Evolve

# Evolve with AMD Ryzen 5 8400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers a benchmark combination for Evolve that sits in the top 1% of tested configurations, ranked 30th out of 2,872 total combos. This pairing leverages a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 4 processor with a 4.70 GHz boost clock alongside a 32 GB GDDR7 GPU with a 512-bit memory bus, producing frame rates that span from 65 FPS at 4K Ultra to 323 FPS at 1080p Low. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, with CPU headroom becoming apparent only at the lowest settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS progression across resolutions shows a clear pattern of GPU limitation. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 246 FPS at 1920x1080 to 165 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 33% reduction), then further to 94 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 43% reduction from 1440p). This consistent scaling with pixel count indicates that the RTX 5090 D's rendering pipeline is the primary constraint, as the CPU's workload does not scale proportionally with resolution.

At Low settings, the resolution scaling becomes even more pronounced. The system produces 323 FPS at 1080p, 271 FPS at 1440p, and 154 FPS at 4K. The 1440p-to-4K drop of 117 FPS (43%) mirrors the High settings drop, suggesting the GPU is still the limiting factor even at the lowest graphical load. However, the 1080p-to-1440p drop of 52 FPS (16%) is smaller than the High settings equivalent, hinting that at 1080p Low, the CPU begins to exert some influence on the frame rate ceiling.

The Medium settings row provides frame time data that reinforces this analysis. At 4K Medium, the system averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 and maximum of 138, a spread of 36 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average rises to 210 FPS with a 179-242 range, a spread of 63 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average reaches 294 FPS with a 250-338 range, an 88 FPS spread. The widening range at lower resolutions indicates increasing frame time variance, which is characteristic of CPU-bound scenarios where thread scheduling and game logic become more prominent relative to GPU rendering time.

Ultra settings show the steepest resolution penalty. The system delivers 170 FPS at 1080p, 114 FPS at 1440p, and 65 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 65 FPS is the lowest measured frame rate across the entire dataset, representing a 62% reduction from 1080p Ultra. This dramatic scaling suggests that the Ultra preset introduces graphical effects that disproportionately tax the GPU's compute and memory subsystems as resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D achieves a rank of 30 out of 2,872 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 99th percentile of all configurations. This elite ranking is driven primarily by the GPU's immense processing capability, as the CPU alone sits in the 77th percentile among all processors tested across the benchmark suite.

The GPU's standalone performance is noteworthy. The RTX 5090 D averages 77,712 across all benchmark tests, ranking in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rivals in the aggregate benchmark include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76,904 (1.1% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.6% higher), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at 79,396 and 79,605 (2.1% and 2.4% higher respectively). This tight clustering suggests that while the RTX 5090 D is a top-tier GPU, its raw compute advantage over certain mobile and data-center parts is relatively narrow in synthetic tests.

The CPU's aggregate benchmark score of 25,005 places it within 0.4% of several competitors: the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F scores 24,964 (0.2% lower), the Intel Core i7-11850H scores 24,935 (0.3% lower), the Intel Core i7-13620H scores 24,911 (0.4% lower), and the AMD EPYC 9474F scores 25,103 (0.4% higher). This indicates that in Evolve, the 8400F's performance is well within the expected range for its class, neither holding back nor significantly boosting the combination's overall ranking.

The combination's 30th-place ranking out of 2,872 combos means it outperforms approximately 99% of all tested pairings. This is a remarkable result for a system where the CPU is not in the top tier of processors, underscoring that Evolve's frame rates are heavily dependent on GPU capability. The data suggests that the RTX 5090 D is the dominant contributor to this ranking, with the 8400F providing sufficient support to avoid bottlenecking at most settings and resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Evolve?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 offers the best balance of performance and visual quality. At High settings, the system delivers 165 FPS at 1440p compared to 94 FPS at 4K, a 75% improvement. Even at Ultra, 1440p achieves 114 FPS, which is playable on high refresh rate monitors, while 4K Ultra drops to 65 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 D averages 77,712 across all benchmark tests. This is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). Against the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB and 16 GB, the RTX 5090 D is 2.1% and 2.4% lower, respectively, though those parts are not gaming-focused products.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking and how does it affect game performance?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F ranks in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,005. In Evolve, the CPU's impact is minimal at 4K, where the GPU is the clear bottleneck, but becomes more noticeable at 1080p Low, where the system reaches 323 FPS, suggesting the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration with a 4.70 GHz boost clock is capable of sustaining very high frame rates.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 4K across different settings?

A: At 4K, the system delivers 65 FPS on Ultra, 94 FPS on High, 120 FPS on Medium (with a 102-138 range), and 154 FPS on Low. This represents a 2.4x increase from Ultra to Low, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant rendering load that the GPU cannot fully overcome at this resolution.

Q: How much does the GPU's memory bandwidth contribute to performance?

A: The RTX 5090 D features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This is directly relevant to Evolve's performance at 4K, where the High settings produce 94 FPS and Medium produces 120 FPS, suggesting that the memory subsystem is capable of feeding the GPU's 21,760 shading units effectively even at high resolutions.

Q: Is the combo ranked higher than other configurations with similar CPUs?

A: The combo ranks 30th out of 2,872 tested configurations. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Core i7-13620H, have aggregate benchmark scores within 0.4% of the 8400F, but this specific pairing's ranking is determined by the RTX 5090 D's performance, which places the overall combination in the top 1% of all tested systems.

