Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT pairing presents a fascinating study in bottleneck dynamics when applied to the 2015 FPS title Evolve. With a 6-core, 12-thread Alder Lake processor boosting to 4.40 GHz and a Navi 32 GPU with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, the combination demonstrates how a modern mid-range setup handles a game from a previous generation. The data suggests that at lower resolutions the CPU becomes the primary constraint, while at 4K the GPU workload dominates, creating a clear shift in system limitation that users should understand before adjusting settings. The i5-12400’s 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 10 nm process node provide a solid foundation for the game’s physics and AI calculations, while the RX 7700 XT’s 432.0 GB/s bandwidth and 2544 MHz boost clock handle the graphical demands.

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

The Intel Core i5-12400 operates with 6 physical cores and 12 threads, a configuration that is particularly relevant for Evolve, which was released in 2015 and primarily utilizes a few heavily threaded tasks for game logic and monster AI. The processor’s base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz indicate a substantial single-thread capability, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates in an FPS where draw calls and physics calculations can become serialized. Benchmark data for the i5-12400 shows a 3dmark single-thread score of 910, and a passmark single-thread score of 3456, which positions it well above the threshold needed to avoid stuttering in most scenarios.

In the measured FPS data, the impact of the CPU becomes evident when comparing 1080p Low settings (221 avg FPS) to 1440p Low settings (148 avg FPS) and 4K Low settings (84 avg FPS). At 1080p Low, the GPU is likely not fully saturated, allowing the CPU’s 12 threads to push frame rates beyond 200 FPS. However, the data shows a significant drop when moving to Ultra settings at the same resolution, with 93 avg FPS at 1080p Ultra versus 134 avg FPS at High. This suggests that while the CPU has headroom, the increased draw calls and shadow calculations at Ultra settings begin to tax the processor’s 18 MB L3 cache and memory bandwidth. The i5-12400’s avgBenchmarkScore of 18683 places it in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals like the AMD EPYC 7643 (deltaPct -0.1) and Intel Core i7-1355U (deltaPct -0.3) showing nearly identical aggregate scores, indicating that the 12400’s performance is well-balanced for its class.

The processor’s 65 W TDP and support for DDR4/DDR5 memory through a dual-channel bus mean that memory bandwidth is not a bottleneck for Evolve, but the game’s engine likely benefits from the higher boost clock for single-threaded monster AI calculations. The 3dmark max-threads score of 5890 versus the single-thread score of 910 highlights that the CPU scales reasonably well, but the game’s frame pacing at 4K Ultra (35 avg FPS) is more likely GPU-bound than CPU-bound, as the CPU has ample headroom even at lower resolutions.

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

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its closest rival, the AMD EPYC 7643, in aggregate benchmark scores?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18683, while the AMD EPYC 7643 scores 18697, resulting in a deltaPct of -0.1. This means the i5-12400 is essentially tied with the EPYC 7643 in overall performance, despite the EPYC being a server-class chip with a different core count and memory architecture.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p Low and 4K Low settings for this combo?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 221 avg FPS, while at 4K Low it drops to 84 avg FPS. This represents a 62% reduction in frame rate, indicating that the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases, even on Low settings where the CPU has less work to do per frame.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT rank against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 7700 XT has an average benchmark score of 22549, while the RTX 2080 scores 22895, giving a deltaPct of -1.5. This shows the RX 7700 XT is slightly slower than the RTX 2080 in aggregate synthetic tests, but within a 1.5% margin that is unlikely to be perceptible in real-world gaming.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 1440p Medium, the combo records an average of 115 FPS, with a minimum of 97 FPS and a maximum of 132 FPS. This narrow band suggests consistent frame delivery without significant spikes or drops, which is desirable for a competitive FPS.

Q: How does the i5-12400’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score compare to its single-core score?

A: The i5-12400 scores 15989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2257 in single-core. This indicates a strong multi-threaded performance scaling, but for Evolve, the single-core score is more relevant for maintaining high frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.

*Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested combinations for Evolve?*

A: The combo ranks 1393 out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the top 38% of all pairings. This indicates a competent but not elite level of performance for this specific game title.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a Navi 32 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It features 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s boost clock is 2544 MHz, with a game clock of 2171 MHz, and it delivers 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance. For Evolve, which was released in 2015, these specifications are far beyond the original requirements, but the measured FPS data reveals how the GPU’s performance scales with settings and resolution.

At 4K Ultra, the combo averages only 35 FPS, which is surprising given the GPU’s raw power. This suggests that Evolve’s Ultra preset may include poorly optimized effects or that the game’s engine has a hard limit on draw calls that the GPU must process serially. In contrast, 4K High achieves 51 FPS, 4K Medium achieves 65 FPS with a range of 55-75 FPS, and 4K Low achieves 84 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 58% performance drop, indicating that the Ultra preset is extremely demanding, likely due to high-resolution shadows and post-processing effects that tax the GPU’s 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs.

