Evolve

The Intel Core i7-12700KF paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 presents a stark contrast in hardware generations. The CPU is a modern, high-core-count desktop processor, while the GPU is an older, end-of-life midrange card. In Evolve, this pairing produces results that are almost entirely dictated by the graphics card, though the CPU’s architecture prevents it from ever becoming a bottleneck in this specific title.

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

The Core i7-12700KF is built on Intel's Alder Lake architecture and utilises a 10 nm process. It features 12 cores and 20 threads, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. This configuration places it in the 89th percentile versus all CPUs, indicating strong headroom for multi-threaded workloads. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 25 MB L3 cache.

In the context of Evolve, a 2015 FPS title, the CPU’s capabilities are likely underutilised. The game was released in February 2015, long before the 12th Gen Core series existed. Benchmark results for the CPU show strong synthetic performance, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 28979 and a single-core score of 4091. However, the measured FPS data for this combo reveals a different story. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system achieves 79.8 FPS. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, it drops to 9.7 FPS.

This performance curve suggests that the CPU’s high single-thread performance — evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1043 — is not the limiting factor. The disparity between resolutions and settings points directly to the GPU as the primary constraint. The CPU’s 20 threads and high boost clock are more than sufficient for Evolve’s engine, which was designed for the quad-core and six-core era. The data indicates that the processor is effectively idle, waiting on the Radeon RX 570 to render frames. Even in the most demanding scenario—4K Ultra—the CPU’s 3DMark max-thread score of 9983 suggests it is not the cause of the 9.7 FPS result. The bottleneck is almost exclusively the graphics subsystem.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Core i7-12700KF and Radeon RX 570 ranks 1631 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the bottom 4% of all tested combinations, a surprisingly low position given the CPU’s pedigree. The ranking is a direct consequence of the GPU’s age and performance class. The RX 570, released in April 2017, is an end-of-life product that sits in the 74th percentile versus all GPUs.

This rank becomes clearer when examining the CPU’s nearest rivals. The i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35355, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i5-14400 (35336, deltaPct 0.1), the Intel Core i7-13800H (35416, deltaPct -0.2), and the Intel Core i9-12900HX (35289, deltaPct 0.2). These processors are all within 0.3% of each other in raw CPU performance. If paired with a different GPU, the combo rank would likely be much higher. However, the RX 570’s nearest rivals tell a different story.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 30158, and its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (30109, deltaPct 0.2), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (30097, deltaPct 0.2), and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (29969, deltaPct 0.6). These are all significantly more modern and powerful cards. The fact that the RX 570 scores within 0.8% of these newer cards in synthetic benchmarks is misleading for gaming performance, especially in a title like Evolve that relies on specific rasterisation features. In practice, the combo rank of 1631 reflects that the system is held back by a GPU that was already several generations old when the game was tested. The data shows that this is a severely unbalanced pairing for this game, with the CPU offering far more power than the GPU can utilise.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo at 1920x1080?

A: The highest playable average is achieved at Medium settings, producing 59.3 FPS. Low settings yield 79.8 FPS, while High drops to 46.1 FPS and Ultra falls to 31.5 FPS.

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

A: No. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 31.8 on Low, 23.6 on Medium, 16.6 on High, and 9.7 on Ultra. These figures are below acceptable playability thresholds for an FPS.

Q: Why is the combo rank so low despite having a powerful CPU?

A: The combo ranks 1631 out of 1695 because the AMD Radeon RX 570 is an older GPU that bottlenecks the system. The CPU’s high benchmark scores (e.g., 28979 in Cinebench R23) do not translate to high FPS when the GPU cannot render frames fast enough.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its closest rivals?

A: The i7-12700KF scores 35355 on average. It is 0.1% faster than the Core i5-14400 (35336), 0.2% slower than the Core i7-13800H (35416), and 0.2% faster than the Core i9-12900HX (35289).

Q: What is the biggest performance jump between settings at 2560x1440?

A: Moving from Low to Medium increases FPS from 52.8 to 40.6, which is a decrease. The largest jump is from Ultra (22.8 FPS) to High (30.4 FPS), a 7.6 FPS improvement.

Q: Does the GPU’s memory bandwidth affect 4K performance?

A: Yes. The RX 570’s 224.0 GB/s bandwidth over a 256-bit bus is insufficient for 4K Ultra, where the GPU posts only 9.7 FPS. The memory size of 4 GB and the 1750 MHz memory clock are also limiting factors at higher resolutions.

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

The measured data provides a comprehensive look at how this combo scales across resolutions and quality presets. At 1920x1080, the system transitions from playable to marginal. Low settings deliver 79.8 FPS, which is smooth for a competitive FPS. Medium settings provide 59.3 FPS, still acceptable. High settings drop to 46.1 FPS, which is borderline. Ultra settings are the weakest at 1080p, producing 31.5 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target but technically playable for a slower-paced game.

Moving to 2560x1440, the GPU begins to struggle. Low settings produce 52.8 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. Medium settings yield 40.6 FPS, and High settings drop to 30.4 FPS. Ultra settings are rendered nearly unplayable at 22.8 FPS. The data shows a linear degradation as settings increase, with a 30 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are poor across the board. Low settings achieve 31.8 FPS, barely reaching console-like frame rates. Medium settings drop to 23.6 FPS, High to 16.6 FPS, and Ultra to 9.7 FPS. The step-down from Low to Medium is 8.2 FPS, while from High to Ultra is 6.9 FPS. The scaling from 1080p Low (79.8 FPS) to 4K Low (31.8 FPS) shows a 60% reduction in performance, indicating that the GPU’s fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints. The pattern confirms that this combo is only suitable for 1080p gaming at Medium or Low settings, with 1440p possible only at Low, and 4K reserved for static scenes.

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

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU’s base clock is 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz, and the memory runs at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). It features 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

In Evolve, the GPU is the definitive bottleneck. The 4 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p, but at 2560x1440 and above, the memory pressure becomes evident. The 224.0 GB/s bandwidth is simply not enough to feed the 32 ROPs at high resolutions, which explains the steep FPS drops at 4K. For example, at 3840x2160 Ultra, the card produces 9.7 FPS, which is a direct result of the pixel fill rate being overwhelmed (39.81 GPixel/s). The texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s is also insufficient for high-detail textures at 4K, contributing to the low scores.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmarks—3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 880, Geekbench OpenCL score of 32084, and Geekbench Vulkan score of 42752—show it is a capable card for older titles. However, Evolve’s lighting and particle effects stress the GCN 4.0 architecture. The FP32 performance of 5.095 TFLOPS is decent, but it is not enough to handle the game’s Ultra preset at any resolution above 1080p. The data indicates that the RX 570 is a 1080p-oriented card for this game, and pairing it with a high-end CPU like the i7-12700KF does not unlock additional performance because the GPU’s hardware limits are the sole factor in the measured FPS. The card’s 74th percentile ranking versus all GPUs is misleading in this context, as the game’s specific demands on ROPs and memory bandwidth expose its age.