Evolve

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT delivers a fascinating performance profile in Evolve, one that clearly delineates the strengths and limitations of each component. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher fidelity settings, yet shows signs of CPU limitation at the lowest presets. This analysis examines the data to understand how this combination behaves, where it excels, and where its bottlenecks lie.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about which component is driving performance in Evolve. At the High preset, the system delivers 122.5 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 83.3 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 47 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 62% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern that strongly indicates the GPU is the primary limiting factor at this quality setting. The RX 6750 XT is being pushed progressively harder as pixel count increases, with its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth struggling to maintain the same throughput at higher resolutions.

The scaling curve steepens dramatically at the Ultra preset. At 1080p, the system manages 83.2 FPS, but this falls to 57.2 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 33.7 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is less than half of the 1080p figure, showing that Ultra settings impose a heavy computational load that the GPU cannot sustain at higher resolutions. Interestingly, the Low preset shows a much flatter scaling curve: 200.8 FPS at 1080p, 137.1 FPS at 1440p, and 74.6 FPS at 4K. While still a significant drop, the relative decline from 1080p to 4K is 63%, similar to High, but the absolute numbers remain playable even at 4K.

The Medium preset follows the expected pattern, with 157.9 FPS at 1080p, 106.5 FPS at 1440p, and 61.5 FPS at 4K. What stands out is that the gap between Medium and High is relatively small at 1080p (157.9 vs 122.5, a 29% difference), but this gap narrows to 24% at 1440p and 31% at 4K. This suggests that Medium settings offer a more balanced load distribution, allowing the GPU to maintain higher utilization without the overhead of the most demanding effects.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 122.5 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay in a fast-paced FPS title. The Ultra preset drops to 83.2 FPS, a noticeable reduction that may not justify the visual gains for competitive play. The Medium preset at 157.9 FPS offers a substantial margin for high refresh rate displays, making it the best choice for players with 144Hz monitors who prioritize frame rate over maximum fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the High preset remains the sweet spot at 83.3 FPS, providing excellent visual quality while maintaining a frame rate that is smooth on standard 60Hz displays and acceptable on 144Hz panels. The Medium preset at 106.5 FPS is arguably the better option for those seeking a higher frame rate buffer, as the visual difference between Medium and High is often less perceptible than the 28% frame rate gain. The Ultra preset at 57.2 FPS is playable but sits below the ideal range for fast-paced action, and the Low preset at 137.1 FPS sacrifices too much visual fidelity for the frame rate gain.

The 4K resolution presents a more challenging scenario. The High preset at 47 FPS is borderline playable, but the Medium preset at 61.5 FPS offers a better balance of visual quality and smoothness. The Ultra preset at 33.7 FPS is nearly unplayable for a competitive FPS, while the Low preset at 74.6 FPS is the only option that provides a comfortable frame rate, though it requires significant visual compromises. For most users, Medium at 4K represents the best compromise, delivering 61.5 FPS with acceptable visual quality.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 157.9 FPS offers the best frame rate for high refresh rate displays, though the High preset at 122.5 FPS provides better visual quality with still excellent performance.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. The Low preset achieves 74.6 FPS and Medium achieves 61.5 FPS, making both playable. The High preset at 47 FPS is borderline, and Ultra at 33.7 FPS is not recommended.

Q: How does the RX 6750 XT compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU scores 35327 on average, which is 0.2% ahead of the Radeon RX 5600M, 0.3% behind the RTX 5070 Ti Mobile, 0.9% behind the Radeon 880M, and 1.3% behind the RTX 3080.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at any settings?

A: At Low settings, particularly at 1080p where the GPU produces 200.8 FPS, the CPU likely becomes the limiting factor, as the i5-9400's 6 cores and 6 threads may struggle to feed frames at that rate.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT had a launch MSRP of 549 USD.

Q: How does the CPU's benchmark performance compare to its rivals?

