Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers exceptional frame rates in Downfall across all tested resolutions and settings, with the data showing a system capable of high-refresh-rate 4K gaming and extreme performance at 1440p and 1080p. The combo ranks 165th out of 2,928 tested configurations, placing it in the top 5.6% of all systems measured for this title, and the benchmark results reveal a balanced platform where the GPU becomes the primary scaling factor at higher resolutions while the CPU comfortably feeds frames at lower settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable resolution scaling pattern for this hardware combination in Downfall. At 1080p with High settings, the system delivers 278 FPS average, which drops to 198 FPS at 1440p — a reduction of 28.8% — and further to 123 FPS at 4K, representing a 55.8% decrease from the 1080p figure. This scaling curve indicates that the GPU is the dominant limiting component as resolution increases, with the RTX 5080's rendering throughput being the primary constraint at 4K.

The Low settings preset shows an even more pronounced scaling effect. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 414 FPS average, which is an extraordinarily high figure that suggests the CPU and GPU are both operating near their limits. Moving to 1440p Low drops the average to 296 FPS (a 28.5% reduction), and at 4K Low the system still delivers 184 FPS (a 55.6% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings — approximately 28-29% from 1080p to 1440p and 55-56% from 1080p to 4K — indicates that the game's rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count, which is typical for a horror title with limited geometry complexity but significant shader and post-processing demands.

The Medium settings row provides additional insight through its min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the system averages 339 FPS with a minimum of 288 FPS and maximum of 390 FPS, showing a spread of 102 FPS that suggests occasional CPU-bound moments even at this resolution. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 242 FPS with a range of 206 to 278 FPS (72 FPS spread), and at 4K Medium, the average is 151 FPS with a range of 128 to 173 FPS (45 FPS spread). The narrowing frame time variance as resolution increases is a strong indicator that the GPU becomes more consistently the bottleneck at higher resolutions, reducing the impact of CPU-side frame pacing variations.

Ultra settings show the steepest resolution penalties. The 4K Ultra result of 77 FPS average is dramatically lower than the 1080p Ultra figure of 174 FPS, representing a 55.7% reduction. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce additional GPU-heavy effects — possibly volumetric lighting or shadow quality increases — that scale disproportionately with pixel count. The 1440p Ultra average of 124 FPS sits between these two extremes, maintaining playability while clearly stressing the GPU more than High or Medium presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 serves as the primary performance driver in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a 4K workload in a horror title like Downfall that often features large texture sets and dynamic lighting environments. The memory clock runs at 1875 MHz with 30 Gbps effective speed, and the card's 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs deliver the raw fill rate necessary for the frame rates observed.

The GPU's boost clock of 2617 MHz (base 2295 MHz) allows the Blackwell 2.0 architecture to maintain high throughput across all resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the 77 FPS average indicates the GPU is heavily loaded, as this setting combination demands the most from the rendering pipeline. The RTX 5080's 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for any ray-traced effects or DLSS features the game might employ, though the measured data does not specify whether these technologies were active during testing.

The GPU's benchmark scores contextualize its performance class. A Passmark G3D score of 36,565 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8,637 place it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 235,901 and Vulkan score of 255,450 indicate strong compute and graphics API performance. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database — the AMD Radeon 8060S (0.6% higher average score), AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (0.7% higher), and AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (2.2% lower) — show that the RTX 5080 sits in a tightly contested performance band, though the measured Downfall frame rates suggest it handles this specific title particularly well.

The GPU's power delivery requirements are substantial at 360 W TDP with a suggested 750 W PSU, and the dual-slot cooler with a 304 mm length (12 inches) indicates a high-end card designed for sustained performance. The 1x 16-pin power connector and PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensure adequate power and bandwidth for the card's capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 provides the processing foundation for this system, and the benchmark data shows it is more than sufficient for Downfall's CPU demands at all tested resolutions. The processor features 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading), with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration, based on the Arrow Lake architecture on a 3 nm TSMC process, delivers strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance that prevents CPU bottlenecks even at 1080p Low where frame rates exceed 400 FPS.

The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache, along with 192 KB L1 and 3 MB L2 per core, provides ample on-die storage for game data. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without starvation, though the measured frame rates suggest the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios. The 65 W TDP indicates efficient operation, and the processor's position in the 89th percentile of all CPUs reflects its strong overall performance.

Cinebench results show the CPU's capabilities: a multi-core score of 14,769 in R23 and 6,202 in R20, with single-core scores of 2,085 and 875 respectively. The Passmark multi-thread score of 37,816 and single-thread score of 4,516 further confirm the processor's balanced performance profile. In the nearest rival comparison, the CPU sits within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% higher average score), Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% lower), and AMD EPYC 4364P (0.2% higher), indicating this desktop chip is competitive with top mobile and server parts.

The 192 KB per-core L1 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache are particularly relevant for gaming workloads that exhibit high temporal locality. The 14-core configuration with 14 threads means the CPU relies on physical cores rather than simultaneous multithreading, which can be advantageous for games like Downfall that may not be heavily threaded. The boost clock of 5.00 GHz provides the single-threaded performance necessary for the game's main simulation and AI logic, while the multi-core performance handles background tasks and any parallel game systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system delivers extraordinary performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 414 FPS, Medium yields 339 FPS with a minimum of 288 and maximum of 390, High achieves 278 FPS, and Ultra still manages 174 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is largely CPU-limited even at higher settings, as the RTX 5080 has substantial headroom at this resolution.

