Evolve

FAQ

Q: What is the comboRankInGame for the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti in Evolve?

A: This combination ranks 3,185 out of 3,700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the lower portion of the database. The rank indicates that while the setup is functional, a substantial majority of other tested CPU-GPU pairings deliver higher average frame rates in this game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 has an average benchmark score of 36,938, which is essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (36,945, deltaPct 0%). It trails the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D by 0.2%, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 by 0.4%, and the Intel Core i9-12900T by 0.5%. These are minuscule differences, suggesting near-parity in compute-heavy workloads.

Q: What is the GPU's synthetic benchmark position relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti scores 7,723 on average, which is 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon 540 (7,673), 1.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7,580), 2.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7,557), and 2.3% ahead of the Intel Arc A310 (7,550). The margin over its closest competitors is small, but it does lead all four listed rivals.

Q: What is the best average FPS achieved at 1080p with this combo?

A: The highest average FPS at 1920x1080 is 123, achieved with Low settings. Medium settings deliver 95 FPS, High settings deliver 75 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 52 FPS. The Low preset provides the most headroom above 60 FPS, while Ultra remains playable but noticeably more demanding.

Q: Does the measured FPS data include minimum and maximum frame rates?

A: Only the Medium settings rows include both minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1920x1080 Medium, the minimum is 81 FPS and the maximum is 110 FPS. At 2560x1440 Medium, the range is 54 to 74 FPS. At 3840x2160 Medium, the range narrows to 31 to 42 FPS. Other settings rows list only average FPS.

Q: How does the GPU's memory configuration affect high-resolution performance?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. In Evolve, the average FPS at 4K Ultra drops to 20, while 4K Low reaches 47 FPS. The data suggests that the GPU's memory subsystem is a limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the frame rate falls sharply when moving from Low to Ultra at 3840x2160.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread desktop processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process by TSMC. Its base clock is 3.30 GHz and it boosts up to 4.90 GHz, with 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core. The CPU's synthetic performance places it in the 85th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938. In Cinebench R23, it scores 25,891 in multi-core and 3,655 in single-core, indicating solid all-around compute capability.

For a game like Evolve, which is primarily a GPU-bound title at most settings, the CPU's role is to maintain a stable frame pipeline rather than to push raw FPS. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 123 FPS, which is likely near the point where the CPU's single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4,412) starts to matter. The 10 threads are more than enough for the game's logical threads, and the lack of hyperthreading is unlikely to be a bottleneck given the game's 2015 release design.

The Core Ultra 5 225's nearest rivals — the Ryzen 5 5600F, Ryzen 5 5500X3D, Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, and Core i9-12900T — all fall within 0.5% of its average benchmark score. This suggests that in CPU-limited scenarios, the Ultra 5 225 would perform nearly identically to those chips. However, Evolve's measured FPS data shows that the CPU is rarely the limiting factor: at 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 52, which is more than double the 20 FPS seen at 4K Ultra. The gap between resolutions points to the GPU as the primary constraint.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface is ample for feeding the GPU. In practical terms, the 10 cores and 10 threads are capable of handling Evolve's background tasks, physics calculations, and AI logic without causing frame dips. The data does not include per-core utilization, but the consistent FPS scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p (123 to 52 FPS) suggests the CPU maintains a stable minimum frame rate. The absence of min/max data for most settings makes it hard to quantify frame pacing, but the Medium preset at 1080p shows a minimum of 81 FPS, which is well above playable thresholds.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a Turing-architecture GPU with 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. Its base clock is 1500 MHz with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, and it features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's FP32 compute is rated at 5.437 TFLOPS, and its texture rate is 169.9 GTexel/s. In synthetic benchmarks, it holds the 41st percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 7,723.

