Evolve

This combo pairs Intel’s 20-core Core i7-14700KF with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, a 6 GB Turing-generation GPU. In _Evolve_, the pairing ranks 1497th out of 1695 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 12% of all configs. That ranking reflects a fundamental imbalance: the CPU is a top-tier part, while the GPU is a mid-range legacy component, and the game’s frame rates are consistently bound by the latter.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 1497 out of 1695 is a clear signal that this system is not optimized for _Evolve_. The data places it far below the median tested configuration, with only 198 combos performing worse. This is not a commentary on the CPU—the i7-14700KF alone sits in the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70104. Rather, the ranking is dragged down by the GTX 1660 Ti, which sits in the 55th percentile among all GPUs with an average score of 13925.

Relative to its nearest CPU rivals, the i7-14700KF is essentially tied with the Intel Core i7-14700K (deltaPct 0), slightly ahead of the AMD EPYC 9115 (deltaPct 0.3), and marginally behind the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (deltaPct -0.4). The performance headroom is there, but it is irrelevant in a GPU-bound scenario. Similarly, the GTX 1660 Ti’s nearest GPU rivals are all within a narrow band: the AMD Radeon RX 570X is 0.4% ahead, the NVIDIA Tesla K10 is 0.7% ahead, and both the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile and GeForce GTX 680 are 0.8% behind. The GPU’s standing is consistent with its percentile, but that standing is the bottleneck.

GPU Role

The GTX 1660 Ti is built on the TU116 chip using a 12 nm process, with 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die. It operates with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, with memory running at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The 6 GB of GDDR6 memory is paired with a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU has 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, producing a pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 169.9 GTexel/s. Its FP32 throughput is 5.437 TFLOPS.

In _Evolve_, these specifications translate to a hard ceiling. The game’s visual effects and geometry rely heavily on fill rate and memory bandwidth, both of which are modest on this card. The 6 GB VRAM is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the card’s 48 ROPs and 288 GB/s bandwidth struggle to sustain playable frame rates at higher settings. The GPU’s PassMark G3D score of 12871 and DirectX 11 score of 103 indicate it was never designed for high-resolution, high-detail gaming in a 2015 title that pushes modern effects. The benchmark results confirm this: at 4K Ultra, the combo averages just 20.1 FPS, a number that is more slideshow than game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep, predictable decline as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo averages 124.3 FPS, which drops to 81.5 FPS at 1440p Low and further to 45.8 FPS at 4K Low. This represents a 34% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 63% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. The scaling is consistent with a GPU-limited system: as pixel count rises, the rendering load increases proportionally, and the GTX 1660 Ti’s fixed compute and memory resources are stretched thinner.

The pattern holds across all settings. At High, the average drops from 76.2 FPS at 1080p to 51.1 FPS at 1440p (a 33% decrease) and then to 28.5 FPS at 4K (a 63% decrease from 1080p). The uniformity of these percentage drops—roughly one-third from 1080p to 1440p, and two-thirds from 1080p to 4K—indicates that the CPU is not a limiting factor at any resolution. If the CPU were the constraint, the frame rate would show diminishing returns at lower resolutions, where the GPU has less work to do. Instead, the data shows a linear scaling pattern typical of a pure GPU bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the combo delivers its best results. Low settings yield an average of 124.3 FPS, which is smooth and playable. Medium settings average 98.6 FPS, still well above the 60 FPS threshold. High settings average 76.2 FPS, and Ultra drops to 54.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 69.5 FPS, a 56% reduction, which highlights how sensitive the GTX 1660 Ti is to detail levels.

Moving to 1440p, the averages are: Low at 81.5 FPS, Medium at 63.9 FPS, High at 51.1 FPS, and Ultra at 35.3 FPS. The Ultra figure at 1440p is identical to the Medium figure at 4K (35.3 FPS), which is telling—the card hits the same performance wall when either resolution or detail is pushed to a certain threshold. At 4K, the results are: Low at 45.8 FPS, Medium at 35.3 FPS, High at 28.5 FPS, and Ultra at 20.1 FPS. Only 4K Low approaches playability, and even that is marginal.

The data shows that Ultra settings are nearly unplayable at 1440p and completely unplayable at 4K. The 54.8 FPS at 1080p Ultra is the only Ultra preset that breaks 50 FPS, and it still falls short of 60. For a game like _Evolve_, where fast reflex targeting is essential, the 20.1 FPS at 4K Ultra is a definitive failure. The practical takeaway is that this combo is best suited to 1080p with High or Medium settings, or 1440p with Low or Medium settings.

CPU Role

The Core i7-14700KF is a Raptor Lake Refresh part with 20 cores and 28 threads, running at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 80 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 33 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s benchmark results are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 44557, Geekbench multicore scores 19287, and PassMark multithread scores 52425. Its single-thread performance is equally strong, with Cinebench R23 singlecore at 6290 and PassMark singlethread at 4480.

In _Evolve_, this CPU is far more capable than the workload demands. The game’s AI, physics, and rendering logic are largely single-threaded, and the i7-14700KF’s high boost clock and strong per-core performance ensure that frame pacing is never CPU-bound. The 28 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks, but the game itself is unlikely to scale beyond a handful of cores. The evidence is in the resolution scaling: if the CPU were a factor, the frame rate would plateau at low resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. Instead, the 1080p Low average of 124.3 FPS is the highest recorded, and it drops steadily as resolution increases, confirming the GPU is the sole bottleneck.

The CPU’s percentile ranking (96th) and its proximity to the Ryzen 9 9950X (deltaPct -0.4) suggest it could drive much higher frame rates if paired with a stronger GPU. But in this combo, that potential is unrealized. The 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier indicate a part designed for heavy multitasking and high-refresh gaming, yet the GTX 1660 Ti caps the system below 125 FPS even at 1080p Low. The CPU’s role here is to provide a stable, non-constraining platform, which it does admirably, but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s limits.