Allods Online

Allods Online, a 2010 MMORPG, presents an interesting study in hardware scaling when paired with an Intel Core i5-14400F and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a title that is surprisingly demanding at its higher presets, yet capable of extreme performance at lower ones. This analysis breaks down the measured data to show where this combination excels, where it struggles, and what the numbers say about the roles of the CPU and GPU in this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces 257 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 on Low drops that to 220 FPS, a 14.4% reduction. At 3840x2160 on Low, the average falls to 164 FPS, which is another 25.5% drop from the 1440p result. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is still the primary limiter, as the frame rate decreases consistently with each resolution increase.

The scaling is more dramatic at higher settings. At Medium settings, the 1080p average is 235 FPS. At 1440p, it drops to 202 FPS (a 14.0% decrease), and at 4K, it falls to 129 FPS (a 36.1% drop from 1440p). This steeper decline at 4K Medium suggests that the game becomes heavily GPU-bound as pixel count and shading complexity increase together. The RTX 4090’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth are clearly being utilized, but the engine’s demands still scale significantly.

The most telling data comes from the High and Ultra presets. At High settings, the frame rate goes from 196 FPS at 1080p to 155 FPS at 1440p (a 20.9% drop) and then to 81 FPS at 4K (a 47.7% drop from 1440p). This halving of performance from 1440p to 4K at High settings indicates a massive increase in GPU workload. The Ultra preset shows the most extreme scaling: 155 FPS at 1080p, 98 FPS at 1440p (a 36.8% drop), and 51 FPS at 4K (a 48.0% drop from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 51 FPS is the lowest measured, showing that this setting is exceptionally demanding for the RTX 4090 in this game.

The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU still has a significant role to play, as the frame rates are high enough to potentially expose CPU bottlenecks in certain scenes. However, the consistent scaling across all resolutions points to a GPU that is always working near its limit. The RTX 4090, with its 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and boost clock of 2520 MHz, is a powerful card, but Allods Online at 4K Ultra can still bring it to its knees. The game’s engine appears to have a non-linear scaling curve with settings, where the jump from Medium to High to Ultra has compounding effects on the GPU load.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution. For 4K gaming, the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The 129 FPS average at 3840x2160 Medium is smooth, with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS. This provides a playable experience without the severe performance hit of the High preset, which drops to 81 FPS, or the Ultra preset, which falls to 51 FPS. The Low preset at 4K yields 164 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely not worth the extra frames when Medium provides a much better experience.

At 2560x1440, the High preset appears to be the sweet spot. The 155 FPS average is excellent for a high refresh rate monitor, and it is a substantial upgrade over the Medium preset’s 202 FPS in terms of visual fidelity. The Ultra preset at 1440p still delivers a playable 98 FPS, making it a viable option for those who prioritize maximum image quality over frame rate. The Low preset at 220 FPS is only for competitive play where every frame matters, but the visual downgrade is substantial.

For 1920x1080, the High preset is the clear recommendation. The 196 FPS average is more than enough for any monitor, and it offers a significant visual improvement over Medium. The Ultra preset at 155 FPS is also fully playable and is a good choice for users with high-refresh-rate 1080p displays who want the best possible image quality. The Low preset at 257 FPS is the maximum performance option, but it is unnecessary for most players given the high frame rates already achievable at higher settings. The Medium preset at 235 FPS is a balanced option, but High provides a better experience for a modest performance cost.

The data indicates that the High preset is generally the best overall experience across all resolutions, offering a strong mix of visuals and performance. The Medium preset is the fallback for 4K, where High’s 81 FPS average might be too low for some. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p and 1440p users with high refresh rate monitors who are willing to accept lower frame rates for maximum detail. The Low preset is reserved for scenarios where frame rate is the absolute priority.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 plays a dominant role in these results, as its performance characteristics are the primary driver of the frame rates. The card’s 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is a key asset, especially at 4K resolution where large texture sets and high-detail geometry can quickly fill a smaller frame buffer. The measured data shows that the game is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, with the 4K Ultra preset producing only 51 FPS, which indicates a massive workload that stresses the card’s compute and memory subsystems.

The GPU’s clock speeds are also relevant. The base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz allow the card to process the game’s rendering tasks quickly. The memory clock of 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective, combined with the 384-bit bus width, yields a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. This bandwidth is crucial for feeding the 16384 shading units and 512 TMUs with data, particularly at high resolutions. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s are indicative of the card’s raw fill rate capabilities, which are tested by the game’s higher presets.

