Downfall

# Downfall Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra X9 388H + AMD Radeon 890M

This combo ranks 3494th out of 3716 tested configurations for Downfall, placing it in the bottom 6% of all tested combos. That positioning is striking because the CPU itself sits in the 88th percentile among all processors, while the integrated GPU lands at just the 45th percentile among all graphics solutions. The data suggests a profound imbalance: a top-tier mobile processor paired with an entry-level integrated graphics solution, and Downfall's horror-tinged environments punish that GPU heavily at higher settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The 3494th rank out of 3716 combos means this configuration outperforms only about 222 other tested setups in Downfall. That is a remarkably low standing for a system built around a 16-core Panther Lake processor. The bottleneck is unambiguous: the Radeon 890M integrated graphics, which sits at the 45th percentile among all GPUs, cannot keep pace with what the CPU can feed it. Benchmark results confirm the processor's capability — its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18,911 and single-core score of 2,200.5 place it within 0.5% of rivals like the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D and Intel Core i5-13600. Yet in Downfall, the measured FPS tells a different story, with even 1080p Ultra barely reaching 39 FPS average.

The gap between CPU potential and actual game performance is the defining characteristic of this combo. The processor's Passmark multi-thread score of 36,811 and single-thread score of 4,280 show a chip capable of handling demanding workloads, but the GPU's Passmark G3D score of 8,076 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 590 reveal why Downfall becomes a slideshow at higher presets. The rank of 3494 reflects a system where the graphics solution is the sole limiting factor.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon 890M is an integrated graphics processor built on the Strix Point chip with RDNA 3.5 architecture. It operates with a base clock of 400 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz, which is a substantial boost window that the benchmarks show cannot save it in Downfall's demanding scenes. The GPU has 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation processors, along with 16 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 performance is 5.939 TFLOPS, and the pixel rate is 92.80 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 185.6 GTexel/s.

The memory situation is critical: the 890M uses System Shared memory, meaning its bandwidth is "System Dependent" rather than having dedicated VRAM. In this configuration with the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, the memory bandwidth is 153.6 GB/s via dual-channel LPDDR5X. That shared memory architecture directly impacts Downfall's performance, as the game's horror environments require constant texture streaming. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (18 FPS average) versus 1080p Low (94 FPS average) shows a 5.2x performance swing that is far steeper than what a dedicated GPU with its own VRAM would typically exhibit.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this: Passmark DirectX 11 score of 73 and DirectX 12 score of 37 suggest that newer API paths are particularly weak, while the DirectX 9 score of 97 and DirectX 10 score of 33 show inconsistent legacy performance. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 37,254 and Vulkan score of 40,808 are more respectable but still place the GPU at the 45th percentile overall. In Downfall, a game from 2016, the 890M's architecture struggles with the engine's rendering demands, particularly at higher settings where the 32 ROPs become a clear bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for playable settings. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 94 FPS average, which is the only setting that approaches high-refresh territory. Medium at 1080p drops to 77 FPS average with minimums of 66 FPS and maximums of 89 FPS, which remains playable and offers better visual fidelity. High at 1080p yields 63 FPS average, still acceptable for most players. Ultra at 1080p falls to 39 FPS average, which is borderline for a horror game where responsiveness matters.

At 1440p, the situation degrades significantly. Low gives 67 FPS average, Medium drops to 55 FPS with minimums of 47 FPS, and High falls to 45 FPS. Ultra at 1440p is essentially unplayable at 28 FPS average. At 4K, only Low (42 FPS) approaches playability, while Medium (34 FPS) and High (28 FPS) are marginal, and Ultra (18 FPS) is a slideshow.

The optimal experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium. It provides 77 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS, which keeps the frame pacing stable enough for horror gameplay's need for sudden reactions. The 1440p Medium setting at 55 FPS is the best compromise for higher resolution if the player accepts occasional dips to 47 FPS. For players prioritizing frame rate above all, 1080p Low at 94 FPS is the clear choice, though the visual downgrade in a horror game may reduce atmospheric tension.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Starting at 1920x1080, the data shows a predictable scaling pattern across presets. Low delivers 94 FPS average, Medium drops to 77 FPS (minimum 66, maximum 89), High reaches 63 FPS, and Ultra falls to 39 FPS. The step from Low to Medium costs 17 FPS, Medium to High costs another 14 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 24 FPS — the Ultra preset is particularly punishing, likely due to the 890M's limited ROP count.

At 2560x1440, the same preset ladder shows compressed performance. Low produces 67 FPS, Medium 55 FPS (minimum 47, maximum 63), High 45 FPS, and Ultra 28 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 27 FPS (from 94 to 67), while at Ultra it is 11 FPS (from 39 to 28). This indicates that at higher presets, the GPU is already saturated at 1080p, so resolution increases have less marginal impact.

