Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS built on the CryEngine, presents an interesting stress test for the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher fidelity settings, but which shifts toward a more balanced profile as resolution drops and settings are lowered. This analysis breaks down the measured data to understand where the bottleneck lies and what the experience implies for this specific hardware combination.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a classic pattern of GPU-bound scaling as resolution increases. At 1080p with High settings, the combo produces 204 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops that to 137 FPS, a reduction of 67 FPS or roughly 33%. The jump from 1440p to 4K High is even more punishing, falling from 137 FPS to 78 FPS, a further 43% decline. This steep drop-off strongly indicates that the RTX 4080's rendering pipeline is the primary limiter at these higher resolutions, with the CPU having ample headroom to feed frames.

The scaling pattern becomes more revealing when examining the Low preset. At 1080p Low, the system hits 321 FPS, suggesting the CPU is still keeping pace with the GPU's output. At 1440p Low, the frame rate falls to 225 FPS, a 30% decrease. However, the transition to 4K Low yields 128 FPS, a 43% drop from 1440p. This non-linear decline, where the 1440p to 4K drop is steeper than the 1080p to 1440p drop, points to the GPU's memory bandwidth and fillrate becoming increasingly taxed as pixel count quadruples.

The Medium preset offers a nuanced view. At 1080p Medium, the system runs at 260 FPS, which drops to 174 FPS at 1440p (a 33% decrease) and then to 99 FPS at 4K (a 43% decrease from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Medium and High presets suggests that the RTX 4080's architecture handles the increased load uniformly, with no sudden cliff or unexpected bottleneck. The Ultra preset tells a different story, starting at 141 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 95 FPS at 1440p (33% lower), and then falling to 54 FPS at 4K (43% lower).

The data implies that at 1080p, particularly with Low and Medium settings, the system is nearing a CPU ceiling, as the 321 FPS and 260 FPS figures approach what a 6-core Zen 4 processor can realistically push in this engine. At 4K, the RTX 4080 becomes the undeniable bottleneck, with even the Low preset failing to exceed 128 FPS, indicating that raw pixel throughput is the limiting factor rather than scene complexity or draw calls.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimal experience. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 174 FPS with a measured minimum of 148 FPS, which is the highest fidelity option that still comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates. This represents the best balance of visual quality and performance for high-refresh displays, as the gap between 1440p Medium and 1440p High (137 FPS) is noticeable but not transformative for most players.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset at 128 FPS is the only option that approaches playable high-refresh territory, though it sacrifices significant visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 4K yields 99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS, which is acceptable for 60 Hz displays but may feel inconsistent on 120 Hz panels. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 54 FPS, is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth gameplay, making it a poor choice despite the visual benefits.

At 1080p, the Medium preset at 260 FPS (minimum 221 FPS) is the sensible recommendation for competitive play, as the jump to High (204 FPS) offers diminishing returns for a 56 FPS loss. The Ultra preset at 1080p (141 FPS) is viable for those prioritizing image quality, but the 119 FPS deficit from Medium suggests the preset's effects are disproportionately expensive in this title.

The data shows that the Low preset, while delivering the highest frame rates at every resolution (321 FPS, 225 FPS, 128 FPS), is likely too visually stripped for most users, as Evolve's environments rely on lighting and shadow cues for gameplay awareness. The Medium preset emerges as the sweet spot across all resolutions, offering a 22% performance gain over High at 4K (99 FPS vs 78 FPS) and a 27% gain at 1440p (174 FPS vs 137 FPS) while presumably retaining enough visual information for effective play.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus providing 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth, is clearly the dominant component in this pairing. The GPU's 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores suggest it was designed for modern workloads, but Evolve, being a 2015 title, likely doesn't utilize these features, meaning the raw rasterization performance of its 9728 shading units is what drives these results.

The GPU's clock speeds — a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz — are relatively high, and the data suggests they hold up well under load. The 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is substantial, yet the 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS indicates that even this level of compute is insufficient for the most demanding settings at 4K, likely due to the 112 ROPs being saturated by pixel fill requirements.

The VRAM capacity of 16 GB is more than sufficient for Evolve, even at 4K Ultra, so the frame rate drops are not attributable to memory capacity limits. Instead, the bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s becomes the likely constraint at 4K, particularly with the Ultra preset's texture and post-processing demands. The measured minimum FPS at 1440p Medium (148 FPS) and 1080p Medium (221 FPS) show frame pacing consistency, but the lack of min/max data for other presets limits a full stutter analysis.

