Evolve

# Evolve with Intel Core i5-13400F + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a playable but not exceptional Evolve experience, ranking 1720th out of 3700 tested combos. This places the combination in the 47th percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly half of all configurations perform better and half worse. The data reveals a system that can handle 1080p and 1440p gaming comfortably, but struggles to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K with higher settings. The measured results show a clear pattern: the RX 7700's 16 GB of VRAM and the i5-13400F's 10 cores provide enough headroom for most scenarios, yet the Ultra preset consistently pushes the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data strongly suggests that Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 156 FPS average, which is 54 FPS higher than High settings (122 FPS) and 71 FPS above Ultra (85 FPS). The Medium preset at 1080p also shows a minimum of 133 FPS and maximum of 179 FPS, indicating consistent frame pacing with no severe dips. This contrasts with the Ultra setting, which lacks min/max data but drops to 85 FPS average — still playable but significantly less smooth for a fast-paced FPS.

At 1440p, Medium again emerges as the sweet spot with 105 FPS average, while High drops to 82 FPS and Ultra falls to 57 FPS. The Medium setting at 1440p maintains a minimum of 89 FPS and maximum of 120 FPS, which keeps the experience above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. For 4K gaming, Medium is the only viable preset for smooth gameplay, producing 60 FPS average with min/max of 51/68 FPS. High at 4K drops to 47 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower games but is marginal for an FPS title.

Low settings provide the highest frame rates — 201 FPS at 1080p, 135 FPS at 1440p, and 77 FPS at 4K — but the visual compromise is substantial. Given that Medium at 1440p achieves 105 FPS and at 1080p reaches 156 FPS, players with 144Hz or 165Hz monitors should prioritize Medium for the best experience. The data implies that the RX 7700's 16 GB VRAM is sufficient even at Ultra settings (the GPU has 16 GB GDDR6), but the processing power becomes the limiting factor at higher presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1720th out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 54th percentile of all configurations. This mid-pack positioning suggests that while the system is competent, it does not excel in this particular game. The CPU alone sits in the 77th percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 25292, while the GPU ranks in the 58th percentile with an average benchmark score of 15852. The GPU's lower percentile ranking compared to the CPU indicates that the graphics card is more likely to be the bottleneck in Evolve.

The combo's ranking becomes more meaningful when examining the nearest rivals. The CPU's nearest competitor, the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS, has an average score of 25284 — essentially identical with a 0% delta. The Intel Core 5 120 (25362, -0.3% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365, -0.3% delta) perform within a fraction of a percent, showing that the i5-13400F is well-matched against these alternatives. The AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (25201, +0.4% delta) trails slightly. For the GPU, the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, -0.1% delta) is nearly identical, while the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, -1% delta) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, -1.7% delta) outperform the RX 7700 by 1-2%.

These delta values suggest that in Evolve, the i5-13400F performs at parity with its direct competitors, but the RX 7700 sits at a slight disadvantage compared to some alternatives like the RTX 3060 Ti. The combination's overall rank of 1720/3700 reflects this mixed picture — the CPU's strong multi-threaded performance (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604) cannot fully compensate for the GPU's mid-tier positioning.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is generous for a game released in 2015 like Evolve, and the 16 GB capacity is unlikely to be a limiting factor at any resolution. The GPU's clock speeds include a base of 1900 MHz, a game clock of 2041 MHz, and a boost clock of 2459 MHz, with memory running at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective). These specifications translate to 25.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is substantial for a mid-range graphics card.

The measured FPS data reveals how the GPU's performance scales with settings. At 1080p, the RX 7700 moves from 201 FPS at Low to 156 FPS at Medium, 122 FPS at High, and 85 FPS at Ultra — a drop of 42% from Low to Ultra. At 1440p, the progression is 135 FPS (Low), 105 FPS (Medium), 82 FPS (High), and 57 FPS (Ultra), representing a 58% drop from Low to Ultra. At 4K, the GPU produces 77 FPS at Low, 60 FPS at Medium, 47 FPS at High, and 32 FPS at Ultra — a 58% reduction from Low to Ultra.

The 16 GB VRAM allocation means texture quality and memory-intensive settings do not cause stuttering or texture pop-in, as evidenced by the consistent min FPS values at Medium settings across all resolutions. However, the GPU's raw compute power (25.18 TFLOPS) becomes the constraint at Ultra settings, particularly at 4K where the 32 FPS average indicates the graphics card is overwhelmed. The GPU's 96 ROPs and 160 TMUs provide adequate pixel and texture throughput for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra scenario exceeds what this card can deliver smoothly.

FAQ

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

A: Medium settings provide the best experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 156 FPS average (133 min, 179 max), at 1440p it achieves 105 FPS (89 min, 120 max), and at 4K it maintains 60 FPS (51 min, 68 max). These frame rates keep gameplay smooth while offering better visuals than Low.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested configurations?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F + AMD Radeon RX 7700 ranks 1720th out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 54th percentile. This is a mid-pack ranking, indicating the system performs adequately but does not stand out among other tested hardware combinations.

