Evolve

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a robust Evolve experience, though the data reveals a clear tension between CPU-bound high frame rates and GPU-bound visual fidelity. The measurements show a system that can push well past 200 FPS at low settings but falls to a playable, if not silky, 35 FPS at 4K Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Evolve?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate is 215 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: Can this system maintain a stable 60 FPS at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the system achieves an average of 64 FPS on Medium settings. The High preset at this resolution drops to 50 FPS, while the Ultra setting falls to 35 FPS. Only the Medium preset provides a clear margin above 60 FPS.

Q: At what resolution and settings does this combo hit 144 FPS?

A: At 2560x1440 with Low settings, the average FPS is 144. This is the only 1440p preset that reaches that exact 144 FPS target. The 1080p Medium setting exceeds it with an average of 167 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 3600 has an average benchmark score of 17035. It is within 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007) and the AMD EPYC 7742 (16998), and within 0.2% of the Intel Core i5-11400 (17067) and the AMD EPYC 7573X (17070). This places it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs.

Q: The GPU's benchmark score places it in the 61st percentile. What does this mean for its competition?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score is 17208. Its nearest rivals in the data are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037), and AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019), which are all 0.7 to 1.1% behind. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17468) is 1.5% ahead.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: This CPU and GPU pairing ranks 1580th out of 3700 total combinations in the game's data, placing it in the 42.7th percentile.

Q: Does the game have a minimum FPS recorded for all settings?

A: No. Only Medium settings have recorded minimum FPS figures across all three resolutions. At 3840x2160, the minimum is 54 FPS. At 2560x1440, it is 95 FPS, and at 1920x1080, it is 142 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 3000 series, based on the Zen 2 architecture (codenamed Matisse). It has a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. For Evolve, a game released in 2015, this CPU's 12 threads and boost clock are likely more than enough to prevent a bottleneck at most settings, but the game's frame rate scaling still shows its influence.

The 3600's multi-threaded performance is considerable. In Cinebench R23, it scores 15045 points in multi-core and 2124 in single-core. This is consistent with its 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 17035. This score is effectively a tie with its nearest rivals, all of which are within 0.2% of its performance. The Intel Core i5-11400, a lower-cost contemporary, is only 0.2% ahead, while the mobile i7-1260P is 0.2% behind. This suggests that in heavy, multi-threaded workloads, the 3600 is a very consistent mid-range performer, but it is not a standout.

The game's frame rates show the CPU's role clearly. At 1080p, dropping the settings from High to Low increases the average FPS from 131 to 215, a massive jump. This is because at Low settings, the GPU is doing far less work, and the CPU becomes the primary limiter. The single-core score of 892 in Cinebench R20 and 2124 in R23 show that the CPU's per-core speed is solid, but it's not an elite high-frequency chip like some rivals. The 215 FPS result, while excellent, is not enough to push into the 240 FPS range, suggesting that the CPU's single-thread speed is the limiting factor at 1080p Low.

The CPU's memory bandwidth is 51.2 GB/s, which is competitive for its generation, but it shares a total of 32 MB of L3 cache. The 6-core/12-thread design also means that while it handles many tasks well, it isn't a 16-core monster. For a game like Evolve, which has to manage AI and physics, the 12-thread performance is more than sufficient, but the 1080p Low result hints that the CPU is the primary driver of the highest possible frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture (chip GA104) and manufactured on a Samsung 8 nm process. It has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, it provides a large frame buffer for the game's textures, even at 4K Ultra settings. The memory runs at 14 Gbps effective on a 256-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s.

The GPU computes a significant amount of floating point operations, hitting 20.31 TFLOPS for FP32. Its texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s, and the pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s. These raw numbers align with its 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 17208. The RTX 3070's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, is only 0.7% better, making them virtually identical in synthetic tests. However, in actual game data, the RTX 3070's performance is clearly defined by its memory capacity and bandwidth.

The GPU's role in Evolve is highlighted by the 4K results. At 3840x2160, the jump from Low to Medium to High to Ultra is drastic: 82, 64, 50, and 35 FPS respectively. The 8 GB VRAM and 448 GB/s bandwidth are clearly the bottleneck at this resolution, as the GPU can't maintain high frame rates with the higher detail settings. The 4K Ultra setting drops below 60 FPS, landing at 35 FPS, which is not a smooth experience. In the 1440p and 1080p resolutions, the GPU has more headroom, but the gap between settings narrows. At 1920x1080, the jump from Low to Ultra is 215 to 91 FPS, showing the GPU is fully utilized at the higher settings.

