Evolve

# Evolve with Intel Core i5-12400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a fundamentally GPU-bound experience in Evolve at higher resolutions, but the data reveals a different story at 1080p where the CPU begins to assert itself. At 4K Ultra, the combo holds 42 FPS average, which is playable but not smooth, while dropping to 4K Low produces 99 FPS, indicating that settings have a massive impact on this aging FPS title. The RTX 3080 Ti's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are more than sufficient for Evolve's demands, and the i5-12400F's six cores and twelve threads provide ample headroom for the game's engine, which launched in 2015.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals where the bottleneck shifts. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 158 FPS at 1920x1080 to 106 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 60 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 33% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 43% reduction moving from 1440p to 4K. This pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior—the RTX 3080 Ti is the limiting component as pixel count rises, and the CPU's role diminishes.

Low settings show an even more dramatic scaling curve. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 261 FPS, which drops to 175 FPS at 1440p (a 33% loss) and 99 FPS at 4K (a 43% loss from 1440p). The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 260 FPS suggests the CPU is starting to cap performance at that resolution, since the GPU could theoretically push higher if unconstrained. The i5-12400F's single-thread score of 909 in 3dmark_single_thread and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680 indicate strong per-core performance, but 261 FPS is already a high ceiling for most game engines.

Medium settings provide the only rows with min and max FPS data, which helps contextualize frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the average is 202 FPS with a minimum of 172 and maximum of 232—a 60 FPS spread that indicates some frame time variance. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 135 FPS with a 115–156 range, and at 4K Medium, the average is 77 FPS with a 66–89 range. The relative consistency of the min-to-max spread across resolutions suggests the GPU is handling the load predictably, without thermal or power throttling issues.

Ultra settings show the heaviest scaling. From 110 FPS at 1080p to 74 FPS at 1440p (a 33% drop) and 42 FPS at 4K (a 43% drop from 1440p), the pattern is consistent with the other settings. The 4K Ultra result of 42 FPS is the only sub-60 average in the entire measured set, making it the sole configuration that fails to maintain playable frame rates. This is notable because the RTX 3080 Ti sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs, yet Evolve's Ultra preset still overwhelms it at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck for the RTX 3080 Ti in Evolve?

A: Only at 1080p Low, where the combo reaches 261 FPS. At that point, the CPU's 3dmark single-thread score of 909 and PassMark single-thread score of 3481 suggest per-core limits are being approached. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, as evidenced by the consistent 33% and 43% scaling drops.

Q: Can this system run Evolve at 4K smoothly?

A: At High settings, yes—the average is 60 FPS, which is exactly at the common vsync threshold. At Medium, the average rises to 77 FPS with a minimum of 66, providing a comfortable margin. Ultra settings fall short at 42 FPS, so users should avoid that preset at 4K.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 41187, which is 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 and 2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070. It trails the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB by 1.2% and the Tesla M40 by 1.7%, though those are compute-oriented cards.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1440p with this combo?

A: Across all four settings, the average FPS ranges from 74 (Ultra) to 175 (Low). High settings deliver 106 FPS, and Medium delivers 135 FPS. All 1440p configurations exceed 60 FPS, making 1440p the sweet spot for this pairing.

Q: Is the i5-12400F competitive with other CPUs near its performance tier?

A: The i5-12400F has an average benchmark score of 19039, placing it at the 73rd percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, scores 19047 (0% delta), while the Intel Core 3 201E scores 19056 (-0.1% delta). The Intel Core i5-1335U scores 18982 (0.3% delta), and the AMD EPYC 7773X scores 18979 (0.3% delta).

Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM on the RTX 3080 Ti matter for Evolve?

A: With a 384-bit memory bus and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth, the 12 GB GDDR6X frame buffer is far beyond what Evolve requires. Even at 4K Ultra, the game does not approach this capacity, so VRAM is not a limiting factor in any measured configuration.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing for Evolve, and its specifications explain why. Built on the GA102 chip with 10,240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output pipelines, the GPU offers massive parallel throughput. Its 34.10 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 532.8 GTexel/s texture rate are more than adequate for a game from 2015, which explains why even 4K Medium stays above 77 FPS.

The memory subsystem is equally robust. With 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, the card delivers 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. Evolve's textures and geometry, designed for the hardware of its era, are unlikely to stress this bandwidth. The 1,365 MHz base clock and 1,665 MHz boost clock provide the raw clock speed needed to sustain high frame rates, and the card's 186.5 GPixel/s pixel rate ensures efficient rasterization at 4K.

The GPU's benchmark profile further contextualizes its performance. Its PassMark G3D score of 26,896 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5,077 place it in the 83rd percentile among all GPUs. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 170,037 and Vulkan score of 192,697 show strong API-level performance. However, the nearest rivals tell an interesting story: the RTX 3080 Ti's average benchmark score of 41,187 is only 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 (40,870), and it is 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA Tesla M40 (41,897). The upcoming RTX 5070 trails by 2% (40,377), suggesting the 3080 Ti still holds its own against newer hardware.

