Evolve

FAQ

Q: When was Evolve released, and what genre does it belong to?

A: Evolve is an FPS game released on 2015-02-09.

Q: What are the core and thread counts of the Intel Core i9-14900K used in this test?

A: The Intel Core i9-14900K has 24 cores and 32 threads, with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz.

Q: How much VRAM does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 have, and what memory type is it?

A: The RTX 4080 has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s.

Q: What is the best average FPS recorded at 1080p for this combo?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 335 FPS average, which is the highest recorded in the measured data.

Q: At 4K Ultra settings, what average FPS does this combo produce?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 54, the lowest in the measured set.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested combinations in Evolve?

A: The combo ranks 222nd out of 3700 tested combinations in Evolve.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, fabricated on a 10 nm process by Intel. It comes with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz, and features a substantial cache hierarchy: 80 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory, and its integrated graphics are UHD Graphics 770. It was released on 2023-10-16 with a launch MSRP of $589.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i9-14900K posts strong results: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 39399.5 and single-core of 2262.5; Cinebench R20 multi-core 20793 and single-core 2935; Geekbench multi-core 21697 and single-core 2655; Passmark multi-thread 58674 and single-thread 4697. Its percentile vs all CPUs is 95, meaning it outperforms 95% of CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 79097.

Relative to its nearest rivals, the i9-14900K trails the Intel Core i9-14900KF by 0.3% (79371 avg score), the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus by 0.6% (79574), and the AMD EPYC 7413 by 1.2% (80041). It beats the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 by 1.7% (77740). These deltas are small, suggesting near-parity performance at the top tier.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. Given the game's 2015 release, it is not heavily multithreaded by modern standards, but the i9-14900K's high single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread 4697) ensures that even older game engines that rely on a few fast cores will not bottleneck. The 24 cores and 32 threads are overkill for Evolve, but they provide headroom for background tasks and future titles. The L3 cache of 36 MB helps with data locality, reducing memory latency for frequently accessed game data.

The benchmark results indicate that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 335 FPS, which is beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. This suggests the CPU is not a limiting factor at lower resolutions, where the GPU typically becomes the bottleneck. However, at 4K Ultra, the FPS drops to 54, which is more likely GPU-bound given the resolution and settings. The CPU's performance in Cinebench R23 multi-core (39399.5) and Geekbench multi-core (21697) shows it can handle any game logic load, but Evolve's engine does not scale to 32 threads, so the i9-14900K's advantage over a 16-core CPU in this title is minimal.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using a 5 nm process from TSMC, with 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die. It has 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, along with 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. The GPU's base clock is 2205 MHz, boost clock is 2505 MHz, and memory runs at 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). It has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The pixel rate is 280.6 GPixel/s, texture rate is 761.5 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 48.74 TFLOPS. It uses a triple-slot design, a 320 W TDP, and a 700 W suggested PSU. It was released on 2022-09-19 with a launch MSRP of 1,199 USD.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4080 scores 6567 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 214739 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 263779 in Geekbench Vulkan. Passmark scores include G3D 34457, GPU Compute 20671, and DirectX 12 at 132. Its percentile vs all GPUs is 86, and its average benchmark score is 54247.

Relative to nearest rivals, the RTX 4080 is essentially tied with the RTX 4080 SUPER (54209, +0.1% delta), and beats the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X by 1.1% (54828), the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB by 2.6% (55698), and the AMD Radeon 8060S by 2.7% (55757). Note that lower rival scores mean the RTX 4080 outperforms them by the delta percentages.

In Evolve, the GPU is the primary driver of FPS at higher resolutions. The RTX 4080's 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Evolve's textures, even at 4K Ultra, which is not VRAM-intensive by modern standards. The high bandwidth (716.8 GB/s) ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck. The 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 performance allows for high fill rates, which is relevant given Evolve's fast-paced action and particle effects.

The measured FPS data shows a clear GPU scaling pattern. At 1080p Low, the combo hits 335 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it drops to 141 FPS, a 58% reduction. At 4K Low, it produces 128 FPS, but at 4K Ultra, it falls to 54 FPS, a 58% reduction from 4K Low. This indicates that the GPU's raw compute is the limiting factor at Ultra settings, not the CPU. The RTX 4080's ray tracing cores are not utilized in Evolve (no RT support in this 2015 title), but the tensor cores may be used for DLSS if enabled (not specified in the data). The GPU's benchmark scores, such as 3DMark Steel Nomad 6567, reflect its high-end position, which is consistent with its performance in Evolve.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers four resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160) and four settings levels (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). For Medium settings, the data includes min and max FPS; for other settings, only average FPS is provided.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 335 FPS average
• Medium: 260 FPS average, with min 221 and max 299
• High: 204 FPS average
• Ultra: 141 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 225 FPS average
• Medium: 174 FPS average, with min 148 and max 200
• High: 137 FPS average
• Ultra: 95 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 128 FPS average
• Medium: 99 FPS average, with min 84 and max 114
• High: 78 FPS average
• Ultra: 54 FPS average

Interpreting these numbers: At 1080p, the combo is clearly GPU-bound at High and Ultra, but at Low and Medium, the FPS exceeds 260, indicating that the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output. The jump from Medium to High at 1080p is a drop from 260 to 204 FPS (a 21.5% reduction), while the jump from High to Ultra is 204 to 141 (a 30.9% reduction). This suggests that High settings are more demanding per quality increment than Medium-to-High.

