Evolve

This report examines the measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile in the 2015 FPS Evolve. The dataset includes 12 measured FPS rows across three resolutions and four settings, plus synthetic benchmarks for both components and a global combo ranking. The analysis focuses on what these numbers reveal about the system's limiting factors, its standing among 3,700 tested combos, and which settings deliver the most balanced experience.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS shows a clear and consistent drop as resolution increases, which points directly to the GPU as the dominant limiter across all tested configurations. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 169 FPS at 1920x1080 to 114 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 65 FPS at 3840x2160. That is a 32.5% decline from 1080p to 1440p (114/169) and a further 43% decline from 1440p to 4K (65/114). The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count—4K has four times the pixels of 1080p, but the FPS drops only by a factor of 2.6, indicating the GPU is not completely saturated at lower settings but still becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions.

The same pattern appears at High and Ultra settings. High goes from 103 FPS at 1080p to 69 at 1440p to 40 at 4K—a 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 42% drop from 1440p to 4K. Ultra drops from 71 to 48 to 27, with a 32% and 44% decrease respectively. The near-consistent percentage drops across settings suggest that the GPU's compute capacity, not its memory system, is the limiting factor. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect the FPS to remain relatively flat across resolutions, especially at Low settings where the CPU has to feed frames as fast as possible. Instead, the frame rate scales predictably with resolution, confirming a GPU-bound scenario.

The data also reveals that the gap between Low and Ultra narrows at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 169 minus 71, or 98 FPS. At 1440p, the spread is 114 minus 48, or 66 FPS. At 4K, it shrinks to 65 minus 27, or 38 FPS. This compression indicates that as the pixel count rises, the GPU becomes the hard limit, and settings adjustments have diminishing returns. A user targeting 4K will see a maximum of 65 FPS on Low, which is only 65% higher than the 40 FPS at High, whereas at 1080p the difference between Low and Ultra is more than 2.4 times. This suggests that for this title, resolution scaling is the most significant factor, and settings tweaks matter less at higher resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. Its base clock is 1545 MHz, boosting to 1890 MHz. The GPU features 3072 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output pipelines. The memory subsystem consists of 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s at a memory clock of 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). These specifications place the GPU in the 67th percentile among all GPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 22729. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (score 22895, delta -0.7%), the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (22549, +0.8%), and the Intel Arc B580 (23021, -1.3%). The RTX 4060 Mobile sits slightly below the RTX 2080 but within a tight 1.3% band of its closest competitors.

The 8 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for a 2015 title like Evolve, which was designed for older graphics cards. The measured FPS at 1080p Medium (131 FPS) and 1080p High (103 FPS) shows that the GPU can handle high settings at standard resolutions. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 27 FPS, indicating that the GPU's raw compute power—11.61 TFLOPS of FP32—is the bottleneck. The memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is moderate, but given the game's age, it is unlikely to be a limiting factor. Instead, the shader count and clock speeds determine the ceiling. The boost clock of 1890 MHz is typical for a mobile part, and the 115 W TDP suggests a relatively high-power configuration for a laptop, yet it still cannot sustain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks aligns with its in-game results. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 89420 and Vulkan score of 89569 indicate strong compute, while the PassMark G3D score of 17469 places it in the 67th percentile. The DirectX 12 score of 73 is low, but that is a synthetic test that may not reflect this game's DX11-era code. In practice, the GPU delivers playable frame rates up to 1440p High (69 FPS) and 1080p Ultra (71 FPS), but falls short of 60 FPS at 4K except on Low settings (65 FPS). The data suggests that users should treat this GPU as a 1080p/1440p performer, with 4K requiring significant compromises.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a Meteor Lake mobile processor with 16 cores and 22 threads. Its base clock is 3.80 GHz, boosting to 5.00 GHz. The L3 cache is 24 MB shared, and the CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and a theoretical bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s. The integrated graphics are Arc Xe-LPG with 128 execution units. The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores are robust: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 14551 and single-core 1729, while PassMark multi-thread scores 25933 and single-thread 3509. The CPU sits in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34083. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H (score 33989, delta 0.3%), the AMD EPYC 4244P (34220, -0.4%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (34260, -0.5%). The CPU's launch MSRP is $460.

In Evolve, the CPU's role appears minimal. The game is an older FPS that does not heavily utilize many threads; even at 1080p Low, the frame rate is 169 FPS, which is high but not extreme. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would see a plateau—e.g., the FPS at 1080p Low would be the same as at 1080p Medium or High, because the CPU would be maxed out. Instead, the FPS scales with resolution: 169 at 1080p Low, 114 at 1440p Low, and 65 at 4K Low. This scaling confirms that the CPU is not the bottleneck; it can feed the GPU with frames faster than the GPU can render at lower resolutions. The CPU's high single-core performance (Cinebench R23 single 1729) and boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensure that even older, less-optimized titles like Evolve can be handled without stutter.

