Evolve

# Evolve — Intel Core i5-14400F + AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB combination delivers a wide spread of frame rates in Evolve, ranging from 32.5 FPS at 4K Ultra to 195.1 FPS at 1080p Low. This 6x performance gap between the most demanding and least demanding configurations reveals a system that scales significantly with both resolution and preset, but the pattern of scaling suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings while the CPU becomes more relevant at lower resolutions. The combo sits at rank 923 out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is notable given the modern components involved.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a clear and predictable FPS drop as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that drop varies dramatically by preset. At High settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces average FPS from 117.4 to 80.5, a 31.4% decrease, and then to 44.6 at 4K, another 44.6% drop from 1440p. This steep decline at High settings indicates the GPU is heavily taxed at higher resolutions, with the RX 9060 XT's 8 GB frame buffer and 128-bit memory interface struggling to maintain throughput as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

Low settings tell a different story. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 195.1 FPS, which drops to 131.8 at 1440p (a 32.4% reduction) and then to 74.8 at 4K (a 43.2% reduction from 1440p). While the percentage drops are similar to High settings, the absolute headroom at 1080p Low suggests the CPU is capable of pushing well beyond 200 FPS if the GPU could keep up. The fact that 4K Low (74.8 FPS) is still faster than 1080p Ultra (83.4 FPS) by a narrow margin indicates that settings changes have a profound impact on GPU load, possibly more so than resolution changes alone.

Ultra settings expose the GPU's limits most clearly: 83.4 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 32.5 FPS at 4K. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is a 36.5% drop, and from 1440p to 4K is a 38.7% drop. These consistent reductions suggest that at Ultra, the GPU is the sole limiting factor, with the CPU having ample headroom even at 1080p. The data implies that Evolve's Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive at higher pixel counts, likely related to shading complexity or post-processing that scales with resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with a Navi 44 chip manufactured on a 4 nm process at TSMC. Its 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 render output units provide a 25.64 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, which the data suggests is adequate for 1080p gaming but insufficient for 4K Ultra in Evolve. The GPU's boost clock of 3130 MHz and game clock of 2530 MHz indicate a high-frequency design, yet the 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 322.3 GB/s bandwidth, which appears to be a limiting factor at 4K where the frame buffer is stressed.

The memory configuration is particularly telling when examining the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the system produces only 32.5 FPS, which is below playable thresholds for most users. Even at 4K High, the 44.6 FPS result is marginal. The 8 GB capacity is likely insufficient for Evolve's Ultra textures at 4K, causing the GPU to spill over into system memory or reduce effective bandwidth. The 128-bit memory bus, combined with the 8 GB capacity, creates a bandwidth ceiling that becomes apparent as resolution increases, explaining why Low settings at 4K (74.8 FPS) are far more playable than High or Ultra.

The GPU's 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 200.3 GPixel/s, which should theoretically handle 4K at 60 FPS given the pixel count of 8.3 million. However, the measured results show that Evolve's shading workload at High and Ultra exceeds what the 25.64 TFLOPS FP32 compute can sustain at 4K. The 32 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are present, but the game's 2015 release date likely doesn't leverage these features, meaning the traditional rasterization pipeline is the primary workload. The GPU's 150 W TDP and suggested 450 W PSU indicate a power-efficient design, yet the performance at 4K Ultra suggests the architecture prioritizes efficiency over raw throughput in this scenario.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides 10 cores (6 performance and 4 efficient) with 16 threads, running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This Raptor Lake-R architecture chip has 20 MB of L3 cache shared across cores, with 1.25 MB of L2 per core and 80 KB of L1 per core. The CPU's benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21914 and single-core score of 3093, place it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, indicating strong performance for gaming workloads. The PassMark single-thread score of 3723 and multithread score of 25783 further confirm its capability.

In Evolve, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the scaling from 4K to 1080p. At Ultra settings, the FPS increases from 32.5 at 4K to 83.4 at 1080p, a 2.57x improvement that closely tracks the pixel count reduction (4K to 1080p is a 4x pixel reduction, but the FPS gain is less than linear, suggesting some CPU limitation). At Low settings, the jump from 74.8 at 4K to 195.1 at 1080p is 2.61x, which is nearly identical scaling, implying that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck even at 1080p Low. The 195.1 FPS result at 1080p Low indicates the CPU can drive high frame rates, but the fact that it doesn't exceed 200 FPS suggests a ceiling around this range for Evolve's engine.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node make it an efficient choice, and its DDR4/DDR5 memory support with dual-channel configuration provides adequate bandwidth for gaming. The 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes ensure the GPU has full bandwidth for data transfer. When compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-14400F shows a 0% deltaPct against the Intel Core i7-12800H and a 0.2% delta against the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645, indicating performance parity in CPU benchmarks. This suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Evolve for this combo; rather, the GPU's 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus constrain performance at higher resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of running Evolve at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Only at Low settings, where it achieves 74.8 FPS. At Medium it drops to 57 FPS, at High to 44.6 FPS, and at Ultra to 32.5 FPS, making all presets above Low questionable for smooth gameplay at 4K.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: At 1440p, the system achieves 80.5 FPS on High, 99.5 FPS on Medium, and 131.8 FPS on Low, all above 60 FPS. At 1080p, all presets including Ultra (83.4 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, so 1080p Ultra or 1440p High are viable.

