Evolve

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT pairing delivers a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics within the 2015 title Evolve. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, yet shows signs of CPU constraint at 1080p with lower graphical settings. This combination of a six-core Zen 3 processor with a high-bandwidth RDNA 3 graphics card produces a wide performance envelope, from playable 4K Ultra to exceptionally high refresh rate 1080p Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p Ultra and 1080p Low settings?

A: The average frame rate jumps from 98.2 FPS at Ultra settings to 235.4 FPS at Low settings, representing a 137.2 FPS increase or roughly 2.4x higher performance when settings are reduced.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500 scores 20,875 in the average benchmark suite. This places it 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12500, which scores 20,897, indicating near-identical overall processing capability.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 96.6 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the GPU's performance closer to the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 or the NVIDIA P104-100?

A: The RX 7800 XT's average benchmark score of 32,619 is 0.2% higher than the AMD FirePro S9300 X2's 32,540, and 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA P104-100's 32,747. It sits nearly equidistant between the two.

Q: What is the lowest average frame rate recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest average frame rate is 40.4 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings, indicating a demanding configuration.

Q: Does the CPU support overclocking based on the data?

A: Yes, the multiplier is unlocked, and the base clock of 3.60 GHz can boost up to 4.20 GHz, suggesting headroom for manual tuning.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the "High" preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, High settings yield a robust 143.1 FPS, which is only 92.3 FPS less than the absolute maximum at Low. The jump to Ultra at 1080p costs 44.9 FPS compared to High, a significant drop to 98.2 FPS that may not justify the marginal visual gains in a fast-paced FPS.

Moving to 1440p, the High preset maintains an excellent 96.6 FPS average. This is a superior choice to Ultra, which drops to 67.7 FPS, potentially introducing more noticeable frame pacing issues. The Medium preset at 1440p offers 123.2 FPS, but the increase from High to Medium is only 26.6 FPS, suggesting that High provides a better visual-to-performance ratio for most users.

At 4K, the situation becomes more critical. The High preset averages 53.5 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for competitive play. The Medium preset at 70.2 FPS provides a safer margin above 60 FPS, while Ultra falls to 40.4 FPS, which is likely too low for a smooth experience. For 4K, the data indicates that Medium is the optimal preset, as it offers a 16.7 FPS improvement over High while presumably retaining substantial visual fidelity.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 143.1 at 1080p to 96.6 at 1440p, a 46.5 FPS reduction, and then further to 53.5 at 4K, another 43.1 FPS reduction. The performance loss between 1080p and 4K is 89.6 FPS, or approximately 62.6% of the 1080p score. This steep decline is characteristic of a system where the graphics card's rendering throughput is the primary limiting factor.

The trend is even more pronounced at Ultra settings. The 1080p score of 98.2 FPS falls to 67.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 40.4 FPS at 4K. The total drop from 1080p to 4K is 57.8 FPS. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Ultra (a 27.3 FPS drop) is proportionally similar to the 1080p to 1440p drop (30.5 FPS), indicating a consistent pixel-pushing workload.

Interestingly, at Low settings, the scaling is slightly different. The 1080p score of 235.4 FPS drops to 156 FPS at 1440p and then to 89.9 FPS at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 79.4 FPS, which is a larger absolute drop than at High settings. This suggests that while the GPU is still the main constraint, the CPU's ability to feed frames at very high rates becomes more relevant at 1080p Low, but the GPU still dominates the scaling curve.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database for Evolve, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT holds the rank of 633 out of 1,695 tested combos. This places it in the upper third of all configurations, indicating a strong overall performance level. The percentile data for the individual components supports this: the CPU is in the 79th percentile compared to all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 76th percentile compared to all GPUs.

The ranking suggests that while this is not a top-tier enthusiast setup, it is a highly capable one. The fact that it outranks approximately 1,062 other combinations implies that it delivers a level of performance that will satisfy the vast majority of players in this title. The system's position is likely buoyed by the GPU's substantial 16 GB memory buffer and high bandwidth, which prevents any memory-related stutters that could plague lower-end cards in this game.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT plays the dominant role in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth. This is a critical asset for Evolve, a game with large, detailed environments and multiple monster types that require substantial texture data. The data shows that the GPU's performance is the primary driver of the FPS differences between settings presets.

The GPU's clock speeds are also notable. It has a base clock of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost clock of 2430 MHz. The difference between the game clock and boost clock suggests good thermal and power headroom for sustained performance. The GPU's compute capability is substantial, with 3840 shading units contributing to a FP32 performance of 37.32 TFLOPS. This raw power is reflected in the 1080p Low score of 235.4 FPS, which shows the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower settings.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its position. It achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4157 and a Passmark G3D score of 24,176. The data implies that the GPU is well-suited to handle the DirectX 12 rendering path that Evolve can utilize, ensuring modern API efficiency.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the system's capabilities:

• At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates. The Low preset averages 235.4 FPS, Medium averages 181.3 FPS, High averages 143.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 98.2 FPS. The spread of 137.2 FPS between the lowest and highest settings demonstrates the GPU's massive headroom at this resolution.

• At 2560x1440, performance remains high but shows the expected scaling. Low settings average 156 FPS, Medium averages 123.2 FPS, High averages 96.6 FPS, and Ultra averages 67.7 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra here is 28.9 FPS, a more significant penalty than the 44.9 FPS drop seen at 1080p.

• At 3840x2160, the GPU is fully saturated. Low settings average 89.9 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium averages 70.2 FPS, High averages 53.5 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40.4 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra at 4K is 13.1 FPS, highlighting the diminishing returns of the Ultra preset.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset offers a consistent performance tier that is between 20 FPS and 40 FPS higher than High, while the Low preset is consistently the fastest, showing the GPU's ability to push very high frame rates when visual effects are reduced.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 serves as a capable foundation, though its role is secondary to the GPU in most scenarios. With 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, it provides solid multi-threaded performance for game logic and physics. The CPU's boost clock of 4.20 GHz is sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at most settings, as evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p.

The benchmark data shows the CPU's strengths. It scores 16,429 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2,319 in single-core. The Passmark multi-thread score of 19,330 and single-thread score of 3,058 indicate balanced performance. The CPU's 16 MB of L3 cache is ample for gaming workloads, and its dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth provides adequate data throughput for the GPU.

However, the data hints at potential CPU limitations at the very highest frame rates. The jump from 1080p High (143.1 FPS) to 1080p Low (235.4 FPS) is substantial, but the absolute frame rates are high enough that the CPU's per-core performance is likely the next bottleneck after the GPU. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 836 suggests that it can handle the game's main thread, but the 2-thread score of 1,645 indicates that scaling beyond two threads has diminishing returns. This is typical for a game from 2015, which may not fully utilize all 12 threads, but the CPU's strong single-core performance ensures it does not hold the system back.