Archeage

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

The measured FPS deltas across resolutions tell a story of a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, yet reveals a CPU ceiling at lower presets. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average FPS drops from 197 to 132 — a 33% reduction. That is a substantial hit, but it pales in comparison to the leap from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160 at High, where the average falls from 132 to 76 — a 42% drop. This pattern is classic GPU-bound behavior: as pixel count rises, the rendering workload scales nearly linearly, and the measured frame rate responds accordingly.

At Low settings, the scaling becomes more telling. From 1080p to 1440p, FPS drops from 260 to 219 (a 16% decline), and then from 1440p to 4K, it falls from 219 to 125 (a 43% decline). The relatively modest drop at 1440p Low suggests that the CPU is beginning to assert itself as a limiting factor — the Ryzen 5 7600's six cores are likely keeping pace with the reduced GPU load at that resolution, but the 4K Low result shows the GPU reasserting dominance as pixel throughput demands spike.

Ultra settings paint the clearest picture of GPU limitation. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 134 FPS; at 1440p Ultra, it falls to 90 (a 33% drop); at 4K Ultra, it collapses to 52 (a 42% drop from 1440p). The consistent 33-42% scaling pattern across all settings levels at each resolution step indicates the RTX 5090 D is the primary bottleneck — the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU at these frame rates, but the GPU's raw pixel-pushing capability defines the ceiling.

What is interesting is the gap between Medium and High settings at each resolution. At 1080p, Medium produces 250 FPS versus High's 197 — a 27% difference. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 195 vs 132 (a 48% difference), and at 4K, it tightens to 112 vs 76 (a 47% difference). This suggests that High settings introduce a significant rendering cost — likely more advanced shading or shadow techniques — that scales with resolution, whereas Medium remains comparatively light on the GPU.

The 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS is particularly notable. It is only 68% of the 4K High score, indicating that Ultra settings carry an enormous computational penalty. This is not a subtle step up; it is a near-halving of performance. The data implies that Ultra preset in ArcheAge is designed for visual fidelity at the expense of frame rate, and even a top-tier GPU like the RTX 5090 D cannot maintain high refresh rates under that load.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. For an MMORPG like ArcheAge, which launched in 2014 and is not known for requiring massive texture loads, 32 GB is far beyond what the game can realistically consume. The memory subsystem is not the limiting factor here — the benchmark results confirm this, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings rather than hitting sudden VRAM-related cliffs.

The GPU's clock behavior is worth examining. The base clock operates at 2017 MHz, boosting to 2407 MHz under load. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (260 average) suggests the GPU is running at or near its boost clock in lighter scenes, but the 4K Ultra result of 52 FPS indicates that thermal or power constraints may be limiting sustained boost behavior under extreme load. The 575 W TDP and 950 W suggested PSU requirement hint at a power-hungry design, but the benchmark data does not directly measure clock throttling — only the resulting frame rates.

The RTX 5090 D's compute capabilities are staggering: 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, delivering 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput. For a game like ArcheAge, which was released before this GPU's architecture existed, the GPU is likely overkill in raw compute terms. The fact that 4K Ultra still only achieves 52 FPS suggests the game engine itself is imposing limits — possibly single-threaded draw call submission or inefficient shader compilation — rather than the GPU running out of headroom.

In the context of the measured data, the GPU's role is clear: it provides enough raw throughput to push very high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the game's engine and the CPU's ability to feed it become co-limiting factors. The GPU's percentile ranking at 92 among all tested GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712, places it in the upper echelon, yet the nearest rivals (AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at -1.6% and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at -2.4%) are not dramatically slower in synthetic tests — suggesting that the RTX 5090 D's real-world advantage in this specific game is more modest than its raw specs would imply.

FAQ

Q: Why does the 4K Ultra preset produce only 52 FPS when the GPU is so powerful?

