Evolve

FAQ

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti delivers 75 FPS on average at 1920x1080 with High settings. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the CPU's multithreaded performance compare to its closest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 7500X3D scores 25,047 in PassMark multithread tests. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, scores 44,466, which is only 0.2% higher. The Intel Core i9-13950HX trails by 0.5%, while the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 is 0.6% behind. The Intel Core i5-14600 leads by 0.7%.

Q: What is the GPU's DirectX 12 benchmark score, and how does it rank overall?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti scores 51 in the PassMark DirectX 12 test. Its overall average benchmark score is 7,723, placing it in the 41st percentile among all GPUs. This indicates a mid-range graphics card that can handle older titles like Evolve but may struggle with modern demands.

Q: Is there a measurable FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the data is stark. At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 83 FPS on average, while Ultra settings drop to just 35 FPS. That is a 48 FPS gap, or roughly a 58% reduction in performance when maxing out visual quality.

Q: What are the CPU's core and thread counts, and what is its boost clock?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D has 6 cores and 12 threads. Its base clock is 4.00 GHz, and it boosts up to 4.50 GHz. This configuration is well-suited for gaming workloads that benefit from high single-thread performance.

Q: Does the GPU have enough VRAM for 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti comes with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the combo achieves 29 FPS average, indicating that 6 GB is sufficient for this game's VRAM demands, though the overall performance is below playable levels.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is built on the Turing architecture and utilizes the TU116 chip, manufactured on a 12 nm process at TSMC with 6,600 million transistors. Its base clock runs at 1500 MHz, with a boost clock of 1770 MHz. Memory operates at 1500 MHz, which translates to 12 Gbps effective on the 6 GB GDDR6 frame buffer. The 192-bit memory interface yields a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s, a figure that proves adequate for Evolve's texture streaming and geometry loads at most resolutions.

In terms of raw compute, the GPU delivers 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 10.87 TFLOPS of FP16 (with a 2:1 ratio). The pixel rate is 84.96 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 169.9 GTexel/s, driven by 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. These specifications place the card in the 41st percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 7,723. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 540, scores 7,673, a delta of 0.7%, meaning the GTX 1660 Ti is marginally faster in synthetic tests.

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern: the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 123 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 20 FPS. This is not a VRAM capacity issue — 6 GB is adequate for Evolve — but rather a shading and rasterization throughput limitation. The card's DirectX 11 score of 103 is notably higher than its DirectX 12 score of 51, suggesting that Evolve, a 2015 title, likely runs on an older API path where the card performs relatively better. The GPU's compute score of 5,226 in PassMark further confirms its mid-range positioning.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic scaling curve as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 75 FPS at 1080p to 50 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 29 FPS at 4K. This represents a 61% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The pattern is consistent across all settings presets, though the absolute drops are larger at lower settings where the GPU is pushed harder.

At Low settings, the progression is 123 FPS (1080p), 83 FPS (1440p), and 47 FPS (4K). The 4K figure is still above 30 FPS, indicating that the GPU retains some headroom even at the highest resolution when visual effects are minimized. Medium settings show 95 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings yield 52 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and just 20 FPS at 4K — the only preset where the 4K result is unplayable.

The scaling behavior suggests that the GTX 1660 Ti is the bottleneck at 4K across all settings. The CPU, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, is not the constraint here. The data implies that pixel throughput and fill rate are the limiting factors. The GPU's 48 ROPs and 84.96 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K Ultra. Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 27 FPS (47 vs 20), while at 1080p the same gap is 71 FPS (123 vs 52). This compression of the FPS spread at higher resolutions is a classic symptom of GPU-bound scenarios, where the card is already saturated regardless of settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: At Low settings, the combo achieves 123 FPS average, which is excellent for competitive play. Medium settings drop to 95 FPS, with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS, indicating stable frame pacing. High settings yield 75 FPS average, still smooth for most displays. Ultra settings bring the average down to 52 FPS, which is playable but shows visible strain on the GPU.