Q: Is the 16 GB VRAM on the RX 7700 sufficient for Evolve at 4K?

A: The 16 GB GDDR6 memory is more than sufficient for Evolve, even at 4K Ultra settings. The VRAM capacity is not the limiting factor — the GPU's compute power (25.18 TFLOPS) is what constrains performance, as shown by the 32 FPS average at 4K Ultra versus 60 FPS at 4K Medium.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-13400F has an average benchmark score of 25292, which is within 0.4% of its nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS scores 25284 (0% delta), the Intel Core 5 120 scores 25362 (-0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25365 (-0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H scores 25201 (+0.4%). This indicates the CPU performs at parity with these alternatives.

Q: What frame rates can be expected at 1440p with High settings?

A: At 1440p with High settings, the combo produces 82 FPS average. This is playable but noticeably lower than the 105 FPS achieved at Medium settings. For competitive play, Medium would be recommended, while High offers acceptable performance for casual gaming.

Q: Does the GPU outperform or underperform compared to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852. It slightly underperforms the AMD Radeon RX 9060 (16014, -1% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129, -1.7% delta), while performing nearly identically to the AMD Radeon R9 370X (15862, -0.1%). The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15679, +1.1%) trails slightly behind.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how performance scales as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the frame rates progress from 156 FPS at 1080p to 105 FPS at 1440p to 60 FPS at 4K — representing a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 43% drop from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline indicates that the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed as pixel count rises, with the 4K resolution pushing the RX 7700 to its limits.

For High settings, the progression is 122 FPS (1080p) → 82 FPS (1440p) → 47 FPS (4K), showing a 33% drop to 1440p and a 43% drop to 4K. Low settings follow a similar pattern: 201 FPS → 135 FPS → 77 FPS, with the same proportional decreases. Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling: 85 FPS (1080p) → 57 FPS (1440p) → 32 FPS (4K), representing a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 44% reduction from 1440p to 4K.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings presets (approximately 33% from 1080p to 1440p, and 43-44% from 1440p to 4K) suggest that the GPU is the primary limiting component in this system. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller differences between resolutions at lower settings where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the data shows that even at Low settings, the 4K frame rate (77 FPS) is less than half of the 1080p performance (201 FPS), confirming that the RX 7700's processing power, not the CPU, determines the scaling behavior.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, with 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 1.25 MB of L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604 and a single-core score of 3191, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of Evolve, the CPU's performance is more than adequate. The game was released in 2015 and does not require the latest multi-threading capabilities. The i5-13400F's 16 threads provide ample headroom for game logic, physics, and AI processing. The single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 960, Cinebench R15 single-core score of 321) ensures that the game's primary thread — which is typically the bottleneck in older titles — runs efficiently. The boost clock of 4.60 GHz delivers strong single-core performance, as evidenced by the Geekbench single-core score of 1996.

The CPU's 10 cores and 16 threads also help maintain consistent frame times in Evolve, particularly in scenarios with many enemies or complex environmental interactions. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 7314 and max-thread score of 7307 indicate that the CPU scales well with multi-threaded workloads, while the 2-thread score of 1880 and 4-thread score of 3459 show competent performance for older games that may not utilize many cores. The CPU's benchmark parity with rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (-0.3% delta) confirms that it is not a weak link in this combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings achieve 201 FPS average, Medium reaches 156 FPS with a minimum of 133 FPS and maximum of 179 FPS, High delivers 122 FPS, and Ultra drops to 85 FPS. The 1080p results show that Medium settings provide a 34 FPS advantage over High and a 71 FPS advantage over Ultra, making Medium the clear choice for high-refresh-rate displays.

At 2560x1440, performance scales down proportionally. Low settings deliver 135 FPS average, Medium produces 105 FPS (89 min, 120 max), High reaches 82 FPS, and Ultra falls to 57 FPS. The 1440p Medium result of 105 FPS remains above 100 FPS, which is suitable for most gaming monitors, while High at 82 FPS is still respectable. Ultra at 57 FPS dips below 60 FPS, making it less ideal for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. Low settings achieve 77 FPS average, Medium produces 60 FPS (51 min, 68 max), High drops to 47 FPS, and Ultra falls to 32 FPS. The 4K Medium result of 60 FPS is exactly at the threshold for smooth gameplay, but the minimum of 51 FPS indicates occasional dips that may be noticeable. High at 47 FPS is playable but not ideal for an FPS, while Ultra at 32 FPS is only suitable for screenshots or non-competitive play.

The data across all resolutions and settings reveals a consistent pattern: Medium settings offer the best balance of frame rate and visual quality, with 60 FPS or higher achievable at every resolution. The RX 7700's 16 GB VRAM ensures that memory is never a constraint, but the GPU's compute performance limits Ultra settings to 1080p and 1440p gaming. The i5-13400F provides sufficient CPU performance to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at any resolution, as evidenced by the proportional scaling between resolutions. For players seeking the smoothest experience, Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p are recommended, while 4K gaming is viable only at Medium or lower presets.