Evolve

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 with the Radeon RX 7900 XT creates an extreme generational mismatch in Evolve, a 2015 FPS. The data shows this combination ranks 500th out of 1695 tested combos, placing it in the 70th percentile of all system pairings. This is a case where a modern flagship GPU is harnessed to a six-core CPU from 2018, and the benchmark results reveal exactly where the bottlenecks form.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Ryzen 5 2600 brings six cores and twelve threads to the table, operating at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. This is a Zen architecture part built on a 12 nm process, and its benchmark scores paint a clear picture of its standing: the Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 11186, with a single-core score of 1579. The CPU’s average benchmark score of 19616 places it in the 77th percentile of all processors, which is respectable for its generation but hardly class-leading.

Looking at nearestRivals, the Ryzen 5 2600 sits within a tight cluster of competitors. The Intel Core i5-1345U scores 19691 on average, a mere 0.4% higher, while the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U trails by 0.6% with a 19508 average. The Intel Core i5-11600KF leads the group at 19740, but only by 0.6% over this chip, and the Intel Core i7-10700F comes in at 19485, just 0.7% lower. This tells us the 2600 holds its own against much newer mobile and desktop parts in synthetic workloads, but the question is whether that translates to Evolve.

The measured FPS data suggests the CPU is doing enough work to keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low settings, the combo hits 196.4 FPS average, which is a very high frame rate. However, the CPU’s single-thread performance, reflected in the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1579 and a PassMark single-thread score of 2239, likely becomes the limiting factor when settings drop and frame rates climb toward the 200 FPS mark. The 2600’s 16 MB of shared L3 cache is modest by modern standards, but Evolve is an older title that doesn’t demand massive cache pools.

The CPU’s memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s over dual-channel DDR4 is another factor. In a game like Evolve, where physics and AI calculations are spread across threads, the twelve threads provide enough parallelism, but the per-core clock speed of 3.90 GHz boost is what it is. The data shows a 196.4 FPS ceiling at 1080p Low, which suggests the CPU is hitting its practical limit in this scenario; the GPU could likely push higher, but the processor’s older architecture prevents it.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Radeon RX 7900 XT is a monstrously powerful GPU by any measure. Built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 31 chip on a 5 nm process from TSMC, it packs 5376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. Its memory subsystem is enormous: 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 320-bit bus, delivering 800.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The boost clock reaches 2394 MHz, with a game clock of 2025 MHz.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 7900 XT posts a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5623 and a PassMark G3D score of 29009. Its average benchmark score of 38358 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs. The nearestRivals show it trading blows with some unexpected company: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile matches it exactly at 38349, a 0% delta, while the NVIDIA CMP 70HX is 0.3% behind at 38225. The NVIDIA GeForce MX570 sits 0.4% ahead at 38494, and the RTX 4080 Mobile trails by 0.6% at 38135. These are synthetic scores, but they confirm the 7900 XT is a top-tier card.

In Evolve, the GPU’s role is to render the alien jungles and monster effects. The 20 GB VRAM is overkill for a 2015 title, but it means texture loading is never a concern. The data shows the GPU scales predictably with resolution. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 45.6 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many players target. The pixel rate of 459.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 804.4 GTexel/s are massive, but the game’s engine seems to struggle with the Ultra preset at 4K, likely due to draw calls and CPU overhead rather than GPU compute limits.

The GPU’s FP32 throughput of 51.48 TFLOPS is astronomical, but Evolve doesn’t need that kind of raw compute. What matters is that the 7900 XT can easily outpace the Ryzen 5 2600’s ability to feed it data. The benchmark results indicate the GPU is never the primary bottleneck at 1080p or 1440p; it only becomes the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, where the sheer pixel count overwhelms the combination.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a classic bottleneck shift. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 196.4 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 170.6 FPS, a 13.1% decrease. At 4K Low, it falls to 108.5 FPS, another 36.4% drop. This pattern shows the GPU is taking on more work as resolution increases, but the CPU is still keeping pace at the lower settings.