A: The measured data shows that Ultra settings impose a near-halving of performance compared to High (52 vs 76 FPS at 4K). This indicates the Ultra preset likely enables computationally expensive rendering features that scale poorly even on high-end hardware.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 260 FPS. The relatively small drop to 219 FPS at 1440p Low (a 16% decrease) compared to the 43% decrease from 1440p to 4K Low suggests the CPU may be nearing its limit at lower resolutions, while the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck at higher pixel counts.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 26th out of 2,761 tested combos in ArcheAge, placing it in the top 1% of all configurations tested.

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High settings in terms of FPS?

A: The gap is substantial at every resolution. At 1080p, Medium delivers 250 FPS versus High's 197 (a 27% difference). At 1440p, the gap widens to 48% (195 vs 132 FPS), and at 4K, it remains at 47% (112 vs 76 FPS). This suggests High settings add significant rendering complexity that scales with resolution.

Q: Does the 32 GB VRAM matter for ArcheAge?

A: The benchmark data does not show any VRAM-related performance cliffs, and the 32 GB capacity on the RTX 5090 D far exceeds what an MMORPG from 2014 would require. The frame rates scale smoothly with resolution and settings, indicating the memory size is not a limiting factor.

Q: Why is the 4K Medium result (112 FPS) so much higher than 4K High (76 FPS)?

A: The 47% gap between Medium and High at 4K mirrors the gap seen at 1440p, indicating that the step from Medium to High carries a consistent computational cost. This is likely due to more advanced lighting or shadow techniques that are resolution-dependent in their cost.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination achieves a rank of 26 out of 2,761 tested combos in ArcheAge. This places it in the 99th percentile of all configurations — a remarkable position, but not the absolute top. The fact that 25 other combos outperform this pairing suggests that either a stronger CPU or a different GPU configuration (or both) can extract more performance from this game.

Looking at the CPU's synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7600 scores 12,735 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 1,852 in single-core, with an average benchmark score of 26,324. Its nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (0.2% faster), AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (0.3% slower), and Intel Core i9-11900KF (0.4% faster) — are all within a fraction of a percent in average score. This tight clustering suggests that the CPU is not the differentiator at this performance tier; the GPU and game-specific optimization are what separate the top combos.

The GPU's synthetic average score of 77,712 places it at the 92nd percentile, with nearest rivals being significantly different hardware: the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% faster), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% slower), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (2.1-2.4% slower). The fact that the RTX 5090 D's closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are mobile and datacenter parts — not desktop gaming GPUs — suggests that the benchmark database's comparison pool skews toward whatever hardware has been tested, and the 5090 D's real gaming rivals may not be fully represented.

Given that the combo ranks 26th out of 2,761, the data implies that a handful of other CPU+GPU pairings achieve higher frame rates in ArcheAge. Without those specific combos listed, we can infer from the scaling analysis that the game likely rewards higher single-thread CPU performance or different GPU driver optimizations. The 26th rank is still an elite result — it means this system outperforms 99.1% of tested configurations — but it is not the definitive best.

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

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boosting to 5.10 GHz. With 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth on a dual-channel DDR5 interface, this CPU is designed for balanced gaming performance rather than extreme multi-threaded workloads. Its 65 W TDP is modest compared to the GPU's 575 W, underscoring that the CPU is not the power-hungry component in this pairing.

In ArcheAge, the CPU's role is evident from the resolution scaling patterns. At 1080p Low, the system hits 260 FPS — likely near the engine's practical limit given the game's age and architecture. The drop to 219 FPS at 1440p Low is only 16%, which is unusually small for a resolution increase. This suggests the CPU is the limiting factor at these settings: the GPU has plenty of headroom, but the CPU's single-threaded performance (scoring 1,852 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 999 in 3DMark single-thread) is what caps the frame rate.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities, while strong for its class (12,735 in Cinebench R23 multi-core), are less relevant for a game like ArcheAge that likely does not scale well across many cores. The 6-core design with 12 threads is more than adequate for modern gaming, but the game's engine — released in 2014 — probably relies on a few heavily loaded threads. The passmark single-thread score of 3,910 and 3DMark 2-thread score of 1,938 indicate strong per-core performance, which aligns with the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions.

