Downfall

# Downfall with Intel Core Ultra X9 388H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

The benchmark data for Downfall with this Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination shows a system capable of delivering high frame rates across all tested settings, though the playability landscape varies significantly depending on the resolution and quality preset chosen. The measured results span four quality levels at three resolutions, providing a complete picture of how this hardware handles the horror title. This analysis walks through the data methodically, examining settings, component roles, and scaling behavior to establish where this combo excels and where it demands careful configuration choices.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all three resolutions, making it the recommended starting point for most users. At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the system produces an average of 269 FPS with a minimum of 228 FPS and maximum of 309 FPS, indicating substantial headroom above typical display refresh rates. Moving to 2560x1440 Medium yields 192 FPS average with a minimum of 163 FPS and maximum of 221 FPS, still comfortably above the 144Hz threshold. Even at 3840x2160 Medium, the average holds at 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 137 FPS, which remains playable on standard 60Hz displays and most high-refresh monitors.

The High preset presents a different trade-off. At 1920x1080 High, the average drops to 220 FPS, which is still excellent but represents a 49 FPS reduction from Medium. At 2560x1440 High, the average falls to 157 FPS, and at 3840x2160 High, it reaches 98 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs roughly 47-51 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. For users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rates, High at 2560x1440 delivers a compelling 157 FPS average, while 4K High at 98 FPS suits slower-paced horror gameplay.

The Ultra preset demonstrates the steepest performance cost. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average collapses to 61 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay. At 2560x1440 Ultra, the average sits at 98 FPS, and at 1920x1080 Ultra, it reaches 138 FPS. The Low preset, conversely, shows the system's ceiling: 328 FPS at 1080p, 234 FPS at 1440p, and 146 FPS at 4K. Given the horror genre's emphasis on atmosphere over competitive frame rates, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 (192 FPS average) or 3840x2160 (119 FPS average) provides the best experience per the measured data, balancing visual quality with consistent performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 anchors this system with a 32 GB GDDR7 memory pool on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 21760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines drive the rendering workload, while 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores handle specialized effects. The architecture runs at a base clock of 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 39650 places it in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

In Downfall, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the frame rates of 220-328 FPS across presets suggest the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but the GPU's raw compute still limits peak output. At 1440p, the GPU's workload scales meaningfully, with Medium producing 192 FPS and High reaching 157 FPS. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the primary constraint: Medium averages 119 FPS, High drops to 98 FPS, and Ultra falls to 61 FPS. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for Downfall's texture and geometry demands at any setting, as the measured data shows no sign of memory-related stuttering or frame drops — the minimum FPS values at Medium settings (101 FPS at 4K, 163 FPS at 1440p, 228 FPS at 1080p) indicate consistent frame delivery.

The GPU's benchmark profile reinforces its capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 18355, Geekbench OpenCL score of 334370, and Vulkan score of 376728 all indicate strong compute and graphics performance. The PassMark G3D score of 39650 compares favorably to its nearest rivals, with the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scoring 80959 (1.4% higher) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scoring 78940 (1.1% lower). These deltas are small, but the RTX 5090's 92nd percentile ranking confirms its position among top-tier GPUs.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for maintaining 144 FPS in Downfall with this combo?

A: Based on the measured data, 2560x1440 with Medium settings averages 192 FPS, while the High preset averages 157 FPS. Both comfortably exceed 144 FPS, though the Medium preset provides more headroom with a minimum of 163 FPS versus High's unspecified minimum.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Downfall?

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset averages 119 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS, making it fully playable. The High preset drops to 98 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 61 FPS, which may feel less smooth for action sequences.

Q: How much performance does the Ultra preset cost compared to High?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 138 FPS versus High's 220 FPS, a reduction of 82 FPS. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 98 FPS versus High's 157 FPS, a 59 FPS drop. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 61 FPS versus High's 98 FPS, a 37 FPS reduction.

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM provide any advantage in Downfall?

A: The measured data shows no indication of VRAM limitations at any resolution or setting. The memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s and 512-bit bus support the high frame rates observed, particularly at 4K where the GPU's compute and memory subsystem are heavily utilized.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combination ranks 803rd out of 3716 tested combos in Downfall, placing it in the top 21.6% of all configurations. This percentile position reflects strong overall performance, though not elite-tier.

Q: Is the Low preset ever useful for this system?

A: The Low preset produces 328 FPS at 1080p, 234 FPS at 1440p, and 146 FPS at 4K. It is useful for competitive play or for users with extremely high refresh rate displays, but the Medium preset offers substantially better visual quality with only a 59-72 FPS penalty depending on resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 803rd out of 3716 tested combinations in Downfall, positioning it in the 21.6th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a strong showing, though not a top-tier result. The data indicates that the RTX 5090's performance, while impressive in absolute terms, does not place this combo among the elite configurations for this particular game. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests the bottleneck lies elsewhere or that Downfall's engine does not fully scale with the RTX 5090's capabilities.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for the combo's ranking. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 18911 and a single-core score of 2200.5, with a PassMark multithread score of 36811. Its average benchmark score of 44466 places it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (44573, 0.2% higher), Intel Core i9-13950HX (44342, 0.3% lower), and AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (44309, 0.4% lower). The CPU's performance is competitive, but Downfall's engine may favor different hardware characteristics.

