Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 combination delivers strong frame rates in Downfall, a 2016 horror title that stresses the GPU more than the CPU at higher resolutions. The combo ranks 558th out of 2,928 tested configurations, placing it in the top 19% of all systems evaluated. Performance scales predictably across resolution tiers, with the CPU providing ample headroom even at 1080p where frame rates exceed 300 FPS at low settings.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor built on TSMC's 3 nm process with Arrow Lake Refresh architecture. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boosts up to 5.80 GHz, making it one of the fastest desktop CPUs in the benchmark database. The chip carries 36 MB of shared L3 cache, with 192 KB of L1 and 3 MB of L2 per core. Its dual-channel DDR5 memory support provides 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which is relevant for feeding the GPU in a horror game like Downfall that relies on streaming assets.

In CPU-centric synthetic benchmarks, the processor achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51,731 and a single-core score of 7,303. These numbers indicate exceptional thread throughput and strong per-core performance. The PassMark multithread score of 60,860 and single-thread score of 4,823 corroborate this, placing the CPU in the 96th percentile of all processors tested. The average benchmark score of 84,003 puts it slightly ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K by 0.2%, and 1.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 4584PX. It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%, but that gap is negligible for gaming workloads.

For Downfall, the CPU's role is primarily to maintain frame pacing and avoid bottlenecking the GPU. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo reaches 334 FPS average, which suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor even at very high frame rates. The 24 cores are more than sufficient for a 2016 title that likely uses only a handful of threads. The high boost clock of 5.80 GHz ensures single-threaded game logic runs efficiently, while the 3 nm process node keeps power draw manageable at 125 W TDP. The ECC memory support and PCIe Gen 5 with 20 CPU lanes are forward-looking features, though Downfall predates these standards.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus compare to its closest rival in overall CPU performance?

A: The 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84,003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K's 83,807. It also outperforms the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 1.1% and the AMD EPYC 9135 by 1.2%, while being 1.3% behind the AMD EPYC 7F72's 85,072.

Q: What is the RTX 5070's GPU percentile ranking, and which rival is closest in performance?

A: The RTX 5070 sits in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 40,377. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 580 with a score of 40,318, a 0.1% difference. The NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile trails by 2.0%, while the AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 is 0.8% behind.

Q: What frame rate does the combo achieve at 1440p with Medium settings, and what are the frame time extremes?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo averages 195 FPS, with a minimum of 166 FPS and a maximum of 224 FPS. This indicates solid frame pacing with only a 29 FPS spread between the minimum and average.

Q: How much faster is the 1080p Low setting compared to 4K Ultra?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the average FPS is 334, while at 3840x2160 Ultra, the average drops to 62 FPS. This represents a 5.4x reduction in frame rate, highlighting the GPU's workload scaling with resolution and quality settings.

Q: Is the RTX 5070's VRAM configuration sufficient for Downfall at 4K?

A: The RTX 5070 has 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus with 672.0 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the combo still achieves 62 FPS average, suggesting that 12 GB is adequate for this title, though the steep drop from High (99 FPS) to Ultra (62 FPS) indicates that Ultra settings impose significant memory pressure or shading load.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the RTX 5070, and how does it affect its positioning?

A: The RTX 5070 has a launch MSRP of 549 USD. Its average benchmark score of 40,377 places it near professional workstation GPUs like the AMD Radeon Pro 580, despite being a consumer gaming card.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals classic GPU-bound scaling. At 1080p High, the combo averages 224 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the average drops to 160 FPS, a 28.6% reduction. At 4K High, the average falls to 99 FPS, another 38.1% reduction from 1440p. This pattern shows that the RTX 5070 is the primary limiter as resolution increases, since the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions.

The Low settings tell a similar story. At 1080p Low, the average is 334 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 238 FPS (28.7% lower), and at 4K Low, it reaches 148 FPS (37.8% lower than 1440p). The consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that pixel throughput is the dominant constraint, not CPU or memory bandwidth. The RTX 5070's 672.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 compute are being taxed progressively harder as resolution climbs.

The Medium preset shows the most complete frame time data. At 1080p Medium, the combo averages 273 FPS with a minimum of 232 and maximum of 314. At 1440p Medium, the average is 195 FPS with a minimum of 166 and maximum of 224. At 4K Medium, the average is 121 FPS with a minimum of 103 and maximum of 139. The minimum-to-maximum spread remains consistent around 82-85 FPS across these resolutions, indicating that frame pacing does not degrade disproportionately at higher resolutions.

Ultra settings demonstrate the steepest curve. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 140 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 100 FPS (28.6% lower). At 4K Ultra, it falls to 62 FPS (38.0% lower than 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is just above the 60 FPS threshold, meaning players may experience occasional dips below that mark. This pattern strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting component across all tested resolutions, with the CPU never becoming a bottleneck even at 334 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the RTX 5070 ranks 558th out of 2,928 tested combos in Downfall. This places the system in the 81st percentile of all configurations evaluated, meaning roughly 81% of tested combos perform worse. Given that the CPU ranks in the 96th percentile of all processors and the GPU ranks in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, the combo's overall ranking is somewhat lower than either component's individual standing. This suggests that Downfall's performance ceiling is limited by factors beyond raw component strength.

