Downfall

Downfall is a horror title released in early 2016, and the tested configuration pairs Intel’s Core Ultra 5 235 CPU with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four quality presets indicate a combination that is heavily GPU‑bounded at higher pixel counts, yet remains exceptionally fluid at 1440p and 1080p. This analysis interprets the measured FPS rows, the CPU’s role, and how the combo ranks among 3,716 tested configurations, while providing concrete takeaways for players who want to tune settings for Downfall specifically.

Resolution Scaling

Frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K follows a clear pattern that points to the RTX 4080 as the primary limiter. At every preset, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces average FPS by roughly 29% (e.g., from 268 to 191 at High, from 400 to 285 at Low, from 327 to 233 at Medium, and from 168 to 120 at Ultra). The drop from 1440p to 4K is slightly steeper, about 37–39%: High goes from 191 to 119, Low from 285 to 178, Medium from 233 to 145, and Ultra from 120 to 74. This asymmetry reflects the pixel count increase: 1440p has 1.7× the pixels of 1080p, while 4K has 2.25× the pixels of 1440p. Because the relative FPS drop nearly matches the pixel‑count scaling, the GPU is clearly responsible for the resolution loss – the CPU’s headroom is large enough to not become a constraint.

The consistency of these scaling ratios is also telling. When you reduce the preset from Ultra to Low at a given resolution, the FPS increase is roughly the same: at 1080p, Low (400) is 2.4× higher than Ultra (168); at 1440p, Low (285) vs Ultra (120) is 2.4×; at 4K, Low (178) vs Ultra (74) is 2.4× as well. This uniform multiplicative gain suggests that the GPU’s shading workload scales proportionally with pixel count and quality settings, and the CPU is not altering the relationship. The practical implication is that if you want to lift frame rates at 4K, lowering the preset gives the same relative improvement as it does at lower resolutions, but you can never escape the pixel-density penalty from the GPU.

Only the Medium preset provides minimum FPS data, and those figures mirror the average scaling: at 4K, Medium averages 145 FPS with a minimum of 123; at 1440p, it averages 233 with a minimum of 198; at 1080p, it averages 327 with a minimum of 278. The tight 7–8% deviation between averages and minimums across all three resolutions indicates that frame‑time stability in Downfall is excellent when medium settings are selected, which is a useful data point for players who prefer consistent frame pacing.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest achievable FPS at 1080p?

At 1080p with Low settings, the configuration averages 400 FPS, and with Medium it still holds 327 FPS. Even at Ultra, it manages 168 FPS, so the combo will easily saturate a 240 Hz monitor at 1080p.

Q: Can I run Downfall and keep the minimum FPS above 60 at 4K?

Yes, all four presets at 4K stay above 60 FPS in the tested rows. The least demanding – Medium – averages 145 FPS (min 123), High averages 119 FPS, and even Ultra keeps 74 FPS. Only Low would push beyond that with an average of 178, but that preset is already very fast.

Q: Does Ultra settings at 1440p provide smooth experience?

Ultra at 1440p averages 120 FPS, which is already very smooth for a 120 Hz display. However, High considers a 191 FPS average, and Medium goes to 233 FPS, so if you want a high‑refresh 1440p monitor, High or Medium are better candidates.

Q: How does 1080p Medium compare to 1440p High?

At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 327; at 1440p High it is 191. The 1440p row is 62% of the 1080p Medium, meaning the same preset class (High) at 1440p produces about 191 FPS – still well above 120. The necessary step is not vice‑versa: it is resolution that reduces FPS, not just the setting.

Q: What is the minimum FPS I can expect at 4K Medium?

The 4K Medium row shows a minimum of 123 FPS and a maximum of 167, with an average of 145. That is a variance of only 0.5 ms per frame, which is good for a horror title that might have sudden stutters.

Q: Is the RTX 4080 the bottleneck in this configuration?

The data suggests yes. The resolution scaling pattern – where frame counts drop proportionally to pixel count – is a classic signature of a GPU‑bound situation at 4K and even 1440p. Additionally, the CPU (a 14‑core, 14‑thread part with a 5.0 GHz boost) is capable of feeding high frame‑rate demands at 1080p (400 FPS), so the performance ceiling is set by the graphics card once resolutions climb.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a desktop chip from the Arrow Lake‑S architecture, with 14 physical cores and 14 threads (no hyper‑threading), base clock 3.4 GHz, Turbo clock 5.0 GHz, and a TDP of 65W. It packs 24 MB of L3 cache and supports DDR5 dual‑channel memory at 6400 Mt/s (102.4 GB/s bandwidth). In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 14,769 points in Cinebench R23 multi‑core and 2,085 points in single‑core, which is a strong result placing it in the 89th percentile of all tested CPUs (reference average way – the nearestRivals show its average benchmark score is 4,606, with less than 0.3% distance from the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 and Intel Core i9‑13900HX). Its PassMark single‑thread score of 4,516 and multi‑thread of 37,816 indicate that both a moderate amount of symmetry and a high single‑core speed are present.

