Evolve

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates for Evolve with the Intel Core i5-13400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB show a predictable and steep decline as resolution climbs, but the shape of that curve tells a clear story about where the bottleneck sits. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo averages 194 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 130 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 74 FPS, which is 62% below the 1080p Low figure. That is a heavy hit for a single resolution step from 1440p to 4K, and it strongly indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The pattern is consistent across settings. At Medium, 1080p delivers 151 FPS, 1440p drops to 101 FPS, and 4K falls to 57 FPS. The 1440p-to-4K transition again costs roughly 44% of the frame rate. At High, the numbers are 118 FPS at 1080p, 79 FPS at 1440p, and 45 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K High is 62%, identical to the Low setting percentage. At Ultra, 1080p manages 82 FPS, 1440p drops to 55 FPS, and 4K bottoms out at 31 FPS — a 62% loss from 1080p to 4K as well. The consistency of that 62% reduction across all four settings is remarkable and points to a purely resolution-bound workload.

What this means in practice: the CPU is not being stressed by resolution changes. If the processor were the constraint, we would expect the FPS to stay relatively flat as resolution increases, with only a modest decline. Instead, the frame rate halves or worse when going from 1080p to 4K, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The Radeon RX 9060 XT is doing all the heavy lifting for pixel throughput, and its 322.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 128-bit bus are what limit it at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM is also a factor at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 31 suggests the card is running out of both compute and memory headroom.

At 1080p, the combo is clearly capable of very high frame rates, especially at Low (194 FPS) and Medium (151 FPS). Even at High, 118 FPS is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play. The real-world takeaway is that this pairing is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Evolve, with 4K reserved for Low or Medium settings if playable frame rates are the goal. The data shows no min FPS values for Low, High, or Ultra at any resolution, but the Medium setting provides both min and max FPS at all three resolutions, giving a window into frame pacing: at 4K Medium, the range is 49 to 66 FPS, which shows the card can dip below 50 FPS under load.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-13400F brings 10 cores and 16 threads to the table, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This is a Raptor Lake-S part built on Intel's 10 nm process, and it sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs by average benchmark score. For a 2015 FPS title like Evolve, the CPU is rarely the limiting factor, and the measured results support that: the frame rate scaling with resolution is almost entirely GPU-driven, as detailed above.

That said, the CPU's raw compute headroom is substantial. In Cinebench R23, the i5-13400F scores 22,604 points in multi-core and 3,191 in single-core. Geekbench shows 11,068 multi-core and 1,996 single-core. The 3DMark results are also informative: 7,314 with 16 threads, 5,591 with 8 threads, 3,459 with 4 threads, 1,880 with 2 threads, and 960 single-thread. The scaling from 2 to 16 threads is nearly linear, which indicates the CPU is well-balanced for multithreaded workloads, but Evolve from 2015 is unlikely to use all 16 threads effectively. The game's engine was designed for the hardware of its era, so the i5-13400F has more than enough single-thread and multi-thread muscle to avoid bottlenecking the GPU at any resolution tested.

The CPU's memory support includes both DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel configuration, and it uses PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes from the CPU. The L3 cache is 20 MB shared. These specifications are not directly measured in the FPS data, but they contribute to the system's overall ability to feed the GPU without stalling. The CPU's TDP is 65 W, which is modest, and the launch MSRP was $196. None of these numbers appear in the FPS measurements, but they contextualize why the CPU is not the performance ceiling here.

Benchmark comparisons place the i5-13400F in the same ballpark as several other CPUs: the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS scores 25,284 (0% delta), the Intel Core 5 120 scores 25,362 (-0.3%), the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D scores 25,365 (-0.3%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H scores 25,201 (+0.4%). The i5-13400F's average benchmark score is 25,292. This means the CPU is effectively tied with those rivals in general compute, so any FPS differences in Evolve would come from the GPU, not the processor.

