Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers a varied performance profile in Evolve, one that shifts dramatically depending on the resolution and quality preset selected. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is clearly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, but which shows signs of CPU constraint at the lowest settings and highest frame rates. The data indicates a balanced pairing for high-refresh 1440p gaming, while 4K Ultra presents a demanding scenario that pushes the graphics card to its limits.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K produces a steep performance curve that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck in this configuration. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 158.3 FPS at 1920x1080 to 107 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 51 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 59.5 FPS, representing a 98.8 FPS total drop from 1080p. This scaling pattern indicates that the RX 9070 XT's rendering workload is the limiting factor as pixel count increases.

The scaling behavior is even more pronounced at Ultra settings. The 1080p result of 110.3 FPS falls to 76.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 44.2 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is less than half of the 1080p Ultra figure, demonstrating that the GPU's compute and memory resources are heavily taxed by the combination of maximum quality and high resolution. The data suggests that while the RX 9070 XT can handle 4K High at a playable 59.5 FPS average, it cannot sustain a smooth experience at 4K Ultra.

Conversely, the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings shows a smaller relative drop, from 262.7 FPS to 174.8 FPS. This 87.9 FPS reduction is proportionally larger than the drop seen at High settings, suggesting that at Low settings the CPU begins to play a more significant role in limiting performance. The 4K Low result of 102 FPS further supports this, as the frame rate remains high enough to indicate that the CPU is still keeping up with the GPU's demands even at lower graphical loads.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to High settings as the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance for this combination. At 1440p High, the system achieves 107 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1080p High, the 158.3 FPS result provides ample headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. The 4K High figure of 59.5 FPS is borderline but usable for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate.

Medium settings offer a significant performance boost with a modest visual compromise. The 1440p Medium result of 133.9 FPS represents a 26.9 FPS improvement over High at the same resolution. At 1080p Medium, the 199.4 FPS average is 41.1 FPS higher than High, making Medium a strong choice for competitive play where frame rate is paramount. The 4K Medium figure of 75.1 FPS is notably more comfortable than the High preset's 59.5 FPS.

Low settings are only recommended for extreme frame rate pursuits. The 1080p Low result of 262.7 FPS is the highest measured value in the entire dataset, while 1440p Low still delivers a very high 174.8 FPS. The 4K Low result of 102 FPS is surprisingly strong, indicating that the RX 9070 XT has substantial raw performance headroom when graphical effects are minimized. Ultra settings, by contrast, produce the lowest frame rates at every resolution and should be reserved for scenarios where visual quality trumps all other considerations.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides the computational foundation for this pairing. With 6 cores and 12 threads, this Alder Lake-S processor operates at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The processor's benchmark results show a single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark and 2332 in Cinebench R23, indicating solid per-core performance that is relevant for game logic and draw call processing.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are reflected in a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and a Geekbench multicore score of 9138. The 3DMark results show a scaling pattern from 1699 at 2 threads to 5912 at max threads, demonstrating efficient utilization of its 12 threads. This performance level places the i5-12400F in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with its average benchmark score of 19221 sitting within 0.7% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS and 0.1% of the Intel Core i7-8700K.

In Evolve, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the frame rate differences at low graphical settings. The jump from 1440p Low (174.8 FPS) to 1080p Low (262.7 FPS) represents an 87.9 FPS increase, which is the largest absolute gain across all settings changes in the dataset. This suggests that at 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of feeding frames faster than at higher resolutions, but the GPU is still the primary limiter. The CPU's 65W TDP and 10 nm process node indicate efficient operation, and its PCIe Gen 5 support with 20 lanes provides ample bandwidth for the RX 9070 XT.

How This Combo Ranks

The Evolve benchmark data places this specific combination of Intel Core i5-12400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT at rank 464 out of 1695 tested combos on the website. This position in the 27th percentile of all configurations indicates that while this pairing performs well, there are many other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects the balance between the mid-range CPU and the high-end GPU.

The CPU's position relative to its nearest rivals helps contextualize this ranking. The i5-12400F's average benchmark score of 19221 is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-8700K at 19210 (a 0.1% delta) and the Intel Core i5-1335U at 19167 (a 0.3% delta). It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS by 0.7% and leads the AMD EPYC 7773X by 1.3%. These small percentage differences indicate that the CPU is not the differentiating factor in the combo's ranking.

The GPU's benchmark performance is similarly competitive. The RX 9070 XT's average score of 39647 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon Pro 575 and 0.2% of the NVIDIA RTX A500 Mobile. It leads the AMD Radeon Pro 575X by 0.5% and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 by 0.6%. The GPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all GPUs suggests that it provides strong raw performance, yet the combo's 464th ranking out of 1695 indicates that Evolve may be more sensitive to other factors such as driver optimization or specific architectural features.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the dominant component in this pairing for Evolve's performance. Built on the Navi 48 chip with RDNA 4.0 architecture and a 4 nm process node, this GPU contains 53,900 million transistors on a 357 mm² die. Its 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 render output units provide substantial parallel processing capability. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for high-resolution textures.

The GPU's clock behavior shows a base frequency of 1660 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2970 MHz. This 1310 MHz range between base and boost indicates aggressive frequency scaling under load. The memory operates at 2518 MHz with 20.1 Gbps effective data rate, contributing to the high bandwidth figure. The GPU's compute capabilities are demonstrated by its 48.66 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 760.3 GTexel/s texture rate.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is clearly defined by the resolution scaling data. The 4K Ultra result of 44.2 FPS versus the 1080p Ultra result of 110.3 FPS shows a 66.1 FPS drop, which is the largest absolute decline across any settings resolution pair in the dataset. This indicates that the GPU's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth become saturated at 4K with maximum settings. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support and 12_2 feature level suggest it is well-equipped for modern rendering techniques, and its PCIe 5.0 x16 interface provides high bandwidth to the CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset achieves an average of 262.7 FPS, followed by Medium at 199.4 FPS, High at 158.3 FPS, and Ultra at 110.3 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 152.4 FPS, demonstrating the significant impact of quality settings on performance.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 174.8 FPS for Low, 133.9 FPS for Medium, 107 FPS for High, and 76.7 FPS for Ultra. The transition from 1080p to 1440p causes a reduction of 87.9 FPS at Low settings, 65.5 FPS at Medium, 51.3 FPS at High, and 33.6 FPS at Ultra. These decreasing absolute drops as settings increase indicate that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor at higher quality levels.

At 3840x2160, the measured averages are 102 FPS for Low, 75.1 FPS for Medium, 59.5 FPS for High, and 44.2 FPS for Ultra. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows reductions of 72.8 FPS at Low, 58.8 FPS at Medium, 47.5 FPS at High, and 32.5 FPS at Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 44.2 FPS is the lowest figure in the entire dataset, while 4K Low at 102 FPS remains highly playable. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently offers a significant improvement over High, making it a compelling choice for maintaining high frame rates without sacrificing too much visual quality.