Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, responds dramatically to both resolution and settings changes on this Intel Core i7-12700K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 platform. The measured data reveals a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions, but which begins to show CPU limitations at 1080p, particularly on lower settings where frame rates climb into the hundreds. The RTX 4090, with its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, provides a massive foundation, but the game's age means that raw processing throughput from the 12-core i7-12700K becomes a factor at the lowest resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep, but the curve is not linear. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 352 at 1920x1080 to 252.1 at 2560x1440, a 28.4% reduction, and then to 139.6 at 3840x2160, a further 44.6% drop from 1440p. This indicates that the GPU is being fed progressively heavier workloads, but the sheer speed of the RTX 4090 keeps even the 4K Low result above 139 FPS.

The scaling is more pronounced at higher settings. With High settings, the 1080p result is 228.6 FPS, which drops to 153.2 at 1440p (a 33% decrease) and then to 87 at 4K (a 43.2% decrease from 1440p). The Ultra preset shows the tightest scaling: 156.9 FPS at 1080p, 104.4 at 1440p, and 59.4 at 4K. The percentage drops are similar across presets, but the absolute differences highlight that the RTX 4090's performance headroom is being consumed by higher pixel counts and more complex shading. The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is often idling, waiting on the CPU to issue draw calls, while at 4K, the GPU's pixel and texture throughput—rated at 443.5 GPixel/s and 1,290.2 GTexel/s—becomes the definitive bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Evolve's textures, even at 4K Ultra. The card's 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units are the primary drivers of the frame rate differences between presets. The boost clock of 2520 MHz, up from a base of 2235 MHz, allows the card to sustain high throughput without thermal throttling, as evidenced by the consistent scaling across resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rivals in the database—such as the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56—are within 1.3% of that score, but those are compute-oriented cards with different driver optimizations. In Evolve, the RTX 4090's architecture, built on the 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors, delivers the raw rasterization power this game needs. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 195.1 FPS (352 vs 156.9), which shows that the GPU is capable of massive frame rates when the settings are lowered, but the game's engine and the CPU's instruction throughput begin to cap the maximum output.

Settings Recommendations

For a 60 Hz 4K display, the Ultra preset is the only choice that hits the target, with an average of 59.4 FPS. This is a borderline result—it will be smooth in most scenes but may dip below 60 in heavy combat. The High preset at 4K, however, offers a substantial jump to 87 FPS, which is a much safer margin for a 60 Hz display and still provides most of the visual fidelity. If you have a high-refresh 1440p monitor, the High preset at 153.2 FPS is the sweet spot, as it balances visual quality with a frame rate well above 144. The Medium preset at 1440p, at 190.5 FPS, is only worth using if you are chasing 240 Hz, but it will look noticeably flatter.

At 1080p, the situation is different. The Low preset produces 352 FPS, which is far beyond any current display's refresh rate, but the visual sacrifice is severe. The Medium preset at 286.1 FPS is still excessive for most monitors, and the High preset at 228.6 FPS is the most practical choice for a 144 Hz or 240 Hz display, as it provides a strong visual experience without leaving performance on the table. The Ultra preset at 1080p, at 156.9 FPS, is a demanding setting that seems to primarily stress the CPU's ability to feed the GPU, but it is still playable on high-refresh displays. The data suggests that High settings are the best compromise across all resolutions, as they consistently offer a significant FPS boost over Ultra while retaining acceptable image quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average frame rates span from 352 (Low) to 156.9 (Ultra). The incremental steps are: Low to Medium is a 65.9 FPS drop (352 to 286.1), Medium to High is a 57.5 FPS drop (286.1 to 228.6), and High to Ultra is a 71.7 FPS drop (228.6 to 156.9). The gap between High and Ultra is the largest at 1080p, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces a significant number of GPU-heavy effects that overwhelm the card's ability to maintain the high frame rates seen at other settings.

At 2560x1440, the results are 252.1 (Low), 190.5 (Medium), 153.2 (High), and 104.4 (Ultra). The drop from Low to Medium is 61.6 FPS, from Medium to High is 37.3 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 48.8 FPS. The relative gap between settings narrows compared to 1080p, as the GPU becomes more consistently the bottleneck. At 3840x2160, the averages are 139.6 (Low), 109.1 (Medium), 87 (High), and 59.4 (Ultra). The differences are smaller in absolute terms—30.5 FPS from Low to Medium, 22.1 FPS from Medium to High, and 27.6 FPS from High to Ultra—but they represent a larger percentage of the total frame time, making each setting change more impactful on perceived smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 35th out of 1695 tested combos for Evolve. This places it in the top 2.1% of all configurations, which is an exceptional result. The rank is driven by the GPU's 91st percentile standing and the CPU's 89th percentile standing, creating a pairing that is more than capable of handling this title. The i7-12700K's average benchmark score of 35684 is nearly identical to its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, which scores 35802, a delta of -0.3%. This means the CPU is not a limiting factor in the overall ranking.

The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 66473 is similarly close to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, which scores 66733, a delta of -0.4%. This indicates that the GPU is performing exactly as expected for its class. The 35th rank out of 1695 combos suggests that while there are 34 other configurations that score higher, they likely feature even newer or more expensive components. For a game like Evolve, which is not particularly demanding by modern standards, this combo is effectively overkill, but it ensures that no setting or resolution will cause a significant frame rate drop.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K plays a supporting but crucial role in achieving these frame rates. With 12 cores and 20 threads, it has ample processing power for Evolve's game logic and AI. Its boost clock of 5.00 GHz, up from a base of 3.60 GHz, provides the single-thread performance necessary to feed the RTX 4090 at high frame rates. The 3dmark single-thread score of 1043 and the 2-thread score of 2065 indicate strong per-core performance, which is essential for a game that relies on a few main threads for rendering commands.

Evidence of CPU limitation appears at 1080p Low, where the system hits 352 FPS. This is a massive frame rate, but it is likely capped by the CPU's ability to process the game's draw calls, as the GPU's theoretical pixel rate could handle even more. The 3dmark max-threads score of 9979 shows that the CPU can scale well with parallel workloads, but Evolve's engine does not appear to fully utilize all 20 threads. The L3 cache of 25 MB (shared) helps with data locality, reducing the need to access system memory, which is DDR4 or DDR5. In this context, the CPU is never a bottleneck at 4K, but at 1080p, it is the limiting factor that prevents the system from reaching even higher frame rates. The 125 W TDP and Intel Socket 1700 platform are standard for a desktop part, but the performance data confirms that this CPU is more than enough for Evolve, even with a top-tier GPU like the RTX 4090.