Downfall

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank for the Core Ultra 7 265K with the RTX 4090 in Downfall?

A: This combination ranks 109th out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 3% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers an average of 296 FPS. This is measured data, not an estimate.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth compare to its rivals?

A: The RTX 4090 has a memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s, which is a key advantage. The nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% delta), but those comparisons are based on overall scores, not memory bandwidth.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock and core count?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has 20 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz and a base clock of 3.90 GHz. The L3 cache is 30 MB shared.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 82, which occurs at 3840x2160 (4K) with Ultra settings. This is the most demanding configuration in the measured set.

Q: Does the combo perform better at 1440p or 4K for Low settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average FPS is 315. At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the average FPS drops to 196. The 1440p result is significantly higher.

How This Combo Ranks

The data places this CPU-GPU pairing at rank 109 out of 3716 tested combinations for Downfall. That is a strong position, indicating the hardware is well-suited to the game's demands. The top 3% placement suggests that very few configurations outperform this one in this specific title, which is a horror game released in 2016-02-28.

The combination's rank is determined by the measured FPS across all tested resolutions and settings. The highest average FPS recorded is 442 at 1080p Low, while the lowest is 82 at 4K Ultra. The spread between these extremes—a factor of more than five—shows that the combo has a wide operating range depending on the graphical load.

When compared to other tested combos, the 109th rank out of 3716 means that approximately 3607 configurations are slower, while 108 are faster. This is a competitive position, though not the absolute top. The data does not reveal which specific combos rank higher, but the percentile placement (top 3%) is clear from the raw numbers.

The rank is a composite measure, so it does not tell us whether the CPU or GPU is the limiting factor at any given setting. That analysis requires examining the FPS breakdown by resolution and settings, which follows. The fact that the combo ranks this high despite the RTX 4090 being listed as end-of-life and the CPU being a 2024 release suggests that the pairing is still highly capable for this game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of graphical performance in this combo. It has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. The base clock is 2235 MHz, with a boost clock of 2520 MHz. Memory operates at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective).

In Downfall, the GPU's role is evident in the FPS scaling across settings. At 1080p, going from Low (442 FPS) to Ultra (185 FPS) reduces the average by 257 FPS, a 58% drop. At 4K, the same settings transition drops from 196 FPS to 82 FPS, a 58% reduction as well. This consistency indicates the GPU is handling the workload proportionally across resolutions.

The RTX 4090's 16384 shading units and 512 TMUs provide substantial raw compute power. The 176 ROPs handle pixel output at a rate of 443.5 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 1,290.2 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 82.58 TFLOPS. These specifications are not directly comparable to the nearest rivals by average score (Intel Arc Pro A60 at 0% delta, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 0.3% delta), but the FPS data shows the 4090 is delivering high frame rates even at 4K.

The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present but not specifically tested in Downfall. The game's measured results reflect standard rasterization performance. The 88th percentile ranking vs all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 60347 place it above most, but the nearest rival data shows a tight cluster—deltas of -2.5% to 2.9% against four other GPUs.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides 12 distinct configurations, covering three resolutions and four settings each. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 442 (Low) to 185 (Ultra). Medium delivers 361 FPS (min 307, max 416), and High delivers 296 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 81 FPS, while Medium to High drops 65 FPS, and High to Ultra drops 111 FPS. The largest single-setting penalty is High to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 315 (Low), 258 (Medium, min 219, max 297), 212 (High), and 132 (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 57 FPS, Medium to High is 46 FPS, and High to Ultra is 80 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1440p produces a 132 FPS average, which is identical to the 4K High average of 132 FPS. This suggests that 1440p Ultra and 4K High impose a similar load on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 196 (Low), 161 (Medium, min 136, max 185), 132 (High), and 82 (Ultra). The scaling from Low to Medium is a 35 FPS drop, Medium to High is 29 FPS, and High to Ultra is 50 FPS. The Ultra setting at 4K is the only configuration below 100 FPS, making it the most demanding scenario in the dataset.

