Evolve

# Evolve Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-14600K + Intel Arc B370

This combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2639th out of 2872 tested combos for Evolve, placing it in the bottom 8% of all configurations. This is a startlingly low position, especially given the CPU's strong synthetic benchmarks, which suggests the integrated GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck in this pairing. The data shows a system that can run the game but struggles to deliver playable frame rates at most settings, with only the lowest preset at 1080p approaching smooth gameplay.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2639 out of 2872 places this configuration in the 8th percentile of all tested combos for Evolve. This is a remarkably poor showing that demands investigation. The CPU alone sits in the 90th percentile of all processors, with an average benchmark score of 48618, yet the GPU sits in the 5th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 1184. The disparity between these two components explains the low combo ranking — the GPU is dragging the entire system down.

Looking at the CPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48698 (0.2% higher), the AMD EPYC 4345P scores 48470 (0.3% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX scores 48287 (0.7% lower). These are all within 1% of the i5-14600K's performance, meaning the CPU is competitive with these server and workstation processors. The GPU's nearest rivals tell a different story: the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 scores 1186 (0.2% higher), the ATI Radeon HD 5770 scores 1190 (0.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M scores 1192 (0.7% higher). The Arc B370 is essentially trading blows with graphics hardware from over a decade ago.

The implication is clear: this combo ranks poorly not because of the CPU, but because the GPU is fundamentally mismatched. In Evolve, a fast-paced FPS from 2015, the data shows that this pairing produces frame rates that are mostly below the 60 FPS threshold considered standard for smooth gameplay. Only the 1080p Low preset achieves 80 FPS, and every other configuration falls short.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3nm process. Its base clock is 300 MHz with a boost clock of 2400 MHz, and it features 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster operation units. The GPU also includes 10 ray tracing cores and delivers 6.144 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The memory configuration is critical here: the Arc B370 uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it draws from the system's main RAM rather than having dedicated VRAM. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," which means performance will vary based on the system's memory configuration. This shared memory arrangement is typical of integrated graphics and explains why the GPU struggles with Evolve's demands.

The GPU's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% higher), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% higher), and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% higher). These comparisons are stark — the Arc B370 is performing at the level of entry-level discrete GPUs from the early 2010s. The pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are respectable for an integrated solution but insufficient for modern gaming demands.

For a 2015 FPS like Evolve, the data suggests the GPU's shared memory architecture is a significant hindrance. The game's asset streaming and texture requirements likely exceed what system-shared memory can efficiently provide, resulting in the low frame rates observed across most settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only playable configuration for this combo is 1080p with Low settings, which achieves an average of 80 FPS. This is the sole setting combination that clears the 60 FPS threshold. The next best option is 1080p Medium at 62 FPS, which is technically above 60 but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

At 1440p, the highest playable option is Low at 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS standard but may be acceptable for less demanding players. However, the drop from 80 FPS at 1080p Low to 54 FPS at 1440p Low represents a 32.5% reduction, indicating the GPU is already near its limits.

The data strongly suggests that 4K is not viable for this combo in Evolve. Even at Low settings, 4K produces only 31 FPS, which is well below playable thresholds. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 34 FPS, which is worse than Low at 1440p, confirming that the GPU cannot handle high graphical fidelity at any resolution.

The recommended settings are clear: 1080p Low for the best experience, with 1080p Medium as a viable alternative if the user prioritizes visual quality over frame rate stability. The Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum of 53 FPS and maximum of 72 FPS, indicating some frame time variance but generally acceptable performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance spectrum is broad. Low settings deliver an average of 80 FPS, the highest recorded for this combo. Medium settings produce 62 FPS average with a minimum of 53 and maximum of 72 FPS. High settings drop to 49 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 34 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent degradation: 80, 62, 49, then 34 FPS — a 57.5% reduction from the lowest to highest preset.

At 2560x1440, the numbers shift downward across all presets. Low settings achieve 54 FPS average, Medium produces 42 FPS (minimum 35, maximum 48), High reaches 33 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 23 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 31 FPS, representing a 57.4% reduction — nearly identical to the percentage drop at 1080p, suggesting the GPU's scaling is consistent across resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes marginal. Low settings yield 31 FPS average, Medium produces 24 FPS (minimum 20, maximum 27), High drops to 19 FPS, and Ultra falls to 13 FPS. These numbers are all below playable thresholds. The Medium preset at 4K shows the tightest min-max range of any configuration, with only 7 FPS between minimum and maximum, indicating the GPU is consistently saturated.

