Evolve

The Intel Core i9-14900K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti produces a distinctive performance profile in Evolve, one that clearly illustrates the balance between a modern high-end CPU and an older, though once-flagship, GPU. The measured frame rates show a system that can deliver high refresh rates at 1080p but struggles to maintain smooth gameplay at 4K, particularly at higher settings. The data indicates that the GTX 1080 Ti is the primary bottleneck for this configuration in Evolve, with the i9-14900K providing ample headroom that is never fully utilized at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals a stark and predictable decline as resolution increases, a classic symptom of GPU-bound rendering. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo achieves an average of 110 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 drops the average to 74 FPS, a reduction of approximately 33%. The scaling to 3840x2160 is even more severe, with the average falling to 42 FPS, which is only 38% of the 1080p performance.

This pattern strongly suggests that the GTX 1080 Ti is the limiting component. The i9-14900K's capabilities, including its 24 cores and 6.00 GHz boost clock, are far beyond what Evolve requires at any of these settings. The performance delta between resolutions is almost entirely attributable to the GPU's rendering load. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution further confirms this. At 1080p, the difference between Low (181 FPS) and Ultra (76 FPS) is a massive 105 FPS, showing the GPU is working progressively harder. At 4K, the same settings comparison yields a difference of 40 FPS (69 FPS vs 29 FPS), but the absolute values are much lower.

The fact that the 4K Low setting (69 FPS) is still slower than the 1440p Ultra setting (51 FPS) is interesting; the former is higher, showing that resolution has a more significant impact than the quality preset in this range. The data shows a system where the CPU has no trouble feeding frames, but the GPU's 11 GB of VRAM and 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth are insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is a drop of 43%, indicating that the GTX 1080 Ti is hitting its architectural limits with the increased pixel count.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the "Medium" preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users, particularly at 1440p. At this resolution, Medium yields an average of 94 FPS with a minimum of 80 FPS, providing a smooth experience that stays well above the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 1440p, while achieving 74 FPS on average, does not have a recorded minimum, but the lower average suggests a greater risk of dips. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 51 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a smooth experience.

For 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset is viable, with an average of 76 FPS. However, the High preset at 110 FPS is a superior choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it provides a significantly higher frame rate with likely negligible visual differences in a fast-paced FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p is also excellent, at 140 FPS, but the jump to High is a 30 FPS reduction, not a 30 FPS gain.

At 4K, the options are limited. The Low preset achieves an average of 69 FPS, which is playable but requires a significant sacrifice in visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 4K drops to 54 FPS, which is on the edge of playability, and the High preset falls to 42 FPS, which is not ideal for a competitive FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is effectively unplayable at 29 FPS. Therefore, for 4K, the Low preset is the only reasonable choice, and even then, the experience is not as smooth as at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is the Intel Core i9-14900K bottlenecking the GTX 1080 Ti in Evolve?

A: No. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. The i9-14900K, with a 95th percentile ranking among all CPUs, is far more powerful than necessary for this game, as evidenced by the large FPS drops at higher resolutions that are characteristic of GPU limitations.

Q: Can this combo run Evolve at 1440p with high settings?

A: Yes, it is capable. The measured data shows an average of 74 FPS at 2560x1440 on the High preset. While this is not as high as the 1080p results, it is a playable frame rate for most users.

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows that the Low preset is the only one that provides a playable average frame rate at 3840x2160, achieving 69 FPS. The Medium preset drops to 54 FPS, and High and Ultra are too demanding, with averages of 42 and 29 FPS, respectively.

Q: How does the GTX 1080 Ti compare to its nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 15548. It is 1.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5500. It is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon R9 M380, which is 0.2% behind.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p?

A: The difference is substantial. The Low preset achieves an average of 181 FPS, while the Ultra preset achieves an average of 76 FPS. This represents a 105 FPS drop in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest quality settings at 1920x1080.

Q: Does the combo's rank in Evolve indicate good performance?

