Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a robust experience in Evolve, with benchmark results showing that the combination is capable of clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold at every tested resolution, though the margin of comfort varies significantly depending on the selected preset. At 4K, the system requires a step down from the highest quality settings to maintain fluid gameplay, while at 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 it can handle the maximum Ultra preset, with the latter offering a substantial refresh-rate headroom. The measured data indicates a clear scaling pattern where resolution reductions yield disproportionately large gains in average frame rate, pointing to a system where both the CPU and GPU have well-defined roles depending on the workload.

Best Settings per Resolution

The most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS at each resolution is determined directly from the measured FPS table and the verdictByResolution field. At 3840x2160, the data indicates that the Medium preset is the sweet spot, producing an average of 64 FPS. The Low preset runs faster at 82 FPS average, but Medium is the highest visual quality tier that still clears the threshold. High at 4K drops to 50 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 35, so neither is playable by the 60 FPS standard. The jump from Medium to High at 4K represents a 14 FPS loss, which is significant enough to push the system below the playable line.

Moving to 2560x1440, the verdict lists all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—as playable. The best settings here are Ultra, which yields an average of 61 FPS. That is a narrow margin above the threshold, nearly identical to the 60 FPS baseline, but it is technically playable. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 112 FPS, and High averages 88 FPS, so there is room to trade visual fidelity for headroom. The data suggests that 1440p Ultra is a borderline case, with the average just one frame above the playable line.

At 1920x1080, the situation is more straightforward. The Ultra preset runs at an average of 91 FPS, which is the best playable setting. All the lower presets—High at 131 FPS, Medium at 167 FPS, and Low at 215 FPS—are also well above 60, but Ultra is the maximum quality option that stays clear of the threshold. The margin at 1080p is comfortable, with the Ultra average sitting 31 FPS above the playable line, meaning there is no need to compromise on settings.

In summary, the best settings by resolution are: Medium at 3840x2160 with 64 FPS, Ultra at 2560x1440 with 61 FPS, and Ultra at 1920x1080 with 91 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The scaling between resolutions and presets reveals which component is the primary limiter. The data shows that the frame rate responds strongly to resolution changes, which is a classic indicator of GPU-bound performance. For example, at Low settings, the average FPS goes from 215 at 1080p to 144 at 1440p and then to 82 at 4K. That is a 62% drop from 1080p to 1440p (215 to 144) and a 43% drop from 1440p to 4K (144 to 82). The GPU is clearly the limiting factor when the CPU load is minimal at Low settings.

At the Ultra preset, the scaling is similarly pronounced: 91 FPS at 1080p, 61 at 1440p, and 35 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33%, and from 1440p to 4K is 43%. The consistent, large reductions across resolution at every preset level indicate that the RTX 3070 is doing the heavy lifting, with the i5-12400 providing enough instruction throughput to keep the GPU fed. The CPU’s role becomes more apparent when looking at the preset scaling at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 124 FPS (215 to 91), which shows that the GPU is still the main driver, but the CPU must manage the increased draw calls and physics without bottlenecking, since the FPS remains above 90 even at Ultra.

The data does not show any scenarios where the CPU becomes the primary constraint, as even the highest preset at 4K only drops to 35 FPS, which is still a GPU-limited outcome. The CPU’s 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, are sufficient to avoid becoming a bottleneck, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS scales almost linearly with resolution when the other factors are held constant. The min and max FPS values, available only for Medium presets, show a tighter range at higher resolutions: 142-192 at 1080p, 95-129 at 1440p, and 54-73 at 4K. This narrowing of the frame time distribution as resolution rises further points to the GPU being the response for the average FPS, with the CPU’s role being to provide a stable minimum baseline.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a full picture of performance across all resolution and settings combinations. At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 215 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the dataset. Medium at 1080p averages 167 FPS, with a min of 142 and a max of 192, giving a spread of 50 FPS. High averages 131 FPS, and Ultra averages 91 FPS, which is still far above the 60 FPS threshold. The 1080p results show that the system has significant overhead, even at the maximum quality settings, and the min FPS at Medium (142) stays comfortably above the playable line, indicating consistent frame times.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 144 FPS, which is exactly double the 4K Ultra average. Medium at 1440p averages 112 FPS, with a min of 95 and a max of 129. The 17 FPS spread between min and max is narrower than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a more consistent workload. High averages 88 FPS, and Ultra averages 61 FPS, which is the lowest playable result in this resolution. The 1440p Ultra result of 61 FPS and the max of 129 FPS at Medium show that the system can handle the resolution well, but the Ultra preset is close to the limit.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 82 FPS, which is still playable. Medium averages 64 FPS, with a min of 54 and a max of 73. The min of 54 FPS at 4K Medium is notable because it falls below the 60 FPS threshold, even though the average is above it. This indicates some frame drops in demanding scenes. High averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS, both of which are unplayable. The 4K data shows the sharpest decline: 82 to 64 to 50 to 35 FPS as settings increase—a 47 FPS difference between Low and Ultra.

