Downfall

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Downfall with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT shows a clear progression across four quality presets at each resolution. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 280.3 FPS, Medium reaches 226.8 FPS, High comes in at 186.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 119.8 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs 40.6 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra costs another 66.4 FPS, making Ultra the most expensive transition at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the pattern repeats with Low at 198.9 FPS, Medium at 166.1 FPS, High at 136.6 FPS, and Ultra at 84.7 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra is 51.9 FPS, which is proportionally larger than the 32.8 FPS drop from Medium to High. At 3840x2160, Low produces 123 FPS, Medium 102.8 FPS, High 83.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 50.5 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only measured configuration that dips below 60 FPS, which is a significant threshold for a horror game where smooth motion contributes to the atmosphere.

The data indicates that the High preset provides the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p it maintains 186.2 FPS, at 1440p it stays at 136.6 FPS, and at 4K it holds 83.5 FPS. Every High configuration stays above the 60 FPS mark with substantial headroom. The Medium preset offers higher frame rates but the visual fidelity reduction may not be worth the additional 40.6 FPS at 1080p when High already exceeds 180 FPS. Ultra, while visually demanding, pushes the 4K result to 50.5 FPS, which is below the smoothness threshold most players expect. For players targeting high refresh rate displays at 1080p or 1440p, the High preset is the recommended starting point, with the option to explore Medium if additional frame rate headroom is needed.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT achieves a combo rank of 640 out of 1741 tested combinations in Downfall. This places the pairing in the upper third of all tested systems, specifically at the 36.8th percentile of the combo distribution. The rank reflects the balanced nature of this pairing: the GPU sits at the 76th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU ranks at the 97th percentile among all CPUs.

The CPU's position is notable. The Core Ultra 7 265K scores an average benchmark score of 79102, which places it just 0.2% behind the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, and 0.9% behind the Intel Core i9-14900K. The AMD EPYC 7413 leads this group by 1.2%. This tight grouping means the CPU is not the limiting factor in most gaming scenarios, and Downfall's results reflect this.

The GPU, with an average benchmark score of 32619, sits at the 76th percentile. Its nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, which is 0.2% ahead, and the NVIDIA P104-100, which trails by 0.4%. The AMD FirePro S10000 is 0.7% ahead. This clustering suggests the RX 7800 XT is positioned in a competitive mid-to-high tier, and the measured frame rates in Downfall align with this placement. The combo rank of 640 out of 1741 indicates that while this system is not at the absolute top of the leaderboard, it delivers strong performance that will satisfy most players seeking high frame rates at mainstream resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate measured for this combo in Downfall?

A: The highest measured average is 280.3 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K across all settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers 50.5 FPS, which falls below 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K delivers 83.5 FPS, Medium 102.8 FPS, and Low 123 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K scores 79102 on average, which is 0.2% below the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, and 0.9% below the Intel Core i9-14900K.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 136.6 FPS while Ultra averages 84.7 FPS, a difference of 51.9 FPS in favor of High.

Q: How does the GPU's percentile ranking compare to the CPU's?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT sits at the 76th percentile among all GPUs, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K ranks at the 97th percentile among all CPUs.

Q: Is the 4K Low preset faster than the 1080p Ultra preset?

A: Yes. The 3840x2160 Low preset averages 123 FPS, while the 1920x1080 Ultra preset averages 119.8 FPS, making the 4K Low configuration 3.2 FPS faster.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data covers three resolutions and four quality settings, providing twelve distinct data points. At 1920x1080, the results are 280.3 FPS on Low, 226.8 FPS on Medium, 186.2 FPS on High, and 119.8 FPS on Ultra. The scaling from Low to Medium reduces performance by 53.5 FPS, from Medium to High by 40.6 FPS, and from High to Ultra by 66.4 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset produces 198.9 FPS, Medium 166.1 FPS, High 136.6 FPS, and Ultra 84.7 FPS. The transitions cost 32.8 FPS from Low to Medium, 29.5 FPS from Medium to High, and 51.9 FPS from High to Ultra. This resolution shows more moderate steps between the lower three presets compared to 1080p.

At 3840x2160, Low averages 123 FPS, Medium 102.8 FPS, High 83.5 FPS, and Ultra 50.5 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 20.2 FPS, Medium to High costs 19.3 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 33 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution is the only measured point below 60 FPS.

Comparing across resolutions, the 1080p Low result of 280.3 FPS is the fastest measured configuration, while the 4K Ultra result of 50.5 FPS is the slowest. The gap between these extremes is 229.8 FPS. At every settings level, the progression from 1080p to 1440p to 4K shows consistent frame rate reductions, with the largest absolute drops occurring at the Low preset where the GPU has more headroom to work with.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 shows a consistent pattern across all settings. At Low, the drop is from 280.3 FPS to 198.9 FPS, a reduction of 81.4 FPS or roughly 29%. At Medium, the drop is from 226.8 FPS to 166.1 FPS, a reduction of 60.7 FPS. At High, the drop is from 186.2 FPS to 136.6 FPS, a reduction of 49.6 FPS. At Ultra, the drop is from 119.8 FPS to 84.7 FPS, a reduction of 35.1 FPS.

Scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 produces similar patterns. Low falls from 198.9 FPS to 123 FPS, a reduction of 75.9 FPS. Medium falls from 166.1 FPS to 102.8 FPS, a reduction of 63.3 FPS. High falls from 136.6 FPS to 83.5 FPS, a reduction of 53.1 FPS. Ultra falls from 84.7 FPS to 50.5 FPS, a reduction of 34.2 FPS.

The resolution scaling data reveals that the GPU is the primary limiting component in this pairing. As resolution increases, the frame rate drops at rates consistent with GPU-bound rendering. The CPU, with its 97th percentile ranking and strong benchmark scores, provides ample headroom to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low reaches 280.3 FPS while 4K Ultra only reaches 50.5 FPS suggests the RX 7800 XT's rendering throughput, not the CPU's processing capability, determines the upper bounds of performance in Downfall. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the higher resolution textures, but the raw compute power at 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 becomes the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a 20-core, 20-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It features a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 per core, 3 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 over a dual-channel interface with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth.

In Downfall, the CPU's performance headroom is evident from the resolution scaling behavior. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 280.3 FPS, which would place significant demand on any processor to maintain frame pacing. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 50009 and single-core score of 7060 indicate strong per-thread performance, which matters for game logic and draw call submission. The Passmark single-thread score of 4904 and multithread score of 58838 further confirm this processor's capability.

The CPU's position relative to its nearest rivals shows it performs within 1% of the Intel Core i9-14900K and the Intel Core i9-14900KF, and within 0.2% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF. This tight grouping means the choice between these processors would not meaningfully change Downfall's frame rates. The CPU's 97th percentile ranking among all CPUs reinforces that it is not the bottleneck in this system. The measured frame rates at 1080p, where CPU overhead is typically highest, still exceed 186 FPS on High settings, indicating the processor handles the game's demands without limiting the GPU. The 20-core configuration, while more than needed for gaming, provides substantial multitasking headroom, though Downfall's performance is ultimately dictated by the GPU's rendering capabilities as resolution and quality settings increase.