Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra X9 388H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a 1080p experience that ranges from 95 FPS at Ultra to 226 FPS at Low, placing this combo at rank 2035 out of 3716 tested configurations in Downfall. The data shows a system capable of high-refresh 1440p gaming at High settings, but one that falls short of smooth 4K Ultra play. This is a mobile-oriented pairing — the CPU is a 16-thread Panther Lake part with a 25 W TDP, while the GPU is a desktop Ada Lovelace card with 12 GB of GDDR6X — and the benchmark results reflect that mix of portable CPU muscle and substantial graphics horsepower.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how Downfall responds to resolution changes across the four tested settings. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 drops average FPS from 152 to 108, a 29% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 at High brings the average down to 67 FPS, another 38% decline. This scaling pattern — roughly a 30% hit per resolution step — indicates the game is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with the RTX 4070's 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth and 29.15 TFLOPS FP32 throughput becoming the limiting factor.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic in absolute terms but proportionally similar: 226 FPS at 1080p drops to 162 FPS at 1440p (a 28% reduction) and then to 101 FPS at 4K (a 38% drop from 1440p). The fact that even at Low settings 4K produces only 101 FPS suggests that Downfall's rendering pipeline at 4K imposes a floor that the GPU cannot overcome, regardless of how light the settings become.

Medium settings tell a similar story: 185 FPS at 1080p, 132 FPS at 1440p, and 82 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset also includes measured minimum and maximum FPS values — at 1080p the range is 157-213 FPS, at 1440p it's 112-152 FPS, and at 4K it's 70-95 FPS. These ranges show that frame pacing remains consistent across resolutions, with the spread between minimum and maximum staying around 25-30 FPS.

Ultra settings expose the GPU's limits most clearly. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 95 FPS — playable but far from the 226 FPS ceiling seen at Low. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 68 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 42 FPS. The 42 FPS result at 4K Ultra is below the 60 FPS threshold most players consider smooth, and the 68 FPS at 1440p Ultra is borderline. The scaling from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is a 38% drop, consistent with the other settings, confirming that resolution scaling in Downfall is uniform regardless of preset.

The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU. The RTX 4070's 192-bit memory bus and 12 GB VRAM capacity are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the pixel throughput requirements at 3840x2160 — combined with the game's horror-themed effects — push the card to its limits. At 1080p, the CPU's role becomes more relevant, though the Core Ultra X9 388H's 5.10 GHz boost clock and 16 threads keep it from bottlenecking even at 226 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the AD104 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its 35,800 million transistors are packed into a 294 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 121.8M per mm². The card operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and boosts to 2475 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth — a figure that proves adequate for Downfall's demands at 1440p High but becomes strained at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's compute configuration includes 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. It also features 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, though Downfall, as a 2016-era horror title, likely does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS features. The pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s are the raw throughput numbers that determine how quickly the card can fill frames at high resolutions. The FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS (with FP16 at 1:1 ratio) indicates strong general compute capability, but the measured FPS data shows that Downfall's specific workload — likely heavy on fill rate and memory bandwidth — does not fully utilize this compute potential.

The GPU's benchmark scores put it in context: a Passmark G3D score of 26927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854. Its percentile rank of 81 among all GPUs places it above the median, and its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (deltaPct 0.1), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (deltaPct 0.4), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (deltaPct -1.3). The RTX 4070's 200 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 16-pin power connector and 550 W suggested PSU indicate this is a desktop-class component, not a mobile variant — which explains its ability to sustain high clock speeds during extended gaming sessions.

In Downfall specifically, the GPU's VRAM capacity of 12 GB is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution or setting, as the game's 2016 release date predates the high-VRAM demands of modern titles. The 21 Gbps effective memory speed and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, however, do become relevant at 4K, where the 42 FPS Ultra result suggests the card is bandwidth-constrained. The boost clock of 2475 MHz is respectable, but Downfall's frame rates at 4K Ultra indicate that raw clock speed alone cannot compensate for the memory subsystem's limitations at that resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a 16-core, 16-thread processor from the Core Ultra Series 3, based on Panther Lake architecture built on Intel's 3 nm process. It runs at a 2.10 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.10 GHz, with a 25 W TDP that marks it as a mobile-focused part despite its substantial core count. The cache hierarchy includes 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is LPDDR5X over a dual-channel interface, providing 153.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The CPU connects via PCIe Gen 5 with 4 lanes (CPU only) and features integrated Arc B390 graphics, though the discrete RTX 4070 handles all rendering in these tests.

In CPU benchmarks, the Core Ultra X9 388H shows strong single-thread performance: a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2200.5 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4280. Its multi-thread results include a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18911 and a Passmark multithread score of 36811. The CPU's percentile rank of 88 among all CPUs places it in the upper tier, with its nearest rivals being the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (deltaPct -0.2), Intel Core i9-13950HX (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (deltaPct 0.4), and Intel Core i5-13600 (deltaPct 0.5). These deltaPct values are all within 0.5% of the Core Ultra X9 388H's average benchmark score of 44466, indicating performance parity with those desktop and high-end mobile parts.