The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 22547 places it in the 67th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile (deltaPct 0.5) and the AMD Radeon RX 5700 (deltaPct 1.7). The RX 7700 XT’s 12 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Evolve, as even at 4K Ultra the game likely uses less than 6 GB, but the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s is a key factor in maintaining high frame rates at 1440p and 4K. The measured data shows that at 1440p High, the combo achieves 90 FPS, which is a comfortable experience, while 1440p Ultra drops to 62 FPS, highlighting that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution when settings are maxed out.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how this combo performs across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 221 avg FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU is capable of pushing the GPU to its limits. The Medium preset at 1080p achieves 171 avg FPS, with a min of 145 and max of 197, showing a 23% drop from Low. High settings at 1080p yield 134 avg FPS, a further 22% reduction, while Ultra drops to 93 avg FPS, a 58% decrease from Low. This progression suggests that each settings tier adds significant graphical workload, with Ultra being particularly heavy on the GPU’s shading units.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset records 148 avg FPS, which is a 33% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium at 1440p averages 115 FPS (min 97, max 132), High averages 90 FPS, and Ultra averages 62 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1440p is a 58% drop, identical to the 1080p scaling, indicating that the relative cost of each settings tier is consistent regardless of resolution. The 1440p Medium range of 97-132 FPS is notably tighter than the 1080p Medium range of 145-197, suggesting that at higher resolutions the frame pacing becomes more stable as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 84 FPS, Medium averages 65 FPS (min 55, max 75), High averages 51 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The 4K Low to Ultra drop is 58%, consistent with the other resolutions, but the absolute numbers are much lower, confirming that the GPU is heavily stressed at this resolution. The 4K Medium’s min FPS of 55 is still above the 35 FPS average of Ultra, indicating that Medium is the highest playable preset at 4K for a consistent experience.

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

Examining the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals critical information about which component limits performance. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 221 at 1080p to 148 at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 84 at 4K (a further 43% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 1440p and 4x from 1080p to 4K, but the FPS drop is less than proportional, indicating that the GPU has some headroom at 1080p Low.

At Ultra settings, the FPS drops from 93 at 1080p to 62 at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 35 at 4K (a 44% reduction from 1440p). The consistent 33% and 44% reductions across all settings presets suggest that the GPU is the limiting component at every resolution, but the CPU’s role becomes more apparent at 1080p Low where the FPS exceeds 200. The fact that 1080p Low (221 FPS) is 2.37x higher than 4K Low (84 FPS) while 1080p Ultra (93 FPS) is 2.66x higher than 4K Ultra (35 FPS) indicates that the Ultra preset adds a fixed cost per pixel, while the Low preset allows the CPU to feed the GPU more efficiently.

The data implies that for this combo, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in Evolve at any resolution, as the i5-12400’s 12 threads can handle the game’s demands even at 1080p Low. However, the GPU’s performance at 4K Ultra (35 FPS) is significantly below playable thresholds, suggesting that users should either lower settings or resolution to achieve smoother gameplay. The resolution scaling analysis shows that the combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can maintain high frame rates even on Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset appears to offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 171 avg FPS with a min of 145 and max of 197, providing a smooth and responsive experience that exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 115 FPS with a range of 97-132, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a consistent frame pacing that is ideal for competitive play. Even at 4K Medium, the 65 avg FPS (min 55, max 75) is playable, though users with variable refresh rate monitors may notice occasional dips below 60 FPS.

The High preset offers a marginal visual improvement over Medium but comes at a significant performance cost: 134 FPS at 1080p, 90 FPS at 1440p, and 51 FPS at 4K. The 4K High average of 51 FPS is below the 60 FPS target, making it less desirable for users seeking a locked frame rate. Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p (93 FPS) and 1440p (62 FPS) users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, as 4K Ultra (35 FPS) is likely unplayable for most users.

For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium settings at 1440p provide the highest resolution with a frame rate above 90 FPS, while Medium at 1080p offers the highest frame rate with a wide safety margin. Users with high-refresh-rate monitors (144 Hz or higher) should consider 1080p Medium or Low to fully utilize their display’s capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT ranks 1393 out of 3700 tested combos for Evolve, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all tested configurations. This rank indicates that the combo performs better than the majority of tested pairings, but it is not among the top performers. Given the CPU’s 72nd percentile ranking (avgScore 18683) and the GPU’s 67th percentile ranking (avgScore 22549), the combo’s overall rank of 1393 is slightly lower than what the individual component percentiles might suggest, implying that Evolve may not be perfectly optimized for this specific hardware combination.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i3-14100F with a deltaPct of 0.9, show that the i5-12400 is closely matched with lower-end parts in aggregate benchmarks, but the i5-12400’s 12 threads provide better headroom for games that utilize more cores. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile, has a deltaPct of 0.5, indicating that the RX 7700 XT is slightly slower in synthetic tests but may perform differently in real games due to driver optimizations. The combo’s rank of 1393 suggests that while the hardware is capable, there are 1392 other combinations that achieve higher FPS in Evolve, likely due to more powerful GPUs or CPUs that better match the game’s single-threaded performance requirements. The data indicates that this combo is a solid mid-range choice, but users seeking top-tier performance in Evolve may need to look at higher-end components.