Evolve

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile combination occupies the 2,260th position out of 3,700 tested combos in Evolve. This places the pairing in the lower half of the database, meaning roughly 61% of all tested configurations deliver higher average frame rates in this title. The rank reflects a mid-pack standing that aligns with the individual component percentiles, where the CPU sits at the 88th percentile and the GPU at the 67th percentile. The discrepancy between the CPU's high percentile and the combo's overall rank suggests that Evolve's performance ceiling is heavily dictated by the graphics subsystem rather than processor throughput.

How This Combo Ranks

The 2,260th rank out of 3,700 combos indicates that this platform is positioned for 1080p and 1440p gaming rather than 4K dominance. Benchmark results show the system achieves playable frame rates at lower resolutions but struggles to maintain fluid motion at 4K Ultra settings. The data reveals a clear performance hierarchy across resolutions, with the combo delivering 169 FPS at 1080p Low but dropping to 27 FPS at 4K Ultra. This wide spread of 142 FPS between the easiest and hardest test conditions underscores how resolution and settings scale impact the experience.

When examining the CPU's nearest rivals, the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H posts an average benchmark score of 44,466. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D leads slightly with 44,573, a marginal 0.2% advantage, while the Intel Core i9-13950HX trails by 0.3% with 44,342. These differences are negligible in real-world gaming scenarios, suggesting the CPU is not the limiting factor in Evolve. The GPU side tells a similar story, with the RTX 4060 Mobile scoring 22,729 on average. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 is 0.7% faster at 22,895, while the Intel Arc B580 sits 1.3% ahead at 23,021. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and RTX 5060 Mobile fall 0.8% and 1.3% behind respectively.

The combination's rank suggests that while the individual components are competitive within their respective tiers, the pairing does not punch above its weight class in Evolve. The game appears to favor higher-end GPUs disproportionately, as evidenced by the 67th percentile GPU ranking translating to a 61st percentile combo ranking. This indicates that Evolve's engine responds more strongly to graphics horsepower than to CPU capabilities, a common trait in FPS titles from this era.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's base clock runs at 1545 MHz with a boost clock of 1890 MHz, while memory operates at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective speed. These specifications position the card as a capable 1080p performer, and the measured FPS data confirms this assessment. At 1080p, the card delivers 103 FPS on High settings and 131 FPS on Medium, with the 8 GB frame buffer proving sufficient for these workloads.

The 4K results reveal the GPU's limitations. At 3840x2160, the card manages only 39 FPS on High and 27 FPS on Ultra, indicating that the 8 GB VRAM and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth become bottlenecks at this resolution. The 90.72 GPixel/s pixel rate and 181.4 GTexel/s texture rate are simply insufficient for 4K Ultra workloads in Evolve. The GPU's 11.61 TFLOPS of FP32 performance translates to playable frame rates at 1440p, where it achieves 69 FPS on High and 48 FPS on Ultra.

The GPU's benchmark scores paint a picture of a mid-range mobile solution. Its PassMark G3D score of 17,469 places it in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, with the nearest rivals being desktop cards like the RTX 2080 and the Intel Arc B580. The 24 ray tracing cores and 96 tensor cores are present but do not significantly impact Evolve's performance, as the game predates widespread RT adoption. The 3072 shading units and 48 ROPs handle the game's rasterization demands adequately at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Evolve at 4K?

A: Yes, but with compromises. At 3840x2160, the combo achieves 65 FPS on Low settings and 50 FPS on Medium, with the Medium preset showing a minimum of 43 FPS and maximum of 58 FPS. High settings drop to 39 FPS, while Ultra falls to 27 FPS, making 4K Ultra impractical for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Evolve?

A: The data shows 2560x1440 as the sweet spot. At this resolution, the combo delivers 69 FPS on High, 88 FPS on Medium (with a minimum of 75 FPS), and 114 FPS on Low. The 1440p Medium setting provides a balanced experience with frame rates well above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 Mobile compare to its nearest rival, the RTX 2080?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile scores 22,729 on average, while the RTX 2080 scores 22,895, representing a 0.7% difference. This places the two cards within statistical parity, though the RTX 4060 Mobile uses significantly less power at 115 W compared to the desktop RTX 2080's requirements.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU in Evolve?

