Evolve

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti combination delivers a mid-range experience in Evolve, a 2015 FPS title. The data shows a pairing where the CPU provides substantial headroom, allowing the GPU to become the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. This analysis examines the measured FPS data to understand how each component contributes to the game's performance and where this combo stands among the 1,695 tested configurations.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D is a desktop processor built on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. It operates on the AMD Socket AM4 platform and features 8 cores and 16 threads. The processor has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. It includes a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a defining characteristic of the X3D series, alongside 64 KB of L1 and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. This large cache is designed to improve performance in gaming workloads by reducing memory latency.

In the context of Evolve, the CPU’s role is evident from the benchmark results. The processor achieves a single-thread score of 804 in 3dmark and 318 in Cinebench R15, while multi-threaded performance is much stronger, with scores of 6,764 in 3dmark_16_threads and 22,366 in Cinebench R23 multicore. The 82nd percentile ranking against all CPUs indicates that this chip outperforms the majority of processors in general compute tasks. Its nearest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-1360P and AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D, have average scores within 0.5% of the 5700X3D, showing that it sits in a competitive performance tier.

For Evolve, which is not a particularly demanding title by modern standards, the 5700X3D provides more than enough processing power. The combination of high single-thread performance and the large L3 cache ensures that the CPU is unlikely to create a bottleneck. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 124.3 FPS, and at 1440p Low it achieves 81.5 FPS. These numbers indicate that the processor can easily feed frames to the GPU without being a limiting factor. The CPU’s performance headroom means that the frame rate is primarily dictated by the graphics card, a trend that becomes more apparent as resolution and settings increase.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a Turing-architecture GPU built on a 12 nm process. It features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1500 MHz or 12 Gbps effective. It contains 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. The card is rated for a 120 W TDP and requires a single 8-pin power connector, with a suggested PSU of 300 W.

The GTX 1660 Ti’s performance is reflected in its benchmark scores. It achieves a 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,061 and a Passmark G3D score of 12,871, placing it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 570X, which is 0.4% slower, and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile, which is 0.8% slower. This places the GTX 1660 Ti in a solid mid-range category, capable of handling 1080p gaming well but showing limitations at higher resolutions.

In Evolve, the GPU’s 6 GB of VRAM and memory bandwidth are sufficient for the game’s requirements, but the card’s raw compute power becomes the limiting factor at higher settings. The measured FPS shows a clear decline as settings increase. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 124.3 on Low to 53.9 on Ultra. At 1440p, the range is from 81.5 on Low to 34.3 on Ultra. This pattern indicates that the GTX 1660 Ti is the component that dictates the frame rate, with the CPU providing ample headroom. The GPU’s boost clock of 1770 MHz helps maintain performance, but the card’s 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is the ceiling for Evolve’s graphical demands.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a consistent and significant drop in performance as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. This scaling behavior provides insight into which component is the bottleneck. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 124.3 at 1080p to 81.5 at 1440p, a reduction of 42.8 FPS or roughly 34%. Moving to 4K Low, the FPS drops further to 50.9, which is a 59% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the graphics card’s rendering capacity is being saturated by the increasing pixel count.

The same pattern holds across all settings. At High settings, the FPS drops from 76 at 1080p to 49.3 at 1440p, and then to 28 at 4K. At Ultra settings, the numbers are 53.9 at 1080p, 34.3 at 1440p, and 22.4 at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is consistent, with the 4K Ultra result being only 41.5% of the 1080p Ultra figure. This consistency strongly suggests that the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the processor’s workload is independent of pixel count.

The data shows that the 5700X3D is not the constraint. The CPU’s performance is more than adequate for Evolve, and the FPS scaling is entirely dictated by the GPU’s ability to process pixels. This is a classic example of a balanced pairing where the processor is overprovisioned for the game, leaving the graphics card as the sole arbiter of frame rate. The 4K results, particularly the 22.4 FPS on Ultra, are below playable thresholds, confirming that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming in Evolve.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo’s performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 124.3 FPS, Medium yields 99.9 FPS, High delivers 76 FPS, and Ultra drops to 53.9 FPS. These numbers indicate that the combo is well-suited for 1080p gaming, with even Ultra settings maintaining a playable frame rate above 50 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance decreases as expected. Low settings average 81.5 FPS, Medium achieves 67.7 FPS, High reaches 49.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 34.3 FPS. At this resolution, the combo remains playable on Medium and Low, but High and Ultra dip below the 60 FPS threshold that many gamers prefer. The 1440p results show a noticeable impact from the GPU’s limitations, with a 42.4% reduction in FPS from Low to Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the performance is severely constrained. Low settings average 50.9 FPS, Medium drops to 37.6 FPS, High is 28 FPS, and Ultra is a mere 22.4 FPS. These numbers are all below the 60 FPS target, and even Low settings cannot maintain a smooth experience at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 28.5 FPS, which is a 56% reduction. This breakdown clearly shows that the GTX 1660 Ti is not designed for 4K gaming, and users of this combo should stick to 1080p or 1440p for an optimal experience.

The data also shows the scaling between settings is not linear. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium is a 24.4 FPS reduction, while the jump from High to Ultra is a 22.1 FPS reduction. This suggests that the GPU’s performance impact is more pronounced at higher settings, likely due to increased shading and texture work. The measured FPS values are consistent with a mid-range GPU that excels at 1080p but struggles with higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ranks 1,468 out of 1,695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the lower 13.4% of all configurations, which is a notable position given the CPU’s high performance. The rank is primarily dragged down by the GPU, as the 5700X3D is a strong processor with an 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs. The GTX 1660 Ti, on the other hand, sits in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, which is a much lower standing.

This ranking indicates that while the CPU is a high performer, the GPU is holding back the overall system in Evolve. The combo’s 1,468th position out of 1,695 means there are 227 other combinations that perform better, likely featuring more powerful graphics cards. The data suggests that the 5700X3D could support a much stronger GPU, as its processing capabilities are not fully utilized in this pairing. The CPU’s benchmarks, such as the 22,366 Cinebench R23 multicore score, are far above what Evolve requires, leaving significant performance on the table.

The rank also reflects the age of the GPU relative to the game. Evolve was released on 2015-02-09, and the GTX 1660 Ti was launched on 2019-02-21, making the GPU newer than the game. However, the GPU’s mid-range positioning means it cannot fully exploit the CPU’s capabilities. The combo’s rank in the lower percentile is a direct consequence of the GPU’s limitations, particularly at higher resolutions where it struggles to maintain playable frame rates. For users seeking higher performance in Evolve, the data indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield substantial improvements, as the CPU would not be a bottleneck in such an upgrade.