For the Medium presets with min/max data, the frame ranges are 142-192 at 1080p, 95-129 at 1440p, and 54-73 at 4K. The Relative the spread between min and max is wider at 1080p (50 FPS) compared to 1440p (34 FPS) and 4K (19 FPS), which suggests that the CPU and GPU have more headroom at lower resolution, leading to larger frame time variance. At 4K, the narrower range indicates that the GPU is fully saturated, making the frame rate more consistent but closer to the threshold.

FAQ

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average FPS is 50, which is below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The playable settings at 4K are Low and Medium, with Medium averaging 64 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset at 1440p that stays above 60 FPS?

A: Ultra is the best preset at 2560x1440, averaging 61 FPS. The verdictByResolution field lists all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—as playable, but Ultra is the highest quality option that clears the threshold.

Q: How much faster is the system at 1080p Medium compared to 4K Medium?

A: At 1920x1080 Medium, the average FPS is 167, while at 3840x2160 Medium it is 64 FPS. This is an increase of 103 FPS, or about 2.6 times faster at 1080p.

Q: Is the Ultra preset at 4K playable?

A: No. The average FPS at 3840x2160 Ultra is 35, which is well below the 60 FPS threshold. The best playable settings at 4K is Medium, with an average of 64 FPS.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS at 1440p Medium?

A: The measured data for 2560x1440 Medium shows a minimum of 95 FPS and a maximum of 129 FPS, with an average of 112 FPS. The min is well above the playable threshold.

Q: Does the 1080p Ultra preset reach 60 FPS?

A: Yes, and it goes beyond. The average FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra is 91, which is 31 FPS above the playable threshold, making it the recommended preset for this resolution.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The nearest rivals for the CPU and GPU provide a sense of what other hardware would behave similarly. For the Intel Core i5-12400, the nearest rival is the AMD EPYC 7643, which has an average benchmark score of 18697, a delta of -0.1% compared to the i5-12400’s average score of 18683. This means the EPYC 7643 would perform nearly identically in CPU-bound tasks. The Intel Core i7-1355U also sits close with an average of 18730 and a delta of -0.3%, while the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 has a score of 18811, with a delta of -0.7%, indicating it is slightly faster. The Intel Core i3-14100F, with a delta of 0.9%, is slower by a small margin, but still within a few percentage points.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, the nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, which has an average benchmark score of 17083 and a delta of 0.7%, meaning the RX 7600 XT is slightly slower than the RTX 3070 (which has an average score of 17208). The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 has a delta of 1%, and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M has a delta of 1.1%, both being slower. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c has a delta of -1.5%, making it slightly faster in the benchmark, but it is a compute-oriented card, so its real-world gaming performance may differ.

In practice, a system with an AMD EPYC 7643 or Intel Core i3-14100F would deliver nearly identical CPU performance in Evolve, given the sub-1% delta. On the GPU side, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT would be the closest match, with a 0.7% lower average score, meaning the FPS numbers would be within a frame or two. The GTX 690 and HD 7970M have similar deltas but represent older architectures, so their actual performance in Evolve may vary due to driver differences, though the benchmark scores suggest they would be in the same ballpark.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks at 1580 out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the top 42.7% of all system combinations, which is a solid position, but not elite. The percentile data for the CPU and GPU separately reinforces this: the i5-12400 is in the 72nd percentile against all CPUs, meaning it is above average, while the RTX 3070 is in the 61st percentile for GPUs. The combo rank, being lower than the CPU percentile, suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor in the pair for the game’s workload.

The rank of 1580 out of 3700 means there are 2120 other combos that perform better in Evolve, which is a substantial number. This is expected given that the RTX 3070 is an older generation card, but the data shows the combo is still capable of running the game at playable frame rates at all resolutions, even if it is not at the top. The percentile data also shows that while the CPU is better than 72% of all CPUs, the GPU is only better than 61% of all GPUs, so the GPU is the weaker link in the combo. In terms of the game’s specific requirements, the combo is ranked 1580 out of 3700, which is a mid-to-upper-tier result, but not a high-end one.

The Verdict

The data shows that the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 can run Evolve at the 60 FPS threshold at all three tested resolutions, but the quality settings must be adjusted. At 3840x2160, the system is playable on Low and Medium, with Medium being the best settings and producing an average of 64 FPS. The High and Ultra presets are not playable, falling to 50 and 35 FPS respectively. At 2560x1440, the system runs all four presets—Low, Medium, High, and Ultra—above 60 FPS, with Ultra at 61 FPS being the best settings. At 1920x1080, the system is fully capable of running Ultra at 91 FPS, with all other presets even faster. The average FPS at 4K Medium is 64, which is just 4 FPS above the threshold, and the minimum is 54, indicating some frame drops below 60, but the average is still playable.

The role of the GPU is the primary determinant of playability, as the FPS scales predictably with resolution, and the CPU is not a bottleneck at any settings. The 60 FPS line is comfortably crossed at 1080p and 1440p, even at the highest visual quality, while 4K requires dropping to Medium quality to achieve a stable experience. For the best experience, users should play at 1920x1080 Ultra or 2560x1440 Ultra, both of which clear the threshold with room to spare. The system is not a 4K Ultra machine, but it is more than capable of delivering smooth gameplay at the highest settings on 1440p and below.