Downfall

The data for Downfall with the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT shows a configuration that scales predictably across resolutions, with the GPU becoming the primary constraint at higher settings. Measured results indicate a playable experience at 4K with adjusted settings, while 1080p performance is exceptionally high. The following analysis breaks down the measured FPS, component roles, and ranking based strictly on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution scaling analysis reveals a classic GPU-bound curve as pixel count increases. At 1080p, the average FPS at High settings is 176, which drops to 126 at 1440p, and further to 78 at 4K. This represents a 55.7% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K at High settings, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel throughput.

The pattern is consistent across other presets. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 263 at 1080p to 188 at 1440p, and then to 117 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 55.5%, nearly identical to the High preset drop. This consistency suggests the RX 7700 XT is the limiting component across all tested settings, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed the GPU even at lower resolutions.

At Medium settings, the data includes minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 215 FPS with a minimum of 183 and maximum of 247. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 154 FPS (min 131, max 177). At 4K Medium, the average is 96 FPS (min 81, max 110). The delta between average and minimum FPS is relatively consistent (32 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, 15 FPS at 4K), indicating that frame pacing remains stable as resolution increases, though the absolute variance reduces proportionally with the lower averages.

The Ultra preset shows the steepest scaling curve. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 110 FPS. This drops 28.2% to 79 FPS at 1440p, and then 38% to 49 FPS at 4K. The transition from 1440p to 4K Ultra is particularly punishing, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces effects that disproportionately tax the GPU’s memory bandwidth or shading units at higher resolutions.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The FPS drops from 1080p to 1440p average around 30-40% across presets, and from 1440p to 4K average another 35-40%. This compound scaling is typical of a GPU that is saturated by the pixel fill rate and shader workload. The CPU, with its high single-thread and multi-thread capabilities, does not appear to bottleneck at any resolution tested, as even at 1080p Low (263 FPS average), the frame rate is high enough to suggest the CPU is not the constraint.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports a clear hierarchy of presets based on the balance between visual quality and frame rate. For users targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the 4K Ultra preset is the only option that falls below this threshold, averaging 49 FPS. This preset should be avoided at 4K unless the user prioritizes maximum visual fidelity over smoothness.

At 4K, the High preset delivers 78 FPS average, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset achieves 96 FPS average, providing a substantial margin for demanding scenes. The Low preset reaches 117 FPS average, which is overkill for most displays but useful for high refresh rate panels. The data indicates that 4K High is the optimal balance for this resolution, as it offers the highest visual quality while maintaining a solid average frame rate.

At 1440p, all presets exceed 60 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 79 FPS, which is playable but leaves little headroom for dips. High averages 126 FPS, Medium 154 FPS, and Low 188 FPS. The recommendation here is High or Ultra, depending on the display’s refresh rate. For 144Hz panels, High is the safe choice, while Ultra can be used on 60Hz panels without issue.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset averages 110 FPS, making it viable for 100Hz+ displays. High averages 176 FPS, Medium 215 FPS, and Low 263 FPS. For esports or competitive play, the Low preset at 263 FPS average is the best choice for maximum responsiveness. For general single-player play, Ultra at 110 FPS provides the best visual experience while still delivering high frame rates.

The best experience per the measured rows is 1440p High, which offers 126 FPS average. This resolution provides a significant visual improvement over 1080p, and the High preset at this resolution delivers frame rates high enough for most high refresh rate monitors. The 4K High preset (78 FPS) is the best choice for users with 4K displays who want to maintain a smooth experience without dropping to Medium settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with the Ultra preset?

A: The average FPS at 1080p Ultra is 110 FPS. This is the highest preset tested at this resolution, and it remains playable for most users.

Q: Does the configuration maintain 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, for most presets. At 4K, the average FPS is 117 (Low), 96 (Medium), and 78 (High). However, the Ultra preset at 4K averages only 49 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the Medium preset frame pacing compare across resolutions?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average is 215 FPS with a minimum of 183 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 154 FPS with a minimum of 131 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 96 FPS with a minimum of 81 FPS. The frame-to-frame consistency remains stable, with the minimum FPS staying within 15-18% of the average.

Q: What is the performance delta between 1440p and 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS at 1440p High is 126, while at 4K High it is 78. This represents a 38.1% reduction in average frame rate when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a GPU-bound curve across all presets. The CPU’s high benchmark scores suggest it has sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking at any tested resolution.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this configuration?

A: The highest average FPS is 263, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset. This is the only measurement above 250 FPS in the dataset.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers the highest average FPS at 263. The Medium preset averages 215 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 183 and maximum of 247. The High preset averages 176 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 110 FPS. No minimum or maximum values are provided for Low, High, or Ultra at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 188 FPS. The Medium preset averages 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 and maximum of 177. The High preset averages 126 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 79 FPS. Similar to 1080p, only the Medium preset includes minimum and maximum values.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 117 FPS. The Medium preset averages 96 FPS, with a minimum of 81 and maximum of 110. The High preset averages 78 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 49 FPS, which is the lowest average FPS recorded in the entire dataset. Again, only the Medium preset at 4K includes minimum and maximum values.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the Medium preset is the only one with full frame range data at each resolution. This suggests that the Medium preset is the primary point of analysis for frame pacing. The spread between minimum and maximum FPS at Medium is 64 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 29 FPS at 4K. This decreasing spread with resolution indicates that the GPU’s workload becomes more uniform at higher resolutions, reducing the variance between individual frames.

