Downfall

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

The benchmark data for Downfall with this combination of an Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti shows a system that shifts from being heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions to GPU-limited at 4K Ultra. The measured frame rates span from 376 FPS at 1080p Low down to 70 FPS at 4K Ultra, revealing a performance curve that rewards users who match settings to their display's native resolution. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, component roles, ranking position, and practical settings guidance based strictly on the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 376 at 1920x1080 to 269 at 2560x1440, then to 167 at 3840x2160 — a reduction of 28.5% from 1080p to 1440p, and another 37.9% from 1440p to 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that at Low settings, the game's rendering workload scales almost linearly with pixel count, suggesting the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor even at lower quality presets.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 308 FPS at 1080p, 220 FPS at 1440p, and 137 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops here are 28.6% and 37.7%, respectively, nearly identical to the Low settings scaling. High settings follow the same shape: 252 FPS at 1080p, 180 FPS at 1440p, and 112 FPS at 4K, with drops of 28.6% and 37.8%. The consistency across these three presets strongly suggests that resolution is the dominant variable in frame rate scaling, with settings quality having a secondary but still significant effect.

Ultra settings produce the largest absolute drop: from 158 FPS at 1080p to 113 FPS at 1440p (a 28.5% decrease), then to 70 FPS at 4K (a 38.1% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the percentage drops remain nearly constant across all four presets — hovering around 28-29% for the first step and 37-38% for the second step — indicates that this game's performance scaling is primarily driven by pixel throughput rather than by specific effects that might disproportionately impact higher resolutions.

The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution reveals how much headroom the settings offer. At 1080p, the difference between Low (376 FPS) and Ultra (158 FPS) is 218 FPS, or 58% of the Low value. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 156 FPS (from 269 to 113), and at 4K it shrinks to 97 FPS (from 167 to 70). This narrowing gap at higher resolutions reinforces that the GPU becomes the bottleneck sooner when pixel count rises, leaving less room for settings-based performance variation.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for Downfall at all tested resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates show no sign of memory capacity limiting performance, even at 4K Ultra where the average FPS of 70 still indicates playable performance. The GPU's boost clock of 2452 MHz and base clock of 2295 MHz provide the raw throughput needed to sustain these frame rates, with the pixel rate of 235.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 686.6 GTexel/s backing up the observed scaling behavior.

The GPU compute benchmarks place this card in the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49957. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, scores 50001 — a delta of -0.1%, meaning the RTX 5070 Ti is essentially tied with that older card in aggregate compute performance. More relevant comparisons show the Intel Arc A550M scoring 49737 (0.4% behind) and the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT scoring 50951 (2% ahead). These close margins in synthetic benchmarks contrast with the strong real-world frame rates observed in Downfall, suggesting the game may be well-optimized for this GPU architecture.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604 and PassMark G3D score of 32974 provide additional context for the GPU's capabilities. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 212363 and Vulkan score of 225122 show balanced performance across different compute APIs. The PassMark GPU Compute score of 20203 indicates solid compute throughput, though the DirectX tests (192 for DX10, 300 for DX11, 127 for DX12) suggest that synthetic API-specific tests may not fully capture this card's gaming performance, given the high frame rates measured in Downfall.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations for Downfall, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 384th out of 3716 total combos. This places it in the top 10.3% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing given the breadth of hardware combinations tracked. The rank reflects the combined capabilities of both components working together in this game, not just the individual performance of either part.

The CPU itself sits in the 96th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 84003. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with a score of 83807 (0.2% behind) and the AMD EPYC 4584PX at 83090 (1.1% behind). The AMD EPYC 7F72 scores 85072, which is 1.3% ahead. These small percentage differences indicate that the 290K Plus is at the very top of the desktop CPU performance curve, with only server-class parts slightly edging it out in aggregate benchmarks.

