Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS, presents a demanding workload that scales sharply with resolution on the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination. The measured data shows a clear progression from excellent high-refresh-rate performance at 1080p to a barely playable experience at 4K Ultra, indicating that the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as pixel count rises. The combo ranks in the 74th percentile (755 out of 2872 tested combinations), placing it firmly in the upper tier for this title, yet the performance envelope is defined by the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capabilities rather than the CPU's processing power.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 153 FPS at 1920x1080 to 102 FPS at 2560x1440, a 33% reduction, and then further to 58 FPS at 3840x2160, a 43% drop from 1440p. This pattern is consistent across all settings presets, confirming that the RTX 3080's rendering pipeline, not the CPU, dictates performance as resolution increases.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At Low settings, the drop is from 168 FPS to 96 FPS, a 43% decrease. At Medium settings, it goes from 130 FPS to 74 FPS, a 43% reduction as well. This uniform percentage decline across different presets indicates that the GPU is operating at its limits, with the increased pixel count directly translating into proportional rendering load. The CPU, with its 14 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock, has ample headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions, so the bottleneck is purely the graphics card's fill rate and memory subsystem.

The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a less severe but still significant drop. At Ultra settings, performance falls from 106 FPS to 71 FPS, a 33% reduction. At Medium, it drops from 195 FPS to 130 FPS, a 33% decrease as well. This consistent ratio suggests that the RTX 3080's 320-bit memory bus and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being fully utilized, and the 10 GB of GDDR6X VRAM is sufficient for the game's textures at these resolutions, but the shading units and ROPs are the limiting factor.

At 1080p, the combination delivers exceptional performance, with even Ultra settings achieving 106 FPS. This indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648) is adequate to keep up with the GPU's output, and the bottleneck shifts to the graphics card's pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s. The fact that Low settings at 1080p reach 251 FPS shows the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU is not the constraint, but the game's engine appears to have a ceiling around this point based on the measured data.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual fidelity and smooth gameplay at each resolution, the Medium preset emerges as the optimal choice from the measured data. At 3840x2160, Medium delivers 74 FPS average with a minimum of 63 FPS and maximum of 85 FPS, which is comfortably within the playable range for a fast-paced FPS. The jump from Medium to High at 4K costs 16 FPS (from 74 to 58), a significant 22% reduction that pushes the experience below the 60 FPS threshold, making High a risky choice for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 102 FPS offers a superior experience to Medium's 130 FPS when considering visual quality per frame, but the data shows that High still maintains a strong frame rate. The Ultra preset at 71 FPS is playable but represents a 30% drop from High, which may introduce noticeable stutter in fast movements. For 1440p users with high-refresh-rate monitors, Medium at 130 FPS is the recommended starting point, as it provides 28 more FPS than High while the visual difference between these two presets is typically less pronounced in this title.

At 1920x1080, the situation is different. High settings at 153 FPS and Medium at 195 FPS both exceed the 144 Hz refresh rate commonly found on gaming monitors, so the choice comes down to visual preference. The Ultra preset at 106 FPS remains above 100 FPS, making it viable for those who prioritize image quality over raw frame rate. However, the data shows that Low settings at 251 FPS are only for competitive players who need every possible frame, as the visual degradation is substantial.

The Medium preset's min FPS values are worth noting. At 4K, the minimum of 63 FPS ensures that frame times remain consistent, avoiding the dips that can cause motion sickness in FPS games. At 1440p, the 111 FPS minimum provides a smooth experience even during intense combat sequences, and at 1080p, the 165 FPS minimum means the game never drops below the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. This consistency makes Medium the safest recommendation across all resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and RTX 3080 combination ranks 755 out of 2872 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the top 26% of all systems tested. This is a strong result for a mid-to-high-end pairing, though it is not at the very top tier. The ranking suggests that while this combination delivers excellent frame rates, there are more powerful configurations that can push higher at 4K Ultra settings.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 68 against all GPUs indicates that the RTX 3080 is a solid but not exceptional performer in the broader market. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon RX 6600M, with delta percentages of -0.3% and -0.4% respectively, meaning the RTX 3080's average benchmark score of 23172 is nearly identical to these cards. This clustering suggests that the 3080's performance in Evolve is representative of its overall capabilities, and the combo's rank is largely driven by the CPU's contribution.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 90 against all CPUs is notably higher than the GPU's 68. The Core Ultra 5 245's average benchmark score of 48995 places it in the top 10% of all processors, with nearest rivals including the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and Intel Core i5-14600K, both within 0.8% of its score. This disparity between CPU and GPU rankings explains why the combo's overall rank (74th percentile) is lower than the CPU's individual rank — the GPU is holding the system back from achieving higher placement.

