Evolve

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

The measured FPS data reveals a steep and consistent scaling curve as resolution climbs, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario at higher pixel counts. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 159.7 FPS, but moving to 1440p drops that to 108.2 FPS — a reduction of roughly 32%. Pushing further to 4K yields 59.2 FPS, which is only 37% of the 1080p Low figure. The pattern is even more pronounced at Ultra settings: 67 FPS at 1080p falls to 44.3 FPS at 1440p (a 34% drop), and then to 26.4 FPS at 4K, which is just 39% of the 1080p Ultra number.

This behavior strongly indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti becomes the primary limiter as resolution increases. The RTX 3060 Ti’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory over a 256-bit bus, with 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, is being saturated by the pixel workload at 4K. The fact that the FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly proportional across all settings — High goes from 97.1 to 64.1, Medium from 126.3 to 83.7 — suggests the scaling is driven by raw fill rate and memory bandwidth rather than by any CPU-side bottleneck. At 1080p, the data shows the Intel Core i5-13400F has headroom; the 159.7 FPS Low result is high enough that the CPU’s 10 cores and 16 threads are clearly not the ceiling at lower resolutions.

The 4K results paint a stark picture. Even at Low settings, the combo only manages 59.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold many users consider playable. At High settings, that drops to 38 FPS, and Ultra is nearly unplayable at 26.4 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 4K is a 55% performance penalty — from 59.2 to 26.4 FPS — which is a much larger relative gap than at 1080p, where Low to Ultra spans 159.7 to 67 FPS (a 58% penalty, but with a much higher absolute floor). This widening gap at higher resolutions is a direct consequence of the GPU working harder per frame, with the 3060 Ti’s 16.20 TFLOPS FP32 compute being the limiting factor.

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

The RTX 3060 Ti’s specifications directly explain the observed scaling behavior. With a base clock of 1410 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, the GPU’s 4864 shading units deliver 16.20 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This compute throughput is what drives the 1080p results — the 159.7 FPS Low score indicates that at lower pixel counts, the GPU has ample compute headroom. However, the 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes a concern at 4K, where texture and geometry data for a 2015 FPS like Evolve can exceed what fits comfortably in 8 GB, especially at High or Ultra settings.

The memory subsystem is critical here. The 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth is a mid-range figure by modern standards, and the 4K Ultra result of 26.4 FPS suggests the GPU is starved for memory throughput. The pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 253.1 GTexel/s are also relevant: at 4K, the GPU must process 8.3 million pixels per frame, and the texture rate becomes a bottleneck for games like Evolve that rely on detailed environments. The 152 texture mapping units and 80 ROPs are the physical hardware behind these rates, and they are simply not enough to sustain high frame rates at 4K with Ultra settings.

The 38 RT cores and 152 tensor cores are present on this Ampere GPU, but Evolve, being a 2015 title, does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS in any meaningful way. This means those specialized units are idle, and the game relies entirely on the rasterization pipeline. The result is that the 3060 Ti’s raw raster performance — as measured by its Passmark G3D score of 20349 — is the determining factor. That score places the GPU in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, and the measured FPS data aligns with that mid-range positioning.

FAQ

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

A: 1080p is the only resolution where all settings produce playable frame rates. At 1080p, even Ultra settings yield 67 FPS, while Low reaches 159.7 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 44.3 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold, and at 4K, only Low settings exceed 59.2 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: The loss is roughly one-third across all settings. High settings drop from 97.1 to 64.1 FPS (a 34% reduction), Medium from 126.3 to 83.7 FPS (34%), and Low from 159.7 to 108.2 FPS (32%). Ultra sees the smallest absolute drop but the largest relative one, falling from 67 to 44.3 FPS (34%).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K?

A: The data clearly shows the GPU is the limiting component at 4K. The Intel Core i5-13400F has 10 cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, which is more than sufficient for a 2015 title. The 4K results — 38 FPS at High and 26.4 FPS at Ultra — are far below what the CPU would allow, indicating the RTX 3060 Ti’s 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are the constraints.

Q: What settings are recommended for 1440p gaming?

A: Medium settings at 1440p produce 83.7 FPS, which is the highest frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings at 64.1 FPS are also viable, but Ultra at 44.3 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K at all?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 59.2 FPS. Medium drops to 47.3 FPS, High to 38 FPS, and Ultra to 26.4 FPS. For a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K, this combo is not suitable.

Q: How does the RTX 3060 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in this context?

