Evolve

Best Settings per Resolution

At 3840x2160, the recorded data shows that Ultra settings are the most demanding preset that remains at or above 60 FPS. The average frame rate at this configuration is 62.9 FPS, which clears the playable threshold by a narrow margin. High settings deliver 89.6 FPS, Medium reaches 112.4 FPS, and Low runs at 148.8 FPS, but Ultra is the maximum visual quality that still qualifies as playable.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings again represent the highest preset that stays above 60 FPS, with an average of 110.5 FPS. This leaves considerable headroom over the playable threshold. High settings produce 156.7 FPS, Medium delivers 170.7 FPS, and Low reaches 188 FPS.

At 1920x1080, Ultra settings run at 153.2 FPS on average. This is the most demanding preset tested at this resolution, and it comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS floor. The lower presets scale upward from there: High at 179.8 FPS, Medium at 193.6 FPS, and Low at 211.7 FPS.

Across all three resolutions, the combination never falls below 60 FPS at any preset, which means the limiting factor is not playability but rather how much visual fidelity the user prefers at each resolution.

FAQ

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

A: Yes. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the measured average FPS is 62.9, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. The margin is small, roughly 2.9 FPS, so users who want more stability might prefer High settings at 89.6 FPS.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Ultra settings at 2560x1440 deliver 110.5 FPS on average. This is the highest quality preset tested and still provides more than 80% headroom above the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for that resolution.

Q: How much performance difference exists between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Low settings produce 211.7 FPS while Ultra produces 153.2 FPS. The difference is 58.5 FPS, meaning Ultra runs at roughly 72% of the Low preset's frame rate. Both remain far above the playable threshold.

Q: Does the system ever drop below 60 FPS in the recorded tests?

A: No. Every resolution and preset combination in the measured data is at or above 62.9 FPS, which is the lowest recorded average (4K Ultra). The playable threshold of 60 FPS is cleared in all twelve recorded configurations.

Q: Which resolution offers the largest performance cushion on Ultra?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 153.2 FPS, which is 93.2 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. This is the largest cushion among Ultra presets. The smallest cushion is at 3840x2160, where Ultra sits only 2.9 FPS above the threshold.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra result compare to the 1440p Ultra result?

A: The 3840x2160 Ultra average is 62.9 FPS, while the 2560x1440 Ultra average is 110.5 FPS. Dropping from 4K to 1440p more than doubles the available headroom, an increase of 47.6 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The database contains twelve measured configurations, covering three resolutions and four quality presets. All values are average FPS; minimum and maximum frame times were not recorded in the dataset.

At 3840x2160, the scaling across presets is as follows. Low settings deliver 148.8 FPS. Medium settings reduce this to 112.4 FPS, a drop of 36.4 FPS. High settings run at 89.6 FPS, which is 22.8 FPS below Medium. Ultra settings produce 62.9 FPS, a further reduction of 26.7 FPS from High. The full transition from Low to Ultra spans 85.9 FPS, indicating that visual quality settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the preset progression shows less severe penalties. Low settings average 188 FPS. Medium settings reach 170.7 FPS, a decrease of 17.3 FPS. High settings run at 156.7 FPS, which is 14 FPS below Medium. Ultra settings deliver 110.5 FPS, a drop of 46.2 FPS from High. The total spread from Low to Ultra is 77.5 FPS, slightly smaller than at 4K but still significant.

At 1920x1080, the values are the highest in the dataset. Low settings average 211.7 FPS. Medium settings produce 193.6 FPS, a reduction of 18.1 FPS. High settings run at 179.8 FPS, which is 13.8 FPS below Medium. Ultra settings deliver 153.2 FPS, a decrease of 26.6 FPS from High. The Low to Ultra spread is 58.5 FPS, the smallest of the three resolutions.

Resolution scaling also matters. Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra reduces the average from 153.2 FPS to 110.5 FPS, a loss of 42.7 FPS. Moving from 1440p to 4K at Ultra reduces the average from 110.5 FPS to 62.9 FPS, a loss of 47.6 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration where the system approaches the playable threshold, with a cushion of just 2.9 FPS.

The Verdict

This system can run Evolve at every tested resolution and preset combination. The verdict data confirms that all three resolutions list High, Low, Medium, and Ultra as playable settings, meaning each clears the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the best playable setting is Ultra with an average of 62.9 FPS. This qualifies as playable, but the margin is thin. Users who want more consistent headroom should consider High at 89.6 FPS or Medium at 112.4 FPS, both of which provide substantially larger cushions.

