Downfall

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data for Downfall with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti reveals a predictable but telling pattern as resolution climbs. At 1080p Low settings, the combo delivers 270 FPS. Stepping up to 1440p Low drops that to 193 FPS, a 28.5% reduction. Moving to 4K Low yields 120 FPS, another 37.8% cut from the 1440p figure. The scaling is steep, but the absolute numbers remain high even at 4K, suggesting the GPU is still the primary driver of performance at every step.

The High preset tells a similar story. From 181 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate falls to 129 FPS at 1440p (a 28.7% drop), then to 80 FPS at 4K (a 38.0% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different settings is striking. Whether on Low or High, moving from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 28-29% of performance, and moving from 1440p to 4K costs roughly 38%. This uniformity implies that the rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count, which is classic GPU-bound behavior.

The Medium preset, which includes min and max FPS data, offers additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 221 FPS with a minimum of 188 and maximum of 254. At 1440p Medium, the average falls to 158 FPS (min 134, max 181). At 4K Medium, the average is 98 FPS (min 83, max 113). The min-to-max spread remains proportionally similar across resolutions — roughly 30% of the average at each step — indicating that frame time variance does not balloon with resolution. This is a sign of a stable rendering pipeline under increasing load.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 113 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 81 FPS (a 28.3% reduction). At 4K Ultra, it plummets to 50 FPS (a 38.3% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS is the only measured point that falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay. This suggests that at the highest settings and resolution, the combo begins to strain, but the consistent percentage drops across all presets reinforce that the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth are being taxed uniformly by pixel throughput rather than by any sudden capacity cliff.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 brings 10 cores and 10 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This is a modern Arrow Lake-S part on the 3 nm process, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache. In the context of Downfall, a horror game released in 2016, the CPU's job is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic without becoming a bottleneck. The measured data strongly suggests the CPU is not limiting performance in any meaningful way.

At 1080p Low, where the GPU has the least work to do, the combo hits 270 FPS. This is a very high frame rate that would stress most CPUs, yet the data shows no sign of a plateau. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect the 1080p Low result to be close to the 1080p Medium or High results, since the GPU would be idling while waiting for CPU instructions. Instead, we see a clear progression: 270 FPS on Low, 221 FPS on Medium, 181 FPS on High, and 113 FPS on Ultra at 1080p. This linear scaling with settings is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario.

The CPU's single-threaded performance, as measured by Cinebench R23, is 3655 points. This places it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36938. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36945, a delta of 0%. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D is 0.2% behind, and the Intel Core i9-12900T is 0.5% behind. These are all strong desktop parts, and the Ultra 5 225 holds its own among them. For a 2016 horror title, this level of CPU performance is more than adequate.

The 10-core, 10-thread configuration is interesting because Downfall, being an older title, likely does not utilize more than a few threads effectively. The fact that the combo achieves 270 FPS at 1080p Low indicates that even if the game is single-threaded, the Ultra 5 225's 4.90 GHz boost clock is sufficient to drive the RTX 3070 Ti to its limits. The 65 W TDP also suggests this CPU runs cool and efficient, which is relevant for sustained gaming sessions where thermal throttling could otherwise cap performance.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Examining the measured FPS rows, the data offers clear guidance on which preset to choose at each resolution. The goal is to balance visual fidelity with a playable frame rate, and Downfall is a horror game where smoothness matters for immersion and reaction times.

At 1080p, all four presets deliver playable performance. Low runs at 270 FPS, Medium at 221 FPS, High at 181 FPS, and Ultra at 113 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 68 FPS (a 37.6% reduction) for what is typically a marginal visual improvement in shadow quality and post-processing effects. The Medium preset, at 221 FPS with a minimum of 188 FPS, offers a strong balance: it is 40 FPS faster than High while still providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low. For most players at 1080p, Medium appears to be the sweet spot, as the minimum of 188 FPS ensures no noticeable hitches.

At 1440p, the picture shifts slightly. Low runs at 193 FPS, Medium at 158 FPS (min 134), High at 129 FPS, and Ultra at 81 FPS. The High preset at 129 FPS is still well above the 60 FPS threshold, but the Medium preset at 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS provides a more comfortable margin. The Ultra preset at 81 FPS is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. Given that the Medium preset's minimum of 134 FPS is more than double the Ultra average of 81 FPS, Medium is the recommended choice at 1440p for consistent smoothness.

At 4K, the choices become more constrained. Low runs at 120 FPS, Medium at 98 FPS (min 83), High at 80 FPS, and Ultra at 50 FPS. The Ultra preset at 50 FPS dips below the 60 FPS threshold, which could be problematic in a horror game where frame pacing issues can break tension. The High preset at 80 FPS is a solid choice, but the Medium preset at 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS offers significantly more headroom. Since the minimum FPS on Medium (83) is higher than the average on High (80), the Medium preset provides a strictly better experience in terms of frame stability. At 4K, Medium is the clear recommendation.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti ranks 992nd out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the 66th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly one-third of combos perform better and two-thirds perform worse. The rank of 992 is a strong result, especially considering that the GPU is from the previous generation (GeForce 30-series) and is now end-of-life.

To contextualize this rank, consider the GPU's position among its peers. The RTX 3070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 29945, placing it in the 75th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile, scores 29928 (a 0.1% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 30095 (a -0.5% delta, meaning the RTX 3070 Ti is slightly behind). The RTX 2080 Ti is 0.5% behind the RTX 3070 Ti, and the RX 6700 is 1.6% behind. This indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti is a mid-to-high-tier GPU, and its 75th percentile standing aligns with the combo's 66th percentile rank in Downfall.

