Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a dramatically different experience across Downfall's resolution and settings spectrum. At 1080p, the combination produces exceptionally high frame rates that approach and exceed 300 FPS on lower presets, while 4K Ultra drops to just 58 FPS, revealing a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions but impressively capable at lower ones. The data indicates a clear hierarchy: this pairing excels at high-refresh 1440p gaming and remains playable at 4K, though the demand of Ultra settings at 4K pushes the RTX 3080 Ti to its limits.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable but steep decline as resolution increases, with the magnitude of the drop varying significantly by settings preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 311 FPS at 1920x1080 to 222 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 28.6% reduction — and then to 138 FPS at 3840x2160, representing a further 37.8% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that at Low settings, the GPU is the primary limiting factor even at 1080p, as the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has ample headroom to feed the RTX 3080 Ti.

The Medium preset tells a similar story with slightly compressed margins: 254 FPS at 1080p, 182 FPS at 1440p (a 28.3% decrease), and 113 FPS at 4K (a 37.9% decrease from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and Medium settings suggests that the rendering workload scales nearly linearly with pixel count, which is typical for a horror title with heavy ambient occlusion and shadow effects.

High settings introduce a more pronounced scaling penalty. The RTX 3080 Ti achieves 208 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 149 FPS at 1440p (a 28.4% reduction) and then to 93 FPS at 4K (a 37.6% reduction from 1440p). The relative consistency across presets — all falling in the 28-29% range for the 1080p-to-1440p transition and 37-38% for the 1440p-to-4K transition — indicates that Downfall's resolution scaling is uniform regardless of visual complexity.

Ultra settings break this pattern dramatically. The 1080p Ultra average of 130 FPS falls to 93 FPS at 1440p (a 28.5% drop, consistent with other presets) but then plummets to 58 FPS at 4K — a 37.6% reduction that mirrors the other presets' scaling behavior. However, the absolute values reveal that Ultra at 4K demands more than the RTX 3080 Ti can comfortably provide, with the 58 FPS average sitting well below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider minimum for smooth gameplay.

The limiting component analysis is clear: at 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is the bottleneck across all settings, as evidenced by the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus's 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs and its ability to drive frame rates exceeding 300 FPS at Low settings. At 4K, the GPU becomes even more decisively the limiting factor, with the RTX 3080 Ti's 83rd percentile GPU ranking proving insufficient for Ultra settings. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation at any resolution — even the lowest 4K frame rate of 58 FPS is well within the CPU's capability to generate frames.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports a clear recommendation hierarchy based on resolution and target frame rates. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 254 FPS average with a minimum of 216 FPS, making it the optimal balance for high-refresh-rate displays. The jump to High (208 FPS) costs 46 FPS for what is typically a modest visual improvement in a 2016 horror title, while Ultra (130 FPS) sacrifices an additional 78 FPS for marginal gains that most players would not notice at these frame rates.

For 2560x1440, High settings at 149 FPS represent the best experience per the measured rows. This frame rate comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, and the Medium preset (182 FPS) offers diminishing returns when the visual quality difference between Medium and High is considered. Ultra at 1440p drops to 93 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 37.6% performance penalty over High for settings that are unlikely to meaningfully enhance the horror atmosphere.

At 3840x2160, the recommendation becomes more nuanced. High settings at 93 FPS provide a smooth 4K experience, and Medium at 113 FPS offers even more headroom. However, Low at 138 FPS is the only preset that fully utilizes high-refresh 4K displays, though the visual compromises may undermine the immersion that a horror game depends on. Ultra at 58 FPS is best avoided — the data shows it dips below the 60 FPS threshold, and the visual uplift from High to Ultra does not justify the 37.6% frame rate penalty.

The overall best experience per the measured rows is the 1440p High preset at 149 FPS. This configuration delivers the highest frame rate that still maintains substantial visual fidelity, and it avoids the 4K Ultra trap where the RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB VRAM and 34.10 TFLOPS compute are insufficient for the game's most demanding settings. Players with 1080p displays should select Medium for the best combination of smoothness and image quality, while 4K users should accept High as the practical ceiling.

FAQ

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K with High settings?

A: The measured data shows a 93 FPS average at 3840x2160 with High settings. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth 4K experience, though it does not fully utilize high-refresh 4K displays.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 Ti capable of running Downfall at 4K Ultra?

A: The data shows a 58 FPS average at 4K Ultra, which falls below the 60 FPS target. While this is technically playable, the frame rate is marginal, and the 12 GB VRAM buffer combined with the 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is stressed by the game's Ultra preset at this resolution.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus perform in this game?

A: The CPU does not appear to be a limiting factor at any resolution or settings combination tested. Its 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs and strong multi-threaded performance (e.g., 51,731 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) ensure it can feed the RTX 3080 Ti effectively, even at 1080p Low where frame rates reach 311 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: For a 144 Hz display, the 1440p High preset at 149 FPS is the optimal choice. This exceeds the refresh rate while maintaining good visual quality. At 1080p, Medium at 254 FPS also works, but the visual difference between Medium and High at 1440p is more impactful for a horror game's atmosphere.

Q: Why does Ultra settings cause such a large performance drop at 4K?

