Downfall

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX pairing delivers a performance profile in Downfall that is as top-heavy as the hardware suggests. The data shows a system capable of extreme frame rates, yet the experience is heavily dependent on the settings and resolution chosen. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across all presets to determine the optimal configuration, contextualize the combo's standing among 2,928 tested combinations, and examine the specific roles the CPU and GPU play in this horror title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Downfall reveals a clear hierarchy across the four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 298 FPS, with a minimum of 253 FPS and a maximum of 343 FPS. This is a substantial frame rate that provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset at the same resolution averages 244 FPS, while Ultra drops to 153 FPS. The jump from Medium to Ultra costs a significant 145 FPS on average, which is a steep price for the visual fidelity gain.

At 2560x1440, the pattern holds. Medium averages 213 FPS (min 181, max 245), High averages 175 FPS, and Ultra averages 109 FPS. The Medium preset again provides the best balance, offering frame rates well above the 144 Hz threshold that many gamers target, while still maintaining a solid minimum of 181 FPS. For 3840x2160, the situation becomes more nuanced. Medium at 4K averages 132 FPS (min 113, max 152), which is still highly playable. High at 4K averages 109 FPS, and Ultra drops to 68 FPS. At this resolution, Medium is the clear recommendation, as it is the only preset that maintains an average above 120 FPS while keeping the minimum above 100 FPS.

The best experience per the measured rows is unequivocally the Medium preset across all resolutions. It provides the highest average FPS that still maintains a respectable visual quality tier. The Low preset at 1920x1080 averages 364 FPS, which is the highest recorded number in the entire dataset, but it sacrifices too much visual detail for a marginal practical benefit. The High preset offers a better visual experience but with a noticeable drop in frame rate. Medium is the sweet spot, delivering frame rates that are 35% higher than High at 1440p and 21% higher than High at 4K, while still providing a minimum frame rate that avoids stutter. For players with monitors capped at 144 Hz or 165 Hz, the Medium preset at 1440p is the optimal choice, as it provides a massive buffer above the refresh rate. At 4K, Medium is the only preset that consistently exceeds 120 FPS, making it the definitive choice for high-refresh-rate 4K displays.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this configuration at position 359 out of 2,928 tested combos. This places it in the top 12.3% of all tested systems, a strong result that reflects the potency of the Core Ultra 7 265 and RX 7900 XTX pairing. The percentileVsAllGpus for the RX 7900 XTX is 64, while the percentileVsAllCpus for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is 93. This discrepancy is notable: the CPU is performing at a much higher percentile than the GPU, suggesting that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card can utilize in this specific title.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its processing power. The AMD EPYC 4464P has an average benchmark score of 64,823, which is 0.3% higher than the Core Ultra 7 265's average of 64,640. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265F is 0.3% slower, and the AMD EPYC 7343 is 0.7% slower. The AMD EPYC 9124 is 0.7% faster. These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the Core Ultra 7 265 is in a tightly contested performance tier. The GPU's nearest rivals paint a different picture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB is 0.4% faster on average, the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 is 1% faster, and the AMD FirePro D300 is 1.2% faster. The NVIDIA TITAN Xp is 1.2% slower. These are older, less powerful cards, and the fact that they are listed as nearest rivals based on average benchmark score is an artifact of the averaging method. The RX 7900 XTX's PassMark G3D score of 31,238 is vastly higher than what a GTX 1060 3 GB could produce, but the average benchmark score includes older DirectX tests where the newer card's architecture may not scale proportionally.

In the context of Downfall specifically, the combo's rank of 359 suggests that while the hardware is powerful, many other combinations are faster in this game. The data implies that the game is not purely GPU-bound at lower resolutions, as the CPU's high percentile ranking would indicate it is capable of driving even higher frame rates if the GPU could keep up. The gap between the CPU's 93rd percentile and the GPU's 64th percentile suggests a potential bottleneck scenario at 1080p, where the GPU is the limiting factor. At 4K, the GPU's workload increases dramatically, and the CPU's advantage becomes less relevant, as evidenced by the FPS drops discussed in the Resolution Scaling section.

FAQ

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

A: The highest average FPS is 364, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Does the Medium preset provide a minimum frame rate above 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 113, which is well above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset at 1440p compare to the High preset at 1080p?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 averages 109 FPS, while the High preset at 1920x1080 averages 244 FPS. The 1080p High preset is 135 FPS faster on average.

Q: What is the performance delta between the Core Ultra 7 265 and its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265F?

A: The Core Ultra 7 265 has an average benchmark score of 64,640, which is 0.3% higher than the Core Ultra 7 265F's score of 64,438.

Q: Is the RX 7900 XTX's average benchmark score higher or lower than the NVIDIA TITAN Xp?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 19,410, which is 1.2% higher than the NVIDIA TITAN Xp's score of 19,177.

Q: At which resolution does the Ultra preset deliver an average FPS closest to 60?