A: Benchmark data indicates the CPU is not the limiting factor. The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H scores 44,466 on average, ranking in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, is only 0.2% faster, suggesting the CPU has ample headroom for the GPU's output at most settings.

Q: What frame rates can I expect at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo achieves 103 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings. This represents a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS standard, making 1080p High an excellent choice for competitive and immersive play alike.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Evolve?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the 8 GB frame buffer is adequate, as evidenced by the strong frame rates at these resolutions. However, at 4K Ultra, the VRAM capacity and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth contribute to the 27 FPS result, indicating the card's memory subsystem is a limiting factor at the highest settings.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Evolve experience. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 71 FPS, while High achieves 103 FPS and Medium reaches 131 FPS. The 60 FPS jump from Ultra to High (32 FPS improvement) makes High the recommended setting for 1080p, as it balances visual fidelity with performance headroom. For players prioritizing maximum smoothness, the Low preset at 169 FPS offers nearly 2.5 times the frame rate of Ultra.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 69 FPS, which is playable but close to the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset provides 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS, making it the safer choice for maintaining consistent frame times. The Low preset at 114 FPS is ideal for competitive play, while Ultra at 48 FPS falls below the smoothness threshold and should be avoided.

At 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the only viable option for a playable experience, delivering 50 FPS with a minimum of 43 FPS. The Low preset at 65 FPS is smoother but sacrifices significant visual quality. High at 39 FPS and Ultra at 27 FPS are not recommended for regular play. The data suggests that 4K gaming with this combo requires accepting either Low settings for playability or Medium settings with occasional frame drops below 45 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The FPS measurements reveal a consistent pattern across all resolutions, with performance scaling predictably with settings. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 169 FPS on Low, 131 FPS on Medium (minimum 112, maximum 151), 103 FPS on High, and 71 FPS on Ultra. The 98 FPS spread between Low and Ultra demonstrates the significant impact of settings on this GPU, with each tier representing roughly a 25-30% performance reduction.

The 2560x1440 results show 114 FPS on Low, 88 FPS on Medium (minimum 75, maximum 101), 69 FPS on High, and 48 FPS on Ultra. The transition from 1080p to 1440p reduces performance by approximately 30% across all settings, which aligns with the pixel count increase of 78%. The Medium preset's minimum of 75 FPS indicates that the combo can maintain smooth gameplay at 1440p even under demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the measurements drop to 65 FPS on Low, 50 FPS on Medium (minimum 43, maximum 58), 39 FPS on High, and 27 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset shows the tightest frame time consistency, with only a 15 FPS difference between minimum and maximum. This suggests that 4K Medium is the most stable configuration at this resolution, even though the average FPS falls below the 60 FPS target.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H features 16 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The processor's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide ample data for game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's 25 W TDP is remarkably low for a 16-core design, reflecting the efficiency of the 3 nm Panther Lake architecture. This power efficiency allows the processor to maintain high boost clocks without thermal throttling, which benefits sustained gaming sessions.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate strong multi-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 18,911 and single-core score of 2,200.5 place it in the 88th percentile of all CPUs. The PassMark multithread score of 36,811 and single-thread score of 4,280 confirm that the processor excels in both parallel and sequential workloads. In Evolve, which is primarily GPU-bound at higher resolutions, the CPU's capabilities are more than sufficient to feed the RTX 4060 Mobile.

The nearest rival comparisons show the CPU's competitive positioning. With an average benchmark score of 44,466, the Ultra X9 388H sits within 0.5% of its closest competitors, all of which are desktop or high-end mobile parts. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D leads with 44,573, while the Intel Core i5-13600 trails at 44,240. These sub-1% differences mean that in real-world Evolve gameplay, the CPU choice between these processors would yield negligible FPS variations. The 18 MB L3 cache and dual-channel LPDDR5X memory support with 153.6 GB/s bandwidth provide sufficient memory throughput for the game's data streaming requirements.