Evolve

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for Evolve shows a steep and consistent performance drop as resolution increases, which points to the GPU becoming the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo delivers 188 FPS, but this falls to 125.6 FPS at 1440p and further to 73.6 FPS at 4K. That is a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and another 41% reduction from 1440p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel count.

The pattern is similar across all settings presets. With High settings, the drop from 1080p (116.3 FPS) to 1440p (76.6 FPS) is 34%, and then to 4K (45.6 FPS) is another 40%. At Ultra settings, the values are 78 FPS at 1080p, 56.8 FPS at 1440p, and 31.5 FPS at 4K — a 27% drop and then a 45% drop respectively. The fact that the percentage declines are relatively consistent across presets suggests that resolution scaling is dominated by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth, not by CPU-side bottlenecks.

Notably, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Low (188 FPS) is 2.41x faster than Ultra (78 FPS). At 4K, Low (73.6 FPS) is 2.34x faster than Ultra (31.5 FPS). This near-constant ratio implies that the game's settings are scaling uniformly with resolution, and the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are likely the constraining factors at 4K, particularly on Ultra where the average FPS falls below 32 FPS.

The data strongly indicates that 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo, with all presets exceeding 78 FPS. At 1440p, only Low and Medium presets remain above 90 FPS, while High dips to 76.6 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 75 FPS, and Ultra is effectively unplayable at 31.5 FPS. The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU, as the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1080p delivers the highest frame rates across all presets, with Low at 188 FPS, Medium at 148.7 FPS, High at 116.3 FPS, and Ultra at 78 FPS. At 1440p, only Low (125.6 FPS) and Medium (97.2 FPS) remain above 90 FPS, while High drops to 76.6 FPS. At 4K, even Low only reaches 73.6 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 perform at 4K in Evolve?

A: The GPU struggles at 4K, with all presets below 75 FPS. Low settings yield 73.6 FPS, Medium drops to 53.7 FPS, High to 45.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 31.5 FPS. The 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are insufficient for smooth 4K gameplay, especially on higher presets.

Q: Is the Core i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: Based on the resolution scaling data, the CPU does not appear to be a limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 188 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU adequately. The sharp FPS drops at higher resolutions are consistent with GPU-bound rendering, not CPU limitations.

Q: What settings preset gives the best balance of quality and performance at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 1440p provide 97.2 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. High settings drop to 76.6 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium offers a significant 27% performance boost over High while presumably maintaining decent visual quality.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 990 out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking reflects its inability to achieve high frame rates at 4K, though it performs respectably at 1080p and 1440p on lower presets.

Q: Does the RTX 4060's VRAM capacity affect Evolve's performance?

A: Yes, the 8 GB VRAM appears to be a constraint at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 31.5. The bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s and the 128-bit bus width are likely insufficient for the texture and geometry demands of Evolve at 4K, causing the steep performance degradation.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 990 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 58th percentile of all configurations in the database. This is a middling result, reflecting the combo's competence at 1080p but its limitations at 4K. The CPU itself sits at the 75th percentile among all tested CPUs, while the GPU is at the 66th percentile among GPUs, but their combined performance in this game does not boost the ranking significantly.