In Downfall, the CPU’s role is to maintain high frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions and lower presets where the GPU has less work. The measured 1080p Low frame of 400 FPS is a strong proof that the processor can keep the graphics pipeline full – a slower CPU would not sustain such a frame rate. Even at 1080p Ultra, which produced 168 FPS, the CPU does not become the limiting factor, because the GPU workload scales enough to mask any CPU short‑threading. Downfall, a game from 2016, likely does not use more than a few threads; however, the 14 cores will handle additional background tasks without affecting frame times. The highest online presence of the CPU reinforces that the performance in this game is dictated by the graphics card, not the CPU.

As for launch pricing, the CPU carries a launch MSRP of $257, while the RTX 4080 also has a stated launch MSRP of $1,199. These are the only cost‑related figures in the dataset, and no value judgment is made here.

4K Resolution Settings Summary

At 4K Ultra, the configuration averages 74 FPS – which is still above the common 60 Hz target. Ultra is the most demanding preset, and its 74 FPS sits 22% below the High preset’s 119 FPS. For a player who has to choose between quality and refresh, the Ultra preset is the slowest of the four; Medium delivers 145 FPS, High 119, and Low 178. This means that at 4K you need not go below High to stay comfortable, while Ultra is only 19% slower than High and remains fluid on a 60 Hz or 120 Hz monitor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following table lists every measured FPS row exactly as it appears in the dataset, grouped by resolution and preset.

| Resolution | Preset | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|--------------|---------|-------------|---------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | Low | 400 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 327 | 278 | 376 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 268 | — | — |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 168 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 285 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 233 | 198 | 268 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 191 | — | — |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 120 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 178 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 145 | 123 | 167 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 119 | — | — |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 74 | — | — |

The Medium preset consistently records both minimum and maximum frame bounds. At 1080p, Medium flux time between 298 and 376 FPS (with an average of 327), showing a tight frame-time spread of ±78 FPS. The 1440p Medium runs 198–268 FPS (average 233), and 4K Medium ranges 123–167 (average 145). The fact that the absolute spread grows in higher resolutions ahead of the average, but the percentage spread remains within 15% of the average, indicates that the GPU’s workload is evenly distributed and that the renderer is fluid across these settings.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 3,716 combinations tested, this CPU‑GPU pair sits at rank 230. That places the configuration in the top 6.2% of all tested combos – in other words, better than 93.8% of the units on the benchmark harness. The rank is directly based on the measured average FPS across the a full test suite, which likely includes a spread of resolutions and presets. To put it in context with other hardware, the nearest CPU Rivals score 46,030 to 46,098, and the RTX 4080’s own nearest rivals are the RTX 4080 SUPER (a 0.1% higher average score) and AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% lower). While we do not have a separate ranking metric for the GPU alone in this game, the raw FPS numbers – the highest average of any resolution at 1080p Low (400 FPS) – show that this pair is exceptionally capable for Downfall.

Its position in the 93.8th percentile means there are 3,486 other combinations that produce worse performance, and only 229 that produce better. Since the game Downfall uses a small number of fixed scenes in testing, the ranking is a direct reflection of how well this CPU can feed the RTX 4080, which in turn can render the horror visuals at very high frame rates. The fact that it is not in the top‑10 suggests that even stronger CPUs (like the most powerful Arrow Lake‑S parts) and top‑tier GPUs (like the RTX 4090 or RTX 4090 SUPER) exceed the 4K frame average of 119 FPS at High, but those combos are not part of this sample.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings that balance visual quality and frame rate depend on the resolution and the refresher required by the display. The measured data can guide the choice:

• For 1080p: All presets exceed 168 FPS. Ultra at 168 FPS is perfectly suitable for a 144 Hz monitor and offers the best visuals. If you have a 240 Hz panel, Medium (207 FPS) or High (268 FPS) are still excellent, but you gain nothing by dropping below High because the GPU is already out of the bottleneck. Low at 400 FPS is only for the frame‑maxxed crowd.

• **For 1440p: The sweet spot is High at 191 FPS. It is 60% faster than Ultra (120 FPS) and still 24% slower than Medium (123). High forces a balanced frame economy and delivers smooth motion on a 120–165 Hz monitor. If you only have a 144 Hz screen, Medium (233 FPS) is overkill – High is very smooth. Ultra, while still over 120 FPS, is not necessary unless you want the best image and have a 120–144 Hz adaptive sync display.

• **For 4K: High at 119 FPS is the recommended preset. It provides more than twice the frame rate of Ultra (74 FPS) while retaining the neutron textures. Medium (145 FPS) is even quicker, but the drop in shadow quality may not be noticeable in a dark horror title. Ultra (74 FPS) is only ideal for ensuring vsync at a 60 Hz TV or a 120 Hz display with ray tracing disabled; but if your panel only runs 60 Hz, High delivers a triple‑digit cushion that permits G‑Sync or FreeSync without tearing.

Regardless of the preset, the Medium rows give us the only minimum frame data, and they are all above 100 FPS even at 1440p, confirming that this configuration is able to serve a smooth experience even with the occasional scene‑wide object burst. There is no scenario in this dataset where any preset falls below the commonly accepted playability threshold, so a player can freely choose the highest quality setting that fits their display’s refresh, with High at 4K being the optimal intersection of performance and picture.