Evolve

# Evolve with Intel Core i7-12700KF + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

This pairing combines a high-end 12-core Alder Lake CPU with an entry-level Pascal GPU, and the benchmark data makes the bottleneck unmistakable: the GTX 1050 Ti holds this combo to the 3,644th spot out of 3,700 tested combinations in Evolve. The CPU is capable of far more, but the GPU's 25th percentile standing among all GPUs dictates the experience. The result is a system that can hit playable frame rates only at 1080p Low, and even then it barely crosses the 60 FPS threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 3,644 out of 3,700 combos, this pairing sits in the bottom 1.5% of all tested configurations for Evolve. That is a poor result, driven almost entirely by the graphics card. The Intel Core i7-12700KF ranks in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35,365. Its nearest rivals — the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,403, -0.1%), Intel Core i5-13600T (35,305, 0.2%), Intel Core 5 213PE (35,428, -0.2%), and Intel Core i7-12700K (35,287, 0.2%) — are all within a fraction of a percent, confirming the CPU is not the limiting factor.

The GPU tells a different story. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 4,193. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (4,170, 0.6%), NVIDIA Quadro K2100M (4,151, 1%), NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (4,241, -1.1%), and AMD Radeon Vega 3 (4,268, -1.8%). The 1050 Ti is essentially trading blows with integrated and low-end mobile parts, which explains why this combo ranks so poorly.

The gap between CPU and GPU capability is stark. The i7-12700KF scores 28,838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 4,071 in single-core, while the GTX 1050 Ti manages just 6,340 in Passmark G3D and 2,652 in GPU compute. In Evolve, the measured frame rates reflect this imbalance: at 1080p Ultra, the combo produces only 26 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 62 FPS — a 36 FPS swing that shows how much headroom the CPU has when the GPU workload is reduced.

Settings Recommendations

The data points to 1080p Low as the only consistently playable configuration. At this setting, the combo averages 62 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS target most players consider smooth. 1080p Medium drops to 48 FPS (with a minimum of 41 FPS), which is playable but with noticeable dips during intense action. 1080p High falls to 38 FPS, and 1080p Ultra bottoms out at 26 FPS — neither is recommended for responsive gameplay.

At 1440p, the situation worsens significantly. Low settings yield 42 FPS, Medium 32 FPS (27–37 FPS range), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 17 FPS. None of these reach 60 FPS, and even the 42 FPS at Low will feel stutter-prone in a fast-paced FPS. 4K is effectively unplayable: Low averages 24 FPS, Medium 18 FPS (16–21 FPS range), High 14 FPS, and Ultra 10 FPS.

The verdict is clear: for Evolve, this combo should run at 1080p Low. Medium at 1080p is a compromise for visual quality, but the 14 FPS drop from Low to Medium — from 62 to 48 FPS — is substantial. Users prioritizing smoothness over visuals should stay on Low. Those willing to accept sub-50 FPS can try Medium, but the minimum of 41 FPS suggests occasional hitches.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate degradation from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals the GPU as the primary constraint. At Low settings, the combo delivers 62 FPS at 1080p, 42 FPS at 1440p (a 32% drop), and 24 FPS at 4K (a 61% drop from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 48 FPS at 1080p, 32 FPS at 1440p (a 33% drop), and 18 FPS at 4K (a 63% drop). High settings follow the same pattern: 38 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p (a 34% drop), and 14 FPS at 4K (a 63% drop).

The consistency of these percentage drops — roughly one-third from 1080p to 1440p and another third from 1440p to 4K — indicates a purely GPU-limited scenario. The i7-12700KF's 12 cores and 20 threads are not being taxed by Evolve at these settings; the frame rate scales almost perfectly with pixel count. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would flatten out at lower resolutions, but here the drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings (20 FPS) is nearly identical to the drop at High settings (13 FPS) when expressed as a percentage.

