Downfall

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT places at rank 2169 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. That puts this configuration in the bottom 26% of all tested systems, a modest standing that reflects the GPU's age and mid-range positioning rather than any CPU limitation. The combo sits well below the median, meaning a majority of tested systems deliver higher average frame rates in this horror title. This rank is heavily influenced by the Radeon RX 5700 XT's performance percentile of 59 among all GPUs, which places it just above the halfway mark but far from top-tier territory. The CPU, by contrast, performs at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, indicating the processor is capable of far more than this GPU can extract in Downfall. The data shows a clear imbalance: the CPU is a modern Arrow Lake part with strong synthetic scores, while the GPU is an end-of-life RDNA 1.0 product from 2019. This combination produces playable but not exceptional results, and the ranking reflects that gap.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235's average benchmark score of 46062 places it within 0.2% of several close rivals, including the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% lower), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, 0.1% higher), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970, 0.2% lower), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960, 0.2% lower). These deltas are negligible, meaning the CPU trades blows with high-end laptop and server parts in synthetic workloads. However, in Downfall, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, and the CPU's strong standing does not translate into top-tier frame rates. The combo rank of 2169 out of 2928 means roughly 74% of tested configurations outperform this pairing, a sobering result for a system with a recently released processor. The GPU's percentile of 59 versus the CPU's 89 highlights the mismatch, and Downfall's measured FPS numbers confirm that the RX 5700 XT holds the system back, especially at higher resolutions and settings.

# GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is the decisive component in this combo's Downfall performance. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes strained at 4K. The GPU's base clock of 1605 MHz, game clock of 1755 MHz, and boost clock of 1905 MHz define its operating range, and the measured FPS data suggests the boost clock is rarely sustained under heavy load in Downfall's darker scenes. The memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective throughput, providing enough headroom for texture-heavy horror environments but not enough to prevent frame rate drops at Ultra settings. The GPU's 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines deliver a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s, figures that explain why the card handles Low and Medium settings comfortably but struggles with Ultra.

The Radeon RX 5700 XT's FP32 performance of 9.754 TFLOPS positions it as a mid-range part in 2025, and Downfall's results reflect this. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 187 FPS, indicating the GPU is not the bottleneck at that setting. However, at 1080p Ultra, the average drops to 78 FPS, a 58% reduction that shows the GPU's limits when all graphical features are enabled. The GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score of 64 in Passmark is low, but Downfall's measured FPS suggests the game is not heavily dependent on that specific metric. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 16277 and percentile of 59 place it near the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, 0.1% higher), NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408, 0.3% higher), AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415, 0.3% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 (16504, 0.9% higher). These rivals are all within 1% of the RX 5700 XT's average score, yet the RTX 5090 D V2 is a vastly different product, highlighting how synthetic averages can obscure real-world gaming differences.

The GPU's 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p in Downfall, but at 4K Ultra, the combination of high-resolution textures and effects likely pushes memory usage near the limit, contributing to the low 35 FPS average. The GPU's RDNA 1.0 architecture lacks dedicated ray tracing cores, which is not a factor in Downfall's measured data but explains why the card relies on raw rasterization power. The 225 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-hungry part, but no wattage figures are available in the measured FPS context. The GPU's 7 nm process node from TSMC, with 10,300 million transistors on a 251 mm² die, gives it a transistor density of 41.0M per mm², which was competitive at launch but is now dated compared to the CPU's 3 nm node.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Downfall provides clear guidance on which settings preset delivers the best experience for this combo. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers the strongest balance, with an average of 153 FPS and a minimum of 130 FPS against a maximum of 176 FPS. This preset keeps frame rates well above 144 Hz refresh rates for most displays while maintaining visual quality above the Low preset. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 187 FPS, but the visual downgrade is unnecessary when Medium still delivers over 150 FPS. The High preset at 1080p drops to 125 FPS, still playable but with a 18% reduction compared to Medium, and Ultra falls to 78 FPS, which introduces noticeable stutter in a horror game where smooth motion matters for atmosphere. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 130 is particularly valuable, as it ensures frame times remain consistent during fast-paced scenes.

At 1440p, the Medium preset again stands out, delivering 109 FPS average with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS. This is the highest resolution at which this combo can maintain a stable 90+ FPS minimum. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 133 FPS, but the visual sacrifice is significant, and the High preset drops to 89 FPS, which is still acceptable but below the Medium's minimum. The Ultra preset at 1440p averages 56 FPS, which is borderline for a horror game where responsiveness matters. For 4K, no preset delivers an ideal experience, but the Low preset's 83 FPS is the only playable option, while Medium drops to 68 FPS and High falls to 56 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K averages 35 FPS, which is not recommended for any gaming scenario.

