Evolve

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a compelling, if uneven, experience in Evolve. The benchmark data reveals a system capable of high refresh rate play at mainstream resolutions, but one that rapidly hits a wall when pushed to 4K with maximum settings. The measured frames per second (FPS) across the tested presets and resolutions paint a clear picture of where this combo thrives and where it struggles.

Settings Recommendations

The sweet spot for this combination in Evolve is the Medium preset at 2560x1440. At this setting, the system produces an average of 93.8 FPS. This is a significant jump from the 73.8 FPS at High, representing a roughly 27% performance uplift, while likely retaining a substantial amount of visual fidelity over the Low preset. This resolution and settings pairing provides a smooth, responsive experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold for competitive play, without the visual compromises of the Low preset.

For users with 1080p displays, the High preset is the optimal choice. The average of 107.9 FPS is exceptionally smooth and only slightly below the 117.9 FPS achieved at Low settings. The difference between High and Medium at 1080p is a 22.3% drop in FPS (from 138.9 to 107.9), but High offers a much better visual experience. Pushing to Ultra at 1080p results in 76.7 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 28.9% performance penalty over High, making the latter the better trade-off.

At 4K, the data suggests a compromise is necessary. The Low preset yields an average of 68.9 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that clears the 60 FPS mark. While the Medium and High presets offer 50.1 and 39.2 FPS respectively, they are more suited for slower-paced or less competitive scenarios. For a consistently fluid experience at 3840x2160, the Low preset is the only viable option according to the measurements, as the Ultra preset drops to a barely playable 28.5 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of all tested hardware combinations for Evolve, this pairing of the Core i5-14600K and RTX 2070 SUPER ranks 1051 out of 1695 combos. This places it in the lower half of the field, which is a surprising result given the performance numbers. This discrepancy suggests that many other tested configurations feature more powerful graphics cards, as the CPU is clearly capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions.

The ranking implies that while this combo is far from the top of the charts, it is also not at the bottom. It outperforms 644 other combinations tested. In a game like Evolve, which is from 2015, the data indicates that the limiting factor for this specific pair is almost certainly the GPU. The CPU’s high benchmark scores (it sits in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs) are not translating into a top-tier in-game rank, reinforcing the idea that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is the defining component in this configuration. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for the textures and data required by Evolve at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K results show its limitations.

The GPU’s base clock of 1605 MHz boosts to 1770 MHz, and its 2560 shading units are responsible for the raw pixel-pushing power. The data shows a dramatic drop in performance when moving to 4K, which strongly suggests the GPU’s compute throughput (9.062 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at that resolution with high detail levels. The card’s overall benchmark percentile is 65, indicating it is a mid-to-upper-tier performer, but its age is showing in this title. The FPS dip from 1440p High (73.8 FPS) to 4K High (39.2 FPS) is a 46.9% reduction, highlighting the steep cost of rendering four times the pixels with this GPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combo is extensive, covering three resolutions and four quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system is clearly CPU-bound at lower settings, delivering a massive 179.6 FPS on Low. This number drops to 138.9 FPS on Medium and 107.9 FPS on High. The Ultra preset, while still smooth at 76.7 FPS, shows a 30.8% reduction from High, indicating the GPU is starting to work harder as effects and draw distances increase.

Stepping up to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very playable. The Low preset averages 117.9 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors. Medium follows at 93.8 FPS, and High at 73.8 FPS. The Ultra preset at this resolution takes a significant hit, dropping to 48 FPS. This represents a 36.4% decrease from the High preset, showing that the Ultra settings demand a level of GPU performance that the RTX 2070 SUPER cannot consistently deliver at 1440p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The Low preset is the only one that maintains a fluid experience at 68.9 FPS. Medium drops to 50.1 FPS, High to 39.2 FPS, and Ultra to a stutter-prone 28.5 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a clear and steep decline, with the Ultra preset delivering only 41.4% of the frame rate of the Low preset.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for a competitive edge in Evolve?*

A: The data shows that the 1920x1080 High preset, averaging 107.9 FPS, offers the best balance of visual clarity and high frame rate. For an even higher frame rate, the 1440p Low preset at 117.9 FPS is an option, but the 1080p High setting provides a more detailed image while still being exceptionally smooth.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Evolve?*

A: It can, but with significant compromises. The only 4K setting that achieves an average above 60 FPS is Low, at 68.9 FPS. Higher presets at 4K result in sub-60 FPS averages, with Ultra being nearly unplayable at 28.5 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: The data strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting factor. The CPU is a high-end part with strong benchmark scores, yet the frame rates scale down dramatically as resolution increases. This is a classic sign of GPU limitation. The CPU is capable of far higher frame rates, as evidenced by the 179.6 FPS at 1080p Low.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from the High to the Ultra preset at 1440p?

A: The average frame rate drops from 73.8 FPS at High to 48 FPS at Ultra, a performance reduction of 35.0%. This indicates that the Ultra preset's additional graphical effects are particularly taxing on the RTX 2070 SUPER.

*Q: What is the overall performance ranking of this specific hardware combo for Evolve?*

A: This combination of CPU and GPU ranks 1051st out of 1695 tested combos for this game. This puts it in the bottom 40% of all tested configurations, which is in line with the GPU being a mid-range part from a previous generation.

Q: Does the RTX 2070 SUPER's 8 GB of VRAM appear to be a limiting factor in the measured results?

A: While the 8 GB of VRAM is adequate for the game, the data does not isolate VRAM capacity as the primary issue. The severe frame rate drops at 4K and on the Ultra preset are more likely attributed to the GPU's overall compute performance and memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s) being insufficient for the rendering load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture. With a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, it provides exceptional single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642. This is crucial for Evolve, as the game's engine and physics calculations rely heavily on strong single-core performance.

The data shows that this CPU is more than capable of keeping up with the RTX 2070 SUPER. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 179.6 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU is not the bottleneck at lower resolutions. The CPU's high Passmark single-thread score of 4270 and its performance in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs confirm its strength. However, its role is subservient to the GPU; as resolution increases, the CPU's influence on the final frame rate diminishes, and the GPU takes over as the primary performance limiter. The processor's 24 MB of shared L3 cache likely helps in maintaining smooth frame pacing, but the raw FPS ceilings are dictated by the graphics card.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K clearly illustrates the shift in system bottleneck. At 1080p High, the system produces 107.9 FPS. Moving to 1440p High, the frame rate drops to 73.8 FPS, a 31.6% decrease. This is a substantial drop, but the system remains in a very playable range.

The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings is even more punishing. The frame rate falls from 73.8 FPS to 39.2 FPS, a 46.9% reduction. This steep decline is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU is waiting for the GPU to finish rendering each frame, and as the pixel count increases, the GPU's workload grows disproportionately faster. The data shows that the scaling is not linear, and the RTX 2070 SUPER simply does not have the raw fill rate and shader processing power to handle 4K resolutions effectively with this game's higher detail settings. The only way to achieve a playable 4K experience is to drastically reduce the settings to Low, which cuts the rendering load enough to bring the frame rate back up to 68.9 FPS.