Evolve

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking for Evolve among all tested combinations?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2530 out of 2872 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the lower percentile of all systems tested for this game.

Q: How does the Intel Core i3-12100F compare to its nearest rivals in general CPU benchmarks?

A: The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13494, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, deltaPct 0). It is 0.3% ahead of the Intel Core i5-9500 (13452) and 1.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (13351), while sitting 0.7% behind the Intel Core 5 120UL (13594).

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463), 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460), 2.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446), and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443).

Q: What is the best playable setting at 1920x1080 resolution?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 89 FPS average, while Medium delivers 69 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS. For a smoother experience with higher visual fidelity, Medium is the best balanced preset since it maintains a minimum above 60 FPS.

Q: Is the system capable of 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 34 FPS on Low, 26 FPS on Medium, 21 FPS on High, and 14 FPS on Ultra. None of these settings reach a playable 60 FPS threshold, so 4K gaming is not viable for this title with this hardware.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile compared to all GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482 from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, indicating it is a low-end part in the overall GPU landscape.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for Evolve shows a clear trade-off between visual quality and frame rate across all resolutions. For 1920x1080, the Low preset yields 89 FPS average, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo in any configuration. However, the Medium preset at 69 FPS average with a 59 FPS minimum provides a more visually appealing experience while still staying close to the 60 FPS target. The High preset drops to 54 FPS average, which may introduce noticeable stutter on standard 60 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers exactly 60 FPS average, making it the only playable option at this resolution for smooth gameplay. Medium drops to 46 FPS average with a 39 FPS minimum, which will feel inconsistent during intense combat sequences. High produces 36 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 25 FPS average — both are below acceptable thresholds for a fast-paced FPS.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves playable frame rates. The best result is 34 FPS average on Low, which is below the 60 FPS target and will result in a sluggish experience. Medium manages 26 FPS average with a 22 FPS minimum, and High and Ultra produce 21 and 14 FPS respectively. The data suggests that 4K should be avoided entirely for this title.

For the best overall experience, the Medium preset at 1920x1080 is recommended. It provides a 69 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS, meaning the frame rate rarely dips below the 60 FPS threshold. This balances visual quality with smoothness. The 59 FPS minimum indicates that the system occasionally drops just below 60, but this is preferable to the Low preset's visual downgrade or the High preset's 54 FPS average.

Players prioritizing maximum frame rate over visuals can use the Low preset at 1920x1080 for 89 FPS average, which gives a significant headroom above 60 FPS for high refresh rate displays. At 2560x1440, only Low is viable at exactly 60 FPS average, making it the only recommendation for that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of Intel Core i3-12100F and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2530 out of 2872 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the bottom 12% of all systems tested for this game. This low ranking is consistent with the GPU's overall performance profile, as the Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs — a very low position in the hardware landscape.

The CPU, by contrast, is a mid-range part. The Intel Core i3-12100F sits at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the majority of processors in general benchmarks. This creates a significant imbalance: the CPU is capable of feeding a more powerful GPU, but the Arc B390's limited performance becomes the bottleneck in Evolve.

The rank of 2530 out of 2872 combos reflects not just the GPU's absolute performance, but how that performance interacts specifically with Evolve's engine and rendering requirements. The game was released in 2015, and the data shows that this combo can manage playable frame rates only at lower resolutions and settings. The gap between the CPU's 68th percentile ranking and the combo's bottom-12% game ranking highlights the extent to which the GPU limits the overall experience.

Compared to other combinations in the database, this system is positioned for 1080p Low-to-Medium gaming at best, with no headroom for higher resolutions or quality presets. The 2872 total combinations tested include a wide range of hardware, and this pairing falls near the bottom due to the GPU's constraints.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates show a clear progression across quality presets. The Low preset achieves 89 FPS average, the highest of any configuration tested. Medium delivers 69 FPS average with a minimum of 59 FPS and a maximum of 79 FPS, indicating reasonably stable performance. High drops to 54 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS average. The step from Medium to High represents a 21.7% performance decrease, while the step from High to Ultra represents a 31.5% decrease.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates scale down considerably. Low achieves exactly 60 FPS average, which is the minimum acceptable for smooth gameplay. Medium delivers 46 FPS average with a 39 FPS minimum and a 53 FPS maximum, showing more variance in frame times. High produces 36 FPS average, and Ultra drops to 25 FPS average. The transition from Low to Medium at this resolution represents a 23.3% decrease in average FPS.