The data suggests that Medium is the optimal preset across all resolutions, but the specific recommendation depends on the user's display. For 1080p displays, Medium provides headroom for 144 Hz panels. For 1440p, Medium is the only preset that maintains a minimum above 90 FPS. For 4K, users should accept Low settings to stay above 60 FPS, or consider lowering the resolution to 1440p with Medium for a better experience. The measured rows show that the gap between Medium and High is consistent: 18% at 1080p (153 to 125), 18% at 1440p (109 to 89), and 18% at 4K (68 to 56). This consistent scaling indicates that the GPU's shader and texture resources are the limiting factor, and the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this hardware.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and RX 5700 XT deliver their strongest results. The Low preset averages 187 FPS, the highest number in the entire measured dataset, showing that the combo can drive high refresh rates when visual demands are minimal. The Medium preset averages 153 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and maximum of 176 FPS, providing a smooth experience with some visual fidelity. The High preset averages 125 FPS, a 18% drop from Medium, and the Ultra preset averages 78 FPS, a 49% drop from High. This progression from Low to Ultra shows a total reduction of 109 FPS, or 58%, at 1080p. The minimum FPS data is only available for the Medium preset, which records 130 FPS, suggesting that the GPU maintains consistent frame pacing at this setting. The lack of minimum FPS values for other presets means we cannot assess frame time consistency, but the averages indicate that Low and Medium are the only presets that keep the system comfortably above 60 FPS at all times.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges with lower absolute numbers. The Low preset averages 133 FPS, which is 71% of the 1080p Low result, showing a moderate resolution penalty. The Medium preset averages 109 FPS with a minimum of 93 FPS and maximum of 126 FPS, representing a 29% drop from 1080p Medium. The High preset averages 89 FPS, a 18% reduction from Medium, and the Ultra preset averages 56 FPS, a 37% drop from High. The 1440p Medium minimum of 93 FPS is important because it stays above 90 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay on standard 60 Hz displays and most 144 Hz monitors with adaptive sync. The 1440p Ultra result of 56 FPS is the first preset in the dataset that drops below 60 FPS, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading units are insufficient for max settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo's limitations become pronounced. The Low preset averages 83 FPS, which is 44% of the 1080p Low result and 62% of the 1440p Low result, showing that 4K imposes a severe penalty. The Medium preset averages 68 FPS with a minimum of 58 FPS and maximum of 78 FPS, meaning the minimum dips below 60 FPS, which can cause noticeable hitches in a horror game. The High preset averages 56 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 35 FPS, which is barely playable. The 4K Medium minimum of 58 FPS is the only minimum FPS value below 60 in the entire dataset, and it underscores that 4K gaming is not this combo's strength. The transition from 1080p Medium to 4K Medium shows a 56% reduction in average FPS (153 to 68), while the transition from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a 56% reduction as well (187 to 83). This consistent scaling across settings suggests that the GPU's fillrate and bandwidth are the primary constraints at higher resolutions.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how Downfall's performance scales as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 153 at 1080p to 109 at 1440p, a 29% reduction, and then to 68 at 4K, a 38% reduction from 1440p and 56% from 1080p. At Low settings, the progression is 187 FPS at 1080p, 133 FPS at 1440p (29% lower), and 83 FPS at 4K (38% lower than 1440p, 56% lower than 1080p). At High settings, the averages are 125 FPS at 1080p, 89 FPS at 1440p (29% lower), and 56 FPS at 4K (37% lower than 1440p, 55% lower than 1080p). At Ultra settings, the numbers are 78 FPS at 1080p, 56 FPS at 1440p (28% lower), and 35 FPS at 4K (38% lower than 1440p, 55% lower than 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops—ranging from 28% to 38%—indicates that the scaling is uniform across settings, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

The resolution scaling pattern strongly suggests that the Radeon RX 5700 XT is the limiting component. The CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads at 3.40 GHz base and 5.00 GHz boost clock provide ample processing power for Downfall's horror gameplay, which is unlikely to be heavily threaded. The CPU's Passmark multithread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 confirm strong performance, and its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769 and single-core score of 2085 indicate it can handle any CPU-bound tasks the game throws at it. However, the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth become increasingly strained as pixel count rises. The fact that the FPS drops are nearly identical across all four settings presets (around 55-56% from 1080p to 4K) points to a pure resolution bottleneck, which is the GPU's domain. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the percentage drops to vary more between Low and Ultra settings, as lower settings would shift more load onto the CPU.

The data also shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low (187 FPS) and Ultra (78 FPS) is 109 FPS, a 58% reduction. At 1440p, the difference is 77 FPS (133 to 56), a 58% reduction. At 4K, the difference is 48 FPS (83 to 35), a 58% reduction. This consistent 58% gap across resolutions indicates that the GPU's architecture handles the same relative load increase regardless of pixel count, which is expected for a rasterization-bound title like Downfall. The 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS is particularly telling—it represents the GPU's absolute limit, where the combination of pixel count and visual effects overwhelms the 2560 shading units and 64 ROPs. For users seeking higher frame rates at 4K, the only option is to drop to Low settings, which yields 83 FPS, a 137% improvement over Ultra. This suggests that Downfall's Ultra preset includes effects that are disproportionately expensive on RDNA 1.0 hardware.

# FAQ

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

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 2169 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the bottom 26% of all tested systems. This ranking reflects the GPU's mid-range performance rather than the CPU's capabilities.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062, placing it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030, 0.1% lower), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098, 0.1% higher), AMD EPYC 4364P (45970, 0.2% lower), and AMD EPYC 7303 (45960, 0.2% lower). These differences are negligible in synthetic tests.

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

A: At 1080p, the Medium preset provides the best experience with an average of 153 FPS and a minimum of 130 FPS. This keeps frame rates well above 60 FPS and close to 144 Hz, while the Low preset's 187 FPS requires significant visual compromises that are unnecessary given Medium's performance.

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

A: Yes, but with limitations. At 4K Low, the combo averages 83 FPS, which is playable. At 4K Medium, the average drops to 68 FPS with a minimum of 58 FPS, which may cause occasional hitches. 4K High (56 FPS) and 4K Ultra (35 FPS) are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: Why does the FPS drop so consistently from 1080p to 4K?

A: The FPS reduction from 1080p to 4K is approximately 55-56% across all settings presets. This consistency indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the resolution increase directly taxes the Radeon RX 5700 XT's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock remain underutilized.

Q: How does the GPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Radeon RX 5700 XT has an average benchmark score of 16361, placing it within 1% of the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (16351, 0.1% lower), NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell (16408, 0.3% higher), AMD Radeon PRO W7500 (16415, 0.3% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 (16504, 0.9% higher). Despite similar synthetic scores, real-world Downfall performance varies by workload.