The RTX 3070's DirectX 12 and Vulkan scores are not directly comparable, but the game supports DirectX 12 Ultimate. The GPU's 8GB VRAM is a key feature, as Evolve at 4K Ultra will likely use a substantial portion of it. The data shows that at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor, as the CPU is less likely to be the bottleneck at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the system's performance across resolutions and settings. At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 35 (Ultra) to 82 (Low). The Medium preset yields an average of 64 FPS, with a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 73. High is 50 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the system performs much better. The Low preset hits an average of 144 FPS. The Medium preset averages 112 FPS, with a minimum of 95 and a maximum of 129. High averages 88 FPS, and Ultra drops to 61 FPS.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers high frame rates. The Low preset achieves an average of 215 FPS. Medium averages 167 FPS, with a minimum of 142 and a maximum of 192. High averages 131 FPS, and Ultra averages 91 FPS.

It is important to note that only the Medium presets have recorded minimum and maximum FPS values. The lack of min/max data for other presets means we can't. For the Medium preset, the frame time consistency is good, with the 1080p and 1440p having a tight min/max range, whereas the 4K Medium has a wider gap, indicating the GPU is becoming a bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 holds a rank of 1580 out of 3700 tested combinations. This places it in the upper half of all test, but not top-tier. In the context of Evolve, this rank is a result of the CPU and GPU's individual strengths and weaknesses. The CPU is in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a solid mid-range performer. The GPU is in the 61st percentile, which is lower than the CPU, but still a capable card.

This rank suggests that for gaming, the GPU is the more limiting factor. The CPU's percentile is higher than the GPU's, but the game's results show that at lower settings, the CPU can drive high frame rates, while at higher settings, the GPU's limitations are exposed. The 1080p Low result of 215 FPS is a clear sign that the CPU isn't struggling to feed the GPU. In contrast, the 4K Ultra result of 35 FPS shows the GPU is overwhelmed.

The nearest CPU rivals are all within 0.2% of its score, so those with an Intel Core i5-11400 or Core i7-1260P would see very similar performance. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals, such as the RX 7600 XT, are 0.7% better, meaning they are likely to deliver a nearly identical gaming experience. This rank of 1580 out of 3700 is a good indicator that this combo is a balanced, if not modest, pairing.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the best experience depends on the resolution target. For a smooth 60 FPS experience, the Medium preset is the best choice. At all three resolutions, the Medium preset provides a frame rate that is above or at the 60 FPS threshold. At 4K, it averages 64 FPS, with a minimum of 54. At 1440p, it averages 112 FPS, and at 1080p, it averages 167 FPS. The min/max data available for Medium suggests it has a more stable frame pacing than other presets, as it is the only preset with this data.

For those seeking the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset is the clear winner. It offers 215 FPS at 1080p and 144 FPS at 1440p. However, the visual quality is not as good. The High preset offers a good balance between quality and performance, with 131 FPS at 1080p and 88 FPS at 1440p, but it falls to 50 FPS at 4K, which is not ideal.

The Ultra preset is the best for visual quality, but it is not recommended for a smooth experience. It only manages 35 FPS at 4K, 61 FPS at 1440p, and 91 FPS at 1080p. The 4K result is too low for an enjoyable experience. Therefore, the Medium preset is the recommended balance for most users, as it provides a good visual experience without sacrificing the frame rate.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about the system's bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 215 at 1080p to 82 at 4K, representing a 62% reduction. This is a massive drop. At Medium settings, the drop is from 167 to 64, a 61% reduction. High settings drop from 131 to 50, a 61% reduction. Ultra settings drop from 91 to 35, a 62% reduction.

The relative consistency of the percentage drop across all settings is telling. The frame rate decreases roughly in line with the increase in pixel count. The GPU is the primary limiting factor. Since the CPU is the same at all resolutions, the fact that the FPS scales linearly with the resolution indicates that the CPU is not the bottleneck. The GPU is losing performance as the resolution increases, because it is doing more work per frame.

The CPU's role is still evident at the lower resolutions. At 1080p, the FPS is higher than at 1440p, but the gap is not as large as the 4K gap. The 1080p Low result of 215 FPS is likely close to the CPU's maximum frame rate. The 4K Low result of 82 FPS is clearly a GPU limit. This data suggests that the system is CPU-bound at lower resolutions, and GPU-bound at higher resolutions. The crossover point is likely around 1440p, where the system is more balanced.