The GPU's 86th percentile ranking and average score of 49957 place it somewhat lower relative to its CPU counterpart. The nearest rivals show a tight cluster: the RX Vega 64 at 50001 (-0.1%), Arc A550M at 49737 (0.4%), RX 6900 XT at 50951 (-2%), and RX 6800 XT at 48477 (3.1%). The combination of a top-tier CPU with an upper-mid-range GPU in terms of percentile ranking produces the observed 384th position, which suggests that Downfall's performance is more balanced between the two components than a purely CPU-dominated title might show.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates span a wide range across settings. Low settings produce 376 FPS, Medium drops to 308 FPS, High falls to 252 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 158 FPS. The Medium preset includes minimum and maximum readings of 262 and 354 FPS, respectively, showing a 92 FPS range during typical gameplay. These numbers indicate that even at Ultra, 1080p provides well above the 144 Hz refresh rate that most high-end monitors offer, making this resolution a comfortable choice for competitive play.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages shift down: Low yields 269 FPS, Medium 220 FPS (with min/max of 187/253), High 180 FPS, and Ultra 113 FPS. The Medium preset's min-max spread of 66 FPS is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting more consistent frame pacing at this resolution. The Ultra setting at 1440p still clears 100 FPS, which many users would consider the threshold for smooth high-refresh-rate gaming.

At 3840x2160, the results show the GPU starting to strain. Low yields 167 FPS, Medium 137 FPS (with min/max of 116/157), High 112 FPS, and Ultra 70 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 116 FPS is notable because it remains above 60 FPS, indicating that even in heavier scenes, this configuration avoids dropping below playable thresholds. The Ultra setting's 70 FPS average is the only measured result below 100 FPS across all resolution and settings combinations, marking 4K Ultra as the most demanding configuration tested.

Settings Recommendations

For users with a 1080p display, the data shows that High settings at 252 FPS provide a substantial improvement over Medium's 308 FPS in terms of visual quality while still delivering frame rates far beyond what any current display can show. Ultra at 158 FPS still offers excellent smoothness, so the choice between High and Ultra at this resolution comes down to whether the visual fidelity of Ultra justifies the 37% frame rate reduction. Given that both exceed 144 FPS, Ultra is a reasonable choice for users prioritizing image quality.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset's 220 FPS average with a 187 FPS minimum ensures consistent high-refresh-rate performance. High at 180 FPS also provides ample headroom for 144 Hz displays, while Ultra at 113 FPS remains above 100 FPS for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that High offers the best balance for 1440p users with 144 Hz monitors, as it clears the refresh threshold with 36 FPS of headroom. Ultra may be preferable for users with 120 Hz displays who want maximum visual quality.

For 4K resolution, the recommendations shift more conservatively. High at 112 FPS is the sweet spot, providing comfortable performance for 120 Hz displays. Medium at 137 FPS offers even more headroom but at lower visual quality. Ultra at 70 FPS is the only configuration that dips below 100 FPS, making it suitable only for users with 60 Hz displays who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate. Low at 167 FPS is unnecessary for most 4K users, as the visual compromise is significant relative to the frame rate benefit.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus brings 24 cores and 24 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz. This configuration, built on TSMC's 3 nm process with 17,800 million transistors, delivers benchmark scores that place it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303 demonstrate exceptional both multi-threaded and single-threaded performance, which is relevant for Downfall's rendering workload.

The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4823 and multithread score of 60860 show strong performance across both metrics. The data compression score of 698346, encryption score of 52563, and extended instructions score of 52338 indicate robust general-purpose compute capabilities. The floating-point math score of 214760 and integer math score of 166194 reflect the CPU's ability to handle diverse workloads, though the find prime numbers score of 503 is notably lower in relative terms.

In Downfall specifically, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the scaling from 1080p to 1440p. The consistent ~28% frame rate drop across all settings at this step suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at 1080p, but the GPU's workload increase at 1440p begins to dominate. The fact that 1080p Low produces 376 FPS indicates the CPU can drive very high frame rates without bottlenecking, while the 4K results show the GPU taking over as the primary constraint. The CPU's 125 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 115.2 GB/s bandwidth provide a solid foundation for this gaming workload.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate measured for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS is 376, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rival in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti scores 49957 on average, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64's score of 50001, and 2% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT's score of 50951.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate observed in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS is 70, recorded at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus rank among all CPUs?

A: It sits in the 96th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 84003. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, scores 83807, which is 0.2% lower.

Q: At what resolution and settings does the Medium preset show its widest FPS range?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the measured range spans from 262 to 354 FPS, a 92 FPS spread, which is the widest range among all Medium preset measurements.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations in Downfall?

A: This combination ranks 384th out of 3716 total tested combos in Downfall.