Downfall

The data for Downfall with the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 reveals a system with substantial headroom, but the scaling patterns show that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. This combination delivers playable to exceptional frame rates across the board, with the CPU's strong single-thread performance ensuring high minimums even in the most demanding scenes.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 400 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 285 FPS, and at 4K Low it further falls to 178 FPS. This represents a 55.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the lowest settings, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel count.

The pattern becomes more pronounced at higher quality presets. With High settings, the average FPS falls from 268 at 1080p to 191 at 1440p, and then to 119 at 4K. This is a 55.6% drop from 1080p to 4K, similar to the Low preset's scaling. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 168 FPS at 1080p, 120 FPS at 1440p, and only 74 FPS at 4K, a 56.0% reduction. The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings strongly suggests that the RTX 4080's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors as resolution climbs.

Interestingly, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller in absolute terms than the gap between 1440p and 4K. For example, at Medium settings, the drop from 1080p to 1440p is 94 FPS (from 327 to 233), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 88 FPS (from 233 to 145). This non-linear scaling implies that the GPU's compute units are being saturated more efficiently at 4K, where the workload is more memory-intensive. The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s bandwidth on the RTX 4080 are clearly sufficient for the 4K textures in this game, as the frame rates remain playable even at Ultra.

The data also hints at what happens when the GPU is not fully loaded. At 1080p Low, the 400 FPS average suggests the CPU is beginning to become a more significant factor, though the Core Ultra 5 245's 14 cores and 14 threads appear to handle the game's logic without creating a hard ceiling. The lack of a visible frame rate cap at 400 FPS indicates the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough at this resolution, but the GPU's workload is the dominant variable in the scaling curve.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and frame rate, the Medium preset emerges as the most compelling choice across all resolutions. The data shows that Medium at 4K delivers an average of 145 FPS with a minimum of 123 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate displays. At 1440p Medium, the average jumps to 233 FPS, and at 1080p it reaches 327 FPS, with minimums of 198 FPS and 278 FPS respectively. These numbers indicate that Medium provides a significant performance buffer over High, which costs roughly 20-25% of the frame rate at each resolution.

The High preset is a reasonable middle ground for users prioritizing visual quality over raw speed. At 4K High, the average of 119 FPS is still highly playable, and at 1440p High the 191 FPS average is excellent. However, the jump from Medium to High incurs a noticeable cost: at 1080p, the frame rate drops from 327 to 268 FPS, and at 4K it drops from 145 to 119 FPS. This suggests that High settings introduce effects that tax the GPU's shading units more heavily, likely related to lighting or shadow quality.

The Ultra preset is the most demanding but still viable for this hardware, particularly at 1440p where it averages 120 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the 74 FPS average is borderline for a 60 Hz display but may be acceptable for gamers who prioritize maximum detail. The data shows a steep drop from High to Ultra at every resolution (from 268 to 168 FPS at 1080p, from 191 to 120 FPS at 1440p, and from 119 to 74 FPS at 4K), indicating that Ultra enables features that roughly halve the performance headroom. For most users, the Medium preset offers the best experience because it maintains high minimum frame rates while preserving visual quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this configuration in Downfall is 230 out of 3716 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.2% of all systems tested. This rank reflects the strong synergy between the RTX 4080 and the Core Ultra 5 245, which together deliver frame rates that exceed the vast majority of other hardware pairings. The high ranking is particularly notable given that the GPU itself ranks at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, and the CPU ranks at the 90th percentile among all CPUs.

The data suggests that this combination is well-balanced for Downfall, as neither component is severely bottlenecking the other. The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and PassMark G3D score of 34457 indicate strong raw graphics performance, while the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 show it can keep up with the GPU's demands. The ranking implies that in this game, the system performs better than 94% of tested combos, which is a strong indicator of its suitability for high-refresh-rate gaming at high resolutions.