The average FPS deltas between presets are also informative. At 1080p, the delta between Low and Ultra is 153 FPS (263 to 110). At 1440p, the delta is 109 FPS (188 to 79). At 4K, the delta is 68 FPS (117 to 49). This shows that the performance cost of the Ultra preset relative to Low is proportionally similar across resolutions, but the absolute cost in FPS decreases as the baseline frame rate drops.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT plays the central role in determining the frame rates observed in Downfall. The GPU is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture and features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the tested resolutions, as the game does not appear to hit a VRAM capacity limit at any setting.

The GPU’s clock speeds are notable. The base clock is 1435 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz and a boost clock of 2544 MHz. The difference between the base and boost clocks is 1109 MHz, which indicates that the GPU can significantly increase its clock speed under load. The measured frame rates suggest that the GPU is operating near its boost clock during gameplay, as the performance scaling is consistent with the shader and texture rate specifications.

The GPU has 3456 shading units, 216 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The pixel rate is 244.2 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 549.5 GTexel/s. These specifications align with the observed performance drops at higher resolutions, particularly at the Ultra preset where the additional pixel and texture workload causes the average FPS to fall from 110 at 1080p to 49 at 4K.

The GPU’s percentile ranking is 67, with an average benchmark score of 22549. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile, which has an average score of 22435, representing a 0.5% delta. This places the RX 7700 XT in the upper mid-range tier of GPUs, which is consistent with its performance in Downfall where it delivers high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p but requires settings adjustments at 4K.

The GPU’s FP32 performance is 35.17 TFLOPS, which is a measure of its raw compute capability. In Downfall, a horror game, the compute workload is likely dominated by shading and post-processing effects. The data shows that the Ultra preset at 4K (49 FPS) is the only configuration that struggles, suggesting that the GPU’s compute resources are fully utilized at that setting.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus provides the processing foundation for this configuration. The CPU has 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. This high boost clock is particularly relevant for gaming, as single-threaded performance often dictates frame pacing in scenarios where the GPU is not fully saturated.

The CPU’s benchmark scores are exceptional. In Cinebench R23, the multi-core score is 44253 and the single-core score is 2439. The single-core score indicates strong per-thread performance, which helps ensure that the CPU does not become a bottleneck even at high frame rates. The PassMark single-thread score is 5068, further confirming this capability.

The CPU’s cache hierarchy includes 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. This large L3 cache is beneficial for games that have large working sets, as it reduces the need to access system memory. The memory bandwidth is 115.2 GB/s, which is sufficient for the GPU to receive data without stalling.

The CPU’s percentile ranking is 96, with an average benchmark score of 93785. Its nearest rival is the Intel Xeon 6520P with a delta of 0%, indicating that the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is at the top of its performance class. The AMD EPYC 4564P is 1.5% slower, and the AMD EPYC 9175F is 1.9% slower.

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 (263 FPS average) suggest that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates without becoming the limiting factor. Even at the highest frame rate recorded, the CPU is not the constraint, as the GPU is still the component that determines the final FPS.

The CPU’s boost clock of 5.50 GHz is likely the key factor in its gaming performance. This clock speed allows for rapid single-threaded execution, which is critical for games that do not scale perfectly across many cores. The 24-core configuration provides ample multi-threaded capacity for any background tasks or heavily threaded game systems.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ranks 1041 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places the configuration in the top 35.6% of all tested systems, indicating that it performs well above the median but is not among the elite combinations.

The rank is influenced by both the CPU and GPU performance. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 96 is much higher than the GPU’s percentile ranking of 67. This suggests that the combo’s overall rank is constrained by the GPU rather than the CPU. If the GPU were more powerful, the combo would likely rank higher, as the CPU has significant headroom.

Comparing the combo’s performance to the individual component benchmarks, the GPU’s average benchmark score of 22549 is closely matched by its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (score 22435, delta 0.5%). This indicates that the RX 7700 XT is in a competitive tier where small performance differences exist between models.

The CPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Xeon 6520P, has a delta of 0%, meaning the two CPUs have nearly identical average benchmark scores. This places the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus in the same performance class as a server-grade Xeon processor, highlighting its strong multi-threaded capabilities.

In the context of Downfall, the combo’s rank of 1041 out of 2928 means that there are 1040 combos that perform better, and 1887 combos that perform worse. This is a solid mid-to-upper tier ranking. The measured FPS data supports this ranking, as the combo delivers high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, with playable performance at 4K when settings are adjusted.

The rank suggests that users with this combo will have a satisfying experience in Downfall, particularly at 1440p where the balance between visual quality and performance is optimal. The 4K Ultra preset is the only weak point, but the High and Medium presets at 4K provide acceptable alternatives. Overall, this combo represents a well-balanced pairing where the CPU does not hold back the GPU, and the GPU provides sufficient power for most gaming scenarios.