Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, presents an interesting scaling challenge for the Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050. The benchmark data shows a system that is clearly capable of high refresh rates at mainstream resolutions but hits a hard wall at 4K, where the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The measured frame rates reveal a predictable pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, with the performance gap between settings narrowing at higher pixel counts, indicating a shift from a CPU-bound scenario at 1080p to a heavily GPU-bound one at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and clearly illustrates the GPU’s workload limits. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 169 FPS at 1920x1080 to 113 FPS at 2560x1440, a 33% reduction, and then plummets to 64 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 62% total drop from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is even more pronounced at High settings, where the average goes from 103 FPS at 1080p to 69 FPS at 1440p (a 33% drop) and then to 39 FPS at 4K, a 62% drop from the 1080p baseline. The data indicates that the RTX 5050’s 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory interface are simply not sufficient to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher visual fidelity.

The pattern is consistent across all presets, with the steepest decline occurring between 1440p and 4K. For instance, at Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 88 at 2560x1440 to 50 at 3840x2160, a 43% decrease, while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is only 33% (from 131 to 88 FPS). This non-linear scaling suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become critical bottlenecks at 4K. The performance at 4K Ultra is particularly telling, with an average of just 27 FPS, which is nearly unplayable for a fast-paced FPS. This confirms that the limiting component at 4K is unequivocally the graphics card, not the CPU, which has ample headroom at that resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050’s specifications directly explain its performance characteristics in Evolve. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, the bandwidth is capped at 320.0 GB/s. This is a modest figure for 4K gaming, where large texture sets and high-resolution buffers demand significant memory throughput. The GPU’s boost clock of 2572 MHz and base clock of 2317 MHz provide the raw compute power, with an FP32 performance of 13.17 TFLOPS. However, the 32 ROPs are a limiting factor for pixel fill rate, which is critical at higher resolutions. The pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s is insufficient to keep up with the demands of 4K rendering at high quality settings, as evidenced by the sub-40 FPS averages at 4K High and 4K Ultra.

The RTX 5050’s benchmark scores reflect its mid-range positioning. Its Passmark G3D score of 17326 places it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, which it trails by 1.6%. This indicates that while it is a capable 1080p and 1440p card, it is not designed for 4K gaming. The VRAM capacity of 8 GB is also a concern for modern titles, but in Evolve, it appears sufficient at 1080p and 1440p, where the card delivers strong results. The data suggests that the GPU is the primary performance limiter at 4K, while at lower resolutions, the CPU can push the GPU to its limits.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal balance of visual quality and performance is achieved at Medium settings for 1080p and 1440p gaming. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset yields an average of 131 FPS with a minimum of 111 FPS, providing a smooth and responsive experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays. Moving up to High settings at 1080p still offers a very playable 103 FPS average, but the jump to Ultra drops the average to 71 FPS, which is a significant cost for the visual fidelity gain. The data shows that the jump from Medium to High at 1080p costs 28 FPS (a 21% reduction), while the jump from High to Ultra costs 32 FPS (a 31% reduction), making Ultra a less efficient choice.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, delivering an average of 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS. This is the highest preset that maintains a consistent frame rate above 75 FPS. High settings at 1440p drop to an average of 69 FPS, which is still playable but may not be ideal for competitive play. The Ultra preset at 1440p is not recommended, as the 48 FPS average falls below the desired 60 FPS threshold. For 4K, no preset provides a truly smooth experience. The Low preset at 3840x2160 averages 64 FPS, which is technically playable, but the visual compromises are substantial. The Medium preset at 4K, with an average of 50 FPS and a minimum of 42 FPS, is borderline and may be acceptable for less demanding players. The data indicates that the best experience is unequivocally at 1080p or 1440p with Medium settings, where the system maintains high frame rates with good visual quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5050 and i5-13400F combination shows strong performance across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 169 FPS, Medium hits 131 FPS (with a minimum of 111 and maximum of 150), High reaches 103 FPS, and Ultra settles at 71 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 58% performance reduction, which is expected as the GPU workload increases. The minimum FPS data for Medium (111 FPS) indicates good frame pacing, with the 1% lows likely staying above the 100 FPS mark, ensuring a smooth experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops are consistent. Low settings average 113 FPS, Medium averages 88 FPS (minimum 75, maximum 101), High averages 69 FPS, and Ultra averages 48 FPS. The data shows that the transition from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 33% of the frame rate at every preset level. The Medium preset at 1440p still provides a very playable experience, while High and Ultra are more demanding. The minimum FPS of 75 at Medium settings is particularly notable, as it suggests that the system can maintain a stable experience even during intense gameplay sequences.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low settings average 64 FPS, Medium averages 50 FPS (minimum 42, maximum 57), High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The performance drops from 1440p to 4K are steep, with the Medium preset losing 43% of its frame rate. The minimum FPS of 42 at 4K Medium indicates that frame times can spike, leading to noticeable stutter. The 4K Ultra result of 27 FPS is essentially unplayable for an FPS, and even the 4K High result of 39 FPS is below the threshold for a smooth experience. The data clearly shows that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combo in Evolve, except at the lowest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination ranks 2269 out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 61st percentile of all systems. This ranking is a reflection of the GPU’s limitations at higher resolutions, which drags down the overall performance metric. The CPU, while not top-tier, is not the limiting factor in this game. The combo’s ranking suggests that it is a mid-pack performer, capable of handling the game well at 1080p and 1440p but falling behind systems with more powerful GPUs at 4K.

The GPU’s individual ranking, at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, is slightly higher than the combo’s overall ranking, indicating that the CPU is holding the system back slightly in some scenarios, or that the game is particularly sensitive to the GPU’s memory bandwidth. The CPU’s percentile ranking is 77th among all CPUs, which is higher than the GPU’s ranking. This suggests that the RTX 5050 is the weaker link in this pairing, and that a more powerful GPU would yield a higher combo ranking. The data indicates that while the i5-13400F provides solid performance, the RTX 5050’s 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit bus prevent it from achieving a higher overall ranking in Evolve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F plays a supporting role in Evolve, providing enough processing power to avoid becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. With 10 cores and 16 threads, it has ample multi-threading capability, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22604 and Passmark multithread score of 25032. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.60 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics. Its Passmark single-thread score of 3634 is solid, and its 3DMark single-thread score of 960 indicates good per-core performance.

The benchmark data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Evolve. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 169 FPS, which is likely near the game’s engine limit or the GPU’s maximum output. The CPU’s performance is sufficient to feed the RTX 5050 at this resolution. The CPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D, with performance deltas of 0% and -0.3% respectively, showing that it is competitive with other mid-range to high-end processors. The CPU’s 20 MB of shared L3 cache is ample for gaming, and its support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory provides flexibility for system builders.

The data shows that the CPU’s role becomes less critical as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is so heavily loaded that the CPU’s performance has little impact on the final frame rate. The 27 FPS average at 4K Ultra is a direct result of the GPU’s pixel throughput and memory bandwidth limitations, not the CPU’s processing power. Ultimately, the i5-13400F is a capable partner for the RTX 5050 in Evolve, ensuring that the GPU is the primary performance determinant at higher resolutions, while providing sufficient headroom to maximize frame rates at 1080p and 1440p.