Evolve

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti delivers strong frame rates in Evolve, a 2015 FPS title. Measured data covers three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) across four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). This combination ranks 460th out of 3700 tested combos for this game, placing it in the top percentile of tested systems. The following analysis breaks down exact performance figures, compares against nearby rival hardware, and provides clear guidance on which settings to use.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the i5-14600K + RTX 4070 Ti produces extremely high frame rates across all presets. Low settings average 310.3 FPS, Medium averages 240.9 FPS, High averages 185.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 128.6 FPS. Every preset at this resolution clears the 60 FPS playability threshold by a wide margin, with even the most demanding Ultra preset delivering more than double the required frame rate. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a predictable drop: moving from Low to Medium reduces average FPS by 69.4, while moving from Medium to High reduces it by 55.6, and High to Ultra drops another 56.7. This linear degradation suggests the game scales smoothly with settings at 1080p, with no sudden performance cliffs.

At 2560x1440, the same settings produce 205.1 FPS on Low, 160.2 FPS on Medium, 124 FPS on High, and 87.4 FPS on Ultra. The pattern mirrors 1080p but at proportionally lower absolute values. The difference between Low and Medium is 44.9 FPS, between Medium and High is 36.2 FPS, and between High and Ultra is 36.6 FPS. Ultra at 1440p still holds above 60 FPS, achieving 87.4 FPS on average. This indicates that the GPU has sufficient headroom at this resolution to run maximum settings without dropping below playable levels.

At 3840x2160 (4K), performance becomes more constrained. Low settings average 114.8 FPS, Medium averages 91.6 FPS, High averages 73.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 48.5 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay at 4K. High settings remain playable at 73.3 FPS, which is still above 60 FPS but noticeably lower than the 1440p Ultra result. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 18.3 FPS, while High to Ultra drops 24.8 FPS, showing that Ultra demands a significantly larger performance cost than the step from Medium to High.

Comparing across resolutions, the scaling is consistent. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces average FPS by 105.2 (from 310.3 to 205.1), and moving from 1440p to 4K reduces it by another 90.3 (from 205.1 to 114.8). At Ultra settings, the same resolution steps reduce FPS by 41.2 (128.6 to 87.4) and 38.9 (87.4 to 48.5) respectively. The relative drop is larger at lower settings because the CPU becomes more of a limiting factor at very high frame rates.

The data shows no min or max FPS values, only averages. This means the analysis relies entirely on average frame rates, which generally provides a solid baseline for smoothness but does not capture frame time spikes or stutters. For a 2015 FPS title like Evolve, these averages suggest consistent performance, especially given the high absolute values at 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

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

A: No. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 48.5, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold. The highest playable setting at 4K is High, which averages 73.3 FPS.

Q: What is the best setting at 1440p for this combo?

A: Ultra settings at 2560x1440 average 87.4 FPS, which is above 60 FPS. This makes Ultra the best playable preset at that resolution, with no need to compromise on visual quality.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 44795. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores 45152, which is 0.8% higher. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT scores 45384 (1.3% higher), the NVIDIA RTX A6000 scores 44075 (1.6% lower), and the Intel Arc A730M scores 45592 (1.7% higher).

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The Intel Core i5-14600K ranks in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48618. At 1080p Low settings, the combo hits 310.3 FPS, suggesting the CPU keeps up with the GPU. However, the large FPS drops when moving to 1440p (105.2 FPS reduction at Low) indicate the GPU becomes more limiting as resolution increases.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 4K Medium settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 91.6. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth experience, though it uses lower-quality shadows and textures compared to High.

Q: Does this combo rank highly among all tested systems for Evolve?

A: Yes. The combo ranks 460th out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the top 12.4% of all tested systems for this game. This indicates it performs better than the vast majority of configurations.

Similar Performance Alternatives

Looking at CPU rivals, the Intel Core i5-14600K achieves an average benchmark score of 48618. The Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698, which is 0.2% higher, making it a near-identical match. The AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470 (0.3% lower), the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287 (0.7% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48995 (0.8% higher). These CPUs would deliver essentially the same in-game performance as the i5-14600K, with differences well within measurement noise. For Evolve specifically, which is a 2015 title with modest CPU demands, any of these processors would produce nearly identical frame rates.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 Ti has an average benchmark score of 44795. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile scores 45152 (0.8% higher), while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT scores 45384 (1.3% higher). The NVIDIA RTX A6000 scores 44075 (1.6% lower), and the Intel Arc A730M scores 45592 (1.7% higher). These deltas are all under 2%, meaning users with these GPUs would experience essentially the same Evolve performance. The RTX 5090 Mobile and Arc A730M are particularly close, with score differences of less than 1.8% from the 4070 Ti.

