Evolve

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile delivers a performance profile in Evolve that is heavily dictated by resolution and preset selection. The dataset shows a clear progression from a CPU-bound state at 1080p to a GPU-bound state at 4K, with the Ultra preset acting as a significant performance ceiling. The following analysis breaks down the measured results across all tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is steep and consistent across all four settings presets. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 241 at 1080p to 161 at 1440p, a reduction of 80 FPS, and then to 92 at 4K, a further drop of 69 FPS. This represents a 61.8% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K. The scaling at High settings is similar: the average drops from 146 at 1080p to 98 at 1440p, and finally to 56 at 4K, a total reduction of 61.6%.

The Medium preset shows a slightly different pattern. The average FPS goes from 186 at 1080p to 125 at 1440p, and then to 71 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 61 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 54 FPS. This relatively smaller decline at higher resolutions suggests that the system is beginning to hit a performance wall that is less dependent on pure resolution scaling.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling penalty. At 1080p, the average is 101 FPS. This falls to 68 at 1440p, a 33 FPS reduction. The most severe drop occurs when moving to 4K, where the average plummets to 39 FPS, a 29 FPS reduction from the 1440p result. The total scaling loss from 1080p to 4K is 61.4%, which is comparable to the other presets.

The data indicates that the limiting component changes with resolution. At 1080p, the high average FPS figures across all presets, particularly the 241 FPS at Low, suggest that the CPU is capable of feeding frames faster than the GPU can render them. As resolution increases, the rendering load on the GPU grows exponentially, and the frame rate becomes increasingly constrained by the GPU's fill rate and shading power. The 4K results, especially the 39 FPS at Ultra, clearly show a GPU-bound scenario where the RTX 4080 Mobile is the primary bottleneck.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process node. Its specifications include 7424 shading units, 232 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1290 MHz and a boost clock of 1665 MHz. The 12 GB of GDDR6 memory is connected via a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 432.0 GB/s.

In Evolve, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution scales. The benchmark results show that the GPU's compute capabilities are sufficient to maintain playable frame rates at 1440p on High settings, where the average FPS is 98. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS, however, highlights the GPU's limitations when pushed to its maximum settings at the highest resolution. The gap between the Low and Ultra settings at 4K (92 vs 39 FPS) demonstrates the substantial performance cost of the visual features enabled by the Ultra preset.

The GPU's memory configuration is also relevant. The 12 GB frame buffer is adequate for the tested settings, as the data does not show any anomalies that would indicate memory capacity issues, such as sudden frame rate collapses. The 432.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient for the game's texture streaming needs at the tested resolutions.

The passmark_g3d score for the GPU is 24926, and its percentile rank versus all GPUs is 81. This places it in a strong position relative to the broader market. However, the measured FPS data reveals that even a high-performing mobile GPU like this one cannot maintain 60 FPS at 4K with the Ultra preset, which is a critical insight for users.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across the four presets. At 1920x1080, all presets are playable, with the Low preset achieving an average of 241 FPS, Medium at 186 FPS, High at 146 FPS, and Ultra at 101 FPS. For high-refresh-rate displays, the Low or Medium presets are the only options that can fully saturate a 240 Hz panel, as they are the only ones exceeding that threshold.

At 2560x1440, the High preset is the most balanced option. It achieves an average of 98 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Medium preset offers a higher average of 125 FPS, but the visual fidelity reduction may not be worth the 27 FPS gain for all users. The Ultra preset at 1440p, with an average of 68 FPS, is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes.

The 4K resolution is where the settings recommendations become more critical. The High preset is the only consistently playable option, with an average of 56 FPS. The Medium preset, with an average of 71 FPS, is actually a better choice for smoothness, as it stays above the 60 FPS threshold. The Low preset at 92 FPS is the most responsive, but it sacrifices the visual quality that most users expect at 4K. The Ultra preset at 39 FPS is not recommended for serious play, as it falls below the 60 FPS target.

