Downfall

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a performance profile in Downfall that is heavily dictated by resolution, with the CPU proving sufficient to keep the GPU fully engaged at lower settings. At 1080p, the combo achieves remarkably high frame rates, while the transition to 4K reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior, moving from a balanced load to a predominantly GPU-bound scenario. This analysis breaks down the measured data to explain how this specific pairing behaves across the game’s visual presets.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a predictable and steep decline in average frame rates as resolution increases, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly depending on the quality preset selected. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 181 at 1920x1080 to 129 at 2560x1440, representing a 28.7% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 yields an even larger drop, as the average plummets from 129 to just 80 FPS, a 38% decrease. This scaling pattern indicates that the RTX 3070 Ti’s rendering workload grows exponentially with pixel count, which is typical for a GPU with 8 GB of memory and a 256-bit bus.

The Low preset demonstrates the most extreme scaling behavior. At 1080p, the combo pushes an average of 270 FPS, which is the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. At 1440p, this drops to 193 FPS, a 28.5% reduction, and at 4K it falls further to 120 FPS, another 37.8% loss. The fact that even at 4K Low the frame rate remains above 120 FPS suggests that the CPU is still able to feed the GPU adequately, but the GPU is clearly the limiting factor at this resolution.

Conversely, the Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling failure. At 1080p, the average is 113 FPS, which drops to 81 FPS at 1440p (a 28.3% decrease) and then to 50 FPS at 4K (a 38.3% decrease). This last figure—50 FPS at 4K Ultra—is the lowest average recorded for this combo and indicates that the GPU is being overwhelmed by the combined demands of high resolution and maximum graphical fidelity. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is consistently around 38% across all presets, which strongly suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute throughput are the primary constraints at 4K, regardless of the quality settings.

The Medium preset provides the only complete dataset with min/max frame data, offering additional insight. At 1080p, the average is 221 FPS with a minimum of 188 and a maximum of 254. At 1440p, the average drops to 158 FPS, with min/max values of 134 and 181 respectively. At 4K, the average is 98 FPS, with min/max of 83 and 113. The minimum frame rates scale nearly proportionally with the averages, indicating that the frame pacing remains consistent even as the overall load increases. The 4K Medium figure of 98 FPS average sits comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, but the 83 FPS minimum shows that occasional dips are still possible.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48995. This is a strong result, but the data from Downfall suggests that the game does not fully utilize the CPU’s multi-threading capabilities.

At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 270 FPS, which is extraordinarily high and indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at very high rates. The single-core performance of the Ultra 5 245, as measured by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648, is clearly sufficient for this game’s main thread. The CPU’s performance relative to its nearest rivals is tightly clustered: it is 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, 0.5% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, 0.6% ahead of the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H, and 0.8% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600K. These differences are negligible in gaming terms, meaning the choice between these CPUs would not meaningfully alter the frame rates reported here.

The CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth provide ample headroom for the game’s data streaming needs. The fact that frame rates at 1080p Low (270 FPS) versus 1080p High (181 FPS) differ by 89 FPS shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower settings; the GPU is still doing the heavy lifting. However, the CPU’s role becomes more apparent when comparing the 4K Low result of 120 FPS to the 1080p Low result of 270 FPS—the 150 FPS gap is entirely attributable to GPU load, as the CPU workload does not change with resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global ranking of tested CPU and GPU combinations for Downfall, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti holds position 1328 out of 3716 combos. This places it in the 64th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly one-third of all combos outperform it in this specific game.

The ranking reflects a balanced but not top-tier setup. The RTX 3070 Ti itself sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29945. Its nearest GPU rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (0.1% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (0.5% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (0.5% behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 (1.6% behind). These tight margins indicate that the GPU is competitive with its peers, but not a class leader.

