Evolve

# Evolve — Intel Core Ultra X9 388H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile delivers a 1080p experience that ranges from a firmly playable 80 FPS at Ultra to a high-refresh-friendly 190 FPS at Low, with 4K Ultra dropping to 31 FPS. This combo ranks 2003rd out of 3700 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database. The data shows a system that is clearly capable at mainstream resolutions but runs out of headroom when pushing maximum settings at 4K.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is a 16-core, 16-thread mobile processor built on the Panther Lake architecture at a 3 nm process node. Its base clock of 2.10 GHz boosts to 5.10 GHz, and it carries 18 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 3 MB of L2 per core. In Evolve, a game from 2015 that relies on a handful of heavily threaded tasks rather than scaling across many cores, the CPU’s single-thread performance is the more relevant factor for frame pacing.

Benchmark results for this CPU show a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2200.5 and a multi-core score of 18911. The single-core figure is what drives most of the game’s logic, physics, and AI updates at high frame rates. At 1080p Low, where the GPU is not the bottleneck, the measured 190 FPS average suggests the CPU can feed frames quickly enough to saturate the RTX 4070 Mobile in lighter scenes. The 16 threads provide ample parallel capacity for background tasks and any game engine threads that do spread across cores, but Evolve's age means it will not utilize all 16 cores effectively.

The CPU’s Passmark single-thread score of 4280 and multithread score of 36811 place it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs. Compared to its nearest rivals, this chip sits within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D, Intel Core i9-13950HX, AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, and Intel Core i5-13600 in average benchmark score. The deltaPct values range from -0.2% to 0.5%, meaning the X9 388H is statistically tied with those parts for overall compute. Since Evolve is not a CPU-heavy title by modern standards, the processor’s capability is more than sufficient at 1440p and 4K, where the GPU takes over as the limiting factor.

At 4K Ultra, the CPU is not the constraint — the 31 FPS average is clearly a GPU-bound result. At 1080p Low, the 190 FPS figure is likely near the upper boundary of what this CPU can sustain in Evolve, given that the game’s engine has fixed per-frame overhead. The L3 cache of 18 MB helps with data locality for the game’s assets, but Evolve’s modest memory footprint means this is not a decisive factor. Overall, the CPU role in this combo is to provide a stable baseline that does not bottleneck the GPU at any resolution up to 1440p, with 4K performance dictated entirely by the graphics card.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC, featuring 4608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. It operates with a base clock of 1395 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz, paired with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU’s FP32 throughput is 15.62 TFLOPS, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate with 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores.

For Evolve, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is more than adequate; the game’s textures and geometry from 2015 fit comfortably within that allocation even at 4K Ultra. The memory bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s is sufficient for the game’s data streaming needs, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. The GPU’s Passmark G3D score of 19587 places it in the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (deltaPct 0%), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (deltaPct -0.5%), NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell (deltaPct 1.1%), and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (deltaPct -1.5%). These deltas are all within 1.5%, meaning the RTX 4070 Mobile performs on par with those desktop-class parts in synthetic benchmarks, though its mobile power envelope of 115 W TDP likely affects sustained gaming performance differently.

The GPU’s role in Evolve is clearly the dominant factor at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU handles the rendering load with ease, producing 115 FPS at High and 147 FPS at Medium. At 1440p, those numbers drop to 77 FPS at High and 99 FPS at Medium, indicating the GPU is scaling with resolution as expected. At 4K, the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck: 44 FPS at High and 56 FPS at Medium show a significant performance cliff, while 4K Ultra at 31 FPS is barely playable. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s 256.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB VRAM are not the limiting factors here; rather, the raw shading and rasterization throughput of 15.62 TFLOPS is insufficient to maintain fluid frame rates at 4K Ultra in Evolve.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern across resolutions for this combo. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 115 at 1080p to 77 at 1440p — a 33% reduction — and then to 44 at 4K, which is a 62% reduction from 1440p. At Medium settings, the progression is 147 at 1080p, 99 at 1440p, and 56 at 4K, with the 4K figure being 62% lower than the 1440p result. At Low settings, the pattern is steeper: 190 at 1080p, 127 at 1440p, and 72 at 4K, representing a 43% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 43% drop from 1440p to 4K.

The scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p Low, the system is partially CPU-limited or engine-limited, because the 190 FPS average does not double when moving from Low to Medium or High — the GPU is already being fed as fast as the CPU allows. The 127 FPS at 1440p Low versus 99 FPS at 1440p Medium shows a 28% penalty for the higher settings, which is a GPU-driven effect. At 4K, the differences between settings become more pronounced: Low at 72 FPS, Medium at 56 FPS, High at 44 FPS, and Ultra at 31 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 57%, which is entirely attributable to GPU rendering load.

