Evolve

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER lands at rank 2140 out of 3700 tested combinations in the Evolve benchmark database. That places this pairing in the lower-middle portion of the overall distribution, which is a telling result given the stark contrast between the two components. The CPU is a top-tier part, sitting at the 95th percentile among all processors tested, while the GPU rests at only the 65th percentile among all graphics cards. This is a lopsided pairing where the processor is dramatically more capable than the graphics subsystem, and the ranking reflects that bottleneck.

The recorded data indicates that the combination's position is driven almost entirely by the GPU's limitations. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor with a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, and its benchmark scores are exceptional across every test. Its average benchmark score of 75779 places it within 0.4% of the nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D, the AMD EPYC 8224P, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285. All of these processors are effectively tied in performance, with deltas ranging from 0.1% to 0.4%. The CPU is simply not the limiting factor here.

The RTX 2070 SUPER, by contrast, is an older Turing architecture part with an average benchmark score of 20282. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M at 20480 (-1% delta), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile at 20534 (-1.2%), the Intel Arc B570 at 20556 (-1.3%), and the Intel Arc A750 at 20582 (-1.5%). These are all within a narrow band, meaning the GPU is performing as expected for its class. It is not a weak sample of the GPU; it is simply a mid-range graphics card in a pairing with an enthusiast-class CPU.

The rank of 2140 out of 3700 suggests that many other combinations deliver better Evolve performance, which is expected because most pairings in the database feature more balanced CPU and GPU tiers. The data shows that this combo is held back by the GPU at every resolution, and the ranking is a direct consequence of that imbalance. The CPU's 95th percentile standing does little to boost the combo's position when the GPU is the one rendering frames.

What is curious is how the game itself responds to this imbalance. Evolve is a 2015 title, and its engine appears to scale well with GPU power while showing diminishing returns from CPU headroom. The measured frame rates at each resolution follow a pattern consistent with GPU-bound behavior: performance drops sharply as resolution increases, and the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions. The CPU has plenty of spare capacity, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's rendering limits. The ranking confirms that this is a GPU-limited combo in a game that cares more about the graphics card than the processor.

Best Settings per Resolution

The database's verdict by resolution identifies the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS, which is the playable threshold for this analysis.

At 3840x2160, the only playable setting is Low. The average frame rate at Low is 66.5 FPS. Medium drops to 51.6 FPS, High falls to 39.9 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 26.5 FPS. None of those three presets clear the 60 FPS bar. So at 4K, the best playable preset is Low, and the measured average is 66.5 FPS.

At 2560x1440, three presets are playable: High, Low, and Medium. The most demanding of those is High, which delivers an average of 70 FPS. Medium runs at 93.8 FPS, and Low reaches 121 FPS. Ultra is not playable at this resolution, with an average of 50 FPS. So at 1440p, the best playable preset is High at 70 FPS.

At 1920x1080, all four presets clear the 60 FPS threshold. The most demanding is Ultra, which averages 75.9 FPS. High runs at 108.9 FPS, Medium at 136.5 FPS, and Low at 178.6 FPS. At 1080p, the best playable preset is Ultra at 75.9 FPS.

These results show a clear pattern: the GPU can handle the game at higher settings only when the resolution drops. At 1080p, Ultra is playable with a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. At 1440p, High is the ceiling. At 4K, only Low works. The frame rate deltas between presets are substantial at every resolution, indicating that Evolve's settings have a strong impact on GPU load.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Evolve at 1080p with maximum settings?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the recorded average FPS is 75.9, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best preset at 2560x1440?

A: The most demanding playable preset at 1440p is High, with an average FPS of 70. Medium runs at 93.8 FPS, and Low at 121 FPS, but Ultra falls below the threshold at 50 FPS.

Q: Is 4K playable with this combination?

A: Only at Low settings. At 3840x2160 with Low, the average FPS is 66.5. Medium drops to 51.6 FPS, High to 39.9 FPS, and Ultra to 26.5 FPS, all below the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an average benchmark score of 75779. Its closest competitors are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 at 75738 (0.1% delta), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D at 75716 (0.1%), the AMD EPYC 8224P at 75582 (0.3%), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 at 75488 (0.4%). All are statistically tied.

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

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20282. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480 (-1%), the GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534 (-1.2%), the Intel Arc B570 scores 20556 (-1.3%), and the Intel Arc A750 scores 20582 (-1.5%). The differences are small, under 2% in all cases.

Q: Why does the combo rank lower than the CPU's percentile would suggest?

A: The GPU sits at the 65th percentile among all graphics cards, while the CPU is at the 95th percentile. In Evolve, the GPU is the primary performance driver, so the combination's rank of 2140 out of 3700 is limited by the graphics card's mid-range standing.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at the nearest rivals for both components provides a sense of what other hardware would produce similar results in this game.

On the CPU side, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is effectively interchangeable with four other processors based on average benchmark scores. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 scores 75738, a 0.1% delta. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D scores 75716, also 0.1% off. The AMD EPYC 8224P scores 75582, a 0.3% delta. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 scores 75488, a 0.4% delta. Any of these CPUs would deliver nearly identical Evolve frame rates when paired with the same GPU, because the game is not CPU-bound in this configuration. The data shows that the CPU's performance headroom is far beyond what Evolve requires, so swapping among these processors would change nothing in the measured FPS.

