Archeage

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, responds dramatically to both resolution and preset changes on the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination. The measured data reveals a system that is capable of high refresh rates at 1080p but quickly becomes constrained as pixel count rises, with the gap between Low and Ultra settings widening significantly at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, but the severity depends heavily on the graphics preset. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 153 FPS at 1920x1080 to 103 FPS at 2560x1440, a 33% reduction, and then to 59 FPS at 3840x2160, a 61% drop from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern suggests that even at Low settings, the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at 4K, as the pixel count quadruples while the frame rate does not even halve.

Moving to Medium settings, the pattern repeats but from a lower starting point: 136 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33%, identical to Low, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 43%, slightly steeper. This indicates that the additional texture and shading work at Medium places more strain on the GPU as resolution climbs.

High settings tell a similar story with a 92 FPS average at 1080p, 62 FPS at 1440p, and 36 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 33% again, but the 1440p-to-4K drop is 42%. Ultra settings are the most demanding, starting at 63 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 42 FPS at 1440p, and collapsing to 24 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset shows the largest relative penalty from 1080p to 4K at 62%, suggesting that the combination of high-resolution rendering and maximum quality effects overwhelms the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU still has headroom to push frames, particularly at Low and Medium settings where the GPU is not saturated. At 4K, however, every preset is GPU-bound, and the differences between settings become less about smoothness and more about playability. The 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS is essentially unplayable, while 4K Low at 59 FPS is borderline. The scaling behavior points to a system where the RTX 4060 is the primary constraint at high resolutions, with the Ryzen 7 3700X providing sufficient throughput to avoid bottlenecking at lower pixel counts.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, Medium settings deliver 136 FPS average with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS. This preset offers a strong balance, nearly matching the Low preset's 153 FPS while providing better visual quality. High settings at 1080p yield 92 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 32% reduction from Medium, making Medium the better choice for high-refresh-rate monitors.

For 2560x1440, Medium settings again emerge as the sweet spot. The 91 FPS average with a 78 FPS minimum and 105 FPS maximum is playable on standard 60 Hz displays and even on 100 Hz panels. High settings at 1440p drop to 62 FPS, which is acceptable but leaves less headroom for demanding scenes. Low settings at 1440p produce 103 FPS, but the visual sacrifice may not be worth the extra 12 FPS over Medium, given the marked improvement in fidelity that Medium provides.

At 3840x2160, the recommendations shift. Low settings produce the only consistently playable result at 59 FPS. Medium settings average 52 FPS with a 45 FPS minimum, which is borderline but could be acceptable for slower-paced MMORPG gameplay. High settings at 36 FPS and Ultra at 24 FPS are not recommended for anything beyond casual play. The data suggests that 4K gaming on this combo requires accepting Low or Medium presets, and even then, the frame rate hovers near the edge of smoothness.

The Ultra preset is consistently the worst performer at every resolution, offering no measurable benefit over High in terms of frame stability. At 1080p, Ultra drops to 63 FPS from High's 92 FPS, a 31% penalty for presumably marginal visual gains. At 1440p, Ultra yields 42 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 24 FPS. The measured data indicates that Ultra is a setting to avoid unless the user prioritizes image quality over frame rate and is willing to play at sub-30 FPS at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 combination is ranked 2001 out of 3708 tested combos for Archeage, placing it in the 54th percentile. This mid-pack ranking suggests that while the combo is not a top-tier performer for this specific MMORPG, it is also not a weak one. The rank reflects the measured FPS data, which shows strong 1080p performance but weak 4K capability.

The CPU's benchmark scores help contextualize this ranking. The Ryzen 7 3700X achieves a 2092 in Cinebench R15 multicore and a 204 in single-core, with a Geekbench multicore score of 8899 and single-core of 1593. Its Passmark multithread score is 22458, and it sits at the 84th percentile among all CPUs. These numbers indicate a solidly capable processor that should not bottleneck the GPU in most scenarios.

The GPU, meanwhile, is at the 61st percentile among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 17639. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 with a deltaPct of -0.2%, the AMD Radeon 780M at +0.3%, the AMD Radeon Pro 560 at +0.5%, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 at +0.7%. These are all older or lower-tier GPUs, suggesting that the RTX 4060's raw compute performance is not exceptional for its generation, yet it still ranks above the median.

The combo's 2001st rank out of 3708 means it falls slightly below the midpoint, aligning with the GPU's 61st percentile and the CPU's 84th percentile. The weak link is clearly the GPU in Archeage, as the game's engine appears to favor stronger graphics cards. The CPU's high percentile does not translate into a higher combo rank, indicating that the game's performance is primarily GPU-limited, especially at higher resolutions where the RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become bottlenecks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured results are as follows: Low settings produce an average of 153 FPS, Medium produces 136 FPS with a minimum of 115 and maximum of 156, High produces 92 FPS, and Ultra produces 63 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 90 FPS, showing that the preset choice has a massive impact at 1080p. The Medium preset's minimum of 115 FPS ensures no noticeable stutter, while Low's high average makes it ideal for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the results drop across the board: Low averages 103 FPS, Medium averages 91 FPS with a minimum of 78 and maximum of 105, High averages 62 FPS, and Ultra averages 42 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 61 FPS, but the relative penalty for Ultra is steeper. Medium remains the best balance, with its minimum of 78 FPS still above the threshold for smooth gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low averages 59 FPS, Medium averages 52 FPS with a minimum of 45 and maximum of 60, High averages 36 FPS, and Ultra averages 24 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is now only 35 FPS, indicating that the GPU is so constrained that even reducing settings cannot fully compensate for the pixel count. The Medium minimum of 45 FPS is the lowest acceptable value among all presets at 4K, and even that is marginal.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: Low > Medium > High > Ultra at every resolution, but the gaps shrink as resolution increases. At 1080p, Low is 12% faster than Medium, but at 4K, Low is only 13% faster than Medium, a similar relative margin. However, High and Ultra become increasingly unplayable at higher resolutions, with Ultra falling below 30 FPS at 1440p and below 25 FPS at 4K.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Archeage?