In Evolve, the GTX 1660 Ti's performance is heavily influenced by resolution and settings. At 1080p, the GPU delivers 123 FPS on Low, 95 FPS on Medium, 75 FPS on High, and 52 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Low to Ultra is a 58% reduction, which is a typical pattern for a mid-range GPU when pixel shader complexity increases. At 1440p, the same settings yield 83, 64, 50, and 35 FPS respectively, showing a consistent scaling factor of roughly 0.67 when moving from 1080p to 1440p. At 4K, the GPU struggles more: 47 FPS on Low, 36 FPS on Medium, 29 FPS on High, and 20 FPS on Ultra.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is a critical factor at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 20 suggests that the GPU is both compute-bound and memory-bandwidth-bound. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest by modern standards, and the 192-bit bus limits memory throughput. The data shows that the GTX 1660 Ti's nearest rivals — the AMD Radeon 540, Radeon Pro WX 3100, Radeon R7 250, and Intel Arc A310 — are all within 2.3% of its average benchmark score. This indicates that in synthetic tests, the 1660 Ti is only marginally faster than these low-end cards, but in Evolve, the real-world gap may be larger due to driver optimizations and the GPU's shader count.

The boost clock of 1770 MHz is respectable for a 120 W TDP card, and the 12 nm process node allows for decent thermal headroom. The GPU's DirectX 12 support (12_1) is relevant for Evolve, which can leverage modern APIs. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p Low, as the CPU's strong single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,655) is unlikely to constrain the frame rate. The GTX 1660 Ti's pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s is the key metric for rasterization-heavy scenes, and it explains why 4K Ultra is demanding: the GPU must fill over 8 million pixels per frame, and the fill rate is insufficient for smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 95 FPS average with a minimum of 81 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 2560x1440, Medium drops to 64 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS, which is still playable but begins to approach the lower bound of comfort. At 3840x2160, Medium averages 36 FPS with a minimum of 31 FPS, which is borderline for a 30 FPS target.

For users prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity, the Low preset is the clear choice. At 1080p, Low achieves 123 FPS, which is 28 FPS higher than Medium and 48 FPS higher than High. At 1440p, Low reaches 83 FPS, which is 19 FPS higher than Medium. At 4K, Low averages 47 FPS, which is 11 FPS higher than Medium and 18 FPS higher than High. The Low preset sacrifices some shadow quality and texture filtering, but the data shows it is the only preset that maintains a 60+ FPS average at 1440p.

The High preset is a middle ground that may appeal to users with 1080p displays. At 1080p, High averages 75 FPS, which is 20 FPS lower than Medium but still above 60 FPS. At 1440p, High averages 50 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. At 4K, High averages 29 FPS, which is not recommended for fast-paced FPS gameplay. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with 52 FPS at 1080p, 35 FPS at 1440p, and 20 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that Ultra is only viable at 1080p, and even then, the average FPS dips below 60.

The Medium preset's min/max data provides additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 81 FPS ensures no drops below the refresh rate of a typical 75 Hz monitor. At 1440p Medium, the minimum of 54 FPS means there will be occasional dips below 60 FPS, which could be noticeable on a 60 Hz display. At 4K Medium, the minimum of 31 FPS is around the 30 FPS console-like target, but the variance (31 to 42 FPS) could cause stutter. Given these measurements, the recommended settings are: Low for 4K and 1440p users who want the smoothest experience, Medium for 1080p users who want a balance of quality and performance, and High for 1080p users with higher-end displays who can tolerate 75 FPS average.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + GTX 1660 Ti combination ranks 3,185 out of 3,700 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 14th percentile of tested systems. This is a low ranking, but it must be contextualized: the combo includes a modern CPU (released January 2025) paired with an older GPU (released February 2019) that was mid-range at its launch. The GPU's 41st percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary driver of the combo's low position, as the CPU's 85th percentile ranking is significantly higher.

The combo's rank implies that approximately 86% of tested systems outperform it in Evolve. This is not surprising given the GPU's age, but the data shows that the pairing is still capable of playable frame rates at 1080p and 1440p. The GPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks — the Radeon 540, Radeon Pro WX 3100, Radeon R7 250, and Arc A310 — all score within 2.3% of the 1660 Ti, yet the combo rank suggests that these GPUs would likely land in a similar tier for Evolve. The CPU's rivals (Ryzen 5 5600F, Ryzen 5 5500X3D, etc.) are all within 0.5% of the Ultra 5 225's average score, so swapping the CPU would have minimal impact on the combo's rank.