A: The 4K Ultra average of 58 FPS represents a 37.6% reduction from the 1440p Ultra figure of 93 FPS. This steep decline indicates that the Ultra preset's additional effects (likely enhanced shadows, reflections, and post-processing) scale poorly with pixel count, overwhelming the RTX 3080 Ti's 80 RT cores and 320 TMUs.

Q: Can I achieve 300+ FPS in Downfall with this hardware?

A: Yes, but only at 1080p with Low settings, where the measured average is 311 FPS. This configuration leverages the CPU's high single-thread performance (7,303 in Cinebench R23 single-core) to minimize GPU bottlenecking, though such low settings compromise the visual experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The lowest resolution tested shows the RTX 3080 Ti at its most capable. Low settings produce a 311 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 254 FPS, with a minimum of 216 FPS and a maximum of 292 FPS, indicating consistent frame pacing. High settings deliver 208 FPS, while Ultra drops to 130 FPS — a 58.2% reduction from Low. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 181 FPS, demonstrating the substantial GPU workload difference between presets.

2560x1440: The 1440p results show a similar pattern with compressed absolute values. Low settings achieve 222 FPS, Medium delivers 182 FPS (minimum 154 FPS, maximum 209 FPS), High reaches 149 FPS, and Ultra produces 93 FPS. The 129 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at this resolution is smaller than at 1080p, confirming that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as pixel count rises. The Medium preset's minimum of 154 FPS ensures that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays above 144 Hz.

3840x2160: At 4K, the RTX 3080 Ti's limitations become apparent. Low settings still deliver a respectable 138 FPS, and Medium maintains 113 FPS with a minimum of 96 FPS and maximum of 130 FPS. High settings drop to 93 FPS, which is borderline for 4K gaming. Ultra settings produce only 58 FPS, which is the lowest figure in the entire dataset and falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The 80 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is the smallest of any resolution, underscoring that the GPU is the dominant constraint at this resolution.

The data reveals that the CPU's performance headroom is never fully utilized at 4K, where even the highest frame rate (138 FPS at Low) is well below the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus's capabilities. Conversely, at 1080p Low (311 FPS), the system approaches the practical limit of what the RTX 3080 Ti can render, suggesting that the CPU could handle even higher frame rates if the GPU were faster.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the decisive component in Downfall's performance envelope. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for all tested settings at 1080p and 1440p, but becomes a potential constraint at 4K Ultra where the game's texture and effect demands increase. The memory clock runs at 1188 MHz, effective 19 Gbps, and the 12 GB capacity is adequate for this 2016 title even at 4K, though the 58 FPS Ultra result suggests the GPU's compute resources, not VRAM, are the primary bottleneck.

The GPU's compute specifications are substantial: 10,240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, with 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The FP32 throughput of 34.10 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s directly influence Downfall's rendering performance. The boost clock of 1665 MHz (base 1365 MHz) allows the card to maintain high utilization across all resolutions. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077 and Passmark G3D score of 26,896 place the RTX 3080 Ti in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41,187.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3080 Ti's average benchmark score is 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870), 2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377), but 1.2% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB (41,707) and 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897). These margins are negligible in real-world gaming, but the RTX 3080 Ti's gaming-specific features (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and 80 RT cores) make it better suited for Downfall than the compute-oriented Tesla cards.

Downfall's horror genre typically relies on dynamic lighting, shadow quality, and ambient effects, all of which stress the GPU's shading units and ROPs. The 112 ROPs and 186.5 GPixel/s fill rate are directly relevant to the game's resolution scaling behavior, explaining why frame rates drop so consistently with pixel count. The RTX 3080 Ti's 350 W TDP and dual-slot design require adequate cooling, but the measured performance indicates the card sustains its boost clock effectively across long gaming sessions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus serves as a high-end companion to the RTX 3080 Ti, and the data shows it rarely becomes the limiting factor in Downfall. With 24 cores and 24 threads, a base clock of 3.70 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz, this Arrow Lake Refresh processor provides substantial single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs and average benchmark score of 84,003 place it among the fastest desktop processors available.

The CPU's benchmark results are uniformly strong. Cinebench R23 scores of 51,731 (multi-core) and 7,303 (single-core) indicate that the processor can handle both lightly-threaded game logic and heavily-threaded background tasks without bottlenecking. Passmark multi-thread score of 60,860 and single-thread score of 4,823 further confirm this capability. The 36 MB shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core provide ample fast memory for game data, while the dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without stalling.

The nearest rival comparison shows the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is 0.2% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83,807 average score) and 1.1% faster than the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83,090), but 1.3% slower than the AMD EPYC 7F72 (85,072). These differences are within noise for gaming workloads, and the 290K Plus's high boost clock of 5.80 GHz gives it an edge in games like Downfall that have significant single-threaded components.

In the context of Downfall's measured FPS, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU without introducing frame pacing issues. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 311 FPS without any sign of CPU limitation suggests that the processor's single-thread performance is more than adequate for this game's engine. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU produces only 58 FPS, the CPU has ample headroom, with the bottleneck clearly residing in the RTX 3080 Ti's rendering capabilities. The 24 threads also help maintain smooth performance during loading and streaming, which is relevant for a horror game that may load assets dynamically as the player explores.