Evolve

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 combination delivers a dominant performance profile in Evolve, positioning itself as one of the most capable pairings among the extensive database of tested configurations. With an average FPS exceeding 170 across all measured settings and resolutions, this combo consistently pushes frame rates well beyond the thresholds required for high-refresh-rate displays, though the data reveals a performance ceiling that varies significantly based on the graphics preset and resolution selected.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 146 out of 2,872 tested combos in Evolve, placing it within the top 5.1% of all configurations. This percentile standing is particularly impressive given the game's age and its tendency to favor raw single-thread performance over multi-core scaling. The ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component acts as a significant bottleneck across the majority of tested scenarios.

This performance tier is consistent with the individual component standings in their respective benchmark universes. The CPU sits in the 89th percentile against all tested processors, while the GPU ranks in the 87th percentile against all tested graphics cards. The near-parity in component percentiles suggests a well-matched system where the RTX 5080's substantial compute resources are adequately fed by the Core Ultra 5 235's processing throughput.

Comparing to nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the Core Ultra 5 235 posts an average benchmark score of 46,062, which places it within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46,030) and essentially tied with the Intel Core i9-13900HX (46,098). The CPU trails the AMD EPYC 4364P (45,970) by 0.2% and the AMD EPYC 7303 (45,960) by the same margin. These sub-1% deltas indicate that in Evolve's CPU-bound scenarios, the Core Ultra 5 235 delivers performance parity with several high-end workstation and mobile processors, making the overall combo ranking more dependent on GPU throughput.

The GPU's nearest rivals in aggregate benchmarks show a similar pattern of tight competition. The RTX 5080's average score of 56,083 places it 0.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon 8060S (55,757) and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55,698). However, it trails the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (57,367) by 2.2%. This synthetic benchmark closeness does not fully translate to Evolve's real-world frame rates, where the RTX 5080's Blackwell architecture and high memory bandwidth prove advantageous.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals a clear hierarchy of playable settings, with the optimal choice depending on the user's refresh rate and resolution. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 146 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the 144 Hz refresh rate common on modern monitors. The High preset at the same resolution produces 211 FPS, opening the door for 240 Hz displays, while the Medium preset reaches 269 FPS and Low hits 347 FPS.

For 1440p users, the High preset is the recommended starting point, yielding 142 FPS on average. This is sufficient for most high-refresh monitors, though those seeking maximum smoothness may prefer the Medium preset at 181 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 98 FPS, which remains playable but introduces noticeable frame pacing inconsistencies compared to the lower presets.

At 4K, the High preset produces 81 FPS, which is playable on 60 Hz displays but falls short of 120 Hz panels. The Medium preset at 103 FPS provides a better balance for 4K high-refresh displays, while the Low preset at 133 FPS maximizes frame rates at the cost of visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 56 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided for competitive play, though it remains viable for slower-paced exploration.

The data indicates that the High preset provides the best overall experience across all resolutions when considering the balance between visual quality and frame rate. The Medium preset is the fallback option for users with 120 Hz or higher displays at 4K, while Low is reserved for esports-focused scenarios where maximum FPS takes precedence over visuals.

FAQ

Q: How does the combo perform at 1080p Ultra settings?

A: The combination achieves an average of 146 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, which is fully playable on 144 Hz monitors and provides headroom for G-Sync or FreeSync operation. The frame rate drops by 69% compared to Low settings at the same resolution.

Q: Is the RTX 5080's 16 GB VRAM sufficient for Evolve?

A: The 16 GB GDDR7 memory, paired with a 256-bit bus and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, is more than adequate for Evolve. The game's highest measured preset (Ultra) at 4K produces an average of 56 FPS, indicating that memory capacity is not a limiting factor, as the GPU's compute resources are the constraining element at that resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's core configuration impact performance in this game?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 features 14 cores and 14 threads with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost up to 5.00 GHz. Evolve benefits from the high boost clock for single-threaded tasks, while the 24 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache help maintain consistent frame pacing across the 12 measured scenarios.

Q: What is the expected FPS at 1440p Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the combo delivers an average of 181 FPS, with a minimum of 153 FPS and maximum of 208 FPS. This makes the Medium preset the best choice for 1440p users with 165 Hz or 180 Hz monitors, as the minimum frame rate stays well above the refresh rate.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to other presets?

A: The 4K Ultra preset produces 56 FPS, which is 31% lower than the 4K High preset (81 FPS) and 46% lower than the 4K Medium preset (103 FPS). This significant drop indicates that Ultra settings introduce rendering effects that heavily tax the GPU, making it unsuitable for smooth 4K gameplay.

Q: What is the best settings combination for a 120 Hz 4K display?

