Evolve

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

The measured FPS data for Evolve with the Intel Core i7-14700F and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT reveals a classic resolution-scaling pattern, but with some telling nuances. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 190.3 FPS. Dropping to 1440p Low yields 126.9 FPS, a reduction of roughly 33%. Moving to 4K Low brings 71.7 FPS, which is another 44% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline as resolution climbs strongly suggests the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher pixel counts, while the CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads have ample headroom at lower resolutions.

The scaling across presets tells a more complex story. At 1080p, the gap between Low (190.3 FPS) and High (116.5 FPS) is 63%, while the Ultra preset (83.7 FPS) is 56% below Low. At 1440p, the same comparison shows High (77.7 FPS) at 39% below Low (126.9 FPS), and Ultra (51.6 FPS) at 59% below Low. At 4K, the relative penalties compress further: High (46.4 FPS) is 35% below Low (71.7 FPS), and Ultra (32 FPS) is 55% below Low. The diminishing relative gap between presets as resolution increases indicates that pixel throughput is becoming the bottleneck, overshadowing the shading and texture workload differences between settings.

The most revealing data point is the 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered smooth for fast-paced FPS gameplay, and it is 61% lower than the 4K Low result. The fact that the combo can manage 71.7 FPS at 4K Low but only 32 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that the RX 6700 XT's 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated by the Ultra preset's demands. The 4K Medium result of 55.9 FPS sits in a middle ground, confirming that the GPU is the limiting component at this resolution.

What does this imply about the CPU's role? At 1080p Low, the i7-14700F's boost clock of 5.40 GHz and substantial L3 cache of 33 MB (shared) likely keep the frame pipeline fed, but the 190.3 FPS ceiling is still well below what a CPU with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 could theoretically support. The data suggests Evolve is not heavily multi-threaded, as the 20-core processor's advantage is not fully utilized; the game appears to respond more to single-thread performance, where the i7-14700F scores 5003 in Cinebench R23 single-core.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS on High settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the combo achieves 77.7 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold. At 3840x2160 with High settings, it drops to 46.4 FPS. Therefore, 1440p is the highest resolution that consistently exceeds 60 FPS on High.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 4K on the same preset?

A: On Low settings, the drop is from 190.3 FPS at 1080p to 71.7 FPS at 4K, a 62% reduction. On High settings, it falls from 116.5 FPS to 46.4 FPS, a 60% reduction. The proportional loss is similar across presets, but the absolute FPS becomes unplayable at 4K for High and Ultra.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, Ultra delivers 83.7 FPS, which is smooth. At 1440p, it drops to 51.6 FPS, which is borderline. At 4K, it falls to 32 FPS, which is below acceptable playability for an FPS. The data indicates Ultra is only viable at 1080p for this title.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at lower resolutions?

A: The data shows 190.3 FPS at 1080p Low, which is high but not extreme. Given the i7-14700F's Passmark single-thread score of 4261 and multi-thread score of 41765, the CPU is likely not the main limiter at 1080p; however, the game's frame rate is still well below what the CPU could theoretically push, suggesting a game engine or driver-level cap.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 963 out of 1695 tested combos, placing it in the middle of the field. This rank reflects that while the individual components are strong (CPU in the 94th percentile, GPU in the 77th percentile), the game's engine may not fully leverage their combined capabilities.

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

A: At 1440p, Medium produces 98.7 FPS while High produces 77.7 FPS. The difference is 21 FPS, meaning Medium offers a 27% higher frame rate than High at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for optimizing the Evolve experience with this hardware. The sweet spot for most users will be 2560x1440 with Medium settings, which delivers 98.7 FPS. This is comfortably above the 60 FPS target and leaves headroom for demanding scenes. The jump from Medium to High at 1440p costs 21 FPS (from 98.7 to 77.7), which may not be worth the visual fidelity gain for competitive play. However, for users with 144Hz monitors, 1080p High at 116.5 FPS is the best combination of visual quality and high frame rates, as it stays above the 100 FPS mark.

For those prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, 1080p Ultra at 83.7 FPS is the only Ultra setting that remains playable without drops below 60 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result of 51.6 FPS is risky for fast-paced gameplay, and 4K Ultra at 32 FPS is not recommended. The data suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a significant performance penalty that the RX 6700 XT cannot offset at resolutions above 1080p.