A: The GPU’s average benchmark score is 25120, which places it 0.2% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700M and 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600. In Evolve, this means the 3060 Ti performs similarly to those cards, with the measured FPS reflecting that mid-range positioning.

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

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest results. Low settings produce 159.7 FPS, Medium 126.3 FPS, High 97.1 FPS, and Ultra 67 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 58% performance penalty, but even the lowest figure (Ultra at 67 FPS) is comfortably above 60 FPS, making 1080p the only resolution where every preset is playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop significantly. Low settings yield 108.2 FPS, Medium 83.7 FPS, High 64.1 FPS, and Ultra 44.3 FPS. The Ultra result is the first sub-60 FPS figure in the dataset, and it signals that 1440p requires settings compromises. Medium at 83.7 FPS is the sweet spot, offering smooth gameplay while maintaining visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, the results are marginal. Low settings produce 59.2 FPS, barely above the 60 FPS line. Medium drops to 47.3 FPS, High to 38 FPS, and Ultra to 26.4 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 32.8 FPS, which is the largest absolute spread across any resolution, confirming that the GPU is severely taxed at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure of 26.4 FPS is the lowest measurement in the entire dataset, and it represents just 16.5% of the 1080p Low peak of 159.7 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ranks 1221 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. That places it in the bottom 28% of all configurations, which is a surprising result given the individual component benchmarks. The CPU ranks in the 82nd percentile of all processors, and the GPU ranks in the 69th percentile, yet the combo’s in-game performance is lower than those percentile rankings would suggest.

This discrepancy indicates that Evolve’s engine does not scale well with the modern hardware configuration. The game, released in 2015, likely does not utilize the 10-core, 16-thread layout of the i5-13400F effectively, and the RTX 3060 Ti’s advanced features (such as RT cores and tensor cores) are irrelevant to a game that predates ray tracing. The combo rank of 1221 out of 1695 suggests that many older or lower-end configurations can match or exceed this pairing in Evolve specifically. The CPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13620H, has an average score of 25201, which is 0.1% higher, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D is 0.5% higher at 25365 — these marginal CPU differences are unlikely to affect Evolve’s frame rates, reinforcing that the GPU is the deciding factor in this game’s performance.

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 pairing, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. This is a Raptor Lake-S architecture processor built on Intel’s 10 nm process, featuring a 20 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong — Cinebench R23 multicore reaches 21279, and single-core is 3004 — but these numbers are largely irrelevant for Evolve’s performance at higher resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU’s headroom is evident. The 159.7 FPS Low result suggests the processor can feed the GPU with enough data to maintain high frame rates. However, the fact that FPS drops so dramatically at 1440p and 4K — while the CPU’s workload remains relatively constant — proves that the i5-13400F is not the limiting factor. The CPU’s 82nd percentile ranking among all processors means it outperforms the vast majority of CPUs, but Evolve simply does not demand that much processing power. The game’s 2015 release date means it was designed for quad-core CPUs, so the i5-13400F’s additional cores and threads provide no tangible benefit in this title.

The CPU’s memory support for DDR4 and DDR5, with dual-channel configuration, is also not a factor in Evolve’s results. The measured FPS data shows no evidence of a CPU bottleneck at any resolution — the scaling curves are smooth and consistent, which is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario. In short, the i5-13400F is more than adequate for Evolve, and its performance is effectively wasted on this older title.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For a 1080p display, all settings are viable, but Medium at 126.3 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate headroom. High at 97.1 FPS is also excellent, and even Ultra at 67 FPS is playable. The data suggests that 1080p Medium or High provides a smooth experience with room to spare for any frame rate fluctuations.

At 1440p, Medium is the clear recommendation. At 83.7 FPS, it delivers a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining decent visual fidelity. High at 64.1 FPS is acceptable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, and Ultra at 44.3 FPS is not recommended for any competitive or fast-paced gameplay. Low at 108.2 FPS is an option for players who prioritize frame rate above all else, but the visual compromise is significant.

For 4K, the only playable option is Low at 59.2 FPS, which is marginal. Medium at 47.3 FPS and High at 38 FPS are both below the 60 FPS line, and Ultra at 26.4 FPS is effectively a slideshow. Given this data, 4K gaming with this combo is not recommended unless the player is willing to accept sub-60 FPS frame rates at Low settings. The overall best experience across all resolutions is 1080p Medium, which delivers 126.3 FPS — a strong balance of performance and visual quality that maximizes the combo’s capabilities without pushing the GPU into its degradation zone.