Evolve

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 combination presents a stark generational divide in Evolve. The data shows a modern flagship processor paired with a legacy graphics card, resulting in a bottleneck profile that heavily favors CPU-bound scenarios. This pairing yields a combo rank of 1451 out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems. While the processor demonstrates exceptional contemporary performance, the graphics card's age limits the overall experience, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It features 8 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.20 GHz. The processor has a 120 W TDP and operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform. Its cache hierarchy is substantial, with 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a large 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This configuration is designed to minimize latency and maximize throughput in gaming workloads.

In the context of Evolve, a 2015 FPS title, the CPU’s capabilities far exceed the game’s requirements. Benchmark data shows a 3DMark single-thread score of 1212 and a multi-thread score of 10067, indicating robust performance across both lightly and heavily threaded tasks. The Cinebench R23 scores of 4800 for single-core and 34004 for multi-core reinforce this, showing a processor that is not a limiting factor in this aging title. The processor’s percentile ranking of 90 among all CPUs highlights its top-tier standing. Compared to its nearest rivals, the Intel Xeon 6353P and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, it trades blows with deltaPct values of -0.1% and -0.1%, respectively, indicating essentially identical average benchmark scores. It also edges out the Intel Core i9-13900HK and Intel Core i5-13600KF by 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively. For Evolve, this means the CPU is effectively idle in many scenarios, holding a massive performance headroom that the GPU cannot utilize.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is an end-of-life product from the GeForce 10-series, based on the Pascal architecture and the GP104 chip. It is manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC, with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die. The card features 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s. Its core clocks are set at 1506 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost, with memory running at 2002 MHz (8 Gbps effective). The GPU includes 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 107.7 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 202.0 GTexel/s.

This GPU is the clear performance ceiling for this combo. Its percentile rank of 51 among all GPUs places it in the middle of the pack, a stark contrast to the CPU's 90th percentile. The GTX 1070’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K4200 (0.7% slower), the GeForce GTX 880M (1.3% faster), and the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER (1.4% faster). The data indicates that the GPU's performance is the primary constraint in Evolve. The measured FPS at 1080p High settings is 79.4, which drops to 53.4 at Ultra. This scaling demonstrates that the GPU struggles with the game's more demanding visual settings. The GPU's compute and DirectX scores, such as the Passmark G3D score of 13498, are respectable for its class but insufficient to drive high refresh rates at maximum quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The combined system ranks 1451 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places the configuration in the bottom 15% of all tested systems, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's age. The CPU's immense power is effectively wasted in this pairing, as the GPU becomes the limiting component long before the processor's capabilities are challenged. Benchmark results indicate that while the CPU can maintain high frame rates in CPU-limited scenarios, the GPU cannot keep up at higher resolutions or settings.

The rank is not a reflection of the CPU's quality, but rather an indictment of the imbalance. For example, the CPU's Passmark multithread score of 40009 and single-thread score of 4430 are exceptional, but the GPU's Passmark G3D score of 13498 is modest. This disparity means the system's overall performance in Evolve is dictated by the GPU's limits. The combo's performance is consistent with a system where a modern flagship CPU is paired with a mid-range GPU from several generations prior. The data shows that this rank is not a measure of compute potential, but of real-world gaming performance in this specific title.

FAQ

*Q: What is the primary performance bottleneck for this system in Evolve?*

A: The benchmark data clearly identifies the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 as the limiting factor. The CPU's performance percentile (90) is far higher than the GPU's (51), and the FPS drops are significant when increasing resolution or graphical settings, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals in terms of benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is essentially tied with the Intel Xeon 6353P and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, showing a deltaPct of -0.1% for both. It is also only 0.6% and 0.7% faster than the Intel Core i9-13900HK and Intel Core i5-13600KF, respectively, indicating near-identical average performance.

Q: What is the expected frame rate at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 55.1 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings. This is a playable frame rate for many, but it is significantly lower than the 79.4 FPS achieved at 1080p, highlighting the GPU's diminishing ability to handle higher pixel counts.

Q: Is the CPU's performance a factor in the system's low combo rank?

A: No. The CPU's performance is not the issue. The combo rank of 1451 out of 1695 is dragged down by the GPU. The CPU has a high percentile rank of 90, indicating it is a top-tier component. The system's rank is a result of the GPU's lower 51st percentile and its inability to fully utilize the CPU's power.

Q: How does the GPU's performance at 4K Ultra compare to 1080p Low?

A: The drop is severe. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 18.9, which is barely playable. In contrast, at 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 128.5. This represents a massive 109.6 FPS difference, demonstrating that the GPU is overwhelmed by the 4K resolution and high detail settings.

Q: What does the GPU's percentile rank of 51 indicate?

A: It indicates that the GTX 1070 performs better than only 51% of all GPUs in the benchmark database. This is a mid-pack ranking, showing that it is an average performer by today's standards. This contrasts sharply with the CPU's 90th percentile, which places it in the top 10% of all processors.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Evolve provides a clear illustration of how the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 128.5 FPS. This is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU is still capable of feeding the GPU, but the GPU is already working hard. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 90.3 FPS, a 38.2 FPS decrease. At 4K Low, the average FPS falls to 50.3, showing a further 40.0 FPS drop. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's processing power is being consumed by the increasing pixel count.

The trend is even more pronounced at higher settings. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 53.4 FPS. This drops to 36.6 FPS at 1440p Ultra and plummets to 18.9 FPS at 4K Ultra. The difference between 1080p Low and 4K Ultra is 109.6 FPS, or a 85.3% reduction in performance. This steep decline is typical of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU, with its high single-thread and multi-thread scores, is not the cause of this scaling. The data shows that the GTX 1070's limited memory bandwidth of 256.3 GB/s and its aging Pascal architecture are responsible for the severe performance degradation at higher resolutions. The system is clearly not designed for 4K gaming, and even 1440p with High settings (55.1 FPS) pushes the GPU to its limits. The analysis indicates that for a consistent experience, this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can achieve playable frame rates across most settings.