The CPU’s 90th percentile ranking is higher than the GPU’s 75th percentile, which suggests that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card in this pairing. This is consistent with the resolution scaling data, which shows the GPU becoming the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The combo’s overall rank of 1328 out of 3716 is respectable, but it is not at the top of the charts because the GPU, while capable, is not a flagship part. For a user with a 1080p or 1440p monitor, this combo ranks higher in practical terms because the frame rates are extremely high, but the 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS drags down its aggregate standing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. For 1920x1080, the Ultra preset is the best choice, as it delivers an average of 113 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS playability threshold and leaves plenty of headroom for smooth gameplay. The step down to High at 181 FPS is unnecessary for most users, as the visual fidelity gain from Ultra is substantial and the frame rate remains high.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the sweet spot. The average of 129 FPS is excellent, and the visual quality is only slightly below Ultra. The Ultra preset at 1440p yields 81 FPS, which is still playable, but the 48 FPS difference between High and Ultra is significant, and the visual difference is often less noticeable in fast-paced horror sequences. The Medium preset at 158 FPS offers an alternative for users who prioritize frame rate over fidelity, but High provides the best balance.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the recommended starting point. The average of 98 FPS is strong, and the minimum of 83 FPS ensures that most scenes will remain smooth. The High preset at 80 FPS is also viable, but the 18 FPS drop from Medium to High is substantial. The Ultra preset at 50 FPS is generally not recommended for 4K, as the frame rate dips below the 60 FPS threshold, which can lead to noticeable stuttering in a horror game where responsiveness is critical. The Low preset at 120 FPS is an option for competitive play, but the graphical compromises are severe.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings shows a clear hierarchy. Low produces an average of 270 FPS, which is the maximum recorded value in the dataset. Medium delivers 221 FPS, with a minimum of 188 and a maximum of 254, indicating tight frame pacing. High follows at 181 FPS, and Ultra brings up the rear at 113 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 157 FPS, which shows that the GPU is the bottleneck even at this resolution, as the CPU can clearly handle the higher settings.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues but with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 193 FPS, Medium averages 158 FPS (min 134, max 181), High averages 129 FPS, and Ultra averages 81 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 112 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more constrained.

At 3840x2160, the scaling becomes more pronounced. Low averages 120 FPS, Medium averages 98 FPS (min 83, max 113), High averages 80 FPS, and Ultra averages 50 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS, the smallest absolute spread of any resolution, confirming that the GPU is nearly saturated at 4K even on Low settings. The Medium preset’s min FPS of 83 is the only recorded minimum above 60 FPS at 4K, making it the safest choice for a consistent experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It features 6144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units, along with 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The GPU has a base clock of 1575 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 608.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The GPU’s role in Downfall is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 339.8 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra result of 50 FPS shows the limits of this hardware. The 8 GB memory capacity is likely a constraint at 4K Ultra, where texture and geometry data can exceed this amount, causing the GPU to rely on slower memory paging.

In terms of its competitive position, the RTX 3070 Ti sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29945. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile, is only 0.1% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 6800 is 0.5% ahead. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti trails by 0.5%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 trails by 1.6%. These small deltas mean that swapping this GPU for any of its nearest rivals would result in nearly identical frame rates in Downfall, reinforcing that the observed performance is representative of this performance tier.

The GPU’s 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present for ray tracing and DLSS features, but no such features are measured in the provided dataset. The pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s directly correlate with the fill-rate demands of higher resolutions. The 290 W TDP and suggested 600 W PSU indicate that this is a power-hungry card, but the measured FPS data shows that it delivers the expected performance for its class.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Downfall?*

A: The highest average FPS is 270, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded, and at what settings?

A: The lowest average FPS is 50, recorded at 3840x2160 with the Ultra settings preset.

Q: At 1440p, which preset offers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 129 FPS, which is the recommended balance, as Ultra drops to 81 FPS while Medium only increases to 158 FPS.

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

A: This combo ranks 1328 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the 64th percentile of all results.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as the average FPS drops from 120 at Low to 50 at Ultra, while the CPU’s workload remains constant across resolutions.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between 1080p and 4K on High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 181 at 1080p to 80 at 4K on High settings, a reduction of 101 FPS or 55.8%.