When combining CPU and GPU alternatives, a system with the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and RTX 5090 Mobile would be the closest match, with both components scoring within 1% of the i5-14600K and RTX 4070 Ti. However, the data only provides individual component scores, not combined system scores, so exact in-game FPS for these alternatives cannot be directly stated. The measured FPS for the i5-14600K + RTX 4070 Ti serves as a reliable proxy for these near-identical configurations.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 460th out of 3700 tested combinations for Evolve, placing it in the top 12.4% of all systems tested. This is a strong showing for a desktop CPU from 2023 and a GPU from 2023 running a 2015 game. The rank reflects the combination's ability to push high frame rates even at 4K, where only the Ultra preset fails to reach 60 FPS.

In percentile terms, the CPU sits in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU sits in the 84th percentile among all GPUs. The combo rank of 460/3700 is slightly better than the GPU's percentile would suggest, indicating that the CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064) helps in this FPS title. The game's genre (FPS) typically benefits from high single-thread performance, which the i5-14600K delivers with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz.

At 1080p, the combo achieves over 128.6 FPS on every preset, which is in the top tier of systems for this game. At 1440p, Ultra settings remain playable at 87.4 FPS, placing it above many systems that struggle with higher resolutions. At 4K, the combo only fails on Ultra, meaning it outperforms systems that cannot maintain 60 FPS at High or Medium settings.

The Verdict

This PC can run Evolve at all three tested resolutions, but with caveats at 4K. At 1920x1080, all four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) clear the 60 FPS threshold, with average frame rates ranging from 128.6 (Ultra) to 310.3 (Low). At 2560x1440, all four presets also clear 60 FPS, with Ultra averaging 87.4 FPS. At 3840x2160, three of four presets are playable: Low (114.8 FPS), Medium (91.6 FPS), and High (73.3 FPS). The Ultra preset at 4K averages 48.5 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS playable threshold.

The verdict by resolution is clear: 1080p and 1440p can run max settings without issue, while 4K requires dropping to High settings for a consistently smooth experience. At 4K High, the average of 73.3 FPS provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, so occasional dips are unlikely to cause noticeable stuttering. For users with 4K displays who prioritize visual fidelity, High settings offer the best balance, as Medium sacrifices noticeable quality for only 18.3 FPS more.

Overall, this combo is more than adequate for Evolve. The game's 2015 release date means it is not particularly demanding by modern standards, and the i5-14600K + RTX 4070 Ti provides performance that exceeds requirements at all but the most extreme settings.

Best Settings per Resolution

At 1920x1080, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is Ultra, which averages 128.6 FPS. This provides the maximum visual quality while still maintaining more than double the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is also Ultra, averaging 87.4 FPS. This gives users full graphical fidelity at 1440p with a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the most demanding preset that stays at or above 60 FPS is High, averaging 73.3 FPS. Ultra drops to 48.5 FPS, which is not playable, so High represents the best balance of visual quality and performance at 4K. Users who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity could use Medium (91.6 FPS) or Low (114.8 FPS), but High is the recommended setting for the best experience.

These recommendations are based solely on average FPS data. Since no min or max FPS values are provided, the average may not fully capture frame time consistency, but the large margins above 60 FPS at the recommended settings suggest stable performance.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data shows that the GPU becomes increasingly important as resolution increases, while the CPU's role is more significant at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 310.3 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame rate capability. When moving to 1440p Low, FPS drops to 205.1, a reduction of 33.9%. This drop is primarily due to the GPU working harder at higher resolution, but the CPU still provides enough single-thread performance to avoid becoming a bottleneck.

At 4K Low, the FPS drops to 114.8, which is 44% lower than 1440p Low. This larger relative drop indicates the GPU is the dominant limiting factor at 4K. The RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for this game, but the raw compute (40.09 TFLOPS FP32) becomes the constraint at 4K.

The CPU's impact is visible in the scaling between presets. At 1080p, going from Low to Ultra reduces FPS by 181.7 (from 310.3 to 128.6), a 58.6% drop. At 4K, the same preset change reduces FPS by 66.3 (from 114.8 to 48.5), a 57.8% drop. The similar percentage drops suggest that the game's settings changes affect the GPU workload proportionally at all resolutions, rather than exposing a CPU bottleneck at any particular resolution.

The i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide ample CPU headroom for Evolve. The game launched in 2015, likely utilizing only a few threads, so the CPU's strong single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2064) is more relevant than its multicore capabilities. The data indicates the CPU is not a limiting factor at any tested resolution, as evidenced by the smooth FPS scaling from Low to Ultra at all three resolutions.

In summary, the GPU is the primary determinant of frame rates at 1440p and 4K, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance ensures it does not hold back the system even at 1080p with very high frame rates. Users seeking higher FPS at 4K would need a more powerful GPU, while those at 1080p are already near the practical limits for this game.