Evolve

The data for Evolve pairs the Intel Core i5-14600K with the AMD Radeon RX 570, yielding a combo that sits near the very bottom of all tested configurations for this FPS title. The i5-14600K is a high-end desktop processor (90th percentile among all CPUs), while the RX 570 is a mid-range graphics card from the Polaris family (74th percentile). Despite the CPU's strength, the measured framerates across all resolutions and settings are dominated by the GPU's capabilities, as the scaling patterns show a nearly linear relationship with pixel count. This analysis breaks down the impact of each component, provides exact measured FPS values for all resolution/setting combinations, and explains where this pairing stands among 3,700 tested combos.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a steep drop in average FPS as resolution increases from 1080p to 1440p and then to 4K. At High settings, the average drops from 47 FPS at 1920x1080 to 31 FPS at 2560x1440 (a 34% reduction) and to 18 FPS at 3840x2160 (a 42% reduction from 1440p, and 62% from 1080p). This scaling closely mirrors the pixel count difference: 4K has exactly four times as many pixels as 1080p, and the FPS falls to about 38% of the 1080p value (18/47 = 0.38), which is close to the theoretical 1/4. Similarly, at Low settings the 1080p average is 77 FPS, dropping to 52 at 1440p (68% of original) and to 29 at 4K (38% of original). The pattern across all quality presets is consistent: framerate scales almost linearly with pixel count.

This linear scaling indicates the system is firmly GPU-bound at every resolution. If the central processor were throttling performance, we would expect the higher resolutions (which stress the GPU more) to show similar or identical FPS to 1080p, but that is not the case. Instead, the GPU's compute units and memory bandwidth become the limiting factor as resolution increases. The RX 570 offers 224 GB/s of memory bandwidth and a pixel fill rate of 39.81 GPixel/s, but at 4K the sheer number of fragments and texture samples overwhelms it, causing single-digit framerates under Ultra (12 FPS). The scaling behaviour proves that the i5-14600K – even with its 20 threads – is not a bottleneck in this title; the GPU workload is the primary constraint.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz. It delivers 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture fill rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. In Evolve, the memory capacity and bandwidth appear sufficient for the 1080p High preset (47 FPS) and even the 1440p High preset (31 FPS), but the card begins to struggle when, at 4K with Ultra settings, only 12 FPS is achieved. The 4GB VRAM may also contribute to the low Ultra framerates because texture data at Ultra quality exceeds the available memory, forcing paging; however, the linear scaling across resolutions suggests compute and pixel output, not just capacity, are the bottlenecks. The RX 570's average benchmark score of 28,766 places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, but its nearest rivals – such as the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (average score 28,874, delta -0.4%) – are similarly positioned. The card's true limitation is its raw compute and memory bandwidth, which are comparatively modest for 4K gaming.

The GPU also lacks ray tracing and advanced features, but those are irrelevant for Evolve, a 2015 title. The DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3 support are present, but the Polaris architecture does not shine in modern titles. The measured results indicate that the RX 570 is the top barrier to performance; the CPU's high frequency cannot compensate for the GPU's slowdown at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a Raptor Lake Refresh class processor with 14 physical cores (6 performance and 8 efficiency) and 20 threads, a base clock of 3.50 GHz, and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its L3 cache is 24 MB shared. The chip's synthetic benchmarks show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24,491 and a single-core score of 2,064; it also achieves a Geekbench multi-core of 16,673 and a single-core of 2,491. With a percentile of 90 across all CPUs, it is a very powerful processor. However, in Evolve, the framerates are entirely GPU-bound as the scaling indicates. The only scenario where CPU matters could be at 1080p Low, where the 77 FPS average suggests the GPU is not fully saturated, but the CPU is more than capable of handling that workload.

The CPU's high single-thread and multi-thread performance would not be the cause of any FPS loss. Even the most demanding settings at 1080p Ultra, which shows 32 FPS, is far below the CPU's potential. The absence of a CPU - recorded frame time data, but we can infer that the i5-14600K would have little issue feeding the GPU at 1080p. The CPU's a no limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The table below lists all measured average FPS (and min/max where available) for each resolution and settings preset.

| Resolution | Settings | Avg FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|------------|----------|----------|---------|---------|

| 1920x1080 | High | 47 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 77 | – | – |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 60 | 51 | 69 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 32 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | High | 31 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 52 | – | – |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 40 | 34 | 46 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 22 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | High | 18 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 29 | – | – |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 23 | 19 | 26 |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 12 | – | – |