In Downfall, the CPU's role varies by resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, where the GPU can push 226 FPS, the CPU's 5.10 GHz boost clock and 16 threads ensure it does not become the bottleneck — even at frame rates above 200 FPS. The 16-thread configuration (with no hyperthreading, as threads equal cores) provides adequate parallelism for the game's physics and AI workloads. The 18 MB L3 cache is sufficient for Downfall's working set, and the 153.6 GB/s memory bandwidth from LPDDR5X does not constrain performance, as the game's data requirements are modest by modern standards.

At 4K Ultra, the CPU is clearly not the limiting factor — the 42 FPS result is a GPU limitation, as the same CPU maintains 226 FPS at 1080p Low. The difference between 1080p Low (226 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (95 FPS) at the same resolution illustrates that settings changes impact the GPU far more than the CPU. The CPU's single-thread score of 2200.5 in Cinebench R23 suggests it handles the game's main thread efficiently, and the multi-thread score of 18911 indicates ample headroom for background tasks while gaming.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 2035 out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the 55th percentile of all tested configurations. This mid-pack ranking is somewhat surprising given the individual component performance — the CPU ranks in the 88th percentile and the GPU in the 81st percentile — but it reflects the game's specific optimization patterns and the fact that many tested combos may use higher-end GPUs or CPUs better suited to Downfall's workload.

The ranking suggests that while each component is individually strong, the pairing does not punch above its weight in this title. The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the RTX 4080 Mobile (deltaPct -1.3) and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (deltaPct 0.4), and the CPU's nearest rival is the Ryzen 5 7500X3D (deltaPct -0.2). Given that both components sit near the top of their respective performance brackets, the 2035 rank out of 3716 implies that many higher-ranked combos likely feature either a stronger GPU (such as a desktop RTX 4080 or above) or a CPU with higher multi-thread performance specifically beneficial to Downfall.

The combo's measured FPS data shows it can achieve 95 FPS at 1080p Ultra and 82 FPS at 4K Medium, which are respectable figures. However, the 42 FPS at 4K Ultra is a weak point that likely drags the overall ranking down, as many competing combos may handle 4K Ultra more gracefully. The ranking also reflects that this is a mobile CPU paired with a desktop GPU — a configuration that may not be typical in benchmark databases, where matched desktop components often rank higher.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 152 FPS, which is smooth on any display. Medium provides 185 FPS, and Low pushes to 226 FPS — both exceeding 144 Hz refresh rates. Ultra at 1080p drops to 95 FPS, which is still playable but sacrifices significant frame rate for marginal visual gains. For 1080p, the High preset is the best balance, offering a 37% improvement over Ultra while remaining above the 144 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, High delivers 108 FPS, which is excellent for 144 Hz monitors. Medium provides 132 FPS, and Low reaches 162 FPS. Ultra drops to 68 FPS, which is below the 72 FPS minimum many players find acceptable for smooth motion. The 1440p High preset is the recommended choice, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while providing good visual quality. Players with 120 Hz displays could consider Medium for the extra headroom.

At 3840x2160, the situation is more constrained. High delivers 67 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold but leaves little room for frame drops. Medium provides 82 FPS with a measured minimum of 70 FPS and maximum of 95 FPS, making it the safest choice for consistent 4K performance. Low achieves 101 FPS, which is impressive but requires significant visual compromises. Ultra at 42 FPS is not recommended for smooth play. For 4K, the Medium preset is the clear winner, offering 82 FPS average with a 70 FPS minimum that avoids noticeable stutter.

The data shows that Downfall's Ultra preset imposes a heavy performance penalty at all resolutions — a 58% reduction from High at 4K (42 vs 67 FPS) and a 37% reduction at 1080p (95 vs 152 FPS). This suggests the Ultra preset enables effects that disproportionately tax the GPU without proportional visual benefit. The Medium preset, by contrast, offers a reasonable middle ground, particularly at 4K where it beats High by 22% (82 vs 67 FPS).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are: Low 226, Medium 185 (min 157, max 213), High 152, and Ultra 95. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58% total reduction in frame rate, with the largest single drop occurring between High and Ultra (a 38% reduction from 152 to 95 FPS). The Medium preset's min-max range of 157-213 FPS indicates tight frame pacing, with the minimum still well above 144 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low 162, Medium 132 (min 112, max 152), High 108, and Ultra 68. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 58%, matching the 1080p percentage drop. The Medium range of 112-152 FPS shows a 40 FPS spread, which is proportionally similar to the 1080p Medium range. High at 108 FPS offers a 59% improvement over Ultra at 68 FPS, making it the most efficient preset at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low 101, Medium 82 (min 70, max 95), High 67, and Ultra 42. The Low-to-Ultra reduction is 58% again, confirming consistent scaling across resolutions. The Medium min-max range of 70-95 FPS is the only 4K dataset with frame time information, and it shows a 25 FPS spread that could be noticeable during fast-paced horror sequences. High at 67 FPS is marginal, while Ultra at 42 FPS is the only result below 60 FPS in the entire dataset.

Comparing settings across resolutions, the Low preset at 1080p (226 FPS) is 2.2x faster than Low at 4K (101 FPS), while Ultra at 1080p (95 FPS) is 2.3x faster than Ultra at 4K (42 FPS). This consistent ratio indicates that Downfall's performance scales linearly with pixel count, with no unexpected bottlenecks emerging at any resolution. The 4K Medium result of 82 FPS is the single best 4K outcome, beating 4K High by 22% and 4K Low by 19% in the opposite direction — Medium is the sweet spot for 4K on this hardware.