In the context of Evolve specifically, the combo rank of 755 out of 2872 means that approximately 2117 other combinations deliver better performance in this game. This is expected given the game's age and the fact that newer GPUs with higher VRAM capacities and faster memory can handle the 4K Ultra preset more effectively. However, the data shows that this combo still delivers playable frame rates at 4K Medium, which is more than sufficient for most users.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers its best performance across all settings. Low settings achieve an average of 251 FPS, Medium reaches 195 FPS with a minimum of 165 and maximum of 224, High hits 153 FPS, and Ultra manages 106 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58% reduction in frame rate, from 251 to 106 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings impose a significant rendering cost on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates drop predictably. Low settings produce 168 FPS, Medium averages 130 FPS with a minimum of 111 and maximum of 150, High delivers 102 FPS, and Ultra falls to 71 FPS. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p is 28 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 31 FPS, showing that Ultra settings are particularly demanding on the RTX 3080's 8704 shading units.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more constrained. Low settings yield 96 FPS, Medium averages 74 FPS with a minimum of 63 and maximum of 85, High drops to 58 FPS, and Ultra falls to 40 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration measured that falls below 60 FPS, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The 18 FPS difference between Medium and High at 4K is substantial, while the 18 FPS difference between High and Ultra is equally significant.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values across all resolutions, providing a more complete picture of performance stability. At 1080p, the range from 165 to 224 FPS indicates a 36% variation, which is acceptable for a fast-paced game. At 1440p, the range from 111 to 150 FPS shows a 35% variation, and at 4K, the range from 63 to 85 FPS represents a 35% variation as well. This consistency in frame time variance suggests the game engine scales uniformly with resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, based on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, is the primary determinant of performance in Evolve. The card's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus provides 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the game's textures at 4K but becomes a limiting factor at Ultra settings where memory pressure increases. The 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are not directly relevant to this game, as Evolve does not utilize ray tracing or DLSS, but the 8704 shading units and 96 ROPs are fully engaged.

The GPU's clock speeds of 1440 MHz base and 1710 MHz boost are relatively modest by modern standards, yet the card's FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS is substantial. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU's pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s are the bottlenecks at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops proportionally with pixel count. The 8 nm process node from Samsung results in a 320 W TDP, which is high but manageable for a dual-slot card.

The RTX 3080's benchmark scores place it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 23172. Its nearest rivals, including the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon RX 6600M, have nearly identical scores, indicating that the 3080's performance in Evolve is typical for its class. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 25086 and DirectX 12 score of 100 suggest it handles modern APIs well, but Evolve's 2015 release data means it likely relies on older DirectX 11 paths, where the card's score of 207 shows strong but not exceptional performance.

The 10 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for Evolve at 4K, as the game's textures from 2015 are unlikely to exceed this limit. However, the 320-bit memory bus and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are the key factors in the GPU's scaling behavior. The consistent 33-43% frame rate drops from 1080p to 1440p to 4K indicate that memory bandwidth is being fully utilized, and the card cannot maintain higher fill rates at increased resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245, with its 14 cores and 14 threads, provides more than enough processing power for Evolve. The CPU's base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz, combined with 24 MB of shared L3 cache, ensure that it never becomes the bottleneck in this combination. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and single-core score of 4648 demonstrate strong performance that is well above the requirements for a 2015 game.

The CPU's 90th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 48995, places it in the upper echelon of desktop processors. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and Intel Core i5-14600K, with delta percentages of -0.5% and 0.8% respectively, indicating that the Core Ultra 5 245 is competitive with these established chips. The PassMark multi-thread score of 38706 and single-thread score of 4394 further confirm its capability.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and physics calculations. The game's 2015 release date means it was designed for CPUs with far fewer cores, so the Ultra 5 245's 14 cores are more than sufficient. The measured FPS data supports this, as the frame rates at 1080p Low (251 FPS) approach the CPU's practical limit, but the GPU is still the limiting factor at all resolutions above 1080p.

The CPU's memory support for DDR5 with dual-channel configuration provides 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is ample for the game's data streaming requirements. The Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process node from TSMC ensures efficient power consumption at 65 W TDP, allowing sustained boost clocks during gaming sessions. The integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU is not used in this configuration, as the discrete RTX 3080 handles all rendering tasks.