Evolve

# Evolve — Intel Core i7-13700K + AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

The benchmark data for Evolve with this Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT combination reveals a system that scales predictably across resolutions and settings, with a clear GPU-bound character at higher presets. The measured FPS ranges from a demanding 36 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 235.5 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating that the pairing offers substantial headroom for competitive play while struggling to maintain high refresh rates at maximum visual fidelity in 4K. This combo ranks 642nd out of 1,695 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle tier of the database, which aligns with the hardware's respective benchmark percentiles — the CPU sits at the 93rd percentile among all processors, while the GPU holds the 76th percentile among all graphics cards.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, pointing to the GPU as the primary limiting component at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 235.5 FPS at 1080p to 155.4 FPS at 1440p, then to 91.8 FPS at 4K — a reduction of 34% from 1080p to 1440p, and another 41% from 1440p to 4K. This scaling pattern is typical of a graphics-bound scenario where pixel throughput becomes the bottleneck, and the RX 7800 XT's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory is clearly being tasked heavily as resolution increases.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 180 FPS at 1080p, 124.7 FPS at 1440p, and 69.5 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1440p to 4K here is larger — roughly 44% — suggesting that the additional pixel count at 4K disproportionately impacts the GPU's shading and rasterization workload. High settings follow suit with 143.6 FPS, 95.8 FPS, and 52 FPS respectively, while the Ultra preset is the most punishing, descending from 99 FPS at 1080p to 68.4 FPS at 1440p and finally 36 FPS at 4K.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU can still feed the GPU adequately, but as resolution climbs, the RX 7800 XT's compute resources — 3,840 shading units and 96 ROPs — become the decisive factor. The near-linear scaling between presets at each resolution further confirms that Evolve's rendering pipeline is sensitive to both resolution and quality settings, with the GPU's 624.1 GB/s memory bandwidth and 233.3 GPixel/s pixel rate ultimately capping performance at 4K.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, is the dominant force in this benchmark pairing. Its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a 624.1 GB/s bandwidth, which proves sufficient for all tested resolutions but shows strain at 4K Ultra where the average FPS dips to 36. The GPU's clock behavior — a base of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost clock of 2430 MHz — allows it to scale performance dynamically, yet the measured results indicate that even the boost ceiling cannot overcome the computational demands of Evolve's Ultra preset at 4K.

Comparing the GPU to its nearest rivals in the database, the RX 7800 XT's average benchmark score of 32,619 places it just 0.2% above the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32,540) and 0.7% above the AMD FirePro S10000 (32,388). It trails the NVIDIA P104-100 by 0.4% and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile by 0.7%. These narrow deltas suggest that the RX 7800 XT sits in a competitive performance band, though its real-world gaming results here — particularly the 52 FPS at 4K High — indicate it is better suited for 1440p gaming or 4K with reduced settings.

The GPU's 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 583.2 GTexel/s texture rate are substantial on paper, but the measured FPS data reveals that Evolve's engine does not fully utilize this raw throughput at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 235.5 FPS average suggests the frame pacing is partially limited by other factors — possibly draw calls or CPU-side simulation — rather than pure GPU fill rate. The 96 ROPs and 233.3 GPixel/s pixel rate become more relevant at 4K, where the 36 FPS Ultra result shows the pixel fill capacity being saturated.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K, with its 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficiency) and 24 threads, is far from the bottleneck in most scenarios tested here. Its boost clock of 5.40 GHz and base clock of 3.40 GHz provide ample single-threaded performance, as evidenced by a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,136 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4,333. The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core help maintain data locality for game logic, though Evolve — a 2015 release — is unlikely to leverage this modern architecture fully.

The CPU's benchmark results place it at the 93rd percentile among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 47,282. Its nearest rivals show remarkably tight competition: the Intel Core i7-13700KF scores 47,334 (0.1% higher), the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 47,131 (0.3% lower), the Intel Core i9-12900F scores 47,081 (0.4% lower), and the AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 5945 scores 47,527 (0.5% higher). This clustering indicates that the i7-13700K delivers performance comparable to its immediate peers, but in Evolve specifically, the measured FPS patterns suggest the CPU is rarely the limiting factor.

