Archeage

Opening Paragraph

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, remains a demanding title for modern hardware due to its large-scale battles and dense environments. This analysis examines the measured performance of a system pairing the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor with the Intel Arc B390 integrated GPU. The data indicates a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics solution, resulting in playable frame rates only at lower resolutions and settings. The combo ranks in the 2453rd position out of 2761 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all systems evaluated, which underscores its limitations for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data for this combo reveals a stark and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 71 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops performance to 48 FPS, a reduction of 23 FPS or roughly 32%. At 4K, the average falls further to 28 FPS, which is a 43 FPS drop from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline of over 60% from 1080p to 4K at Low settings indicates that the rendering pipeline is saturated, and the GPU is the primary limiting factor.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced at higher graphical presets. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 43 FPS at 1080p to 29 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to a barely playable 17 FPS at 4K. The difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings is a 26 FPS drop, which is a 60% reduction. This behavior is characteristic of a system where the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are overwhelmed by the increasing pixel count, with the CPU's role becoming less significant as the resolution climbs. The data shows that the gap between Low and High settings narrows at 4K, with only an 11 FPS difference, suggesting the GPU is hitting its absolute ceiling regardless of the quality preset.

The most telling observation is the performance cliff between 1440p and 4K. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 43 at 1440p to 25 at 4K, a 42% decrease. This non-linear drop indicates that the Arc B390's shared memory architecture and limited processing power are unable to handle the 4K pixel workload, regardless of the scene complexity. This system is not designed for 4K gaming; the data suggests that even the most optimized settings will yield an average below 30 FPS at that resolution, making the experience uncomfortable for most players.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and the Intel Arc B390 ranks 2453rd out of 2761 tested combinations in Archeage. This places it in the bottom 11.2% of all systems, a position that reflects the severe bottleneck created by the integrated GPU. This rank is not a commentary on the CPU's capability but rather a direct consequence of the graphics solution's limitations. The data shows that pairing a mid-range 2018 processor with an entry-level 2026 integrated GPU produces a result that is far below the median performance for this game.

Benchmark results indicate that this combo is significantly outclassed by the vast majority of tested systems. The GPU's percentile rank of 9 means it performs better than only 9% of all GPUs in the database, making it one of the weakest graphics solutions tested. This is further emphasized by its nearest rivals, which include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 and GT 625 OEM. The Arc B390's average benchmark score of 1482 is a mere 2.7% higher than the GT 710's score of 1443, showing that its performance class is comparable to decade-old entry-level discrete GPUs.

The combo's rank is also a reflection of the CPU's position. While the Ryzen 5 2600 has a respectable percentile rank of 75 among all CPUs, its performance in this pairing is effectively nullified. The system is not balanced, and the CPU's potential is wasted because the GPU cannot feed it with enough frames to keep it busy. This results in a combo that ranks poorly despite having a competent processor, as the overall system performance is capped by the weakest link. For Archeage, this rank suggests that users should expect a low-fidelity, low-resolution experience if they want playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the dominant performance limiter in this configuration. Its architecture is Xe3-LPG, built on a 3 nm process, and it features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The GPU operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and can boost up to 2500 MHz. However, the critical specification is its memory: it uses "System Shared" memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM and relies on the system's main memory for all graphics data. This architecture is fundamentally different from a discrete GPU and explains the performance ceiling observed in the data.

The GPU's raw compute capabilities are modest, with an FP32 throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s. These figures are on par with very low-end discrete graphics cards. The data shows that in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Arc B390 scores 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, GT 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710, all of which are several generations old and were considered entry-level even at their launch. This confirms that the Arc B390 is not a gaming-focused product.

The lack of dedicated VRAM is the most significant factor in the game's performance. At 1080p Medium settings, the system can maintain an average of 64 FPS, but this comes with a minimum FPS of 54. The "System Shared" memory means that the GPU and CPU are competing for the same memory bandwidth, which can cause stuttering and frame drops in CPU-intensive scenarios common in MMORPGs. The data shows that as resolution increases, the performance degrades rapidly, which is a clear sign of memory bandwidth saturation. The GPU's 12 ray tracing cores and 12 Ultimate DirectX support are irrelevant here, as the fundamental bottleneck is memory throughput and raw shading power.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this combo is achieved at 1080p with Low settings, which yields an average of 71 FPS. This is the only configuration that consistently provides a frame rate above the 60 FPS threshold, which is often considered the minimum for a responsive experience in an MMORPG. While the 1080p Medium preset is also playable with an average of 64 FPS, the minimum FPS of 54 suggests that there may be noticeable dips in busy areas, making the Low preset the safer choice for maintaining smoothness.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over raw frame rate, the 1440p Low preset is a viable alternative, offering an average of 48 FPS. This is a playable frame rate for a game like Archeage, which is not a fast-paced shooter. However, the 1440p Medium preset, with an average of 43 FPS and a minimum of 36 FPS, is at the edge of playability and may feel sluggish during large-scale PvP battles. The data suggests that the High and Ultra presets are not recommended at any resolution, as they consistently produce average frame rates below 43 FPS at 1080p and drop to unplayable levels at 1440p and 4K.

The worst experience by the numbers is at 4K, where even the Low preset only manages an average of 28 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K is a slideshow at 11 FPS. The data clearly shows that this system should not be used for 4K gaming. In summary, the best measured experience is 1080p Low, which provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. The 1080p Medium preset is acceptable for users who can tolerate occasional dips, but the 1440p Low preset is the highest resolution that can be considered for a stable experience.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of this system's performance in Archeage. At 1920x1080, the resolution is the most playable. The Low preset achieves an average of 71 FPS, which is the highest score recorded for this combo. The Medium preset follows with an average of 64 FPS, with a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 73 FPS. High settings drop to an average of 43 FPS, while the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding, yielding only 29 FPS. This shows a clear 42 FPS difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops across all presets. The Low preset is still the best option with an average of 48 FPS. Medium settings produce an average of 43 FPS, with a minimum of 36 and a maximum of 49 FPS. High settings reduce the average to 29 FPS, and the Ultra preset is nearly unplayable at 20 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 28 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint rather than the settings.

At 3840x2160, the system is not capable of delivering a smooth experience in any configuration. The Low preset is the only one that approaches playability, with an average of 28 FPS. Medium settings drop to an average of 25 FPS, with a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 28 FPS. High settings are worse, with an average of 17 FPS, and the Ultra preset is a non-playable 11 FPS. The data shows a consistent pattern: the system is only viable at 1080p, and even then, only with lower settings.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen+ architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 1248 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 157.3 in single-core. Its Geekbench scores are 5648 multi-core and 1154 single-core. With a Passmark multithread score of 13160 and a single-thread score of 2239, the CPU is a capable mid-range part that sits in the 75th percentile of all CPUs. However, in this specific game pairing, its performance is largely irrelevant due to the GPU bottleneck.

The CPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark score are the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (0.2% faster) and the Intel Core i9-11900H (0.5% faster), as well as the Intel Xeon D-1746TER and AMD EPYC 9454. This shows that the Ryzen 5 2600's raw processing power is still competitive with modern parts in general compute tasks. The 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 12 threads are more than sufficient for an MMORPG like Archeage, which is typically not heavily multi-threaded.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 71 FPS, which is a reasonable frame rate for a game from 2014. However, the GPU's inability to scale beyond this point is what caps the system's performance. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and it is doing so without being a bottleneck. If the GPU were more powerful, the Ryzen 5 2600 could likely push higher frame rates, but this pairing does not allow for that. The conclusion is that the CPU is a solid component that is waiting on a much more powerful graphics solution to unlock its full potential in gaming.