Evolve

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a fascinating performance profile in Evolve, one that highlights a massive imbalance between the two components. The data reveals a system capable of high frame rates at lower resolutions but one that struggles to maintain playable performance at the most demanding settings. This analysis breaks down the measured results, contextualizing the CPU and GPU roles based on the available benchmark data.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 186 frames per second. This suggests the combination is more than capable of providing a very smooth experience at this resolution and preset.

Q: How much faster is the combo at 1080p Low compared to 4K Ultra?

A: The measured average FPS at 1080p Low is 232, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 49. This represents a significant difference, indicating that the 4K Ultra preset is extremely demanding on this specific configuration.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded across all tested settings?

A: The lowest average frame rate recorded is 49 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only measured scenario where the average dips below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Does the 4K Medium preset provide a better frame rate than 4K High?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160, the Medium preset yields an average of 90 FPS, while the High preset yields an average of 71 FPS. The Medium preset also provides a minimum FPS of 77, which is higher than the average for the High preset.

Q: How does the combo's overall performance rank against other tested systems for this game?

A: The combo ranks 659th out of 3700 tested combinations for Evolve. This places it in the top percentile of all tested configurations, indicating strong overall performance despite the CPU and GPU pairing being unusual.

Q: What is the difference in average FPS between 1440p Medium and 1440p Ultra?

A: The measured average FPS at 2560x1440 on Medium is 159, whereas on Ultra it drops to 86. This shows a substantial performance cost of 73 FPS when moving from Medium to Ultra at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings for this hardware combination. For players targeting the highest possible refresh rates at 1080p, the Low preset is the only setting that pushes the average beyond 230 FPS, hitting 232 FPS. However, the High preset still delivers a very respectable 186 FPS, which is likely the better choice for a balance of visual quality and speed, as the data shows diminishing returns in frame rate when dropping from High to Low.

At 1440p, the High preset emerges as the sweet spot. The data shows an average of 125 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS standard and provides a fluid experience. The Medium preset offers a higher 159 FPS, but the jump to High retains a significant portion of that performance. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with an average of 86 FPS, is playable but represents a steep drop-off of 39 FPS from High, suggesting it may not be worth the visual upgrade for the performance cost.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. The Medium preset is the only one that achieves a clear playable average of 90 FPS, with a minimum of 77 FPS. The High preset drops to 71 FPS, which is still technically playable but closer to the edge. The Ultra preset, at 49 FPS, falls below the standard 60 FPS target and should be avoided for competitive or smooth gameplay. The data strongly suggests that Medium is the highest viable preset at 3840x2160 for this combo.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600G is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 13593 and a single-core score of 1919, place it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs. This indicates a solid mid-range processor that is capable of feeding frames to a high-end GPU in many scenarios.

When examining the measured FPS data, the CPU’s role becomes clear. At 1080p, where the GPU is less burdened, the frame rates are exceptionally high (186-232 FPS), suggesting the CPU is able to keep up with the GPU's output. However, the performance drop at 4K is drastic, with the average FPS at High settings falling from 186 at 1080p to 71. This is a classic sign of the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The CPU is likely not the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the workload shifts to the graphics card.

The 4600G’s performance is comparable to rivals like the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 5355GE and Intel Core i3-14100T, with a negligible delta of 0.1% and -0.8% respectively. This suggests its compute capabilities are in line with other modern entry-level and mid-range parts. In Evolve, the data implies that the CPU provides sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking the RX 7900 XTX at lower resolutions, but its overall performance ceiling is what separates it from higher-end CPUs that might maintain higher minimum frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 4600G and RX 7900 XTX achieves a rank of 659 out of 3700 tested combinations in Evolve. This places the combo in the top 17.8% of all tested systems, which is a strong result. This high ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, as the 4600G is a modest processor by modern standards, while the RX 7900 XTX is a flagship-level graphics card.