The measured FPS data confirms that the GPU is the primary driver of performance differences. The scaling from 1080p to 4K follows a consistent pattern across all settings—roughly a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 43% drop from 1440p to 4K. This mathematical consistency is the hallmark of a GPU-bound scenario, where the CPU has enough headroom to feed the graphics card without becoming a constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows its highest performance ceiling. Low settings produce an average of 261 FPS, which is the single highest measured result in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 202 FPS average with a minimum of 172 and maximum of 232. High settings produce 158 FPS average, and Ultra settings drop to 110 FPS average. All 1080p configurations exceed 100 FPS, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected GPU load increase. Low settings average 175 FPS, Medium averages 135 FPS (with a 115–156 range), High averages 106 FPS, and Ultra averages 74 FPS. Every 1440p configuration maintains an average above 60 FPS, with even the most demanding Ultra preset staying 14 FPS above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium settings' minimum of 115 FPS ensures no noticeable frame drops during intense combat.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limits become apparent. Low settings average 99 FPS, which is still highly playable. Medium settings average 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS, providing a smooth experience with minor dips. High settings sit exactly at 60 FPS average, which is acceptable but leaves no headroom for demanding scenes. Ultra settings fall to 42 FPS average, which is below the playable threshold for most users and indicates that this preset is not viable at 4K with this hardware.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones with complete min/max data, and they reveal consistent frame pacing. At 1080p, the spread between min and max is 60 FPS (172 to 232), at 1440p it is 41 FPS (115 to 156), and at 4K it is 23 FPS (66 to 89). This narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is working closer to its limits, reducing the variance between heavy and light scenes.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F plays a supporting role in Evolve, but it is by no means a weak link. With six cores and twelve threads, the CPU offers solid multi-threaded performance that exceeds what most 2015-era games can utilize. Its 2.50 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and physics calculations. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency during gameplay.

The CPU's benchmark scores confirm its capability. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12,380 and single-core score of 1,680 show balanced performance. The Geekbench multi-core score of 9,472 and single-core score of 1,964 further validate this. The PassMark multi-thread score of 19,433 and single-thread score of 3,481 indicate that the CPU can handle both parallel workloads and latency-sensitive tasks. Its 3DMark 16-thread score of 5,895 and max-thread score of 5,912 show that adding threads beyond 12 yields minimal gains, which is typical for gaming workloads.

The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs places it in the upper tier of processors, and its nearest rivals are all within 0.3% of its average benchmark score of 19,039. The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS matches it at 19,047, the Intel Core 3 201E is at 19,056, the Intel Core i5-1335U is at 18,982, and the AMD EPYC 7773X is at 18,979. This tight grouping suggests that the i5-12400F is well-positioned for gaming, where its architectural efficiency compensates for having fewer cores than high-end server chips.

In Evolve specifically, the CPU's role becomes apparent at 1080p Low where the combo hits 261 FPS. This result, combined with the 3DMark single-thread score of 909, suggests that the CPU's per-core performance is the limiting factor at that extreme frame rate. However, at 1440p and 4K, the GPU takes over as the bottleneck, and the CPU has ample headroom. The 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node make this an efficient choice, though power consumption is not a primary concern for gaming performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data points to Medium settings as the best overall experience for this combo, particularly at higher resolutions. At 4K Medium, the combo delivers 77 FPS average with a 66 FPS minimum, providing a smooth experience with minimal dips. This is a 28% improvement over High settings at the same resolution (77 vs 60 FPS) and a 45% improvement over Ultra (77 vs 42 FPS). The min FPS of 66 ensures that even the most demanding scenes stay above the 60 FPS threshold, which is the standard for smooth gameplay.

At 1440p, High settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 106 FPS average is well above the 60 FPS threshold, and the jump from Medium to High costs only 29 FPS (135 to 106), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 32 FPS (106 to 74). For users prioritizing visual fidelity, Ultra at 1440p is still viable at 74 FPS average, making it the only resolution where Ultra is fully playable.

At 1080p, the choice depends on the user's display refresh rate. For 144 Hz monitors, High settings at 158 FPS average are ideal, as they exceed the refresh rate while maintaining visual quality. For 240 Hz monitors, Low settings at 261 FPS average are the only configuration that fully utilizes the display's potential. Medium settings at 202 FPS average are a strong middle ground for 200 Hz or higher displays, though the 172 FPS minimum could cause occasional dips below the refresh rate.

For users prioritizing a locked 60 FPS experience, 4K High is the highest quality setting that achieves exactly 60 FPS average, though it lacks headroom. 4K Medium is the safer choice, providing 17 FPS of headroom above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution above 1080p, as it produces 74 FPS at 1440p and 42 FPS at 4K—the latter being the only unplayable result in the dataset. Overall, the data indicates that this combo is best utilized at 1440p with High settings, or at 4K with Medium settings, depending on whether resolution or visual detail is the higher priority.