This pattern confirms that the GTX 1050 Ti's 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth are the limiting factors. The GPU's 768 shading units and 32 ROPs simply cannot sustain Evolve's rendering load beyond 1080p, regardless of how much headroom the CPU has. The i7-12700KF's 25 MB of L3 cache and 5.00 GHz boost clock are irrelevant when the GPU is saturated.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its only playable results. Low averages 62 FPS, Medium 48 FPS (with a 41–55 FPS range), High 38 FPS, and Ultra 26 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 36 FPS, a 58% reduction, which shows how heavily Evolve's Ultra preset taxes the GTX 1050 Ti.

At 2560x1440, all settings become marginal. Low averages 42 FPS, Medium 32 FPS (27–37 FPS range), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 17 FPS. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 20 FPS (62 to 42), while the same resolution change at Ultra costs 9 FPS (26 to 17). The absolute numbers are low across the board, and no 1440p setting reaches the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the combo is unplayable. Low averages 24 FPS, Medium 18 FPS (16–21 FPS range), High 14 FPS, and Ultra 10 FPS. Even the minimum frame rate at Medium (16 FPS) is below what most users would consider interactive. The 4K Ultra result of 10 FPS is barely a slideshow.

The measured data shows that the combo's performance envelope is narrow: it can handle 1080p Low comfortably, 1080p Medium adequately, and everything else poorly. The minimum FPS figures at Medium settings (41 at 1080p, 27 at 1440p, 16 at 4K) provide a glimpse of worst-case performance, which would be especially problematic during Evolve's monster encounters with heavy particle effects.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the decisive component in this pairing. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, which is modest by modern standards. The GPU's base clock of 1291 MHz and boost clock of 1392 MHz drive 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, yielding a pixel rate of 44.54 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 66.82 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput of 2.138 TFLOPS places it firmly in entry-level territory.

The benchmark results corroborate this: the 1050 Ti scores 6,340 in Passmark G3D, 2,652 in GPU compute, and 26 in Passmark DirectX 12. Its DirectX 11 score of 45 and DirectX 9 score of 104 are more relevant for Evolve, which launched in 2015 and relies on older DX11 pathways. The GPU's 25th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms only a quarter of the installed base, and its nearest rivals — mobile and integrated parts like the Radeon R5 M330 and Quadro K2100M — underscore its low standing.

In Evolve specifically, the GPU's 4 GB memory capacity is sufficient for 1080p but becomes strained at higher resolutions. The measured FPS at 4K (10–24 FPS depending on settings) reflects both memory bandwidth limitations and the GPU's modest compute capability. The 14 nm process node and 75 W TDP mean this card was designed for efficiency, not performance, and the benchmark data shows that trade-off clearly. The GPU's suggested PSU of 250 W and lack of power connectors emphasize its low-power design, which is fine for the card itself but does not compensate for its performance ceiling.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo playable for Evolve at 1080p?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 62 FPS. Medium drops to 48 FPS (41–55 FPS range), High to 38 FPS, and Ultra to 26 FPS. Low is the only setting that consistently exceeds 60 FPS.

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

A: The Intel Core i7-12700KF has an average benchmark score of 35,365, putting it within 0.2% of the Intel Core i7-12700K (35,287) and Intel Core i5-13600T (35,305). It is 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-13700T (35,403) and 0.2% behind the Intel Core 5 213PE (35,428). The differences are negligible.

Q: What is the GPU's performance ranking?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 4,193. It is within 1.8% of the AMD Radeon Vega 3 (4,268) and 1.1% of the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (4,241).

Q: Can this combo handle 1440p gaming in Evolve?

A: Not at playable frame rates. Low settings average 42 FPS, Medium 32 FPS (27–37 FPS range), High 25 FPS, and Ultra 17 FPS. None of these reach 60 FPS, and the minimums at Medium (27 FPS) indicate stutter-prone performance.

Q: Why does performance drop so much from 1080p to 4K?

A: The frame rate falls by roughly one-third from 1080p to 1440p and another third from 1440p to 4K at every settings level. This consistent scaling indicates the GPU is fully saturated, as the CPU has ample headroom — the i7-12700KF scores 28,838 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and ranks in the 85th percentile.

Q: What are the GPU's memory specifications?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective). These figures, combined with the 768 shading units, explain the GPU's limited performance at higher resolutions.