The RTX 4080's position in the benchmark hierarchy, with a percentile of 86 among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 54247, places it just behind the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% delta) and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (-1.1% delta). This close grouping suggests that the RTX 4080 is performing as expected for its class, and the Evolve results reflect its tier rather than any anomaly.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 5 7400F and RTX 4080 achieves a rank of 284 out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the top 7.7% of all configurations. This is a strong showing, though it's important to note that the ranking considers the entire system, and the CPU's modest performance relative to the GPU may be holding the combo back from an even higher placement.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 32750 places it at the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-14600T (0.1% delta), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (-0.2% delta), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (0.3% delta). These margins are razor-thin, indicating that the 7400F is well-matched against its direct competitors in synthetic tests.

In Evolve specifically, the combo's rank suggests that the RTX 4080 is the primary driver of the system's standing. A system with a weaker GPU but a stronger CPU might rank similarly in this GPU-bound title, while a system with a more powerful GPU could push the combo higher despite the 7400F's limitations. The gap between the combo's overall percentile (top 7.7%) and the GPU's individual percentile (86th) hints that the CPU is not the limiting factor in the ranking, but rather that the GPU's performance ceiling defines the experience.

The 3700 combos tested represent a wide range of hardware, and placing 284th indicates that this pairing outperforms the vast majority of systems in Evolve. However, the data also shows that pushing higher would require a GPU upgrade, as the 7400F appears to have sufficient headroom to support a more powerful graphics card at 1080p, where the 321 FPS Low result is still not hitting an obvious CPU wall.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz are respectable for a 65 W TDP part, and its 32 MB of shared L3 cache should provide adequate bandwidth for gaming workloads.

In Evolve, the CPU's role appears secondary at most settings, but the 1080p Low result of 321 FPS hints at its ceiling. The 6 cores and 12 threads are likely sufficient for this title, which was released before the trend toward heavily multi-threaded game engines. The CPU's single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3072, is strong, and this likely translates to good frame pacing in Evolve's main thread.

The 7400F's DDR5 memory support with dual-channel configuration and 83.2 GB/s bandwidth is a potential advantage over older DDR4 platforms, though Evolve's engine may not fully leverage this bandwidth. The CPU's PCIe Gen 5 support with 24 lanes ensures the RTX 4080's PCIe 4.0 x16 interface is not bandwidth-constrained, though the GPU's 16 GB VRAM means most data transfers are handled locally.

The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the system is approaching CPU limitation, as the 321 FPS figure is high but not extraordinarily so for a modern 6-core processor. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further, with the 54 FPS Ultra result being almost entirely GPU-bound. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Passmark multithread score of 25645 and a single-thread score of 3689, place it in the upper echelon of processors, but its nearest rival deltas of less than 0.3% mean that any CPU swap would yield negligible gains in Evolve.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 321 FPS on Low, 260 FPS on Medium (minimum 221 FPS, maximum 299 FPS), 204 FPS on High, and 141 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 56% reduction in frame rate, with the largest single-step drop occurring between Medium and High (56 FPS, or 21.5%).

At 2560x1440, the results are 225 FPS on Low, 174 FPS on Medium (minimum 148 FPS, maximum 200 FPS), 137 FPS on High, and 95 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent at approximately 30% across all presets, confirming the GPU's scaling with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the system produces 128 FPS on Low, 99 FPS on Medium (minimum 84 FPS, maximum 114 FPS), 78 FPS on High, and 54 FPS on Ultra. The 4K results show a more compressed range between presets, with only a 74 FPS difference between Low and Ultra, compared to 180 FPS at 1080p, further evidence of the GPU being the dominant constraint at high resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions, showing frame times that vary by 36 FPS at 1080p, 52 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. This variance suggests that Evolve's scene complexity, such as monster abilities and environmental effects, causes measurable frame time spikes, though the minimums remain playable at 1080p and 1440p.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K with any settings?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings (128 FPS) or Medium settings (99 FPS with a minimum of 84 FPS). High settings drop to 78 FPS, and Ultra falls to 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Evolve?

A: Yes, the 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than adequate for this title, even at 4K Ultra. The frame rate drops at higher settings are due to compute and bandwidth limits, not memory capacity.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER's 54209, a delta of just 0.1%. In Evolve, the performance difference would likely be imperceptible.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz 1440p monitor?

A: Medium settings at 1440p provide 174 FPS average with a 148 FPS minimum, comfortably exceeding 144 Hz. High settings at 137 FPS would be borderline, potentially dipping below 144 Hz during intense scenes.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: The GPU is the primary factor at all resolutions above 1080p, with the RTX 4080 clearly limiting performance. At 1080p Low, the CPU's 321 FPS result suggests it is approaching its limit, but even then, the GPU's output is the main constraint.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7400F compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The 7400F has an average benchmark score of 32750, which is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i5-14600T, 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H, and 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360. These differences are negligible for gaming.