A: The i5-9400 averages 2305 points, which is 0.2% ahead of both the i3-10305 and i3-1125G4, 0.4% ahead of the Xeon E-2134, and 0.6% behind the i7-8809G.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rate hierarchy is clear. The Low preset produces 200.8 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all configurations. The Medium preset delivers 157.9 FPS, representing a 21% reduction from Low. The High preset drops to 122.5 FPS, a 22% reduction from Medium. The Ultra preset achieves 83.2 FPS, a substantial 32% drop from High. This progression shows diminishing returns as settings increase, with the jump from Medium to High costing 35.4 FPS while High to Ultra costs 39.3 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the pattern shifts. Low produces 137.1 FPS, Medium delivers 106.5 FPS (a 22% drop), High achieves 83.3 FPS (a 22% drop), and Ultra falls to 57.2 FPS (a 31% drop). The 1440p results show a more consistent scaling pattern compared to 1080p, with the GPU becoming more dominant as the pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low achieves 74.6 FPS, Medium delivers 61.5 FPS (an 18% drop), High reaches 47 FPS (a 24% drop), and Ultra falls to 33.7 FPS (a 28% drop). The 4K results show that the GPU is heavily taxed at all settings, with even Low requiring significant resources to maintain playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is the dominant component in this pairing for most settings. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for the texture-heavy environments in Evolve. The GPU's 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 166.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 416.0 GTexel/s, enabling the high fill rates required at 4K resolution.

The clock speeds play a significant role in the measured results. The base clock of 2150 MHz boosts to 2600 MHz, with a game clock of 2495 MHz, allowing the GPU to maintain high performance under sustained load. The 7 nm process node and 17,200 million transistors on a 335 mm² die contribute to the GPU's efficiency, though the 250 W TDP requires robust cooling and a 600 W power supply.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 35327. This positions it competitively against its nearest rivals, though the deltaPct values show it is virtually tied with the RX 5600M and slightly behind the RTX 3080. The synthetic benchmarks indicate strong compute capabilities, with FP32 performance of 13.31 TFLOPS supporting the demanding shader workloads in Evolve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 provides the processing foundation for this system, with 6 cores and 6 threads running at a base clock of 2.90 GHz and boosting to 4.10 GHz. The Coffee Lake architecture on a 14 nm process node delivers a 9 MB shared L3 cache, which is beneficial for game logic and physics calculations. The 65 W TDP keeps thermals manageable, though the dual-channel DDR4 memory at 42.7 GB/s bandwidth may limit performance in memory-intensive scenarios.

The CPU's benchmark performance places it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 2305. This is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with deltaPct values ranging from -0.6% to 0.4%. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and single-core score of 1125 indicate solid performance for a mid-range processor, though the 6-thread limitation could become a bottleneck in heavily threaded workloads.

In Evolve, the CPU's role becomes apparent at lower settings and resolutions. The 200.8 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high frame rates, but the scaling from 1080p to 1440p at Low (200.8 to 137.1 FPS) shows a 32% reduction, which is primarily GPU-driven. At 4K Low, the 74.6 FPS result indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU has ample headroom to process game logic at that frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT ranks 814 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems, which is consistent with the component selection. The rank suggests that while this pairing is capable, there are many other combinations that achieve higher frame rates, likely featuring more powerful CPUs or GPUs.

The GPU's 79th percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 50th percentile ranking among all CPUs highlight the performance imbalance. The GPU is significantly stronger relative to its peers than the CPU, which means the system's overall ranking in Evolve is likely constrained by the processor. The 1080p Low result of 200.8 FPS indicates the GPU can push very high frame rates, but the CPU may not be able to sustain such performance in more demanding scenarios or with background tasks running.

The data suggests that this combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming at Medium to High settings, where the GPU can flex its capabilities without being overly constrained by the CPU. At 4K, the system remains functional but requires careful settings management to maintain playable frame rates. The ranking of 814 out of 1695 reflects a system that delivers solid, if not exceptional, performance across the board.