Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, shows a wide performance spread across settings and resolutions when paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 9070. The measured data indicates a system that can handle high refresh rates at 1080p but is pushed hard at 4K. This analysis breaks down the measured frames, the balance between CPU and GPU, and how this specific combination ranks against other tested setups.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data points to a clear hierarchy of playable settings. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 150 FPS average, which is an excellent target for smooth gameplay on a high-refresh monitor. Pushing to Ultra at the same resolution drops the average to 104 FPS, which is still very playable but represents a 31% performance reduction for what is likely a marginal visual gain. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 178 FPS, providing a significant buffer above the High setting. For maximum competitive advantage, the Low preset at 195 FPS is the peak performance option.

At 2560x1440, the High preset maintains a strong 101 FPS average, making it the recommended balance for this resolution. The Ultra setting falls to 70 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for fast-paced FPS play. The Medium preset at 128 FPS is a solid middle ground, but the data shows that High at 1440p is the sweet spot, retaining most of the visual fidelity while keeping the frame rate well above 100 FPS. The Low preset reaches 166 FPS, which is only relevant for players who prioritize frame rate above all else.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset manages a 57 FPS average, which is technically playable but not ideal for a competitive FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 40 FPS, which is a poor experience for this genre. The Medium preset returns 73 FPS, making it the best option at 4K for a smoother experience. However, even this is below the 100+ FPS targets achievable at lower resolutions. The Low preset at 94 FPS is the only 4K option that approaches a high refresh rate experience.

Based on the measured data, the recommended experience for this combo is High settings at 2560x1440, which delivers a 101 FPS average. This provides the best combination of visual quality and performance. For players with 1080p displays, High or Medium settings are ideal for high refresh rates. At 4K, Medium settings are the only sensible choice, accepting a 73 FPS average as the reasonable limit for this hardware combination.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1920x1080?

A: The High preset delivers a 150 FPS average, while the Ultra preset drops to 104 FPS. This is a 46 FPS difference, representing a 30.7% reduction in performance when moving to the highest visual quality settings.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 4K resolution?

A: Yes, but only with specific settings. The Medium preset at 3840x2160 averages 73 FPS, while the High preset averages 57 FPS. The Ultra preset falls to 40 FPS. Therefore, 60 FPS is only achievable on Medium settings, with a 73 FPS average.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 2600 compare to its nearest rival CPUs in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 21484. Its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V, scores 21440, which is a 0.2% difference. The Intel Core i9-11900H scores 21367, placing it 0.5% behind the Ryzen 5 2600.

Q: What is the GPU's standing relative to other graphics cards in the benchmark database?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9070 has an average benchmark score of 23877 and sits in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z, which scores 23736, a 0.6% difference. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 24063, which is 0.8% higher.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS values recorded for the Medium preset?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1920x1080, the range is 151 to 205 FPS with a 178 FPS average. At 2560x1440, it is 109 to 148 FPS with a 128 FPS average. At 3840x2160, it is 62 to 84 FPS with a 73 FPS average.

Q: What is the system's overall ranking in the benchmark database for Evolve?

A: The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and AMD Radeon RX 9070 ranks 1266 out of 3700 tested combinations for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear trend of performance degradation as resolution increases. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 150 FPS at 1920x1080 to 101 FPS at 2560x1440, a 32.7% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls further to 57 FPS, a 43.6% decrease. The cumulative drop from 1080p to 4K on High settings is 62%, from 150 to 57 FPS.

The Low preset shows a similar pattern. The average FPS goes from 195 at 1080p to 166 at 1440p (a 14.9% drop) and then to 94 at 4K (a 43.4% drop from 1440p). The total reduction from 1080p to 4K on Low settings is 51.8%. The Medium preset follows the same trajectory: 178 FPS at 1080p, 128 FPS at 1440p (a 28.1% drop), and 73 FPS at 4K (a 43.0% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset goes from 104 FPS at 1080p to 70 FPS at 1440p (a 32.7% drop) and 40 FPS at 4K (a 42.9% drop from 1440p).

