falls to 83 FPS at 4K — a 55.6% reduction from 1080p. The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that resolution scaling is governed primarily by the GPU's fillrate and shading capacity rather than by any particular setting's workload characteristics.

Medium settings provide the only complete FPS range data with minimum and maximum values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 153 FPS with a range of 130 to 176 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium yields 109 FPS average (93 to 126 FPS), and 4K Medium produces 68 FPS average (58 to 78 FPS). The frame time consistency, as indicated by the spread between minimum and maximum, remains proportionally similar across resolutions, suggesting stable performance scaling without sudden bottleneck shifts.

Ultra settings present the steepest curve. The RX 5700 XT manages 78 FPS at 1080p Ultra, but this falls to 56 FPS at 1440p — a 28.2% decline — and plummets to 35 FPS at 4K Ultra, a 55.1% drop from 1080p. The 4K Ultra result falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered smooth, indicating that this preset at this resolution pushes the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the Navi 10 chip using RDNA 1.0 architecture on a 7 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 1605 MHz, a game clock of 1755 MHz, and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. These clock speeds, combined with 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, give the card a peak FP32 throughput of 9.754 TFLOPS. In Downfall, this translates to the performance envelope observed across the measured configurations.

Memory configuration plays a critical role in this game's higher-resolution results. The GPU carries 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz, or 14 Gbps effective. At 4K resolution with Ultra settings, the 35 FPS average suggests that both memory bandwidth and compute capacity are strained, though the consistent scaling pattern across presets points more toward raw shading throughput as the primary limiter.

The RX 5700 XT's pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gameplay but become marginal at 4K. The benchmark data shows that the GPU's percentile rank among all GPUs is 59, placing it just above the median. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark scores include the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M at 0.1% delta, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell at -0.3%, and the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 at -0.3%, indicating that the RX 5700 XT sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Downfall at 60 FPS in 4K?

A: Only at Low settings, where the average FPS is 83. At Medium settings the average drops to 68 FPS, which still exceeds 60, but High settings yield 56 FPS and Ultra settings fall to 35 FPS, both below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Downfall?

A: The 2560x1440 resolution offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. At Medium settings it delivers 109 FPS average, and even at High settings it maintains 89 FPS, comfortably above smoothness thresholds.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 187 FPS, indicating the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is not a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The CPU's 10 cores and 10 threads with a boost clock of 4.90 GHz provide sufficient headroom for the GPU to operate at high utilization.

Q: Is the RX 5700 XT sufficient for Ultra settings in this game?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the card delivers 78 FPS, which is smooth. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 56 FPS, which is borderline, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 35 FPS, which is not ideal for a horror game requiring responsive controls.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows minimum FPS values at all three resolutions for Medium settings. At 1080p the range is 130 to 176 FPS, at 1440p it is 93 to 126 FPS, and at 4K it is 58 to 78 FPS, indicating stable frame pacing without severe stutters.

Q: How does this GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 5700 XT's average benchmark score is 16361, essentially tied with the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M at 16351 (0.1% delta) and slightly below the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell at 16408 (-0.3% delta) and AMD Radeon PRO W7500 at 16415 (-0.3% delta).

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports Medium settings as the optimal choice for this combination across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 153 FPS average with a minimum of 130 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay with no perceptible frame drops. At 1440p Medium, the 109 FPS average with a 93 FPS minimum maintains a comfortable margin above refresh rate thresholds. Even at 4K Medium, the 68 FPS average with a 58 FPS minimum keeps gameplay playable, though at the edge of ideal smoothness.

High settings offer a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rate. The 125 FPS at 1080p High is excellent, and 89 FPS at 1440p High remains smooth. However, the 56 FPS at 4K High falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making High settings at 4K a less attractive option.

Low settings provide the highest frame rates — 187 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p, and 83 FPS at 4K — but at a significant visual quality cost for a horror game where atmosphere and lighting matter. Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p, where the 78 FPS average provides a smooth experience; at higher resolutions, the performance penalty becomes too severe.

The absence of minimum FPS data for Low, High, and Ultra presets means frame time consistency cannot be fully assessed for those settings, but the Medium preset's recorded minimums indicate reliable performance. For users with 1440p displays, Medium settings at 109 FPS represent the sweet spot, while 1080p users can comfortably use High settings at 125 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 2169 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 74th percentile of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier positioning — the RX 5700 XT holds a 59th percentile rank among all GPUs — combined with a CPU that ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's strong standing does not compensate for the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions. The Core Ultra 5 225's average benchmark score of 36938 places it within 0.5% of its nearest rivals: the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36945 (0% delta), AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D at 37018 (-0.2%), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37093 (-0.4%), and Intel Core i9-12900T at 37112 (-0.5%). This CPU performance tier is more than adequate for Downfall's demands, as evidenced by the high frame rates achieved at 1080p.

The overall combo rank of 2169 suggests that while this system is capable of running Downfall well at 1080p and 1440p, it falls behind many other configurations in the database when considering all tested resolutions and settings. The bottleneck at 4K Ultra is evident in the 35 FPS result, which drags down the overall ranking relative to systems with more powerful GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range was tested. Low settings produce the highest average at 187 FPS, followed by Medium at 153 FPS with a range of 130 to 176 FPS. High settings deliver 125 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 78 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58.3% reduction in frame rate, reflecting the increasing shading and texture workloads.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 133 FPS, Medium averages 109 FPS with a range of 93 to 126 FPS, High averages 89 FPS, and Ultra drops to 56 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 57.9%, similar to the 1080p spread, indicating consistent workload scaling.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings average 83 FPS, Medium averages 68 FPS with a range of 58 to 78 FPS, High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra falls to 35 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 57.8%, maintaining the same proportional reduction as lower resolutions, but the absolute values place Ultra below playable thresholds.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min-max data across all resolutions. The frame spread at 1080p is 46 FPS (130 to 176), at 1440p it is 33 FPS (93 to 126), and at 4K it is 20 FPS (58 to 78). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions suggests that frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU approaches full utilization, reducing the variance in frame delivery times.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads to this combination, operating with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This Arrow Lake-S architecture CPU, built on TSMC's 3 nm process, features 20 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with dual-channel configuration providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU's performance benchmarks show strong single-thread capability with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3655 and a multicore score of 25891.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The 1080p Low result of 187 FPS demonstrates that the Core Ultra 5 225 is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938, places it in a performance tier where it can comfortably handle the demands of a 2016 horror title.

The CPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks — the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, and Intel Core i9-12900T — all score within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 225, indicating that this CPU delivers competitive performance in its class. The PassMark multithread score of 30459 and single-thread score of 4412 further confirm its capability.

The lack of minimum FPS data for most settings prevents direct analysis of CPU-induced frame drops, but the high average frame rates at 1080p suggest that CPU performance is sufficient. The system's integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 16EU provides a fallback display output, though the discrete RX 5700 XT handles all rendering duties in this configuration. The CPU's 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 lanes ensure adequate bandwidth for the GPU's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.