The single-thread performance, measured by 3DMark at 960 and PassMark at 3,634, is more than adequate for a game that was designed for quad-core CPUs from a decade ago. Even with the game's potential CPU-bound moments, such as large monster fights or heavy particle effects, the i5-13400F's boost clock of 4.60 GHz ensures that single-core workloads are handled quickly. The data shows no evidence of CPU-induced frame drops at any resolution, as the FPS reductions align perfectly with resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

In the database of tested CPU-GPU combinations for Evolve, this specific pairing ranks 1,890 out of 3,700 combos. That places it in the 51st percentile of all tested configurations — squarely in the middle of the pack. This is a notable result because the GPU itself, the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB, sits at only the 24th percentile of all GPUs by average benchmark score, and its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark list are integrated or very old discrete parts like the Intel HD Graphics 630 and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M.

The combination's mid-pack ranking suggests that the CPU is helping to lift the overall performance above what the GPU alone would suggest. The i5-13400F's 77th percentile CPU ranking is much higher than the GPU's 24th percentile, so the combo benefits from a strong processor that can keep the GPU fed at lower resolutions. However, at 4K, the GPU's limitations dominate, and the combo's ranking likely drops relative to configurations with stronger GPUs.

Looking at the GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark data: the Intel HD Graphics 630 scores 4,075 (0.4% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M scores 4,151 (-1.4%), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M scores 4,033 (1.5%), and the AMD Radeon R5 M330 scores 4,170 (-1.8%). The RX 9060 XT's average GPU benchmark score is 4,093 from a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. These rivals are all far less capable than the RX 9060 XT in real gaming scenarios, but the benchmark scores are close because the Steel Nomad test is a modern, heavy workload that even the RX 9060 XT struggles with — it only ranks in the 24th percentile.

The combo rank of 1,890 out of 3,700 means that a majority of tested combos perform better or similarly, but many of those combos likely use much more powerful GPUs. For a mid-range pairing, the rank is reasonable. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p, the combo can exceed 100 FPS on Medium and High settings, which is competitive for esports-style play. At 1440p, it still delivers playable frame rates on Medium and High. The rank reflects that this is not a top-tier combo, but it is far from the bottom.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data covers four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) across three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160). Here is the full breakdown, with exact averages and, where available, min and max values.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 194 FPS average
• Medium: 151 FPS average, with min 128 and max 173
• High: 118 FPS average
• Ultra: 82 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 130 FPS average
• Medium: 101 FPS average, with min 86 and max 116
• High: 79 FPS average
• Ultra: 55 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 74 FPS average
• Medium: 57 FPS average, with min 49 and max 66
• High: 45 FPS average
• Ultra: 31 FPS average

The Medium setting is the only one with min and max FPS recorded at all three resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate ranges from 128 to 173, which is a 45 FPS spread — indicating some variance but still a smooth experience. At 1440p Medium, the range is 86 to 116, a 30 FPS spread. At 4K Medium, the range is 49 to 66, a 17 FPS spread. As resolution increases, the frame time variance narrows, which is typical when the GPU becomes the bottleneck and the CPU has less influence on frame pacing.

The delta between settings at each resolution is also telling. At 1080p, going from Low to Medium costs 43 FPS (194 to 151), Medium to High costs 33 FPS (151 to 118), and High to Ultra costs 36 FPS (118 to 82). At 1440p, the deltas are 29 FPS (Low to Medium), 22 FPS (Medium to High), and 24 FPS (High to Ultra). At 4K, the deltas are 17 FPS (Low to Medium), 12 FPS (Medium to High), and 14 FPS (High to Ultra). The cost of each settings step shrinks as resolution rises, because the GPU is already saturated and additional graphical features have less marginal impact on pixel throughput.

