Evolve

Evolve, the 2015 FPS, presents an interesting stress test for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 pairing. The measured frame rates across resolutions and presets indicate a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher settings, while revealing the CPU's substantial headroom at lower graphical loads. The data shows a configuration capable of high refresh rate play at 1080p and smooth 4K experiences with appropriate settings tuning, though the most demanding preset proves too heavy for the GPU to manage at native 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 clearly illustrates where the bottleneck lies within this combo. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 258 at 1080p to 173 at 1440p, and further to 98 at 4K. This represents a 62% reduction in average frame rate from 1080p to 4K. Such a steep decline indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count quadruples. The 1080p result of 258 FPS is remarkably high, suggesting the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU far more frames than the graphics card can render at higher resolutions.

At the High preset, the scaling is similarly pronounced: 157 FPS at 1080p falls to 105 FPS at 1440p and finally to 60 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is exactly on the cusp of what many consider the minimum for a playable experience, highlighting the significant cost of rendering Evolve at native 4K with high detail. The Medium preset follows the same pattern, with 200 FPS at 1080p, 134 FPS at 1440p, and 76 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, dropping from 109 FPS at 1080p to 73 FPS at 1440p, and collapsing to just 41 FPS at 4K, a figure that is nearly unplayable for a fast-paced FPS.

The data reveals that the CPU is not a constraint at 1080p, given the extremely high frame rates achieved. However, as resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows exponentially, and the RTX 5080's performance becomes the sole determinant of the final frame rate. The fact that the 1080p Low and Medium presets exceed 200 FPS suggests the Core Ultra 7 265HX has significant processing headroom, but this headroom is irrelevant at higher resolutions where the GPU saturates. This is a classic GPU-bound scenario, where the limiting component shifts entirely to the graphics card as pixel count rises.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested hardware combinations for Evolve, this pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 holds a combo rank of 721 out of 2872 total combos. This places the system in the top 25% of all tested configurations, indicating a strong but not elite performance tier for this specific game. The percentile ranking suggests that while many systems perform worse, a substantial number of other combinations achieve higher frame rates in Evolve.

The CPU itself, when benchmarked independently, ranks in the 93rd percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 63173. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-13790F, which scores 63080, a negligible 0.1% difference, and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G, which scores 63331, representing a 0.2% deficit for the 265HX. This places the processor in a very tight performance cluster, indicating that its computational capabilities are competitive with other high-end mobile and desktop parts.

Similarly, the RTX 5080 GPU ranks in the 87th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 56083. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon 8060S, which scores 55757 (0.6% faster), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, which scores 55698 (0.7% faster). Interestingly, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367, which is 2.2% higher than the RTX 5080's score. Despite these close aggregate scores, the in-game rank of 721 suggests that Evolve's specific engine and workload characteristics do not favor this particular combination as much as general-purpose benchmarks might suggest.

Settings Recommendations

Given the measured frame rates, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired refresh rate. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset achieves an average of 109 FPS, which is excellent for a high-refresh-rate monitor. The High preset pushes this to 157 FPS, and Medium reaches 200 FPS, while Low hits 258 FPS. For competitive play at 1080p, the High or Ultra presets offer a strong balance of visual quality and performance, with the Ultra preset still providing over 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset delivers 73 FPS, which is playable but may not be smooth enough for fast-paced action on a high-refresh display. The High preset at 105 FPS is a much better choice, offering a significant frame rate increase with a modest visual downgrade. The Medium preset at 134 FPS is also excellent for 1440p, providing a very fluid experience. For 4K gaming, the High preset is the only viable option for a consistently smooth experience, hitting exactly 60 FPS on average. The Medium preset at 76 FPS is also playable, but the Ultra preset's 41 FPS average makes it unsuitable for a responsive FPS.

The data indicates that the "sweet spot" for this system is the High preset across all resolutions. It provides a 60 FPS experience at 4K, a superb 105 FPS at 1440p, and a very high 157 FPS at 1080p. This preset offers the best combination of visual fidelity and performance, avoiding the steep performance cost of the Ultra preset while delivering frame rates that are either at or well above standard playability thresholds.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its peak performance. The Low preset yields an average of 258 FPS, with no recorded minimum or maximum values. Medium produces 200 FPS on average, with a minimum of 170 FPS and a maximum of 230 FPS, showing a stable frame time distribution. High delivers 157 FPS, and Ultra reaches 109 FPS. All 1080p results are well above the threshold for smooth gameplay, indicating that the CPU and GPU combination is exceptionally capable at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows the expected decline. Low averages 173 FPS, Medium averages 134 FPS (with a minimum of 114 and maximum of 154), High averages 105 FPS, and Ultra averages 73 FPS. The frame time data for Medium shows a 40 FPS spread between minimum and maximum, suggesting some occasional dips, but the overall average remains high. The transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a 33% drop in frame rate across most presets, consistent with the increased pixel workload.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly under heavy load. Low averages 98 FPS, Medium averages 76 FPS (with a minimum of 65 and maximum of 88), High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 41 FPS. The Medium preset shows a 23 FPS variance between its minimum and maximum, indicating more pronounced frame pacing issues at 4K. The High preset's 60 FPS average is exactly at the standard refresh rate, but any dips below this would result in noticeable stuttering. The Ultra preset's 41 FPS average is below the playability threshold for a fast-paced shooter, making it a poor choice for 4K gaming.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in determining Evolve's performance, as evidenced by the significant frame rate drops with increasing resolution. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This substantial bandwidth is crucial for handling the high-resolution textures and geometry that Evolve presents, though the data shows that even this capacity is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at 4K with the Ultra preset.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed at a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2617 MHz, with memory running at 1875 MHz, effectively 30 Gbps. The RTX 5080's architecture is Blackwell 2.0, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, and 112 render output units, along with 84 ray tracing cores and 336 tensor cores. These specifications contribute to a peak FP32 performance of 56.28 TFLOPS, which is a significant computational resource. However, the benchmark results in Evolve show that this raw power does not translate into playable frame rates at 4K Ultra, indicating that the game's engine may not fully utilize the GPU's parallel processing capabilities or that the workload is more memory-bound than compute-bound.

The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 36565 places it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 56083. This is a high score, but its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon 8060S and RX 6750 GRE 12 GB, are within 0.7% of its performance. This suggests that while the RTX 5080 is a top-tier GPU, its performance lead over the competition is not overwhelming. The 16 GB VRAM capacity is ample for Evolve, as the game was released in 2015 and is unlikely to exceed this memory allocation at any resolution, meaning VRAM is not a limiting factor in the observed frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 4K with the High preset?

A: The measured data shows an average of 60 FPS at 3840x2160 with the High settings preset, which is a smooth experience for most players.

Q: Can this system handle 1080p gaming at a high refresh rate?

A: Yes, the data shows excellent 1080p performance, with the Low preset achieving 258 FPS, Medium at 200 FPS, High at 157 FPS, and Ultra at 109 FPS. All of these are well above 100 FPS, suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: What is the difference in performance between the Medium and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 134 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 73 FPS. This represents a significant 45.5% performance drop when moving from Medium to Ultra settings.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system hits 258 FPS, but this drops sharply to 98 FPS at 4K Low, a 62% reduction. This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck, as the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU at all resolutions.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 41 at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset. The lowest minimum FPS recorded for a specific preset is 65 at 3840x2160 with the Medium settings, which had a range of 65 to 88 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all other tested systems for Evolve?

A: The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 721st out of 2872 tested combos, placing it in the top 25% of all systems in the database for this game.