The scaling pattern reveals that the transition from 1440p to 4K consistently incurs a performance penalty of roughly 43% across all settings. This is a significantly larger drop than the 1080p to 1440p transition, which varies between 15% and 33% depending on the preset. This disproportionate penalty at 4K indicates that the system is becoming pixel-bound, with the GPU's raw fillrate and memory bandwidth being the primary limiting factors. The AMD Radeon RX 9070, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, is being saturated by the 4K resolution's demands. The results suggest that while the GPU is capable at lower resolutions, the 4K workload is beyond its comfortable operating range for this title, particularly on higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of settings is playable. The Low preset offers the highest performance with a 195 FPS average. The Medium preset averages 178 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 151 FPS and a maximum of 205 FPS. The High preset delivers a 150 FPS average. The Ultra preset is the slowest at this resolution, with a 104 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, performance drops but remains strong. The Low preset averages 166 FPS. The Medium preset averages 128 FPS, with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS. The High preset is a solid 101 FPS average. The Ultra preset falls to a 70 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the system is clearly strained. The Low preset averages 94 FPS, which is the only 4K option that remains above 90 FPS. The Medium preset averages 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS. The High preset drops to a 57 FPS average. The Ultra preset is the weakest option, with a 40 FPS average.

The data shows that the Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data, displaying a consistent spread of about 22-30 FPS between its minimum and maximum at each resolution. This suggests that the Medium preset provides the most stable frame pacing. The gap between the High and Ultra presets is consistent at roughly 44-46 FPS across all resolutions, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant, fixed performance cost regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 is ranked 1266 out of 3700 tested combinations in the database for Evolve. This places it in the 65.8th percentile of all tested setups, meaning it outperforms the majority of other combinations.

This ranking is notable given the age of the CPU. The Ryzen 5 2600, released in 2018, is paired with a much newer GPU from 2025. The CPU's performance, as measured by its average benchmark score of 21484, puts it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. This indicates that the processor is still capable of holding its own in modern gaming scenarios, though it may not be the primary driver of high frame rates.

The GPU, with its average benchmark score of 23877, sits in the 69th percentile of all GPUs. This suggests that the graphics card is the stronger component in this pairing. The ranking of 1266 out of 3700 reflects a system that is well above average but not at the top tier. The performance bottleneck is likely the CPU, which, despite a respectable percentile, is older and slower than the top-tier processors that would be paired with a GPU of this class in higher-ranked systems. The data indicates a balanced system that delivers solid performance, but is ultimately constrained by the older CPU in a game that is sensitive to single-thread performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen+ architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its 12 nm process node and 65W TDP are characteristics of its 2018 release. For Evolve, a game from 2015, this CPU is more than sufficient in terms of core count, but its single-thread performance is a limiting factor.

The CPU's benchmark scores show a clear split between multi-threaded and single-threaded capabilities. Its Cinebench R15 multi-core score is 1248, while the single-core score is 157.3. In Geekbench, the multi-core score is 5648 and the single-core score is 1154. The Passmark single-thread score is 2239. These results indicate that the CPU has strong multi-threaded performance for its era, but its single-thread performance is modest by modern standards.

In Evolve, the game's engine likely relies heavily on a few threads for game logic and physics. The Ryzen 5 2600's single-thread performance, while not top-tier, is sufficient to feed the RX 9070 at 1080p and 1440p, as evidenced by the high FPS counts. However, the 4K results show a significant drop, which is primarily a GPU limitation. The CPU's influence is more apparent in the scaling between presets. The consistent 30-46 FPS drop between High and Ultra presets suggests that the GPU is being tasked with more work, and the CPU's ability to issue draw calls becomes more critical. The data shows that the Ryzen 5 2600, with its 16 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support, provides enough bandwidth and processing power to avoid being a major bottleneck at lower resolutions, but it is not a top-tier performer. Its rank among CPUs is 75th percentile, which means it is better than most, but it is not the kind of processor that would be paired with an RX 9070 in a top-100 ranked system.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the dominant component in this pairing. It is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture and the 4 nm process node, featuring the Navi 48 chip. It has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's boost clock is 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz.

The GPU's benchmark scores are strong, with a Passmark G3D score of 25381 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6290. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 131539 and its Vulkan score is 58705. These results place it in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 23877. This indicates that the RX 9070 is a high-end graphics card that is well-suited for demanding games.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is clear. At 1080p and 1440p, it is able to maintain high frame rates, indicating that it is not fully saturated. However, at 4K, the performance drops significantly, showing that the GPU's fillrate and memory bandwidth are being pushed to their limits. The 4K results, with the High preset averaging 57 FPS and the Ultra preset at 40 FPS, suggest that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution. The GPU's 36.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 564.5 GTexel/s texture rate are impressive, but the 4K workload is too heavy for it to maintain high frame rates on higher settings. The data shows that the RX 9070 is a capable card, but it is not a 4K powerhouse for this title. Its performance relative to its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER which scores 24170 (-1.2% delta), shows it is competitive, but the 4K results indicate that users should target 1440p for the best experience. The GPU's 220W TDP and dual-slot design are consistent with its performance class.