Evolve

The Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 combination delivers a top-tier performance profile in Evolve, placing 10th out of 1,695 tested combos. The data reflects a system capable of extreme frame rates at lower resolutions, while 4K Ultra settings present a significant challenge that underscores the GPU's workload.

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

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 12th Gen series, built on the Alder Lake architecture using a 10 nm process. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz provide substantial single-thread headroom, which is critical for maintaining high frame rates in an FPS like Evolve. The processor's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 25 MB L3 cache, all of which help reduce latency when the CPU is feeding the GPU.

Benchmark scores for the i7-12700K place it in the 89th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,684. In multi-threaded tasks, the Cinebench R23 multicore score of 29,241 shows strong parallel capability, while the single-core score of 4,128 is more relevant for this game's frame pacing. The PassMark single-thread score of 4,013 corroborates this strength. The processor's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with a delta of -0.3%, the Intel Core i7-13700T at +0.6%, the Intel Core i5-14500HX at -0.7%, and the Intel Core i7-13800H at +0.8%. These deltas are minimal, indicating that the i7-12700K sits in a very tightly contested performance band. For Evolve, the 3DMark 2-thread score of 2,065 and 4-thread score of 4,011 suggest that the CPU is more than adequate for the game's logic and draw-call processing, allowing the RTX 5090 to become the primary bottleneck in most scenarios.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a behemoth, featuring 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process at TSMC, packing 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die. Its base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz enable exceptional raw throughput, evidenced by an FP32 performance of 104.8 TFLOPS. With 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the RTX 5090 is engineered for maximum rasterization and compute workloads.

In the benchmark database, the RTX 5090 ranks in the 94th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84,306. Its nearest rivals show very small deltas: the RTX 5090 D is +0.1%, the RTX 5050 Mobile is +0.2%, the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 is +1.3%, and the NVIDIA CMP 40HX is -1.6%. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,411 and PassMark G3D score of 39,650 indicate that this GPU is near the peak of current hardware. In Evolve, the GPU's massive memory pool and bandwidth are not fully stressed at lower resolutions, but at 4K Ultra, the game's rendering demands become apparent. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s mean the GPU is rarely starved for fill rate, but the measured FPS drop at 4K Ultra suggests that shader complexity and memory latency are the limiting factors.

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

The measured FPS data shows a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 351.8 FPS, which drops to 233 FPS at High settings and 162.8 FPS at Ultra. Moving to 2560x1440, the Low setting still delivers 256.4 FPS, but High falls to 154.2 FPS and Ultra to 108.3 FPS. At 3840x2160, the numbers compress further: Low yields 149.4 FPS, Medium 116.1 FPS, High 89.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 64.7 FPS.

The transition from 1080p Low to 4K Low shows a reduction from 351.8 FPS to 149.4 FPS, a drop of roughly 57%. This is a significant scaling factor that points to the GPU becoming the dominant constraint as pixel count increases. However, the CPU still holds up: the i7-12700K's single-thread performance ensures that even at 4K Low, the frame rate stays above 149 FPS, which is well above the playable threshold. The real story is at Ultra settings. From 1080p Ultra (162.8 FPS) to 4K Ultra (64.7 FPS), the drop is 60%, indicating that the RTX 5090 is being fully saturated by the game's highest visual fidelity. The gap between Medium and High at 4K is 26.2 FPS (116.1 vs 89.9), while the gap between High and Ultra is 25.2 FPS (89.9 vs 64.7). This suggests that Ultra settings introduce a disproportionately heavy load, likely due to advanced shading and post-processing effects that consume the GPU's compute resources. The data indicates that for competitive play, 1080p or 1440p with High settings offers the best balance, while 4K Ultra is more suited to visual fidelity over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 achieves a rank of 10 out of 1,695 tested combos in Evolve. This top-1% placement reflects the synergy between the CPU's high single-thread performance and the GPU's brute force. The rank places this combo in the elite tier, but it is not the absolute best, suggesting that there are a few other pairings with slightly better frame times or higher average FPS.

Given the CPU's nearest rivals all have deltas within ±0.8%, the differences in overall combo ranking are likely driven more by the GPU's performance consistency than by CPU variations. The RTX 5090's percentile of 94 means it is outperformed by only 6% of GPUs in the database, but those few could include newer or more specialized cards. In practice, the 10th rank out of 1,695 means that this combo is in the top 0.6% of all tested systems for Evolve, which is exceptional. The measured FPS data corroborates this: even at 4K Ultra, the 64.7 FPS average is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while at 1440p High, the 154.2 FPS provides a high refresh rate experience. The rank reflects a system that is overkill for 1080p but still capable of delivering high-end 4K performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings is 233 FPS.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 64.7 FPS, which is the lowest measured result across all configurations.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems in Evolve?

A: It ranks 10th out of 1,695 tested combos, placing it in the top 1% of all systems.

Q: What is the difference in FPS between 1080p Low and 4K Low?

A: The average FPS drops from 351.8 at 1080p Low to 149.4 at 4K Low, a reduction of 202.4 FPS.

Q: Which component is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor, as the RTX 5090's workload increases significantly with resolution and settings, while the CPU's single-thread performance remains sufficient.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for the CPU and GPU?

A: The Intel Core i7-12700K has a launch MSRP of $409, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD.

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

The measured FPS data for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 in Evolve is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the average FPS scales from 351.8 on Low settings, down to 295.9 on Medium, 233 on High, and 162.8 on Ultra. The jump from Low to Medium is a 55.9 FPS reduction, while High to Ultra is a 70.2 FPS drop.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 256.4 on Low, 201.4 on Medium, 154.2 on High, and 108.3 on Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 148.1 FPS, showing a more pronounced impact of settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 149.4 on Low, 116.1 on Medium, 89.9 on High, and 64.7 on Ultra. This is the steepest scaling curve, with each settings tier reducing the frame rate by roughly 25-33 FPS. The data shows that 4K Ultra is the only configuration where the average FPS falls below 90, indicating that this is the most demanding scenario for the combo. All other resolution and settings combinations maintain an average FPS above 89.9, with the majority exceeding 100 FPS. The variance between Low and Ultra at each resolution increases as resolution rises: 189 FPS at 1080p, 148.1 FPS at 1440p, and 84.7 FPS at 4K. This pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU and GPU are both capable of high throughput, but at 4K, the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes the sole constraint, narrowing the gap between settings tiers.