Evolve

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER is a well-balanced combination for Evolve, but the data shows that settings management is critical to achieving a smooth experience. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 121.7 FPS, which is more than sufficient for fast-paced FPS action, while the Medium preset still provides a very playable 96.6 FPS. The High preset drops to 78.2 FPS, which is acceptable for most users, but the Ultra preset falls to 53.1 FPS, highlighting a significant performance cost for marginal visual gains. Given that the GTX 1660 SUPER is a 1080p-class card, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, keeping the average FPS well above the 60 FPS threshold without the steep penalty seen at Ultra.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combination, the sweet spot is the Medium preset at 1920x1080, which produces an average of 96.6 FPS. This setting provides a substantial 43% performance uplift over High (78.2 FPS) while only sacrificing a moderate amount of visual quality. The Low preset, at 121.7 FPS, is ideal for competitive play where maximum frame rates are prioritized, but the visual downgrade is noticeable. The Ultra preset, at 53.1 FPS, should be avoided because it drops below the 60 FPS mark, and the data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at this setting. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 61.4 FPS, which is borderline for a smooth experience, so users with 1440p monitors should stick to Low (82.7 FPS) or High (50.5 FPS) depending on their tolerance for frame rate versus detail. For 4K gaming, the data shows that even the Low preset (46.2 FPS) struggles to maintain fluidity, making this resolution unsuitable for this hardware combination.

FAQ

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

A: The data clearly indicates that 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. At 1080p, the average FPS ranges from 53.1 at Ultra to 121.7 at Low, with the Medium preset hitting 96.6 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the best average FPS is 82.7 at Low, while at 3840x2160, even the Low preset only reaches 46.2 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to Medium in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset carries a heavy performance cost. At 1080p, Ultra produces 53.1 FPS, which is 45% lower than the Medium preset's 96.6 FPS. At 1440p, the gap widens: Ultra yields 32.9 FPS compared to Medium's 61.4 FPS. The visual improvement from Medium to Ultra is not proportional to this significant drop in frame rate.

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: No, the benchmark results show this is not viable. At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS recorded is 46.2 at Low settings, which falls below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The High and Ultra presets at 4K produce 29.9 FPS and 21.3 FPS, respectively, which are unplayable for an FPS title.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threading performance relate to the game's demands?

A: The i5-13400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, shows strong synthetic multi-threaded results, scoring 21,279 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 7,314 in 3DMark 16-thread tests. This suggests the CPU has ample headroom for Evolve, which is typical for an FPS title, and the performance bottleneck at higher resolutions is instead on the GPU side.

Q: What does the combo rank indicate about its overall standing?

A: This specific combination ranks 1503 out of 1695 tested combos for Evolve. This places it in the lower portion of the database, indicating that while it is playable at 1080p, there are many other component pairings that achieve higher frame rates in this game.

Q: Is the GTX 1660 SUPER's memory configuration a limitation?

A: The GPU features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Evolve, as evidenced by the playable frame rates at those resolutions, but it is not enough to handle 4K, where frame rates drop dramatically.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and clearly illustrates the GPU's limitations. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 96.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average FPS drops to 61.4, a reduction of 36%. At 4K Medium, the frame rate plummets to 37.6 FPS, which is over 60% lower than the 1080p figure. This pattern is consistent across all settings. For example, at High settings, the FPS goes from 78.2 at 1080p to 50.5 at 1440p and finally 29.9 at 4K. This scaling behavior is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the render resolution increases the pixel count and workload on the graphics card, while the CPU has sufficient headroom to keep up. The GTX 1660 SUPER's 5.027 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K, and the data confirms that this component is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the benchmark database, this CPU and GPU pairing holds a rank of 1503 out of 1695 tested combinations for Evolve. This places it in the 11th percentile of all tested combos, indicating that most other pairings will deliver better performance in this game. The rank is a holistic measure that takes into account all tested settings and resolutions. The CPU itself is a strong performer, sitting in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25,236. It is closely matched with rivals like the Intel Core i7-13620H (deltaPct 0.1) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (deltaPct -0.5). However, the GPU's performance is more modest, placing in the 55th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 14,286. It is nearly identical in performance to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (deltaPct -0.2) and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (deltaPct -0.2). The low combo rank is therefore a direct result of the GPU's mid-tier standing, which drags down what is otherwise a capable CPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F is a Raptor Lake-S architecture processor, fabricated on a 10 nm process. It features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a 20 MB shared L3 cache. In synthetic tests, this CPU shows strong multi-threaded capabilities, scoring 21,279 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 7,307 in 3DMark max threads. The single-threaded performance is also solid, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,004 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 960. These results suggest the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GTX 1660 SUPER in Evolve, as the game's workload is primarily GPU-dependent. The CPU's high clock speeds and 16 threads ensure that it will not be a bottleneck at 1080p, which is confirmed by the consistent frame rates across settings at that resolution. The data points to the GPU as the limiting factor, especially when resolution is increased.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of the combo's performance across all tested configurations.

At 1920x1080, the results are:

• Low: 121.7 FPS
• Medium: 96.6 FPS
• High: 78.2 FPS
• Ultra: 53.1 FPS

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 82.7 FPS
• Medium: 61.4 FPS
• High: 50.5 FPS
• Ultra: 32.9 FPS

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 46.2 FPS
• Medium: 37.6 FPS
• High: 29.9 FPS
• Ultra: 21.3 FPS

The data reveals a consistent pattern where each step up in settings costs a significant number of frames. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium costs 25.1 FPS, while the jump from Medium to High costs another 18.4 FPS. The most dramatic drop is from High to Ultra, which costs 25.1 FPS. This indicates that the Ultra preset is particularly demanding on the GTX 1660 SUPER, and the performance gains from the CPU cannot compensate for the GPU's workload. For users seeking the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p is the only configuration that breaks the 120 FPS barrier, while the Medium preset remains the most balanced choice for a smooth and visually pleasing experience.