Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, presents an interesting benchmark case for the Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination. The measured data shows this pairing delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions, firmly establishing it as a top-tier performer for this title. The benchmark results indicate a system capable of handling the game's demands with significant headroom, shifting the bottleneck analysis from raw capability to display refresh rate and settings optimization.

FAQ

Q: What is the performance ranking of this CPU and GPU combo in Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 222nd out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6% of all configurations for this game.

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700K compare to its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The average benchmark score for the i7-14700K is 69355, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X's score of 69515, indicating a near-identical level of processing performance.

Q: What is the difference in average benchmark scores between the RTX 4080 and the RTX 4080 SUPER?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, which is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER's score of 54209, showing they are effectively tied in overall performance metrics.

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate recorded for this system in Evolve?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 335 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: At what settings and resolution does the system fail to maintain an average of 60 FPS?

A: The system only falls below 60 FPS on average at 3840x2160 (4K) resolution with Ultra settings, where it produces an average of 54 FPS.

Q: What is the total number of threads available to the CPU?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700K has 20 cores and 28 threads, which provides substantial parallel processing capability for modern game engines.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on the optimal settings preset for different priorities. For players targeting the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 delivers an average of 335 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play on high-refresh-rate monitors. However, this comes at the cost of visual fidelity.

For a balanced experience that maintains high visual quality without sacrificing performance, the High preset is the recommended starting point. At 2560x1440, it produces an average of 137 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay on most displays. This represents a significant improvement over the Medium preset's 174 FPS at the same resolution, but offers better graphical detail. The jump from High to Ultra at 2560x1440 is steep, with average FPS dropping from 137 to 95, a 30% reduction. This suggests that the Ultra preset is designed for systems with additional headroom.

At 3840x2160, the High preset yields an average of 78 FPS, which is still playable on a 60Hz display but leaves little room for frame time spikes. The Medium preset at 4K offers a safer 99 FPS average with recorded minimums of 84 FPS, making it the best choice for 4K gaming on this hardware. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 54 FPS average, which is below the standard for smooth gameplay and should be avoided. Therefore, the data suggests that High settings at 2560x1440 or Medium settings at 3840x2160 provide the best balance of visual quality and performance for this system.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling across resolutions reveals important information about the system's bottleneck characteristics. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average frame rate drops from 204 FPS to 137 FPS, a reduction of 67 FPS or approximately 33%. This is a substantial decrease, indicating that the GPU is already becoming a significant limiting factor at 1440p.

The scaling from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at High settings shows a further drop from 137 FPS to 78 FPS, a reduction of 59 FPS or 43%. This steeper decline at higher resolutions is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering load on the graphics card increases disproportionately with pixel count. The RTX 4080's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory and 716.8 GB/s of bandwidth are being taxed by the higher resolution requirements.

This pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 335 FPS at 1080p to 225 FPS at 1440p (a 33% reduction) and then to 128 FPS at 4K (a 43% reduction from 1440p). The consistent percentage drops suggest that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at any tested resolution, as a CPU-bound scenario would show smaller frame rate differences at higher resolutions. The data strongly points to the GPU being the main performance limiter, particularly at 4K resolution where the workload is most intense.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset produces an average of 335 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the entire dataset. The Medium preset delivers 260 FPS average, with a minimum of 221 FPS and a maximum of 299 FPS, indicating consistent frame delivery. High settings yield 204 FPS average, while the Ultra preset produces 141 FPS average. All 1080p results are far above any practical display refresh rate, making the choice at this resolution purely about visual quality.

At 2560x1440, performance remains very strong. The Low preset achieves 225 FPS average, while Medium delivers 174 FPS average with recorded minimums of 148 FPS and maximums of 200 FPS. The High preset produces 137 FPS average, which is still excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. The Ultra preset drops to 95 FPS average, which is the first setting at this resolution to approach the 60-100 FPS range where higher refresh rate displays might show some benefit.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload becomes more evident. The Low preset maintains a respectable 128 FPS average. The Medium preset delivers 99 FPS average with a minimum of 84 FPS and a maximum of 114 FPS, providing solid 4K performance. The High preset drops to 78 FPS average, which is suitable for 60Hz displays but not ideal for higher refresh rates. The Ultra preset at 4K produces only 54 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and would result in noticeable stuttering on standard displays.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 plays a pivotal role in this system's Evolve performance. The GPU's specifications include 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, a 256-bit memory bus, and a memory bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. These memory characteristics are crucial for handling the high-resolution textures and effects that Evolve's Ultra settings demand. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system falls to 54 FPS, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth and processing power are being fully utilized.

The clock speeds of the RTX 4080, with a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz, contribute to its raw rendering capability. The GPU's 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs provide the computational throughput needed for this title. The benchmark results show the GPU scores 34457 in Passmark G3D and 20671 in Passmark GPU Compute, indicating strong general and compute performance.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 86th out of all GPUs places it in the upper echelon of graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 54247 is nearly identical to the RTX 4080 SUPER, which scores 54209, a delta of only 0.1%. The AMD Radeon Pro W5700X scores 54828, putting it 1.1% ahead, while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB scores 55698, 2.6% ahead. These comparisons show that the RTX 4080 is at the top of its performance tier, and its measured frame rates in Evolve reflect this position.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700K provides the processing foundation for this system. With 20 cores and 28 threads, the CPU offers substantial multi-threading capabilities. Its base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 5.60 GHz ensure strong single-threaded performance, which is often critical in game logic and physics calculations. The processor's 33 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce memory latency for frequently accessed data.

The CPU's benchmark results show a Passmark Multi-Thread score of 52392 and a Passmark Single-Thread score of 4472. In Cinebench R23, it scores 33440.5 in multi-core and 2160 in single-core. These scores place the i7-14700K in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, indicating its high-end status. The average benchmark score of 69355 is nearly identical to its closest rivals, with the AMD EPYC 9115 at 69288 (0.1% behind) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X at 69515 (0.2% ahead).

In Evolve, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU. The measured frame rates at 1080p, which are less demanding on the GPU, reach up to 335 FPS at Low settings. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data to achieve these numbers. However, the consistent frame rate drops when moving to higher resolutions indicate that the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the frame rate scales directly with the GPU's rendering load. The CPU's robust single-thread performance ensures that game logic and object update calculations do not become a bottleneck, even at the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination ranks 222nd out of 3700 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the top 6% of all systems tested. This high ranking confirms the balanced performance of the two components. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking and the GPU's 86th percentile ranking combine to create a system that excels in this game.

The ranking position is likely influenced by the GPU's performance at higher resolutions, where the RTX 4080's 16 GB of memory and high bandwidth prove advantageous. The measured frame rates at 4K show the system can maintain playable performance at Medium settings (99 FPS average) and High settings (78 FPS average), which is a significant achievement for a title from 2015. The data suggests that the system has enough headroom to run Evolve at maximum settings at 1440p (95 FPS average) without experiencing major performance issues.

Compared to other combinations, this system's performance is indicative of a high-end gaming PC. The near-identical performance of the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER in synthetic benchmarks suggests that this combo's ranking would be similar to a system using the SUPER variant. The CPU's performance parity with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X also indicates that the choice of CPU platform does not significantly alter the gaming experience in Evolve. The measured data confirms that this combo provides an excellent gaming experience, with the only compromise being the Ultra preset at 4K, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.