Evolve

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers a performance profile in Evolve that is heavily dictated by graphics settings rather than resolution. The benchmark data shows this combo ranks 418th out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the top 25% of all systems. The most striking finding is the dramatic scaling of frame rates across presets, which reveals that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher quality levels, while the CPU's substantial headroom only becomes apparent at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured performance to identify exactly where this hardware excels and where it struggles.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but consistent with a GPU-bound scenario. At High settings, average FPS falls from 160.9 at 1920x1080 to 108.8 at 2560x1440, a 32% reduction, and then to 58.9 at 3840x2160, a 46% further drop. This pattern indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the workload scales directly with pixel count. The data shows a similar trend at Medium settings: 201.8 FPS at 1080p, 139.1 at 1440p, and 77.8 at 4K. However, the scaling is not perfectly linear, suggesting some efficiency loss at 4K due to memory bandwidth saturation.

At Low settings, the picture changes. The 1080p result of 262.4 FPS is exceptionally high, but the drop to 175.8 at 1440p and 100.5 at 4K is less severe in percentage terms than at higher presets. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU begins to play a larger role, but the GPU still handles the bulk of the work. The gap between Low and High at 4K is 41.6 FPS (100.5 vs 58.9), while at 1080p the gap is 101.5 FPS (262.4 vs 160.9). This wider gap at lower resolutions confirms that the CPU can push more frames when the GPU is less burdened, but the RTX 3080 Ti's raw throughput still caps performance at 4K.

The Ultra preset shows the most severe scaling: 112.7 FPS at 1080p, 72.1 at 1440p, and just 42 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combination cannot maintain smooth gameplay at maximum quality on a 4K display. The data reveals that the limiting component shifts from the GPU at Ultra to a more balanced CPU-GPU interaction at Low, but the GPU remains the dominant constraint across all measured configurations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, provides 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is directly relevant to Evolve's performance at 4K, where the High preset delivers 58.9 FPS. The GPU's boost clock of 1665 MHz and 10240 shading units drive a Passmark G3D score of 26896, which places it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. The benchmark results show that the RTX 3080 Ti's closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, scores 41441 on average, a mere 0.5% higher, indicating this card is nearly as fast as the flagship in synthetic tests.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is most evident in the Ultra preset's 4K result of 42 FPS. This is the only measured configuration that falls below 60 FPS at any resolution, highlighting that the 12 GB VRAM and 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 compute are insufficient for maximum settings at 4K. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the GPU achieves 262.4 FPS, demonstrating that its throughput is more than adequate for lower fidelity demands. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 191309 and Vulkan score of 171798 further corroborate the card's compute strength, which translates to high frame rates when the CPU is not the bottleneck.

The RTX 3080 Ti's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores do not appear to influence Evolve's results, as this title from 2015 predates widespread ray tracing adoption. The GPU's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) is not a factor here, as the game likely runs on older API paths. The data shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth is the key differentiator at 4K, where the 912.4 GB/s figure supports 58.9 FPS at High but falls short at Ultra's 42 FPS.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Evolve to maintain 60+ FPS?*

A: All resolutions except 4K Ultra maintain at least 58.9 FPS. The 4K High preset achieves 58.9 FPS, which is borderline, while 1440p High delivers 108.8 FPS and 1080p High reaches 160.9 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Ti compare to its nearest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 41224, which is 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090's 41441, and 0.9% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro 5300's 41610.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low?

A: At 1920x1080 Low, the combo achieves 262.4 FPS, indicating the CPU (Intel Core i7-12700K) has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU. The GPU is still the primary limiter, but the CPU's 12 cores and 20 threads are not constraining at this setting.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Medium and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Medium averages 139.1 FPS while Ultra averages 72.1 FPS, a difference of 67 FPS. This shows a significant performance cost for the highest quality preset.

*Q: Does the combo rank highly among all tested systems in Evolve?*

A: The combo ranks 418th out of 1695 combinations, placing it in the top 24.7% of all tested hardware configurations for this game.

Q: What is the lowest measured FPS in the entire dataset?

A: The lowest average FPS is 42 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. The highest is 262.4 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 418 out of 1695 tested combinations in Evolve places this system in the upper quartile of all hardware pairings. This ranking is influenced by the CPU's strong synthetic performance—the Intel Core i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35684, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802, which is only 0.3% higher, making the performance essentially equivalent. The Intel Core i7-13700T scores 35468, 0.6% lower, while the Intel Core i5-14500HX scores 35940, 0.7% higher.

