Evolve

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers a high-refresh-rate experience in Evolve, but the data reveals a clear performance ceiling that shifts depending on your target resolution. At 1080p, this combo is heavily CPU-bound at lower settings, while at 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary limiter. The measured FPS rows show a wide spread between presets, making settings selection more impactful than resolution choice in some cases. This analysis breaks down the measured results to show exactly where this combo excels and where it leaves performance on the table.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but consistent with a GPU-heavy title at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 306.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 204.5 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 115.5 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 43% further drop to 4K. The scaling indicates that at Low settings, the RX 7900 XTX still has headroom at 1440p, but 4K Low lands just above the 100 FPS mark, suggesting the GPU is now the bottleneck.

At High settings, the pattern shifts. The combo produces 183.4 FPS at 1080p, 124.8 FPS at 1440p, and 69.8 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 44%, which is larger than the 32% drop from 1080p to 1440p. This confirms that at High preset, the RX 7900 XTX’s 960.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 61.39 TFLOPS compute are being saturated as pixel count increases. The Ultra preset tells a similar story: 128.9 FPS at 1080p, 87.2 FPS at 1440p, and 49.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay on a standard 60 Hz display without adaptive sync.

The limiting component changes based on resolution. At 1080p, the i5-14600K’s single-thread performance — evidenced by its Geekbench single-core score of 2803 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 — appears to cap frame rates at lower settings. At 4K, the GPU’s pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and 192 ROPs become the determining factor. The medium preset at 4K (89.4 FPS) sits between Low and High, showing that the GPU has enough headroom to handle medium settings at 4K, but Ultra pushes it over the edge.

Settings Recommendations

For a 1440p monitor, the Medium preset delivers 157.4 FPS, which is a strong balance of visual quality and frame rate. The High preset at 1440p drops to 124.8 FPS, still smooth but a 21% reduction from Medium. At 4K, Medium is the sweet spot at 89.4 FPS, while High dips to 69.8 FPS — playable but not ideal for competitive play. Ultra at 4K is not recommended, as 49.4 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

For 1080p users, the data shows that even Ultra (128.9 FPS) is plenty for high-refresh-rate monitors. However, the jump from Medium (234 FPS) to High (183.4 FPS) is a 22% loss, and Low (306.7 FPS) offers diminishing returns unless you have a 240 Hz+ display. The measured rows suggest that Medium at 1080p is the most efficient preset, providing 234 FPS without the visual compromise of Low. At 1440p, Medium offers the best experience per the measured rows, as it stays above 144 Hz while maintaining reasonable visual fidelity. For 4K, Medium is the only preset that keeps the average above 85 FPS, making it the clear choice for high-refresh 4K monitors.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo hit 60 FPS at 4K Ultra in Evolve?

A: No. The measured average at 3840x2160 Ultra is 49.4 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS mark. You would need to drop to High (69.8 FPS) or Medium (89.4 FPS) to exceed 60 FPS at 4K.

Q: What is the best preset for 1440p gaming with this setup?

A: Medium provides 157.4 FPS at 2560x1440, which is the highest setting that stays above 144 FPS. High drops to 124.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 87.2 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: The 306.7 FPS result at 1080p Low is unusually high, indicating the i5-14600K’s 5.30 GHz boost clock and 14 cores are sufficient to feed the GPU. The GPU is likely the limiter here, as the RX 7900 XTX’s 6144 shading units are fully utilized.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested systems in Evolve?

A: It ranks 245th out of 1695 tested combos, placing it in the top 15% of all configurations for this game.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: Low produces 204.5 FPS, while Ultra produces 87.2 FPS. That is a 117.3 FPS difference, or a 57% reduction in average frame rate.

Q: Does the RX 7900 XTX have enough VRAM for Evolve at 4K?

A: With 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, the GPU has ample capacity. The measured 4K results show no memory-related stutter, as the lowest average is 49.4 FPS at Ultra, which is a compute-bound result rather than a VRAM limitation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 306.7 FPS, Medium drops to 234 FPS, High reaches 183.4 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 128.9 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 177.8 FPS, showing that settings have a massive impact at this resolution. The 1080p results indicate that the RX 7900 XTX is not fully stressed until Ultra, where the 128.9 FPS still exceeds most 120 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the numbers scale down proportionally. Low yields 204.5 FPS, Medium 157.4 FPS, High 124.8 FPS, and Ultra 87.2 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is the first preset where the frame rate drops below 100 FPS, confirming that the GPU begins to feel the load at this resolution. The gap between Low and Ultra is 117.3 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results tighten further. Low produces 115.5 FPS, Medium 89.4 FPS, High 69.8 FPS, and Ultra 49.4 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 66.1 FPS, the smallest absolute spread across all resolutions. This pattern indicates that at 4K, the GPU’s raw compute (61.39 TFLOPS) and memory bandwidth (960.0 GB/s) are the primary constraints, and settings changes have less relative impact than at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 245th out of 1695 tested systems in Evolve, placing it in the 85th percentile of all configurations. This is a strong showing, but not elite — the top 244 combos likely include higher-end GPUs or CPUs with better single-thread performance for this title. The CPU’s percentileVsAllCpus of 93 and the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus of 85 suggest that the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card in synthetic benchmarks, but the in-game ranking reflects the GPU-heavy nature of Evolve at higher resolutions.

The i5-14600K’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores 49062 on average, just 0.2% behind the i5’s 49166. This negligible delta means the CPU choice is not the deciding factor in Evolve’s performance. The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile, scores 43667, which is 0.8% behind the RX 7900 XTX’s 44019. The RX 7900 XTX also sits 2% ahead of the RTX 4070 Ti (44900 vs 44019, with the RTX being ahead by 2% in the deltaPct field, meaning the RX is 2% slower). These small margins suggest that the combo’s rank is more dependent on the specific game’s optimization than on raw component scores.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K brings 14 cores and 20 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. In Evolve, a 2015 FPS title, the game’s engine likely scales well with single-thread performance rather than multi-core utilization. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 and Geekbench single-core score of 2803 are strong, but the measured FPS at 1080p Low (306.7 FPS) suggests the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower settings — the GPU is.

The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide quick access to game assets, but Evolve’s age means it does not heavily leverage large caches. The CPU’s 93rd percentile ranking versus all CPUs indicates it is a top-tier processor, but its nearest rivals show that the 5950X and 14600KF are within 0.4% in average score. In Evolve specifically, the CPU role is to feed the RX 7900 XTX enough frames at 1080p and 1440p, which it does successfully — the 204.5 FPS at 1440p Low and 124.8 FPS at 1440p High are both well above what the GPU can sustain at 4K.

The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are secondary considerations; the data shows that the i5-14600K’s 14 cores (likely 6 performance and 8 efficiency) are more than adequate for Evolve’s threading model. The CPU’s performance relative to its rivals — 0.2% ahead of the 5950X and 0.4% behind the 14600KF — means that swapping to a different CPU in the same class would not materially change the FPS numbers measured here. The GPU remains the dominant factor in determining frame rates, especially at 1440p and 4K where the RX 7900 XTX’s compute and bandwidth are fully exercised.