Archeage

Archeage is an older MMORPG, but its engine still presents a unique challenge to modern hardware. With the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, the data reveals a system that is heavily influenced by resolution and graphics settings. The measured frame rates show that while the RTX 4090 is capable of massive throughput, the game’s single-threaded nature and the CPU’s capabilities become the defining factor at lower resolutions. This combination ranks in the top percentile of all tested combos, but its behavior across the 1080p, 1440p, and 4K spectrum tells a story of diminishing returns and a clear bottleneck shift.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K is the most telling aspect of this data. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 247.8 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 203.2 FPS, a significant 44.6 FPS reduction. At 4K Low, the average falls to 117.3 FPS. This steep decline indicates that the game is not purely GPU-limited at lower resolutions; the CPU is struggling to feed the RTX 4090 enough frames. The 8400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, shows its limits here.

The pattern shifts when looking at higher settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 124.9. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 82.5 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 50.1 FPS. This scaling is much more severe percentage-wise than the Low setting scaling. For instance, the 4K Ultra score is only 40% of the 1080p Ultra score. This suggests that at Ultra settings, the GPU’s workload becomes the primary constraint, and the RTX 4090’s raw power is being fully utilized. The transition from High to Ultra at 4K is particularly harsh, with a drop from 70.3 FPS to 50.1 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset includes effects that are disproportionately heavy on the GPU.

The limiting component changes across the resolution spectrum. At 1080p, the data strongly suggests a CPU bottleneck; the FPS is high, but the scaling between Low and Ultra is relatively small (247.8 to 124.9) compared to what the GPU could theoretically do. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, as the FPS drops to levels consistent with a heavy GPU load. The 1440p results are a blend, showing a balanced workload where neither component fully saturates the other.

How This Combo Ranks

In Archeage, this specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 8400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 39th out of 1727 tested combos. This places it in the top 2.3% of all configurations, a strong showing that underscores the raw power of the RTX 4090. However, it is crucial to note that this rank is not solely due to the CPU. The Ryzen 5 8400F has an average benchmark score of 25064, which places it in the 82nd percentile of all CPUs.

Looking at the CPU’s nearest rivals, the data shows it is virtually tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, with a delta of 0%. It is also extremely close to the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 340 (-0.1%) and the AMD EPYC 9474F (-0.2%). This tells us that the 8400F’s overall processing power is comparable to these very different chips, but its specific architecture and clock speeds matter more in a game like Archeage. The combo’s high rank reflects the GPU’s dominance, but the CPU is not holding the system back from a top-tier position. The deltaPct values against its rivals are all within 0.3%, meaning that swapping the CPU for any of these alternatives would yield nearly identical average benchmark scores, but the in-game FPS could still vary due to architectural differences.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 8400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture, codenamed Phoenix. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform and has a base clock of 4.20 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. In the context of Archeage, an MMORPG, the game’s engine is notorious for relying heavily on a single thread for game logic and draw calls. The 8400F’s single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 951 and cinebench_r23_singlecore score of 2943, is crucial.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system hits 247.8 FPS. This high frame rate is only achievable if the CPU can process the game’s state quickly enough. The 8400F’s boost clock of 4.70 GHz helps in this regard. However, the 16 MB of shared L3 cache is modest compared to other modern chips, which could impact performance in large, open-world areas with many players. The CPU’s 3dmark_2_threads score of 1874 is also relevant, as it indicates the processor’s ability to handle the few threads that an MMORPG like Archeage actually uses. The benchmarks show a solid jump from 2-thread to 4-thread performance (3563), but the scaling from 8-thread (5275) to max-thread (6165) is minimal, confirming that the CPU’s multi-threaded headroom is not the primary asset here. The game is simply not using all 12 threads effectively. The 65W TDP suggests it runs cool, but its performance in this title is defined by its single-core agility, not its core count.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 247.8 FPS
• Medium: 233.3 FPS
• High: 181.5 FPS
• Ultra: 124.9 FPS

This shows a clear progression: the jump from Low to Medium is only 14.5 FPS, but the jump from Medium to High is 51.8 FPS. The drop from High to Ultra is another 56.6 FPS. This indicates that the High preset is a sweet spot for visual fidelity without a massive performance hit. The CPU is the main driver here, as the GPU is not yet saturated.

At 2560x1440:

• Low: 203.2 FPS
• Medium: 179.7 FPS
• High: 122 FPS
• Ultra: 82.5 FPS

The scaling here is more consistent. The drop from Medium to High (57.7 FPS) is the largest single step, suggesting that the High preset introduces significant GPU load. The 1440p results show the system moving from a CPU-bound state to a more balanced one. The RTX 4090’s power is starting to be fully utilized, but the CPU is still capable of pushing high frame rates.

At 3840x2160:

• Low: 117.3 FPS
• Medium: 101.9 FPS
• High: 70.3 FPS
• Ultra: 50.1 FPS

At 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck. The difference between Low and Medium is 15.4 FPS, but the difference between Medium and High is 31.6 FPS. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, nearly halving the High preset’s frame rate. The 50.1 FPS average at 4K Ultra is still playable but shows that even the flagship RTX 4090 cannot brute-force this game’s Ultra settings at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a monster of a GPU, based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and the AD102 chip. It features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a massive 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock is 2520 MHz. In Archeage, the GPU’s role is primarily to handle the rendering of distant landscapes, textures, and effects like shadows and lighting. The data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K, especially at higher settings.

The 4K Ultra result of 50.1 FPS is telling. This is not a case of the GPU being weak; it is a case of the game’s Ultra preset being incredibly demanding. The RTX 4090’s 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is immense, but Archeage’s engine may not be optimized to take full advantage of it. The GPU’s 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 9223 and passmark_g3d score of 38194 highlight its raw power, but these synthetic benchmarks do not translate directly to the game’s performance. The GPU’s memory bandwidth is likely a key factor at 4K, as loading high-resolution textures requires significant data throughput. The data shows that the RTX 4090 excels in the Low and Medium presets at 4K, providing excellent frame rates, but the Ultra preset is a different story. The GPU’s high pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s helps with fill-rate-heavy scenes, but the game’s CPU-bound nature at lower resolutions prevents the GPU from being the sole performance driver.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate.

For 4K gaming, the Ultra preset is only playable at 50.1 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider smooth. To achieve a stable 60+ FPS experience, the High preset is the best choice, delivering 70.3 FPS. This provides a solid balance of visual quality and performance. If higher frame rates are needed, the Medium preset at 101.9 FPS is an excellent option, offering a significant boost in smoothness with a moderate visual sacrifice. The Low preset at 117.3 FPS is the best for competitive play, but it will look noticeably worse.

At 1440p, the High preset provides 122 FPS, which is excellent for most users. The Ultra preset at 82.5 FPS is also very playable and offers the best image quality. If you have a high refresh rate monitor (144Hz or higher), the Medium preset at 179.7 FPS is the best choice to maximize smoothness. The Low preset at 203.2 FPS is only useful if you are chasing the absolute maximum frame rate.

At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-bound. The Ultra preset at 124.9 FPS is a great experience, and the High preset at 181.5 FPS is even better. Given the CPU bottleneck, there is little reason to use the Medium or Low presets at this resolution, as the visual downgrade is not worth the extra frames beyond 181.5 FPS. The data suggests that the High preset is the best overall choice for a balanced experience, as it offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium with a manageable performance cost. For players with 240Hz monitors, the Low preset at 247.8 FPS is the only way to hit those refresh rates, but the visual compromise is severe.