The RTX 4090’s benchmark scores further contextualize its performance. Its Passmark G3D score of 38194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 place it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. This high percentile is reflected in the game’s 1080p Low result of 257 FPS, which shows the card’s ability to brute-force through less demanding scenes. However, the game’s Ultra preset at 4K shows that even a top-tier GPU can be challenged by an older MMORPG’s engine, which may not be optimized for modern hardware architectures.

The GPU’s average benchmark score of 60347 and its percentile ranking of 88 confirm that it is one of the most powerful cards available. Yet, the game’s measured results, particularly the 51 FPS at 4K Ultra, show that raw compute power is not always enough to overcome an engine’s inefficiencies. The nearest rival data for the GPU shows it is closely matched with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (deltaPct 0) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (deltaPct 0.3), but these comparisons are based on synthetic benchmarks, not real-world game performance. In Allods Online, the RTX 4090’s actual frame rates are what matter, and they reveal a card that is powerful but not invincible.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are consistently high across all settings. The Low preset yields an average of 257 FPS, which is the highest measured in the entire dataset. The Medium preset produces 235 FPS, with a minimum of 200 FPS and a maximum of 270 FPS. The High preset drops to 196 FPS, and the Ultra preset further declines to 155 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each settings tier reduces performance by a significant margin.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down as expected. The Low preset averages 220 FPS, which is still very high. The Medium preset averages 202 FPS, with a minimum of 171 FPS and a maximum of 232 FPS. The High preset averages 155 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 98 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra is 36.8%, which is more severe than the 20.9% drop from Medium to High. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are particularly demanding on the GPU.

At 3840x2160, the performance becomes more variable. The Low preset averages 164 FPS, which is still playable. The Medium preset averages 129 FPS, with a minimum of 109 FPS and a maximum of 148 FPS. The High preset averages 81 FPS, which is a significant drop from the 155 FPS at 1440p. The Ultra preset averages 51 FPS, which is the lowest result in the entire set. The 4K High and Ultra results show that the game’s visual fidelity comes at a steep cost at this resolution. The data shows that the RTX 4090 is capable of high frame rates at 4K, but only at lower settings. The gap between 1080p and 4K is most pronounced at the Ultra preset, where the frame rate drops by 67.1%, from 155 FPS to 51 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 264th out of 3670 tested combos in Allods Online. This places it in the top 7.2% of all systems tested, which is a strong showing. The high rank is primarily due to the RTX 4090’s raw power, as the CPU is a mid-range part. The combo’s ranking indicates that it outperforms the vast majority of other hardware pairings in this game, but it is not the absolute best.

The CPU’s own ranking provides context. The Core i5-14400F is in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32279. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (avgScore 32233, deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i9-11900 (avgScore 32226, deltaPct 0.2). These scores are very close, showing that the i5-14400F is competitive with other mid-range and older high-end processors. In Allods Online, the CPU’s performance is sufficient to keep up with the RTX 4090 at most settings, but the game’s heavy GPU load means that the GPU is often the limiting factor.

The GPU’s ranking is even higher. The RTX 4090 is in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (avgScore 60326, deltaPct 0) and the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (avgScore 61896, deltaPct -2.5). These are professional-grade cards, which shows that the RTX 4090 is in the upper echelon of consumer GPUs. The combo’s 264th rank out of 3670 confirms the GPU’s dominance, as the CPU is not a top-tier part. The data suggests that if a more powerful CPU were paired with the RTX 4090, the combo’s rank could potentially be higher, but the current pairing is still very capable.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. This 14th Gen Core processor, based on the Raptor Lake architecture, provides a solid foundation for gaming. Its 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache help reduce memory latency, which is important for games that rely on frequent data access. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21645 and single-core score of 3055 indicate that it has strong multi-threaded and single-threaded performance.

In Allods Online, the CPU’s role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 257 FPS is high enough that the CPU could become a bottleneck in certain scenes, especially in crowded MMORPG areas with many players. However, the measured data shows that the CPU is generally able to keep up with the RTX 4090, as the frame rates scale consistently with resolution. The CPU’s Passmark multithread score of 25470 and single-thread score of 3701 further support its capability. The Passmark physics score of 1523 is also relevant, as physics calculations can be CPU-intensive.

The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U (deltaPct 0.1) and the Intel Core i9-11900 (deltaPct 0.2), have nearly identical average benchmark scores. This indicates that the i5-14400F’s performance is in line with other mid-range processors. The CPU’s 10 nm process node and 65 W TDP make it an efficient part, but its performance is not exceptional. In this game, the CPU is not the primary limiter at higher settings, as the GPU’s workload dominates. The data shows that the Core i5-14400F is a capable partner for the RTX 4090, providing enough processing power to avoid major bottlenecks while allowing the GPU to be the main driver of frame rates.