A: The Medium preset at 3840x2160 provides 103 FPS average with a minimum of 87 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that maintains frame rates above 100 FPS on average. The High preset at 81 FPS may cause occasional dips below the 120 Hz threshold, making Medium the recommended choice for this display type.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete FPS dataset reveals distinct performance tiers across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 347 FPS, the highest measured value across all configurations. The Medium preset follows at 269 FPS (minimum 229, maximum 310), then High at 211 FPS, and Ultra at 146 FPS. The transition from Low to Ultra at 1080p represents a 58% reduction in average frame rate, illustrating the substantial GPU load increase from the highest visual quality settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scaling follows a similar pattern with lower absolute values. Low settings produce 233 FPS, Medium delivers 181 FPS (minimum 153, maximum 208), High drops to 142 FPS, and Ultra settles at 98 FPS. The ratio between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 2.38x, slightly higher than at 1080p, indicating that the resolution increase amplifies the differences between presets.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings achieve 133 FPS, Medium produces 103 FPS (minimum 87, maximum 118), High delivers 81 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 56 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra ratio at 4K is 2.38x, matching the 1440p scaling but with lower absolute values due to the 2.25x increase in pixel count from 1440p.

The minimum FPS data points, available only for Medium settings across all resolutions, provide insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the minimum of 229 FPS represents 85% of the average, while at 1440p Medium the minimum of 153 FPS is 85% of the 181 average. The 4K Medium minimum of 87 FPS is 84% of the 103 average. This consistency suggests that the combo maintains stable frame delivery even under load, with only minor dips below average performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 serves as the primary driver of Evolve's frame rate at higher resolutions and settings. Its Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm TSMC process with 45,600 million transistors across a 378 mm² die, provides substantial compute resources that scale effectively with the game's rendering demands. The GPU's 10,752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units deliver the raw throughput needed to handle the game's particle effects and dynamic lighting at high resolutions.

The memory subsystem plays a critical role in the 4K performance envelope. The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory across a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient to feed the GPU's compute units without becoming a bottleneck at any of the tested settings. The 84 ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores, while not directly utilized by Evolve's traditional rasterization pipeline, contribute to the GPU's overall compute capability and future-proofing.

Clock behavior shows the GPU operating at a base of 2,295 MHz with a boost up to 2,617 MHz, with memory running at 1,875 MHz (30 Gbps effective). The 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 879.3 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample headroom for the game's engine, as evidenced by the 347 FPS peak at 1080p Low settings. However, at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, with the 56 FPS average indicating that the rendering load exceeds the GPU's fill rate and shader throughput capabilities.

The GPU's 87th percentile standing among all tested graphics cards aligns with its measured performance in Evolve. The 2.3% deficit to the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE in synthetic benchmarks does not manifest as a significant disadvantage in this game, as the RTX 5080's architectural strengths in geometry processing and memory bandwidth prove more relevant to Evolve's rendering characteristics.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 provides the processing foundation for this combo, with its 14 cores and 14 threads operating at a base clock of 3.40 GHz and boosting to 5.00 GHz. The absence of hyper-threading (14 threads for 14 cores) is notable, but the high boost clock compensates for reduced thread count in Evolve's primarily single-threaded game logic. The CPU's Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm TSMC process with 17,800 million transistors, delivers strong per-core performance that keeps the GPU fed at lower resolutions.

The cache hierarchy plays a significant role in maintaining consistent frame rates. The 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache provide ample capacity for the game's frequently accessed assets and physics calculations. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support ensures that the CPU can quickly retrieve data without stalling the GPU pipeline.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,769 and single-core score of 2,085 indicate strong all-around performance. The PassMark multi-thread score of 37,816 and single-thread score of 4,516 place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals showing less than 0.2% variance in average scores. This performance parity means that the CPU does not introduce a significant bottleneck in Evolve, allowing the GPU to operate at its full potential across most settings.

The CPU's role becomes more pronounced at 1080p, where the 347 FPS Low setting result demonstrates that the processor can sustain extremely high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor. However, the 3.40 GHz base clock and 65 W TDP suggest that sustained multi-core loads may cause thermal throttling in poorly ventilated cases, though the measured results indicate this does not manifest in Evolve's typical gameplay scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance at higher resolutions. Across all settings, the average FPS at 1440p is approximately 63% of the 1080p value, while the 4K average is approximately 37% of the 1080p value. This scaling aligns closely with the pixel count increases: 1440p has 1.78x the pixels of 1080p, and 4K has 4x the pixels of 1080p.

For Low settings, the progression from 347 FPS at 1080p to 233 FPS at 1440p to 133 FPS at 4K represents drops of 33% and 43% respectively. The Medium settings show a similar pattern: 269 to 181 (33% drop) to 103 (43% drop). High settings demonstrate slightly steeper scaling: 211 to 142 (33% drop) to 81 (43% drop). Ultra settings follow the same trend: 146 to 98 (33% drop) to 56 (43% drop).

The consistent 33% and 43% drops across all settings indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution and preset combination. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling would show diminishing FPS drops as resolution increased, since the CPU's workload remains constant while the GPU's workload grows. Instead, the uniform scaling pattern confirms that the RTX 5080's rendering capacity is the primary constraint, particularly at 4K where the 4x pixel density overwhelms the GPU's fill rate.

The data suggests that users seeking to maximize frame rates should prioritize resolution reduction over settings reduction. Moving from 4K Ultra (56 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (98 FPS) provides a 75% FPS increase, while moving from 4K Ultra to 4K High (81 FPS) only provides a 45% increase. Similarly, the jump from 1440p Ultra to 1080p Ultra (146 FPS) adds 49% more frames, demonstrating that resolution scaling offers the most effective path to higher performance when GPU-bound.