The ranking suggests that despite the CPU being a potential weak link, the sheer power of the GPU is enough to push the combo into the upper echelon of performance. The data shows that this pairing is far more effective than one with a weaker GPU, but it also implies that a more balanced CPU would likely yield an even higher rank. The 659th position indicates that while the system is fast, there are many other tested combos that achieve higher frame rates, likely due to having a more capable processor to accompany a similarly powerful GPU.

This rank also means that the combo outperforms the vast majority of systems tested, which is expected given the high-end nature of the RX 7900 XTX. The benchmark results show that this is a system designed for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, rather than a perfectly balanced build. The data confirms that the GPU is the dominant factor in this ranking, with the CPU playing a supporting role that is sufficient for the game's demands at lower resolutions.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the dominant component in this pairing. It features 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a massive 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is rated at 2498 MHz, and it has a 355 W TDP. The GPU's raw compute power is substantial, with an FP32 performance of 61.39 TFLOPS. Despite this, its benchmark scores show it in the 64th percentile of all GPUs, which is surprisingly low for a flagship part, likely due to the specific benchmarks used.

The GPU's role in Evolve is clearly the primary driver of performance at higher resolutions. The measured FPS data shows a clear scaling pattern: as resolution increases, the frame rate drops consistently. For instance, the High preset yields 186 FPS at 1080p, 125 FPS at 1440p, and 71 FPS at 4K. This pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card's rendering capabilities become the limiting factor.

The RX 7900 XTX's performance in the benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 31238, is comparable to rivals like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and NVIDIA TITAN Xp, with deltas of 0.4% and 1.2% respectively. This is an interesting data point, as it suggests that in synthetic tests, the 7900 XTX does not completely dominate older or lower-tier cards. However, in Evolve, the 24 GB VRAM and high bandwidth likely prevent any memory-related bottlenecks, allowing the GPU to focus on pure rendering. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the GPU is completely saturated, delivering an average of only 49 FPS, which points to the game's extreme demands at that setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the combo delivers high frame rates across the board. The Low preset achieves an average of 232 FPS, Medium hits 211 FPS, High reaches 186 FPS, and Ultra drops to 129 FPS. The Medium preset also records a minimum of 179 FPS and a maximum of 243 FPS, showing a wide but consistently high performance range.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset yields an average of 203 FPS, Medium delivers 159 FPS, High produces 125 FPS, and Ultra falls to 86 FPS. The Medium preset at this resolution shows a minimum of 135 FPS and a maximum of 183 FPS, indicating that even the lower end of the performance spectrum remains highly playable.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limits. The Low preset averages 117 FPS, Medium averages 90 FPS, High averages 71 FPS, and Ultra averages 49 FPS. The Medium preset is the only one at 4K with reported minimum and maximum values, at 77 FPS and 104 FPS respectively. The 4K Ultra setting is the only scenario where the average FPS drops below 60, making it the only unplayable configuration in the data set. The data shows a clear and predictable degradation in performance as both resolution and settings are increased, with the gap between Low and Ultra widening at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound workload. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 186 at 1080p to 125 at 1440p, a reduction of 61 FPS. From 1440p to 4K, the average drops further to 71 FPS, another 54 FPS reduction. This represents a total drop of 115 FPS from 1080p to 4K, or approximately 62%. This significant decline indicates that the RX 7900 XTX is the primary bottleneck, as the rendering load increases exponentially with pixel count.

The scaling pattern is similar for other settings. At Ultra, the FPS drops from 129 at 1080p to 86 at 1440p, and then to 49 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is 80 FPS, or 62%, which is nearly identical to the High preset's scaling. This consistency across presets reinforces the conclusion that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU's workload does not change as dramatically with resolution as the GPU's does.

The data shows that the CPU is not the primary constraint in this game at higher resolutions, as the frame rate scales down in a manner consistent with GPU load. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the steep decline at 4K points to the RX 7900 XTX being fully utilized, and its performance ceiling is what determines the final frame rate. The 4K Ultra result of 49 FPS suggests that this setting demands more from the GPU than it can deliver, while 1080p Low at 232 FPS shows that the CPU is capable of handling the game's logic at very high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor.