Downfall

FAQ

Q: What is the comboRankInGame for the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus + AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT in Downfall?

A: This combination ranks 667th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 22.8% of all configurations tested for this game.

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

A: At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 131. This is the most demanding preset at this resolution and shows a significant drop from the Low preset's 312 FPS average.

Q: How much VRAM does the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT have, and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s. The memory clock is 2518 MHz (20.1 Gbps effective).

Q: What are the core and boost clocks of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus?

A: The CPU has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. It features 24 cores and 24 threads.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between 1080p Low and 4K Ultra?

A: The 1080p Low preset averages 312 FPS, while the 4K Ultra preset averages 58 FPS. This represents a drop of 254 FPS, or roughly 81.4%, when moving from the least demanding to the most demanding configuration tested.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs, and what does that indicate?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has a percentileVsAllGpus of 55, meaning it performs better than 55% of all GPUs in the database based on average benchmark scores. Its average benchmark score is 13543.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 48 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It contains 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. The GPU has a base clock of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 2518 MHz, delivering 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus.

The GPU's shading array consists of 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 raster operation units. It also includes 64 ray tracing cores. Peak pixel rate is 380.2 GPixel/s, texture rate is 760.3 GTexel/s, and FP32 throughput is 48.66 TFLOPS. These specifications position the card for high-refresh-rate 1440p and capable 4K gaming, which is consistent with the measured results in Downfall.

In this game, the GPU's VRAM capacity of 16 GB is more than sufficient, as the measured FPS drops are primarily driven by resolution and preset rather than memory constraints. The data shows a clear scaling pattern: at 1080p Low, the average FPS is 312, while at 4K Ultra, it drops to 58. The memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s supports the high fill rates required at 4K, but the Ultra preset's demands on the GPU are substantial, cutting performance by over 80% compared to the lowest settings at 1080p.

The GPU's benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 7260, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 65879, and a Passmark G3D score of 26795. Its percentileVsAllGpus of 55 indicates it sits in the upper-middle tier of the GPU hierarchy. The nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the AMD Radeon HD 7770M (13536, deltaPct 0.1%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13515, deltaPct 0.2%), NVIDIA P106-090 (13470, deltaPct 0.5%), and AMD Radeon Pro 555 (13407, deltaPct 1%). These deltas are all within 1%, showing that the RX 9070 XT's average score is closely matched by a cluster of much older or lower-tier cards, though the RX 9070 XT outperforms them all in this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how Downfall scales across resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the average FPS is 312. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 223 FPS, a reduction of 28.5%. At 4K Low, the average is 139 FPS, a further drop of 37.7% from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that at Low settings, the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU, but the GPU becomes progressively more limited as resolution increases.

For Medium settings, the pattern is similar but with slightly steeper drops. At 1080p Medium, the average is 255 FPS (with min 217 and max 294). At 1440p Medium, it drops to 182 FPS (min 155, max 210), a 28.6% reduction. At 4K Medium, it falls to 113 FPS (min 96, max 131), a 37.9% drop from 1440p. The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium settings suggests a balanced scaling curve where the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

High settings show a similar trend. At 1080p High, the average is 209 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 150 FPS, a 28.2% reduction. At 4K High, it falls to 93 FPS, a 38% drop from 1440p. The largest drop occurs when moving from 1440p High to 4K High, losing 57 FPS.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 131 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 93 FPS, a 29% reduction. At 4K Ultra, it falls to 58 FPS, a 37.6% drop from 1440p. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, indicating that this combination struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at the highest settings and resolution.

The data shows that the transition from 1080p to 1440p consistently costs about 28-29% of performance across all presets, while the transition from 1440p to 4K costs about 37-38%. This widening gap at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU becomes increasingly the bottleneck as pixel count rises. The CPU, with its high single-thread and multi-thread performance, is not the limiting factor in this game at any resolution tested.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT ranks 667th out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall. This places it in the top 22.8% of all combinations tested for this game. The rank reflects the overall gaming performance of the pairing, accounting for both CPU and GPU contributions.

The CPU itself has a percentileVsAllCpus of 96, meaning it outperforms 96% of all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 93785. The nearest CPU rivals are the Intel Xeon 6520P (avgScore 93786, deltaPct 0%), AMD EPYC 4564P (avgScore 95183, deltaPct -1.5%), AMD EPYC 9175F (avgScore 95615, deltaPct -1.9%), and AMD EPYC 4565P (avgScore 95764, deltaPct -2.1%). The Intel Xeon 6520P is essentially identical in average score, while the EPYC parts are 1.5-2.1% ahead.

The GPU has a percentileVsAllGpus of 55, which is notably lower than the CPU's percentile. This discrepancy suggests that while the CPU is a top-tier component, the GPU is more mid-range in the overall database hierarchy. However, in Downfall specifically, the combo still achieves a strong rank due to the game's relatively modest requirements compared to more demanding titles.

