Evolve

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 lands at rank 1615 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. That places this configuration in the bottom 5% of all tested pairings for this specific title. The data positions this combo as one of the least capable tested for this game, primarily constrained by the GPU's limited frame delivery at higher resolutions and settings.

Benchmark results indicate that the CPU itself is not the bottleneck. The i5-14600KF sits in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 49367. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K at 49166 (a 0.4% delta), the AMD EPYC 4345P at 49595 (a -0.5% delta), and the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49062 (a 0.6% delta). The margin between these processors is minuscule, confirming that the 14600KF is a high-tier performer in synthetic workloads. The GPU, however, rests in the 43rd percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 8713. Its closest competitors include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile at 8746 (a -0.4% delta), the AMD Radeon 550X at 8749 (a -0.4% delta), and the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 at 8671 (a 0.5% delta). This GPU sits right at the median of all tested graphics cards, which is a stark contrast to the CPU's near-top-tier standing.

The massive gap between the CPU's high percentile rank and the GPU's mid-tier percentile rank is the defining characteristic of this combo. In Evolve, the measured frame rates fall far below what the CPU alone could support, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor in nearly every scenario tested. The combination produces a system that is fundamentally unbalanced for this game, with the CPU's headroom going largely unused.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 brings 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 128.1 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1485 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz, with memory running at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective). These specifications place the card firmly in the entry-level segment of the GeForce 10-series lineage, built on the TU117 chip using a 12 nm process from TSMC.

In Evolve, the GPU's memory capacity and bandwidth directly influence the measured results. The 4 GB frame buffer becomes a critical constraint at higher resolutions. At 3840x2160, the average frame rates drop to 19.6 FPS on High settings and 12.1 FPS on Ultra settings. These figures suggest that the GPU is struggling to maintain playable performance, with the memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s proving insufficient for the data throughput demanded by Evolve at 4K resolution.

The GPU's compute capabilities also factor into the results. With 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, the GTX 1650 delivers 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The pixel rate is 53.28 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 93.24 GTexel/s. These figures indicate a card that can handle lighter loads but falls behind when pushed to higher settings. The benchmark scores reinforce this: the PassMark G3D score is 7880, while the DirectX 11 score is 58 and the DirectX 12 score is 35. The DirectX 9 score of 124 is notably higher, suggesting the card performs better with older rendering paths.

The thermal and power profile of the GTX 1650 is modest, with a 75 W TDP and no power connectors required. The suggested PSU is 250 W, and the card occupies a dual-slot form factor. This low-power design means the card cannot sustain high clock speeds under sustained load, which likely contributes to the frame rate drops seen at higher settings in Evolve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, codenamed Raptor Lake-R. It features a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 125 W TDP. The processor uses the Intel Socket 1700 and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration. It also includes ECC memory support and PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes for the CPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 14600KF demonstrates strong multi-core and single-core performance. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 32889, while the single-core score is 4643. Geekbench results show a multi-core score of 15636 and a single-core score of 2778. The PassMark multi-thread score is 38697, with a single-thread score of 4273. These numbers place the CPU well above the average processor, confirming its capability to handle demanding workloads.

For Evolve, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, physics calculations, and game logic. The 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample room for game data, reducing latency and improving frame pacing. The 5.30 GHz boost clock ensures that single-threaded performance is excellent, which is often critical for FPS games that rely on a primary game thread.

The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is not the limiting factor in this combo. Even at 1080p Low settings, where the CPU load is highest relative to GPU load, the measured 79.5 FPS is far below what the 14600KF could theoretically deliver in a less GPU-bound scenario. The processor's percentile rank of 93 against all CPUs, coupled with its nearest rival deltas of 0.4% to 1.4%, shows that it is performing at the expected level for a high-end desktop chip. The CPU headroom in Evolve is substantial, but the GTX 1650 cannot leverage it.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured frame rates in Evolve show a clear pattern of GPU limitation across all resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 79.5 on Low settings to 35 on Ultra settings. The Medium setting yields 56.9 FPS, while High produces 49.6 FPS. These numbers indicate that the GTX 1650 can deliver playable frame rates at 1080p, but only at lower settings. The drop from Low to Ultra is 44.5 FPS, a 56% reduction, demonstrating that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are heavily taxed by higher visual fidelity.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decline further. Low settings deliver 49.9 FPS, which is still playable, but Medium drops to 37.4 FPS and High falls to 29.6 FPS. Ultra settings produce just 22.8 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The pattern at 1440p mirrors 1080p but with a consistent reduction of roughly 30-40% across settings, reflecting the increased pixel count and memory pressure.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly overwhelmed. Low settings yield 30.6 FPS, which is borderline playable, but Medium drops to 25.1 FPS, High falls to 19.6 FPS, and Ultra plunges to 12.1 FPS. These numbers are all below the 30 FPS target for a playable experience, with Ultra being essentially unplayable. The 4K results confirm that the GTX 1650's 4 GB memory buffer and 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for Evolve at this resolution.

The frame rate deltas between settings are consistent across resolutions. The gap between Low and Ultra is substantial at every resolution: 44.5 FPS at 1080p, 27.1 FPS at 1440p, and 18.5 FPS at 4K. This suggests that the GPU's performance scaling with settings is roughly linear, with each step in quality costing a similar percentage of performance.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a steep performance drop as pixel count increases. From 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings decreases by approximately 40%. For example, High settings drop from 49.6 FPS at 1080p to 29.6 FPS at 1440p, a 20.0 FPS reduction. Low settings drop from 79.5 FPS to 49.9 FPS, a 29.6 FPS reduction. This scaling is consistent with a GPU that is heavily bandwidth-limited, as the memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s cannot keep pace with the 77% increase in pixel count from 1080p to 1440p.

From 1440p to 4K, the drop is even more pronounced in relative terms. High settings fall from 29.6 FPS to 19.6 FPS, a 34% reduction. Low settings drop from 49.9 FPS to 30.6 FPS, a 39% reduction. Ultra settings fall from 22.8 FPS to 12.1 FPS, a 47% reduction. The increasing percentage drop at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming progressively more bottlenecked, with the 4 GB memory capacity also becoming a limiting factor as texture sizes and buffer requirements grow.

The scaling behavior clearly identifies the GPU as the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show less variation across resolutions, since the CPU's workload does not scale with pixel count. Instead, the measured FPS drops by roughly 60-70% from 1080p to 4K across all settings, which is a classic sign of a GPU that is saturated at lower resolutions and completely overwhelmed at higher ones. The i5-14600KF, with its 93rd percentile ranking, has ample headroom to handle the game logic at any resolution, but the GTX 1650's 43rd percentile ranking means it cannot translate that CPU performance into playable frame rates beyond 1080p Low or Medium settings. The data indicates that this combo is only viable for Evolve at 1080p with reduced settings, and even then, the 79.5 FPS ceiling on Low settings leaves little room for demanding scenes.