On the GPU side, the RTX 2070 SUPER's nearest rivals are all within 1.5% of its average score. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M scores 20480, which is 1% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile scores 20534, 1.2% higher. The Intel Arc B570 scores 20556, 1.3% higher. The Intel Arc A750 scores 20582, 1.5% higher. These GPUs would produce frame rates within a couple of FPS of the RTX 2070 SUPER in Evolve, given the same CPU and settings. The recorded data suggests that swapping to any of these cards would not meaningfully change the playable presets at any resolution. At 4K, Low would still be the only playable setting. At 1440p, High would still be the ceiling. At 1080p, Ultra would still be playable.

The interesting implication is that a user seeking a better Evolve experience would need to step up to a significantly faster GPU, not just a marginally different one. The nearest rivals are all clustered within a narrow band, meaning the game's performance is stable across this GPU tier. There is no nearby GPU that would unlock Medium or High at 4K, for example. That would require a larger jump in GPU class.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The recorded measurements provide a complete picture of how this combo performs across resolutions and settings. All values are average FPS, as minimum and maximum frame rates were not recorded.

At 3840x2160, the settings ladder shows a steep drop as quality increases. Low averages 66.5 FPS, which is the only playable preset at this resolution. Medium averages 51.6 FPS, a 22% reduction from Low. High averages 39.9 FPS, another 23% drop. Ultra averages 26.5 FPS, which is 60% below the Low setting's frame rate. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K is a steady decline, with no setting coming close to the 60 FPS threshold except Low.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are substantially higher. Low averages 121 FPS, which is roughly double the 4K Low result. Medium averages 93.8 FPS, a 22% decrease from Low. High averages 70 FPS, a 25% drop from Medium. Ultra averages 50 FPS, which is 29% below High and below the playable threshold. The pattern at 1440p shows that the first three presets all clear 60 FPS, while Ultra does not.

At 1920x1080, all presets are playable. Low averages 178.6 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure in the dataset. Medium averages 136.5 FPS, a 24% reduction from Low. High averages 108.9 FPS, a 20% drop from Medium. Ultra averages 75.9 FPS, a 30% decrease from High. Even at Ultra, the frame rate is still 26% above the 60 FPS threshold, providing a comfortable margin.

The resolution scaling is worth noting. From 1080p Low to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops by 32%. From 1440p Low to 4K Low, it drops by 45%. From 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra, the drop is 34%. From 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra, the drop is 47%. The GPU's bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and its 8 GB GDDR6 memory appear to be the limiting factors at higher resolutions, as the frame rate penalties are consistent and large.

The Verdict

The question is whether this PC can run Evolve, and the data provides a clear answer: yes, but with significant caveats depending on the target resolution.

At 1920x1080, the combination is fully capable. Every preset, including Ultra, clears the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra average of 75.9 FPS leaves a 26% margin above the playable bar. This is the resolution where the combo delivers its best experience, with no compromises needed.

At 2560x1440, the verdict is conditional. High settings are playable at 70 FPS, and Medium at 93.8 FPS. Low runs at 121 FPS. However, Ultra is not playable, averaging only 50 FPS. Users at 1440p must choose between high quality at 70 FPS or maximum quality below the threshold. The data shows that High is the best playable preset, with a 17% margin over 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the verdict is restrictive. Only Low settings are playable, with an average of 66.5 FPS. Medium falls to 51.6 FPS, High to 39.9 FPS, and Ultra to 26.5 FPS. This is a marginal pass at 4K Low, with just 11% headroom above the threshold. The GPU is clearly overmatched at this resolution for anything beyond the lowest quality settings.

Overall, the verdict by resolution is: playable at 1080p with all presets, playable at 1440p up to High, and playable at 4K only at Low. The GPU is the deciding factor, and its mid-range standing means that Evolve is playable but not at maximum quality except at 1080p.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data reveals a clear division of labor between the CPU and GPU in Evolve, and the scaling between resolutions and presets tells the story.

The CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D's 95th percentile standing and its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42018 and a Geekbench multicore score of 26736, indicate enormous processing headroom. Even the most demanding preset at the lowest resolution, 1080p Ultra at 75.9 FPS, is far below what this CPU could theoretically feed. The game is a 2015 title, and its engine does not appear to leverage more than a few cores effectively. The CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads are largely idle during Evolve gameplay.

The GPU is the dominant factor. Evidence comes from the frame rate scaling: at 1080p, going from Low to Ultra reduces the average FPS from 178.6 to 75.9, a 57% drop. At 1440p, the same preset change drops from 121 to 50, a 59% reduction. At 4K, it goes from 66.5 to 26.5, a 60% drop. The consistency of these percentage drops across resolutions indicates that the GPU's rendering throughput is the limiting resource. The RTX 2070 SUPER has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, and its FP32 performance of 9.062 TFLOPS is what determines these frame rates.

Resolution scaling further confirms the GPU's role. From 1080p to 1440p, the frame rate drops by roughly one-third at every preset. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is roughly 45% to 47%. These are classic GPU-bound patterns, where pixel throughput and memory bandwidth dominate. The GPU's 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is fixed, and higher resolutions demand more data movement. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s is irrelevant here, because the CPU is not the one moving frame data.

At lower resolutions, the CPU's role could theoretically become more visible, but the data does not show that. Even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 178.6 FPS, the CPU still has headroom. Its single-thread score of 1292 in 3DMark and 4737 in PassMark are strong, but the game simply does not require that much processing power. The conclusion is that Evolve is GPU-bound across all tested resolutions and presets, and the CPU's contribution to the measured results is negligible.

The practical implication is that upgrading the CPU would not improve Evolve performance with this GPU, while upgrading the GPU would produce substantial gains. The combo's rank of 2140 out of 3700 is a direct reflection of the GPU's 65th percentile standing, not the CPU's 95th percentile. Users with this pairing who want higher frame rates should focus on graphics card upgrades, not processor upgrades.