The CPU's percentile ranking at 78 among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26,324, places it slightly above the median of tested processors. Its nearest rivals are all within 0.5% in average score, which means the Ryzen 5 7600 is not an outlier — it is a solid mainstream part. In the context of this combo's 26th rank, the CPU is likely not the bottleneck at higher resolutions (where the GPU dominates), but it may prevent the system from reaching even higher frame rates at 1080p, where 260 FPS appears to be the ceiling.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS spans from 260 at Low to 134 at Ultra, with Medium at 250 and High at 197. The Medium preset also recorded a minimum of 212 and a maximum of 287 FPS, showing a 75 FPS range that indicates significant scene-to-scene variance. The gap between Low and Medium is a mere 10 FPS (260 vs 250), suggesting that Low and Medium are similarly light on the GPU at this resolution — the CPU is likely the limiting factor in both cases.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 219 at Low, 195 at Medium, 132 at High, and 90 at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a min of 166 and max of 224, a 58 FPS range. The step from Low to Medium is a 24 FPS drop (219 to 195), which is larger than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU begins to take on more work at this resolution. The jump from Medium to High is 63 FPS (195 to 132), and from High to Ultra is 42 FPS (132 to 90) — each preset level carries a substantial cost.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 125 at Low, 112 at Medium, 76 at High, and 52 at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a min of 95 and max of 128, a 33 FPS range. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to 13 FPS (125 to 112), while the Medium-to-High gap is 36 FPS (112 to 76) and High-to-Ultra is 24 FPS (76 to 52). At 4K, even Low settings stress the GPU significantly, but the Ultra result of 52 FPS demonstrates the extreme cost of maximum visual fidelity.

The data reveals an interesting anomaly: at 1080p, the Low-to-High gap is 63 FPS (260 to 197), but at 4K, the Low-to-High gap is 49 FPS (125 to 76). This suggests that the GPU's scaling efficiency changes with resolution — at lower resolutions, the GPU can render Low and Medium settings at similar rates, but at 4K, every setting level exacts a more linear toll on performance.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy of performance across settings, and the optimal choice depends on the target resolution and the user's refresh rate. At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 250 FPS average with a minimum of 212 FPS — this is the sweet spot for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it provides near-Low performance with presumably better visual fidelity. The 250 FPS average exceeds most 240 Hz displays' capabilities, and the 212 FPS minimum ensures smooth gameplay even in demanding scenes. High settings at 197 FPS are also viable for 144 Hz displays, but the 27% performance penalty over Medium is significant.

At 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. Medium settings produce 195 FPS average with a 166 FPS minimum — still excellent for 144 Hz displays, with a min that stays above most refresh rate thresholds. High settings at 132 FPS are acceptable for 120 Hz displays, but the 63 FPS drop from Medium is a substantial cost. For users with 165 Hz or 240 Hz monitors, Medium is the clear choice; for those with 144 Hz panels, either Medium or High works, with Medium providing more headroom.

At 3840x2160, the options are more constrained. Medium settings deliver 112 FPS average with a 95 FPS minimum — this is the only preset that consistently stays above 60 FPS at 4K. High settings at 76 FPS are playable but dip into ranges that may cause noticeable stutter on 60 Hz displays (though 76 FPS is fine for 60 Hz). Ultra at 52 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold and is not recommended for smooth gameplay. Low at 125 FPS is the highest-performing option but sacrifices visual quality; if frame rate is paramount, Low is the choice, but Medium offers a better balance of visuals and performance.

The overall recommendation is Medium settings at all resolutions, as it provides the best combination of frame rate and visual fidelity per the measured data. At 1080p, Medium's 250 FPS is nearly identical to Low's 260 FPS, making it a no-brainer. At 1440p, Medium's 195 FPS keeps the experience fluid on high-refresh displays. At 4K, Medium's 112 FPS is the only preset that comfortably exceeds 100 FPS, making it the definitive choice for 4K gaming with this hardware.