At 2560x1440, Ultra is also the best playable setting, averaging 110.5 FPS. This is a comfortable position, with nearly double the frame rate required for smooth play. The system has ample room for future driver overhead or background load without dropping below the threshold.

At 1920x1080, Ultra averages 153.2 FPS. This is the strongest result in the dataset, providing more than 2.5 times the playable threshold. The system is effectively unconstrained at this resolution, and even the most demanding preset leaves enormous performance headroom.

The overall picture is clear: this combination is overqualified for Evolve at standard resolutions, and only at 4K Ultra does it approach any form of limitation. Even then, it remains above the playable line.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU, an Intel Core i5-9400, sits at the 47th percentile among all tested processors. Its nearest rivals in the database are very close in aggregate benchmark score. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259, which is 0.2% below the i5-9400's average. The Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264, 0.4% above. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246, 0.4% below. The Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248, 0.3% below. All four rivals fall within a narrow band around the i5-9400's average score of 2254, meaning any of them would likely produce similar CPU-bound behavior in Evolve.

The GPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, ranks in the 92nd percentile among all tested graphics cards. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, which scores 79605, 0.3% above the RTX 5090's average of 79842. The NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79396, 0.6% below. The AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78940, 1.1% below. The AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, 1.4% above. These deltas are all small, so the RTX 5090 and its nearest peers should exhibit nearly identical frame rates in GPU-limited scenarios.

For this specific game, the GPU is likely the dominant factor at higher resolutions, so swapping the RTX 5090 for any of its nearest rivals would produce minimal measurable change. Similarly, replacing the i5-9400 with one of its nearest CPU rivals would not materially shift the results, given the sub-0.5% score differences.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Evolve, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 441st out of 3700 recorded combinations. This places it in the top 12% of all tested systems for this game. The rank reflects the combination's ability to maintain very high frame rates across all resolutions, including a 4K Ultra result that just clears the playable threshold.

The rank of 441 is notable because the CPU itself is only at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 92nd percentile among all GPUs. The combination outperforms what the CPU alone would suggest, indicating that Evolve is not heavily CPU-bound at the tested settings. The GPU's strong performance carries the system to a high overall ranking.

Given that there are 3700 combinations in the database, the 441st position means roughly 3259 other combinations rank below this system, while 440 rank above. This is a strong result for a game released in 2015, as even modern high-end hardware from 2025 does not dramatically outclass this pairing in Evolve's specific workload.

CPU and GPU Roles

The recorded data shows that the GPU plays the dominant role in this game, particularly as resolution increases. The clearest evidence comes from the scaling between presets. At 1920x1080, the difference between Low and Ultra is 58.5 FPS. At 2560x1440, that difference grows to 77.5 FPS. At 3840x2160, it expands to 85.9 FPS. This increasing spread indicates that higher resolutions place progressively more demand on the graphics card, while the CPU's workload remains relatively constant.

The CPU, an Intel Core i5-9400 with 6 cores and 6 threads, is adequate for the game's demands. Its benchmark scores, such as 6629 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 935 in single-core, place it in the middle of the CPU distribution. Since the system maintains 60 FPS even at 4K Ultra, the CPU is not the limiting factor in any tested configuration. If the CPU were the bottleneck, frame rates would show less variation across GPU-heavy settings changes at lower resolutions.

The RTX 5090, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, provides enormous headroom for this game. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all tested cards means it is near the top of the performance distribution. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the primary driver of frame rates, as evidenced by the sharp drop from 148.8 FPS at Low to 62.9 FPS at Ultra, a reduction driven almost entirely by pixel and shading load.

At 1080p, the situation is more balanced. The 211.7 FPS Low result and 153.2 FPS Ultra result suggest that the CPU can feed the GPU sufficiently at lower resolutions, but the GPU still dictates the difference between presets. At 1440p, the system behaves closer to 4K than to 1080p, with the Ultra preset dropping to 110.5 FPS, indicating that the GPU workload dominates.

In summary, the GPU is the component that determines playability at 4K Ultra, while the CPU provides enough throughput to avoid capping performance at lower resolutions. Users seeking to improve frame rates at 4K would gain more from GPU upgrades, while CPU upgrades would yield minimal gains given the current balance.