The ranking suggests that many other combos achieve higher frame rates in Evolve, likely due to either more powerful GPUs or better CPU-GPU balance. The RTX 4060's nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (avg score 23321, delta -0.6%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338, delta -0.7%), Intel Arc B580 (23021, delta 0.7%), and AMD Radeon 760M (22999, delta 0.8%). These deltas are all within 1% of the RTX 4060's average benchmark score of 23181, indicating that the GPU is competitive with its direct peers, but the combo's ranking is dragged down by the CPU's positioning.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (avg score 17189, delta 0%), Intel Core i7-1260P (17212, delta -0.2%), Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17215, delta -0.2%), and Intel Core i5-1240U (17141, delta 0.2%). These deltas are negligible, placing the i5-11400F in a tight cluster of mid-range processors. However, the combo ranking at 990/1695 indicates that Evolve's performance is more heavily influenced by the GPU, as many lower-ranked CPUs paired with stronger GPUs likely outperform this configuration.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings produce an average of 188 FPS, making the game exceptionally responsive. Medium settings yield 148.7 FPS, High settings drop to 116.3 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 78 FPS. Even at Ultra, the frame rate exceeds 75 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay on standard 60 Hz or 144 Hz monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings average 125.6 FPS, Medium settings 97.2 FPS, High settings 76.6 FPS, and Ultra settings 56.8 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at High settings (a 34% reduction), while Low settings see a 33% reduction. The frame rates at 1440p are still playable on Low and Medium, but High and Ultra push the combo below the 80 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 73.6 FPS, Medium settings 53.7 FPS, High settings 45.6 FPS, and Ultra settings 31.5 FPS. The 4K results show that no preset can maintain 75 FPS, and Ultra is below 32 FPS, which is likely to cause noticeable stuttering. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is steepest at Ultra (a 45% drop), while Low sees a 41% drop.

The data reveals that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming, where it can handle even Ultra settings comfortably. At 1440p, it is viable only on lower presets, and at 4K, it falls short of smooth gameplay expectations for all settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node and features 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. Its boost clock is 2460 MHz, and it has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth. These specifications are directly reflected in the Evolve results, where the GPU's memory bandwidth becomes a limiting factor at 4K.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 23181, placing it at the 66th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the RX 6600M (-0.6%), GTX 780 Ti (-0.7%), Arc B580 (0.7%), and Radeon 760M (0.8%), all within a 1% margin. This suggests the RTX 4060 is a solid mid-range performer, but its 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB VRAM are not ideal for high-resolution gaming.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is dominant. At 1080p Low, the 188 FPS result shows the GPU can handle the game's lightest load with ease. However, as resolution increases, the pixel rate of 118.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 236.2 GTexel/s become insufficient to maintain high frame rates. The 4K Ultra result of 31.5 FPS is particularly telling, as it indicates the GPU is overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and demanding settings. The FP32 performance of 15.11 TFLOPS is not enough to compensate for the memory bandwidth limitations at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Its average benchmark score is 17181, placing it at the 75th percentile among CPUs, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.2% of its score, indicating it is a competent mid-range processor.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is secondary to the GPU, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 188 FPS, which suggests the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to avoid a bottleneck. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and multi-thread score of 5652 indicate strong per-core performance, which is beneficial for Evolve's FPS genre where frame pacing is critical.

The CPU's 12 threads are likely sufficient for Evolve's workload, as the game was released in 2015 and does not require extreme core counts. The passmark multithread score of 16908 and Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14372 show that the CPU can handle multi-threaded tasks, but the game's performance is more dependent on the GPU. The data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecks, as the FPS drops at higher resolutions are consistent with GPU-bound rendering.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimal settings. At 1080p, Ultra settings are recommended, as they deliver 78 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This preset offers the best visual quality without sacrificing playability.

For 1440p, Medium settings are the best choice, providing 97.2 FPS. This is 27% faster than High settings (76.6 FPS) and 42% faster than Ultra (56.8 FPS), while still offering a significant visual upgrade over Low (125.6 FPS). Medium strikes the best balance between image quality and performance at this resolution.

At 4K, no settings preset achieves 75 FPS, so the recommendation is to avoid 4K entirely with this combo. Low settings at 73.6 FPS are technically playable, but the visual compromise is severe. For players who prioritize frame rate, Low at 4K is the only viable option, but dropping to 1440p Medium provides a much better experience with 97.2 FPS.

The data indicates that the combo is best utilized at 1080p Ultra or 1440p Medium. These settings maximize the hardware's capabilities without pushing the GPU beyond its limits. The 4K results show diminishing returns, and the 31.5 FPS at 4K Ultra confirms that this resolution is not viable for the RTX 4060 in Evolve.