Archeage

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for this CPU/GPU combination in Archeage?

A: The data shows Low settings at 1920x1080 delivers the highest average FPS at 71. Medium at 1920x1080 is a close second at 64 FPS, while High drops to 43 FPS and Ultra falls to 29 FPS.

Q: How does this combo handle 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, performance is marginal across all presets. Low settings yield 28 FPS average, Medium produces 25 FPS (with a range of 21-28 FPS), High drops to 17 FPS, and Ultra only manages 11 FPS. None of these reach a comfortable playable threshold.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings achieve 48 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 20 FPS. That is a 28 FPS difference, representing a 140% increase in performance when using Low instead of Ultra.

Q: Does the GPU have dedicated VRAM?

A: No. The Intel Arc B390 uses "System Shared" memory for both size and type, meaning it relies on the system's main memory rather than dedicated graphics memory. Its memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent."

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

A: The combo ranks 2453 out of 2761 tested combinations in Archeage, placing it in the lower portion of the database (roughly the 11th percentile of tested setups).

Q: What is the GPU's benchmark percentile compared to all other GPUs?

A: The Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% ahead) and the GeForce 800M (1.5% ahead).

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data makes the optimal settings choice clear: Low at 1920x1080 is the only preset/resolution combination that breaks the 60 FPS barrier, achieving 71 FPS average. This is the best experience for smooth gameplay in Archeage with this hardware pairing.

For users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate, Medium at 1920x1080 offers a compromise at 64 FPS average, with a measured range of 54-73 FPS. This preset remains above 60 FPS on average and delivers a superior visual experience compared to Low while maintaining playable performance.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 48 FPS average, which is playable for an MMORPG but noticeably below the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p yields 43 FPS (range 36-49 FPS), which may be acceptable for less action-intensive content. High at 1440p drops to 29 FPS, and Ultra falls to 20 FPS — both are difficult to recommend for general play.

At 3840x2160, no preset achieves playable performance. The highest result is Low at 28 FPS, followed by Medium at 25 FPS, High at 17 FPS, and Ultra at 11 FPS. Users with 4K displays should either reduce resolution or accept severe frame rate limitations.

The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer across all resolutions: 29 FPS at 1080p, 20 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K. Given that High at 1080p delivers 43 FPS and Medium delivers 64 FPS, Ultra offers no advantage that justifies its massive performance cost.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture (Panther Lake chip) built on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, featuring 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation pipelines. The GPU includes 12 ray tracing cores.

This GPU relies entirely on system-shared memory, with no dedicated VRAM. Memory bandwidth is "System Dependent," meaning performance scales with the host system's memory configuration. The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X supports dual-channel DDR4 with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, which is the practical ceiling for this GPU's memory access.

The GPU's compute capabilities are modest: 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 performance and a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 places it at the 9th percentile among all GPUs. The nearest rival, NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, scores 1463 (1.3% behind), while the GeForce 800M scores 1460 (1.5% behind). The GeForce GT 625 OEM is 2.5% behind at 1446, and the GeForce GT 710 is 2.7% behind at 1443. This places the B390 at the very bottom of the GPU performance spectrum, alongside decade-old entry-level discrete graphics.

These benchmark results directly explain the measured FPS in Archeage. At 1080p Low, the GPU manages 71 FPS, but every increase in resolution or settings quality causes substantial frame rate drops. The 4K results (11-28 FPS across presets) reflect the GPU's inability to handle high pixel counts with its limited fill rate and shared memory bandwidth.

The system-shared memory design means the GPU competes with the CPU for memory bandwidth, which is particularly problematic in an MMORPG like Archeage where large numbers of on-screen characters and effects can stress both components simultaneously.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results show a clear hierarchy across settings. Low delivers 71 FPS average, which is the highest measured result for this combo in any configuration. Medium produces 64 FPS average, with a measured range of 54-73 FPS. High drops to 43 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 29 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 42 FPS, meaning Ultra runs at less than half the frame rate of Low.

