Evolve

Settings Recommendations

For this pairing of AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER in Evolve, the measured data shows a clear sweet spot at Medium settings across most resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 96.2 FPS average, which is a substantial improvement over High's 74.4 FPS while remaining smooth for competitive play. The jump from Medium to Low at 1080p brings 126.7 FPS, but that 30 FPS gain comes with visual quality tradeoffs that most players would find unnecessary given the already-playable Medium result.

At 2560x1440, Medium maintains 66.4 FPS, which is still comfortably playable, while High drops to 48.5 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is particularly notable because it shows the combo can handle higher resolutions without requiring the lowest preset. Ultra settings are punishing at every resolution: 53.7 FPS at 1080p, 32.6 FPS at 1440p, and only 20.5 FPS at 4K. The data indicates Ultra is not viable for consistent play with this hardware.

For 4K gaming, the GTX 1660 SUPER struggles regardless of settings. Even Low at 3840x2160 only reaches 44.5 FPS, and High falls to 29.4 FPS. If you must play at 4K, Low is the only preset that approaches acceptable frame rates, but the experience will still be below the 60 FPS target most players prefer. The recommended configuration is Medium at 1080p or 1440p, with High reserved for 1080p if visual fidelity takes priority over the extra headroom.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 3700X brings 8 cores and 16 threads to this pairing, built on the Zen 2 Matisse architecture using TSMC's 7 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and the 32 MB L3 cache provides ample bandwidth for gaming workloads. The CPU's benchmark results place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19087 and a single-core score of 2694. This positions it as a strong mid-range processor that won't bottleneck the GTX 1660 SUPER in most scenarios.

In Evolve, the measured frame rates suggest the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 126.7 FPS, which indicates the processor can feed the GPU adequately. The PassMark single-thread score of 2656 and multi-thread score of 22458 reinforce that the 3700X has sufficient headroom for this game's CPU demands. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core i5-12600 at a -0.1% delta, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT at +0.1%, and the AMD EPYC 7203P at +0.2% — all statistically equivalent performance.

However, the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases. The drop from 126.7 FPS at 1080p Low to 80.6 FPS at 1440p Low, and then to 44.5 FPS at 4K Low, shows a scaling pattern consistent with GPU-bound performance. The CPU's 16 threads are more than adequate for Evolve's threading model, and the 7 nm process node keeps power efficiency high with a 65 W TDP. Memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s over dual-channel DDR4 is standard for the platform and does not appear to constrain gaming performance.

FAQ

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

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 with Medium settings provides the best balance at 96.2 FPS average. At 1440p Medium, the combo still delivers 66.4 FPS, which is playable, but 1080p Medium offers more headroom for demanding scenes.

Q: Can this system handle Ultra settings in Evolve?

A: No. Ultra settings produce only 53.7 FPS at 1080p, 32.6 FPS at 1440p, and 20.5 FPS at 4K. These results are below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, making Ultra impractical for this hardware combination.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 12699 places it at the 55th percentile of all GPUs. It is within -0.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT and -0.5% of the AMD Radeon Vega 11, while the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics trails by -0.2%. These are all closely matched performers.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 3700X powerful enough for Evolve?

A: Yes. The CPU's Cinebench R20 multi-core score of 8016 and single-core score of 1131, combined with its 85th percentile ranking, indicate it has ample processing power. The 1080p Low result of 126.7 FPS confirms the CPU is not a bottleneck at typical gaming resolutions.

Q: What kind of frame rate can I expect at 4K with this setup?

A: 4K performance is limited. Low settings yield 44.5 FPS, Medium drops to 36.3 FPS, High falls to 29.4 FPS, and Ultra is at 20.5 FPS. These results suggest the GTX 1660 SUPER's 6 GB GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for smooth 4K gaming in Evolve.

Q: How does the 1080p performance scale when lowering settings?

A: At 1080p, the measured averages are 53.7 FPS on Ultra, 74.4 FPS on High, 96.2 FPS on Medium, and 126.7 FPS on Low. The progression shows a nearly linear improvement as settings decrease, with Low providing roughly 2.4 times the frame rate of Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1695 tested combinations in Evolve, this pairing of Ryzen 7 3700X and GTX 1660 SUPER ranks at position 1508. That places it in the lower 11% of all tested configurations, which reflects the GTX 1660 SUPER's mid-range positioning more than the CPU's capability. The GPU's 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the CPU's 85th percentile ranking, creates an imbalance where the graphics card limits overall gaming performance.

The rank of 1508 out of 1695 means there are 187 tested combos that perform worse, but the vast majority of systems deliver higher frame rates in Evolve. This is not surprising given the game's 2015 release and the subsequent advancement of GPU technology. The GTX 1660 SUPER, while capable at 1080p, sits near the bottom of the performance curve for this title when paired with a high-end CPU like the 3700X.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks show it competing evenly with the Intel Core i5-12600 (-0.1%) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT (+0.1%), but these comparisons are CPU-only and do not reflect gaming performance with this specific GPU. In Evolve, the combo's rank is primarily determined by the GPU's 6 GB VRAM capacity and 192-bit memory bus, which limit texture loading and fill rate at higher settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates reveal a consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. At Low settings, the combo delivers 126.7 FPS at 1080p, 80.6 FPS at 1440p, and 44.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 36% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 45% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is roughly proportional to the pixel count increase, which indicates the system is GPU-bound at these settings.

At High settings, the pattern is similar: 74.4 FPS at 1080p, 48.5 FPS at 1440p, and 29.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is only 39.5% of the 1080p result, showing that the GTX 1660 SUPER's 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 85.68 GPixel/s pixel rate are stretched thin at higher resolutions. The GPU's 6 GB memory buffer also becomes a factor at 4K, where texture data exceeds the available VRAM capacity.

The resolution scaling strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect smaller frame rate differences between resolutions. Instead, the consistent 40-50% performance drops when moving from 1080p to 4K across all settings confirm that the GTX 1660 SUPER cannot maintain adequate fill rates at higher pixel counts. At 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to push frame rates above 120 FPS on Low, but the GPU's architectural limits cap performance at every resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings range was measured. Low produced 126.7 FPS, Medium reached 96.2 FPS, High delivered 74.4 FPS, and Ultra dropped to 53.7 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 73 FPS, which gives players substantial flexibility depending on their frame rate versus visual quality preferences. The 1080p results show this combo is best suited for this resolution, where even High settings maintain playable frame rates.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably but remains viable at lower presets. Low settings measured 80.6 FPS, Medium reached 66.4 FPS, High fell to 48.5 FPS, and Ultra dropped to 32.6 FPS. The 1440p results indicate Medium is the highest playable setting, with High dipping below the 60 FPS threshold. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 48 FPS, narrower than at 1080p due to the GPU becoming more constrained.

At 3840x2160, the GTX 1660 SUPER struggles across all settings. Low produced 44.5 FPS, Medium reached 36.3 FPS, High delivered 29.4 FPS, and Ultra managed only 20.5 FPS. None of these results reach 60 FPS, and even Low falls short of smooth gameplay standards. The 4K data shows a maximum of 44.5 FPS, which is the best-case scenario for this resolution. The overall pattern across all resolutions and settings confirms that this hardware combination is optimized for 1080p gaming, with 1440p Medium being the practical ceiling for acceptable performance.