The data reveals a pattern: each resolution step reduces FPS by approximately 35-40% at the same settings. This consistent scaling suggests the GPU is the primary limiter, as a CPU-bound scenario would show less dramatic drops when resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

Moving from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 80 to 54, a reduction of 32.5%. From 1440p to 4K at Low, the drop is from 54 to 31 FPS, another 42.6% reduction. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is from 80 to 31 FPS, a 61.3% loss.

At High settings, the scaling is similar: 1080p produces 49 FPS, 1440p produces 33 FPS (32.7% drop), and 4K produces 19 FPS (42.4% drop from 1440p). The total reduction from 1080p High to 4K High is 61.2%. At Ultra settings, the progression is 34, 23, and 13 FPS, with drops of 32.4% and 43.5% respectively — a total reduction of 61.8%.

These consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller percentage differences between resolutions at lower settings, where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the uniform scaling points to the Arc B370 being fully saturated at all resolutions and settings. The 1080p Low result of 80 FPS is the only data point where the GPU has enough headroom to exceed 60 FPS, and even then, it's not a massive margin.

The resolution scaling also reveals that the GPU's shared memory architecture becomes more problematic at higher resolutions. As the pixel count increases, the demand on system memory bandwidth grows, and the "System Dependent" bandwidth of the Arc B370 likely becomes a severe constraint.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Evolve at 60 FPS?

A: Only at 1080p with Low settings, where it achieves 80 FPS average. At 1080p Medium, it reaches 62 FPS, which is technically above 60 but with a minimum of 53 FPS. All other settings and resolutions produce averages below 60 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% higher), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% higher), and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% higher).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this pairing?

A: The data clearly indicates the GPU is the bottleneck. The i5-14600K ranks in the 90th percentile of all CPUs, while the Arc B370 ranks in the 5th percentile of GPUs. The consistent FPS drops across resolution increases (32-43% per step) confirm the GPU is saturated.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Evolve?

A: 1920x1080 is the only resolution that achieves playable frame rates. At 1440p, even Low settings only produce 54 FPS, and 4K is entirely unplayable with a maximum of 31 FPS at Low settings.

Q: How does the i5-14600K's CPU performance compare to its rivals?

A: The i5-14600K has an average benchmark score of 48618, which is 0.2% lower than the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698), 0.3% higher than the AMD EPYC 4345P (48470), and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX (48287).

Q: What graphics settings should be avoided with this combo?

A: Ultra settings should be avoided entirely, as they produce only 34 FPS at 1080p, 23 FPS at 1440p, and 13 FPS at 4K. High settings are also not recommended, as they fall below 50 FPS at all resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on Raptor Lake architecture. It operates with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a TDP of 125W. The CPU features 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration.

The CPU's synthetic benchmarks demonstrate its capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 24491, single-core scores 2064; Geekbench multi-core scores 16673, single-core scores 2491; Passmark multi-thread scores 38682, single-thread scores 4270. These numbers place the i5-14600K in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 48618 puts it in close competition with server processors like the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H (48698, -0.2% delta) and the AMD EPYC 4345P (48470, +0.3% delta).

For Evolve, the CPU's role appears to be secondary given the GPU bottleneck. The game was released in February 2015, and its CPU requirements are modest by modern standards. The i5-14600K's 14 cores and 20 threads provide substantial headroom for game logic, physics, and AI processing. The high boost clock of 5.30 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is typically more important for FPS games.

However, the data shows that the CPU's capabilities are largely wasted in this pairing. The measured FPS values align much more closely with the GPU's limitations than with the CPU's strengths. The consistent resolution scaling pattern — roughly 32% drop from 1080p to 1440p and 43% drop from 1440p to 4K — is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. In a CPU-bound scenario, we would expect to see diminishing FPS differences at higher resolutions as the GPU becomes the constraint, but instead, the differences remain proportional.

The Passmark physics score of 2473 and the Cinebench R15 multi-core score of 3640 indicate strong computational performance that should handle Evolve's game simulation easily. The real question is whether the system's shared memory architecture, which the GPU depends on, creates additional CPU overhead. Since the Arc B370 uses "System Shared" memory, the CPU must manage memory traffic for both game logic and graphics, potentially creating contention that further limits performance.

The i5-14600K's launch MSRP is $319, and it supports PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes, though the Arc B370's IGP bus interface means it doesn't use these lanes. The CPU's integrated UHD Graphics 770 is present but unnecessary given the discrete (albeit integrated-class) Arc B370. Ultimately, the data suggests that swapping the Arc B370 for a more capable GPU would dramatically improve Evolve performance, as the CPU has ample headroom to support much higher frame rates than those measured here.