Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The measured frame rates for this combination in Downfall reveal a system that is heavily GPU-bound across most settings, with the RTX 4060 acting as the primary performance limiter while the Core Ultra 9 290K provides ample headroom. The data shows a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K, where the GPU's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface become increasingly strained, yet the CPU's 24 cores and 5.80 GHz boost clock ensure that frame pacing remains stable even at lower resolutions where GPU load is lighter.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal experience for Downfall with this hardware is the Medium preset at 2560x1440, delivering 132 average FPS with a minimum of 112 and maximum of 152. This setting strikes the best balance between visual fidelity and performance, as it maintains frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth horror gameplay while offering a measurable improvement over Low settings. The Medium preset at 1440p also shows the system's capability to sustain high minimums, which is critical in a horror title where sudden frame drops can disrupt immersion.

At 1920x1080, the High preset at 152 average FPS is the recommended choice for users prioritizing visual quality on 1080p displays. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 33 FPS (from 185 to 152), but the visual improvements in lighting and texture detail are substantial for a horror atmosphere. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 95 average FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a genre where responsiveness matters; the 57 FPS gap between High and Ultra suggests diminishing returns.

For 4K displays, the Low preset at 101 average FPS is the only viable option for maintaining high refresh rates. The Medium preset at 4K yields 82 FPS, which is acceptable, but the High preset at 68 FPS and Ultra at 42 FPS fall into territory where horror game pacing may suffer. Users with 4K panels should accept the Low preset's graphical compromises to keep frame rates above 100, as the data indicates that the RTX 4060 cannot sustain high settings at this resolution without significant performance loss.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, with its 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus and 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, plays the decisive role in Downfall's performance envelope. The GPU's benchmark scores place it at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 17,639, putting it in a competitive position against the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (deltaPct -0.2) and AMD Radeon 780M (deltaPct 0.3). This mid-range positioning explains why the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings.

The clock behavior is telling: the base clock of 1830 MHz and boost clock of 2460 MHz provide solid raw compute, but the 8 GB VRAM capacity is a limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS collapses to 42. The memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p, struggles to feed the rendering pipeline at 3840x2160, particularly when texture detail increases. The GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for mid-range gaming, but Downfall's horror environments with dense geometry and dynamic lighting push the architecture to its limits.

The RTX 4060's 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores support advanced rendering features, but the measured data shows that enabling Ultra settings—which likely leverage these capabilities—causes frame rates to drop by over 50% compared to Medium at every resolution. The GPU's 48 ROPs and 96 TMUs are modest for the workload, and the 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate becomes a constraint at higher resolutions. The card's 115 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-efficient part, but efficiency does not compensate for the memory bandwidth limitation exposed by 4K gaming.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Downfall at 60 FPS on 4K Ultra settings?*

A: No. The measured average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 42, which is 18 FPS below the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 4K achieves 68 FPS, so users must drop from Ultra to High to cross the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination if I want 144 FPS?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 185 average FPS, and High delivers 152, both exceeding 144 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset at 162 FPS exceeds 144; Medium drops to 132 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17,639, which is 0.2% below the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17,666) and 0.3% above the AMD Radeon 780M (17,588). It sits 0.5% above the Radeon Pro 560 (17,551) and 0.7% above the Radeon Pro 460 (17,509).

*Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Downfall?*

A: The GPU is the clear bottleneck. The CPU ranks in the 96th percentile with an average benchmark score of 84,003, while the GPU ranks in the 61st percentile. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows GPU-bound behavior, with FPS dropping by 70% from Low 1080p to Low 4K.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured average is 132 FPS, with a minimum of 112 FPS and maximum of 152 FPS. This provides a stable experience well above 60 FPS, with only minor dips that remain within acceptable range for horror gameplay.

*Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM cause issues in Downfall?*

A: The data suggests VRAM capacity becomes a factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 42. At 4K High, the FPS is 68, indicating that texture-heavy settings strain the 8 GB buffer. At 1080p and 1440p, all settings remain playable, so VRAM is only a concern for 4K Ultra users.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1531 out of 2928 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 52nd percentile of all system configurations evaluated. This mid-pack ranking reflects the mismatch between a top-tier CPU (96th percentile) and a mid-range GPU (61st percentile), where the GPU's limitations cap the overall gaming performance despite the CPU's exceptional capabilities.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks illustrate its strength: the Core Ultra 9 285K scores 83,807 (0.2% lower), the AMD EPYC 4584PX scores 83,090 (1.1% lower), and the AMD EPYC 9135 scores 82,980 (1.2% lower). Only the AMD EPYC 7F72 at 85,072 outperforms it by 1.3%. These margins are small, confirming that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo's ranking.

