Evolve

# Evolve — Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination pairs a 6-core, 12-thread Rocket Lake CPU with a 24 GB Ada Lovelace flagship GPU, producing a striking benchmark profile in Evolve. The measured results reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, yet shows intriguing CPU limitations at 1080p. The data set spans 12 distinct configurations across three resolutions and four quality presets, offering a comprehensive view of how this hardware handles a 2015-era FPS title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 155.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 104.1 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 57.6 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 63% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K Ultra. The scaling is not linear — the 1440p to 4K drop of 44.7% is steeper than the 1080p to 1440p drop of 33.1%, suggesting the GPU's compute resources are being taxed increasingly hard as pixel count grows.

At Low settings, the pattern changes dramatically. The 1080p result of 258.9 FPS drops to 226.9 FPS at 1440p (a 12.4% reduction), but then falls to 139.8 FPS at 4K (a 38.4% reduction from 1440p). The relatively modest decline between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings indicates the CPU is holding performance back at lower resolutions, while the sharp 4K drop shows the GPU taking over as the limiting factor. This is classic behavior for a high-end GPU paired with a mid-range CPU: at lower resolutions, the i5-11400F's single-thread performance becomes the ceiling, while at 4K, the RTX 4090's rasterization workload dominates.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend: 235.5 FPS at 1080p, 190.8 FPS at 1440p (19% drop), and 111.6 FPS at 4K (41.5% drop from 1440p). High settings follow with 215.9, 150.9, and 86.1 FPS respectively, showing the steepest 1440p-to-4K decline at 42.9%. Across all presets, the 4K-to-1080p ratio hovers between 0.54 and 0.60, indicating that Evolve's rendering load scales heavily with resolution regardless of quality level.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090's specifications are formidable: 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for a game released in 2015. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate suggest it should annihilate this title, yet the measured FPS at 4K Ultra (57.6) is surprisingly modest relative to its raw power.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and PassMark G3D score of 38194 place this GPU in the 91st percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4) and Tesla P40 (deltaPct 0.5). However, Evolve is not a modern benchmark — it predates the RTX 40-series by seven years. The data suggests the game's engine may not fully utilize the Ada Lovelace architecture's parallel throughput, as evidenced by the relatively small gap between Low and Ultra at 4K (139.8 vs 57.6 FPS, a factor of 2.4x) compared to what the 82.58 TFLOPS capability would imply.

The VRAM capacity is clearly not a constraint — 24 GB is far beyond what Evolve requires, and the game's settings are unlikely to exceed even 8 GB at 4K. The GPU's 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth mean memory bandwidth is also not a limiting factor. Instead, the performance ceiling appears tied to the game's draw call efficiency and the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, particularly at higher settings where more objects and effects are rendered.

CPU Role

The i5-11400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 12 MB shared L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are modest by 2021 standards, and the CPU's 65 W TDP reflects its mid-range positioning. In Evolve, a title optimized for older multi-core CPUs, this processor's performance is telling. The 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and max-thread score of 5652 indicate decent single-core strength, but the Cinebench R23 scores (2029 single, 14372 multi) show it trails modern high-end parts.

The CPU's percentile rank of 75 against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17181, places it near the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (deltaPct 0) and Intel Core i7-1260P (deltaPct -0.2). These rivals are mobile-oriented chips, highlighting that the i5-11400F's desktop advantage is not overwhelming. In Evolve, the CPU's 4.40 GHz boost clock helps at 1080p Low where the system achieves 258.9 FPS, but the 2.60 GHz base clock becomes a liability when all cores are loaded.

The data shows CPU limitation most clearly at 1080p Low: 258.9 FPS versus 226.9 FPS at 1440p Low is only a 14% difference despite a 77% increase in pixel count. This suggests the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p, unable to feed the GPU enough frames. At 4K, the CPU's role diminishes — the 139.8 FPS Low result is 46% below the 1080p figure, indicating the GPU is now the constraint. The PassMark multithread score of 16908 and physics score of 842 reinforce that this CPU is competent but not exceptional for high-refresh gaming.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 4090 bottlenecked by the i5-11400F in Evolve?

A: Yes, particularly at 1080p. The Low preset at 1080p achieves 258.9 FPS, while 1440p Low only drops to 226.9 FPS — a small 12.4% reduction despite 77% more pixels. This indicates the CPU is limiting frame delivery at lower resolutions.