A: At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages 68 FPS, which is the closest to 60 FPS among all Ultra presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all presets and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high. The Low preset averages 364 FPS. The Medium preset averages 298 FPS, with a minimum of 253 and a maximum of 343. The High preset averages 244 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 153 FPS. This represents a spread of 211 FPS between the lowest and highest quality settings at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear scaling penalty. The Low preset averages 260 FPS, a 104 FPS drop from 1080p. The Medium preset averages 213 FPS, with a minimum of 181 and a maximum of 245. The High preset averages 175 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 109 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 151 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop significantly, reflecting the increased pixel load on the GPU. The Low preset averages 162 FPS. The Medium preset averages 132 FPS, with a minimum of 113 and a maximum of 152. The High preset averages 109 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 68 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 94 FPS.

A notable observation is the consistency of the Medium preset's minimum frame rates. At 1080p, the minimum is 253 FPS; at 1440p, it is 181 FPS; and at 4K, it is 113 FPS. These minimums are all high enough to prevent noticeable stuttering. The Ultra preset lacks minimum FPS data at all resolutions except for the absence of data, which suggests the frame pacing may be less stable, or the metric was simply not recorded. The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions, indicating a more predictable performance profile.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K illustrate the scaling behavior of this combo. At 1080p Medium, the average is 298 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 213 FPS, a reduction of 85 FPS (28.5%). At 4K Medium, it drops further to 132 FPS, a reduction of 81 FPS from 1440p (38%) and 166 FPS from 1080p (55.7%). The scaling is not linear, with the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K being larger than the drop from 1080p to 1440p.

For the Low preset, the scaling is similar. 1080p Low averages 364 FPS, 1440p Low averages 260 FPS (a 28.6% drop), and 4K Low averages 162 FPS (a 37.7% drop from 1440p). For the High preset, 1080p averages 244 FPS, 1440p averages 175 FPS (a 28.3% drop), and 4K averages 109 FPS (a 37.7% drop from 1440p). For Ultra, 1080p averages 153 FPS, 1440p averages 109 FPS (a 28.8% drop), and 4K averages 68 FPS (a 37.6% drop from 1440p).

The consistency of these percentage drops across all presets is striking. Every preset shows approximately a 28% drop from 1080p to 1440p and approximately a 38% drop from 1440p to 4K. This uniformity suggests that the performance scaling is dominated by the GPU's pixel throughput capabilities. The RX 7900 XTX has a pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. The consistent scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component as resolution increases, with the CPU's role diminishing. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 has a boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 20 cores, but the data implies that at 4K, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the constraining factors, not the CPU's processing power.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 2.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The CPU's benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42,216 and a single-core score of 5,960. Its PassMark multithread score is 49,682, and its single-thread score is 4,689. These scores place it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the frame rates are extremely high. At 1080p Low, the system averages 364 FPS. This high frame rate requires the CPU to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates at a very fast pace. The Core Ultra 7 265's high single-thread performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5,960, is critical for this task. The game is likely not using all 20 cores, but the high boost clock of 5.30 GHz on the few cores that are active ensures that the CPU is not a bottleneck at these frame rates.

The data suggests that the CPU is well ahead of the GPU in terms of its percentile ranking (93rd vs 64th). This implies that in Downfall, the CPU has significant headroom. The CPU's average benchmark score of 64,640 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with deltas of less than 1%. This indicates that the Core Ultra 7 265 is performing as expected for its class. However, the fact that the combo ranks 359th out of 2,928 suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in achieving higher rankings. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see a larger drop in FPS from 1080p to 1440p, as the CPU's workload would not increase with resolution. The consistent 28% drop across all presets indicates that the CPU is not the primary constraint.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is a high-end graphics card based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, featuring the Navi 31 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 6,144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. Its boost clock is 2498 MHz, and it has a pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s. The GPU's FP32 performance is 61.39 TFLOPS.

The GPU's role in Downfall is clearly dominant, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The consistent percentage drops in FPS as resolution increases point directly to the GPU's pixel processing and memory bandwidth as the limiting factors. At 4K Ultra, the system averages 68 FPS, which is a significant drop from the 153 FPS at 1080p Ultra. This is a 55.6% reduction in performance, which aligns with the quadrupling of pixel count from 1080p to 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a more mixed picture. Its PassMark G3D score is 31,238, which is high, but its average benchmark score of 19,410 places it in the 64th percentile. The nearest rivals list includes the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, which has an average score of 19,334 (0.4% higher), and the NVIDIA Quadro K5200, which has a score of 19,602 (1% higher). These are older cards with much lower raw performance than the RX 7900 XTX, but the average benchmark score includes legacy DirectX tests where the newer card's architecture may not show its full strength. The PassMark DirectX 12 score is 131, while the DirectX 11 score is 356, which is a notable discrepancy that may reflect driver optimizations or architectural preferences.

In Downfall, the GPU's 24 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for any settings at any resolution, but the data shows that the GPU's compute and memory resources are what determine the final frame rate. The 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth is likely a critical factor at 4K, where the GPU must fetch and process large amounts of texture data. The consistent scaling across all presets reinforces that the RX 7900 XTX is the primary driver of performance in this game, with the CPU providing ample support but not being the deciding factor in frame rate outcomes.