Downfall

Downfall, a 2016 horror title, proves demanding on the integrated graphics of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the AMD Radeon 890M. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a configuration that is firmly entry-level for modern gaming, struggling to maintain smooth gameplay at higher presets. The data shows a clear pattern: this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming at lower settings, with performance degrading rapidly as resolution and graphical fidelity increase.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, indicating that the AMD Radeon 890M is the primary limiting factor. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 94 FPS at 1920x1080 to 67 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 27 FPS or roughly 29%. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average drops to 42 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU that is being saturated by pixel count, rather than a CPU bottleneck.

The situation is similar at Medium settings. The average frame rate at 1080p is 77 FPS, which drops to 55 FPS at 1440p and then to 34 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1440p and 4K is significant, with a 21 FPS loss. At High settings, the trend continues: 63 FPS at 1080p, 45 FPS at 1440p, and 28 FPS at 4K. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings costs 17 FPS, a 38% decline. The most punishing preset, Ultra, shows the same pattern, with averages of 39 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p, and a nearly unplayable 18 FPS at 4K.

This data suggests that the integrated GPU’s memory bandwidth, listed as “System Dependent” and “System Shared,” is strained at higher resolutions. The Radeon 890M’s 32 ROPs and 64 TMUs are insufficient to handle the fill-rate demands of 4K, especially at higher settings. The fact that even the Low preset at 4K cannot reach 45 FPS confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck. A stronger CPU would not help here, as the workload is clearly graphics-bound. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less severe than from 1440p to 4K, but the overall picture is consistent: resolution is the dominant factor in performance degradation for this combo.

Settings Recommendations

For a playable experience, the data points to Low or Medium settings at 1920x1080. The Low preset delivers an average of 94 FPS, which is smooth and responsive. Medium settings still provide a very good 77 FPS average, with a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS, indicating stable frame pacing. This is the sweet spot for this hardware in Downfall. The jump to High settings at 1080p brings the average down to 63 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less fluid. Ultra settings at 1080p, with an average of 39 FPS, are not recommended for consistent gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the options are more limited. Low settings yield a decent 67 FPS average, which is acceptable for a horror title. Medium settings produce a 55 FPS average, with a minimum of 47 FPS, which is borderline but might be tolerable for slower-paced sections. High and Ultra settings at this resolution, at 45 FPS and 28 FPS respectively, are too inconsistent for a good experience.

The 3840x2160 resolution is effectively out of reach for this combo. Even the Low preset only manages a 42 FPS average, and the Medium preset drops to 34 FPS with a minimum of 29 FPS. High and Ultra settings at 4K are unplayable, with averages of 28 FPS and 18 FPS. The best experience per the measured rows is unequivocally 1080p with Medium settings. It offers a significant performance buffer over High settings while providing a visually superior experience to Low. The minimum FPS of 66 at this setting ensures that the game rarely stutters, which is crucial for maintaining tension in a horror game.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and AMD Radeon 890M combination ranks 2746 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the bottom 7% of all configurations, underscoring its entry-level status. The GPU’s individual benchmark percentile is 45, meaning it performs better than 45% of all GPUs, but the CPU’s percentile is 84, indicating a strong processor. This mismatch suggests that the GPU is holding the system back in gaming scenarios. The combo rank is more reflective of the GPU’s capabilities for this specific title.

The Radeon 890M’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Radeon Vega 8, which scores 0.1% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, which scores 0.7% higher. This puts the 890M in the same performance class as a dedicated desktop GPU from several generations ago. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 is 0.9% faster, and the GTX 850M is 1% faster. These comparisons are based on average benchmark scores, but in a real-world game like Downfall, the integrated nature of the 890M and its dependence on system memory can lead to different results. The low combo rank is a direct consequence of the GPU’s limited fill rate and memory bandwidth when compared to even older discrete solutions.

The CPU, on the other hand, is in a much stronger position. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (0.3% faster), the AMD EPYC 4244P (0.4% slower), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (0.4% slower). This shows the Core Ultra 7 165H is a capable processor, but its power is wasted in this pairing for gaming. The data indicates that this combo is heavily GPU-limited, and the high CPU percentile does not translate to a high rank in the game. The 2746th rank out of 2928 is a clear signal that this is not a gaming-focused configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows. Low settings deliver an average of 94 FPS. Medium settings provide an average of 77 FPS, with a minimum of 66 and a maximum of 89 FPS. High settings yield an average of 63 FPS. Ultra settings produce an average of 39 FPS. This is the only resolution where the combo can achieve a consistently playable frame rate across multiple presets. The gap between Low and Ultra is 55 FPS, showing the significant impact of graphical settings.

At 2560x1440, performance drops substantially. Low settings average 67 FPS. Medium settings average 55 FPS, with a minimum of 47 and a maximum of 63 FPS. High settings average 45 FPS. Ultra settings average 28 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 27 FPS, and the drop from 1080p Medium to 1440p Medium is 22 FPS. This indicates that even modest resolution increases have a large impact on the integrated GPU.

At 3840x2160, the results are mostly below playable thresholds. Low settings average 42 FPS. Medium settings average 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 and a maximum of 39 FPS. High settings average 28 FPS. Ultra settings average 18 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 24 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is so saturated that even reducing settings has a limited effect. The highest measured average across all resolutions and settings is 94 FPS at 1080p Low, while the lowest is 18 FPS at 4K Ultra.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is an integrated graphics processor based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process. It features 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines. The boost clock is rated at 2900 MHz, with a base clock of 400 MHz. Its FP32 performance is listed at 5.939 TFLOPS. The GPU has 16 ray tracing cores, but this feature is unlikely to be a factor in a 2016 horror game like Downfall. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with the size, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as “System Shared” or “System Dependent,” meaning performance is heavily reliant on the CPU’s memory subsystem.

The GPU’s TDP is listed as 15 W, which is extremely low, but this is a mobile integrated part. Its pixel rate is 92.80 GPixel/s and texture rate is 185.6 GTexel/s. These figures are modest and explain the poor performance at high resolutions. In synthetic benchmarks, the 890M scores 8076 in Passmark G3D and 590 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its percentile vs all GPUs is 45, placing it in the lower half of all graphics cards. For Downfall, the GPU’s limited ROP count and reliance on shared memory are the main bottlenecks. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra, 18 FPS, is a direct result of these limitations. The GPU is the clear performance limiter in this combo, as evidenced by the steep frame rate drops when resolution increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. Its TDP is 28 W. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 14551 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1759 in single-core, which are strong numbers for a mobile part. Its Passmark multithread score is 25933, and its single-thread score is 3509. The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 84, indicating it is more powerful than 84% of processors.

For Downfall, the CPU’s role is secondary. The game is not demanding on the processor, and the 16 cores and 22 threads are more than sufficient to handle the game’s logic. The high single-thread performance, evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1759, ensures that the game’s main thread will not be a bottleneck. However, the benchmark results show that the GPU is the limiting factor. Even at 1080p Low, where the CPU would have the least work to do, the frame rate is 94 FPS, which is not exceptionally high. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions at the same settings, but the data shows a clear decline as resolution increases. This confirms that the CPU is not the issue. The Core Ultra 7 165H is a capable processor that is being held back by the integrated Radeon 890M in this gaming scenario. Its 24 MB of L3 cache and high boost clock are wasted on a workload that is entirely graphics-bound.