The combo rank of 667 out of 2928 means that 2261 other combinations outperformed it in this game. This is a solid result, but it also indicates that there are many configurations with better performance in Downfall. The rank is likely influenced by the GPU's mid-tier percentile, as the CPU is near the top of its class.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, part of the Core Ultra Series 2. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The CPU is manufactured on a 3 nm process at TSMC with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die. It supports DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s and includes 36 MB of shared L3 cache, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 192 KB of L1 cache per core.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. The benchmark results show that at 1080p Low, the combination achieves 312 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The CPU's strong single-thread performance is evident from its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2439 and Passmark single-thread score of 5068. Multi-thread performance is also strong, with Cinebench R23 multi-core scoring 44253 and Passmark multithread scoring 68574.

The CPU's nearest rivals by average benchmark score are the Intel Xeon 6520P (deltaPct 0%), AMD EPYC 4564P (deltaPct -1.5%), AMD EPYC 9175F (deltaPct -1.9%), and AMD EPYC 4565P (deltaPct -2.1%). All of these are server-class processors with different core configurations, but the Ultra 7 270K Plus holds its own in average score. The 24-core, 24-thread configuration (no hyperthreading) is well-suited for gaming workloads that benefit from high core counts, though Downfall's performance is more dependent on the GPU at higher resolutions.

The CPU's TDP is 125 W, and it uses the Intel Socket 1851. It has an integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU, though the discrete RX 9070 XT handles all rendering in these tests. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s is sufficient for the game's data throughput requirements, as evidenced by the high frame rates at lower resolutions where CPU-side data feeding is more critical.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). All data points are measured averages, with min and max FPS recorded only for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the results are:

• Low: 312 FPS average
• Medium: 255 FPS average (min 217, max 294)
• High: 209 FPS average
• Ultra: 131 FPS average

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 223 FPS average
• Medium: 182 FPS average (min 155, max 210)
• High: 150 FPS average
• Ultra: 93 FPS average

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 139 FPS average
• Medium: 113 FPS average (min 96, max 131)
• High: 93 FPS average
• Ultra: 58 FPS average

The data shows that at 1080p, even the Ultra preset maintains 131 FPS, which is smooth for most displays. The Medium preset at 1080p has a min FPS of 217 and max of 294, indicating consistent frame pacing. At 1440p, the Ultra preset drops to 93 FPS, still playable but with less headroom. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a min of 155 and max of 210, maintaining a comfortable range.

At 4K, the situation changes. The Low preset achieves 139 FPS, which is still high, but the Ultra preset drops to 58 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 4K has a min of 96 and max of 131, showing that even at this demanding resolution, the combination can maintain playable frame rates with moderate settings.

The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution is consistent: at 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 181 FPS (312 to 131); at 1440p, it's 130 FPS (223 to 93); at 4K, it's 81 FPS (139 to 58). This shows that the absolute performance loss from increasing settings is smaller at higher resolutions, but the relative loss remains similar.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate.

For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset at 131 FPS provides the best visual quality while maintaining frame rates well above 60 FPS. This is the recommended choice for players with standard 60Hz monitors, and it also works well for 120Hz or 144Hz displays, as 131 FPS is close to the refresh rate of many gaming monitors. The High preset at 209 FPS is better suited for 240Hz displays, offering a substantial increase in frame rate with only a moderate reduction in visual fidelity compared to Ultra.

For 1440p gaming, the Ultra preset at 93 FPS is the best balance for 60Hz displays, providing maximum visual quality while staying above 60 FPS. The High preset at 150 FPS is recommended for players with 144Hz or 165Hz monitors, as it delivers a smooth experience with fewer graphical compromises. The Medium preset at 182 FPS is the choice for competitive players who prioritize frame rate over visuals, though the min FPS of 155 ensures no drops below the refresh rate of most high-refresh monitors.

For 4K gaming, the Ultra preset at 58 FPS is borderline, sitting just below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 93 FPS is the recommended setting for 4K, offering a significant improvement in frame rate while maintaining high visual quality. The Medium preset at 113 FPS (min 96) provides even more headroom and is suitable for players who want to ensure smooth gameplay on VRR displays. The Low preset at 139 FPS is the best option for maximizing frame rates at 4K, though it sacrifices a considerable amount of visual detail.

The data indicates that the Medium preset consistently provides the most stable frame times, as it is the only preset with recorded min and max FPS values showing a narrow band (e.g., 217-294 at 1080p, 155-210 at 1440p, 96-131 at 4K). For players who value consistent frame pacing, the Medium preset is a safe choice across all resolutions.

In summary, the recommended presets are: 1080p Ultra for 60Hz displays, 1080p High for 144Hz displays, 1440p High for 144Hz displays, 1440p Ultra for 60Hz displays, 4K High for 60Hz displays, and 4K Medium for VRR displays. These choices maximize the combination's strengths while staying within playable frame rate ranges.