Evolve

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti lands at rank 1458 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. That places this pairing in the bottom 14% of all configurations, which is a sobering starting point. The bottleneck here is unambiguous: the GTX 1660 Ti, sitting at the 55th percentile among all GPUs, is holding back a CPU that ranks in the 94th percentile among all processors. This is not a balanced pairing for a demanding FPS title like Evolve; it is a legacy GPU strapped to a modern 20-core workhorse.

The combo rank reflects what the measured frames show: at 1080p Ultra, the system produces 54.8 FPS, which is barely playable for a competitive shooter. The data indicates that this configuration is better suited for older titles or esports at lower settings rather than pushing Evolve at maximum fidelity. The 1660 Ti's average benchmark score of 13925 places it within 0.4% of the AMD Radeon RX 570X and 0.8% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, meaning it trades blows with hardware from 2012 and 2018. Against the CPU's nearest rivals—the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X at 54450 average score (0.6% faster) and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D at 54681 (1.1% faster)—the i7-14700F holds its own, but the GPU drags the entire experience down.

# Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of presets. At 1080p, Low settings yield 122.7 FPS, Medium drops to 99.6 FPS, High falls to 77.3 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 54.8 FPS. For a smooth competitive experience, Low is the only preset that clears the 120 FPS threshold, which many FPS players consider the minimum for responsive aiming. Medium still offers a playable 99.6 FPS, but the gap between Low and Medium—23.1 FPS—is substantial and suggests the GPU is already struggling with increased shading load.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds but with steeper penalties: Low gives 82.8 FPS, Medium 67.4 FPS, High 53 FPS, and Ultra 37.1 FPS. The recommendation is straightforward: if you prioritize frame rate, stick to 1080p Low or Medium. If visual fidelity matters more, 1080p High at 77.3 FPS is the highest preset that remains consistently above 60 FPS. Ultra at any resolution is a poor trade—the 54.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra is only 22.5 FPS higher than 4K High, and the visual gain from High to Ultra rarely justifies that performance hit in a fast-paced shooter.

# Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and reveals the GPU as the limiting factor. At High settings, the system delivers 77.3 FPS at 1080p, 53 FPS at 1440p, and 26.7 FPS at 4K. That is a 65.5% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the numbers are 122.7 FPS, 82.8 FPS, and 48.7 FPS respectively—a 60.3% drop. The scaling is roughly linear with pixel count, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads are not the constraint here; if they were, the FPS would remain flat as resolution increases.

The data points to the GTX 1660 Ti's 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth as the wall. At 4K, the pixel throughput demands exceed what the TU116 chip can deliver, and the frame rates crater below 30 FPS even on Low. The 12.7% difference in scaling between Low and High settings (60.3% vs. 65.5%) suggests that texture and shading loads amplify the bandwidth pressure at higher presets. If you are playing Evolve with this combo, 1080p is the practical ceiling; 1440p is playable only on Low, and 4K should be avoided entirely.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p: Low delivers 122.7 FPS, which is the only preset above 120 FPS. Medium follows at 99.6 FPS, High at 77.3 FPS, and Ultra at 54.8 FPS. The jump from Low to Medium costs 23.1 FPS (18.8%), while High to Ultra costs 22.5 FPS (29.1%). The diminishing returns are clear: the difference between Medium and High (22.3 FPS) is nearly identical to High versus Ultra, indicating a consistent performance cliff as settings rise.

1440p: Low produces 82.8 FPS, Medium 67.4 FPS, High 53 FPS, and Ultra 37.1 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p at each preset is approximately 32-33% lower, consistent with the 77% increase in pixel count. At this resolution, only Low remains above 60 FPS, and Ultra dips below 40 FPS, which will feel stuttery in firefights.

4K: Low yields 48.7 FPS, Medium 38.1 FPS, High 26.7 FPS, and Ultra 21.4 FPS. None of these are playable for a competitive FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is only 27.3 FPS, which shows that even the lowest settings cannot overcome the GPU's bandwidth and shading limits. The 4K numbers are best treated as a stress test rather than a playable configuration.

# GPU Role

The GTX 1660 Ti is the decisive component in this pairing. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but insufficient for higher resolutions. The TU116 chip runs at a base clock of 1500 MHz and boosts to 1770 MHz, with 1536 shading units and 48 ROPs. The pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s are the raw throughput numbers that determine how many fragments the GPU can process per frame.

In Evolve, the data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution and preset. The 55th percentile ranking among all GPUs means this card is mid-pack overall, but its nearest rivals—the RX 570X (0.4% faster), Tesla K10 (0.7% slower), and RTX A2000 Mobile (0.8% faster)—are all older or lower-tier parts. The 1660 Ti's DirectX 12 score of 51 in Passmark is notably weak, and its DirectX 11 score of 103 is not much better, suggesting that modern API overhead may be hurting performance in Evolve. The card's 120W TDP and single 8-pin connector indicate it is a modest power draw, but that does not compensate for the lack of compute headroom.

# CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F is overqualified for this pairing. With 20 cores and 28 threads, a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache, this CPU ranks in the 94th percentile of all processors. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35443 and single-core score of 5003 demonstrate exceptional throughput, and its Passmark multi-thread score of 41765 is nearly three times the GPU's average benchmark score. The CPU is not the bottleneck in any measured frame rate.

The nearest CPU rivals—the Ryzen 9 9900X at -0.6%, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D at -1.1%, the Xeon Phi 7290 at +1.2%, and the EPYC 7313P at +1.7%—show that the i7-14700F is within 2% of these high-end parts. In Evolve, the CPU's 28 threads and high single-core performance ensure that AI, physics, and game logic are never the constraint. The 65W TDP and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a flexible platform choice, but pairing it with a 1660 Ti is like putting a racing engine in a commuter car—the frame rates will always be capped by the GPU's output. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (122.7 FPS) likely approaches the practical limit of what the 1660 Ti can push, regardless of the CPU's headroom.