The 1440p results show a more balanced workload. Low settings average 296 FPS, Medium delivers 242 FPS (206 min, 278 max), High reaches 198 FPS, and Ultra drops to 124 FPS. The Medium setting's variance of 72 FPS suggests some frame pacing inconsistency, but the overall averages remain well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The 1440p Ultra result of 124 FPS indicates the GPU is now the primary constraint, with the additional visual fidelity costing significant performance.

At 4K, the GPU becomes clearly dominant. Low settings average 184 FPS, Medium delivers 151 FPS (128 min, 173 max), High achieves 123 FPS, and Ultra drops to 77 FPS. The 4K Medium variance of 45 FPS is the tightest of any resolution, suggesting consistent GPU-bound rendering. The 4K Ultra figure of 77 FPS is the only sub-100 FPS result in the entire dataset, and while still playable, it represents a significant compromise in smoothness compared to other settings.

The progression from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows consistent performance scaling. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 240 FPS (414 to 174), representing a 58% reduction. At 1440p, the drop is 172 FPS (296 to 124), a 58.1% reduction. At 4K, the drop is 107 FPS (184 to 77), a 58.2% reduction. This remarkably consistent percentage decrease across resolutions indicates that Ultra settings impose a fixed relative performance penalty regardless of pixel count, suggesting the additional effects scale uniformly.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play in Downfall with this hardware?

A: The 1080p Low setting delivers the highest average FPS at 414, which is ideal for maximizing frame rate in competitive scenarios. Even at 1440p Low, the system maintains 296 FPS average, providing excellent responsiveness with higher visual clarity.

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

A: Yes, all 4K settings produce playable frame rates. The 4K Low setting averages 184 FPS, 4K Medium averages 151 FPS, and 4K High averages 123 FPS. Even 4K Ultra maintains 77 FPS average, which is above the standard 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 5080 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5080's average benchmark score of 56,083 is 0.6% lower than the AMD Radeon 8060S, 0.7% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, and 2.2% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 2.2% higher.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile and how does it compare to similar processors?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 sits in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 46,062 is 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX, and 0.2% higher than both the AMD EPYC 4364P and AMD EPYC 7303.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p Medium settings?

A: The 1440p Medium result of 242 FPS average with a 206-278 FPS range suggests a balanced workload. The 72 FPS spread indicates some CPU involvement in frame pacing, but the high average shows neither component is severely constrained.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 278 at 1080p to 198 at 1440p (a 28.8% reduction) and then to 123 at 4K (a 55.8% reduction from 1080p). This represents a total loss of 155 FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Settings Recommendations

For the best overall experience in Downfall, the 4K High preset offers an excellent balance of visual quality and performance, delivering 123 FPS average. This frame rate is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth horror gameplay, and High settings provide substantial visual improvements over Medium without the dramatic performance cost of Ultra. The 4K Ultra setting at 77 FPS average is playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, making it less ideal for consistent frame pacing.

At 1440p, the High preset at 198 FPS average is the recommended choice for most players, as it combines strong visual fidelity with frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. Players with 144 Hz or 165 Hz displays will find this setting ideal. The 1440p Ultra setting at 124 FPS average is also viable for those prioritizing visual quality, maintaining frame rates above 120 FPS.

For 1080p users, the Ultra preset at 174 FPS average is recommended, as it provides the highest visual quality while still delivering frame rates suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. The Medium preset at 339 FPS average with a 288-390 FPS range is better suited for esports-style play where maximum frame rate is prioritized over visuals, though the diminishing returns above 300 FPS may not be perceptible on most monitors.

The Medium presets at all resolutions show acceptable minimum frame rates (288 FPS at 1080p, 206 FPS at 1440p, 128 FPS at 4K), making them safe choices for users who experience frame drops in complex scenes. The Low presets, while delivering the highest frame rates (414 FPS at 1080p, 296 FPS at 1440p, 184 FPS at 4K), sacrifice significant visual quality and are only recommended for competitive play where every frame matters.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination ranks 165th out of 2,928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 94.4th percentile of all configurations tested. This ranking reflects the system's exceptional performance in this title, with the measured frame rates consistently placing it among the top configurations for this game.

The top 5.6% ranking is particularly notable given the breadth of the test pool, which includes systems with more expensive processors and graphics cards. The data indicates that this combination of a mid-range CPU (in the 89th CPU percentile) with a high-end GPU (in the 87th GPU percentile) creates a well-balanced platform for Downfall, where the GPU's rendering power is complemented by the CPU's strong single-threaded performance.

The combination's rank suggests that the RTX 5080 is the primary driver of the system's high placement, as the GPU's performance class aligns with the frame rates observed. The CPU's 14 cores and 5.00 GHz boost clock ensure it does not bottleneck the GPU even at 1080p Low where the system exceeds 400 FPS. This balanced pairing demonstrates that the Core Ultra 5 235 provides sufficient processing power to fully utilize the RTX 5080's capabilities in this horror title, resulting in a configuration that delivers outstanding performance across all tested scenarios.