The limiting component shifts clearly with resolution. At 1080p, the GPU is not fully utilized at Low settings, as evidenced by the 190 FPS ceiling that does not scale further. At 1440p, the GPU becomes the primary limiter, with FPS dropping in proportion to the increased pixel count. At 4K, the GPU is decisively the bottleneck, with even Low settings yielding only 72 FPS. The CPU’s contribution is largely constant across resolutions, meaning that the 16-core processor is never the limiting factor at 4K — the RTX 4070 Mobile simply cannot render Evolve at that resolution with high fidelity at acceptable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Evolve at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 56 with a minimum of 48 and maximum of 65, which is playable. At 4K High, the average drops to 44 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 31 FPS, which is below the threshold for smooth gameplay. Low settings at 4K yield 72 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H has an average benchmark score of 44466, which is within 0.5% of the AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D (44573, deltaPct -0.2%), Intel Core i9-13950HX (44342, deltaPct 0.3%), AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 (44309, deltaPct 0.4%), and Intel Core i5-13600 (44240, deltaPct 0.5%). These differences are negligible for gaming.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60+ FPS?

A: At 1440p, the combo achieves 77 FPS at High and 99 FPS at Medium, both above 60 FPS. At 4K, only Low settings (72 FPS) and Medium settings (56 FPS, with minimum 48) approach or exceed 60 FPS. For a consistent 60+ FPS experience, 1440p High is the safest choice.

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for Evolve?

A: The measured data indicates no VRAM-related performance issues, as the game’s 2015-era assets fit within 8 GB even at 4K Ultra. The FPS drops at 4K are attributable to GPU compute throughput, not memory capacity.

Q: How does the GPU rank against desktop rivals?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile’s average benchmark score is 27435, which is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (27425, deltaPct 0%) and within 1.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27565, deltaPct -0.5%), NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell (27135, deltaPct 1.1%), and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (27839, deltaPct -1.5%). This indicates desktop-class performance in synthetic tests.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, Medium settings achieve 99 FPS average (minimum 84, maximum 113), while High settings achieve 77 FPS average. The difference of 22 FPS represents a 22% performance cost for the higher preset.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 2003rd out of 3700 tested combinations in Evolve, placing it in the 54th percentile of all tested systems. This middling rank reflects the fact that Evolve is an older title that many high-end desktop combos can run at much higher frame rates, particularly at 1080p. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s 73rd percentile GPU ranking is offset by the CPU’s 88th percentile ranking, but the combined system does not reach the top tier because the mobile GPU’s thermal and power constraints limit sustained performance compared to desktop equivalents.

The rank of 2003 out of 3700 suggests that roughly 46% of tested combos perform worse than this setup in Evolve. This is a reasonable position for a mobile platform, given that many of the 3700 tested combos include desktop CPUs and GPUs with higher power envelopes. The data indicates that this combo outperforms the majority of tested systems, but it is not in the top tier where 4K Ultra at 60+ FPS becomes possible. The combo’s rank is consistent with its measured performance: it handles 1080p and 1440p well, but 4K Ultra is beyond its reach.

Settings Recommendations

For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 115 FPS average is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it delivers over double the 60 FPS threshold while maintaining higher fidelity than Medium. The Ultra preset at 80 FPS is also viable for users who prioritize image quality, as it remains above 60 FPS. At 1440p, the High preset at 77 FPS average is the recommended choice, offering smooth gameplay with solid visuals; Medium at 99 FPS is preferable for users with 100Hz+ displays, while Ultra at 54 FPS is borderline and not recommended for competitive play.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 56 FPS average (minimum 48, maximum 65) is the only setting that approaches playability, though the minimum FPS of 48 may cause noticeable stutter in intense scenes. Low at 72 FPS is the better recommendation for consistent 4K gameplay, albeit with reduced visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 31 FPS is not recommended under any circumstances, as it falls well below the 60 FPS target and even below 30 FPS minimum thresholds in some scenes. For the best overall experience, 1440p High provides the strongest combination of frame rate and visual quality, with the option to drop to 1440p Medium for higher refresh rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo achieves its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 190 FPS. Medium settings average 147 FPS, with a minimum of 125 and maximum of 169. High settings average 115 FPS. Ultra settings average 80 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58% performance reduction, with each step up in settings costing roughly 20-30 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. Low settings average 127 FPS. Medium settings average 99 FPS, with a minimum of 84 and maximum of 113. High settings average 77 FPS. Ultra settings average 54 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 73 FPS, which is a 57% reduction, nearly identical to the 1080p scaling.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. Low settings average 72 FPS. Medium settings average 56 FPS, with a minimum of 48 and maximum of 65. High settings average 44 FPS. Ultra settings average 31 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 4K is 41 FPS, representing a 57% reduction from the Low setting. The minimum FPS data is only available for Medium settings at each resolution, with values of 125 at 1080p, 84 at 1440p, and 48 at 4K, indicating that frame pacing is most consistent at 1080p and degrades as resolution increases.