The data suggests that for the best experience at 4K, the Medium preset is the optimal choice. It provides a 71 FPS average, which is 26.8% higher than the High preset's 56 FPS, while still delivering a substantial visual upgrade over the Low preset. At 1440p, the High preset is the recommended choice for most users, as it balances visual quality with a 98 FPS average. At 1080p, the Medium preset offers a 186 FPS average, which is a good balance for competitive play without the visual degradation of the Low preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile ranks 1212 out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve. This places it in the 67.2nd percentile of all tested systems, indicating that it performs better than roughly two-thirds of the combinations in the database. This is a solid result, but it is not at the very top of the performance hierarchy.

The ranking is influenced by both the CPU and GPU. The CPU has a percentile rank of 84 versus all CPUs, while the GPU has a percentile rank of 81 versus all GPUs. The combo's overall ranking of 1212 out of 3700 suggests that while both components are individually strong, the pairing in Evolve does not achieve the top-tier results that the individual component rankings might imply. This could be due to the game's specific engine characteristics or the balance between CPU and GPU workloads at the tested settings.

The nearest rivals for the CPU in the average benchmark score list include the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H with a delta of 0.3%, the AMD EPYC 4244P with a delta of -0.4%, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 with a delta of -0.4%. These very small deltas indicate that the CPU's performance is closely matched by several other processors. The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 with a delta of -0.4%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile with a delta of -0.6%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 with a delta of 1.3%.

The close margins in the rival comparisons suggest that the combo's ranking is not solely dependent on one component. The system's overall performance in Evolve is a product of the interaction between the CPU and GPU, and this particular pairing yields a mid-upper-tier result.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 165H is a 16-core, 22-thread processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 112 KB of L1 cache per core, 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor has a TDP of 28 W and supports DDR5 memory, though the exact memory support depends on the motherboard.

In Evolve, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions. The benchmark results at 1080p show that the system can achieve very high frame rates, reaching 241 FPS at Low settings and 186 FPS at Medium settings. These figures suggest that the CPU is capable of processing the game's logic and physics at a rate that exceeds the GPU's rendering capacity at these settings. The CPU's high single-thread performance, as indicated by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1759, is likely a key factor in this capability.

As the resolution increases, the CPU's influence diminishes. At 4K, the frame rates are significantly lower across all presets, indicating that the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The CPU's 16 cores and 22 threads are more than sufficient for the game's multi-threaded workload, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14551. The CPU's passmark_multithread score of 25933 also confirms its strong multi-threaded performance.

The CPU's percentile rank of 84 versus all CPUs indicates that it is a high-performing processor. However, the nearest rival data shows that the performance gap to the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H is only 0.3%, meaning that a less expensive CPU could potentially deliver similar results in this game, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is the limiting factor.

FAQ

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

A: The average FPS is 146 at 1920x1080 with the High settings preset.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 3840x2160?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 achieves an average FPS of 39, which is below the 60 FPS threshold typically considered ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the frame rate at 2560x1440 with Medium settings compare to the 1920x1080 result?

A: The average FPS at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 125, while the 1920x1080 result is 186. This represents a 32.8% decrease in performance.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 3840x2160?

A: The minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 3840x2160 is 60 FPS, with a maximum of 82 FPS.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination provides the highest average FPS?

A: The highest average FPS is 241, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

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

A: The combo ranks 1212 out of 3700 tested combinations, placing it in the upper-middle portion of the performance distribution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data presents the exact measured average FPS for each resolution and settings combination. For the Medium preset, minimum and maximum FPS values are also available.

At 1920x1080:

• Low: 241 FPS average
• Medium: 186 FPS average, 158 FPS minimum, 214 FPS maximum
• High: 146 FPS average
• Ultra: 101 FPS average

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 161 FPS average
• Medium: 125 FPS average, 106 FPS minimum, 144 FPS maximum
• High: 98 FPS average
• Ultra: 68 FPS average

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 92 FPS average
• Medium: 71 FPS average, 60 FPS minimum, 82 FPS maximum
• High: 56 FPS average
• Ultra: 39 FPS average

The data clearly shows a linear scaling pattern for the Low and High presets, with the Medium preset exhibiting slightly better scaling characteristics at higher resolutions. The Ultra preset shows the most significant performance penalty, with the 4K result being less than half of the 1080p result. These figures provide a comprehensive view of the system's capabilities in Evolve across all tested configurations.