Across all resolutions, the Medium setting shows the only min/max values provided. At 1080p Medium, min is 307 and max is 416; at 1440p Medium, min is 219 and max is 297; at 4K Medium, min is 136 and max is 185. These ranges indicate frame time variance, but the average FPS remains high in all cases.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The L3 cache is 30 MB shared, with 192 KB L1 and 3 MB L2 per core. The CPU is built on a 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is less visible than the GPU's because the game is not typically CPU-bound at high resolutions. However, the data shows that at 1080p Low, the average FPS reaches 442. This high frame rate suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower graphical loadscars. The single-core performance, as measured by Cinebench R23 at 2020, and multi-core at 35850, indicates strong headroom.

The CPU's 20 threads are likely not fully utilized by Downfall, which is a 2016 title. The boost clock of 5.50 GHz is more relevant for game performance than the core count. The Geekbench single-core score of 2713 and multi-core of 23085 support this. The Passmark single-thread score is 4928, and multithread is 58594.

The CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 94, with an average benchmark score of 70879. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6511P (-0.2% delta), Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (-0.7%), Intel Core i7-14700KF (1%), and AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (1.3%). These deltas are small, meaning the 265K is closely matched with several other CPUs in overall benchmark terms.

For Downfall specifically, the CPU's impact is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the 442 FPS average suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck. At higher settings and resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as seen in the FPS scaling patterns.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1080p, all settings produce playable frame rates. Low (442 FPS) is excessive for most displays, while High (296 FPS) and Medium (361 FPS) offer a balance. Ultra (185 FPS) is still smooth but imposes a significant penalty over High.

At 1440p, Medium (258 FPS) and High (212 FPS) are both strong choices. Ultra (132 FPS) is acceptable for 120 Hz displays but falls short of 144 Hz. Low (315 FPS) is unnecessarily high for most users. The min FPS at 1440p Medium is 219, which keeps frame times consistent.

At 4K, Medium (161 FPS) and High (132 FPS) are the recommended presets. Low (196 FPS) is playable but sacrifices visual quality for marginal gains. Ultra (82 FPS) is the only setting that dips below 100 FPS, making it less ideal for smooth gameplay. The min FPS at 4K Medium is 136, which is still above 60 FPS.

For the best overall experience, the data suggests 1440p High (212 FPS) or 4K Medium (161 FPS) as sweet spots. The 1440p High preset offers a high average with no reported min FPS below 212, while 4K Medium provides a 161 FPS average with a 136 FPS minimum. If the user prioritizes frame rate over resolution, 1080p High (296 FPS) is the best choice.

Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p (185 FPS) or 1440p (132 FPS) if the display supports those refresh rates. At 4K, Ultra (82 FPS) is borderline for 60 Hz displays but not for higher refresh rates.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload scales and which component limits performance. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 442 (1080p) to 315 (1440p) to 196 (4K). This is a 56% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that even at low graphical load, the GPU is being pushed harder as resolution increases.

At Medium settings, the averages are 361 (1080p), 258 (1440p), and 161 (4K). The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 29%, and from 1440p to 4K is 38%. At High settings, the averages are 296 (1080p), 212 (1440p), and 132 (4K), with drops of 28% and 38% respectively. At Ultra settings, the averages are 185 (1080p), 132 (1440p), and 82 (4K), with drops of 29% and 38%.

The consistent pattern—roughly a 28-29% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 38% drop from 1440p to 4K—suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at all settings. The CPU's performance is sufficient to maintain high frame rates, as evidenced by the 442 FPS at 1080p Low, which is far above typical display refresh rates.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steeper than from 1080p to 1440p, which is expected given that 4K has over twice the pixels of 1440p. The fact that the FPS drops are proportionally similar across settings indicates that the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) and compute resources are being utilized consistently.

At 4K Ultra, the 82 FPS average is the only result below 100 FPS, making it the clear boundary of this combo's capability. The data shows that this pairing handles 4K High (132 FPS) comfortably, but Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits. The CPU's role is minimal in this scaling, as the frame rate drops track the pixel count increase rather than CPU-bound behavior.