Evolve

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, using a 7 nm process from TSMC. Its base clock is 3.50 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The CPU draws a 65 W TDP and supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 51.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The processor features a 32 MB shared L3 cache, along with 64 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. This combination of six physical cores and simultaneous multithreading gives the Ryzen 5 5600 solid headroom for gaming workloads that scale beyond a single thread.

Benchmark results place the Ryzen 5 5600 in the 79th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,765. Its closest rivals in synthetic testing include the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (average score 21,635, 0.6% slower), the AMD EPYC 9554P (average score 21,899, 0.6% faster), the AMD EPYC 9534 (average score 21,900, 0.6% faster), and the Intel Core i7-11700F (average score 21,957, 0.9% faster). These deltas are all within 1%, indicating the Ryzen 5 5600 sits in a tightly contested performance band, but its 6-core/12-thread configuration is well-suited for Evolve's engine, which benefits from multiple threads for game logic, physics, and AI.

In Evolve, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 122.6 FPS, which drops to 99 FPS at Medium and 77.1 FPS at High. The large gap between Low and High settings suggests that while the CPU can feed the GPU at low settings, the increased scene complexity at higher settings—more lighting, shadows, and draw calls—begins to tax the processor's thread utilization. The Ryzen 5 5600's single-thread score of 882 in 3DMark and 2,584 in Cinebench R23 indicates strong per-core performance, which is critical for Evolve's frame pacing and input responsiveness. The 12 threads allow background tasks and game sub-systems to run concurrently without causing stutters, as evidenced by the relatively stable frame rates across settings at each resolution.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is built on the Turing architecture (TU116 chip) using a 12 nm process, with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 1530 MHz, boosting to 1785 MHz. The GPU has 1,408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, with a pixel rate of 85.68 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 157.1 GTexel/s. The card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, making it fully compatible with Evolve's rendering requirements.

The GTX 1660 SUPER sits in the 55th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14,286. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (average score 14,314, 0.2% faster), Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (average score 14,315, 0.2% faster), AMD Radeon Vega 11 (average score 14,352, 0.5% faster), and AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (average score 14,389, 0.7% faster). These margins are negligible, meaning the GTX 1660 SUPER performs nearly identically to these competing parts in synthetic tests. However, in Evolve, the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 336 GB/s bandwidth prove adequate for 1080p and 1440p resolutions but become limiting at 4K.

The GPU's role in Evolve is best understood by observing frame rate scaling with resolution. At 1080p High, the combo delivers 77.1 FPS, but at 1440p High, it drops to 50.8 FPS, and at 4K High, it falls to 31.6 FPS. This steep decline—roughly 34% from 1080p to 1440p and another 38% from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the graphics card is the primary bottleneck as resolution increases. The 6 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for Evolve's textures at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K with High settings, the memory bandwidth and fill rate struggle to maintain fluid frame rates, resulting in values below 60 FPS. The GPU's FP32 throughput of 5.027 TFLOPS is modest by modern standards, but it aligns with Evolve's 2015-era engine, which does not demand excessive compute resources.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate for this combo at 1080p with High settings in Evolve?

A: The measured average FPS is 77.1, which is playable but not high-refresh territory. This represents a solid baseline for the GTX 1660 SUPER's capabilities in Evolve, given the GPU's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its closest rival, the Intel Core i7-11700F?

A: The Ryzen 5 5600's average benchmark score of 21,765 is 0.9% lower than the i7-11700F's score of 21,957. This delta is minor, indicating that in CPU-bound scenarios, the two processors would deliver nearly identical frame rates.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p Low and 1080p Ultra for this combo?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 122.6 FPS, while at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 53.4 FPS—a reduction of 69.2 FPS. This 56% performance loss from Low to Ultra highlights the significant impact of graphics settings on the GTX 1660 SUPER.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: Yes, the measured average FPS is 64.8, which exceeds the 60 FPS threshold. This makes 1440p Medium a viable configuration for a consistent experience, though High settings at 1440p (50.8 FPS) fall below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT, compare in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 5500 XT has an average score of 14,389, which is 0.7% faster than the GTX 1660 SUPER's 14,286. This difference is within measurement noise, so real-world gaming performance in Evolve would be nearly indistinguishable.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 1,467 out of 1,695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 13.5% of all combos. This ranking reflects the mid-range nature of both the CPU and GPU, which struggle at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In Evolve, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER combination ranks 1,467 out of 1,695 tested combos. This places the setup in the 86.5th percentile of performance, meaning roughly 86% of all tested combos deliver better frame rates. The low ranking is primarily attributable to the GTX 1660 SUPER, which sits in the 55th percentile among GPUs, paired with a CPU that is in the 79th percentile. The mismatch in percentiles indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios, particularly at higher resolutions.

The combo's rank of 1,467 suggests that while the Ryzen 5 5600 provides ample CPU headroom—its 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient for Evolve's engine—the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB VRAM and 5.027 TFLOPS FP32 throughput constrain performance. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 122.6 FPS, which is a strong result for a mid-range GPU, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 22 FPS, making the game unplayable. The rank of 1,467 out of 1,695 also reflects the fact that many combos in the database pair higher-tier GPUs with comparable or weaker CPUs, resulting in better overall frame rates.

The nearest rival GPUs—RX Vega 11, Iris Xe MAX, and RX 5500 XT—all have synthetic scores within 0.7% of the GTX 1660 SUPER, yet the combo's rank indicates that in Evolve specifically, the GTX 1660 SUPER's performance is average at best. The CPU's position in the 79th percentile means that upgrading the GPU alone would yield substantial improvements; the data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck until frame rates exceed 120 FPS, which only occurs at 1080p Low.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across resolutions provides a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies in this combo. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 122.6 FPS at Low settings to 53.4 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 1440p, the same settings produce 85.9 FPS at Low and 33.1 FPS at Ultra. At 4K, the frame rates drop further to 46.3 FPS at Low and 22 FPS at Ultra. This scaling pattern reveals that the GPU is the dominant limiting component, as the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized until 4K Ultra, where even the Ryzen 5 5600's strong single-thread performance cannot compensate for the GPU's fill rate and bandwidth constraints.

The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at each setting quantifies this bottleneck. At Low settings, the FPS falls from 122.6 to 46.3—a 62% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 99 to 39.6—a 60% reduction. At High, it falls from 77.1 to 31.6—a 59% reduction. At Ultra, the drop is from 53.4 to 22—a 59% reduction. These consistent ~60% declines across all settings indicate that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being saturated at 4K, regardless of the graphical load. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 336.0 GB/s bandwidth and 5.027 TFLOPS are simply insufficient for 4K rendering in Evolve, even at Low settings.

Conversely, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a less severe drop. At Low, the FPS goes from 122.6 to 85.9—a 30% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 99 to 64.8—a 35% reduction. At High, from 77.1 to 50.8—a 34% reduction. At Ultra, from 53.4 to 33.1—a 38% reduction. The smaller percentage drops at 1440p suggest that the GPU has more headroom at this resolution, and the CPU's 12 threads can still feed the GPU effectively. However, the fact that 1440p High only achieves 50.8 FPS confirms that the GTX 1660 SUPER is the limiting factor for maintaining 60 FPS at higher resolutions. The data indicates that this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it delivers playable frame rates up to High settings (77.1 FPS), and can handle 1440p only at Medium or lower settings.