Evolve

The Intel Core i5-14400F and AMD Radeon RX 9070 combination delivers a starkly contrasting performance profile in Evolve, heavily dependent on resolution and graphics presets. The data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at 4K, yet shifts toward a more balanced load at 1080p, where the CPU’s capabilities become increasingly relevant. This pairing offers a wide operational envelope, from high-refresh-rate 1080p gaming to playable 4K, but the performance scaling is neither linear nor uniform across settings tiers.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K illustrates a classic GPU-bound scenario, with the most dramatic drop occurring at the highest visual fidelity settings. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 105.5 FPS at 1920x1080 to 67.7 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 42 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 60% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the Radeon RX 9070’s rendering pipeline is the primary constraint at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern changes significantly when examining Low settings. Here, the frame rate only drops from 244.9 FPS at 1080p to 166.7 FPS at 1440p and 96.8 FPS at 4K—a 60% decrease that is more gradual in absolute terms but still substantial. This suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU remains the bottleneck, though the margin narrows considerably at 1080p where the Core i5-14400F’s 10 cores and 16 threads can push frame rates to nearly 245 FPS.

The Medium and High presets occupy the middle ground, with 4K performance at 72.5 FPS and 54.3 FPS respectively. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings shows a 48% drop (from 103.6 FPS to 54.3 FPS), which is the steepest relative decline across all settings. This nonlinear behavior indicates that the RDNA 4.0 architecture, with its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth, handles intermediate resolutions efficiently but struggles to maintain throughput as pixel count approaches 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the playable frame rate at 4K with this combination?

A: The data shows playable performance at 4K only with lower settings. At Medium settings, the average is 72.5 FPS, and at Low settings, it reaches 96.8 FPS. However, High settings drop to 54.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 42 FPS, which may be below the threshold for smooth competitive play.

Q: How does the CPU influence performance at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Core i5-14400F becomes more influential. The difference between Low (244.9 FPS) and Ultra (105.5 FPS) settings is 139.4 FPS, a spread that indicates the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently at lower resolutions but the GPU still limits peak output. The CPU’s Raptor Lake architecture with a 4.70 GHz boost clock keeps up with the GPU’s demands.

Q: Is this combo better suited for high refresh rate or high fidelity gaming?

A: Benchmark results indicate a strong bias toward high refresh rate at 1080p. With 191.1 FPS at Medium and 152.9 FPS at High settings, the combination excels in competitive scenarios. For high fidelity, 4K Ultra at 42 FPS is not viable for smooth gameplay, making this pairing more appropriate for esports or high-refresh 1440p gaming.

Q: What causes the large performance gap between Low and Ultra settings?

A: The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 139.4 FPS difference, which is primarily due to the GPU’s shading workload. The RX 9070 has 3,584 shading units and 128 ROPs, and increasing settings from Low to Ultra proportionally increases pixel and texture processing demands, overwhelming the GPU’s compute throughput.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM capacity provide any advantage in this game?

A: Evolve is a 2015 title, and the 16 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is far beyond what the game can utilize. The memory bandwidth of 644.6 GB/s is more relevant, as it ensures texture streaming and buffer management are never a bottleneck, even at 4K, where the GPU’s compute limits are the primary constraint.

Q: How does this combo compare to the GPU’s standalone benchmark percentile?

A: The RX 9070 sits in the 79th percentile among all GPUs, while the Core i5-14400F ranks in the 88th percentile among CPUs. The game’s measured results show the combo outperforming the GPU’s percentile ranking, suggesting the CPU is not a limiting factor in most scenarios tested.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly correlate with the measured frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1330 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a game clock of 2070 MHz that represents typical sustained performance. These clocks, combined with 3,584 shading units and 224 texture mapping units, produce a pixel rate of 322.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 564.5 GTexel/s.

The memory subsystem is equally critical. The 16 GB GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 644.6 GB/s of bandwidth, which is essential for maintaining consistent frame pacing at 4K resolutions. The FP32 compute throughput of 36.13 TFLOPS is substantial, but Evolve’s rendering workload appears to be more dependent on pixel fill rate and texture bandwidth than raw compute, as evidenced by the steep drop from Medium to Ultra settings at 4K.

The GPU’s DirectX 12 Ultimate API support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility are largely irrelevant for a 2015 title, but the RDNA 4.0 architecture’s efficiency ensures that power draw remains manageable at 220 W TDP. The benchmark data shows that the GPU’s performance ceiling is reached at 4K Ultra, where the 42 FPS average indicates that the rendering pipeline is saturated, not limited by memory capacity or bandwidth.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 244.9 FPS, Medium 191.1 FPS, High 152.9 FPS, and Ultra 105.5 FPS. This represents a smooth scaling curve with diminishing returns as settings increase, suggesting that the CPU’s 4.70 GHz boost clock and 20 MB L3 cache are sufficient to avoid stalling the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but show the GPU’s growing influence. Low settings achieve 166.7 FPS, Medium 125.8 FPS, High 103.6 FPS, and Ultra 67.7 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 99 FPS, compared to 139.4 FPS at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary performance determinant.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Low settings still manage 96.8 FPS, but Medium drops to 72.5 FPS, High to 54.3 FPS, and Ultra to 42 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is now 54.8 FPS, showing that the RX 9070’s compute and memory resources are increasingly stretched. The 4K Ultra result falls below the 60 FPS threshold commonly associated with smooth gameplay, making it unsuitable for demanding play.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination ranks 555th out of 1,695 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the top third of all configurations. This ranking is notable given that the CPU and GPU individually sit at the 88th and 79th percentiles among their respective component classes. The game’s measured data suggests that the pairing is well-balanced, with neither component severely bottlenecking the other across most tested scenarios.

The ranking position is likely influenced by the game’s age and its moderate system requirements. The Core i5-14400F’s Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21,914 and single-core score of 3,093 demonstrate strong computational ability, but Evolve does not heavily leverage multi-threading. Similarly, the RX 9070’s Passmark G3D score of 25,381 is substantial, yet the game’s 2015-era rendering techniques may not fully utilize the RDNA 4.0 architecture’s advanced features.

Relative to other tested combos, this pairing excels at 1080p and 1440p, where its performance is competitive with configurations featuring higher-tier CPUs. The 4K results are less impressive, but still place the combo in a favorable position given the GPU’s price-to-performance characteristics. The data indicates that for players prioritizing high frame rates at mainstream resolutions, this combination offers a robust experience that ranks well within the broader database.