A: The measured data shows that 1920x1080 delivers the highest frame rates, with Low at 153 FPS and Medium at 136 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium still achieves 91 FPS, making it viable, but 3840x2160 only reaches 59 FPS on Low, indicating that 1080p is the most comfortable resolution for this combo.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its nearest rivals in raw GPU performance?

A: The RTX 4060 has an average benchmark score of 17639, placing it at the 61st percentile. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon HD 7790 with a score of 17666 and a deltaPct of -0.2%, meaning the RTX 4060 is slightly slower. The AMD Radeon 780M is 0.3% slower, and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 is 0.5% slower.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 3700X a bottleneck for the RTX 4060 in this game?

A: The CPU ranks at the 84th percentile among all CPUs with a Passmark multithread score of 22458, while the GPU is at the 61st percentile. Given that Archeage's frame rates drop significantly at 4K despite the CPU's strength, the data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor, not the CPU.

Q: What FPS can I expect at 1080p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows an average of 136 FPS with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 156 FPS at 1920x1080 with Medium settings. This provides a smooth experience on high-refresh-rate monitors.

Q: Why is the Ultra preset so much slower than High?

A: At 1080p, Ultra drops to 63 FPS from High's 92 FPS, a 31% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra is 42 FPS versus High's 62 FPS, and at 4K, Ultra is 24 FPS versus High's 36 FPS. The data implies that Ultra enables effects that heavily tax the GPU, making it an inefficient choice for this combo.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Archeage?

A: Yes, but only at Low settings, which produce 59 FPS, or Medium settings, which produce 52 FPS with a 45 FPS minimum. High and Ultra settings at 4K yield 36 FPS and 24 FPS respectively, which are not recommended for smooth gameplay.

CPU Role

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

In benchmark terms, the Ryzen 7 3700X scores 2092 in Cinebench R15 multicore and 204 in single-core, 8899 in Geekbench multicore, and 1593 in Geekbench single-core. Its Passmark multithread score is 22458, and it achieves 2656 in Passmark single-thread. These scores place it at the 84th percentile among all CPUs, indicating strong multi-threaded performance.

For Archeage, an MMORPG from 2014, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, NPC AI, and player interactions. The measured FPS data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 153 FPS, which is a high rate that suggests the CPU can feed the GPU efficiently. However, at 4K, the frame rates drop to 59 FPS on Low, indicating that the GPU is the constraint. The CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom for the game's engine, which likely does not scale perfectly across many threads, but the high single-core score of 204 in Cinebench R15 ensures responsive gameplay.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 with an average score of 34222 and a deltaPct of 0.1%, the AMD EPYC 4244P at 34220 with 0.1%, the Intel Core i5-13450HX at 34333 with -0.2%, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H at 34083 with 0.5%. These scores are all within 0.5% of the Ryzen 7 3700X's average benchmark score of 34260, showing that the CPU is competitive with newer processors in synthetic benchmarks, but the game's performance is more dependent on the GPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 is based on the AD107 chip with the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 1830 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s. The GPU features 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, along with 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores. Its FP32 performance is 15.11 TFLOPS, and it has a TDP of 115 W.

In benchmark terms, the RTX 4060 scores 19545 in Passmark G3D and 9213 in Passmark GPU compute. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2302, and it achieves 95057 in Geekbench OpenCL and 48643 in Geekbench Vulkan. These scores place it at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17639.

For Archeage, the GPU's role is to render the game's world, including textures, lighting, and effects. The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 4060 struggles at 4K, with Ultra settings producing only 24 FPS. This is likely due to the 8 GB VRAM being insufficient for high-resolution textures and the 128-bit memory bus limiting bandwidth. The GPU's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 with an average score of 17666 and a deltaPct of -0.2%, the AMD Radeon 780M at 17588 with 0.3%, the AMD Radeon Pro 560 at 17551 with 0.5%, and the AMD Radeon Pro 460 at 17509 with 0.7%. These are all older or integrated GPUs, suggesting that the RTX 4060's performance is comparable to much older hardware in synthetic tests, but its modern architecture provides features like DLSS that are not reflected in these benchmarks.

The GPU's performance in Archeage is characterized by a significant drop from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 136 FPS, but at 4K Medium, it drops to 52 FPS, a 62% reduction. This scaling indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU is unlikely to be limiting at 4K given its high benchmark scores. The RTX 4060's 8 GB VRAM may also be a factor, as 4K textures can exceed this capacity, leading to performance degradation.