Evolve

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers a commanding performance profile in Evolve, a 2015 FPS title. The benchmark data shows a configuration that is heavily GPU-limited at high resolutions, yet capable of exploiting the CPU's strong single-thread performance at lower settings. The measured results indicate this combo ranks in the top tier of all tested configurations, making it a robust choice for high-refresh-rate 1080p and smooth 4K gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and reveals a clear shift in system bottleneck. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 188 FPS at 1920x1080 to 124.2 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of approximately 34%. Moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160) brings the average down to 71.4 FPS, another 42% decrease. This progressive decline indicates that while the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The scaling pattern is consistent with a game that is not heavily multithreaded; the i5-12600KF's high boost clock of 4.90 GHz keeps the frame rates high at 1080p, but the sheer pixel throughput demanded at 4K overwhelms the GPU.

The scaling at Ultra settings is even more pronounced. The average FPS at 4K Ultra is 52, compared to 129 at 1080p Ultra. This is a 60% performance drop, demonstrating that the most demanding settings place an enormous load on the graphics card. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is also notable: 116.6 FPS versus 52 FPS. This large gap suggests that the game's Ultra preset introduces effects that are particularly taxing on the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth, rather than the CPU. In contrast, the scaling from 1080p Low to 1080p Ultra shows a smaller relative drop (310.2 to 129 FPS), but the absolute numbers confirm that the GPU is the primary constraint even at lower resolutions when settings are maxed out. The data clearly indicates that for this combo, resolution scaling is a pure GPU exercise; the CPU has ample headroom to keep up.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications align with the observed performance. With 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, the card provides 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth. This is crucial for Evolve's high-resolution textures and effects, as the game’s 2015 release predates the massive VRAM requirements of modern titles, but the bandwidth ensures no stuttering or texture pop-in at 4K. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective, which supports the high frame rates seen at 1440p Medium (159.3 FPS) and 4K Low (116.6 FPS).

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial: 8448 shading units, 264 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, paired with a boost clock of 2610 MHz. These specs drive the FP32 performance of 44.10 TFLOPS, which explains the card's ability to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra (52 FPS) where the pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s is fully utilized. The card's 285 W TDP and triple-slot design are consistent with its high-end positioning, but the benchmark results show it is not thermal-throttled in this test scenario. The GPU's percentile ranking of 86 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48704, places it well above the RTX A2000 (47915) and slightly below the CMP 50HX (49071), confirming its role as a high-tier performer. In Evolve, the GPU's strength is most evident in the 4K High result of 71.4 FPS, which is a very strong outcome for a title from this era, indicating that the card is not just fast but also efficient at handling legacy workloads.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1695 tested combos in the database, this configuration of the i5-12600KF and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER holds the 197th position. This rank places it in the top 12% of all systems tested, a strong showing that reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU. The combo rank is particularly impressive given that the CPU itself sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 86th percentile. The alignment of these two high-performing components ensures that neither is a significant weak link in most scenarios.

The CPU's nearest rivals provide context for its contribution. The i5-12600KF has an average benchmark score of 27827, which is essentially tied with the Intel Core i9-10900K (27829, 0% delta) and the Intel Core i5-12600K (27851, -0.1% delta). This means the 12600KF is performing at parity with its direct sibling and the previous generation's flagship, which confirms the efficiency of the Alder Lake architecture. The data does not indicate that the CPU is holding the combo back; rather, it is the GPU that determines the upper bounds of performance in Evolve, as evidenced by the resolution scaling data. The combo's rank of 197 suggests that while there are 196 faster systems, many of those likely feature higher-tier GPUs like the RTX 4090, leaving this pairing as a very capable high-end option for 1440p and 4K gaming.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo is exceptionally fast: Low settings produce an average of 310.2 FPS, Medium 242.5 FPS, High 188 FPS, and Ultra 129 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium is a 22% drop, while the jump from High to Ultra is a 31% drop, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces significant GPU load. Even at 1080p Ultra, the frame rate of 129 FPS is well above the refresh rate of most monitors, making this resolution a non-issue for the hardware.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable. Low settings hit 206.7 FPS, Medium 159.3 FPS, High 124.2 FPS, and Ultra 85.7 FPS. The transition from High to Ultra at 1440p shows a 31% performance hit, similar to the pattern at 1080p, but the absolute numbers still allow for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate 1440p panels. The 1440p High result of 124.2 FPS is particularly strong, suggesting that this is the "sweet spot" for competitive play with high visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the data shows the GPU's limits. Low settings yield 116.6 FPS, Medium 91.5 FPS, High 71.4 FPS, and Ultra drops to 52 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS, while not hitting 60 FPS, is still within the range of what many consider acceptable for a single-player experience, especially for a game from 2015. The scaling from 1440p High (124.2 FPS) to 4K High (71.4 FPS) is a 42% drop, which is expected given the 2.25x increase in pixel count. This confirms that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized at this resolution.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF plays a supporting role in this configuration, but its specifications ensure that it does not bottleneck the GPU. With 10 cores and 16 threads based on the Alder Lake architecture, the CPU has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. The boost clock is critical for Evolve, as the game's engine is likely sensitive to single-thread performance. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 1016 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3309 indicate strong per-core performance, which translates to high frame rates at 1080p where the CPU is more involved.

The CPU's cache hierarchy, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache, provides ample storage for game data. The dual-channel memory support for DDR4 and DDR5 allows for flexible system configurations, though the benchmark data does not specify which memory type was used. The CPU's 3DMark 16-thread score of 7956 and max-thread score of 7952 show that multithreaded performance is consistent, but the 2-thread score of 1995 and 4-thread score of 3806 reveal that the CPU is not heavily reliant on core count for gaming. This is corroborated by the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 333, which is modest compared to the multicore score of 2363, highlighting that Evolve does not scale well with additional cores.

The CPU's nearest rivals confirm its positioning. The i5-12600KF's average benchmark score of 27827 is nearly identical to the i9-10900K (27829) and i5-12600K (27851), with a negligible delta of -0.1% against the latter. This means that the 12600KF offers performance on par with the previous generation's 10-core flagship, despite having fewer cores (10 vs 10, but with a different core architecture). The comparison to the Intel Core i7-13700H (27716, 0.4% delta) also shows that the desktop 12600KF edges out a mobile 14-core part, which is impressive given the power constraints. In Evolve, the CPU's role is to maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions, which it does admirably, as evidenced by the 310.2 FPS average at 1080p Low. The data shows that the CPU is not a bottleneck until the GPU is pushed to its limits at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 52 FPS, a figure that is still CPU-limited only in the sense that the GPU cannot keep up with the rendering demands.