Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, shows a performance profile that is heavily dictated by GPU load, with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination delivering playable frame rates across most settings, though the Ultra preset proves demanding at higher resolutions. The measured data indicates a system where the Radeon RX 6800 XT is the primary bottleneck at 4K, while the Ryzen 7 5800X3D provides ample headroom for the CPU's role in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, confirming that Evolve scales aggressively with pixel count. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 145.7 at 1920x1080 to 99.3 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 46.4 FPS, and then further down to 53.4 at 3840x2160. This represents a 53.5% performance loss from 1080p to 1440p, and a 63.4% loss from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all presets, with Low settings showing the largest absolute drop from 245.4 FPS at 1080p to 93.6 FPS at 4K, a 61.9% decrease.

The 4K results are particularly telling. The gap between Low (93.6 FPS) and Ultra (38.4 FPS) at 3840x2160 is 55.2 FPS, indicating that the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. At 1080p, the same Low-to-Ultra gap is 143.1 FPS, suggesting that at lower resolutions, the CPU can feed the GPU fast enough to expose the graphical workload differences. The data shows that 1440p is the sweet spot where the balance between CPU and GPU load is most favorable, with High settings delivering 99.3 FPS and Medium hitting 127.4 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows indicate that the Medium preset offers the best performance-to-quality trade-off across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 186.6 FPS, which is 41.6 FPS higher than High and 84.3 FPS higher than Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, Medium still provides 127.4 FPS, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, while High drops to 99.3 FPS and Ultra falls to 67.7 FPS. Even at 3840x2160, Medium maintains 71.8 FPS, making it the only preset besides Low that stays above 60 FPS at 4K.

Ultra is not recommended for this combination. At 1080p it produces 102.3 FPS, but at 1440p it drops to 67.7 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 38.4 FPS, which is below playable standards. High settings are viable for 1080p and 1440p, with 145.7 and 99.3 FPS respectively, but at 4K the 53.4 FPS average is borderline. Low settings are only advisable for competitive play at 1080p, where the 245.4 FPS provides maximum frame throughput, but at 1440p and 4K the visual degradation outweighs the FPS gain.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a Zen 3 architecture processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, featuring a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz. Its L3 cache is 96 MB shared, which is substantial for a desktop chip. In Evolve, the CPU's role is evident when examining the frame rate headroom at lower resolutions. The 1080p Low result of 245.4 FPS demonstrates that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates, indicating that the game is not CPU-bound at this resolution with this processor.

The CPU's benchmark scores support its capability. It achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 24063 and a single-core score of 3397, with a Geekbench multicore score of 11061. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7299 and max-thread score of 7285 are nearly identical, suggesting that additional threads beyond 16 do not meaningfully improve performance in threaded workloads. The nearest rival, the AMD EPYC 8024P, scores 26555 on average benchmark score, a 0.1% delta, while the Intel Core i9-11900K scores 26546, also a 0.1% delta. This indicates the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is competitive with these parts in general compute tasks.

The 5800X3D’s single-thread performance, with a Passmark single-thread score of 3234 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 884, is adequate for Evolve's FPS mechanics. The data shows that at 1080p, the frame rates scale significantly with preset changes, which implies the CPU keeps up with the GPU even at lower settings. However, the lack of unlocked multiplier means no overclocking headroom, but this is not a limitation given the stock performance.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 provides the best balance, with High settings at 99.3 FPS and Medium at 127.4 FPS, offering high frame rates without the steep 4K penalty.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: Yes, but only with Medium settings, which deliver 71.8 FPS. High settings at 4K drop to 53.4 FPS, and Ultra falls to 38.4 FPS, which is not smooth.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Ryzen 7 5800X3D has an average benchmark score of 26574, which is 0.1% ahead of the AMD EPYC 8024P and Intel Core i9-11900K, and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600.

Q: Is the GPU a bottleneck at any resolution?

A: Yes, at 3840x2160, the frame rate drops are significant across all presets, indicating the Radeon RX 6800 XT is the limiting component. At 1080p, the GPU is not the primary constraint.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Low settings yield 245.4 FPS, while Ultra yields 102.3 FPS, a difference of 143.1 FPS. This shows a large performance gap between the lowest and highest presets.

Q: Does the CPU hold back the GPU at 1080p?

A: No, the 1080p Low result of 245.4 FPS suggests the CPU can feed the GPU effectively, as the frame rate is not capped by processor limits.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a RDNA 2.0 architecture GPU with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is 2250 MHz, with a game clock of 2015 MHz, and it features 4608 shading units. The GPU's role in Evolve is clearly defined by the resolution scaling data. At 4K, the average FPS across all settings is 64.3, but this is skewed by the Low preset's 93.6 FPS. The High and Ultra results of 53.4 and 38.4 FPS respectively show that the GPU struggles with the higher graphical loads at that resolution.

The GPU's benchmark scores indicate strong compute performance, with a Passmark G3D score of 24980 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 154506. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3689 places it in a competitive position. Nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A550M with a 0.5% higher average score, and the NVIDIA RTX A1000 with a 1.7% lower score. The RX 6800 XT's 16 GB VRAM is not a limiting factor in Evolve, as the game's 2015 release predates high-VRAM demands, and the frame rates are more dependent on the GPU's raw compute and fillrate.

At 1080p, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 245.4 FPS Low result. The GPU's texture rate of 648.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 288.0 GPixel/s are sufficient for the game's visuals. The data suggests that at 1440p, the GPU begins to become more relevant, but it still delivers 99.3 FPS on High, indicating it can handle the resolution well. The 4K Ultra result of 38.4 FPS is the only point where the GPU is clearly overwhelmed, showing a 55.2 FPS drop from Low.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are as follows: Low 245.4, Medium 186.6, High 145.7, and Ultra 102.3. The step from Low to Medium is a 58.8 FPS drop, from Medium to High is a 40.9 FPS drop, and from High to Ultra is a 43.4 FPS drop. These are consistent decrements, showing each preset adds a similar graphical load.

At 2560x1440, the results are Low 165.2, Medium 127.4, High 99.3, and Ultra 67.7. The delta from Low to Medium is 37.8 FPS, Medium to High is 28.1 FPS, and High to Ultra is 31.6 FPS. The performance loss from 1080p to 1440p is 79.6 FPS on Low, 59.2 FPS on Medium, 46.4 FPS on High, and 34.6 FPS on Ultra, showing that the higher the preset, the smaller the absolute FPS drop when resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the measured values are Low 93.6, Medium 71.8, High 53.4, and Ultra 38.4. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 71.6 FPS on Low, 55.6 FPS on Medium, 45.9 FPS on High, and 29.3 FPS on Ultra. Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 55.2 FPS, compared to 143.1 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's absolute performance ceiling limits the frame rate range at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT combination ranks 601 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 64.5th percentile of all tested systems. This rank is respectable, indicating that this pairing delivers above-average performance for this game. The data is measured, not estimated, which adds credibility to the results.

The CPU's percentile rank is 83, meaning it outperforms 83% of all CPUs in the database, while the GPU's percentile rank is 87, outperforming 87% of all GPUs. The combo's rank of 601 suggests that while both components are individually strong, the overall system performance in Evolve is limited by the GPU at higher resolutions, as the CPU has more headroom. The nearest rival comparisons show the CPU is within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and Intel Core i9-12900HK, while the GPU is within 2.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. This indicates that the combo is well-matched, with neither component drastically underperforming relative to its peers. The rank of 601 out of 1695 is a strong showing for a system built around a previous-generation CPU and GPU, and it confirms that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D's large L3 cache and the RX 6800 XT's high memory bandwidth contribute positively to Evolve's performance.