Evolve

FAQ

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

A: This combo ranks 1688 out of 1695 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the bottom 0.4% of all tested systems.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-12400 compare to its nearest rival CPUs?

A: The i5-12400 scores nearly identically to the Intel Core i7-9700, with a delta of just 0.1% higher. It also sits 0.2% below the Intel Core i7-8700 and 0.4% above the Intel Core i5-11600K.

Q: What is the GTX 1050 Ti's performance percentile among all GPUs?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti sits in the 30th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 5316. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce 930A, which scores 5317.

Q: At what resolution and settings does this combo achieve playable frame rates?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 61.7 FPS average. At Medium settings, it drops to 47.4 FPS, and at High, it falls to 36.1 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings yield only 25.4 FPS average, and Ultra settings produce just 10 FPS. These results are far below playable thresholds.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti scores 6340 in PassMark G3D, essentially matching the GeForce 930A (5317 avg). It is 0.4% ahead of the GeForce 940M and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 240, while sitting 0.8% behind the Radeon R7 M445.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the limiting factor in this pairing. With 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 112.1 GB/s bandwidth, the card has modest resources for a 2015 title like Evolve. Its base clock of 1291 MHz and boost clock of 1392 MHz are low by modern standards, and the 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs reflect its entry-level positioning. The GPU's 2.138 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 44.54 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for high-resolution gaming.

The data confirms this bottleneck. At 1920x1080, the CPU's capabilities are evident: the i5-12400's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 suggest it can handle Evolve's physics and AI workloads. However, the GPU's performance caps the system. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305 and PassMark G3D score of 6340 place the GTX 1050 Ti in the 30th percentile of all GPUs, explaining why frame rates collapse as resolution increases.

The 4 GB VRAM capacity becomes a critical constraint at higher settings. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages just 10 FPS, while High achieves 15.3 FPS. Even at 2560x1440, Ultra only reaches 19.5 FPS. These results indicate the GPU cannot sustain the memory bandwidth or shading throughput required for Evolve's detailed environments at higher resolutions. The card's 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors show its intended market segment, but the benchmark data clearly shows its limitations in this game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 61.7 FPS average, but this drops to 39.7 FPS at 2560x1440 and 25.4 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 35.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and an additional 36% drop from 1440p to 4K. This pattern indicates the GPU is the dominant constraint, as the i5-12400's 6-core, 12-thread configuration should not bottleneck at these frame rates.

Looking at High settings, the scaling is even more dramatic: 36.1 FPS at 1080p falls to 24.2 FPS at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 15.3 FPS at 4K (a 36.8% reduction from 1440p). The consistent ~35% performance penalty for each resolution step-up points squarely at the GTX 1050 Ti's limited fill rate and memory bandwidth. The 112.1 GB/s bandwidth is the likely culprit, as higher resolutions require proportionally more memory traffic.

Ultra settings show the most severe degradation: 24.1 FPS at 1080p, 19.5 FPS at 1440p, and 10 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result represents a 58.5% drop from 1440p Ultra, indicating that the GPU is overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and demanding effects. The data suggests that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this configuration; even at 1080p Low, the 61.7 FPS result is far below what the i5-12400 could theoretically deliver. This combo is firmly GPU-bound across all tested settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance for optimizing the Evolve experience with this hardware. At 1920x1080, Low settings deliver 61.7 FPS average, which is smooth and playable. Medium settings still achieve 47.4 FPS, offering a good balance of visual quality and performance. High settings at 36.1 FPS are borderline, while Ultra at 24.1 FPS falls below comfortable playability thresholds.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more challenging. Low settings produce 39.7 FPS, which is marginal but playable for less demanding players. Medium drops to 30 FPS exactly, and High falls to 24.2 FPS. Ultra at 19.5 FPS is not recommended for any serious gaming session. The data indicates that 1440p users should stick to Low or Medium presets to maintain playable frame rates.

At 3840x2160, no setting achieves playable performance. Low yields 25.4 FPS, Medium 17.7 FPS, High 15.3 FPS, and Ultra just 10 FPS. This resolution is simply not viable with this combo. The best experience per the measured rows is clearly 1920x1080 with Low settings, which provides the highest frame rate of 61.7 FPS. For users prioritizing visual quality over performance, Medium at 1080p offers 47.4 FPS, which retains reasonable fluidity while improving graphical fidelity. High at 1080p is a compromise at 36.1 FPS, but the data suggests that Medium provides the best experience-to-performance ratio.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 1688 out of 1695 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the bottom percentile of all systems tested. The rank underscores the severe mismatch between the modern Intel Core i5-12400 and the aging NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. The CPU itself is a strong performer, sitting in the 77th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 19850. Its nearest rivals, the Intel Core i7-9700 and i7-8700, score 19831 and 19894 respectively, showing the i5-12400 is competitive with previous generation i7 parts.

However, the GPU drags the entire system down. The GTX 1050 Ti's 30th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 5316, places it in the same performance class as mobile and entry-level desktop parts like the GeForce 940M and Radeon R7 240. The 0.4% delta between the GTX 1050 Ti and the GeForce 940M highlights how far behind modern standards this card has fallen.

The combination of a top-tier CPU with a bottom-tier GPU creates a system that is fundamentally unbalanced for Evolve. The combo's rank of 1688 out of 1695 suggests that nearly every other tested configuration, including those with older CPUs paired with better GPUs, outperforms this setup in this game. The data indicates that upgrading the GPU would yield massive performance gains, while the CPU has plenty of headroom to support a much faster graphics card. For users with this combo, the measured FPS data makes it clear that the GPU is the primary bottleneck and should be the first component replaced for any meaningful improvement in Evolve.