The GPU's ranking is slightly lower at the 83rd percentile, with an average score of 41224. The RTX 3080 Ti's nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores 41441, a 0.5% difference. This near-parity in synthetic tests suggests that the combo's rank in Evolve is driven more by the GPU's real-world frame rates than its absolute compute score. The 4K Ultra result of 42 FPS is a clear outlier that drags down the overall ranking, while the 1080p Low result of 262.4 FPS demonstrates the system's peak capability.

Compared to the 1695 total combos, a rank of 418 means that roughly 1277 other systems are slower in this game. However, the data also shows that this pairing is not top-tier for Evolve specifically, as the game's age and CPU-light nature mean that newer GPUs with higher memory bandwidth would likely outperform it. The combo's position is solidly mid-to-high tier, with the CPU's 25 MB of L3 cache and 5.00 GHz boost clock providing ample single-thread performance for the game's logic.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy for optimal settings. For 4K displays, the High preset is the only viable option for smooth gameplay, with 58.9 FPS. The Medium preset at 77.8 FPS offers more headroom, but the visual quality difference may justify the lower frame rate. The Ultra preset at 42 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as it falls below the 60 FPS standard for competitive play. At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers 139.1 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors, while High at 108.8 FPS is also acceptable. The Ultra preset at 72.1 FPS is playable but sacrifices significant frame rate for marginal visual gains.

For 1080p, the Low preset achieves 262.4 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of most displays. The Medium preset at 201.8 FPS is a better balance of quality and speed, while High at 160.9 FPS remains excellent. The Ultra preset at 112.7 FPS is the best choice for maximum visual fidelity on 1080p, as it stays well above 100 FPS. The data suggests that the "sweet spot" for this combo is 1440p Medium, which balances the GPU's 12 GB VRAM and the CPU's capabilities without hitting the 4K memory bandwidth wall. For competitive play, 1080p Low at 262.4 FPS is the maximum achievable frame rate, but 1440p Medium at 139.1 FPS offers a far better visual experience with only a 47% frame rate penalty.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates scale from 262.4 FPS at Low to 201.8 at Medium, 160.9 at High, and 112.7 at Ultra. The step from Low to Medium costs 60.6 FPS, while the step from Medium to High costs 40.9 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 48.2 FPS. This shows that the Low preset is disproportionately fast, likely due to reduced draw calls and shadow calculations. At 2560x1440, the results are 175.8 FPS (Low), 139.1 (Medium), 108.8 (High), and 72.1 (Ultra). The relative drop from Low to Medium is 36.7 FPS, Medium to High is 30.3 FPS, and High to Ultra is 36.7 FPS, indicating a more uniform degradation.

At 3840x2160, the average frame rates are 100.5 FPS (Low), 77.8 (Medium), 58.9 (High), and 42 (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 22.7 FPS, Medium to High is 18.9 FPS, and High to Ultra is 16.9 FPS. The diminishing absolute differences at 4K confirm that the GPU is saturated, and each additional setting increment has a smaller impact on frame rate. The total range across all settings and resolutions spans from 42 FPS (4K Ultra) to 262.4 FPS (1080p Low), a 6.25x variation that highlights the extreme sensitivity of this game to graphics settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture includes 25 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29241 and a single-core score of 4128, placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The Passmark multithread score of 34404 and single-thread score of 4013 further confirm its strong performance. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, has an average score of 35802, which is only 0.3% higher, making these processors effectively equal in raw compute.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p Low, where the 262.4 FPS result is likely near the game's engine limit. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 9276 and max-thread score of 9979 indicate that the CPU can handle high thread counts, but Evolve is unlikely to utilize all 20 threads. The game's 2015 release date means it was designed for older CPUs with fewer cores, so the 12-core i7-12700K provides substantial headroom. The 5.00 GHz boost clock ensures high single-thread performance, which is critical for game logic and physics calculations.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck at any measured setting, as frame rates scale consistently with GPU load. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1043 and Geekbench single-core score of 2561 indicate robust single-threaded performance. The CPU's 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 compatibility are irrelevant to the game's performance but confirm it is a desktop-class part. The Passmark physics score of 1790 suggests adequate physics processing, though the game's physics load is modest. Overall, the i7-12700K provides more than enough computational power for Evolve, ensuring that the RTX 3080 Ti is the sole determinant of frame rates across all tested configurations.