Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers a decisive performance margin in Evolve, clearing the 60 FPS playable threshold at every tested resolution and preset combination. Benchmark data confirms this combo is overkill for the game’s demands, with the most demanding Ultra preset still producing 65 FPS at 4K, 114 FPS at 1440p, and 170 FPS at 1080p. The GPU’s raw compute power—evidenced by its 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs—dominates the workload, while the six-core CPU provides sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking even at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 300 FPS.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset is the most demanding option that remains at or above 60 FPS, delivering an average of 65 FPS. The data shows this is the only resolution where the Ultra preset dips close to the playable threshold—the margin is just 5 FPS above the 60 FPS floor. For players prioritizing visual fidelity at 4K, Ultra is viable, but the High preset offers a substantial safety buffer at 94 FPS average while still maintaining strong image quality.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings produce an average of 114 FPS, which is nearly double the playable threshold. This gives users considerable headroom for demanding scenes or background tasks. The Medium preset reaches 210 FPS average, while High sits at 165 FPS, but the Ultra preset’s 114 FPS remains comfortably above the 60 FPS line, making it the recommended choice for maximum visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 170 FPS, making it the clear best settings choice. Even at this high frame rate, the combo shows no signs of strain, with the Medium preset reaching 278 FPS and Low hitting 305 FPS. The 170 FPS average at Ultra is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate displays, and the massive gap above the 60 FPS threshold indicates the CPU-GPU pairing is far from being maxed out.

FAQ

Q: Can this PC run Evolve at 4K with the highest settings while staying above 60 FPS?

A: Yes. The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 produces an average of 65 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS playable threshold by 5 FPS. The High preset offers a more comfortable margin at 94 FPS average.

Q: How does performance scale between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 170 at 1920x1080 to 114 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 56 FPS. The scaling pattern persists across presets: Low goes from 305 to 267 FPS, Medium from 278 to 210 FPS, and High from 246 to 165 FPS.

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

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 delivers an average of 114 FPS, which is the most demanding setting tested and remains nearly double the playable threshold. All four tested presets—Ultra, High, Medium, and Low—clear 60 FPS at this resolution.

Q: Is there any resolution where this combo fails to reach 60 FPS?

A: No. Across all three tested resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160) and all four preset levels (Low, Medium, High, and Ultra), every average FPS figure exceeds 60 FPS. The lowest recorded average is 65 FPS at 4K Ultra.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The GPU scores 77,712 on average, which is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904), 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940), and 2.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396). The RTX 5090 D ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What frame rates does the Medium preset produce at each resolution?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset averages 278 FPS with a minimum of 236 and maximum of 320. At 2560x1440, it averages 210 FPS with a minimum of 179 and maximum of 242. At 3840x2160, it averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 and maximum of 138.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all settings. The Low preset produces an average of 305 FPS, the highest figure recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 278 FPS average with a minimum of 236 and maximum of 320, showcasing strong frame pacing. High settings reach 246 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 170 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra spans 135 FPS, indicating the GPU has massive headroom at this resolution even under maximum load.

At 2560x1440, performance remains robust but shows expected scaling from 1080p. Low settings average 267 FPS, a decrease of 38 FPS from the 1080p result. Medium averages 210 FPS with a minimum of 179 and maximum of 242, representing a 68 FPS drop from the same preset at 1080p. High settings average 165 FPS, down 81 FPS from 1080p. Ultra settings average 114 FPS, which is 56 FPS below the 1080p Ultra figure. The resolution increase from 1080p to 1440p costs between 38 and 81 FPS depending on the preset, with the largest absolute reduction occurring at High settings.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates tell a story of diminishing returns as resolution scales up. Low settings average 154 FPS, nearly half the 1080p Low result. Medium averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 and maximum of 138, maintaining playability with a 42 FPS margin above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 94 FPS, and Ultra drops to 65 FPS average. The transition from 1440p to 4K costs between 40 and 113 FPS depending on preset, with Ultra experiencing the steepest relative decline. The minimum FPS figures recorded only for Medium presets (102 at 4K, 179 at 1440p, 236 at 1080p) suggest frame drops are well-controlled at this setting level.

The Verdict

This PC can run Evolve at every resolution and preset combination tested, with all average FPS figures exceeding the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset achieves 65 FPS average, which is the tightest margin in the dataset but still playable. The High preset at 4K provides a more comfortable 94 FPS average for users who prefer stability over maximum visual settings. At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset delivers 114 FPS average, and at 1920x1080, Ultra reaches 170 FPS average. The verdict by resolution confirms playability at all three resolutions with the Ultra preset as the recommended best setting at each, given the substantial margins above 60 FPS.

The data indicates this combo is overprovisioned for Evolve’s requirements. The lowest recorded average across all tests is 65 FPS, and the highest reaches 305 FPS at 1080p Low. For 4K users, the choice between Ultra (65 FPS) and High (94 FPS) involves a tradeoff of 29 FPS for presumably higher visual fidelity, but both options remain playable. The 1440p and 1080p results suggest that users with high-refresh-rate monitors can comfortably enable Ultra settings and still experience frame rates well above 100 FPS.

CPU and GPU Roles

The RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing for Evolve, as evidenced by the GPU’s 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and its average benchmark score of 77,712. The GPU’s immense compute resources—including 21,760 shading units and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput—drive the frame rates across all resolutions. The CPU’s role becomes relatively more important at lower resolutions where frame rates exceed 250 FPS, but the i5-12400F’s 12-thread configuration and 73rd percentile CPU ranking prevent it from becoming a bottleneck in the tested scenarios.

The scaling between resolutions reveals how the workload shifts. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 170 to 305 FPS, suggesting the GPU is operating well below its full capacity and the CPU’s ability to feed frames becomes a limiting factor at the highest settings. At 1440p, the frame rates drop by roughly 30-35% compared to 1080p across presets, indicating the GPU is beginning to take on more of the rendering burden. At 4K, the frame rates fall further—Ultra drops from 114 to 65 FPS, a 43% reduction—demonstrating that the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s) are the primary constraints at this resolution.

The CPU’s benchmark scores support its adequacy for this game. The i5-12400F achieves a single-thread score of 909 in 3dmark and 3,481 in Passmark, while its multi-thread results reach 5,912 in 3dmark max threads and 19,433 in Passmark multithread. These figures are competitive with its nearest rivals, including the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (average score 19,047, 0% delta) and the Intel Core 3 201E (average score 19,056, -0.1% delta). The CPU’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide sufficient single-thread performance for game logic, while the 12 threads handle background tasks without impacting frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

Among 3,700 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Evolve, this pairing ranks 48th, placing it in the top 1.3% of all configurations. This high ranking reflects the RTX 5090 D’s exceptional performance—the GPU alone ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs—combined with a capable mid-range CPU that avoids bottlenecking. The GPU’s average benchmark score of 77,712 is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940), though it falls 2.1% short of the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396) and 2.4% short of the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605).

The CPU’s ranking context reinforces the balance of this combo. The i5-12400F’s average benchmark score of 19,039 places it in the 73rd percentile among all CPUs, with its nearest rival being the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS at 19,047 (0% delta). The CPU’s performance is sufficient to support the GPU’s output without creating a significant bottleneck, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p where CPU overhead typically becomes more prominent. The 48th rank out of 3,700 combos indicates that while the GPU is among the top performers, the overall system position is enhanced by the CPU’s ability to keep pace, resulting in a well-matched pairing for Evolve’s workload.