Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti produces a distinctive performance curve in Evolve, one that shifts from being entirely GPU-bound at high resolutions to exhibiting a more balanced load at 1080p. The measured data provides a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies under different settings and resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the expected inverse relationship, but the magnitude of the drop varies significantly depending on the quality preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 306.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 124.3 FPS at 3840x2160, a reduction of roughly 59%. This steep decline indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the dominant limiting factor when pixel count quadruples.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. Here, performance drops from 138.1 FPS at 1080p to 51.6 FPS at 4K, a 63% decrease. The High preset shows a similar trend, moving from 194.3 FPS at 1080p down to 75.3 FPS at 4K. Interestingly, the Medium preset exhibits the smallest relative decline, going from 245.5 FPS to 93.7 FPS, a 62% reduction. These consistent percentage drops across all presets strongly suggest that the RTX 5070 Ti is the primary constraint throughout the resolution range tested.

The data indicates that at 1080p with Low settings, the 306.5 FPS figure approaches the practical ceiling where the i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads might begin to influence the result. However, the fact that even at 4K Ultra the system maintains 51.6 FPS shows that the combination never becomes completely CPU-starved, as the frame rate continues to scale predictably with pixel count.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this specific CPU-GPU pairing achieves a combo rank of 159 out of 1695 tested combinations in Evolve. This places it in roughly the top 9.4% of all configurations, indicating a strong overall match for this game. The percentile positioning reflects the balance between the i5-12400F's processing power and the RTX 5070 Ti's rendering capabilities.

The CPU itself sits at the 77th percentile when compared against all processors, with an average benchmark score of 19221. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i7-8700K, which scores 19210 (a 0.1% difference), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS at 19364 (0.7% higher). The Intel Core i5-1335U is also close at 19167, just 0.3% lower. These tight margins show that the 12400F's performance is well-established and consistent with other mid-range options in synthetic tests.

For the GPU, the RTX 5070 Ti ranks at the 87th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 52086. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, which scores 52085, a negligible 0% difference. The AMD Radeon RX 7700S comes in at 52505, 0.8% higher, while the NVIDIA RTX A1000 trails at 50826, 2.5% lower. This positioning suggests the GPU is a top-tier performer, which helps explain why the combo ranks so highly in Evolve.

GPU Role

The RTX 5070 Ti brings substantial resources to bear on Evolve's rendering load. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for the game's texture and geometry demands. The 8960 shading units and 280 texture mapping units give it the raw throughput needed to maintain the high frame rates observed across all presets.

Clock speeds play a notable role in the performance deltas seen between settings. The base clock of 2295 MHz and boost clock of 2452 MHz allow the GPU to scale its output based on thermal and power headroom. The 43.94 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 686.6 GTexel/s texture rate directly support the pixel fill rates required at 4K resolution, where 75.3 FPS on High settings demonstrates the card's ability to handle high pixel counts without throttling.

The GPU's benchmark results reinforce its strong positioning. Its Passmark G3D score of 32974 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604 place it in the 87th percentile overall. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 231226 further confirms its compute capabilities. These scores align with the measured FPS results, showing that the GPU consistently delivers high performance across both synthetic and real-world workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5070 Ti delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 306.5 FPS, Medium reaches 245.5 FPS, High achieves 194.3 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 138.1 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the GPU is rarely the limiting factor, and the frame rates are high enough to fully utilize any modern high-refresh-rate monitor.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains strong but shows the expected drop from the increased pixel count. Low settings still deliver 217.8 FPS, Medium hits 164.5 FPS, High reaches 133 FPS, and Ultra falls to 87.9 FPS. The 1440p results show that the combo can comfortably handle high-refresh-rate gaming even at the Ultra preset, with the 87.9 FPS figure still well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to feel the pressure of rendering four times the pixels of 1080p. Low settings produce 124.3 FPS, Medium drops to 93.7 FPS, High yields 75.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 51.6 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured figure that dips below 60 FPS, suggesting that players targeting 60 FPS at 4K should consider the High preset, which provides a comfortable 75.3 FPS margin.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Evolve?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 provides the best balance, with High settings delivering 133 FPS and Ultra still achieving 87.9 FPS. At 1080p, even Ultra hits 138.1 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate displays, while 4K Ultra drops to 51.6 FPS, which may require lowering settings.

Q: How does the RTX 5070 Ti compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5070 Ti scores 52086 on average, which is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 at 52085, a 0% difference. The AMD Radeon RX 7700S is 0.8% higher at 52505, while the NVIDIA RTX A1000 is 2.5% lower at 50826.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-12400F a bottleneck for this GPU in Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 159 out of 1695 tested combinations, suggesting a strong match. At 1080p Low, the 306.5 FPS result approaches the CPU's limit, but the frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU remains the primary constraint across most settings.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with High settings?

A: The measured data shows 133 FPS at 2560x1440 with High settings. This is a 31% drop from the 194.3 FPS seen at 1080p High, but still provides a smooth experience for fast-paced FPS gameplay.

Q: How much performance is lost when going from Low to Ultra at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 124.3 FPS while Ultra drops to 51.6 FPS, a reduction of 72.6 FPS or 58.5%. This highlights the significant cost of Ultra-quality shadows and effects at high pixel counts.

Q: Does the CPU's single-thread performance support high frame rates?

A: The i5-12400F scores 2332 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is respectable for the 77th percentile. The 306.5 FPS at 1080p Low indicates the single-thread performance is sufficient for most gameplay scenarios in Evolve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F provides the processing foundation for this combo. Its 6 cores and 12 threads operate at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost up to 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core. This configuration delivers strong multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518.

In single-threaded workloads, the CPU achieves 2332 in Cinebench R23 and 909 in 3DMark single-thread tests. These scores are important for Evolve, as the game's physics and AI calculations often rely heavily on single-core performance. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1699 and 4-thread score of 3067 show that the CPU scales well with additional threads, which is beneficial for the game's engine that can utilize multiple cores.

The CPU's benchmark results place it at the 77th percentile overall, with its average score of 19221 closely matching the Intel Core i7-8700K at 19210. This near-identical performance to an older high-end chip indicates that the 12400F offers competitive processing power for newer titles. The Passmark multithread score of 19433 and physics score of 1202 further confirm its capability to handle the computational demands of modern FPS games.

Given that Evolve was released in 2015, the i5-12400F's modern architecture provides ample headroom for the game's engine. The 18 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, while the dual-channel memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 offers flexibility. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking and consistent benchmark scores suggest that it is not the limiting factor in this combo, as the GPU's 87th percentile ranking indicates the graphics card is the stronger component in most scenarios.