Evolve

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 paired with the Intel Arc B570 lands at rank 2971 out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the lower-mid tier of all possible pairings. That ranking reflects a system that can run the game but with significant compromises at higher settings and resolutions. The combo sits at roughly the 80th percentile from the bottom, meaning about 2970 other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better measured performance in this specific title.

The data suggests this is a pairing where neither component is a standout for Evolve's demands. The Ryzen 5 2600's average benchmark score of 21484 places it in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, but its nearest rivals reveal a tight cluster: the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V scores 21440 (0.2% higher), the Intel Xeon D-1746TER scores 21635 (0.7% higher), and the AMD EPYC 9454 scores 21223 (1.2% lower). These margins are negligible, indicating the CPU's compute capabilities are firmly average for modern standards. On the GPU side, the Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 puts it in the 65th percentile, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, 0.1% higher) and Intel Arc A750 (20582, 0.1% lower) as near-identical rivals.

What is striking is that despite both components being "average" relative to their pools, the in-game ranking is disproportionately low. This hints that Evolve's engine may be particularly sensitive to certain bottlenecks that standard benchmarks do not capture. The measured FPS data confirms this: even at 1080p Low, the combo only reaches 137 FPS average, which is playable but far from competitive for a fast-paced FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 22 FPS average, rendering the game effectively unplayable at those settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 brings 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering 380.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base and boost clocks are both locked at 2500 MHz, which is a relatively high sustained clock for a GPU in this class. The memory runs at 2375 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed, and the card's 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines provide a solid foundation for rasterization work.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is clearly dominant at higher resolutions. Consider the measured FPS at 4K: High settings yield 32 FPS, Medium yields 40 FPS (with a minimum of 34 and maximum of 47), Low yields 52 FPS, and Ultra drops to 22 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 58% reduction in average FPS (from 52 to 22), which is a dramatic falloff. This pattern strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU's six cores and twelve threads are unlikely to be the constraint at such high pixel counts.

The Arc B570's pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s are respectable figures, but Evolve's rendering demands at 4K Ultra appear to overwhelm them. The card's FP32 throughput of 11.52 TFLOPS (with FP16 at 23.04 TFLOPS via 2:1 ratio) is adequate for mid-range gaming, yet the measured results show that Ultra settings at 4K are simply too heavy. The GPU's 150 W TDP and 1x 8-pin power connector suggest it is not a power-hungry part, but the performance envelope is clearly limited by its 160-bit memory bus and 10 GB capacity when pushing high resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals a clear GPU-bound scenario. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 137 at 1080p to 92 at 1440p to 52 at 4K. That is a 62% reduction from 1080p to 4K, with the largest single step occurring between 1440p and 4K (a 43% drop from 92 to 52). At High settings, the progression is 83 FPS at 1080p, 56 at 1440p, and 32 at 4K — a 61% total reduction, with the 1440p to 4K step again being the steepest (43% drop from 56 to 32).

This pattern is classic GPU-limited behavior. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, since the CPU's workload does not change significantly with pixel count. Instead, the consistent and substantial drops at every resolution step indicate that the Arc B570's rendering throughput is the limiting factor. The CPU, with its six cores and twelve threads at 3.40 GHz base and 3.90 GHz boost, is likely capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p (as evidenced by the 137 FPS Low result) but the GPU cannot keep pace as resolution increases.

Interestingly, the Medium preset shows the most consistent frame pacing across resolutions, with minimum and maximum values recorded. At 1080p Medium, the range is 90 to 122 FPS; at 1440p Medium, it is 60 to 82; at 4K Medium, it is 34 to 47. The spread between min and max FPS narrows as resolution increases, suggesting that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that frame time variance is reduced — every frame is uniformly expensive. This is a subtle but important detail: the game becomes more stable but less fluid at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The full measured FPS table reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions: Low is fastest, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra being the slowest. At 1080p, Low delivers 137 FPS average, Medium delivers 106 FPS (min 90, max 122), High delivers 83 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 23% reduction, Medium to High is a 22% reduction, and High to Ultra is a 30% reduction. This shows that Ultra settings impose a disproportionately heavy cost compared to the previous steps.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers: Low averages 92 FPS, Medium averages 71 FPS (min 60, max 82), High averages 56 FPS, and Ultra averages 39 FPS. The relative drops are similar: Low to Medium is 23%, Medium to High is 21%, and High to Ultra is 30%. The consistency of these percentage drops across resolutions suggests that Evolve's settings presets scale uniformly, with Ultra being the outlier that demands significantly more GPU resources.

