Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 7 265 + AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT delivers a playable experience across most settings in Downfall, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling at higher presets. The combo ranks 1489th out of 2928 tested configurations, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. The measured frame rates show a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p with medium settings, but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K Ultra. The benchmark results indicate a balanced pairing where neither component is severely bottlenecked at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution and quality settings increase.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor features 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per core L2 cache, along with 192 KB per core L1 cache. Its memory support is DDR5 over a dual-channel bus, providing 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU scores 42,216 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,960 in single-core, while achieving a 93rd percentile ranking among all CPUs. The average benchmark score of 64,640 places it nearly even with the AMD EPYC 4464P, which scores 64,823 (a -0.3% delta), and slightly ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F at 64,438 (a +0.3% delta).

In Downfall, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured frame rates at 1080p Low reach 229 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of pushing well over 200 frames per second without becoming a limiting factor. The single-thread performance, evidenced by the 5,960 Cinebench R23 single-core score, is strong enough to handle the game's engine efficiently. However, the 20-core design with equal thread count means there is no hyper-threading overhead, which can be beneficial for games that scale across multiple cores. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,689 and physics score of 2,923 indicate solid per-core performance that supports high frame rates in less demanding scenarios.

At higher settings, the CPU's workload increases due to more complex physics and AI calculations, but the data shows that frame rates still remain high at 1080p High (154 FPS) and 1440p High (110 FPS). This indicates that the Core Ultra 7 265 has ample headroom for Downfall's CPU demands, even when the GPU is under heavier load. The processor's percentile ranking of 93 suggests it outperforms the vast majority of CPUs in the database, making it a capable partner for this GPU. The nearest rivals in CPU benchmarks — the EPYC 4464P, Core Ultra 7 265F, EPYC 7343, and EPYC 9124 — are all server-class or similar desktop parts, and the delta percentages are all within ±0.7%, meaning performance is statistically equivalent across these options.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with the Navi 22 chip, fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2321 MHz, a game clock of 2424 MHz, and a boost clock of 2581 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The card has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, along with 40 ray tracing cores. Its compute capability is rated at 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.43 TFLOPS FP16, with pixel and texture rates of 165.2 GPixel/s and 413.0 GTexel/s respectively. The GPU draws up to 230 W and requires a 550 W power supply, with a dual-slot cooler design.

In benchmark tests, the RX 6700 XT scores 19,786 in PassMark G3D and 9,336 in GPU compute, with a 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 27,425 is essentially tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (27,435, 0% delta) and slightly behind the RTX 3090 (27,565, -0.5% delta). The RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell trails by 1.1%, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 is 1.5% ahead. This places the RX 6700 XT in a performance tier that is competitive with high-end laptop GPUs and previous-generation flagship desktop cards.

In Downfall, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings rise. At 1080p Low, the card produces 229 FPS, but this drops to 96 FPS at 1080p Ultra — a 58% reduction. The 12 GB VRAM is sufficient for all tested settings, as no VRAM-related stutters or crashes are indicated in the data. The 384.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is adequate for the game's texture streaming at 4K, though the 68 FPS at 4K High suggests the GPU is working near its limits. The RDNA 2 architecture's ray tracing cores are present, but Downfall is a horror game from 2016 that likely does not heavily utilize them, so the rasterization performance is the primary factor in the measured results.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 187 FPS at 1080p to 134 FPS at 1440p (a 28.3% decrease) and further to 83 FPS at 4K (a 38.1% decrease from 1440p). This scaling behavior indicates that the system becomes increasingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K while the CPU workload remains relatively constant.