The data reveals a pattern: at 1080p, all settings except Ultra and High exceed 60 FPS, with Low at 77 and Medium at 60 (the latter has a min/max of 51-69). At 1440p, only Low reaches 52 FPS, while Medium is 40, High 31, and Ultra 22. At 4K, the best frame rate is Low at 29 FPS, and High is 18, Medium 23, and Ultra only 12 FPS. The standouts include the smoother-than-expected 4K Low (29 FPS, which is close to the 1440p High cost) and the fact that Medium’s frametimes are recorded – the min/max. Across all resolutions, Ultra causes a severe drop, indicating that the GPU's texture and shading load is not manageable at that preset.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of 3,700 tested combos for Evolve, this specific pairing of i5-14600K and RX 570 ranks 3,545th. In other words, over 3,500 combinations achieve a faster average framerate in Evolve, placing this setup in the bottom 4% of tested hardware. That rank is indicative of the GPU’s weakness, as the CPU sits in the top 10% of all CPUs. The delta between the i5-14600K and its nearest rivals—the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (average score 48,698, delta -0.2%), AMD EPYC 4345P (48,470, delta +0.3%), Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48,287, delta -0.7%), and Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (48,995, delta +0.3%)—in gameness negligible, but the GPU's strive, the RX 570 has a performance score of 28,766 and is 74th percentile, which when multiplied with the CPU still yields a ranking over 3,500.

Essentially, the combo’s numeric ranking shows that the RX 570 is severely underpowered for Evolve’s demands, and the CPU cannot compensate. For any gamer expecting a playable experience at 4K, this combination, based on the measured data, is far behind most alternatives; the data suggests that a more capable GPU would raise the combo’s rank substantially since the CPU is already performing at 90% of the possible CPU framing.

Settings Recommendations

To achieve a smooth, playable experience in Evolve, the target of at least 60 frames per second (FPS) is considered the baseline for action FPS. Based on the measured preset rows: only two setting/resolution combinations hit an average of 60 FPS or higher: 1080p Low and 1080p Medium. At 1080p Low, the average is 64% higher than the 1440p Low (77 vs 52) and well above the 60 threshold. 1080p Medium is exactly 60 average, with a minimum of 51 FPS – slightly below the target in some scenes but still acceptable.

Given that, the recommendation is to run Evolve at 512x1080 with either Low or Medium settings. The Low preset delivers stability with no much headroom, while Medium degrades about 15% of frames but still the average hits 60. For players using a 160p monitor, the only way to reach above 50 FPS is choosing Low (52 FPS), while 1440p Medium falls to 40 FPS. At 4K, none of the settings bought 30 FPS and so should be avoided. If the goal is maximum visual theatre without dipping below an acceptable 30 FPS, the 1440p Ultra 22 FPS is poor; High at 1440p provides 31 FPS which may be borderline. Thus the sharpest balance between quality and performance is 381x1080 Medium, which yields an average 60 FPS and a minimum of 51 FPS. That preset offers a strong visual fidelity while holding 60 most of the time.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-14600K strong enough for gaming?

A: Yes. It is in the 90th percentile of all CPUs with a single-core score of 2,064 in Cinebench R23 and a multi-core score of 24,491. Its high frequencies and 14 cores mean it is not a performance bottleneck in a modern overload as Evolve.

Q: Does the RX 570 have enough VRAM for Evolve at 4K?

A: The card has 4 GB of GDDR5 VRan and a memory bus width of 256 bits delivering 224 GB/s. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 9 Low 29, suggesting the memory capacity is not the sole limit; the compute and fill rate of the Polaris 20 chip are insufficient.

Q: What is the best resolution to play Evolve with this combo to get 60 FPS?

A: Only 1080p Low (avg 77 FPS) and 1080p Medium (avg 60 FPS) meet the 60 FPS threshold. 1440p Low is 52 FPS, and 4K is below 30 FPS in all settings.

Q: Why does the FPS drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The framerate drops about 4.3x from 1080p to 4K (the pixel count is 4 times) because the RX 570 becomes the dominant limiting factor. The GPU, with 2,048 shading units and 32 ROPs, cannot keep up its pixel- and texture-fill rates at higher resolutions.

Q: How does this combo compare to others in the database?

A: It ranks #3,545 out of 3,700 combos, placing it in the bottom 3 of the pack. This is a low ranking due to the GPU's relative weakness, despite the CPU being in the 94th percentile.

Q: What setting gives with the smootest frame times?

A: The medium preset at 1080p has a measured min of 51 and max of 69, giving a narrow frame pacing. In contrast, the Low setting has no min/max data, but its averages are higher. Medium at 1080p is the best compromise for both a high average and consistent frame delay.