Evolve

# Evolve — AMD Ryzen 5 9600X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

The benchmark data for Evolve with this AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 pairing reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, but with notable inflection points that separate playable territory from slideshow territory. The measured FPS rows show a GPU-bound scenario at 4K, a balanced situation at 1440p, and a CPU-leaning profile at 1080p, where the 6-core/12-thread Zen 5 processor with its 5.40 GHz boost clock can stretch its legs. This combo sits at rank 2003 out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the middle of the pack for this specific title, a position that becomes more understandable when dissecting the raw numbers below.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lives. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 115 FPS at 1920x1080 to 77 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 33% reduction — and then further to 44 FPS at 3840x2160, which is 62% below the 1080p figure. This steep decline aligns with the GPU's 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, suggesting that the RTX 4060's pixel throughput is the limiting factor as resolution climbs.

Looking at Low settings reveals an even more pronounced scaling pattern: 190 FPS at 1080p drops to 127 FPS at 1440p (a 33% decrease), then to 72 FPS at 4K — a 62% drop from 1440p. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings indicates that the GPU's raw fillrate and shading capacity, rather than memory bandwidth alone, dictate performance at higher resolutions. The RTX 4060's 118.1 GPixel/s pixel rate and 236.2 GTexel/s texture rate are simply insufficient to maintain high frame rates when pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The data implies that this game's rendering engine scales nearly linearly with pixel count, which is typical for a 2015-era FPS title. The 4K Ultra result of 31 FPS versus 4K Low at 72 FPS shows that settings have a massive impact at high resolution — a 132% improvement from dropping quality. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is so saturated that reducing shading complexity provides outsized returns, whereas at 1080p, the same settings change only yields a 65% gain (190 FPS vs 115 FPS at High), indicating the CPU begins to assert influence at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows point to Medium settings as the sweet spot for this combo, balancing visual fidelity with playable frame rates across all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 147 FPS average with min/max of 125 and 169 FPS, providing a smooth experience that exceeds typical 120 Hz displays. The 1440p Medium result of 99 FPS (min 84, max 114) stays above 60 FPS comfortably, making it the highest quality preset that maintains fluid motion at this resolution.

Ultra settings prove problematic at every resolution: 80 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K. While 1080p Ultra is technically playable, the 33% performance penalty over High (115 FPS) is substantial for what the data suggests is marginal visual improvement. The 4K Ultra result at 31 FPS falls below the 30 FPS threshold for some players, but the min FPS is not recorded, making it risky to recommend without frame-time data.

High settings offer a balanced alternative: 115 FPS at 1080p, 77 FPS at 1440p, and 44 FPS at 4K. The 1440p High result hovers near 60 FPS but might dip below on demanding scenes, whereas Medium's 99 FPS provides a larger safety margin. For 4K, Low settings at 72 FPS is the only preset that delivers consistently smooth gameplay, as Medium drops to 56 FPS and High to 44 FPS. The data suggests that players targeting 60 FPS should use Medium at 1440p or Low at 4K, while 1080p users can comfortably select High or even Ultra depending on their refresh rate.

GPU Role

The RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus is a central factor in this game's performance profile. With 272.0 GB/s bandwidth, the card has enough throughput for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results indicate that capacity or bandwidth constraints may emerge at higher resolutions. The measured 4K Medium result (56 FPS) versus 4K Low (72 FPS) shows a 29% performance hit from raising quality, which could reflect increased memory pressure or shading load.

Clock speeds are equally telling: the GPU's base clock of 1830 MHz and boost clock of 2460 MHz, combined with 3072 shading units, produce 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This compute capability translates to the observed frame rates — the card consistently delivers around 190 FPS at 1080p Low, which aligns with its architectural efficiency. The 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present but likely underutilized in this 2015 title, as ray tracing was not a feature at the game's release.

The GPU's 61st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639, positions it as a mid-range performer. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (deltaPct -0.2) and AMD Radeon 780M (deltaPct 0.3), which are older or integrated solutions — suggesting the RTX 4060's synthetic benchmark score is modest, yet its real-game performance in Evolve shows it handling 1440p well. The passmark G3D score of 19545 and DirectX 12 score of 76 indicate that the card's API efficiency varies, which could explain why Evolve, a DirectX 11-era game, performs relatively better than newer titles might.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range is covered. Low delivers 190 FPS average, Medium 147 FPS (min 125, max 169), High 115 FPS, and Ultra 80 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 110 FPS, a 138% increase from lowest to highest quality. The Medium min/max spread of 44 FPS (125 to 169) indicates some scene complexity variance, but the average remains solidly above refresh rates of most monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers compress: Low produces 127 FPS, Medium 99 FPS (min 84, max 114), High 77 FPS, and Ultra 54 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across settings — between 33% and 38% — which confirms the GPU is the scaling factor. The Ultra result at 54 FPS is borderline for 60 Hz displays, while High at 77 FPS offers a safer margin.

