Evolve

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

The measured frames-per-second data for Evolve reveals a steep and consistent scaling curve as resolution climbs. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 159.9 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 Low drops that to 106.6 FPS, a reduction of roughly 33%. At 3840x2160 Low, the average falls to 62.4 FPS, which is only 39% of the 1080p Low figure. This pattern—where each step up in pixel count extracts a heavy toll—points directly at the GPU as the primary bottleneck in this pairing.

The High preset tells a similar story. At 1080p High, the average is 95.3 FPS. At 1440p High, it falls to 62.2 FPS, and at 4K High, it drops to 35.3 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 4K at High is 60 FPS, a 63% loss. Such proportional degradation across both Low and High presets indicates that the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is running out of shading throughput and memory bandwidth as the render target grows, rather than the CPU failing to feed frames.

Ultra settings amplify the resolution sensitivity. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 69.8 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, that number falls to 47.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 22.4 FPS. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Ultra is 47.4 FPS, a 68% reduction. Interestingly, the percentage loss from 1080p to 4K is similar across Low, High, and Ultra (61-68%), which suggests a relatively uniform GPU-bound scaling behavior rather than a sudden CPU ceiling at any particular preset.

What the data implies is that the Intel Core i9-14900K is not the limiting factor in any of these configurations. If the CPU were the constraint, we would expect to see smaller FPS deltas between 1080p and 1440p, especially at Low settings where the GPU load is lighter. Instead, the consistent drop at every step indicates that the RX 5700 XT's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and its 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated as resolution increases. The 4K Ultra result of 22.4 FPS is particularly telling—it is barely playable and suggests the GPU is fully utilized with no headroom for the CPU to compensate.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. Its L3 cache is 36 MB shared, and it has a 125 W TDP. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 49872 and a single-core score of 7040. Its Geekbench multi-core score is 20370, with a single-core score of 3064. These numbers place it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs, and its average benchmark score of 79824 is within 0.7% of the Intel Core i9-14900KF and 0.9% of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K.

For a 2015 FPS title like Evolve, the game's engine is not designed to leverage 32 threads. The CPU's single-thread performance—evidenced by the 7040 Cinebench R23 single-core score—is the relevant metric here. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least taxed, the combo achieves 159.9 FPS. That is a high frame rate, but it is not limitless, and the question is whether the CPU or the game engine's threading model is the ceiling.

The benchmark results indicate that the i9-14900K has far more computational headroom than Evolve requires. With 24 cores and 32 threads, the CPU is vastly overprovisioned for a game from 2015 that likely uses only a handful of cores. The PassMark physics score of 3140 and the PassMark single-thread score of 4697 further confirm the CPU's strength. The real takeaway is that the CPU role in this combo is to provide a stable, high-frequency platform that never becomes the bottleneck. The measured FPS drops are almost entirely attributable to the GPU, not the processor.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific pairing of the Intel Core i9-14900K with the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT ranks 1290 out of 1695 tested combos for Evolve. That places it in the bottom quartile of all tested combinations, which is a striking result given the CPU's top-tier status. The rank of 1290 means that 405 other CPU-GPU pairings performed worse, but 1289 performed better in this game.

The disconnect between the CPU's high percentile (97th among all CPUs) and this combo's low rank is explained entirely by the GPU. The RX 5700 XT sits in the 68th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24731. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763, deltaPct -0.1%) and the Intel Arc A350M (24647, deltaPct 0.3%). The GPU is a mid-pack performer, and when paired with a top-tier CPU, the overall combo rank reflects the weaker component.

The data suggests that for Evolve, the combo rank is heavily weighted by the GPU. The i9-14900K's enormous CPU headroom cannot compensate for the RX 5700 XT's limited pixel throughput at higher resolutions. The rank of 1290 out of 1695 is a clear signal that this is a balanced-for-productivity pairing, not a gaming-optimized one. Users looking at this data should understand that the CPU is overkill for this game, and the GPU is the reason the combo does not rank higher.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Evolve?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 159.9, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS is 22.4, which is the lowest measured score across all configurations.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck for this combo in Evolve?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting component. FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, from 159.9 at 1080p Low to 62.4 at 4K Low, showing the CPU has ample headroom.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combos for this game?

