Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS built on the Crystal Dynamics engine, presents a unique stress profile for the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER combination. The measured data reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution, but the performance ceiling at lower resolutions suggests a complex interplay between the 14-core CPU and the 12 GB GPU. This analysis examines the measured FPS rows to determine where the bottleneck lies and what it means for gameplay across different settings.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The resolution scaling data tells a clear story about where this combo's strengths lie. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS drops from 177 to 119, a reduction of 58 frames or roughly 33%. The subsequent jump to 3840x2160 at High settings yields an average of 68 FPS, which is a further 43% drop from the 1440p figure. This pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases is typical, but the magnitude of the drop between 1440p and 4K is particularly steep, suggesting the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts.

The Low settings preset provides the clearest view of the CPU's headroom. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 292 FPS, which falls to 196 FPS at 1440p and 111 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 96 FPS (33%) is nearly identical to the High preset's percentage drop, indicating that the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU's demands even at lower graphical loads. However, the 4K Low figure of 111 FPS versus the 4K High figure of 68 FPS shows that the gap between presets widens significantly at higher resolutions, reinforcing the notion that the RTX 4070 SUPER's rendering pipeline is the limiting factor when pixel count rises.

The Medium preset data includes min/max FPS values that further illuminate this dynamic. At 4K Medium, the average is 86 FPS with a minimum of 73 and maximum of 99, showing a 26 FPS spread. At 1080p Medium, the average jumps to 226 FPS with a minimum of 192 and maximum of 260, a spread of 68 FPS. This wider variance at lower resolutions is characteristic of a system where the CPU is feeding frames faster than the GPU can consistently render them, introducing frame time inconsistencies that are less apparent at higher resolutions where the GPU is more uniformly saturated.

The Ultra preset data is particularly telling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 123 FPS, while at 1440p Ultra it drops to 82 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 47 FPS. The 1080p Ultra figure of 123 FPS is actually lower than the 1440p High figure of 119 FPS, which suggests that the Ultra preset's additional graphical features (likely including higher-quality shadows and post-processing effects) place a heavier load on the GPU than simply increasing resolution. This implies that players seeking higher frame rates should prioritize adjusting the preset level over reducing resolution, as the GPU's workload scales more dramatically with settings than with pixel count.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh generation, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. The benchmark results for this CPU are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and a single-core score of 2064, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. These numbers indicate substantial headroom for gaming workloads, and the Evolve data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in most scenarios.

The 1080p Low preset result of 292 FPS is the clearest indicator of CPU capability. This figure is well above the refresh rates of most monitors, and the fact that it drops to 196 FPS at 1440p Low (a 33% reduction) while the High preset drops by a similar percentage (33%) suggests that the CPU is able to maintain its frame delivery even as the GPU's workload increases. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support likely contribute to its ability to feed the GPU efficiently, though the game's 2015 release date means it may not fully utilize the newer processor's features.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 90 versus the GPU's percentile of 83 is an interesting data point. This suggests that, relative to their respective markets, the CPU is slightly more capable than the GPU. In Evolve, this manifests as a system where the CPU can deliver frames faster than the GPU can render them at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are likely more than sufficient for Evolve's threading model, which was designed for the 4-core/8-thread era of 2015, meaning the game may be leaving much of the CPU's potential untapped.

The PassMark multi-thread score of 38682 and single-thread score of 4270 further support the idea that the CPU is not a limiting factor in this game. Even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 47, the CPU is likely still capable of delivering more frames, but the GPU's rendering workload at that resolution and settings combination is simply too high. The data shows no evidence of CPU-related stuttering or frame drops, as the min FPS values at Medium settings (73 at 4K, 129 at 1440p, 192 at 1080p) are all within reasonable ranges of their respective averages.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus with a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock of 2475 MHz and 7168 shading units provide substantial computational power, and its PassMark G3D score of 29995 places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. The 12 GB VRAM is particularly relevant for Evolve, as the game's environments can be texture-heavy, and the data shows that the GPU's memory capacity does not appear to be a constraint at any of the tested settings.

The GPU's performance in Evolve is characterized by a significant drop as resolution increases. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 177 at 1080p to 119 at 1440p to 68 at 4K, showing a consistent halving of performance from 1080p to 4K. This pattern is consistent with a GPU that is bandwidth-limited at higher resolutions, despite the 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is particularly revealing, as it shows the GPU struggling to maintain playable frame rates at the highest settings, despite the CPU having ample headroom.

The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM appears sufficient for Evolve's requirements, as the data shows no evidence of texture pop-in or stuttering that would indicate memory swapping. The GPU's 224 tensor cores and 56 RT cores are likely underutilized in this game, as Evolve predates the widespread adoption of ray tracing and DLSS, meaning the GPU's raw rasterization performance is the primary factor. The 198.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 554.4 GTexel/s texture rate provide a theoretical foundation for the measured results, with the 4K High figure of 68 FPS indicating that the GPU is operating near its effective limits at that resolution.

