Evolve

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is an exceptionally high-end combination, and the measured data for Evolve reflects that dominance. Across all three tested resolutions, the combo delivers average frame rates that not only clear the 60 FPS playable threshold but often double or triple it, leaving significant headroom for high-refresh-rate displays. The RTX 4090’s raw throughput, evidenced by its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, is the driving force here, though the i7-13700K’s strong multi-threaded scores (30,745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) ensure the CPU never bottlenecks the GPU even at lower resolutions where frame rates soar past 300 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The benchmark data for Evolve shows a clear scaling pattern as resolution and settings change, with average FPS numbers that are consistently high. At 1920x1080, the lowest workload tested, the combo achieves 370 FPS on Low settings, 287.5 FPS on Medium, 224.9 FPS on High, and 157.1 FPS on Ultra. This represents a steep drop from Low to Ultra—about 57% lower—but even the most demanding preset at this resolution remains far above any practical refresh rate limit. The gap between Medium and High is smaller (about 22% reduction), while the jump from High to Ultra is steeper again (about 30% reduction), suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain extremely high but show the expected impact of more pixels. Low settings produce 251.7 FPS, Medium drops to 190.4 FPS, High to 149.9 FPS, and Ultra to 107.3 FPS. The relative cost of each preset tier is consistent with 1080p: Ultra is roughly 43% slower than High, and Low to Medium is about 24% slower. The absolute numbers indicate that at 1440p, the RTX 4090 is still not breaking a sweat, as even the Ultra preset delivers more than 100 FPS on average, which is well into high-refresh-rate territory for most monitors.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the data reveals the first signs of strain, though the results are still impressive. Low settings average 142.9 FPS, Medium 108.2 FPS, High 88.7 FPS, and Ultra 62.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is about 56%, similar to the percentage drop at 1080p, but the absolute numbers mean that Ultra at 4K just barely clears the 60 FPS threshold. The progression is not perfectly linear: the gap from Low to Medium is about 24%, from Medium to High about 18%, and from High to Ultra about 30%. This non-linear scaling suggests that the Ultra preset at 4K includes some settings—possibly related to shadow quality or post-processing—that have a disproportionately large impact on the GPU's workload.

Best Settings per Resolution

For each resolution, the data identifies the most demanding preset that still maintains an average FPS at or above the 60 FPS playable threshold. At 1920x1080, that is the Ultra preset, which averages 157.1 FPS. This is not merely playable but massively over-delivers, leaving room for V-sync at 144Hz or even 165Hz monitors without any frame drops. The Ultra preset at this resolution is the clear choice for maximum visual fidelity, as the frame rate is more than double the playable threshold.

At 2560x1440, Ultra remains the best playable setting, with an average of 107.3 FPS. This is comfortably above 60 FPS and still high enough to drive a 100Hz or 120Hz display. The data shows that even at this higher pixel count, the RTX 4090 has enough headroom to run the game at its highest quality preset without compromise. The 107.3 FPS average suggests that there is some buffer for demanding scenes, though not as much as at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, Ultra is still playable, but with a much slimmer margin: the average is 62.3 FPS, just 2.3 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. This is the only resolution where the combo approaches the limit of its capabilities. While 62.3 FPS is technically playable, it leaves little room for frame time spikes or particularly intense combat moments. For a smoother experience at 4K, dropping to High would provide 88.7 FPS, a much more comfortable margin, but the data confirms that Ultra is within reach if the user prioritizes visual fidelity over the risk of occasional dips below 60 FPS.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 62.3 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is above the 60 FPS playable threshold. However, the margin is slim, so frame rate dips below 60 are possible in demanding scenes.

*Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Evolve?*

A: The highest recorded average is 370 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is more than six times the 60 FPS playable threshold.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K at the same settings?

A: At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 157.1 at 1920x1080 to 107.3 at 2560x1440 (about 32% lower) and then to 62.3 at 3840x2160 (about 60% lower than 1080p). The scaling is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase.

Q: Is there a significant performance gap between High and Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the gap varies by resolution. At 4K, High averages 88.7 FPS while Ultra averages 62.3 FPS, a 30% reduction. At 1440p, the drop is from 149.9 FPS to 107.3 FPS (about 28%), and at 1080p, it is from 224.9 FPS to 157.1 FPS (about 30%).

Q: Which component is more important for this game at 4K?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting factor at 4K, as the RTX 4090's workload increases significantly with resolution. The CPU's multi-threaded performance is strong (30,745 in Cinebench R23), but the GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are what drive the 4K numbers.

Q: Is the 60 FPS threshold easily met at all resolutions?