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

A: The i5-14400F scores 32508 in average benchmark, which is 0% different from the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513), 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446), and 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (32584) and Intel Core i7-13705H (32586).

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB VRAM cause issues at 4K in Evolve?

A: Yes, the data suggests memory pressure at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of 32.5 FPS is disproportionately low compared to 1080p Ultra (83.4 FPS), indicating the 8 GB capacity on a 128-bit bus struggles with high-resolution textures and effects.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at the same resolution?

A: At 1080p, Low produces 195.1 FPS versus Ultra's 83.4 FPS, a 111.7 FPS difference. At 1440p, the gap is 78.8 FPS (131.8 vs 53), and at 4K, the gap is 42.3 FPS (74.8 vs 32.5).

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Evolve?

A: It ranks 923 out of 1695 total combos, placing it in the 54th percentile. This is a middle-of-the-pack result, reflecting the GPU's limitations at higher settings despite the CPU's strong performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system delivers a full range of presets: Low produces 195.1 FPS, Medium 151.5 FPS, High 117.4 FPS, and Ultra 83.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra shows a 57.2% reduction in frame rate, indicating that Ultra settings impose significant additional GPU load. The 1080p results are all above 60 FPS, making this resolution fully playable across all presets.

At 1440p, the performance drops noticeably: Low yields 131.8 FPS, Medium 99.5 FPS, High 80.5 FPS, and Ultra 53 FPS. The Ultra preset falls below 60 FPS, which is a critical threshold for smooth gameplay. The gap between High and Ultra at 1440p is 27.5 FPS, suggesting that Ultra's additional effects are costly at this resolution.

At 4K, only Low settings (74.8 FPS) remain above 60 FPS. Medium produces 57 FPS, which is borderline, while High (44.6 FPS) and Ultra (32.5 FPS) are below playable thresholds for most users. The 4K results show a clear pattern: the GPU's memory bandwidth and capacity become limiting factors, with the frame rate dropping by 42.3 FPS from Low to Ultra at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution. For 1080p, Ultra settings at 83.4 FPS provide the best visual quality while maintaining smooth frame rates, making this the recommended configuration for users with 1080p displays. The 1080p Medium setting at 151.5 FPS offers a high refresh rate option for competitive play, though the visual difference between Medium and Ultra is substantial given the 68.1 FPS gap.

For 1440p, High settings at 80.5 FPS strike the best balance between visual fidelity and performance. While Medium achieves 99.5 FPS, the jump to High adds significant visual quality with only a 19 FPS penalty. Ultra at 1440p (53 FPS) is not recommended due to the sub-60 FPS result, though users with adaptive sync displays may find it acceptable. The 1440p Low setting (131.8 FPS) is the choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, but the visual compromise is notable.

At 4K, Low settings at 74.8 FPS are the only truly playable option. Medium at 57 FPS is borderline and may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay, but High and Ultra are not viable. Users prioritizing 4K should accept the visual downgrade to Low, as the 32.5 FPS Ultra result is far below any reasonable playability threshold. The data suggests that this combo is not well-suited for 4K gaming in Evolve beyond Low presets.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 923 out of 1695 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the database. This ranking is surprising given the modern components: the CPU's 88th percentile benchmark standing and the GPU's 50th percentile position suggest a mismatch. The CPU is clearly capable, but the GPU's 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus limit performance in this game, particularly at higher resolutions and settings.

The rank implies that many older or less powerful combos outperform this pairing in Evolve, which could be attributed to the game's 2015 release date and its optimization for older hardware. The RX 9060 XT's RDNA 4.0 architecture and 25.64 TFLOPS compute are not fully leveraged by Evolve's engine, which likely favors raw memory bandwidth and capacity over compute throughput. The GPU's 322.3 GB/s bandwidth is moderate, and the 8 GB capacity is below what modern games require at 4K, but Evolve's age means the game may not use the GPU's newer features effectively.

The 1695 total combos indicate a comprehensive testing database, and rank 923 means 772 combos perform worse while 922 perform better. This middle-of-the-pack result suggests that users with this combo should focus on 1080p or 1440p gaming, where the system excels, rather than pushing 4K where the GPU's limitations are exposed. The CPU's strong benchmark scores relative to rivals (0% delta from i7-12800H, 0.2% from Ryzen 5 PRO 7645) confirm that the processor is not the bottleneck; the data consistently points to the GPU as the limiting component in Evolve.