Evolve

The Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti pairing represents a solid, if aging, 1080p gaming setup. In Evolve, this combination delivers playable frame rates at 1080p with High settings, but struggles significantly at higher resolutions and with Ultra presets. The data shows this combo ranks 1506th out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower tier of the database, primarily due to the GPU's limitations at demanding settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Evolve?*

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the only resolution where this combination achieves consistently high frame rates. At 1080p Low, the average is 124.5 FPS, while at 1440p Low it drops to 81.5 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls to 46 FPS.

*Q: Can this combo handle Ultra settings in Evolve?*

A: No. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 55.3 FPS at 1080p, 34 FPS at 1440p, and 19.1 FPS at 4K. The 55.3 FPS at 1080p is marginal, but the lower resolutions make Ultra unplayable.

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

A: The i5-11400F's average benchmark score is 17181, which is statistically tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-1240U (17141, +0.2%). It sits just behind the Intel Core i7-1260P (17212, -0.2%) and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17215, -0.2%).

Q: How does the GPU's benchmark score position it against similar cards?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti scores 13925 on average, which is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 570X (13871) and 0.8% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (13812) and RTX A2000 Mobile (13821). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (14029) by 0.7%.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The memory clock operates at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed.

Q: What is the CPU's core and thread configuration?

A: The i5-11400F has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 12 MB of shared L3 cache and a 65 W TDP.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the primary bottleneck in this combination for Evolve. Its 6 GB of VRAM and 192-bit memory bus provide 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but becomes strained at higher resolutions. The GPU's base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz, combined with 1536 shading units, deliver 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This translates to a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s.

The benchmark results show a clear pattern: the GTX 1660 Ti's performance collapses as resolution increases. At 1080p Medium, the average frame rate is 94.5 FPS, which drops to 67.3 FPS at 1440p Medium and 34.9 FPS at 4K Medium. This represents a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K at the same settings. The GPU's 48 ROPs and 96 TMUs are simply not sufficient to fill frames at 4K with demanding settings.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 13925 places it in the 55th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, scores 13871, a 0.4% difference that is within noise. The GTX 1660 Ti is 0.8% faster than the GTX 680 and RTX A2000 Mobile, but 0.7% slower than the Tesla K10. These margins are negligible, indicating that the GPU's performance class is well-established.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the i5-11400F and GTX 1660 Ti ranks 1506th out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the bottom 11% of all combinations, which is a poor result for a system aiming for high-refresh-rate gaming. The ranking reflects the GPU's age and its inability to handle modern game engines at high settings.

The low rank is primarily driven by the GPU's mediocre performance at 1440p and 4K, where the combo fails to reach 60 FPS even at Low settings. At 4K, the best average is 46 FPS at Low settings, which is below the playable threshold for most users. The 1080p results are more respectable, with the combo achieving 124.5 FPS at Low and 74.1 FPS at High, but these scores are not enough to lift the overall ranking.

For context, the CPU itself is in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 17181. This means the processor is not the limiting factor; the GPU's 55th percentile ranking drags the combo down. The data clearly shows that upgrading the GPU would yield far larger gains than upgrading the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates reveal a clear hierarchy across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the combo performs admirably: Low settings yield 124.5 FPS, Medium yields 94.5 FPS, High yields 74.1 FPS, and Ultra yields 55.3 FPS. These numbers indicate that 1080p is the sweet spot for this hardware, with High settings providing a solid 60+ FPS experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. Low settings average 81.5 FPS, Medium averages 67.3 FPS, High averages 48.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 34 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra at 1440p is particularly steep, losing 14.8 FPS, which suggests the Ultra preset's additional effects tax the GPU heavily.

At 3840x2160, the combo is largely unplayable. Low settings average 46 FPS, Medium averages 34.9 FPS, High averages 31.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 19.1 FPS. The 4K results show that the GTX 1660 Ti simply does not have the bandwidth or compute power for this resolution, even at the lowest settings.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p shows a 35% reduction in frame rate at High settings (74.1 to 48.8 FPS), and from 1440p to 4K shows a 36% reduction (48.8 to 31.3 FPS). This consistent scaling indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU's performance would not degrade linearly with resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a capable 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2029. The processor's 12 MB of shared L3 cache helps with game-level data reuse.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F achieves an average score of 17181, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 and Geekbench multicore score of 7579 indicate strong multi-threaded capability for its class. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 16908 further confirms its ability to handle game logic and physics tasks.

For Evolve, a 2015 FPS title, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient. The game's engine is not heavily multi-threaded, so the i5-11400F's strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 2981) ensures it will not bottleneck the GPU at 1080p. However, at lower resolutions or with a more powerful GPU, the CPU's 65 W TDP and 14 nm process node might start to limit frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the user's target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p users, the High preset at 74.1 FPS is the best balance of visual quality and performance, offering a smooth experience on 60 Hz displays and near-smooth on 144 Hz monitors. The Medium preset at 94.5 FPS is a better choice for competitive play, providing higher frame rates with modest visual compromises.

At 1440p, the Medium preset at 67.3 FPS is the only viable option for smooth gameplay, as High drops to 48.8 FPS and Ultra to 34 FPS. Users with 1440p monitors should stick to Medium to maintain playable frame rates, accepting some visual quality loss. The Low preset at 81.5 FPS is recommended for users prioritizing high refresh rates at 1440p.

For 4K, none of the settings provide a consistently playable experience. The best average is 46 FPS at Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Users with 4K displays should either reduce resolution to 1440p or upgrade the GPU, as the GTX 1660 Ti is not capable of delivering acceptable performance at this resolution in Evolve.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as the frame rate drops below 60 FPS even at 1080p (55.3 FPS) and becomes unplayable at higher resolutions. The data suggests that the High preset at 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, offering 74.1 FPS with good visual fidelity, while Medium at 1080p (94.5 FPS) is the best choice for performance-focused users.