The CPU's 85th percentile standing is higher than the GPU's 75th percentile, which suggests the CPU is not the performance ceiling in this combo. The combo rank of 992 out of 2928 is slightly lower than what either component's individual percentile would suggest, implying that the game's engine may not fully leverage the CPU's capabilities, or that the GPU's 8 GB VRAM is a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The fact that the Ultra preset at 4K drops to 50 FPS while the CPU sits at the 85th percentile reinforces that the GPU is the bottleneck in demanding scenarios.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. It features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output pipelines. The boost clock is 1770 MHz, and the memory runs at 19 Gbps effective on a 256-bit bus, yielding 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The 8 GB of GDDR6X VRAM is a critical specification for Downfall, a 2016 horror title that may not have been designed with such high-resolution textures in mind.

The data shows that the GPU's performance scales predictably with resolution, but the VRAM capacity becomes a factor at 4K. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 50, which is a 55.8% reduction from the 1080p Ultra result of 113 FPS. This is a larger drop than the 38% seen when moving from 1440p to 4K on other presets. The 4K Ultra setting likely pushes texture memory usage beyond the 8 GB capacity, causing the GPU to swap data to system memory via the PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. This would explain the disproportionate performance penalty at 4K Ultra.

In contrast, the Low preset at 4K runs at 120 FPS, which is only a 37.8% drop from the 1440p Low result of 193 FPS. This suggests that Low settings keep VRAM usage well within the 8 GB limit, allowing the GPU to operate at its full computational capacity. The FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS and the texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for a 2016 title; the limiting factor at high settings and 4K is clearly the VRAM capacity, not the compute throughput.

The GPU's 75th percentile standing among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29945, is respectable. Its closest rival, the RTX 5070 Mobile, is only 0.1% ahead, and the RTX 2080 Ti is 0.5% behind. This places the RTX 3070 Ti in a competitive position for its generation. The 8 GB VRAM, however, is a notable constraint for modern titles, and Downfall at 4K Ultra appears to be one such case where the capacity limit is reached.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 270 FPS average
• Medium: 221 FPS average (min 188, max 254)
• High: 181 FPS average
• Ultra: 113 FPS average

At 1080p, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all presets. The Medium preset's minimum of 188 FPS is higher than the High preset's average of 181 FPS, indicating that Medium offers a more stable experience than High. The Ultra preset at 113 FPS is the only one that dips below 150 FPS, but it remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 193 FPS average
• Medium: 158 FPS average (min 134, max 181)
• High: 129 FPS average
• Ultra: 81 FPS average

At 1440p, the performance remains strong. The Low preset at 193 FPS is excellent, and the Medium preset at 158 FPS with a minimum of 134 FPS offers a robust experience. The High preset at 129 FPS is still very playable, while the Ultra preset at 81 FPS begins to show the GPU's strain but remains above 60 FPS.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 120 FPS average
• Medium: 98 FPS average (min 83, max 113)
• High: 80 FPS average
• Ultra: 50 FPS average

At 4K, the data reveals a clear hierarchy. The Low preset at 120 FPS is smooth, and the Medium preset at 98 FPS (min 83) is the best balance of quality and performance. The High preset at 80 FPS is acceptable, but the Ultra preset at 50 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the only unplayable measured configuration.

The Medium preset's min and max data at each resolution provide a window into frame pacing. At 1080p, the spread is 66 FPS (188 to 254). At 1440p, the spread is 47 FPS (134 to 181). At 4K, the spread is 30 FPS (83 to 113). The absolute spread shrinks as resolution increases, but the relative spread (as a percentage of the average) remains consistent at roughly 30%. This indicates that the GPU's frame time variance is proportional to its workload, which is typical of a well-behaved rendering pipeline.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + RTX 3070 Ti combo capable of running Downfall at 4K?

A: Yes, but only on lower presets. At 4K Low, the combo averages 120 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it averages 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS. At 4K High, it drops to 80 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best preset to use at 1440p for this combo?

A: The Medium preset is the recommended choice at 1440p. It delivers 158 FPS average with a minimum of 134 FPS, which is more stable than the High preset's 129 FPS average. The Ultra preset at 81 FPS is playable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti's 8 GB VRAM affect performance in Downfall?

A: The 8 GB VRAM appears to be sufficient for Low and Medium presets at all resolutions, as evidenced by the consistent FPS scaling. However, at 4K Ultra, the performance drops disproportionately (50 FPS vs. 113 FPS at 1080p Ultra), suggesting the VRAM capacity is exceeded at this setting.

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

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor. The CPU sits in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 75th percentile. The FPS scaling with resolution and settings is consistent with GPU-bound behavior, and the CPU's high single-thread performance (3655 in Cinebench R23) ensures it is not a bottleneck.

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

A: The combo ranks 992nd out of 2928 tested combos, placing it in the 66th percentile. This is a strong result, though slightly below what the individual component percentiles (85th for CPU, 75th for GPU) might suggest, likely due to the GPU's VRAM constraint at high settings.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset averages 270 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 113 FPS. This is a difference of 157 FPS, or a 58.1% reduction from Low to Ultra. The Medium preset at 221 FPS offers a middle ground with a 49 FPS reduction from Low.