At High settings, the pattern is similar but with a steeper decline at the top end. The average FPS goes from 154 at 1080p to 110 at 1440p (a 28.6% drop) and then to 68 at 4K (a 38.2% drop from 1440p). This suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K High, as the frame rate cannot maintain the same proportional scaling as lower resolutions. The 4K High result of 68 FPS is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, but it leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

At Low settings, the system shows its maximum potential: 229 FPS at 1080p, 164 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 28.4% drop, while 1440p to 4K is a 37.8% drop. These percentage decreases are nearly identical across all three settings presets, indicating that the GPU is consistently the limiting factor at higher resolutions, regardless of quality level. The fact that even at Low settings the 4K frame rate is 102 FPS suggests the CPU can handle the game's logic efficiently, but the GPU's pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck as resolution climbs.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 96 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p (a 28.1% drop), and 43 FPS at 4K (a 37.7% drop). At 4K Ultra, the frame rate falls below the 60 FPS playability threshold, indicating that this setting is not viable for smooth gameplay with this combination. The consistent percentage drops across settings indicate that the limiting component is the GPU's raw fill rate and shader throughput, not memory bandwidth or CPU performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT ranks 1489th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 49th percentile overall. This rank reflects the balanced nature of the pairing — neither component is exceptionally high-end, but they work together to deliver solid performance at mainstream resolutions. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking is significantly higher than the GPU's 72nd percentile, suggesting that the CPU has more headroom than the GPU in this configuration.

In terms of relative performance, the combo's rank indicates that it outperforms roughly half of all tested configurations in this game. This is consistent with the measured frame rates, which show playable performance at 1080p and 1440p across most settings, but struggle at 4K Ultra. The data suggests that this combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can achieve high frame rates, but it is not optimized for 4K gaming at maximum quality settings.

The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores — the EPYC 4464P, Core Ultra 7 265F, EPYC 7343, and EPYC 9124 — all have average scores within ±0.7% of the Core Ultra 7 265. This means that swapping to any of these CPUs would result in nearly identical performance in Downfall, assuming the GPU remains the same. The GPU's nearest rivals — the RTX 4070 Mobile, RTX 3090, RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, and Radeon Pro Vega 20 — are also within ±1.5% of the RX 6700 XT's average score. However, the RTX 3090 is a notably different class of card, and its similar benchmark score suggests that the RX 6700 XT punches above its weight in synthetic tests.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combination. At 1080p Medium, the average frame rate is 187 FPS with minimums of 159 FPS, providing a very smooth experience. At 1440p Medium, the average is 134 FPS with minimums of 114 FPS, which remains well above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable gameplay. Even at 4K Medium, the average of 83 FPS with minimums of 71 FPS is playable, though it approaches the lower bound of what is considered smooth.

The High preset is also viable for most users. At 1080p High, the average of 154 FPS is excellent, while 1440p High at 110 FPS is very good. The 4K High result of 68 FPS is playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, High settings at 1080p or 1440p are recommended, as they provide a significant improvement over Medium without a substantial performance penalty.

The Low preset delivers the highest frame rates — 229 FPS at 1080p and 164 FPS at 1440p — but the visual quality reduction is likely not worth the performance gain for most players. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination, especially at 4K where the average of 43 FPS falls below playability standards. At 1080p Ultra, the 96 FPS average is acceptable, but the performance hit relative to High (154 FPS) is substantial. At 1440p Ultra, the 69 FPS average is borderline playable, but the minimum frame rates are not recorded, suggesting potential dips below 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 229 FPS, while Medium averages 187 FPS with minimums of 159 FPS and maximums of 215 FPS. High settings produce an average of 154 FPS, and Ultra drops to 96 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 58% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant load on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low settings average 164 FPS, Medium averages 134 FPS with minimums of 114 FPS and maximums of 154 FPS, and High averages 110 FPS. Ultra drops to 69 FPS, which is a 39% reduction from High. The minimum frame rate data for Medium (114 FPS) indicates that the system maintains consistent performance without major dips, even at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings average 102 FPS, which is still smooth. Medium averages 83 FPS with minimums of 71 FPS and maximums of 96 FPS, providing a playable experience. High averages 68 FPS, which is above 60 FPS but close to the threshold. Ultra drops to 43 FPS, which is not smooth for a horror game that may require quick reactions. The data shows that 4K gaming is only viable at Low or Medium settings with this combination, with High being borderline and Ultra being unplayable.