Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT delivers a fascinating performance profile in Evolve, a 2015 FPS title. The data reveals a combination that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions but shows significant strain when pushed to 4K Ultra settings. The benchmark results indicate a system where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the 6-core processor provides ample headroom at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall ranking of this CPU and GPU combination in Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 1246 out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. This suggests that while the hardware is competent, many other pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this specific title.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo achieves at 1080p?

A: The highest measured average is 158.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This drops to 98.5 FPS at High and 67.7 FPS at Ultra, showing a clear performance gradient as visual fidelity increases.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmark scores?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, which is nearly identical to its closest rivals. It is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-9700 and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i5-11600K, while being 0.2% behind the Intel Core i7-8700 and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX.

Q: Is the GPU's general performance closer to the RTX 3070 or the GTX 980 Ti?

A: The RX 6600 XT's average benchmark score of 27985 places it 0.1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti and 0.9% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. This indicates it sits very close to the GTX 980 Ti in overall compute capability.

Q: What is the maximum FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the difference is 61.5 FPS. The combo achieves 105 FPS on Low but only 43.5 FPS on Ultra, representing a substantial 58.6% drop in average frame rate from the lowest to highest preset.

Q: Does the game run smoothly at 4K with this hardware?

A: At 3840x2160, only the Low preset achieves a playable average above 60 FPS, hitting 61.9 FPS. High and Medium settings produce 38.7 FPS and 46 FPS respectively, while Ultra drops to just 24.6 FPS, indicating a heavily GPU-limited scenario.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip manufactured on a 7 nm process by TSMC. Its memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1968 MHz, a game clock of 2359 MHz, and a boost clock of 2589 MHz, with memory running at 2000 MHz or 16 Gbps effective.

In Evolve, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution climbs. The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p, the combo can push well beyond 100 FPS on lower presets, but at 4K Ultra, the average collapses to 24.6 FPS. This 84.5% reduction from the 158.5 FPS achieved at 1080p Low underscores how the RX 6600 XT's 8 GB frame buffer and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth become limiting factors at higher pixel counts. The GPU's transistor count of 11,060 million and die size of 237 mm² suggest a mid-range part that struggles with the pixel throughput demanded by 4K rendering.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 71 versus all GPUs indicates it outperforms a majority of graphics cards, yet its nearest rivals include the GTX 980 Ti and RTX 3070, which bracket its performance. The data implies that Evolve's engine, being from 2015, does not scale efficiently across the RDNA 2.0 architecture's 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs at extreme resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 1246 out of 1695 tested combos, this pairing sits in the 26th percentile of all configurations in the database for Evolve. This ranking is notably lower than what the individual component percentiles might suggest — the CPU is in the 77th percentile and the GPU in the 71st percentile. The discrepancy indicates that Evolve may be particularly sensitive to certain hardware characteristics that this combination does not optimally satisfy.

The ranking becomes more understandable when examining the FPS data. While the combo delivers excellent 1080p performance, its 4K Ultra result of 24.6 FPS drags down the overall assessment. Many combos ranked higher likely maintain more consistent frame rates across resolution and settings ranges. The CPU's average benchmark score of 19850, which is statistically tied with the i7-9700 (19831) and i7-8700 (19894), suggests the processor is not the primary cause of the middling rank. Instead, the GPU's performance cliff at higher resolutions appears to be the determining factor in this 1246th place finish.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates strong performance across all settings. Low settings produce 158.5 FPS, Medium delivers 126.5 FPS, High achieves 98.5 FPS, and Ultra drops to 67.7 FPS. The scaling from Medium to High represents a 22.1% decrease, while the High to Ultra step costs another 31.3%, showing increasing rendering complexity at higher presets.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain respectable but show clear degradation. Low settings hit 105 FPS, Medium reaches 82.1 FPS, High manages 65.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 43.5 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at High settings costs 33.1% of performance, dropping from 98.5 to 65.9 FPS. At Ultra, the drop is even steeper at 35.7%, from 67.7 to 43.5 FPS.

The 3840x2160 results reveal the GPU's limitations. Low settings achieve 61.9 FPS, Medium drops to 46 FPS, High falls to 38.7 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 24.6 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings represents a 44% reduction, from 82.1 to 46 FPS. These numbers clearly show that playable frame rates are only achievable at 4K with the Low preset, and even then, the margin above 60 FPS is minimal.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the data shows that the Ultra preset is only viable at 1080p, where it achieves 67.7 FPS. At 1440p, High settings with 65.9 FPS provide the best balance of visual quality and smoothness, while Medium at 82.1 FPS offers additional headroom for demanding scenes. At 4K, only the Low preset with 61.9 FPS meets the 60 FPS threshold.

For competitive play prioritizing maximum frame rates, the 1080p Low setting at 158.5 FPS is clearly superior, providing more than double the frame rate of 1080p High. The Medium preset at 126.5 FPS offers a middle ground with improved visuals while still maintaining high refresh rate compatibility. The data suggests that High settings at 1440p or Low at 4K represent the optimal compromise between fidelity and performance, depending on the player's display resolution.

The measured rows indicate that the Ultra preset consistently exacts a heavy toll across all resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra is 31.3% slower than High; at 1440p, it is 34% slower; and at 4K, it is 36.4% slower. This pattern suggests Ultra settings introduce rendering features that disproportionately impact the RX 6600 XT's capabilities.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 features 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It contains 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration and operates with a 65 W TDP.

The CPU's benchmark scores show robust single-thread and multi-thread performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 indicate strong computational capability. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and max-thread score of 5890 demonstrate that the processor scales well with additional threads. With a percentile ranking of 77 versus all CPUs, the i5-12400 comfortably outperforms the majority of processors in the database.

In Evolve, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU. The FPS data shows frame rates that scale predictably with resolution and settings, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The high 1080p Low result of 158.5 FPS suggests the 6-core processor can feed the GPU efficiently without becoming a bottleneck. The nearest rival, the i7-9700, has a nearly identical average score (19831 vs 19850), reinforcing that the CPU is delivering expected performance for its class.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic GPU-limited scaling pattern. At High settings, the combo delivers 98.5 FPS at 1080p, 65.9 FPS at 1440p, and 38.7 FPS at 4K. This represents a 33.1% drop from 1080p to 1440p and an additional 41.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 60.7%, which aligns closely with the pixel count increase.

The Low settings show similar scaling: 158.5 FPS at 1080p, 105 FPS at 1440p, and 61.9 FPS at 4K. The drops are 33.8% and 41% respectively, totaling 60.9% from 1080p to 4K. Interestingly, the percentage drops are remarkably consistent across settings presets, suggesting that the rendering workload scales uniformly with resolution regardless of visual complexity.

The consistency of these scaling percentages points to the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller FPS differences at lower resolutions where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the linear scaling with pixel count indicates that the RX 6600 XT's 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 10.60 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are the constraining factors. The 4K Ultra result of 24.6 FPS, which is only 36.3% of the 1080p Ultra result of 67.7 FPS, further confirms that the GPU is saturated at higher resolutions, leaving no headroom for additional graphical fidelity.