2560x1440: Low settings produce 83 FPS average, a 33% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings deliver 64 FPS, with a measured range of 54 to 74 FPS, which is adequate for 60 Hz monitors. High settings drop to 50 FPS average, borderline for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings fall to 35 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and may cause noticeable judder.

3840x2160: Low settings provide 47 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal. Medium settings yield 36 FPS, with a minimum of 31 FPS and a maximum of 42 FPS, showing significant variance. High settings drop to 29 FPS average, which is below the standard for smooth motion. Ultra settings bottom out at 20 FPS, making the game essentially unplayable at this preset. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming with this combo is only viable at Low settings, and even then, it's marginal.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination ranks 2,468 out of 2,872 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the bottom 14% of all configurations, which is a poor showing for a system built around a 2025-release CPU. The ranking reflects the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU's capabilities. The GTX 1660 Ti, with its 41st percentile standing among all GPUs, drags down the overall combo performance.

In contrast, the CPU alone scores in the 89th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 44,573. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.7% of its performance, making it a top-tier gaming CPU. The disparity between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's mid-range percentile explains the combo's low rank. The data suggests that this pairing is heavily imbalanced — the CPU is capable of feeding much faster graphics cards, but the GTX 1660 Ti cannot utilize that headroom in Evolve.

The combo's rank of 2,468 out of 2,872 means that 404 tested combinations perform worse. Given the GPU's age (end-of-life status, released in 2019) and the game's release in 2015, this result is unsurprising. The GPU's DirectX 10 score of 66 and DirectX 9 score of 190 indicate that it handles legacy APIs well, but Evolve's engine likely benefits from the card's DirectX 11 path (score of 103), which is where the measured FPS data shows the most headroom.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this combo depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, High settings (75 FPS) provide the best balance of visual quality and performance, as the 60 FPS threshold is comfortably exceeded. Medium settings (95 FPS) are recommended for players with 144 Hz monitors, as the frame rate is high enough to take advantage of refresh rates beyond 60 Hz. Ultra settings (52 FPS) are playable but not ideal, and Low settings (123 FPS) are best reserved for competitive play where frame rate trumps visuals.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings (64 FPS) are the recommended choice, as they stay above 60 FPS while offering better visual fidelity than Low (83 FPS). High settings (50 FPS) are acceptable for players who prioritize image quality over smoothness, but the 50 FPS average may cause noticeable stutter on 60 Hz displays. Ultra settings (35 FPS) are not recommended for serious gameplay.

At 3840x2160, only Low settings (47 FPS) provide a marginally playable experience. Medium settings (36 FPS) and High settings (29 FPS) are too slow for responsive gameplay, and Ultra settings (20 FPS) should be avoided entirely. For 4K users, the data suggests that the GTX 1660 Ti is simply not capable of delivering a satisfying experience in Evolve, and the recommendation is to either drop to 1440p or upgrade the GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 7000 series, built on the Raphael codename using TSMC's 5 nm process. It features 11,270 million transistors on a 71 mm² die, with a 65 W TDP. The base clock is 4.00 GHz, boosting to 4.50 GHz, and it supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is critical for gaming performance.

In PassMark benchmarks, the CPU scores 25,047 in multithread tests and 3,494 in single-thread tests. Its floating-point math score is 43,594, and integer math scores 70,774. The physics score of 2,779 is particularly relevant for Evolve, which relies on physics calculations for its gameplay mechanics. The data compression score of 271,649 and encryption score of 15,797 indicate strong general-purpose performance.

The CPU's 89th percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms the vast majority of CPUs on the market. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i9-13950HX (0.5% slower) and AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (0.6% slower), are all high-end mobile or desktop parts, underscoring the 7500X3D's strength. However, in this combo, the CPU's power is largely untapped. The measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU bottlenecking — frame rates scale consistently with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited system. The CPU's 96 MB of L3 cache likely helps maintain minimum frame rates, as seen in the Medium settings data at 1440p (minimum 54 FPS) and 1080p (minimum 81 FPS), but the GTX 1660 Ti remains the constraining factor in Evolve.