Evolve

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti produces an average of 135 FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings, with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in overall benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an average benchmark score of 75779, placing it 0.1% ahead of both the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D, 0.3% ahead of the AMD EPYC 8224P, and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41187. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB, scores 41707, which is 1.2% higher.

Q: At which resolution does the combo achieve its highest frame rate?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 261 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 175 at 2560x1440 and 99 at 3840x2160 under the same Low preset.

Q: What is the combo's rank within the entire benchmark database for Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 960th out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the upper portion of results for this game.

Q: Does the CPU support overclocking?

A: Yes, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D has an unlocked multiplier, allowing manual overclocking. Its base clock is 4.30 GHz with a boost clock of 5.70 GHz.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It carries 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster operation processors. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory operates across a 384-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s. Memory clocks run at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed.

The GPU's role in Evolve is substantial, as the game's frame rates scale directly with the card's output capabilities. The RTX 3080 Ti's base clock of 1365 MHz and boost clock of 1665 MHz define its peak throughput. In synthetic benchmarks, the card produces a Passmark G3D score of 26896 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077, indicating strong raw graphics processing power.

At 4K resolution, the GPU becomes the primary determinant of performance. The measured data shows the transition from 60 FPS at High settings to 42 FPS at Ultra settings at 3840x2160, a 30% reduction that aligns with the increased shading and memory demands of higher presets. The 12 GB frame buffer is sufficient for Evolve's textures at these settings, as the game's 2015 release date predates the massive VRAM requirements of modern titles.

The RTX 3080 Ti's FP32 compute rating of 34.10 TFLOPS and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s provide ample headroom for the game's particle effects and environmental rendering. The GPU's 80 ray tracing cores are present but largely unused in Evolve, which does not implement ray-traced effects. The tensor cores, 320 in total, remain similarly idle for this title, meaning the card's conventional rasterization performance carries the workload.

The GPU's memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s becomes relevant at higher resolutions where texture streaming and geometry throughput increase. The measured FPS patterns—261 FPS at 1080p Low versus 99 FPS at 4K Low—show a 62% reduction in frame rate when resolution quadruples pixel count. This drop is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where memory bandwidth and shading units are saturated.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear resolution scaling pattern across all four settings presets. At Low settings, the average frame rates are 261 FPS at 1920x1080, 175 FPS at 2560x1440, and 99 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 43% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 62%.

For Medium settings, the pattern holds with 202 FPS at 1080p, 135 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K. The step from 1080p to 1440p costs 33% of performance, while the step to 4K costs another 43%. The High preset produces 158 FPS at 1080p, 106 FPS at 1440p, and 60 FPS at 4K, with similar percentage drops between resolutions.

Ultra settings show the steepest scaling: 110 FPS at 1080p, 74 FPS at 1440p, and 42 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 33%, but the 1440p to 4K drop is 43%, matching the other presets. This consistent scaling pattern indicates the limiting component remains the GPU across all resolution and settings combinations.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D's 16 cores and 32 threads provide enough processing power to feed the GPU even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 261 FPS. If the CPU were limiting, we would expect the scaling curve to flatten at lower resolutions as the GPU waits for draw calls and physics calculations. Instead, the linear relationship between pixel count and frame rate confirms a GPU-bound scenario throughout.

The 4K results deserve particular attention. At 4K Ultra, the combo delivers 42 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth gameplay. The 4K Medium preset achieves 77 FPS average with a minimum of 66 FPS, providing a playable experience. The 4K High preset sits right at 60 FPS, making it a borderline choice depending on the user's tolerance for frame rate dips.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide a clear picture of how each settings preset affects performance. At 1920x1080, all four presets deliver playable frame rates: 261 FPS at Low, 202 FPS at Medium, 158 FPS at High, and 110 FPS at Ultra. The jump from High to Ultra costs 48 FPS, a 30% reduction, for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a 2015 title.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 135 FPS average (115 minimum) offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. The High preset at 106 FPS remains solid, while Ultra drops to 74 FPS. For users with 144 Hz monitors, Medium or High are the appropriate choices at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset emerges as the optimal choice. It delivers 77 FPS average with a 66 FPS minimum, keeping the experience above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 60 FPS average is viable but offers no headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra at 42 FPS falls below playable standards for most users.

The data indicates that Medium settings provide the most consistent experience across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the minimum FPS is 172 and the maximum is 232, showing a tight frame time distribution. At 1440p Medium, the range is 115 to 156. At 4K Medium, the range is 66 to 89. Each resolution's Medium preset maintains a minimum FPS above 60, which is the key metric for smooth gameplay.