A: The combo ranks 1290 out of 1695 tested combos, placing it in the bottom quartile.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rival GPU?

A: The RX 5700 XT has an average benchmark score of 24731, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (24763) and 0.3% higher than the Intel Arc A350M (24647).

Q: What is the difference between 1080p High and 1440p High FPS?

A: At 1080p High, the average FPS is 95.3. At 1440p High, it drops to 62.2, a difference of 33.1 FPS.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

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 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU's base clock is 1605 MHz, with a boost clock of 1905 MHz and a game clock of 1755 MHz. Its 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs give it a pixel rate of 121.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 304.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute is 9.754 TFLOPS.

For Evolve, the GPU's role is decisive. The measured FPS at 1080p Low is 159.9, which is high, but the moment the resolution increases, the GPU's limitations become clear. At 1440p Low, the average drops to 106.6, and at 4K Low, it falls to 62.4. The 8 GB VRAM is not the primary issue at Low settings, but the GPU's raw shading power is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K.

The Ultra preset results are particularly revealing. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 69.8 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it is 22.4 FPS. This 68% drop from 1080p to 4K suggests that the GPU's 9.754 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is being saturated. The RX 5700 XT's 68th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24731, confirms that it is a mid-range performer. Its PassMark G3D score of 16277 and DirectX 12 score of 64 show that it handles modern APIs but lacks the headroom for high-resolution gaming at max settings.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset delivers the best balance of visual quality and playable frame rates. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 119.7 FPS, which is 53% higher than High (95.3 FPS) and 71% higher than Ultra (69.8 FPS). The jump from Low (159.9 FPS) to Medium (119.7 FPS) costs 40.2 FPS, but the visual improvement from Low to Medium is typically substantial in a 2015 FPS title.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset yields 83 FPS, which remains comfortably playable. High at 1440p drops to 62.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 47.3 FPS. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, as it maintains a 60+ FPS average without sacrificing too much visual fidelity.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a 60 FPS average. The best 4K result is Low at 62.4 FPS, which is barely above the 60 FPS threshold. Medium at 4K drops to 48.7 FPS, High to 35.3 FPS, and Ultra to 22.4 FPS. For 4K gaming, the recommendation is either Low for a smooth experience or Medium if the user can tolerate frame rates in the 40s. The data clearly shows that Ultra is not viable at any resolution above 1080p, with 4K Ultra being the worst measured result.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values across the four presets are as follows: Low delivers 159.9 FPS, Medium delivers 119.7 FPS, High delivers 95.3 FPS, and Ultra delivers 69.8 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 90.1 FPS, indicating that the settings preset has a massive impact on performance at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 106.6 FPS, Medium at 83 FPS, High at 62.2 FPS, and Ultra at 47.3 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 59.3 FPS, narrower than at 1080p but still substantial. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is most pronounced at Low settings (53.3 FPS lost) and least at Ultra (22.5 FPS lost).

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 62.4 FPS, Medium at 48.7 FPS, High at 35.3 FPS, and Ultra at 22.4 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 40 FPS. The 4K results show that only Low breaches the 60 FPS mark, and even that is marginal. The progression from 1080p to 4K at Low settings shows a steady decline: 159.9 to 106.6 to 62.4. At Ultra, the decline is 69.8 to 47.3 to 22.4.

The data shows a consistent pattern: each resolution step up reduces FPS by roughly 30-40% across all presets. This uniformity reinforces the conclusion that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the CPU would not produce such linear scaling. The RX 5700 XT's 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but 4K pushes the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range, especially at higher quality presets.