A: Yes, all tested settings at all three resolutions are above 60 FPS. The lowest result is 62.3 FPS (4K Ultra), while the highest is 370 FPS (1080p Low). The combo never falls below the playable threshold in any configuration.

Similar Performance Alternatives

The CPU and GPU each have nearest rivals based on average benchmark scores, and these alternatives would likely produce very similar frame rates in Evolve. For the Intel Core i7-13700K, the closest competitors are the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 (0.2% lower average score), the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX (0.5% higher), and the Intel Xeon w3-2535 (0.5% higher). These deltas are so small—all within 0.5%—that in a GPU-bound game like Evolve, the difference in FPS would be negligible, likely less than 1 frame per second in most scenarios.

For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, the nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% difference in average score), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% higher), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% lower), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% higher). The 0% delta with the Intel Arc Pro A60 is striking, but the absolute score differences are small. The Radeon PRO V710 being 2.9% higher on average suggests it could deliver slightly better FPS in Evolve, but the margin is within run-to-run variance. Users with any of these alternative GPUs would see broadly similar performance, with the RTX 4090's advantage being its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, which are not reflected in the average score alone.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Evolve, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-13700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 87th out of 3,700 tested combos. This puts it in the top 2.4% of all configurations, which is consistent with the measured FPS data showing it clearing 60 FPS at every setting and resolution. The rank of 87 indicates that while there are 86 other combos with higher average performance, those are likely to feature even more exotic hardware, such as overclocked variants or workstation-class components. For a mainstream consumer build, this combo is near the top of the heap, and the data confirms that it is not leaving any meaningful performance on the table in Evolve.

The percentile rankings support this: the CPU is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. The combo rank of 87 being slightly higher than the individual percentiles suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for this game, with neither component dragging the other down. In practical terms, this means the combo is in the upper echelon of what is available, and the only way to get better FPS in Evolve would be to move to a multi-GPU setup or a CPU with even higher single-threaded performance, which is unlikely to yield a visible improvement given the GPU-bound nature of the game.

The Verdict

Can this PC run Evolve? The answer is a definitive yes, with the data showing that it runs the game at or above 60 FPS in every single tested configuration. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 157.1 FPS, which is not just playable but ideal for high refresh rate gaming. At 2560x1440, Ultra averages 107.3 FPS, again far above the threshold. At 3840x2160, Ultra averages 62.3 FPS, which clears the 60 FPS bar but with minimal headroom. The verdict by resolution confirms that all playable settings lists include Ultra, meaning the combo is capable of running the game at maximum quality at all three resolutions.

The 4K Ultra result is the only one that warrants caution. At 62.3 FPS average, the game is playable, but the slim margin means that users with a 60Hz display will be fine, while those with a 120Hz or 144Hz 4K monitor will need to drop to High (88.7 FPS) to fully utilize their display's refresh rate. For 1440p and 1080p, there is no such compromise needed—Ultra settings provide frame rates that are more than sufficient for even the fastest gaming monitors. Overall, this combo is overkill for Evolve at 1080p and 1440p, and it is just barely sufficient for 4K Ultra, making it a versatile choice for this game.

CPU and GPU Roles

The data from Evolve shows a clear shift in which component matters more as resolution changes. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are extremely high (157.1 FPS on Ultra), and the CPU's role is more pronounced because the GPU can render frames so quickly that it may wait on the CPU to issue draw calls. The i7-13700K's 24 threads and 5.40 GHz boost clock are well-suited to this task, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,116 indicates strong per-thread performance. However, even at 1080p, the GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS is the primary driver of the 370 FPS Low-settings result, suggesting that the RTX 4090 is still the dominant factor.

At 2560x1440, the GPU's workload increases by roughly 78% compared to 1080p (in terms of pixel count), and the frame rates drop accordingly. The CPU's influence wanes as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, with the Ultra preset dropping from 157.1 FPS at 1080p to 107.3 FPS at 1440p, a 32% reduction that is entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering load. The CPU's multi-threaded performance (45,887 in PassMark multithread) is more than sufficient to keep up, but the data indicates that the GPU is now the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is unequivocally the binding constraint. The pixel count is four times that of 1080p, and the Ultra preset averages 62.3 FPS, which is just above the playable threshold. The CPU's relative contribution is minimal at this point, as the RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are being taxed to their limits. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra (107.3 to 62.3 FPS, a 42% drop) is larger than the scaling from 1080p to 1440p (32% drop), suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth or shader throughput begins to saturate at 4K. In summary, the CPU is relevant at 1080p, less so at 1440p, and nearly irrelevant at 4K, where the GPU's raw compute and memory bandwidth are the sole arbiters of performance.