Evolve

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 580 is a combination that struggles to deliver a smooth experience in Evolve at higher resolutions, landing in the bottom percentile of tested configurations. Benchmark results show a clear pattern: the system is heavily GPU-limited at 4K, but becomes increasingly CPU-bound as resolution drops, making the choice of settings and resolution critical for playability.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, indicating that the graphics card is the primary bottleneck in this pairing. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 87.3 FPS, which drops to 59.7 FPS at 1440p and further to 31.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 64.2% performance loss from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, a scaling pattern that points directly at the RX 580’s memory bandwidth and fillrate limits.

The scaling behavior changes with settings. At Ultra, the frame rate falls from 35.5 FPS at 1080p to 26.8 FPS at 1440p and 14.1 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra is 24.5%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47.4%. This nonlinear degradation suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU’s compute resources are saturated even at 1080p, and additional resolution compounds the problem exponentially.

At Medium settings, the pattern is similar: 65.6 FPS at 1080p, 44.5 FPS at 1440p, and 25.2 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is just 6.1 FPS, while at 1080p it is 21.7 FPS. This narrowing gap at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as the CPU has more headroom to feed frames when the render load is lower.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 580 with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves insufficient for Evolve’s demands at 4K. The GPU’s boost clock of 1340 MHz and base clock of 1257 MHz, combined with 2304 shading units, deliver 6.175 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. However, the benchmark data shows that this compute capacity is overwhelmed at higher resolutions.

The RX 580’s memory configuration is a significant factor. With 8 GB of VRAM, capacity is not the issue, but the 256.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a constraint at 4K where pixel throughput demands are highest. The GPU’s pixel rate of 42.88 GPixel/s and texture rate of 193.0 GTexel/s explain why High settings at 4K yield only 19.4 FPS while Low settings at the same resolution reach 31.3 FPS. The data indicates that reducing texture and shading loads directly alleviates the bandwidth bottleneck.

The GPU’s overall percentile ranking of 53rd among all GPUs places it in the mid-range, but its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with a deltaPct of 0%, meaning the RX 580 performs statistically identically to that older card in synthetic benchmarks. This contextualizes why Evolve’s framerates are modest; the GPU is competitive with a decade-old architecture.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F brings 4 cores and 8 threads with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core provide adequate single-thread performance for Evolve, which is an older FPS title from 2015 that does not heavily utilize multi-threading. The CPU’s single-thread benchmark scores, such as 1681 in Cinebench R23, indicate strong per-core capability.

At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 87.3 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of driving the RX 580 to its limits at this resolution. However, the CPU’s 4-core/8-thread configuration may become a limiting factor at very high framerates, though the data does not indicate this in Evolve specifically. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 72nd among all CPUs shows it is a competent budget processor, but its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, scores only 0.1% higher in average benchmark, highlighting that the i3-12100F’s gaming performance is strong despite its low core count.

The CPU’s 4.30 GHz boost clock is crucial for maintaining frame pacing in Evolve. The benchmark results show that at 1080p, the framerate scales predictably with settings, from 87.3 FPS at Low to 35.5 FPS at Ultra, which indicates the CPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution. At 1440p, the framerates drop proportionally, reaffirming that the GPU is the constraining factor once resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience for this combo is at 1080p with Medium settings, delivering 65.6 FPS. This configuration provides a smooth framerate while maintaining visual quality above the bare minimum. High settings at 1080p yield 50.4 FPS, which is still playable, but the 15.2 FPS drop from Medium to High represents a significant visual gain for a modest performance cost.

At 1440p, Low settings are the only viable option, achieving 59.7 FPS. Medium settings at 1440p drop to 44.5 FPS, which may be acceptable for some players, but the data suggests that Low is the safer choice for consistent frame delivery. High settings at 1440p fall to 33.6 FPS, and Ultra is unplayable at 26.8 FPS.

4K is not recommended for this combo. Even Low settings only reach 31.3 FPS, and Medium drops to 25.2 FPS. The data clearly shows that this resolution is beyond the capabilities of the RX 580 when paired with the i3-12100F. For players targeting 4K, the framerates are below playable thresholds across all settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1570th out of 1695 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the bottom 7.3% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the age of the GPU and the CPU’s budget positioning. The RX 580’s average benchmark score of 13559 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, which has a deltaPct of 0%, meaning the two GPUs are essentially equivalent in performance.

In the context of Evolve, this ranking suggests that the combo is not competitive with modern hardware, but it can still deliver playable framerates at lower resolutions and settings. The CPU’s percentile ranking of 72nd is much higher than the GPU’s 53rd percentile, indicating that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card. This imbalance means that upgrading the GPU would yield a greater performance improvement than upgrading the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS are as follows: Low settings produce 87.3 FPS, Medium produces 65.6 FPS, High produces 50.4 FPS, and Ultra produces 35.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 21.7 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 15.2 FPS, and High to Ultra is 14.9 FPS. This shows that each settings tier costs a similar amount of performance.

At 2560x1440, the framerates are: Low at 59.7 FPS, Medium at 44.5 FPS, High at 33.6 FPS, and Ultra at 26.8 FPS. The performance drop from Low to Medium is 15.2 FPS, Medium to High is 10.9 FPS, and High to Ultra is 6.8 FPS. The diminishing differences at higher settings indicate that the GPU is running out of resources.

At 3840x2160, the framerates are: Low at 31.3 FPS, Medium at 25.2 FPS, High at 19.4 FPS, and Ultra at 14.1 FPS. The drop from Low to Medium is 6.1 FPS, Medium to High is 5.8 FPS, and High to Ultra is 5.3 FPS. The near-linear scaling at 4K confirms that the GPU is the sole limiting factor at this resolution.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo?

A: The data shows that 1080p is the only resolution where the combo can exceed 60 FPS, reaching 87.3 FPS at Low settings and 65.6 FPS at Medium settings.

Q: How does the RX 580 compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RX 580’s average benchmark score of 13559 is statistically identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570, which has a deltaPct of 0% in the benchmark database.

Q: Is the CPU holding back the GPU in Evolve?

A: The benchmark results indicate the CPU is not the bottleneck at 1080p, as framerates scale predictably with settings. At higher resolutions, the GPU is clearly the limiting component.

Q: What settings should I use for 1440p gaming?

A: Low settings at 1440p produce 59.7 FPS, which is the only playable option. Medium settings drop to 44.5 FPS, which may be acceptable for some.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K in Evolve?

A: No. Even at Low settings, 4K only produces 31.3 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 14.1 FPS, which is far below playable thresholds.

Q: How does the CPU’s performance rank overall?

A: The i3-12100F ranks in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 13516, placing it just 0.1% below the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX.