Evolve

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 presents a fascinating case study in Evolve, a 2015 FPS title. The data reveals a system that is exceptionally capable at mainstream resolutions but begins to show its age and component balance limitations as graphical demands escalate. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to understand exactly where each component's influence begins and ends.

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

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, running on the Intel Socket 1151 platform. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, which can boost up to 4.10 GHz. With a 65 W TDP and 9 MB of shared L3 cache, it was designed as a mainstream desktop workhorse. Its synthetic benchmark scores place it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2305. This is a strictly mid-pack showing, and its nearest rivals in the database are incredibly tight: the Intel Core i3-10305 (2300, deltaPct 0.2) and the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2299, deltaPct 0.2) are statistically tied with it, while the Intel Core i7-8809G (2319, deltaPct -0.6) sits just slightly ahead.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is most apparent when the GPU is not the bottleneck, specifically at 1080p with lower settings. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 191.1 FPS. This is a massive jump from the 114.4 FPS seen at High settings, indicating that the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU frames when the pixel workload is light. However, the data suggests this headroom is finite. The difference between Low and Medium at 1080p is a drop from 191.1 to 146.0 FPS, which is a significant 45.1 FPS penalty. This implies that while the i5-9400 can push high frame rates, it is sensitive to increased draw calls and physics calculations that come with higher settings. The 6-thread configuration, without Hyper-Threading, may be a limiting factor in more complex scenes, preventing the system from sustaining the absolute peak frame rates seen at the lowest settings.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is a modern Ada Lovelace architecture part built on a 5 nm process. It comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is rated at 2460 MHz. The GPU's raw compute power is substantial, with an FP32 throughput of 15.11 TFLOPS. It sits at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 23181. Its nearest rivals show a mixed bag: it is 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23321) and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti (23338), but it leads the Intel Arc B580 (23021) by 0.7% and the AMD Radeon 760M (22999) by 0.8%.

The RTX 4060's performance in Evolve is clearly the dominant factor at higher resolutions. At 4K, the GPU is heavily taxed. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings is severe, moving from 80.6 FPS to just 33.7 FPS. This shows that the 8 GB VRAM buffer and the 128-bit memory interface are being stretched thin at 3840x2160. The 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth becomes a critical constraint, as the data indicates that the GPU simply cannot maintain playable frame rates at the highest fidelity at 4K. The GPU is working hard, but the memory subsystem appears to be a limiting factor, especially when textures and shaders demand more memory bandwidth than the bus can provide.

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

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear shift in the system's bottleneck. Let's examine the High preset across all three resolutions. At 1920x1080, the system produces 114.4 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, it drops to 76.3 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 3840x2160, it falls further to 44 FPS, a 42% reduction from 1440p. This pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior; as the pixel count increases, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors.

Now, look at the Low preset. At 1080p, the system hits 191.1 FPS. At 1440p, it is 126 FPS, and at 4K, it is 71.7 FPS. The relative drops are large, but the absolute numbers remain high. This suggests that even with a light GPU load, the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at these resolutions; the GPU is still doing the heavy lifting of rasterizing the image. If the CPU were the sole limiter, we would expect to see a much smaller FPS delta between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings. The fact that the FPS scales almost linearly with the number of pixels confirms that the RTX 4060 is the dominant performance driver in this configuration, regardless of settings.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combined performance of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 in Evolve earns it a rank of 978 out of 1695 tested combos. This places it in the bottom half of the database, which is a surprising result given the modern GPU. The percentile ranking of the CPU (50th) and GPU (66th) individually suggest a solid mid-range pairing, but the in-game rank of 978 out of 1695 suggests that this specific combination does not translate its synthetic potential into top-tier gaming performance for this title.

This discrepancy is likely due to the game's age and the nature of the workload. Evolve was released in 2015, and its engine may not be optimized for the architectural strengths of the RTX 4060 (such as its RT and Tensor cores, which are not utilized here). The CPU's modest single-threaded performance, as indicated by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125, might also be holding back the system in scenarios that are more CPU-bound. While the combo is not weak, it is not a top performer, suggesting that other combinations of CPUs and GPUs in the database are better suited to this specific title's demands, likely those with stronger single-core performance or GPUs with larger memory buses.

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

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate.

At 1920x1080, the high refresh rate potential is clear. The Low preset delivers 191.1 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. However, the High preset at 114.4 FPS is also exceptionally smooth and provides a much better visual experience. Given that High is well above the 60 FPS threshold and close to 100+ FPS territory, it is the recommended setting for a balanced experience. Medium at 146.0 FPS is a good middle ground for those with a 144Hz monitor, but the visual uplift from High is likely worth the 31.6 FPS cost. Ultra at 80.6 FPS is still playable and offers the best visuals, but the drop from High is significant.

At 2560x1440, High at 76.3 FPS is the sweet spot, offering a great balance of visual fidelity and smoothness. Medium at 102.1 FPS is also excellent for high-refresh monitors. Low at 126 FPS is very fast but sacrifices too much visual quality. Ultra at 53.7 FPS is just below the 60 FPS threshold and may not feel as fluid, making High the clear recommendation.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. High at 44 FPS is not smooth enough for a fast-paced FPS. Low at 71.7 FPS is the only setting that provides a consistently playable frame rate. Medium at 56.8 FPS is borderline, but the 44 FPS at High makes it clear that players should stick to Low or Medium for 4K gaming.

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 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution, as it allows for frame rates well above 100 FPS at High settings, whereas 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 require significant compromises to maintain playable performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, the GPU is the clear limiting factor. The frame rates at High (44 FPS) and Ultra (33.7 FPS) are low, indicating the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus are insufficient for the workload.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Arc B580, in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 23181, which is 0.7% higher than the Intel Arc B580's score of 23021. This indicates a very slight synthetic performance advantage for the RTX 4060.

Q: Does the i5-9400 hold back the RTX 4060 at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at 1080p. The system achieves 191.1 FPS at Low settings, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU effectively. The GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 191.1, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

*Q: How does the combo's rank in Evolve compare to its component percentiles?*

A: The combo ranks 978 out of 1695 in-game, which is below the 50th percentile. This is worse than the individual percentile rankings of the CPU (50th) and GPU (66th), suggesting the pairing is less effective than its parts would suggest.

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

The following table presents the exact average FPS measurements for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 in Evolve.

| Resolution | Settings | Average FPS |

| :--------- | :------- | :---------- |

| 3840x2160 | Ultra | 33.7 |

| 3840x2160 | High | 44.0 |

| 3840x2160 | Medium | 56.8 |

| 3840x2160 | Low | 71.7 |

| 2560x1440 | Ultra | 53.7 |

| 2560x1440 | High | 76.3 |

| 2560x1440 | Medium | 102.1 |

| 2560x1440 | Low | 126.0 |

| 1920x1080 | Ultra | 80.6 |

| 1920x1080 | High | 114.4 |

| 1920x1080 | Medium | 146.0 |

| 1920x1080 | Low | 191.1 |

The data clearly shows a performance hierarchy. Across all settings, the FPS decreases as resolution increases. The most dramatic drop is seen when moving from 1080p to 4K at Ultra settings, where the system loses 46.9 FPS. Conversely, the smallest relative impact is seen at Low settings, where the 4K result of 71.7 FPS is still higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 80.6 FPS, highlighting the significant cost of visual fidelity at higher resolutions. The combination of a mid-range 2018 CPU and a modern 2023 GPU produces a system that is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K requiring significant settings reductions to remain playable.