At 3840x2160, the performance collapses further. Low yields 42 FPS, Medium 34 FPS (minimum 29, maximum 39), High 28 FPS, and Ultra just 18 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K shows the tightest minimum-to-maximum spread (29-39 FPS), suggesting consistent but low performance. The jump from 1440p Ultra (28 FPS) to 4K Ultra (18 FPS) is a 10 FPS drop, while from 1440p Low (67 FPS) to 4K Low (42 FPS) is a 25 FPS drop — resolution scaling is far more punishing at lower settings where the GPU has more headroom to be constrained by pixel count.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations in Downfall?

A: This combo ranks 3494th out of 3716 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 6% of all configurations. The CPU is in the 88th percentile among processors, but the GPU's 45th percentile ranking drags overall game performance down significantly.

Q: What is the best settings preset for playable frame rates?

A: The measured data shows 1080p Medium provides 77 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and playability. For higher resolution, 1440p Low at 67 FPS is the only preset above 60 FPS at that resolution.

Q: Why does Ultra settings perform so poorly?

A: The Ultra preset at 1080p yields only 39 FPS, at 1440p it drops to 28 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 18 FPS. The 890M's 32 ROPs and 5.939 TFLOPS FP32 performance cannot handle the increased shading and post-processing demands of Ultra settings in a 2016 horror title.

Q: Does the CPU help at all in this game?

A: The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H has a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18,911 and single-core score of 2,200.5, which is competitive with CPUs like the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (within 0.2% average benchmark score). However, in Downfall, the GPU bottleneck means the CPU's power is largely unused for frame rate generation.

Q: Is 4K gaming possible with this combo?

A: Only at Low settings with 42 FPS average, or Medium at 34 FPS. High drops to 28 FPS and Ultra to 18 FPS. The system-shared memory architecture with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth limits texture throughput at 4K resolutions.

Q: How does the 890M compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Radeon 890M's average benchmark score of 9,210 is within 1% of the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9,221), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9,273), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9,294). Its Passmark G3D score of 8,076 confirms it performs at the level of older discrete GPUs.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 3, built on Intel's 3nm Panther Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz, with a TDP of 25W. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 18 MB shared L3. Its memory support is dual-channel LPDDR5X with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth, and it uses a Gen 5 PCIe interface with 4 lanes.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is largely secondary due to the GPU bottleneck. The processor's Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 2,955 and single-core score of 309.5, along with R20 scores of 13,101 and 1,849 respectively, show strong compute capability. The Passmark single-thread score of 4,280 is particularly relevant for game logic and physics, which in a 2016 horror title are likely single-threaded. However, the measured FPS data shows no scenario where CPU performance limits frame rates — even at 4K Ultra with 18 FPS, the GPU is clearly the constraint.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (average score 44,573, just 0.2% higher), Intel Core i9-13950HX (44,342, 0.3% lower), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (44,309, 0.4% lower), and Intel Core i5-13600 (44,240, 0.5% lower). These comparisons show the 388H is competitive with high-end desktop and mobile processors, yet none of that matters in Downfall when the integrated GPU is the limiting factor. The 88th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its strength, but the game only uses a fraction of that capability.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K reveal the GPU's limitations clearly. At Low settings, 1080p yields 94 FPS, 1440p drops to 67 FPS (a 28.7% reduction), and 4K falls to 42 FPS (a 55.3% reduction from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 77 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p (28.6% drop), and 34 FPS at 4K (55.8% drop). At High settings, 1080p gives 63 FPS, 1440p gives 45 FPS (28.6% drop), and 4K gives 28 FPS (55.6% drop). At Ultra, the numbers are 39 FPS at 1080p, 28 FPS at 1440p (28.2% drop), and 18 FPS at 4K (53.8% drop).

The near-constant percentage drops across all settings — roughly 28-29% from 1080p to 1440p and 54-56% from 1080p to 4K — indicate a pixel-bound scenario. The 890M's fill rate (92.80 GPixel/s) and texture rate (185.6 GTexel/s) are being saturated by the increasing pixel counts. The fact that the percentage drop is consistent across Low and Ultra settings suggests the GPU is equally limited at all quality levels, just at different absolute FPS values.

This scaling pattern points to the system-shared memory as a critical factor. With memory bandwidth of 153.6 GB/s (System Dependent), the GPU must share bandwidth with the CPU for system tasks. At 4K, the texture working set exceeds what can be efficiently streamed through shared memory, causing the steep FPS drops. The 34 million transistors on the Strix Point chip and 233 mm² die size indicate a reasonably complex GPU, but its 15W TDP and IGP slot width mean it operates within tight power constraints that limit sustained boost clocks in demanding scenes. The resolution scaling confirms that 1080p Medium is the sweet spot, while 4K should be avoided entirely for this title.