The GPU's position among its rivals (all within 0.7% of its score) shows that the RTX 4060 is competitively positioned in its class, but the combo rank of 1531 indicates that many systems with weaker CPUs but stronger GPUs achieve better Downfall performance. The rank suggests that users would see greater gains from a GPU upgrade than a CPU upgrade, as the current CPU provides far more headroom than the GPU can utilize.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound profile. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 226 at 1920x1080 to 162 at 2560x1440 (a 28% reduction), then to 101 at 3840x2160 (a 55% reduction from 1440p and 71% from 1080p). This steep decline at 4K indicates that the RTX 4060's memory bandwidth and fill rate are overwhelmed as pixel count quadruples.

At Medium settings, the scaling shows 185 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p (29% drop), and 82 FPS at 4K (38% drop from 1440p). The slightly shallower drop from 1440p to 4K at Medium compared to Low suggests that the settings' additional GPU work is somewhat offset by reduced CPU overhead at higher resolutions. However, the overall pattern remains GPU-limited.

The High preset exhibits the most linear scaling: 152 FPS at 1080p, 108 FPS at 1440p (29% drop), and 68 FPS at 4K (37% drop). The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic falloff: 95 FPS at 1080p, 68 FPS at 1440p (28% drop), and 42 FPS at 4K (38% drop). The consistent 28-29% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at every preset, while the 37-55% drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings highlights the memory bandwidth wall.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the system delivers 68 FPS on High, 101 FPS on Low, 82 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 70 and maximum of 95), and 42 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 59 FPS, representing a 141% performance range. The Medium preset's minimum of 70 FPS is notable because it stays above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the highest-quality 4K option that guarantees smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, the results are 108 FPS on High, 162 FPS on Low, 132 FPS on Medium (minimum 112, maximum 152), and 68 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum of 112 FPS provides a comfortable buffer above 60 FPS, while the Ultra preset at 68 FPS is playable but leaves little margin for frame drops. The Low preset at 162 FPS is suitable for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 1920x1080, the system achieves 152 FPS on High, 226 FPS on Low, 185 FPS on Medium (minimum 157, maximum 213), and 95 FPS on Ultra. The Low preset at 226 FPS approaches the refresh rate limits of many 240 Hz monitors, while the Medium preset's minimum of 157 FPS ensures no drops below 144 Hz for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 95 FPS is the only 1080p setting that falls below 100 FPS, confirming that the RTX 4060's VRAM and bandwidth constraints manifest even at the lowest resolution when settings are maxed.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus provides exceptional computational headroom for Downfall, with 24 cores and 24 threads operating at a 3.70 GHz base clock and 5.80 GHz boost clock. The CPU's benchmark results are dominant: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731 and single-core score of 7,303, alongside a PassMark multi-thread score of 60,860 and single-thread score of 4,823. These figures place the CPU in the 96th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 84,003.

The CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data locality for game logic, while the 115.2 GB/s dual-channel DDR5 memory bandwidth ensures the GPU receives data without CPU-side starvation. The 3 nm process node and Arrow Lake Refresh architecture contribute to the CPU's efficiency, but more importantly for Downfall, the high single-thread performance (Cinebench R15 single-core score of 736) ensures that the game's primary simulation thread does not become a bottleneck.

In the measured frame rates, the CPU's role is evident in the consistency of minimum FPS values. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 112 FPS is 85% of the average, indicating stable frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 157 FPS is also 85% of the average. This consistency, maintained even when GPU load is low at 1080p Low (226 FPS), demonstrates that the CPU can feed the GPU faster than the RTX 4060 can render. The CPU's nearest rivals—the Core Ultra 9 285K at 0.2% lower and the EPYC 4584PX at 1.1% lower—would likely produce identical Downfall results, confirming that the CPU is not the performance limiter in this system.