The CPU's multi-core capability is also adequate. With 16 cores and 22 threads, it can manage any background tasks and the game's physics simulation. However, the game's low thread count means that the CPU's multi-core advantage is not fully utilized. The PassMark physics score of 1806 is respectable, but not a differentiator in this context. The CPU's TDP of 28 W is relatively low for a mobile chip, yet it still provides enough performance to avoid limiting the GPU. The data implies that the Core Ultra 7 165H is more than sufficient for Evolve, and any frame rate constraints are entirely on the GPU side.

How This Combo Ranks

Among all tested combinations of CPUs and GPUs, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile ranks 2260 out of 3700 combos. That puts it in the lower half of the database—specifically, it is better than 1440 combos (since 3700-2260=1440) and worse than 2260 combos. The percentile rank is approximately 61st from the top (2260/3700 = 0.61). This is a notable discrepancy when compared to the individual component percentiles: the CPU is in the 84th percentile and the GPU is in the 67th percentile. The combined rank is significantly lower, suggesting that the game's performance does not align with the components' synthetic benchmark strengths.

Several factors could explain this. First, Evolve is a 2015 title with a specific performance profile that may not scale well with modern hardware. Second, the mobile GPU is limited by its TDP (115 W) and thermal constraints, which can reduce sustained clocks. Third, the CPU and GPU combination may not be balanced for this game—the CPU is strong, but the GPU is relatively weaker, so the combo is bottlenecked by the GPU. In contrast, many combos with a similar GPU but a less powerful CPU might perform better because the game is GPU-bound, and the CPU's high performance is wasted. The ranking suggests that for this specific game, the RTX 4060 Mobile is the limiting factor, and the CPU's power does not boost the combo above the median.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings are as follows:

• 1920x1080 (1080p):
• Low: 169 FPS (no min/max recorded)
• Medium: 131 FPS (min 112, max 151)
• High: 103 FPS (no min/max)
• Ultra: 71 FPS (no min/max)

• 2560x1440 (1440p):
• Low: 114 FPS (no min/max)
• Medium: 88 FPS (min 75, max 101)
• High: 69 FPS (no min/max)
• Ultra: 48 FPS (no min/max)

• 3840x2160 (4K):
• Low: 65 FPS (no min/max)
• Medium: 50 FPS (min 43, max 58)
• High: 40 FPS (no min/max)
• Ultra: 27 FPS (no min/max)

The Medium settings at all resolutions include min and max values, showing the frame time variance. At 1080p Medium, the min is 112 FPS and max 151, a spread of 39 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the min is 75 and max 101, a spread of 26 FPS. At 4K Medium, the min is 43 and max 58, a spread of 15 FPS. The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded, reducing the frame time spikes. The absolute numbers show that 1080p is fully playable even on Ultra (71 FPS), while 1440p requires dropping to High (69 FPS) or Medium (88 FPS) for a smooth experience. At 4K, only Low (65 FPS) reaches the 60 FPS threshold; Medium (50 FPS) and High (40 FPS) are below, and Ultra (27 FPS) is essentially unplayable for a fast-paced FPS.

The data also shows a consistent pattern across settings: the jump from Low to Medium yields a 22% reduction in FPS at 1080p (169 to 131), while the jump from High to Ultra yields a 31% reduction (103 to 71). This suggests that Ultra settings include expensive effects that disproportionately impact the GPU. At 4K, the same jumps are 23% (65 to 50) and 20% (50 to 40), showing that the GPU is already near its limit and additional settings have less relative impact.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings?

A: The average FPS is 131, with a minimum of 112 and a maximum of 151.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 2260 out of 3700 total combos, placing it in the lower half of the database.

Q: What is the GPU's memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile has a memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus.

Q: What is the CPU's boost clock speed?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H has a boost clock of 5.00 GHz.

Q: What is the highest measured average FPS for this combo?

A: The highest is 169 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: What is the lowest measured average FPS?

A: The lowest is 27 FPS, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a 60 FPS experience, the data shows that 1080p Ultra delivers 71 FPS, which is above the target and gives the highest visual quality. At 1440p, High settings produce 69 FPS, also above 60, while Medium gives 88 FPS—a comfortable margin that allows for smoother motion. For 4K, the only setting that exceeds 60 FPS is Low at 65 FPS, but that sacrifices visual fidelity significantly. Medium at 4K only reaches 48 FPS, which may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but is not ideal for a FPS.

If the priority is visual quality over frame rate, 1080p Ultra is the clear choice, as it provides 71 FPS while retaining all effects. For players who want to use a 1440p monitor, High is the sweet spot: 69 FPS is just above the 60 FPS threshold, and the visual improvement over Medium is substantial. Alternatively, Medium at 1440p offers 88 FPS, which could be beneficial for competitive play where higher frame rates are preferred. For 4K, the recommendation is to use Low settings (65 FPS) if a smooth experience is mandatory, but the compromise in quality is steep. The data indicates that this mobile RTX 4060 is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, with 4K only viable on the lowest settings.