The gap between the CPU's 96th percentile and the combo's 81st percentile indicates that the RTX 5070 is the performance limiter in this pairing. A higher-tier GPU would likely improve the combo's rank substantially, since the CPU has demonstrated it can drive frame rates well above what the RTX 5070 delivers. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking aligns more closely with the combo's overall position, reinforcing that the graphics card dictates the gaming experience in Downfall.

The combo's rank of 558 means that 2,370 other configurations perform better in this title. These higher-ranked combos likely feature more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 5070's predecessors or successors. However, the 290K Plus's strong single-thread performance (7,303 in Cinebench R23) ensures that CPU-bound scenarios are rare, even at high frame rates. For a horror game that prioritizes atmosphere and lighting effects over complex physics, the GPU's shading and rasterization capabilities matter more than CPU core counts.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a GB205 chip manufactured on TSMC's 5 nm process. It contains 31,100 million transistors on a 263 mm² die, with a transistor density of 118.3 million per square millimeter. The GPU has 6,144 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. It also includes 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, though Downfall's 2016 release date means it likely does not utilize these specialized units.

The RTX 5070 operates at a base clock of 2325 MHz and boosts to 2512 MHz. Memory runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective speed, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth across a 192-bit bus. The 12 GB GDDR7 frame buffer is ample for a game from 2016, though the 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS suggests that memory capacity is not the bottleneck — rather, the GPU's compute throughput of 30.87 TFLOPS FP32 is being saturated.

The GPU's pixel rate of 201.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s directly influence Downfall's performance at high resolutions. At 4K, the GPU must process over 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the measured FPS drops from 148 at Low to 62 at Ultra indicate that fill-rate-intensive effects (like volumetric lighting and shadows) heavily tax the ROPs. The 80 ROPs are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K Ultra scenario pushes the pixel pipeline to its limits.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5070 scores 29,137 in PassMark G3D and 15,787 in GPU compute. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 5,077, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 172,660 and 178,923 respectively. These numbers place it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 40,377. Its closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro 580, which scores 40,318 — a negligible 0.1% difference. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 is 0.8% behind, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 is 1.2% ahead. The NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile trails by 2.0%.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 334 FPS. Medium settings average 273 FPS, with a minimum of 232 and maximum of 314 FPS. High settings average 224 FPS. Ultra settings average 140 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58% reduction in frame rate, which is substantial but expected given the increased shading and lighting complexity.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong. Low settings average 238 FPS. Medium settings average 195 FPS, with a minimum of 166 and maximum of 224 FPS. High settings average 160 FPS. Ultra settings average 100 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 28-29% of performance across all settings, which aligns with the 78% increase in pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 148 FPS. Medium settings average 121 FPS, with a minimum of 103 and maximum of 139 FPS. High settings average 99 FPS. Ultra settings average 62 FPS. The drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K is 49%, the steepest penalty of any resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 62 FPS is the only configuration that falls below the 100 FPS threshold, indicating that this setting combination is only suitable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions. The minimum-to-maximum spread is 82 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. This shrinking spread at higher resolutions suggests that frame pacing becomes more consistent as the GPU work becomes more uniform, which is a positive sign for gameplay stability.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For players targeting 60 FPS as a minimum baseline, the 4K Ultra preset at 62 FPS average is technically playable but leaves little headroom. The 4K High preset at 99 FPS average provides a safer margin while still delivering high visual quality. For 4K gaming, High settings offer the best balance between performance and fidelity, since the 99 FPS average is well above the 60 FPS threshold and the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically less impactful than the 37 FPS performance gap.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 195 FPS average with a minimum of 166 FPS is the most balanced choice. It ensures that frame rates never drop below 166 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors. The High preset at 160 FPS average is also viable, but the 35 FPS difference between Medium and High may not justify the visual improvements for a horror game where smoothness is critical for immersion.

At 1080p, the Ultra preset at 140 FPS average is the recommended choice, as it delivers the highest visual quality while maintaining frame rates above 120 FPS. The Medium preset at 273 FPS is overkill for most displays, and the Low preset at 334 FPS offers no practical benefit unless the user has a 360 Hz monitor and prioritizes competitive response times over graphics.

The data indicates that the RTX 5070's performance ceiling is best utilized at Medium settings for 4K, High settings for 1440p, and Ultra settings for 1080p. The minimum FPS values for Medium settings across all resolutions (166 at 1440p, 103 at 4K) show that this preset maintains acceptable frame pacing even under load. Players who prioritize maximum visual quality should select Ultra at 1080p, while those who value consistent high frame rates should favor Medium at higher resolutions.