Evolve

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X + GTX 1080 Ti combination rank for Evolve?

A: This combo ranks 2088th out of 3700 tested combinations for this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field. The CPU's percentile versus all CPUs is 91, while the GPU's percentile versus all GPUs is 58, indicating the processor is far stronger relative to its peers than the graphics card.

Q: What is the best 1080p result this combo can achieve?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS reaches 181. Medium settings deliver 140 FPS average, High settings produce 110 FPS, and Ultra drops to 76 FPS. The Medium preset shows a min FPS of 119 and max of 161.

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

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 53288. It sits 0.2% above the AMD EPYC 7313P (53206), 0.6% above the Intel Xeon 634 (52974), 0.3% below the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469), and 0.6% below the Intel Core i7-14700F (53620).

Q: What is the GPU's standing among its closest competitors?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti's average benchmark score is 15548. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 0.8% (15679) and leads the AMD Radeon R9 M380 by 0.2% (15521) and both the RTX 2060 and GTX 580 by 1.7% (15290 and 15283 respectively).

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 29, which is far below playable thresholds. The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor here, as lowering settings to Low at 4K more than doubles the frame rate to 69 FPS, while CPU-bound metrics remain constant.

Q: What is the highest playable preset across all resolutions?

A: At 1080p, Medium (140 FPS) and High (110 FPS) are both viable. At 1440p, High delivers 74 FPS and Medium hits 94 FPS. At 4K, only Low (69 FPS) and Medium (54 FPS) approach playable territory, with High at 42 FPS and Ultra at 29 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is built on the Pascal architecture with a GP102 chip manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It packs 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 88 ROPs. The card operates at a base clock of 1481 MHz and boosts to 1582 MHz, with memory clocked at 1376 MHz (11 Gbps effective). The 11 GB of GDDR5X memory runs across a 352-bit bus, yielding 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is dominant across all measured resolutions. The data shows that as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, frame rates drop dramatically at every preset level. At Ultra settings, the average FPS falls from 76 at 1080p to 51 at 1440p and finally to 29 at 4K. This pattern indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions where pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor.

The GTX 1080 Ti's pixel rate of 139.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 354.4 GTexel/s are substantial, yet Evolve's demands at 4K Ultra exceed what this card can deliver for smooth gameplay. The 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms that while this card is capable, it is not top-tier by current standards. Its FP32 performance of 11.34 TFLOPS is respectable but insufficient for maxed-out 4K gaming in this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance scaling across resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 181 at 1080p to 121 at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 69 at 4K (a 62% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are heavily taxed as pixel count increases.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 110 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p (a 33% drop), and 42 FPS at 4K (a 62% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across different presets suggests that resolution scaling is uniform and independent of graphical complexity. This is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where the rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data, with min/max FPS values recorded. At 1080p, Medium averages 140 FPS (min 119, max 161). At 1440p, it drops to 94 FPS (min 80, max 108). At 4K, it falls to 54 FPS (min 45, max 62). The min-to-average gap widens at higher resolutions, indicating increased frame time variance under heavier loads.

The limiting component is clearly the GPU. The Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads boosting to 5.60 GHz, is far more capable than what Evolve demands at these resolutions. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking and strong multi-threaded scores (Cinebench R23 multicore of 29300) suggest it is not the constraint. The consistent FPS drops proportional to pixel count confirm the GTX 1080 Ti as the bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset at 140 FPS average offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. High at 110 FPS is also excellent, while Ultra at 76 FPS remains playable for those prioritizing visuals. Low at 181 FPS is only necessary for competitive play on high-refresh monitors.

At 1440p, Medium at 94 FPS is the recommended preset, providing smooth gameplay with a min FPS of 80 that avoids noticeable stutter. High at 74 FPS is acceptable for those wanting better visuals, but the drop below 80 FPS average may introduce occasional hitches. Low at 121 FPS is for competitive players, while Ultra at 51 FPS is borderline and not recommended for consistent play.

At 4K, the data suggests that only Low (69 FPS) and Medium (54 FPS) are viable. High at 42 FPS and Ultra at 29 FPS fall below the 60 FPS threshold that defines smooth gameplay. Medium at 4K offers the best compromise, with a min FPS of 45 that keeps the experience playable, though not ideal. Low at 4K provides a more consistent 69 FPS but sacrifices significant visual fidelity.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently offers the best experience per the measured rows. It maintains a 30-40% FPS advantage over High while keeping visual quality reasonable. The data shows that Ultra presets are only feasible at 1080p, and even then the 76 FPS average is notably lower than Medium's 140 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full range of presets shows a wide performance spread. Low settings deliver 181 FPS average, Medium reaches 140 FPS (min 119, max 161), High achieves 110 FPS, and Ultra drops to 76 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 105 FPS, representing a 58% reduction in frame rate when maximizing graphical quality.

Moving to 2560x1440, the same pattern persists with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 121 FPS, Medium averages 94 FPS (min 80, max 108), High hits 74 FPS, and Ultra falls to 51 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra is 70 FPS, a 58% reduction consistent with the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal for most presets. Low manages 69 FPS, Medium averages 54 FPS (min 45, max 62), High drops to 42 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 29 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS, again representing a 58% reduction. This consistency across resolutions confirms that the GPU's relative performance scales predictably with pixel count.

The Ultra preset at 4K produces the lowest measured result at 29 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable play. The Medium preset at 4K provides the most stable experience among the higher resolutions, with a min FPS of 45 that keeps frame times relatively consistent. The data shows that the GTX 1080 Ti's 11 GB of VRAM and 484.4 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for the game's assets at all resolutions, but the compute throughput is the limiting factor at Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture (codenamed Raphael), manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with a TDP of 170 W. The CPU has 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 64 MB of shared L3 cache, totaling 13,140 million transistors across a 2x 71 mm² die size.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the FPS scaling patterns. The 7900X's single-thread performance is strong, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1093 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2016.5. Multi-threaded performance is exceptional, with Cinebench R23 multicore at 29300 and PassMark multithread at 51406, but the game does not appear to leverage this heavily.

The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well above the GPU's 58th percentile. This disparity explains why resolution changes have such a profound impact on FPS while the CPU remains underutilized. At 1080p Low, the 181 FPS average likely approaches the CPU's frame generation limit, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 29 FPS leaves the CPU with substantial headroom.

The nearest CPU rivals reinforce this position. The 7900X's average benchmark score of 53288 is nearly identical to the EPYC 7313P (53206, +0.2%) and the Xeon 634 (52974, +0.6%), while trailing the Xeon Phi 7290 (53469, -0.3%) and Core i7-14700F (53620, -0.6%). These margins are negligible in gaming contexts, confirming that the 7900X is not the performance limiter in Evolve. The CPU's 24 threads and 5.60 GHz boost clock provide ample compute for the game's FPS mechanics, physics, and AI, leaving the GTX 1080 Ti as the definitive bottleneck across all measured configurations.