At 3840x2160, all presets produce sub-60 FPS results. Low achieves 34 FPS average, Medium delivers 26 FPS average with a 22 FPS minimum and a 30 FPS maximum, High produces 21 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 14 FPS average. The 4K results show a steep drop-off, with even the lowest preset failing to reach playable frame rates.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently shows the most complete data set with both minimum and maximum FPS recorded. This suggests the testing methodology captured stable frame delivery at this setting, while other presets may have exhibited more erratic behavior or the data collection focused on average performance only.

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings shows a predictable reduction. At Low settings, 89 FPS at 1080p drops to 60 FPS at 1440p — a 32.6% decrease. At Medium settings, 69 FPS drops to 46 FPS — a 33.3% decrease. At High settings, 54 FPS drops to 36 FPS — a 33.3% decrease. At Ultra settings, 37 FPS drops to 25 FPS — a 32.4% decrease.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is built on the Xe3-LPG architecture using a 3 nm process node from Intel. It features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2500 MHz, producing a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).

The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, with no dedicated VRAM. The memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as "System Shared," and bandwidth is "System Dependent." This means the GPU relies on the CPU's memory controller and system RAM for all graphics data, which is a significant limitation for gaming performance. The TDP is 80 W, and the slot width is listed as IGP, indicating it is an integrated graphics solution rather than a discrete card.

The benchmark results support the conclusion that this GPU is severely limited for gaming. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals being the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% slower), GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). These are all entry-level or legacy parts, confirming the Arc B390's low-end positioning.

The system-shared memory architecture means the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which can cause performance degradation in memory-intensive scenarios. In Evolve, a 2015 FPS title, the GPU's limited compute resources and shared memory bandwidth constrain frame rates to sub-60 FPS levels at 1080p Medium and above. The 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for modern gaming workloads, even at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on a 10 nm process node. It has a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a TDP of 58 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with PCIe Gen 5 providing 16 lanes from the CPU.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance for its class. In Cinebench R23, it scores 1674 single-core and 11860 multi-core. Geekbench scores are 1932 single-core and 7252 multi-core. The 3DMark results show 893 single-thread, 1659 for 2 threads, 2859 for 4 threads, 4026 for 8 threads, and 4023 for max threads. This indicates good scaling from 4 to 8 threads, with diminishing returns beyond that point.

The average benchmark score of 13494 places the i3-12100F at the 68th percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core 3 N355 (13492, deltaPct 0), Intel Core i5-9500 (13452, deltaPct 0.3), Intel Core 5 120UL (13594, deltaPct -0.7), and Intel Core i7-1250U (13351, deltaPct 1.1). This positions the CPU as a solid mid-range part that outperforms several older i5 and i7 models.

In the context of Evolve, the CPU's 4 cores and 8 threads are sufficient for the game's threading model, which was designed for the 2015 era of gaming. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz provides strong single-threaded performance for game logic and physics. However, the CPU's capability is largely wasted in this combo because the GPU becomes the limiting factor at all but the lowest settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 89 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at that level. But at higher settings, the GPU's 9th percentile performance prevents the CPU from being fully utilized.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 and then to 3840x2160 reveals the nature of the bottleneck in this system. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 89 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 60 FPS — a 32.6% decrease. At 4K Low, it drops further to 34 FPS — a 43.3% decrease from 1440p. This scaling pattern is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario, where increasing resolution places more load on the graphics processor.

The same pattern holds across all settings. At Medium, the frame rates go from 69 FPS at 1080p to 46 FPS at 1440p (33.3% decrease) to 26 FPS at 4K (43.5% decrease from 1440p). At High, the progression is 54 FPS to 36 FPS (33.3% decrease) to 21 FPS (41.7% decrease). At Ultra, the progression is 37 FPS to 25 FPS (32.4% decrease) to 14 FPS (44% decrease).

The consistent 32-33% decrease from 1080p to 1440p across all settings, followed by a 42-44% decrease from 1440p to 4K, indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component. A CPU-bound scenario would show more modest frame rate drops at higher resolutions, since the CPU load remains relatively constant while the GPU load increases. The steep drops at 4K, where even 1080p Low performance of 89 FPS falls to 34 FPS, confirm that the Arc B390's compute and memory bandwidth are insufficient for high-resolution rendering.

The pixel throughput numbers support this analysis. The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s are low by modern standards, and when combined with system-shared memory, the bandwidth available for frame buffer operations becomes a critical constraint. At 4K, the frame buffer requirements quadruple compared to 1080p, and the shared memory architecture cannot keep up.

The data indicates that 1080p is the only viable resolution for this combo, and even then, only at Low or Medium settings. The 1440p Low result of exactly 60 FPS is borderline, while 4K is entirely unplayable. The scaling behavior suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield significant improvements at all resolutions, while upgrading the CPU would provide minimal benefit since the system is GPU-limited in almost every configuration tested.