At 4K, the numbers become marginal: Low averages 52 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS (min 34, max 47), High averages 32 FPS, and Ultra averages 22 FPS. The Low to Medium drop is 23%, Medium to High is 20%, and High to Ultra is 31%. Even at Low settings, 4K cannot maintain a solid 60 FPS, which is a critical finding. The only resolution where all presets are playable is 1080p, and even there, Ultra at 58 FPS is borderline. The data shows that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, with 1440p being viable only at Low or Medium settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1080p, the Medium preset at 106 FPS average (with a minimum of 90) offers the best balance of smoothness and visual quality. The minimum of 90 FPS ensures that frame drops never become jarring, and the average of 106 is well above the 60 FPS threshold for comfortable play. High at 83 FPS is also viable, but the 22% performance cost over Medium may not be worth the visual gains for a fast-paced FPS like Evolve. Ultra at 58 FPS is playable but dangerously close to the 60 FPS line, and any complex scene could push it lower.

At 1440p, the situation changes. Low at 92 FPS is the only preset that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. Medium at 71 FPS (min 60) is technically playable but sits right at the edge, and its minimum of 60 FPS means any hiccup will cause visible stuttering. High at 56 FPS and Ultra at 39 FPS are below the ideal threshold for smooth gameplay. For 1440p users, Low is the recommended preset, with Medium as a compromise only if the player can tolerate occasional drops to 60 FPS.

At 4K, no preset achieves an ideal experience. Low at 52 FPS is the closest, but it falls short of 60 FPS, and the visual quality at Low settings on a 4K display will look noticeably degraded. Medium at 40 FPS is borderline playable for slower games but is not recommended for an FPS where reaction time matters. High at 32 FPS and Ultra at 22 FPS are effectively unplayable for competitive play. The honest recommendation is to avoid 4K with this combo, or to accept that 4K will require Low settings and frame rates below 60 FPS.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Evolve at 60 FPS on 1080p with High settings?

A: Yes. The measured average FPS at 1080p High is 83, which is comfortably above 60 FPS. However, the minimum FPS is not recorded for this preset, so occasional dips below 60 cannot be ruled out.

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

A: Low settings at 1440p deliver 92 FPS average, which is the only preset that maintains a clear margin above 60 FPS. Medium at 71 FPS (min 60) is viable but has a minimum that sits exactly at 60 FPS, leaving no headroom.

Q: Is 4K playable with this combination?

A: Only at Low settings, which achieves 52 FPS average. This falls short of 60 FPS and is not ideal for an FPS. Medium at 40 FPS, High at 32 FPS, and Ultra at 22 FPS are all below playable thresholds for this genre.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 21484, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (21440) and 0.5% lower than the Intel Core i9-11900H (21367), but 0.7% higher than the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (21635). These differences are negligible in real-world terms.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Arc B570's average benchmark score of 20556 is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.1% lower than the Intel Arc A750 (20582). The NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20480) is 0.4% lower, and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (20662) is 0.5% higher. All rivals are within 0.5% of each other.

Q: What is the CPU's memory bandwidth and how does it affect gaming?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 46.9 GB/s. In Evolve, this is unlikely to be a bottleneck given that the GPU is clearly the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the consistent FPS drops across resolution scaling.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a six-core, twelve-thread processor based on the Zen architecture (specifically Zen+ Pinnacle Ridge), manufactured on a 12 nm process by GlobalFoundries. It operates at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 96 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and a shared 16 MB L3 cache. It supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus, providing 46.9 GB/s of bandwidth, and connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes from the CPU.

In Evolve, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, but its capabilities still matter at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 137 FPS average, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high frame rates. The CPU's single-thread performance, as measured by Geekbench at 1154, is modest by modern standards, but Evolve's engine seems to scale well with the six physical cores and twelve threads. The Passmark multithread score of 13160 and Cinebench R15 multicore score of 1248 indicate solid multi-threaded throughput for a 2018-era processor.

However, the CPU's age shows in its single-thread performance. The Passmark single-thread score of 2239 and Geekbench single-core score of 1154 are low compared to modern CPUs, and this could become a bottleneck in CPU-intensive scenes. The data does not reveal any specific CPU-bound scenarios in Evolve, but the 1080p Low result of 137 FPS suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at that point — the GPU is capable of more, but the CPU's thread scheduling and clock speed cap the frame rate. At higher resolutions, the GPU takes over as the primary constraint, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops at 4K.

The CPU's 16 MB shared L3 cache is adequate for gaming, and its 12 nm process node, while not modern, keeps thermals manageable at 65 W TDP. For Evolve specifically, the Ryzen 5 2600 provides enough computational headroom to avoid being the primary bottleneck at 1440p and 4K, but at 1080p with Low settings, it may prevent the system from reaching even higher frame rates. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within 1.2% of its average score, confirming that it is not a standout performer but also not a weak link that would severely hamper this pairing's in-game ranking.