A: The combo ranks 2088 out of 3700 tested combos. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the database, which is consistent with a powerful CPU being held back by an older GPU in a modern context.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank in Evolve is 2088 out of 3700 tested combinations. This places it in the 56th percentile, meaning 43% of tested combos perform worse, and 56% perform better. This ranking is not a reflection of the CPU's capabilities, but rather a direct consequence of the GTX 1080 Ti's age and performance ceiling. The i9-14900K is a top-tier processor, ranking in the 95th percentile among all CPUs, but its performance is largely irrelevant in this pairing for this game.

The data suggests that the combo is held back significantly by the GPU. The GTX 1080 Ti's average benchmark score of 15548 places it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs. This indicates that while it is a capable card, it is no longer a high-end performer by modern standards. In a game like Evolve, which was released in 2015, the GPU's architecture is a limiting factor for high-resolution and high-detail settings. A combo with a more modern GPU, even one with a weaker CPU, would likely rank higher in this specific game due to better raw rendering power. The rank is a clear indicator that this is a CPU-overkill/GPU-limited configuration for Evolve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. It features 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core. Its performance in synthetic benchmarks is exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and a single-core score of 2262.5. These figures demonstrate a processor with immense computational power.

In Evolve, however, this power is almost entirely unused. The game's engine does not appear to be designed to leverage such a high core count or thread count. The measured FPS data shows no signs of CPU limitation; for example, if the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see similar frame rates across different resolutions. Instead, we see significant drops at higher resolutions, which are caused by the GPU. The CPU's role here is to simply feed the GPU with enough data to keep it busy, a task it accomplishes with ease. The data indicates that the i9-14900K's performance is not a factor in this game's frame rates, and any modern mid-range CPU would likely produce identical results. The high single-thread performance, while beneficial for many games, is not a differentiator here because the GPU is the sole constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following is the complete set of measured average frame rates for the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti in Evolve.

At 1920x1080, the configuration delivers its highest performance. The Low preset yields an average of 181 FPS. The Medium preset achieves an average of 140 FPS, with a minimum of 119 FPS and a maximum of 161 FPS. The High preset produces an average of 110 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 76 FPS.

At 2560x1440, frame rates decrease substantially. The Low preset averages 121 FPS. The Medium preset averages 94 FPS, with a minimum of 80 FPS and a maximum of 108 FPS. The High preset averages 74 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. The Low preset averages 69 FPS. The Medium preset averages 54 FPS, with a minimum of 45 FPS and a maximum of 62 FPS. The High preset averages 42 FPS. The Ultra preset is the lowest, with an average of 29 FPS.

These numbers show a clear hierarchy: 1080p is the only resolution where all presets are playable, 1440p is viable for Medium and High, and 4K is only suitable for the Low preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is built on the Pascal architecture and features the GP102 chip. It has 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 88 ROPs. Its memory configuration is 11 GB of GDDR5X on a 352-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 484.4 GB/s. The card's base clock is 1481 MHz, with a boost clock of 1582 MHz. It delivers 11.34 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

In Evolve, the GPU's role is definitive. The measured frame rates show that the card's performance ceiling is reached quickly as resolution and settings increase. The data shows a clear correlation between the GPU's workload and the resulting FPS. At 1080p Low, the card is not fully stressed, as evidenced by the 181 FPS average. However, at 4K Ultra, it is completely overwhelmed, dropping to 29 FPS.

The GPU's 11 GB of VRAM is unlikely to be a limiting factor at 1080p or 1440p, but it may be strained at 4K with high-resolution textures. The 484.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth is also a potential bottleneck at higher resolutions. The card's performance relative to its rivals is telling; it is only 1.7% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, indicating its age. The data from Evolve confirms that the GTX 1080 Ti, while still a functional card, is the primary reason this combo cannot achieve high frame rates at 4K, and its capabilities are the limiting factor for the entire system's performance in this game.