At 3840x2160, performance falls off sharply: Low manages 72 FPS, Medium 56 FPS (min 48, max 65), High 44 FPS, and Ultra 31 FPS. The Medium min of 48 FPS is concerning for smoothness, as it indicates dips below 50 FPS. The Ultra result of 31 FPS is technically above 30 FPS but leaves no headroom. The 4K Low result at 72 FPS is the only setting that delivers a consistently smooth experience at this resolution, and even then, the lack of min FPS data means potential frame drops remain unquantified.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Evolve at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes, but only at Lower settings. The 4K Low preset achieves 72 FPS average, while Medium drops to 56 FPS and High to 44 FPS. Ultra at 31 FPS is barely playable but risks frame pacing issues.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 99 FPS average (min 84, max 114), which provides a smooth experience above 60 FPS. High settings at 77 FPS are also viable if visual quality is prioritized over frame rate headroom.

Q: How does the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM affect performance in Evolve?

A: The 8 GB GDDR6 memory appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results suggest potential memory bandwidth limitations. The 272.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 128-bit bus may contribute to the sharp FPS drops at 3840x2160, particularly at higher settings.

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 9600X holding back the GPU in this game?

A: At 1080p, the CPU's influence is likely greater, evidenced by the 190 FPS Low result. The 6-core/12-thread processor with 5.40 GHz boost clock provides ample single-thread performance, as shown by its 3dmark single-thread score of 1253. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

Q: What frame rates can I expect with Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: The measured average is 80 FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra. This is playable but represents a 30% reduction from High settings (115 FPS), which may not justify the visual upgrade for competitive play.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: It ranks 2003 out of 3700 tested combinations for Evolve, placing it in the 54th percentile. This mid-pack ranking reflects the GPU's 61st percentile performance versus its CPU's higher 81st percentile standing, suggesting the graphics card limits overall game performance.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X brings substantial compute power to this pairing, with 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 5 architecture at a 4 nm process node. Its base clock of 3.90 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz, combined with 32 MB of shared L3 cache, provide strong single-thread performance that is critical for a 2015 FPS title. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1253 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2183.5 indicate excellent per-core capability, which directly supports the high frame rates observed at 1080p.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it at the 81st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29713. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (deltaPct 0.2), AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (deltaPct -0.5), and AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT (deltaPct -0.6) — all within 1% of its average score, indicating tight competition at this performance tier. The multithreaded scores, such as Cinebench R23 multicore at 17528.5 and Geekbench multicore at 14438, show that the processor can handle modern workloads, but Evolve's engine likely relies more on single-thread performance given its 2015 release.

The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of driving 190 FPS, which is likely near the game engine's limit for this processor. The fact that 1080p Ultra only reaches 80 FPS — a 58% reduction from Low — indicates that the GPU's shading load, not CPU throughput, becomes the constraint as settings increase. The CPU's 65 W TDP and DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provide a solid foundation, but the bottleneck analysis from the resolution scaling points firmly to the GPU as the limiting component in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 2003 out of 3700 tested combinations, this pairing sits almost exactly at the midpoint for Evolve performance. This positioning is somewhat lower than the individual component percentiles might suggest: the CPU ranks at the 81st percentile while the GPU sits at the 61st percentile. The combination rank of 54th percentile implies that the GPU's performance class drags down the overall result, which is consistent with the resolution scaling analysis showing GPU-bound behavior.

The combo's rank can be interpreted through the lens of the GPU's nearest rivals, which include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (deltaPct -0.2) and AMD Radeon 780M (deltaPct 0.3). These comparisons suggest that the RTX 4060's synthetic benchmark average of 17639 is closely matched by much older or integrated solutions, yet in Evolve specifically, the measured FPS at 1440p Medium (99 FPS) and 1080p High (115 FPS) demonstrate competent real-world performance. The discrepancy between synthetic scores and game performance highlights that Evolve's engine favors the RTX 4060's architecture.

The CPU's rank among its peers — with nearest rivals within 1% of its average score — indicates that the Ryzen 5 9600X is not the differentiator in this combo's ranking. Instead, the data implies that pairing this strong CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a balanced system for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but the 4K results cap the overall ranking. For players considering this combo, the measured numbers suggest that it excels at 1080p (115 FPS High) and handles 1440p well (99 FPS Medium), but 4K requires significant settings compromises, ultimately justifying its middle-of-the-pack rank of 2003 out of 3700.