The GPU's nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile with a deltaPct of -0.1%, showing that the RTX 4070 SUPER is closely matched with that mobile part in synthetic benchmarks. However, in Evolve, the desktop GPU's higher clock speeds and power envelope (220 W TDP versus presumably lower mobile TDP) likely give it an advantage, though the measured data cannot confirm this directly. The GPU's 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is substantial, but the game's 2015-era engine may not be able to fully utilize it, leaving performance primarily dependent on the GPU's memory subsystem and rasterization throughput.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 616th out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the top 17% of all tested configurations. This ranking is noteworthy given that the individual components are not top-of-the-line (the CPU is in the 90th percentile and the GPU in the 83rd percentile), suggesting that the combination's performance in this specific game is better than the sum of its parts might indicate.

The rank of 616 out of 3700 means that 616 other combos outperform this one in Evolve, while approximately 3084 combos perform worse. This places the combo in a strong position for a game that is nearly a decade old, as more modern hardware combinations may benefit from better driver optimization and newer architectural features. The data indicates that the combo's performance is competitive with systems that likely feature higher-end GPUs, as the CPU's strength helps maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed.

The combo rank should be interpreted in the context of the individual component percentiles. The CPU's 90th percentile ranking is higher than the GPU's 83rd percentile, which suggests that the combo's overall rank of 616 is partially constrained by the GPU's performance. If the system were paired with a more powerful GPU, the combo rank would likely improve, as the CPU has demonstrated it can deliver frames faster than the current GPU can render them at lower resolutions. The deltaPct values for the CPU's nearest rivals (ranging from -0.8% to 0.7%) show that the i5-14600K is in a tightly contested performance bracket, meaning that CPU choice is unlikely to be the differentiating factor for this combo's rank.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across all three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 292 FPS, Medium yields 226 FPS (min 192, max 260), High yields 177 FPS, and Ultra yields 123 FPS. These figures show a clear scaling pattern where each step up in settings reduces performance by roughly 20-30%, with the Ultra preset taking a particularly large hit due to its additional graphical features.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales similarly but with lower absolute numbers. The Low preset averages 196 FPS, Medium averages 152 FPS (min 129, max 174), High averages 119 FPS, and Ultra averages 82 FPS. The percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p are consistent across presets: Low drops by 33%, Medium by 33%, High by 33%, and Ultra by 33%. This uniformity suggests that the scaling between these two resolutions is primarily resolution-driven rather than settings-driven, with the GPU's pixel throughput being the limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops more significantly. The Low preset averages 111 FPS, Medium averages 86 FPS (min 73, max 99), High averages 68 FPS, and Ultra averages 47 FPS. The percentage drops from 1440p to 4K are larger: Low drops by 43%, Medium by 43%, High by 43%, and Ultra by 43%. This consistent 43% drop across all presets indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel throughput become increasingly strained at 4K, regardless of the graphical settings applied. The min FPS values at Medium settings (73 at 4K) show that the system maintains reasonably stable frame times even at the highest resolution, though the Ultra preset's 47 FPS average approaches the threshold where gameplay may feel less smooth.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

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

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 at High settings provides an average of 119 FPS, which is likely the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 177 FPS, but the jump to 1440p only reduces performance by 33% while providing a significant visual upgrade.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in this game?

A: At lower resolutions and settings, the CPU appears to have ample headroom. The 1080p Low result of 292 FPS is far above the GPU's rendering capabilities, indicating that the CPU is not the limiting factor. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are more than sufficient for Evolve's 2015-era threading model.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High in terms of performance?

A: The Ultra preset consistently reduces performance by approximately 30% compared to High across all resolutions. At 1080p, High averages 177 FPS versus Ultra's 123 FPS, while at 4K, High averages 68 FPS versus Ultra's 47 FPS. The visual difference between these presets is not quantified in the data, but the performance cost is substantial.

Q: Is 12 GB of VRAM sufficient for Evolve at 4K?

A: The measured data shows no evidence of VRAM-related issues at 4K, as the game achieves playable frame rates at all settings except Ultra. The 12 GB GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus provides 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears adequate for the game's texture and geometry requirements.

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in this game?

A: The combo ranks 616th out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the top 17% of all tested systems. This ranking is consistent with the CPU's 90th percentile and GPU's 83rd percentile performance, though the GPU's lower percentile suggests it is the limiting factor for higher rankings.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile, has a deltaPct of -0.1%, indicating near-identical synthetic benchmark scores. However, the desktop RTX 4070 SUPER's higher clocks and power envelope likely provide better sustained performance in gaming workloads, as evidenced by the measured FPS data.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience for this combo. With an average of 152 FPS and a minimum of 129 FPS, this configuration provides smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate displays while maintaining a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K Medium preset, with an average of 86 FPS and a minimum of 73 FPS, is also viable for players prioritizing resolution over frame rate, as it remains above the 60 FPS target.

For players with 1080p displays, the High preset at 177 FPS is recommended over the Ultra preset's 123 FPS, as the performance difference of 54 FPS is significant while the visual improvement from Ultra is likely marginal in a game of this era. The Low preset at 292 FPS is only recommended for competitive play where maximum frame rates are paramount, as the visual quality reduction may be noticeable.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the clear recommendation, as it delivers 86 FPS average with a 73 FPS minimum, which is playable on standard 60 Hz displays. The High preset at 68 FPS is also acceptable, but the Medium preset's higher minimum FPS provides better frame time consistency. The Ultra preset at 47 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as it falls below the 60 FPS threshold and may result in noticeable stuttering during intense gameplay sequences. The data indicates that the Medium preset at any resolution provides the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo, with the 1440p Medium configuration offering the most headroom for demanding scenarios.