Evolve

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Evolve at 4K with maximum settings?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers an average of 63.1 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: What is the best visual preset to use at 1440p?

A: Ultra settings are fully playable at 2560x1440. The recorded average FPS at that preset is 107.7, leaving substantial headroom above the 60 FPS floor.

Q: How much performance does the RTX 5090 lose when moving from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the average FPS is 218.2. At 3840x2160 High, the average drops to 90.2. That is a reduction of roughly 59% as resolution scales up.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for frame rate limits at low settings?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the system reaches 261.2 FPS. The GPU is so fast that the CPU becomes the limiting factor in lighter settings, as evidenced by the relatively small frame rate jump from Medium to Low at 1080p compared to the jump at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the weakest preset that still holds 60 FPS at 4K?

A: All four presets tested (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra) stay above 60 FPS at 3840x2160. The lowest recorded average among them is Ultra at 63.1 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations for Evolve?

A: It ranks 204th out of 3700 tested combos, placing it in the top tier of configurations for this game.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data for Evolve shows a clear pattern: the GPU dominates performance scaling across resolutions, while the CPU becomes more relevant at lower resolutions and lighter presets. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces 261.2 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 227.4 FPS, and 3840x2160 Low falls to 147.8 FPS. That scaling pattern indicates the RTX 5090 is doing the heavy lifting, but the frame rate ceiling at 1080p Low is still constrained by the CPU's single-thread throughput.

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake part with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores show strong single-thread performance: a 3dmark single-thread score of 868 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024. For a game like Evolve, an FPS title from 2015, per-core performance matters more than raw core counts, and this CPU provides enough headroom to feed the GPU at most settings.

At 4K Ultra, the system averages 63.1 FPS. At 4K High, it averages 90.2 FPS. The gap between Medium (112.5 FPS) and Low (147.8 FPS) at 4K suggests that the GPU is still the primary bottleneck at this resolution, because reducing settings yields large frame rate gains. At 1080p, the picture changes. The difference between Medium (235.8 FPS) and Low (261.2 FPS) is only about 10%, while the difference between High (218.2 FPS) and Medium (235.8 FPS) is similarly modest. This compression at high frame rates indicates the CPU is starting to limit the pipeline.

For practical purposes, the RTX 5090 is the component that determines whether Evolve stays playable at high resolutions. The GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth give it enormous headroom for texture-heavy scenes. The CPU's role is to avoid becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions, and benchmark results show it performs well in that regard: its passmark single-thread score of 2981 and geekbench single-core score of 1777 place it comfortably above the median of all CPUs (71st percentile).

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3700 tested combinations for Evolve, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 204th. That places it in the top 5.5% of all recorded configurations, which is a strong result for a game that is over a decade old.

The ranking reflects a balance of CPU and GPU capability. The RTX 5090 alone sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs by average benchmark score, with a passmark G3D score of 39650 and an average benchmark score of 79842. The CPU is less exceptional relative to its peers, sitting in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, but it is sufficient to avoid dragging down the overall result in this specific title.

What is notable is that the combo rank is not higher. The 204th position out of 3700 suggests that other combos with similarly powerful GPUs but faster CPUs achieve higher frame rates in Evolve, particularly at 1080p where CPU limits become visible. At 4K, the GPU is so dominant that the CPU choice matters less, which is why the system still delivers 63.1 FPS at Ultra. Still, for a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards, this configuration delivers excellent performance across all tested scenarios.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide useful context for builders considering substitutions.

For the Intel Core i5-11400F, the closest alternatives by average benchmark score are the AMD EPYC 7H12 (0.3% higher score), the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (0.6% higher), the Intel Core i5-12450H (0.4% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (0.6% lower). These chips all score within a fraction of a percent of each other, meaning any of them would likely produce nearly identical frame rates in Evolve. The AMD EPYC 7H12 and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U are interesting because they come from very different market segments, but their average benchmark scores put them in the same performance class as the i5-11400F for this workload.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, the nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (0.3% higher score), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X (1.4% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.1% lower). These are not typical gaming GPUs, but the data shows they produce similar average benchmark scores. In practice, the RTX 5090's massive memory bandwidth and 32 GB capacity would matter more in modern titles, but for Evolve specifically, any of these alternatives would behave similarly.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which delivers an average of 161.9 FPS. All four presets are playable at this resolution, with Low at 261.2 FPS, Medium at 235.8 FPS, and High at 218.2 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Ultra remains the best choice, averaging 107.7 FPS. The other presets are also playable: Low at 227.4 FPS, Medium at 197.7 FPS, and High at 159 FPS. There is no reason to drop below Ultra here unless the display refresh rate demands even higher frame rates.

At 3840x2160, Ultra is still playable at 63.1 FPS, but it is close to the 60 FPS threshold. High settings provide more comfort at 90.2 FPS, while Medium reaches 112.5 FPS and Low hits 147.8 FPS. For a 60 Hz 4K display, Ultra is the recommended preset. For higher refresh rate 4K panels, dropping to High or Medium would be necessary to maintain frame rates above 120 FPS.

The Verdict

This PC can run Evolve at all tested resolutions and presets, clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold in every configuration. The strongest result is at 1920x1080, where Ultra settings run at 161.9 FPS average, more than double the playable threshold. At 2560x1440, Ultra delivers 107.7 FPS, which is comfortable for high refresh rate displays. At 3840x2160, Ultra drops to 63.1 FPS, still above 60 FPS but with less headroom.

The verdict by resolution is straightforward: all three resolutions support Ultra settings at or above 60 FPS. For 4K gaming, the system is viable but not overkill; the 63.1 FPS average at Ultra leaves little margin for demanding scenes. For 1440p and 1080p, the combination of the i5-11400F and RTX 5090 provides a very smooth experience with significant performance in reserve.

The data indicates that this is a capable configuration for Evolve, ranking in the top 204 of 3700 tested combos. The GPU is the star, providing enough raw throughput to push 4K Ultra past 60 FPS, while the CPU performs adequately without becoming a major bottleneck except at very high frame rates in lighter settings. Builders targeting 1440p or 1080p high refresh rate play will find this setup more than sufficient, and even 4K Ultra is achievable without compromise.