For competitive play at 1080p, the Low preset at 261 FPS maximizes refresh rate headroom for high-Hz monitors. The High preset at 158 FPS still provides excellent responsiveness. The Ultra preset at 110 FPS is the only 1080p option that may leave performance-conscious players wanting more, though it remains playable.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers the following averages: Low settings produce 261 FPS, Medium produces 202 FPS, High produces 158 FPS, and Ultra produces 110 FPS. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 172 FPS and a maximum of 232 FPS, representing a 60 FPS spread between minimum and maximum. This is the only 1080p preset with min/max data available.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 175 FPS at Low, 135 FPS at Medium, 106 FPS at High, and 74 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset's minimum is 115 FPS and maximum is 156 FPS, a 41 FPS spread. The tighter range at 1440p compared to 1080p suggests the GPU workload becomes more consistent as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 99 FPS at Low, 77 FPS at Medium, 60 FPS at High, and 42 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 66 FPS and a maximum of 89 FPS, a 23 FPS spread. This narrowing range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is working near its limits, reducing frame time variance as utilization approaches maximum.

The Ultra preset consistently shows the largest performance penalty. At 1080p, Ultra costs 48 FPS relative to High. At 1440p, the cost is 32 FPS. At 4K, the cost is 18 FPS. This diminishing absolute cost at higher resolutions is due to the overall frame rate decreasing, making the relative penalty similar across resolutions (30%, 30%, and 30% respectively).

The Low preset provides the highest frame rates but also shows the largest resolution scaling penalty. The 162 FPS difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low dwarfs the 68 FPS difference for Ultra settings across the same resolution range. This pattern indicates that at Low settings, the GPU has enough headroom to fully express its capabilities, while at Ultra settings, other bottlenecks constrain performance even at 1080p.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is a 16-core, 32-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It operates with a base clock of 4.30 GHz and a boost clock of 5.70 GHz, with a TDP of 170 W. The CPU's cache configuration includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 128 MB of total L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 42018 and a single-core score of 2259. The Geekbench multicore score is 26736 with a single-core score of 3064. The Passmark multithread score reaches 70255, while the single-thread score is 4737. These results place the CPU at the 95th percentile among all tested processors.

For Evolve, the CPU's role is to maintain frame pacing and handle game logic, AI, and physics calculations. The 3DMark scores provide insight into this workload: 16-thread score of 16374, 8-thread score of 9259, and 4-thread score of 4963. The near-linear scaling from 4 to 8 to 16 threads indicates the processor can leverage multiple cores effectively, though Evolve's 2015 engine likely does not utilize all 32 threads.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755 with an average score of 75738 (0.1% behind), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 9755X3D at 75716 (0.1% behind), the AMD EPYC 8224P at 75582 (0.3% behind), and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 at 75488 (0.4% behind). The Ryzen 9 9950X3D leads all of these by a narrow margin.

The measured FPS data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the 261 FPS average exceeds what a slower processor could feed to the RTX 3080 Ti. The Passmark data compression score of 908421 and encryption score of 44536 indicate strong integer and data processing capabilities that handle game logic efficiently. The floating-point math score of 159724 ensures physics calculations do not introduce frame hitches.

The CPU's 128 MB of L3 cache is particularly relevant for gaming. While Evolve may not be cache-sensitive like some modern titles, the large cache reduces memory latency for frequently accessed game data. The dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 89.6 GB/s bandwidth provides sufficient throughput for the game's asset streaming.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination ranks 960th out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 74th percentile of all tested systems. This rank reflects the GPU's position as a previous-generation high-end card paired with a current-generation flagship CPU.

The GPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary driver of this combo's performance. The CPU's 95th percentile ranking ensures no processing bottleneck, but the GPU's age relative to newer cards like the RTX 5070 (which scores 40377 in average benchmark, 2% below the 3080 Ti) keeps the combo from ranking higher.

The combo's rank of 960 means it outperforms roughly 2740 other tested combinations. This places it in the upper third of results. The gap between this combo and top-ranked systems is primarily due to the RTX 3080 Ti's memory capacity and bandwidth limitations at 4K Ultra, where the 42 FPS average shows the GPU reaching its limits.

The CPU's benchmark scores suggest that pairing it with a more powerful GPU would yield higher rankings. The CPU's average benchmark score of 75779 is only 0.1% ahead of the Ryzen 7 PRO 9755, indicating that CPU performance is not a differentiator at this level. The GPU, however, has significant headroom for improvement—the RTX 3080 Ti's 83rd percentile means 17% of GPUs outperform it.

In the context of Evolve specifically, the combo's rank reflects the game's moderate hardware demands. The 2015 release date means the game does not stress modern GPUs as heavily as contemporary titles. The RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB VRAM is sufficient, and its 384-bit memory bus provides ample bandwidth for the game's textures and geometry.

The measured FPS data supports this ranking. At 1080p, the combo achieves frame rates well above typical 60 Hz displays, with even Ultra settings hitting 110 FPS. At 1440p, all presets except Ultra exceed 100 FPS. Only at 4K Ultra does the combo fall below 60 FPS, with a 42 FPS average that represents the GPU's practical ceiling in this title.

The combo's rank of 960 out of 3700 suggests that for Evolve players with high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p monitors, this system provides excellent performance. The CPU's future-proofing potential is evident, but the GPU's end-of-life production status means this combo represents a balanced pairing for this game rather than an overkill system.