Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 produces a wide performance envelope in Evolve, with frame rates ranging from a demanding 45.6 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 282 FPS at 1080p Low. The measured data reveals a system where the GPU is the dominant scaling factor, yet the 12th-generation processor’s six performance cores provide sufficient headroom to avoid becoming the primary constraint in most scenarios. This combination ranks in the 80th percentile of tested configurations, indicating a strong, though not top-tier, pairing for this 2015 FPS title.

Resolution Scaling

The progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates the expected inverse relationship between resolution and frame rate, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly by settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 170.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 116.3 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 31.9%. The subsequent step to 3840x2160 yields 67.2 FPS, representing a 42.2% decline from the 1440p figure and a total drop of 60.7% from 1080p. This steepening curve indicates that pixel throughput becomes increasingly critical as resolution rises, a classic sign of GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions.

The Low settings preset tells a different story. At 1920x1080, the system produces 282 FPS, which drops to 187.7 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 108.2 FPS at 4K. The percentage decline from 1080p to 1440p is 33.4%, and from 1440p to 4K is 42.4%. The absolute frame rates remain high throughout, suggesting that even at 4K, the rendering load is not overwhelming the RTX 5070’s capabilities. The gap between Low and High at 4K is 41.0 FPS, whereas at 1080p it is 111.3 FPS, implying that at lower resolutions, the CPU or other system components begin to play a more substantial role in limiting performance.

The Medium and Ultra presets bracket the expected range. At 1080p, Medium delivers 221.5 FPS, while Ultra drops to 121.5 FPS, a difference of 100 FPS. At 4K, the same presets yield 85.5 FPS and 45.6 FPS respectively. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating that this combination is not suited for maximum fidelity at 4K. The data consistently shows that resolution scaling is more punishing at higher settings, which aligns with the GPU’s role as the primary rendering bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process, is clearly the workhorse in this pairing. Its 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 672.0 GB/s, which is substantial for a game released in 2015. The boost clock of 2512 MHz, combined with 6144 shading units, allows the GPU to handle Evolve’s rendering demands with considerable headroom. The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present but largely irrelevant for this title, as it predates widespread ray tracing adoption.

The GPU’s influence is most evident in the scaling between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the difference between Low (282 FPS) and Ultra (121.5 FPS) is 160.5 FPS, a 57% reduction in performance. At 4K, the same comparison shows a drop from 108.2 FPS to 45.6 FPS, a 58% reduction. This consistent proportional decline across resolutions indicates that the GPU’s compute and memory subsystems are being taxed uniformly by the settings increases, with the 12 GB VRAM proving sufficient even at 4K Ultra, as no memory-related stutters or crashes are indicated in the measured data.

The GPU’s 30.87 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 201.0 GPixel/s pixel rate provide the raw throughput needed for high frame rates. The texture rate of 482.3 GTexel/s, coupled with 192 TMUs, ensures that texture-heavy scenes in Evolve do not become a bottleneck. The RTX 5070 ranks in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, and its average benchmark score of 41687 places it within 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, a previous-generation flagship. This context suggests that while the 5070 is not the absolute fastest GPU available, it comfortably handles this game’s requirements.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture processor, built on a 10 nm process, has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory. For Evolve, which is primarily GPU-bound, the CPU’s role is to feed the graphics card with draw calls and physics calculations without becoming a limiting factor.

The CPU’s benchmark results show a balanced profile. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 indicate strong per-thread performance, which is crucial for older game engines that may not utilize many cores effectively. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and single-thread score of 910 further corroborate this. The processor’s Passmark multithread score of 18747 and single-thread score of 3456 demonstrate that it can sustain high clocks across all cores when needed.

In the context of the measured FPS data, the CPU does not appear to be the primary constraint. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 282 FPS, which is exceptionally high and suggests that the CPU can keep up with the GPU’s output. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1692 and 4-thread score of 3012 indicate that the processor has sufficient single and multi-threaded capability for a game like Evolve. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (160.5 FPS) versus the gap at 4K (62.6 FPS) suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU’s ability to process game logic may begin to matter more, though it still does not cap performance below the GPU’s output.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 ranks 334th out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the top 19.7% of all configurations. This rank reflects a strong overall pairing, though not one that dominates the upper echelons of the database. The CPU’s percentile vs all CPUs is 77, while the GPU’s percentile vs all GPUs is 83, suggesting that the GPU is the slightly stronger component in this pairing.

Relative to the CPU’s nearest rivals, the i5-12400 performs nearly identically to the Intel Core i7-9700, with a deltaPct of 0.1% and an average score difference of just 19 points. It also edges out the Intel Core i5-11600K by 0.4% and trails the Intel Core i7-8700 by 0.2%. This tight clustering indicates that the CPU’s performance is well within the expected range for its class. For the GPU, the RTX 5070 is 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, but 0.5% behind the NVIDIA Tesla M40 and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 580X. This suggests that the GPU’s performance is consistent with other high-end cards from its generation.

The combination’s rank of 334 out of 1695 is respectable, indicating that this system is well-balanced for Evolve. The data does not show any extreme bottlenecks that would push the combo lower in the rankings. The 1695 total combos tested provide a broad comparison base, and being in the top fifth demonstrates that this hardware pairing is more capable than the majority of systems tested for this game.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 282 FPS, which is the maximum recorded across all configurations. Medium settings yield 221.5 FPS, High settings produce 170.7 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 121.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline of approximately 60 FPS per settings tier, with the largest single step being the 50.8 FPS difference between Medium and High.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. Low settings deliver 187.7 FPS, Medium produces 147.5 FPS, High achieves 116.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 79.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 108.2 FPS, which is smaller than the 160.5 FPS gap seen at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the system’s performance drops significantly. Low settings still manage 108.2 FPS, which is playable, but Medium settings fall to 85.5 FPS, High settings to 67.2 FPS, and Ultra to 45.6 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for high-refresh-rate displays. The data shows that for smooth 4K gameplay, users would need to select High settings or lower, which still provides a playable experience at 67.2 FPS.

The measured FPS values are consistent across all 12 data points, with no anomalies or outliers. The lack of min or max FPS values in the data means that frame time consistency cannot be assessed, but the average frame rates provide a clear picture of the system’s capabilities. For a 2015 title, these numbers are exceptionally strong, with even the most demanding 4K Ultra configuration producing near-60 FPS performance, and lower-resolution settings delivering frame rates that would satisfy even the most competitive players.