Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS built on the CryEngine, presents a demanding workload that scales heavily with both resolution and graphical presets. For the Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, the measured data reveals a combination that is clearly capable at 1080p but quickly becomes constrained as pixel count and settings increase. The benchmark results show a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's six cores and twelve threads provide a solid foundation that prevents holding the graphics card back at lower settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for this combo strongly suggests that the "High" preset is the optimal balance point for most users, offering a significant visual upgrade over "Low" without the severe performance penalty of "Ultra." At 1920x1080, the "High" preset delivers 78.1 FPS, which is a substantial jump from the 51.1 FPS seen on "Ultra," while still maintaining a playable frame rate. The "Medium" preset at 97.4 FPS is another strong contender, but the jump from "Medium" to "High" costs only 19.3 FPS while likely providing a noticeable improvement in visual fidelity.

For players with 1440p monitors, the "High" preset becomes the clear recommendation, as it achieves 52.3 FPS, which is just above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The "Low" preset at 83.2 FPS is the only other viable option for high refresh rate play at this resolution, but it sacrifices too much visual quality. The "Ultra" preset at 34.2 FPS is not recommended for 1440p, as the frame rate dips below the standard for comfortable play. At 4K, the situation is more challenging; the "Low" preset at 50.3 FPS is the only playable option, while "High" at 28.5 FPS and "Ultra" at 21.3 FPS are too demanding for this GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, with its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, is the defining factor in this combo's performance. The Turing architecture chip, running at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, provides a peak FP32 throughput of 5.437 TFLOPS. The memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s is a crucial resource for Evolve, which features dense jungle environments and dynamic lighting effects.

The benchmark data indicates that the GPU's VRAM capacity and bandwidth are tested heavily at higher settings. The dramatic drop in FPS from "Low" to "Ultra" at every resolution points to the GPU's texture fill rate and shading units being overwhelmed. At 1080p Ultra (51.1 FPS) compared to 1080p Low (126.6 FPS), the performance nearly halves, showing that the 1536 shading units are the bottleneck. The GPU's 48 ROPs also appear to be a limiting factor at 4K, where the pixel fill rate becomes a critical constraint, causing the frame rate to fall to 21.3 FPS on Ultra. The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p, but the data suggests that at 4K High, the combination of memory pressure and compute load pushes the card to its limits.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear and predictable pattern of GPU-bound performance. At "Low" settings, the frame rate drops from 126.6 FPS at 1080p to 83.2 FPS at 1440p, and then to 50.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 60.3% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K, which is a typical curve for a mid-range GPU. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 39.5%, indicating that the GPU is being pushed progressively harder as the pixel count increases.

The scaling is even more severe at "Ultra" settings, where the frame rate falls from 51.1 FPS at 1080p to 34.2 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 21.3 FPS at 4K. This is a 58.3% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This behavior confirms that the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting component in this combo, as the CPU's performance would not typically cause such a steep decline based solely on resolution changes. The data implies that for 4K gaming, the user must drop to "Low" settings to achieve a playable frame rate, while 1440p "High" is the highest playable configuration.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable frame rate achievable at 1080p with this combo?

A: The data shows a maximum average of 126.6 FPS at "Low" settings. The "Medium" preset delivers 97.4 FPS, and "High" provides 78.1 FPS, all of which are playable.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 Ti capable of 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: The benchmark results indicate that 4K is only playable on the "Low" preset, which achieves 50.3 FPS. The "High" (28.5 FPS), "Medium" (37.2 FPS), and "Ultra" (21.3 FPS) presets all fall below 60 FPS and are not recommended.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from "Ultra" to "High" at 1440p?

A: The average FPS increases from 34.2 on "Ultra" to 52.3 on "High," which is a gain of 18.1 FPS, making "High" a much more fluid experience.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU act as the primary bottleneck in this setup?

A: The performance scaling across resolutions indicates a GPU bottleneck. For instance, at 1080p "Low" the combo reaches 126.6 FPS, but this drops to 50.3 FPS at 4K "Low," showing the GPU's limits are hit as resolution increases.

Q: What are the FPS differences between consecutive presets at 1080p?

A: The average FPS values are 126.6 (Low), 97.4 (Medium), 78.1 (High), and 51.1 (Ultra). The largest drop is 27.0 FPS between "Ultra" and "High."

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve, this specific configuration of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ranks at position 1465. This places it in the lower percentile of tested systems, indicating that while it can run the game, it does so with significant compromises at higher settings. The rank of 1465 suggests that the majority of other combos tested are more capable of delivering high frame rates at demanding presets.

This ranking is consistent with the GPU's overall performance percentile of 55, which indicates it is a mid-range card. The CPU, however, performs much better relatively, with a percentile of 77 against all CPUs. This disparity suggests that the combo's low rank is almost entirely due to the GPU's limitations rather than the CPU. The data implies that a user with this combo would need to accept lower graphical presets or resolutions to achieve a performance level that would rank higher in the database.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides a robust processing foundation for Evolve. Running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, it offers strong single-thread and multi-thread performance. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16518 and a single-core score of 2332, demonstrate that it is not a bottleneck in this setup.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and AI, which are often single-threaded tasks. The data from the combo ranking, where the CPU is in the 77th percentile while the GPU is in the 55th, strongly suggests that the i5-12400F has ample headroom. The 18 MB of L3 cache helps with game asset streaming, and the 65W TDP indicates it can maintain boost clocks without thermal throttling. The benchmark results show that at 1080p "Low," the combo achieves 126.6 FPS, which is a high frame rate that would require a capable CPU to maintain, and the i5-12400F handles this without issue, as the frame rate drops are clearly attributable to GPU load increases at higher settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets.

1920x1080: At the "Low" preset, the combo achieves an average of 126.6 FPS. Moving to "Medium" reduces the frame rate to 97.4 FPS, which is a drop of 29.2 FPS. The "High" preset delivers 78.1 FPS, a further reduction of 19.3 FPS. The "Ultra" preset yields 51.1 FPS, which is 27.0 FPS lower than "High."

2560x1440: The "Low" preset at 1440p achieves 83.2 FPS, a significant drop from the 1080p "Low" result. "Medium" produces 66.1 FPS, "High" produces 52.3 FPS, and "Ultra" produces 34.2 FPS. The performance gap between "Low" and "Ultra" at this resolution is 49.0 FPS.

3840x2160: At 4K, the "Low" preset is the highest performer with 50.3 FPS. "Medium" drops to 37.2 FPS, "High" drops to 28.5 FPS, and "Ultra" falls to 21.3 FPS. The difference between "Low" and "Ultra" at 4K is 29.0 FPS, demonstrating that even the highest settings are too demanding for this GPU at this resolution.