Settings Recommendations

For 4K display users, the Medium preset provides the most balanced experience. The system averages 120 FPS with a minimum of 102 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery above the 90 FPS threshold that many players consider essential for smooth gameplay. High settings at 4K reduce the average to 94 FPS, which may still be acceptable, but the lack of minimum frame data makes it riskier for competitive play. Ultra at 4K, at 65 FPS average, is best reserved for single-player scenarios where frame rate consistency is less critical.

For 1440p displays, the High preset is the recommended choice. The system achieves 165 FPS average, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates, while Ultra produces 114 FPS, still playable but with less headroom. The Medium preset at 1440p delivers 210 FPS with a 179-242 range, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors but may not offer sufficient visual fidelity for players who prioritize graphics quality over raw speed.

For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset delivers 170 FPS, which is sufficient for most gaming scenarios, including competitive play. The High preset at 246 FPS and Medium at 294 FPS (with a 250-338 range) offer even higher frame rates, but the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically more noticeable than the difference between Medium and High. The Low preset at 323 FPS is only recommended for esports-style play where maximum frame rate is the sole priority, as the graphical compromises are substantial.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings yield 323 FPS average, Medium produces 294 FPS with a minimum of 250 and maximum of 338, High reaches 246 FPS, and Ultra drops to 170 FPS. The 153 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p demonstrates the significant impact of graphical presets on this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down proportionally. Low settings deliver 271 FPS, Medium produces 210 FPS with a 179-242 range, High achieves 165 FPS, and Ultra reaches 114 FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 210 FPS is notable because it exceeds the 1080p Ultra result of 170 FPS, showing that resolution reduction is not the only factor in performance; preset selection can be equally influential.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its greatest variability. Low settings produce 154 FPS, Medium yields 120 FPS with a 102-138 range, High drops to 94 FPS, and Ultra falls to 65 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 102 FPS is higher than the 4K High average of 94 FPS, which suggests that the Medium preset offers a more stable experience at this resolution despite the lower visual fidelity.

The full dataset reveals that the Medium preset is the only one with complete frame time data (minimum and maximum values) at all three resolutions. This allows for a detailed analysis: the frame time range expands from 36 FPS at 4K to 63 FPS at 1440p to 88 FPS at 1080p, indicating that lower resolutions amplify frame pacing variability, likely due to CPU-driven frame generation becoming more significant relative to GPU rendering times.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB202 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC with 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. It features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output units, along with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz and boosts to 2407 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth, which is a critical factor for Evolve's performance at 4K. The data shows that at 4K Medium, the system achieves 120 FPS with a 102 FPS minimum, while 4K High drops to 94 FPS. This suggests that the memory bandwidth is sufficient to support the GPU's compute throughput at medium settings, but the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects push the memory subsystem closer to its limits, resulting in the 65 FPS average.

The GPU's aggregate benchmark performance places it in the 92nd percentile, with an average score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904, 1.1% lower) and the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.6% higher). In Evolve specifically, the RTX 5090 D's performance at 1080p Low (323 FPS) and 4K Low (154 FPS) indicates that the GPU has substantial headroom even at the lowest settings, where the frame rate is likely constrained by the CPU rather than the GPU itself.

The GPU's pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are consistent with the observed scaling from 1080p to 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 65 FPS corresponds to approximately 1.35 billion pixels per second (3840x2160x65), which is well below the GPU's theoretical maximum, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces shader complexity that limits throughput beyond simple pixel fill rate.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (codenamed Phoenix), manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It operates with a base clock of 4.20 GHz and boosts to 4.70 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache, totaling 25,000 million transistors on a 178 mm² die.

The CPU's benchmark results show a single-thread score of 3,685 in Passmark and 951 in 3DMark single-thread, with multi-thread scores of 24,389 in Passmark and 6,165 in 3DMark max threads. The Cinebench R23 results are 2,943 for single-core and 20,851 for multi-core. These scores place the CPU in the 77th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 25,005.

In Evolve, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the frame rate scaling at 1080p. The system produces 323 FPS at Low settings, which is 31% higher than the Medium result of 294 FPS and 90% higher than the Ultra result of 170 FPS. This suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is able to feed the GPU with enough draw calls to reach the 323 FPS ceiling, but the GPU's rendering speed becomes the limiting factor as settings increase.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the aggregate benchmark are the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F (24,964, 0.2% lower), Intel Core i7-11850H (24,935, 0.3% lower), Intel Core i7-13620H (24,911, 0.4% lower), and AMD EPYC 9474F (25,103, 0.4% higher). These tight margins indicate that the 8400F's performance is well within expectations for its class, and the 30th-place ranking of the full combination is not attributable to any CPU advantage but rather to the GPU's dominant performance.

The 4.70 GHz boost clock and 12 threads are sufficient to maintain frame rates above 300 FPS at 1080p Low, as demonstrated by the 323 FPS result. However, the frame time data at Medium settings shows that the minimum frame rates drop more significantly at 1080p (250 FPS minimum) compared to 4K (102 FPS minimum), which is consistent with the CPU becoming a more significant factor in frame pacing at lower resolutions where the GPU has more spare capacity.