It is worth remembering the GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, has an average benchmark score only 0.1% higher, meaning the performance difference in synthetic tests is negligible. This suggests that the combo rank is not artificially inflated by an unusually strong GPU sample, but rather reflects genuine in-game performance. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, is 0.4% slower, further confirming that this pairing is well-matched for the game's workload.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo in Downfall?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 400, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only setting that reaches the 400 FPS mark in the data.

Q: Can this system maintain a stable 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 74 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. However, there is no minimum FPS recorded for this setting, so consistency is not fully documented.

Q: How much faster is the Medium preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 233 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 120 FPS. This means Medium is approximately 94% faster than Ultra at this resolution.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 4K?

A: The minimum FPS for the Medium preset at 3840x2160 is 123 FPS, with an average of 145 FPS and a maximum of 167 FPS. This indicates a relatively narrow frame time variance.

Q: Does the GPU's 16 GB VRAM appear sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: Based on the measured data, the 16 GB GDDR6X memory is sufficient, as the 4K Ultra preset still delivers an average of 74 FPS without any reported stuttering or texture pop-in in the data. The 716.8 GB/s bandwidth also supports smooth high-resolution rendering.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 230 out of 3716 tested combos, which places it in the top 6.2% of all systems tested for Downfall. This indicates superior performance relative to the vast majority of other hardware pairings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this system's gaming performance, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the textures and effects in Downfall at 4K resolution. The GPU's 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 ROPs are responsible for the high pixel and texture rates that drive the frame counts seen in the data.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz, allow it to sustain high throughput during extended gaming sessions. The 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is a key factor in the 4K Medium result of 145 FPS, as the game's shader complexity scales with resolution. The 76 RT cores, while not directly relevant to this non-ray-traced title, indicate the GPU's architectural headroom for future titles.

The RTX 4080's PassMark G3D score of 34457 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 place it at the 86th percentile among all GPUs. In comparison to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 SUPER is only 0.1% faster in average benchmark score, while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% slower. This suggests that the 4080 is well-positioned in the performance hierarchy, which is reflected in the game's high frame rates at 1440p and 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 plays a supporting but crucial role in this system's Downfall performance. With 14 cores and 14 threads running at a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, the CPU is well-equipped to handle the game's simulation and AI logic. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache provides fast access to frequently used data, reducing latency in scenes with many entities.

The CPU's single-thread performance is particularly important for a game like Downfall, which likely relies on a primary game thread. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648 and PassMark single-thread score of 4394 indicate strong per-core performance, which helps maintain high minimum frame rates. This is evident in the 1080p Low setting, where the system achieves 400 FPS without the CPU becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, as shown by the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and PassMark multithread score of 38706, ensure that background tasks and additional game threads do not interfere with frame pacing. The 65 W TDP is efficient, allowing the CPU to maintain boost clocks without thermal throttling. In comparison to its nearest rivals, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 is 0.5% slower in average benchmark score, and the Intel Core i5-14600K is 0.8% slower, confirming that the Ultra 5 245 is a competitive choice for this gaming workload.

Measured FPS Breakdown

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average 178 FPS
• Medium: Average 145 FPS, Minimum 123 FPS, Maximum 167 FPS
• High: Average 119 FPS
• Ultra: Average 74 FPS

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average 285 FPS
• Medium: Average 233 FPS, Minimum 198 FPS, Maximum 268 FPS
• High: Average 191 FPS
• Ultra: Average 120 FPS

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average 400 FPS
• Medium: Average 327 FPS, Minimum 278 FPS, Maximum 376 FPS
• High: Average 268 FPS
• Ultra: Average 168 FPS

The data reveals that at every resolution, the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, while Ultra offers the lowest. The Medium preset consistently provides a balanced experience with the only recorded minimum and maximum FPS values, indicating stable frame pacing. The 4K Ultra result of 74 FPS is the only setting that dips below the 100 FPS mark, while 1080p Low at 400 FPS is the only setting to reach that ceiling. The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution follows a similar pattern, with approximately a 50-55% reduction in frame rate, reinforcing the GPU-bound nature of the workload at all tested settings.