Archeage

# Archeage with AMD Ryzen 5 3600 + Intel Arc B370

The Intel Arc B370 paired with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 produces a unusual performance profile in Archeage, one that swings dramatically depending on resolution and quality preset. The data shows a system that can deliver a playable 65 FPS at 1080p Low but collapses to just 10 FPS at 4K Ultra, a 6.5x drop that reveals a deeply constrained graphics solution. This combo ranks 2546th out of 2761 tested combinations in Archeage, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems measured, yet the benchmark numbers tell a more nuanced story about where the bottleneck truly lies.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K in Archeage is steep and revealing. At 1080p Low, the system produces 65 FPS, but moving to 1440p Low drops that to 43 FPS, a 34% reduction. Pushing further to 4K Low yields 25 FPS, which is 62% below the 1080p figure. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the frame rate drops almost linearly with the pixel count increase.

The Medium preset tells a similar story. At 1080p Medium, the average is 57 FPS, falling to 39 FPS at 1440p Medium (a 32% drop), and then to 22 FPS at 4K Medium (a 61% drop from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings levels suggests the rendering workload is scaling predictably with resolution, which points to a fixed hardware limit rather than a driver or software quirk.

High settings amplify the issue. The 1080p High average of 39 FPS drops to 26 FPS at 1440p High, then to 15 FPS at 4K High. That is a 62% reduction from 1080p to 4K, almost identical to the Low preset's drop. The fact that the percentage loss remains constant regardless of quality level implies the system is not becoming CPU-bound at lower resolutions — if it were, the 1080p to 1440p gap would be smaller than the 1440p to 4K gap, as the CPU would start to bottleneck at higher frame rates.

Ultra settings expose the most extreme scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 27 FPS, which drops to 18 FPS at 1440p Ultra (a 33% reduction), and then to just 10 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 63% reduction from 1080p). This pattern mirrors the other presets almost exactly, reinforcing that the GPU's pixel throughput is the dominant constraint. The Arc B370's memory being "System Shared" with bandwidth that is "System Dependent" likely exacerbates this, as higher resolutions demand more memory bandwidth that the shared system memory may not provide efficiently.

What the data implies is that this combo has a hard ceiling around 65 FPS even at the lowest settings, and that ceiling drops by roughly one-third at each resolution step. The GPU's 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1184, places it in territory occupied by decade-old discrete cards like the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (which scores 1190, a 0.5% difference). This is not a GPU designed for high-resolution gaming, and Archeage's scaling behavior confirms that.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve in Archeage?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 65, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 57 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 43 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary bottleneck. The FPS drops by roughly one-third when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another one-third from 1440p to 4K, across all settings presets. If the CPU were limiting, the lower-resolution frame rates would plateau rather than continue scaling with pixel count.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B370 scores 1184 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its closest rival is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 at 1186 (0.2% faster), followed by the ATI Radeon HD 5770 at 1190 (0.5% faster), the AMD Radeon HD 7650M at 1192 (0.7% faster), and the AMD FirePro M2000 at 1168 (1.4% slower). These are all legacy parts from over a decade ago.

Q: Can this combo run Archeage at 4K?

A: Technically yes, but the results are poor. At 4K Low it averages 25 FPS, at 4K Medium 22 FPS, at 4K High 15 FPS, and at 4K Ultra just 10 FPS. Only the Low and Medium presets approach playability, and even those fall below the 30 FPS threshold commonly considered minimum for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested systems in Archeage?

A: This combination ranks 2546th out of 2761 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems. This is consistent with the GPU's 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 3600 hold this combo back?

A: The CPU data suggests it is not the bottleneck. The Ryzen 5 3600 has a 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 17035, placing it near the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007, 0.2% slower) and Intel Core i5-11400 (17067, 0.2% faster). Its 6 cores and 12 threads with a 4.20 GHz boost clock are far more capable than the GPU's 5th percentile standing.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2546 out of 2761 in Archeage places this system in the 8th percentile of all tested combinations, meaning 92% of systems perform better. This ranking is driven almost entirely by the GPU's limitations. The Intel Arc B370's 5th percentile standing among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1184, is the weak link. To put that in context, the GPU's nearest rivals in the 3DMark Steel Nomad test are the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% faster) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% faster) — both products from the early 2010s.

The CPU, by contrast, is a relatively strong component. The Ryzen 5 3600 sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17035. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1260P (17007, 0.2% slower), the Intel Core i5-11400 (17067, 0.2% faster), and the AMD EPYC 7742 (16998, 0.2% slower). This suggests the CPU is performing at a mid-range level that could support much higher frame rates in Archeage if paired with a more capable GPU.

