Evolve

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti delivers a playable but resolution-sensitive experience in Evolve. Benchmark data shows this combination is firmly positioned in the mid-range percentile of tested hardware, with a combo rank of 1462 out of 1695 configurations. The system demonstrates a clear performance hierarchy across resolution and settings, with the GTX 1660 Ti acting as the primary constraint at higher resolutions while the i5-14400F provides ample headroom for the game's computational demands.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 127.4 FPS, which drops to 84.4 FPS at 1440p and further down to 47.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that pixel throughput is the dominant limiting factor rather than CPU performance.

When examining Ultra settings, the scaling becomes even more pronounced. The system delivers 53.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra, falls to 35.7 FPS at 1440p Ultra, and bottoms out at 22.5 FPS at 4K Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is substantial—47.6 FPS versus 22.5 FPS—suggesting that the GTX 1660 Ti's memory bandwidth and shading capacity are overwhelmed by the combination of high resolution and intensive graphical effects.

Interesting behavior emerges when comparing Medium and High settings across resolutions. At 1080p, the difference is 95.7 FPS versus 78.6 FPS (a 17.9% drop for High), while at 4K the gap narrows to 39.1 FPS versus 27.2 FPS (a 30.4% drop). This widening relative gap at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU's 6 GB VRAM and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth become progressively more strained as pixel count increases, making the cost of each additional graphical effect more expensive in relative terms.

The data indicates that the i5-14400F, with its 10 cores and 16 threads, is not the bottleneck in this configuration. Even at 1080p Low where the GPU is least stressed, the system reaches 127.4 FPS, which is well within the range where CPU overhead would typically become visible if it were constrained. The CPU's strong single-thread performance (3093 in Cinebench R23 single-core) and high multi-core throughput (21914 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) suggest it can comfortably feed the GTX 1660 Ti across all tested scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings/resolution combination for smooth gameplay?

A: The data shows 1080p Medium provides 95.7 FPS, which offers a balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. For higher refresh rates, 1080p Low reaches 127.4 FPS, while 1440p Low still delivers a respectable 84.4 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Evolve?

A: At 4K, the system achieves 47.6 FPS on Low settings and 27.2 FPS on High. Ultra settings drop to 22.5 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB VRAM and 192-bit memory bus are insufficient for demanding 4K configurations.

Q: How does the GTX 1660 Ti compare to similar GPUs in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 12871 places it at the 55th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, scores 13871, representing a 0.4% difference. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile is 0.8% behind at 13821, showing very tight competition in this performance tier.

Q: Is the i5-14400F a strong match for this GPU?

A: The CPU sits at the 88th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 32508. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-12800H, scores 32513 (0% difference), while the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 is 0.2% ahead. This places the processor well above the GPU's relative standing, suggesting it will not limit gaming performance.

Q: What causes the large FPS drop between Medium and Ultra at 4K?

A: At 4K, Medium delivers 39.1 FPS while Ultra drops to 22.5 FPS—a 42.5% reduction. This steep decline indicates that Ultra settings introduce effects that heavily tax the GPU's 1536 shading units and 48 ROPs, particularly at pixel densities where fill rate becomes critical.

Q: Does the CPU's cache configuration influence these results?

A: The i5-14400F features 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 per core. Given that the system maintains high frame rates at 1080p Low (127.4 FPS), the cache hierarchy appears sufficient for Evolve's working set, with no evidence of CPU-side stalls limiting performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti functions as the definitive performance limiter in this configuration. Its Turing architecture, built on TSMC's 12 nm process with 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die, provides 5.437 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The GPU's base clock of 1500 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz deliver a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s, figures that are directly reflected in the measured frame rates.

Memory configuration plays a critical role in the resolution scaling observed. The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 12 Gbps effective across a 192-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. At 1080p, this bandwidth proves adequate, as evidenced by the 127.4 FPS ceiling at Low settings. However, the jump to 1440p and 4K increases memory pressure substantially. The 53.9 FPS at 1080p Ultra versus 35.7 FPS at 1440p Ultra represents a 33.8% drop, while the 4K results show the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory subsystem hitting their practical limits.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark profile reinforces its mid-range positioning. Its Passmark G3D score of 12871 corresponds to the 55th percentile of all GPUs, while its DirectX 12 score of 51 and DirectX 11 score of 103 indicate moderate API efficiency. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 60863 and Vulkan score of 58014 show the compute capabilities that support Evolve's particle effects and physics simulation. With a 120 W TDP and a suggested 300 W PSU, the GTX 1660 Ti operates within a power envelope that allows the i5-14400F's 65 W TDP to share thermal headroom in most systems.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of 1695 tested combinations, this i5-14400F + GTX 1660 Ti pairing ranks 1462nd specifically for Evolve. This places it in the 13.7th percentile of all tested combos, indicating that a substantial majority of configurations outperform it in this particular title. The ranking reflects the GTX 1660 Ti's age and mid-range positioning rather than any deficiency in the CPU.

The CPU's individual standing (88th percentile of all CPUs) contrasts sharply with the GPU's (55th percentile), creating an imbalanced pairing where the processor has significantly more headroom than the graphics card can utilize. This imbalance becomes evident in the resolution scaling: the system's performance drops are consistent with GPU limitations across all settings, with the CPU never appearing to constrain results. The combo rank is thus primarily determined by GPU capability, and users seeking higher rankings in Evolve would benefit more from a GPU upgrade than a CPU swap.

Comparing to the GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the GTX 1660 Ti sits within 0.8% of the AMD Radeon RX 570X and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile. The NVIDIA Tesla K10 is 0.7% ahead, while the GeForce GTX 680 is 0.8% behind. These tight margins suggest that any of these GPUs would produce similar Evolve performance, keeping the combo ranking within the same broad tier.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 127.4 FPS average
• Medium: 95.7 FPS average
• High: 78.6 FPS average
• Ultra: 53.9 FPS average

At 1080p, the system demonstrates its maximum capability. Low settings produce frame rates suitable for high-refresh monitors, while Medium and High remain comfortably playable. Ultra settings drop below 60 FPS but remain within a playable range for most users. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 57.7% reduction in frame rate, highlighting the substantial cost of graphical effects at this resolution.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 84.4 FPS average
• Medium: 63.7 FPS average
• High: 53.2 FPS average
• Ultra: 35.7 FPS average

Moving to 1440p, the system remains viable for Medium settings, which deliver 63.7 FPS. Low settings still exceed 80 FPS, providing a smooth experience for competitive play. High settings fall to 53.2 FPS, approaching the threshold where frame pacing becomes noticeable. Ultra at 35.7 FPS is marginal, with the GPU's pixel rate and memory bandwidth clearly insufficient for sustained high-quality rendering.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 47.6 FPS average
• Medium: 39.1 FPS average
• High: 27.2 FPS average
• Ultra: 22.5 FPS average

At 4K, the GTX 1660 Ti is overwhelmed. Even Low settings only produce 47.6 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target most users expect. Medium drops to 39.1 FPS, and High falls to 27.2 FPS. Ultra at 22.5 FPS is effectively unplayable for action sequences, though it may suffice for slower exploration. The data clearly shows that 4K is not a viable resolution for this combination under any settings in Evolve.

The measured FPS values across all resolutions and settings reveal a consistent pattern: the system is GPU-limited at every configuration tested, with the i5-14400F providing sufficient computational headroom to avoid becoming a bottleneck. Users targeting 60 FPS should stay at 1080p with Medium or High settings, while those with 1440p displays can achieve playable results at Medium or Low. The 4K results serve primarily as a demonstration of the GTX 1660 Ti's limitations rather than a practical gaming configuration.