At 2560x1440, all results decrease substantially. Low achieves 48 FPS average, Medium delivers 43 FPS (range 36-49 FPS), High produces 29 FPS, and Ultra drops to 20 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 28 FPS decline. Notably, the 1440p Medium result is only 5 FPS below the 1440p Low result, suggesting diminishing returns on quality upgrades at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal across the board. Low yields 28 FPS average, Medium produces 25 FPS (range 21-28 FPS), High manages 17 FPS, and Ultra falls to 11 FPS. None of these results reach 30 FPS, making 4K effectively unplayable for this combo in Archeage.

Comparing resolutions at the same settings reveals the scaling penalty. At Low settings, moving from 1080p to 1440p reduces FPS from 71 to 48 (a 32% drop), and further to 28 at 4K (a 61% drop from 1080p). At High settings, the progression is 43 FPS at 1080p to 29 FPS at 1440p to 17 FPS at 4K. At Ultra, the progression is 29 FPS at 1080p to 20 FPS at 1440p to 11 FPS at 4K.

The Medium preset's measured minimum and maximum values provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the range is 54-73 FPS, showing significant variance during gameplay. At 1440p Medium, the range narrows to 36-49 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range is 21-28 FPS. This variance pattern suggests that frame times become more consistent at lower resolutions, which is typical for a GPU operating near its performance ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2453 out of 2761 tested combos in Archeage. This places the combo in the bottom 11% of all tested configurations, which is consistent with the GPU's low benchmark percentile.

The GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs is the primary constraint. The Intel Arc B390's nearest rivals are all NVIDIA discrete GPUs from the early 2010s: the GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% higher score), GeForce 800M (1.5% higher), GeForce GT 625 OEM (2.5% higher), and GeForce GT 710 (2.7% higher). This places the B390 at the absolute entry level of GPU performance.

The CPU, by contrast, is a much stronger component. The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 34260. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (0.1% higher at 34222), AMD EPYC 4244P (0.1% higher at 34220), Intel Core i5-13450HX (0.2% lower at 34333), and Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (0.5% higher at 34083). This means the CPU is performing competitively with modern mid-range and upper-mid-range processors, while the GPU is performing at the level of legacy entry-level hardware.

The combination of a high-percentile CPU with a low-percentile GPU creates a heavily GPU-bound configuration in Archeage. The measured FPS results reflect this imbalance: the CPU has ample headroom, but the GPU limits performance at every resolution and settings level.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor based on the Zen 2 architecture (Matisse codename) built on TSMC's 7 nm process. It runs at a base clock of 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU features 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 cache per core, and 32 MB L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with 51.2 GB/s theoretical bandwidth.

In synthetic benchmarks, the 3700X demonstrates strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 2092 in Cinebench R15 multi-core and 204 in single-core. Geekbench results show 8899 multi-core and 1593 single-core. PassMark tests show 22458 multi-thread, 2656 single-thread, 66399 integer math, 39005 floating point math, 296379 data compression, and 18900 data encryption. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its position as a capable processor even in modern comparisons.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (0.1% higher average score), AMD EPYC 4244P (0.1% higher), Intel Core i5-13450HX (0.2% lower), and Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (0.5% higher). These deltas are all within 0.5%, indicating the 3700X remains competitive with much newer processors.

In Archeage, an MMORPG with potentially large numbers of players on screen, the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide substantial processing capacity for game logic, network handling, and character rendering calculations. The 32 MB L3 cache helps maintain data locality for frequently accessed game assets.

However, the CPU's capabilities are not the limiting factor in this combo's Archeage performance. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU achieves its best result of 71 FPS, the CPU has significant headroom remaining. The GPU's 9th percentile benchmark score and system-shared memory design create a bottleneck that prevents the CPU's performance from being fully utilized.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is shared with the GPU's system-shared memory architecture, meaning the GPU's memory access competes with CPU memory operations. This shared bandwidth constraint becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings, contributing to the sharp FPS drops observed when moving from 1080p to 1440p to 4K.