The ranking also reflects the game's age. Evolve was released in February 2015, and its graphics engine is not optimized for modern hardware. The GTX 1660 Ti's DirectX 12 support is a benefit, but the game's minimum requirements are likely lower than what this combo offers. The 3,185 rank out of 3,700 combos suggests that the majority of tested systems use more powerful GPUs, which is expected given the wide range of hardware in the database. For users with this combo, the data implies that upgrading the GPU would yield a much larger improvement in Evolve than upgrading the CPU, as the CPU is already in the 85th percentile.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce an average of 123 FPS, making it the only preset to exceed 120 FPS. Medium settings average 95 FPS, with a minimum of 81 FPS and a maximum of 110 FPS. High settings average 75 FPS, and Ultra settings average 52 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra is steep: 123 → 95 → 75 → 52, representing a 58% drop from the lowest to highest quality preset.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates decline proportionally. Low settings average 83 FPS, Medium averages 64 FPS (min 54, max 74), High averages 50 FPS, and Ultra averages 35 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 33% across all settings, which aligns with the pixel count increase from 2.07 million to 3.69 million (a 78% increase, but the GPU's pixel fill rate mitigates the impact). The Medium preset at 1440p shows a minimum of 54 FPS, which is the lowest recorded minimum at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is severely challenged. Low settings average 47 FPS, Medium averages 36 FPS (min 31, max 42), High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. The 4K resolution has 8.29 million pixels, which is 4x the pixel count of 1080p. The data shows that the GTX 1660 Ti can only maintain a 60 FPS average at 1080p Low and Medium, and it falls below 30 FPS at 4K High and Ultra. The Medium preset is the only 4K setting with recorded min/max data, showing a tight range of 31 to 42 FPS, which indicates consistent frame pacing but at a low overall level.

The absence of min/max data for most settings is a limitation of the dataset. However, the available data for Medium presets shows that the minimum FPS is consistently 10-15% lower than the average, which is a typical variance for FPS games. At 1080p Medium, the maximum of 110 FPS suggests there are occasional high-frame-rate spikes, likely in less demanding scenes. At 1440p Medium, the maximum of 74 FPS is close to the average of 64 FPS, indicating a more consistent experience. At 4K Medium, the range of 31 to 42 FPS shows a 35% variance, which could be noticeable as stutter during intense action sequences.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and reveals the limiting component. At Low settings, the average FPS goes from 123 at 1080p to 83 at 1440p and 47 at 4K. This represents a 32% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 62% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the averages are 95, 64, and 36 FPS respectively, showing a similar scaling pattern: 33% drop to 1440p and 62% drop to 4K. At High settings, the averages are 75, 50, and 29 FPS, with drops of 33% and 61%. At Ultra settings, the averages are 52, 35, and 20 FPS, with drops of 33% and 62%.

This consistent scaling pattern — approximately 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and 62% reduction from 1080p to 4K — is a strong indicator that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would not scale as cleanly with resolution, because the CPU workload would remain roughly constant while the GPU workload increases. The fact that the FPS drops proportionally to the pixel count (78% more pixels at 1440p, 300% more at 4K) suggests the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints.

The GTX 1660 Ti's pixel rate of 84.96 GPixel/s is the theoretical maximum, and the measured FPS data aligns with this. At 4K Ultra, the GPU must render 8.29 million pixels per frame at 20 FPS, which translates to 165.8 million pixels per second. This is within the GPU's pixel rate capability, but the 20 FPS average indicates that other factors — such as shader complexity, texture fetching, and memory bandwidth — are also limiting. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth is a likely bottleneck at 4K, as the GPU must move large amounts of texture data each frame.

The CPU's role in resolution scaling is minimal. The Core Ultra 5 225's strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4,412) ensures that it can feed the GPU at 1080p, but at higher resolutions, the GPU's rendering time dominates. The data shows that the gap between Low and Ultra settings remains consistent across resolutions (123 vs 52 at 1080p, 83 vs 35 at 1440p, 47 vs 20 at 4K), which suggests that the GPU's shader complexity is the main driver of FPS differences, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the gap between Low and Ultra would narrow at higher resolutions, because the CPU would be unable to keep up with the GPU's reduced frame rate. Instead, the gap widens slightly, confirming that the GTX 1660 Ti is the limiting component.