Evolve

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark single-thread score of 3444 and a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912, placing it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals in aggregate benchmark score include the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (delta -0.1%), Intel Core i7-1250U (delta 0.4%), Intel Core i3-10105 (delta 0.6%), and Intel Core i7-7700K (delta 1.8%), indicating the i3-12100F sits in a tightly contested performance band.

In Evolve, a 2015 FPS title, the CPU's characteristics matter most at lower resolutions and higher framerates. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 160.7 FPS average, which is the highest measured result across all settings. This high framerate suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU sufficiently at this resolution, but the frame rate is still bounded by the overall system balance. The 4-core/8-thread configuration is adequate for the game's era, as Evolve launched in 2015 when dual-core and quad-core processors were the norm. The strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and Geekbench single-core score of 2224, helps maintain consistent frame pacing in a game that may not scale well across many threads.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at higher settings. Moving from Low (160.7 FPS) to Medium (125.1 FPS) to High (98.1 FPS) to Ultra (64.5 FPS) shows a progressive decline that aligns with increasing GPU load. The CPU's 8 threads provide enough parallelism for Evolve's engine, as the game does not heavily utilize more than 4-6 threads based on typical FPS design of that period. The processor's TDP is 58 W, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700 platform with PCIe Gen 5 support (16 lanes from CPU), though the GPU in this combo uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the average FPS for this combo at 1080p High settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 98.1 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings. This is significantly higher than the 64.5 FPS at Ultra settings, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a substantial performance penalty.

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-7700K?

A: The i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13516, which is 1.8% higher than the Intel Core i7-7700K's average score of 13280. This places the i3-12100F slightly ahead of the older i7 flagship in overall synthetic performance.

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25120. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6700M with a delta of -0.2%, meaning the RTX 3060 Ti is essentially tied with that mobile GPU in aggregate scores.

Q: What is the combination's rank among all tested combos in Evolve?

A: This specific CPU+GPU pairing ranks 1205 out of 1695 total combinations tested in Evolve. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the ranking distribution, suggesting that while capable, there are many faster combinations.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the CPU?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has a launch MSRP of $97. The GPU's launch MSRP is 399 USD, though pricing details are otherwise not discussed in this analysis.

Q: How does the frame rate scale from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 98.1 at 1920x1080 to 67.0 at 2560x1440 and then to 38.8 at 3840x2160. This represents a 60.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating the GPU becomes the dominant limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data across resolutions reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the frame rates are 160.7 FPS (1080p), 107.0 FPS (1440p), and 62.1 FPS (4K). This represents a 33.4% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a further 42.0% drop from 1440p to 4K, totaling a 61.4% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the progression is 98.1 FPS (1080p), 67.0 FPS (1440p), and 38.8 FPS (4K), with drops of 31.7% and 42.1% respectively. The consistent proportional drops across resolution steps indicate that the GPU's rendering throughput is the primary constraint.

The scaling behavior changes with settings. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 64.5 FPS (1080p), 43.2 FPS (1440p), and 27.6 FPS (4K). The relative drop from 1080p to 4K is 57.2%, which is slightly less severe than at Low settings. This is because at Ultra settings, the GPU is already heavily loaded at 1080p, so the additional pixel count at higher resolutions has a somewhat smaller relative impact. Conversely, at Low settings, the GPU has more headroom at 1080p, making the transition to 4K more punishing in percentage terms.

The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K. At 4K Low, the combo still achieves 62.1 FPS, which is above playable thresholds, while 4K High drops to 38.8 FPS and 4K Ultra falls to 27.6 FPS. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes increasingly important at 4K, where texture and geometry demands exceed what lower resolutions require. The RTX 3060 Ti's 4864 shading units and 80 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s, are the primary throughput limits at these higher pixel counts.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1205 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 71st percentile of the ranking distribution (calculated as 1205/1695). This means approximately 71% of tested combinations perform better in this game. This rank is notable given the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits in the 72nd percentile and the GPU in the 69th percentile. The combo's rank is slightly worse than the geometric mean of the two component percentiles, suggesting that the pairing does not extract maximum performance in Evolve specifically.

The rank reflects the game's age and system requirements. Evolve launched in 2015, and the database includes many newer, higher-end combinations that naturally outperform this mid-range setup. The 1205th rank indicates that this combo is sufficient for playable framerates at most settings but is not competitive with top-tier configurations. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 98.1 FPS, which is well above 60 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 27.6 FPS, showing the limits of this pairing.

The ranking also reflects the balance between CPU and GPU. The i3-12100F's 4 cores and 8 threads provide adequate single-thread performance, but the GPU's 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the stronger component relative to its peers. This asymmetry means that at lower resolutions, the CPU may be the constraining factor, while at higher resolutions the GPU takes over as the bottleneck. The combo's rank is consistent with this analysis, as it performs better at lower resolutions where the CPU can keep up, and falls behind at higher resolutions where the GPU's limitations are exposed.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture using Samsung's 8 nm process, with the GA104 chip containing 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its compute resources include 4864 shading units, 152 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 38 RT cores, and 152 tensor cores, delivering 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In Evolve, the GPU's role becomes dominant at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 160.7 FPS, but this drops to 64.5 FPS at Ultra. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this 2015 title, as even 4K Ultra does not exceed the memory capacity based on the playable (though low) 27.6 FPS result. The memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s supports the texture-heavy environments of Evolve, though the game's age means it was designed for much older GPUs with far less bandwidth.

The GPU's benchmark scores show a PassMark G3D score of 20349 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 109075. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M (delta -0.2%), AMD Radeon RX 6600 (delta -0.5%), AMD Radeon 890M (delta -0.5%), and AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (delta -0.7%). These small deltas indicate the RTX 3060 Ti sits in a crowded performance tier where slight architectural differences determine ranking. The GPU's 69th percentile ranking among all GPUs aligns with its mid-range positioning.

The data shows that at 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck. At 4K High, the combo produces 38.8 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 27.6 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings (98.1 to 38.8 FPS) represents a 60.5% reduction, which is consistent with the GPU's pixel throughput limits. The RTX 3060 Ti's 133.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 253.1 GTexel/s texture rate are the physical constraints that determine these framerates. For a game like Evolve, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards, the RTX 3060 Ti provides solid performance at 1080p and 1440p, with 1440p High achieving 67.0 FPS and 1440p Medium reaching 81.9 FPS.