The 4K resolution is only viable with Low settings (71.7 FPS) or Medium settings (55.9 FPS). Since 4K Low is above 60 FPS, it is the only 4K option that meets the minimum playability threshold. The 4K Medium result is borderline and may stutter in intense combat. Given that the GPU's 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 165.2 GPixel/s pixel rate are strong, the 4K Ultra result of 32 FPS indicates that the Ultra preset likely requires more than 12 GB of VRAM for texture streaming, causing a performance cliff.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces a wide spread of results across presets. Low settings yield 190.3 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings drop to 151 FPS, a 21% reduction from Low. High settings yield 116.5 FPS, which is 39% below Low and 23% below Medium. Ultra settings produce 83.7 FPS, which is 56% below Low and 28% below High. The stepwise degradation from Low to Ultra is consistent, with each preset tier costing roughly 30-40 FPS at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the pattern continues but with smaller absolute gaps. Low settings deliver 126.9 FPS, Medium produces 98.7 FPS (22% below Low), High yields 77.7 FPS (39% below Low), and Ultra drops to 51.6 FPS (59% below Low). The relative penalty for Ultra is more severe at 1440p than at 1080p, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s is becoming a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the results compress significantly. Low settings achieve 71.7 FPS, Medium drops to 55.9 FPS (22% below Low), High falls to 46.4 FPS (35% below Low), and Ultra bottoms out at 32 FPS (55% below Low). The 4K Ultra result is the lowest in the entire dataset and represents a 63% drop from the 4K Low result. This indicates that at 4K, the GPU is fully saturated, and the differences between presets diminish because the pixel fill rate becomes the dominant constraint.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 963 out of 1695 tested combinations places this system in the 57th percentile of all tested configurations for Evolve. This is notably lower than the CPU's individual percentile ranking of 94 and the GPU's percentile ranking of 77. The discrepancy suggests that Evolve does not scale well with high-end hardware, or that the game's engine has a performance ceiling that this combo cannot exceed.

The nearest rival comparisons for the CPU show that it sits within 1.7% of the AMD EPYC 7313P and within 1.2% of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290, yet those are workstation-class processors. For the GPU, the RX 6700 XT is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA RTX A5000 and within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 6800, indicating that the graphics card is competitive with higher-tier options. However, the combo's mid-pack rank implies that the game's performance is not solely determined by raw component strength.

The rank suggests that many other combinations of CPUs and GPUs achieve better frame rates in Evolve, possibly due to the game favoring specific architectures. The i7-14700F's 20 cores are likely underutilized in this 2015 title, which was released before the proliferation of high-core-count CPUs. The RX 6700 XT's RDNA 2.0 architecture, while powerful, may not have optimal drivers for this older game engine.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F brings substantial processing power to this combination, with 20 cores and 28 threads operating at a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The Passmark multi-thread score of 41765 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs. However, the measured FPS data suggests that Evolve does not effectively use this multi-threading capability.

The game, released in 2015, was designed for the quad-core era. The i7-14700F's single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 5003 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4261, is more relevant. The high boost clock of 5.40 GHz is likely the key factor in achieving the 190.3 FPS at 1080p Low, as the game's main thread can run on a single core at maximum speed.

The L3 cache of 33 MB (shared) and L2 cache of 2 MB (per core) provide ample bandwidth for the game's data, but the 10 nm process node and 65 W TDP suggest the CPU is not thermally constrained. The data implies that the CPU is rarely the bottleneck in this combo; at 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor, while at 1080p Low, the CPU is capable of pushing well beyond the 190.3 FPS measured, indicating a game engine cap rather than a CPU limitation.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is the more performance-critical component in this pairing for Evolve. With 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus delivering 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU has substantial memory resources. The boost clock of 2581 MHz and game clock of 2424 MHz drive 2560 shading units, producing 13.21 TFLOPS FP32 performance and a texture rate of 413.0 GTexel/s.

The 4K results are particularly telling. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves only 32 FPS, which is a dramatic drop from the 4K Low result of 71.7 FPS. This suggests that the Ultra preset's additional texture detail and shadow quality exceed the GPU's memory bandwidth or fill rate capabilities at this resolution. The pixel rate of 165.2 GPixel/s is strong, but the 4K Ultra workload likely requires more than the 12 GB VRAM, causing the GPU to offload data and tank performance.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 77 and its proximity to the RX 6800 (0.7% difference in average benchmark score) indicate that it is a solid mid-range performer. However, the measured FPS at 1440p High (77.7 FPS) and 4K High (46.4 FPS) show that it struggles with the game's higher presets as resolution increases. The 40 ray accelerators and DirectX 12 Ultimate support are not fully utilized in this older title, meaning the GPU's modern features provide no benefit in Evolve. The data points to the GPU being the primary performance limiter at resolutions above 1080p, particularly with the Ultra preset.