Evolve

Evolve, a 2015 FPS built on the CryEngine, presents an interesting stress pattern for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination. The measured data reveals a system where the GPU is the primary scaling factor, but the CPU’s substantial headroom prevents it from ever becoming a bottleneck, even at high frame rates. The benchmark results show a clear hierarchy of performance across resolutions and settings, with the RTX 4080’s capabilities dominating the experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent, clearly indicating that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the limiting component at higher resolutions. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 204 FPS at 1920x1080 to 137 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 67 FPS. Scaling further to 3840x2160 yields an average of 78 FPS, which is a 126 FPS drop from the 1080p figure. This pattern is repeated across all settings, with the most dramatic scaling seen at Low settings, where performance drops from 335 FPS at 1080p to 225 FPS at 1440p and finally to 128 FPS at 4K.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the system is operating in a zone where the CPU’s performance is still relevant, as the RTX 4080 can produce extremely high frame rates. However, the massive drop to 4K shows the GPU’s rendering workload becoming the dominant factor. The percentage decline from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is roughly 62%, while at High settings it is approximately 62% as well. This consistency across presets points to a purely resolution-driven bottleneck, rather than one influenced by specific graphical features. The 4K Ultra result of 54 FPS further confirms this, showing that the combination of high resolution and maximum settings can push the RTX 4080 to its limits, though the 4K Medium result of 99 FPS indicates that the card has ample reserves for most playable configurations.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience balances visual fidelity with high refresh rate capability. At 1920x1080, all settings are playable, but the Medium preset’s average of 260 FPS with a minimum of 221 FPS and maximum of 299 FPS offers a superb experience for competitive play, providing a significant margin over the High preset’s 204 FPS while still looking better than Low. The High preset at 1080p, with 204 FPS average, is also excellent, but Medium provides a more substantial frame rate cushion.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 137 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset, with an average of 174 FPS and a minimum of 148 FPS, is even more fluid and is the recommended choice for maximizing smoothness without sacrificing too much visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1440p, at 95 FPS average, is still very smooth and is the best choice for those prioritizing image quality.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes. The High preset’s 78 FPS average is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Medium preset, with an average of 99 FPS and a minimum of 84 FPS, is the sweet spot for 4K gaming, offering a smooth and responsive experience that is superior to High in terms of frame pacing. The Low preset at 4K, at 128 FPS, is the only way to achieve a high refresh rate experience at this resolution, but the visual compromise is significant. For this combo, Medium at 4K is the recommended setting for a balanced experience, while High at 1440p is the best compromise for high refresh rate and visual quality.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, with its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, provides a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This memory configuration is a critical factor in the game’s performance, particularly at 4K where the data demands are highest. The benchmark results show that the GPU’s 48.74 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 761.5 GTexel/s texture rate are more than sufficient for Evolve, as the card scales predictably with resolution. The boost clock of 2505 MHz is a key contributor to the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p.

The GPU’s role is most apparent in the 4K Ultra result. At 54 FPS average, it is the only configuration that drops below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the combination of maximum settings and 4K resolution is the most demanding scenario for the card. However, the fact that 4K Medium achieves 99 FPS shows that the RTX 4080 is not overwhelmed by the game’s engine but rather by the sheer pixel count and the most intensive graphical effects. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and a Passmark G3D score of 34457 place the GPU in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, confirming its high-end positioning. The data indicates that the GPU is the primary driver of performance differences between settings and resolutions, with the 16 GB VRAM likely preventing any capacity-related stutters, as the game does not appear to hit a memory limit that would cause a performance cliff.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo’s capabilities. At 1920x1080, the performance is exceptionally high across the board. Low settings produce an average of 335 FPS, Medium produces 260 FPS (minimum 221, maximum 299), High produces 204 FPS, and Ultra produces 141 FPS. This shows that the CPU and GPU combination can easily handle the game at full HD, with even the Ultra preset maintaining a frame rate well above 120 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains strong. Low settings average 225 FPS, Medium averages 174 FPS (minimum 148, maximum 200), High averages 137 FPS, and Ultra averages 95 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a uniform reduction in performance, with the gap between settings presets remaining consistent. The minimum FPS values for Medium at 1440p (148 FPS) are higher than the average for High at 4K (78 FPS), highlighting the significant performance cost of 4K.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to feel the pressure. Low settings average 128 FPS, Medium averages 99 FPS (minimum 84, maximum 114), High averages 78 FPS, and Ultra averages 54 FPS. The drop from Medium to High at 4K is 21 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 24 FPS, showing that each successive preset tier has a significant cost. The 4K Medium result is the most balanced, offering a playable and smooth experience, while the 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS mark, making it the least suitable for competitive play.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 222nd out of 3700 tested combos in Evolve. This placement in the top 6% of all configurations underscores the high level of performance this pairing delivers. The CPU itself is in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70879, while the GPU is in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 54247. The combination of two high-percentile components results in a system that is well above average for this game.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K’s average score of 70879 is 1% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700KF’s 70163, and 1.3% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F’s 69996. It is also 0.2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6511P’s 71051 and 0.7% higher than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270’s 71370. For the GPU, the RTX 4080’s score of 54247 is 0.1% higher than the RTX 4080 SUPER’s 54209, but 1.1% lower than the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X’s 54828. This shows that while the CPU is a top-tier performer relative to its peers, the GPU is closely matched with its direct successor, making the overall combo rank a result of both components working well together rather than one being a standout outlier.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K’s role in Evolve is to provide a stable platform that does not bottleneck the GPU. With 20 cores and 20 threads, a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, and 30 MB of L3 cache, the CPU has ample resources. The benchmark scores reflect this, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35850 and a single-core score of 2020, indicating strong multi-threaded and single-threaded capabilities. The Passmark multi-thread score of 58594 and single-thread score of 4928 further confirm its robust performance profile.

In this game, the CPU’s influence is most apparent at 1080p with Low settings, where the frame rate reaches 335 FPS. At such high frame rates, the CPU’s ability to process game logic and draw calls becomes more critical. The fact that the frame rate scales linearly with resolution suggests that the CPU is not a limiting factor, even at these high speeds. The 20 threads and high boost clock ensure that the game has enough processing power to feed the RTX 4080. The data shows that the CPU’s performance ceiling is well above what Evolve demands, as there is no scenario in the measured data where the frame rate is inconsistent or capped by the processor. The CPU’s 125 W TDP and 3 nm process node also indicate a modern, efficient design that can sustain its high clocks without thermal throttling, further solidifying its role as a capable foundation for this gaming combo.