The data implies that the combo ranking is a direct reflection of the GPU's position in the hardware hierarchy. The system's actual measured FPS in Archeage — ranging from 65 FPS at 1080p Low to 10 FPS at 4K Ultra — aligns with what one would expect from a GPU that scores in the bottom 5% of all graphics cards. The CPU is essentially along for the ride, never becoming the limiting factor even at the lowest resolutions where frame rates are highest.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its best results. Low settings deliver 65 FPS average, which is the highest measured value across all resolutions and presets. Medium settings yield 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS, indicating reasonable frame pacing. High settings drop to 39 FPS, while Ultra falls to 27 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 38 FPS, showing that quality settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop noticeably. Low settings average 43 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS (with a minimum of 33 and maximum of 44), High averages 26 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a 33 FPS minimum, which is the lowest minimum recorded for any Medium preset across resolutions, suggesting occasional stutters may occur during demanding scenes.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles. Low settings average 25 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS (with a minimum of 19 and maximum of 25), High averages 15 FPS, and Ultra averages just 10 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 19 FPS, which is below the 20 FPS threshold often considered the absolute floor for playability. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 10 FPS, is essentially a slideshow.

The data shows a clear pattern: each resolution step (1080p to 1440p to 4K) costs roughly one-third of the frame rate, and each settings step (Low to Medium to High to Ultra) costs a significant but variable amount. The largest settings gap is between High and Ultra at 4K, where the frame rate drops from 15 to 10 FPS, a 33% reduction, while the smallest is between Low and Medium at 1440p, dropping from 43 to 39 FPS, a 9% reduction.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 brings 6 cores and 12 threads to this combination, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This is a Zen 2 architecture processor built on TSMC's 7 nm process, with 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. Its 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are typical for a desktop mid-range part from 2019.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 3600 shows a balanced profile. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15045 and single-core score of 2124 indicate strong multi-threaded performance relative to single-threaded. The Geekbench multicore score of 7372 and single-core score of 1536 reinforce this. The Passmark multithread score of 17700 and single-thread score of 2562 suggest the CPU can handle both heavily threaded workloads and lightly threaded tasks competently.

The 3DMark thread scaling is particularly informative. The 2-thread score of 1361, 4-thread score of 2579, 8-thread score of 3844, and 16-thread score of 4605 (with max threads at 4603) show that performance scales well up to 8 threads, then plateaus. This is consistent with a 6-core/12-thread design where the additional logical processors provide diminishing returns beyond the physical core count.

In Archeage, the CPU's role appears to be secondary. The fact that frame rates scale so consistently with resolution — losing about one-third at each step regardless of settings — indicates the GPU is saturated before the CPU becomes a constraint. Even at 1080p Low, where the system reaches 65 FPS, the CPU is likely not at its limit, as the Ryzen 5 3600's single-thread performance (2124 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is respectable for a 2019 part.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset at 57 FPS offers the best balance of visual quality and smoothness. The jump from Low (65 FPS) to Medium (57 FPS) costs only 8 FPS but likely provides noticeably better visuals. High (39 FPS) and Ultra (27 FPS) are both below the 60 FPS threshold and should only be considered if frame rate is less important than image quality.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset at 39 FPS is the most viable option. Low (43 FPS) is only 4 FPS faster and probably looks significantly worse. High (26 FPS) and Ultra (18 FPS) are both too slow for smooth gameplay, with Ultra dipping into the teens. The Medium preset's minimum of 33 FPS suggests it can hold above 30 FPS in most scenes, which is the minimum for acceptable playability.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves a truly playable frame rate. Low (25 FPS) and Medium (22 FPS) are the only options that exceed 20 FPS, but both are below the 30 FPS standard. The Medium preset's minimum of 19 FPS indicates it will drop below 20 FPS at times, making Low (25 FPS average) the safer choice for 4K if one insists on running at that resolution.

The data suggests that 1080p Medium is the sweet spot for this combo, delivering 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS, which provides a consistently smooth experience. For users willing to accept lower visual quality, 1080p Low at 65 FPS is the best-performing option. At higher resolutions, the system simply lacks the GPU power to deliver playable frame rates at any settings level.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the defining component in this system, and its specifications explain why Archeage performance is so limited. This is a 3 nm Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture, running at a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz. It has 1280 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 20 raster output units, along with 10 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 throughput of 6.144 TFLOPS and pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s are modest figures.

The GPU's memory configuration is unusual and likely a major factor in its performance. The memory size, type, and bus width are all listed as "System Shared," meaning it relies on system RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. The bandwidth is described as "System Dependent," which means it varies based on the host system's memory configuration. The Ryzen 5 3600's dual-channel DDR4 with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth is the effective memory bandwidth available to the GPU, which is significantly lower than what a dedicated graphics card with its own VRAM would offer.

In the single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Arc B370 scores 1184. This places it at the 5th percentile among all GPUs, with its nearest rivals being the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% faster), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190, 0.5% faster), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% faster), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168, 1.4% slower). These are all integrated or entry-level discrete GPUs from around 2010-2012, indicating the Arc B370's performance class.

In Archeage, the GPU's limitations manifest clearly. The 65 FPS at 1080p Low represents the system's maximum output, and this is likely constrained by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth rather than raw compute power. The consistent one-third FPS drop at each resolution step suggests the GPU is pixel-bound, meaning its rasterization and memory throughput are insufficient for higher resolutions. The 25 W TDP and "IGP" slot width confirm this is an integrated-class part, despite being from Intel's Arc lineup, and its performance in Archeage reflects that positioning.