The High preset tells a different story. At 1080p High, the combo hits 161.5 FPS. At 1440p High, it drops to 113 FPS, a 30% reduction. At 4K High, it plummets to 62.3 FPS, a 44.9% drop from 1440p. This steeper decline at High settings suggests the GPU is becoming more of a factor, as the increased shading and texture work scales with pixel count.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo manages 117.2 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 77.7 FPS, a 33.7% drop. At 4K Ultra, it collapses to 45.6 FPS, a 41.3% further reduction. This is where the GPU’s limits are exposed; the 7900 XT simply cannot maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra in Evolve, likely due to the game’s engine inefficiencies with modern drivers.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows a 44.8% total drop (196.4 to 108.5 FPS), while at Ultra the total drop is 61.1% (117.2 to 45.6 FPS). The larger percentage drop at Ultra settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher presets, while the CPU is more of a constraint at Low settings where frame rates are higher. At 1080p Low, the 196.4 FPS figure likely approaches the Ryzen 5 2600’s maximum thread throughput for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a wide spread of performance. Low settings produce 196.4 FPS average, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 180.6 FPS, a modest 8.0% reduction. High settings bring 161.5 FPS, down another 10.6% from Medium. Ultra settings yield 117.2 FPS, a 27.4% drop from High. This shows diminishing returns on CPU headroom; the gap between Low and Medium is only 15.8 FPS, but the gap between High and Ultra is 44.3 FPS, indicating the Ultra preset demands significantly more GPU work.

At 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward across the board. Low settings produce 170.6 FPS, Medium hits 146.1 FPS, High reaches 113 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 77.7 FPS. The scaling here is more consistent: Low to Medium is a 14.4% drop, Medium to High is 22.7%, and High to Ultra is 31.2%. The 4K resolution at 3840x2160 shows the largest gaps. Low settings yield 108.5 FPS, Medium drops to 81.9 FPS (24.5% lower), High falls to 62.3 FPS (23.9% lower), and Ultra plummets to 45.6 FPS (26.8% lower).

The data shows that at 1080p, the combo is clearly CPU-bound at Low and Medium settings, with frame rates above 180 FPS. At 1440p, the balance shifts, and at 4K, the GPU is the clear limiting factor. The 45.6 FPS at 4K Ultra is the worst result, falling below the 60 FPS target, while 1080p Low at 196.4 FPS is the best, well above any standard refresh rate. The Medium preset at 1440p, hitting 146.1 FPS, appears to be a sweet spot for high-refresh monitors, while 4K High at 62.3 FPS barely crosses the 60 FPS line.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of Ryzen 5 2600 and RX 7900 XT ranks 500th out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the top 29.5% of all system pairings, which is a solid result but not exceptional. The rank reflects the CPU’s limitations; a newer processor paired with this GPU would likely score higher, but the 2600’s age holds the combo back from the top tier.

The percentile data supports this interpretation. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking and the GPU’s 82nd percentile ranking suggest both components are above average, yet the combo rank of 500/1695 indicates a slight underperformance relative to what each part’s synthetic scores might predict. This is typical of imbalanced pairings where the CPU cannot fully utilize the GPU’s capabilities at lower resolutions.

In the context of Evolve specifically, the 500th rank out of 1695 means there are 499 combos that perform better, likely featuring more modern CPUs or better-matched GPU-CPU pairs. The combo’s strongest results come at 1440p Medium and High, where frame rates of 146.1 and 113 FPS respectively are excellent for competitive play. The 4K Ultra result of 45.6 FPS is where the combo falls behind, and that drags the overall rank down relative to systems that can handle 4K Ultra at higher frame rates.

The data shows this is a capable 1080p and 1440p machine for Evolve, but it struggles at 4K Ultra. The rank of 500th suggests that while the GPU is top-tier, the CPU’s age prevents the combo from reaching the upper echelon of results. For players targeting high refresh rates at 1080p or 1440p, this pairing delivers excellent frame rates, but for 4K enthusiasts, the CPU becomes a liability that caps performance below what the GPU could theoretically achieve.