The combo's 803rd rank out of 3716 suggests that while this system delivers excellent frame rates in absolute terms, other combinations achieve even higher scores. The gap between the GPU's 92nd percentile and the combo's 21.6th percentile indicates that pairing this CPU with the RTX 5090 does not unlock the GPU's full potential in Downfall, or that the game's optimization favors different CPU-GPU pairings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H features 16 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 2.10 GHz with a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The Panther Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by Intel, includes a 192 KB L1 cache per core, 3 MB L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports LPDDR5X memory on a dual-channel bus with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth, though the platform is limited to PCIe Gen 5 with 4 lanes from the CPU. The 25W TDP indicates a mobile-focused design, but the boost clock of 5.10 GHz provides substantial single-thread performance.

In Downfall, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p, the frame rates of 220-328 FPS across presets suggest the CPU can maintain high instruction throughput, though the scaling from Low (328 FPS) to Medium (269 FPS) to High (220 FPS) to Ultra (138 FPS) shows the GPU's increasing workload impact. The CPU's Cinebench R20 single-core score of 1849 and PassMark single-thread score of 4280 indicate strong per-core performance, which benefits games like Downfall that rely on single-threaded rendering tasks.

At 1440p, the CPU remains capable of feeding the GPU, as evidenced by the 234 FPS Low, 192 FPS Medium, and 157 FPS High results. The CPU's 16 threads handle the game's multi-threaded workloads effectively, though the absence of hyperthreading (16 threads for 16 cores) may limit performance in heavily threaded scenes. The CPU's nearest rival comparisons show it within 0.2-0.5% of competing models, indicating that Downfall does not heavily differentiate between these CPUs. The 88th percentile CPU ranking confirms that the Core Ultra X9 388H is a strong performer, but the combo's 803rd rank in Downfall suggests the game's engine does not fully leverage the CPU's capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four settings presets at three resolutions, with average FPS provided for all configurations and minimum/maximum values for Medium settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset produces the highest average at 328 FPS, followed by Medium at 269 FPS (minimum 228, maximum 309), High at 220 FPS, and Ultra at 138 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra spans 190 FPS, demonstrating the substantial performance cost of quality enhancements.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 234 FPS, Medium averages 192 FPS (minimum 163, maximum 221), High averages 157 FPS, and Ultra averages 98 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 94 FPS at Low, 77 FPS at Medium, 63 FPS at High, and 40 FPS at Ultra. This pattern shows diminishing absolute FPS losses as settings increase, but the percentage drop remains consistent.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 146 FPS, Medium averages 119 FPS (minimum 101, maximum 137), High averages 98 FPS, and Ultra averages 61 FPS. The 4K resolution imposes significant demands, with the Low-to-Ultra spread narrowing to 85 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 101 FPS indicates that even at 4K, the system maintains playable frame rates without severe dips. The High preset at 98 FPS and Ultra at 61 FPS show the GPU's limits at this resolution.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset provides the most complete data set with minimum and maximum values. The consistency between minimum and average FPS at Medium settings (e.g., 228 minimum versus 269 average at 1080p, 163 versus 192 at 1440p, 101 versus 119 at 4K) indicates stable frame delivery without major stuttering. The maximum FPS values (309 at 1080p, 221 at 1440p, 137 at 4K) show the system's peak capability.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system's components respond to increasing resolution demands. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 269 at 1080p to 192 at 1440p (a 77 FPS or 28.6% reduction) and further to 119 at 4K (a 73 FPS or 38.0% reduction from 1440p). The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K is 150 FPS, or 55.8% of the original frame rate. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, with the CPU's role diminishing at higher pixel counts.

At High settings, the scaling shows a similar trend: 220 FPS at 1080p drops to 157 FPS at 1440p (63 FPS or 28.6% reduction) and then to 98 FPS at 4K (59 FPS or 37.6% reduction). The Low preset follows the pattern: 328 FPS at 1080p, 234 FPS at 1440p (94 FPS or 28.7% reduction), and 146 FPS at 4K (88 FPS or 37.6% reduction). The consistency of these percentage reductions across presets indicates a resolution-scaling behavior dominated by GPU throughput.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 138 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p (40 FPS or 29.0% reduction), and 61 FPS at 4K (37 FPS or 37.8% reduction). The percentage reductions align closely with the other presets, confirming that resolution scaling in Downfall follows a predictable GPU-bound pattern. The 4K results, particularly at Ultra (61 FPS), suggest that the RTX 5090's raw compute is the limiting factor — the 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are insufficient to maintain higher frame rates at this resolution with maximum settings.

The data indicates that the CPU provides sufficient headroom at all resolutions, as the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K closely mirrors the GPU's expected workload increase. The fact that Low preset at 4K (146 FPS) exceeds Ultra at 1440p (98 FPS) by 48 FPS further demonstrates that resolution, not settings, is the primary determinant of performance, with the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth constraining results at higher pixel counts.