At 1080p Low, the 235.5 FPS result is high enough that CPU overhead could start to matter, but the data does not show a plateau that would indicate a hard CPU ceiling. The i7-13700K's 3DMark max-thread score of 12,412 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39,000 demonstrate substantial parallel capability, which likely handles Evolve's multi-threaded background simulation without issue. The CPU's PassMark physics score of 2,716 further suggests robust physics processing, though the game's age means it may not stress modern cores heavily.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS spans a wide range depending on settings. Low produces 235.5 FPS, Medium yields 180 FPS, High delivers 143.6 FPS, and Ultra drops to 99 FPS. The step from Low to Medium is a 24% reduction, while Medium to High costs 20%, and High to Ultra costs 31% — indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a disproportionately heavy load on the GPU.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall to 155.4 FPS at Low, 124.7 FPS at Medium, 95.8 FPS at High, and 68.4 FPS at Ultra. The relative gap between presets narrows slightly, with Low-to-Medium at 20% and High-to-Ultra at 29%, but the overall trend remains consistent. The 1440p Low result of 155.4 FPS is still well above 144 Hz refresh rates, while 1440p Ultra at 68.4 FPS barely misses the 72 Hz threshold for smooth console-like performance.

At 3840x2160, the data shows 91.8 FPS at Low, 69.5 FPS at Medium, 52 FPS at High, and 36 FPS at Ultra. The 4K Low result is playable for casual gaming, but the Ultra preset at 36 FPS is below the 60 FPS standard for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at each preset is roughly 41% to 44% reduction, which aligns with the pixel count increase from 3.7 million to 8.3 million pixels.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo if I want to maintain 60+ FPS consistently?

A: At 1440p, all presets except Ultra exceed 60 FPS — Low hits 155.4 FPS, Medium 124.7 FPS, and High 95.8 FPS. At 4K, only Low (91.8 FPS) and Medium (69.5 FPS) stay above 60 FPS, while High drops to 52 FPS and Ultra to 36 FPS.

Q: How does the RX 7800 XT compare to its closest GPU rivals in aggregate benchmarks?

A: The RX 7800 XT has an average benchmark score of 32,619, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32,540) and 0.7% higher than the AMD FirePro S10000 (32,388), but 0.4% lower than the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,747) and 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32,849).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to bottleneck at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the 235.5 FPS result is high, and the GPU's percentile (76th) is lower than the CPU's (93rd), suggesting the GPU is still the primary limiter, though the CPU's single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 1,136) could become relevant at very high frame rates.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Evolve?

A: This combo ranks 642nd out of 1,695 tested combinations, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all systems tested — a solid mid-to-upper tier position.

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

A: At 1440p, High averages 95.8 FPS while Ultra averages 68.4 FPS, a reduction of 27.4 FPS or roughly 29%, indicating that Ultra settings carry a significant performance penalty.

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

A: At 4K, the combo achieves 91.8 FPS at Low and 69.5 FPS at Medium, but only 52 FPS at High and 36 FPS at Ultra — so 4K is viable only with reduced settings.

Settings Recommendations

For players prioritizing a smooth experience at high refresh rates, the 1440p High preset (95.8 FPS) offers the best balance between visual quality and performance, as it stays comfortably above 60 FPS while delivering more detail than Medium. At 1080p, the Ultra preset (99 FPS) is the recommended choice for maximum fidelity without sacrificing playability, since it remains above 90 FPS. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset (69.5 FPS) is the highest quality option that maintains 60+ FPS, while High (52 FPS) and Ultra (36 FPS) should be avoided for competitive play. The Low preset at any resolution provides the highest frame rates — 235.5 FPS at 1080p, 155.4 FPS at 1440p, and 91.8 FPS at 4K — making it suitable for esports-style play where frame rate trumps visuals.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 642 out of 1,695 tested systems, this Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT pairing sits in the 62nd percentile of all configurations tested in Evolve. This ranking is respectable given that the CPU alone outperforms 93% of all processors in the database, while the GPU outperforms 76% of all graphics cards. The gap between the component percentiles and the combo rank suggests that Evolve's optimization favors certain hardware pairings, and the RX 7800 XT's mid-tier GPU standing pulls the overall system down from what the high-end CPU could otherwise achieve. The measured FPS data confirms this — at 1440p Ultra, the 68.4 FPS result is more indicative of the GPU's 76th percentile than the CPU's 93rd percentile, underscoring that for this game, the graphics card is the decisive factor in determining overall system performance within this combo.