The Low-to-Ultra delta at each resolution is: 112 FPS at 1080p (194 to 82), 75 FPS at 1440p (130 to 55), and 43 FPS at 4K (74 to 31). This shows that at 1080p, the GPU has enough headroom to render higher settings with a large FPS penalty, while at 4K, the GPU is so constrained that even the jump from Low to Ultra only costs 43 FPS, but the absolute frame rates are low.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is built on the Navi 44 chip using RDNA 4.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process. The die is 199 mm² with 29,700 million transistors, giving a transistor density of 149.2M per mm². The GPU has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, 64 raster operation units, and 32 ray tracing cores. Its base clock is 1700 MHz, with a boost clock of 3130 MHz and a game clock of 2530 MHz. Memory runs at 2518 MHz, or 20.1 Gbps effective, across an 8 GB GDDR6 bus that is 128 bits wide, yielding 322.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

The data shows that the GPU is the primary limiter at higher resolutions. The 128-bit memory bus is narrow for a modern GPU, and 322.3 GB/s is modest for 4K workloads. The 8 GB VRAM is also a constraint at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS of 31 suggests the card is swapping or stalling due to memory capacity. In a 2015 game like Evolve, texture sizes are not as large as modern titles, but 4K Ultra can still exceed 8 GB of VRAM usage in some scenarios.

The GPU's pixel rate is 200.3 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 400.6 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is 25.64 TFLOPS, with FP16 at the same figure (1:1 ratio). These numbers indicate a mid-range card that is strong at 1080p and acceptable at 1440p, but struggles at 4K. The measured FPS data confirms this: at 1080p Low, the card pushes 194 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it drops to 31 FPS. The card's TDP is 150 W, it uses a single 8-pin power connector, and the suggested PSU is 450 W. It is a dual-slot card with PCIe 5.0 x16 interface and outputs include one HDMI 2.1b and two DisplayPort 2.1a.

The GPU's benchmark score from 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 is 4,093, which places it in the 24th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in benchmark scores are the Intel HD Graphics 630, NVIDIA Quadro K2100M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M, and AMD Radeon R5 M330 — all far less capable in real gaming. This low percentile is likely because the Steel Nomad test is a modern, heavy load that the RX 9060 XT's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit bus cannot handle well. In Evolve, the card performs better than that benchmark suggests, but the 4K results still show its limits.

The GPU's boost clock of 3130 MHz is high, indicating that thermals and power delivery are not the primary constraints at 1080p, where the card can hit 194 FPS. At 4K, the clock speed is less relevant because the card is bandwidth-bound. The game clock of 2530 MHz is likely the sustained clock under load, and that is sufficient for 1440p Medium and High. The data shows no signs of thermal throttling, as the FPS scales linearly with resolution and settings.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Evolve with this combo?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1080p is the sweet spot. At Medium settings, the combo averages 151 FPS, and even at High it hits 118 FPS. At 1440p, Medium delivers 101 FPS and High 79 FPS, which is also playable. 4K is only viable at Low (74 FPS) or Medium (57 FPS), with High dropping to 45 FPS and Ultra to 31 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The FPS drops by 62% from 1080p to 4K across all settings, which is a classic GPU-bound pattern. The CPU, with a 77th percentile ranking and strong single-thread scores, is not limiting performance in Evolve.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RX 9060 XT scores 4,093 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals are the Intel HD Graphics 630 (4,075, 0.4% delta), NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (4,151, -1.4% delta), NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M (4,033, 1.5% delta), and AMD Radeon R5 M330 (4,170, -1.8% delta). These are all much weaker GPUs in real gaming, indicating the benchmark score understates the card's actual gaming capability.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested CPU-GPU combinations for Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 1,890 out of 3,700 tested combinations, placing it in the 51st percentile. This is a mid-pack result, reflecting that the GPU is not a high-end part but the CPU helps lift overall performance.

Q: How much FPS do you lose going from Low to Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the drop from Low (194 FPS) to Ultra (82 FPS) is 112 FPS. At 1440p, the drop is 75 FPS (130 to 55). At 4K, the drop is 43 FPS (74 to 31). The absolute loss shrinks as resolution increases because the GPU becomes more constrained.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM enough for Evolve at 4K?

A: The data suggests it is barely enough. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 31, which is below the playable threshold for most users. At 4K Medium, the min FPS is 49, indicating the card is close to VRAM limits. For smooth 4K play, Low or Medium settings are recommended.