Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, shows distinct performance scaling for the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination. The measured data reveals a system where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong specifications provide ample headroom at lower settings. The analysis below walks through resolution scaling, component roles, and exact frame rates to characterize this pairing.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial, indicating the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 93.8 at 1920x1080 to 65.0 at 2560x1440, a 30.7% reduction. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields just 38.4 FPS, which is 59.1% lower than the 1080p result. This steep decline is typical for a GPU with an 8 GB GDDR6 memory buffer and a 256-bit bus, as the fill rate and shading demands at 4K overwhelm the RDNA 1.0 architecture.

At Low settings, the scaling is less punishing. The RX 5700 XT manages 158.3 FPS at 1080p, 103.4 FPS at 1440p, and 58.0 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K drop here is 63.4%, which is smaller than the High setting drop because the CPU's 20 cores and 28 threads can maintain higher frame delivery when the GPU is less stressed. The data suggests that at 1080p Low, the system approaches a CPU-limited state, evidenced by the massive 158.3 FPS figure that the GPU cannot sustain at higher resolutions.

Ultra settings reveal the most severe scaling. The average FPS at 1080p is 64.7, falling to 47.6 at 1440p and 27.6 at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is 57.3% lower than 1080p Ultra, showing that the combination of high pixel count and demanding effects saturate the GPU's 9.754 TFLOPS FP32 throughput. Benchmark results indicate that 4K Ultra is not playable with this pairing, while 1440p High remains marginal at 65.0 FPS.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is built on the Navi 10 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The GPU's base clock is 1605 MHz, with a boost clock of 1905 MHz and a game clock of 1755 MHz. Memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) across a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

These specifications directly influence Evolve's results. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K with Ultra settings, the data shows only 27.6 FPS, indicating the GPU cannot process the scene complexity fast enough. The pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s are the limiting factors at high resolutions. At 1080p Low, the GPU's 1905 MHz boost clock allows for 158.3 FPS, suggesting that when the CPU can feed frames quickly, the GPU responds with high throughput.

The GPU's percentile ranking is 68, placing it in the upper-mid range of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile with a deltaPct of -0.1, the Intel Arc A350M at 0.3, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile at 0.6, and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 at 0.9. These small deltas indicate the RX 5700 XT sits in a tightly contested performance tier. In Evolve specifically, the GPU's role is dominant at 4K, where the 38.4 FPS High result falls below the 60 FPS threshold most players target.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K belongs to the Core 14th Gen series, built on the Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process. It has 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory across a dual-channel bus, and it includes UHD Graphics 770 as integrated graphics. The L3 cache is 33 MB shared, with 2 MB L2 per core and 80 KB L1 per core.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is to maintain high minimum frame rates and enable high FPS at low settings. The 158.3 FPS result at 1080p Low demonstrates that the 20-core processor can handle the game's AI and physics calculations without bottlenecking. The CPU's benchmark scores reinforce this: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 44534, and Geekbench multi-core hits 18896. The passmark single-thread score of 4472 indicates strong per-core performance, which is critical for older games like Evolve that may not utilize all threads efficiently.

The CPU's 125 W TDP and 33 MB shared L3 cache provide ample headroom for gaming workloads. At 1080p High, the CPU delivers 93.8 FPS, which is 40.7% lower than Low settings, showing that the GPU becomes more involved as settings increase. The CPU's percentile ranking is 96, meaning it outperforms 96% of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700KF, has an identical avgScore of 70104 with a deltaPct of 0. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X trails by 0.5, and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 is 1.4 behind. This CPU is clearly not the limiting factor in Evolve, as even at 4K Ultra (27.6 FPS), the GPU is saturated while the CPU has capacity to spare.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-14700K and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 1304 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the 23rd percentile of all combinations, meaning 77% of tested pairings deliver higher frame rates. The ranking reflects the GPU's mid-tier position rather than the CPU's top-tier status. The CPU is at the 96th percentile, but the GPU is only at the 68th percentile, creating an imbalance where the processor is significantly more capable than the graphics card.

This rank is expected given the GPU's age and architecture. The RX 5700 XT's nearest rival, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile, has a deltaPct of -0.1, indicating near-identical average performance. The combo rank of 1304 suggests that many systems with newer GPUs outperform this pairing in Evolve, even if their CPUs are less powerful. The data shows that the GPU holds the combo back at 4K, where the 27.6 FPS Ultra result is a major contributor to the low ranking. At 1080p Low, the 158.3 FPS result would rank much higher, but the overall metric considers all resolution and settings combinations.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 64.7 at Ultra to 158.3 at Low. Medium settings produce 119.5 FPS, and High yields 93.8. The jump from Ultra to High is 29.1 FPS, while moving from High to Medium adds 25.7 FPS. The Low setting delivers 38.8 FPS more than Medium, showing that Evolve's low preset significantly reduces GPU load.

At 2560x1440, the results are 47.6 FPS at Ultra, 65.0 at High, 81.9 at Medium, and 103.4 at Low. The 1440p Ultra result is 26.4% lower than 1080p Ultra, and 1440p Low is 34.7% lower than 1080p Low. The scaling between settings is consistent, with Medium providing a 16.9 FPS improvement over High.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS drops to 27.6 at Ultra, 38.4 at High, 49.1 at Medium, and 58.0 at Low. The 4K Low result is the only one above 50 FPS, and it still falls short of 60 FPS. The gap between Ultra and Low at 4K is 30.4 FPS, which is smaller than the 93.6 FPS gap at 1080p. This narrowing indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at 4K regardless of settings, as even Low cannot achieve high frame rates.

The full data set shows a clear pattern: the RX 5700 XT excels at 1080p with lower settings, becomes marginal at 1440p, and struggles at 4K. The Intel Core i7-14700K's 5.60 GHz boost clock ensures that frame rates are not CPU-limited in any tested configuration.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: Medium settings at 1920x1080 deliver 119.5 FPS on average, providing a smooth experience. High settings yield 93.8 FPS, while Ultra drops to 64.7 FPS. Low settings reach 158.3 FPS but reduce visual quality.

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

A: At 3840x2160, the highest average FPS is 58.0 with Low settings. Medium produces 49.1 FPS, High drops to 38.4, and Ultra is 27.6. None of these results reach 60 FPS, so 4K gaming is not recommended.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has an average benchmark score of 70074, while the Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70104 with a deltaPct of 0. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X scores 70420 with a deltaPct of -0.5, and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 scores 71056 with a deltaPct of -1.4.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1440p Ultra?

A: At 2560x1440 Ultra, the average FPS is 47.6. Since the CPU has a 96th percentile ranking and the GPU is at the 68th percentile, the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU's 20 cores are not fully utilized at this setting.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1304 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the lower 23% of all combinations, primarily due to the GPU's mid-tier performance relative to newer graphics cards.