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

A: 1440p provides the best balance. At High settings, 150.9 FPS is achieved, which is 75% higher than the 4K result (86.1 FPS) while still delivering smooth gameplay. The 1080p High result of 215.9 FPS shows the CPU bottleneck, making 1440p the practical sweet spot.

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

A: The i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17181 is effectively tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (17189, deltaPct 0) and Intel Core i7-1260P (17212, deltaPct -0.2). This means the CPU's raw compute is on par with mobile chips, not desktop competitors.

Q: Does the 24 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: No. Evolve, released in 2015, cannot utilize anywhere near 24 GB. The GPU's VRAM capacity is irrelevant to performance in this title; the 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is also far more than needed.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Ultra and Low at 4K?

A: The difference is substantial: 57.6 FPS at Ultra versus 139.8 FPS at Low, representing a 142% improvement. This shows that Ultra settings impose a heavy rendering cost at 4K, likely from shadows, reflections, and post-processing effects.

Q: How does this combo rank overall in Evolve?

A: The combination ranks 97th out of 1695 tested combos, placing it in the top 5.7% of all configurations. This indicates that despite the CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions, the overall experience is still excellent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results show a clear progression: Low hits 258.9 FPS, Medium reaches 235.5 FPS (9% lower), High achieves 215.9 FPS (16.6% lower than Low), and Ultra drops to 155.5 FPS (40% lower than Low). The gap between Medium and High is 8.3%, while High to Ultra is 28% — indicating that Ultra settings add significant computational load.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts: Low delivers 226.9 FPS, Medium 190.8 FPS (15.9% lower), High 150.9 FPS (33.5% lower than Low), and Ultra 104.1 FPS (54.1% lower). The Medium-to-High drop of 20.9% is steeper than at 1080p, showing that resolution amplifies the cost of higher quality settings.

At 3840x2160, the numbers compress: Low provides 139.8 FPS, Medium 111.6 FPS (20.2% lower), High 86.1 FPS (38.4% lower than Low), and Ultra 57.6 FPS (58.8% lower). The High-to-Ultra difference of 33.1% is the largest relative drop across all resolutions, suggesting that Ultra's additional effects become disproportionately expensive at 4K pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

The data clearly indicates that Ultra settings are not optimal for this combo, especially at 4K where 57.6 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold many players consider minimum for smooth play. High settings at 4K deliver 86.1 FPS, which is acceptable, but the 139.8 FPS Low result shows that dropping to Low more than doubles frame rate. The most balanced experience is Medium at 1440p, yielding 190.8 FPS — this provides a 77% improvement over 4K High while maintaining visual quality close to High.

At 1080p, Medium at 235.5 FPS is the sweet spot; Ultra at 155.5 FPS is playable but the 34% penalty over Medium is hard to justify given the diminishing visual returns of Ultra settings in a 2015 title. For competitive play, Low at 258.9 FPS is the clear choice, but for visual fidelity, High at 215.9 FPS offers a strong balance. The 1440p Medium result of 190.8 FPS is the single best compromise across the entire measured set, offering high frame rates with moderate quality.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 97 out of 1695 tested combinations, this system places in the top 5.7% of all configurations in Evolve. This is notable given the CPU's mid-range positioning — the i5-11400F sits at the 75th percentile of all CPUs, while the RTX 4090 dominates at the 91st percentile of all GPUs. The combo's rank suggests that the GPU's massive compute resources compensate for the CPU's limitations, but the data also reveals that this pairing is not optimal for a CPU-light game like Evolve.

The rank implies that 96 other combos outperform this one, and given the CPU bottleneck at 1080p, it is likely that many of those configurations feature faster processors. The GPU's nearest rivals — the Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4) and Tesla P40 (deltaPct 0.5) — are compute-oriented cards, yet the RTX 4090's 91st percentile ranking confirms its dominance. In Evolve specifically, the 97th rank out of 1695 means this combo outperforms approximately 94.3% of tested systems, but the 1080p results show the CPU is holding back what the GPU could deliver. The data implies that a stronger CPU would push this combo much higher, potentially into the top 50, while the current pairing leaves performance on the table at lower resolutions.