Evolve

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 sits at rank 881 out of 3,700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it comfortably in the top quartile of all system configurations evaluated. This mid-pack-to-upper-tier positioning reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically bottlenecks the other in this 2015 FPS title. The RTX 4070's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with the i5-12400's 72nd percentile among all CPUs, suggests a system that punches above its weight class in raw benchmark terms but doesn't dominate the absolute top end of the leaderboard.

What's notable here is the synergy between the two components. The GPU's average benchmark score of 37,648 places it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, while sitting 1.3% behind the RTX 4080 Mobile. Meanwhile, the CPU's 18,683 average score trails the AMD EPYC 7643 by a razor-thin 0.1% and the Intel Core i7-1355U by 0.3%. This near-parity with several rivals at both component levels means the combo's rank is driven more by how well these specific parts handle Evolve's engine than by raw component superiority.

The data indicates that this configuration delivers a smooth experience across most settings, with the 881st rank reflecting strong but not elite performance. Given that Evolve is a multiplayer-focused FPS where frame consistency matters as much as peak output, the combo's ability to maintain high averages at 1080p and 1440p is the defining characteristic of its ranking. At 4K, the system remains playable but requires settings compromises, which is typical for a GPU in this performance tier when pushed to ultra-high resolutions.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal experience balances visual fidelity with frame rate headroom. At 1080p, the High preset delivers 159 FPS average, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and leaves substantial room for demanding scenes. The Medium preset at 203 FPS offers even more headroom, with a minimum of 173 FPS and maximum of 234 FPS, making it the best choice for competitive play where high refresh rates matter. However, the Ultra preset at 110 FPS still provides an excellent experience, and the 49 FPS drop from Medium to Ultra (203 to 110) is a significant cost for the visual upgrade.

At 1440p, the High preset at 107 FPS is the sweet spot, delivering a smooth experience on standard 144Hz monitors. Medium at 136 FPS (minimum 116, maximum 157) offers the best competitive advantage, while Ultra drops to 74 FPS—still playable but with less headroom for frame-time spikes. The Low preset at 176 FPS is excessive for most users unless chasing maximum refresh rates on 240Hz displays.

For 4K, the situation changes dramatically. High at 61 FPS is right at the edge of playability, while Medium at 77 FPS (minimum 66, maximum 89) provides the best balance between visual quality and smoothness. Ultra at 42 FPS is borderline unplayable for an FPS, and Low at 100 FPS sacrifices too much visual detail for the resolution. The recommendation for 4K is Medium, as it offers the only preset with both a comfortable average and a reasonable minimum frame rate.

The data strongly suggests that Medium is the default recommendation across all resolutions, as it consistently provides the best combination of average FPS and minimum frame rate stability. For users prioritizing visual quality over competitive edge, High is acceptable at 1080p and 1440p, but the jump to Ultra is rarely worth the performance penalty.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution rises. At Low settings, the average frame rate drops from 262 FPS at 1080p to 176 FPS at 1440p (a 32.8% reduction) and then to 100 FPS at 4K (a 43.2% further reduction). This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4070 is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as pixel count increases faster than the GPU's fill rate can compensate.

At Medium settings, the scaling is slightly less aggressive: 203 FPS at 1080p, 136 FPS at 1440p (33.0% reduction), and 77 FPS at 4K (43.4% reduction). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that resolution scaling is largely independent of the quality preset, pointing to a fixed GPU bottleneck that becomes more pronounced as pixel count grows.

The High preset tells a similar story: 159 FPS at 1080p, 107 FPS at 1440p (32.7% reduction), and 61 FPS at 4K (43.0% reduction). This pattern strongly indicates that the CPU has sufficient headroom at all resolutions, and the i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads are not the limiting factor in this title. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 4K textures, but the raw compute throughput (29.15 TFLOPS FP32) becomes the bottleneck.