At 1440p, the pattern is similar but scaled down. Low produces 225 FPS, Medium 174, High 137, and Ultra 95. The drop from Low to Medium is 22.7%, from Medium to High is 21.3%, and from High to Ultra is 30.7%. The relative cost of Ultra is consistent across resolutions.

At 4K, the numbers are lower: Low 128, Medium 99, High 78, Ultra 54. The drop from Low to Medium is 22.7%, Medium to High is 21.2%, and High to Ultra is 30.8%. The consistency across resolutions indicates that the GPU's performance scales linearly with pixel count, and the setting's cost is multiplicative.

The min FPS at Medium settings shows that the combo maintains a playable experience even at 4K, with a minimum of 84 FPS. This is important for an FPS game where frame time consistency matters. At 1080p Medium, the min is 221, which is well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of many monitors. At 1440p Medium, the min is 148, which is close to 144 Hz.

How This Combo Ranks

In Evolve, the combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 222nd out of 3700 tested combos, placing it in the top 6% of all configurations. This rank is based on the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, with higher average FPS yielding better ranks.

Given the CPU's percentile (95) and GPU's percentile (86), one might expect a higher rank, but the rank is specific to Evolve's engine and its optimization. The game is from 2015, so it does not utilize modern multi-core CPUs or the latest GPU features. The combo's rank of 222 suggests that there are 221 other combos that achieve higher FPS in this specific title, likely due to factors such as higher GPU clock speeds or different system configurations.

Comparatively, the i9-14900K's nearest rival, the i9-14900KF, has a near-identical average CPU score (79371 vs 79097, -0.3% delta), so the rank difference in Evolve would be minimal. The GPU's nearest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209 vs 54247 (+0.1% delta), again a negligible difference. Thus, the combo's rank is representative of high-end hardware, but not the absolute top, which is expected given that some combos with RTX 4090 or higher-end CPUs would outperform it.

The data shows that this combo is in the 94th percentile of all tested combos in Evolve, meaning it outperforms 94% of them. This is a strong result, but not the best. For context, the top-ranked combos likely include newer GPUs like the RTX 4090 or RTX 4080 SUPER, which have higher benchmark scores. However, for a 2015 game, this combo delivers exceptionally high FPS, as seen in the 1080p Low result of 335 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p, the combo can easily handle Ultra settings at 141 FPS, which is suitable for 144 Hz monitors. If the monitor is 240 Hz, High settings (204 FPS) or Medium (260 FPS) would be better. For 1440p, Ultra yields 95 FPS, which is playable for 60 Hz but not for 144 Hz. High at 1440p gives 137 FPS, which is close to 144 Hz, and Medium gives 174 FPS, which is above that.

For 4K, the data indicates that Medium settings provide 99 FPS with a min of 84 FPS, which is the best balance for a smooth experience. High at 4K drops to 78 FPS, which may still be acceptable, but the min FPS is not provided. Ultra at 4K is only 54 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for many players.

The recommendation depends on the player's hardware. For a 1080p 144 Hz monitor, High settings (204 FPS) are ideal, as they provide a high refresh rate with better visuals than Medium. For a 1440p 144 Hz monitor, Medium settings (174 FPS) are the best choice, as they exceed 144 FPS and provide a good visual quality. For 4K, Medium settings (99 FPS) are the sweet spot, as they keep the frame rate above 90 FPS while maintaining decent graphics.

If the player prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate, Ultra at 1440p (95 FPS) is viable, but at 4K, Ultra (54 FPS) is not recommended for competitive play. The min FPS data at Medium settings (84 at 4K, 148 at 1440p, 221 at 1080p) shows that the combo has consistent frame times, reducing stutter.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data allows a calculation of scaling from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the FPS drops from 335 at 1080p to 225 at 1440p (a 32.8% reduction) and then to 128 at 4K (a 61.8% reduction from 1080p). At Medium, the drop is from 260 to 174 to 99, a 33.1% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 61.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At High, it goes from 204 to 137 to 78, a 32.8% reduction to 1440p, and a 61.8% reduction to 4K. At Ultra, it goes from 141 to 95 to 54, a 32.6% reduction to 1440p, and a 61.7% reduction to 4K.

The consistency of these reductions (approximately 33% for 1440p and 62% for 4K) indicates that the bottleneck is purely the GPU's pixel-processing throughput. The pixel count from 1080p to 1440p is 1.78x (2560x1440 / 1920x1080), and from 1080p to 4K is 4x (3840x2160 / 1920x1080). If the GPU were perfectly scaling, the FPS would drop to 100% / 1.78 = 56% of the 1080p value at 1440p, and 25% at 4K. The observed drops are larger than ideal (68% at 1440p, 38% at 4K), suggesting that memory bandwidth or other factors are also limiting.

Specifically, going from 1080p to 4K, the FPS drops to about 38% of the 1080p value, which is worse than the theoretical 25% due to the increased memory traffic. This indicates that the GPU's 716.8 GB/s bandwidth is a limiting factor at higher resolutions. The CPU is not the bottleneck here, as the CPU's performance is identical across resolutions, but the FPS scaling is purely GPU-bound.

The data shows that the combo is well-balanced for 1080p and 1440p gaming, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting component, as expected. For players targeting 4K, reducing settings to Medium is the best way to maintain high FPS, as seen in the 99 FPS result.