The fact that 1080p to 1440p always costs roughly one-third of the frame rate, while 1440p to 4K costs over 40%, highlights the exponential cost of pixel count. For this combo, 1440p represents the efficiency sweet spot where the RTX 4070's capabilities are fully utilized without excessive overhead.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its strongest performance. Low settings yield an average of 262 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates the CPU can feed frames faster than most displays can show them. Medium produces 203 FPS with a minimum of 173 and maximum of 234, providing a robust competitive experience. High drops to 159 FPS, still excellent for any gaming scenario. Ultra is the weakest at 1080p, delivering 110 FPS—a 48% reduction from High, which is a steep price for the visual improvements.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the GPU starting to strain. Low delivers 176 FPS, which is still above the refresh rate of most 1440p monitors. Medium hits 136 FPS with a minimum of 116 and maximum of 157, offering the best balance for high-refresh-rate gaming. High manages 107 FPS, perfectly aligned with 100Hz+ displays. Ultra falls to 74 FPS, which is playable but begins to feel less responsive for fast-paced FPS action.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4070's limits become evident. Low achieves 100 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and suggests the game's engine scales well with reduced settings. Medium delivers 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 and maximum of 89, making it the only 4K preset that maintains a consistent 60+ FPS floor. High drops to 61 FPS, right at the edge of comfort for most players. Ultra bottoms out at 42 FPS, which is not recommended for competitive play.

The complete picture shows that the combo is capable of 4K gaming but requires setting discipline. The gap between Low and Ultra at each resolution grows with resolution: 152 FPS at 1080p, 102 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K. This widening gap confirms that GPU-limited scenarios benefit most from lowering settings.

# FAQ

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its closest CPU rivals in overall benchmark performance?

A: The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 18,683 is 0.1% below the AMD EPYC 7643 (18,697), 0.3% below the Intel Core i7-1355U (18,730), and 0.7% below the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18,811). It sits 0.9% above the Intel Core i3-14100F (18,519), placing it in a tightly contested cluster.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 is the clear recommendation, delivering an average of 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that maintains a minimum frame rate above 60 FPS, whereas High averages 61 FPS (with no reported minimum) and Ultra averages just 42 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Evolve?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The consistent ~33% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~43% drop from 1440p to 4K across all settings shows that the RTX 4070's rendering throughput is the constraint. The i5-12400's 6 cores and 12 threads, boosting to 4.40 GHz, provide sufficient frame-feeding capability at all tested resolutions.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 rank among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4070 sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 37,648. It is 0.1% ahead of the Tesla P4 (37,628), 0.4% ahead of the RX Vega 56 (37,507), 1.3% behind the RTX 4080 Mobile (38,135), and 1.3% ahead of the Radeon PRO W6400 (37,157).

Q: What are the CPU's key specifications that influence gaming?

A: The i5-12400 features 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. It has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. Its Cinebench R23 scores are 15,989 multi-core and 2,257 single-core, while Geekbench scores are 8,564 multi-core and 1,848 single-core.

Q: Can this combo handle high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming?

A: Yes, easily. At 1080p, the system delivers 262 FPS on Low, 203 FPS on Medium (minimum 173), 159 FPS on High, and 110 FPS on Ultra. Even the most demanding Ultra preset exceeds 100 FPS, meaning this combo can drive 144Hz or even 240Hz displays without issue.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and it carries 18 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 1.25 MB of L2 per core and 80 KB of L1 per core. In Evolve, the data shows that this CPU is more than adequate for the RTX 4070, as evidenced by the resolution scaling pattern that consistently points to GPU limitation rather than CPU bottlenecking.

The CPU's benchmark results reveal strong multi-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,989 and a single-core score of 2,257. Its 3DMark scores scale predictably with thread count—1,692 for 2 threads, 3,012 for 4 threads, 4,745 for 8 threads, and 5,890 for max threads—indicating efficient scaling that benefits games which can utilize multiple cores. The PassMark multi-thread score of 18,747 and single-thread score of 3,456 further confirm its capability as a gaming processor.

Given that Evolve is a 2015 title, its engine is unlikely to fully utilize the CPU's 12 threads. However, the 6 physical cores provide ample headroom for the game's physics, AI, and network code. The CPU's 72nd percentile ranking versus all CPUs, combined with its proximity to server-class parts like the EPYC 7643 (only 0.1% difference), suggests that any frame rate limitations in Evolve are firmly on the GPU side.

The Alder Lake architecture's high single-thread performance, evidenced by the Geekbench single-core score of 1,848 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,257, is particularly beneficial for FPS games that often rely on a primary game thread. The 4.40 GHz boost clock ensures that this single-thread performance translates to real-world gaming gains. In this combo, the CPU's role is to feed frames efficiently without becoming a constraint, which it accomplishes admirably across all tested resolutions and settings.