Archeage

# How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1589th out of 3708 tested combos in Archeage. That places this configuration in the 43rd percentile of all tested combinations, meaning it outperforms roughly 57% of the systems in the database for this specific MMORPG. The ranking reflects a mid-pack position, but the data shows this is not a uniform story across resolutions and settings — the combo's standing is heavily influenced by where the workload bottleneck falls.

The CPU itself is a top-tier desktop processor, scoring in the 92nd percentile versus all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 58386 puts it within 0.1% of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M and 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900, while trailing the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 by 0.7%. The GPU, however, sits in the 61st percentile versus all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17208. That places it 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, but 1.5% behind the NVIDIA Tesla K40c. The combination of a very strong CPU with a mid-range GPU creates a system where processor headroom is rarely the limiting factor, which becomes evident in the resolution scaling patterns.

# GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 brings 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its GA104 chip, built on Samsung's 8 nm process, contains 17,400 million transistors across a 392 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). These specifications support 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores.

In Archeage, the GPU's role varies dramatically with settings. At 1080p Ultra, the combo delivers 71 FPS average, but at 1080p Low, it reaches 173 FPS average — a 102 FPS spread purely from settings changes at the same resolution. This indicates that at lower presets, the GPU has ample headroom, and the frame rate ceiling is likely governed by the CPU's ability to feed frames. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 28 FPS, showing the GPU struggling with the combined load of high resolution and maximum settings. The 8 GB VRAM capacity becomes relevant here, as the Ultra preset at 3840x2160 likely exceeds comfortable memory allocation for this GPU, though the exact VRAM usage is not measured in the data.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a PassMark G3D score of 22214 and a PassMark GPU compute score of 11195. Its DirectX 12 score of 85 versus DirectX 11 score of 182 suggests this architecture performs relatively better under legacy APIs, which is relevant for an MMORPG like Archeage that may not fully leverage modern graphics pipelines. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3162 further contextualizes its raw performance envelope.

# Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern: scaling from 1080p to 1440p costs roughly 30-40% of frame rate, and scaling from 1440p to 4K costs another 40-50%. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 105 at 1080p to 70 at 1440p to 40 at 4K. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 43% reduction from 1440p to 4K. At Low settings, the drop is from 173 to 116 to 67 across the same resolutions — a 33% drop, then a 42% drop. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings indicates the scaling is resolution-dominated rather than settings-dominated.

The limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the 173 FPS average suggests the CPU is nearing its frame-delivery ceiling for this game engine, because the GPU is far from saturated at such a light preset. As resolution climbs to 4K Low, the 67 FPS average indicates the GPU is now carrying more of the load, though the drop is still substantial. At 4K Ultra, the 28 FPS average shows the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as the CPU's strong single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4704, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2228) cannot compensate for the GPU's pixel-pushing limits at maximum fidelity.

The Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum FPS of 50 and maximum of 68, with an average of 59. This narrow band suggests the system is operating near a stability threshold where GPU load is consistent. At 1440p Medium, the band widens to 88-119 FPS with an average of 104, and at 1080p Medium, it reaches 131-177 FPS with an average of 154. The widening range at lower resolutions indicates the CPU is introducing more frame-time variance when it has more headroom to process game logic.

# Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 154 FPS average with a minimum of 131 FPS, which is a 46% improvement over High's 105 FPS while only sacrificing some visual fidelity. At 1440p, Medium sustains 104 FPS average with a minimum of 88 FPS, keeping the experience comfortably above 60 FPS with no dips below that threshold. At 4K, Medium is the only preset besides Low that maintains an average above 55 FPS, hitting 59 FPS average with a minimum of 50 FPS.

The Ultra preset is difficult to justify at any resolution in this dataset. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 71 FPS average — a 54% reduction from Medium's 154 FPS. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 48 FPS average. At 4K, it falls to 28 FPS average. The visual gains from Ultra over High are not quantified here, but the performance cost is steep: moving from High to Ultra costs 32% of frame rate at 1080p (105 to 71 FPS), 31% at 1440p (70 to 48 FPS), and 30% at 4K (40 to 28 FPS).

For players prioritizing smoothness, Low settings provide the highest frame rates but sacrifice significant visual quality. At 1080p Low, the 173 FPS average is 12% higher than Medium, but at 1440p Low, the 116 FPS average is only 12% higher than Medium's 104 FPS, and at 4K Low, the 67 FPS average is just 14% higher. The diminishing returns of Low over Medium at higher resolutions suggest Medium is the sweet spot for visual fidelity versus performance, especially at 1440p and 4K where the gaps narrow.

The data indicates that for 1080p users, either Medium or High works well depending on monitor refresh rate — High at 105 FPS average exceeds 100 FPS, while Medium at 154 FPS supports higher refresh displays. For 1440p users, Medium at 104 FPS average is the clear recommendation, as High at 70 FPS may feel less responsive and Ultra at 48 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K users, Medium at 59 FPS average is the only preset that approaches playable smoothness without dropping to Low.

# Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080 (1080p):

The Low preset produces the highest average FPS at 173, with no minimum or maximum values recorded. The Medium preset averages 154 FPS, with a minimum of 131 FPS and a maximum of 177 FPS — the widest range of any measured configuration, indicating substantial frame-time variation. The High preset drops to 105 FPS average, representing a 39% reduction from Low. The Ultra preset delivers 71 FPS average, which is a 54% reduction from Low and a 32% reduction from High. The step from Medium to High is the largest single-setting penalty at this resolution, costing 49 FPS (32% decline).

2560x1440 (1440p):

The Low preset averages 116 FPS, a 33% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 104 FPS, with a minimum of 88 FPS and a maximum of 119 FPS. The High preset delivers 70 FPS average, a 40% reduction from Low. The Ultra preset averages 48 FPS, which is 59% below Low and 31% below High. At this resolution, the gap between Medium and High is 34 FPS (33% decline), similar to the 1080p proportional drop. The minimum FPS of 88 at Medium confirms that this preset stays above 60 FPS at all times.

3840x2160 (4K):

The Low preset averages 67 FPS, a 42% drop from the 1440p Low result and a 61% drop from 1080p Low. The Medium preset averages 59 FPS, with a minimum of 50 FPS and a maximum of 68 FPS. The High preset delivers 40 FPS average, a 40% reduction from Low. The Ultra preset averages 28 FPS, which is 58% below Low and 30% below High. At 4K, the Medium preset's minimum of 50 FPS means the system will occasionally dip below 60 FPS, but the average remains playable. The High and Ultra presets at 4K fall below 60 FPS averages, with Ultra barely reaching 30 FPS territory.

Cross-Resolution Summary:

The Medium preset shows the most consistent scaling behavior, with averages of 154 (1080p), 104 (1440p), and 59 (4K). The Low preset scales from 173 to 116 to 67 across the same resolutions. The High preset scales from 105 to 70 to 40, and the Ultra preset scales from 71 to 48 to 28. The percentage drops from 1080p to 4K are 61% for Low, 62% for Medium, 62% for High, and 61% for Ultra — remarkably consistent across all settings, confirming that resolution is the dominant factor in frame rate degradation for this combo.

# FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for maintaining 60+ FPS at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 achieves an average FPS of 104 with a minimum of 88 and maximum of 119, ensuring the frame rate never drops below 60. The High preset at this resolution averages 70 FPS, which also stays above 60 but offers less headroom. Ultra averages 48 FPS and falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU rank compared to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D has an average benchmark score of 58386, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all CPUs. It is 0.1% ahead of the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M, 0.5% ahead of the Intel Core i9-14900, and 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470. The Intel Xeon w5-2545 trails it by 0.2%.

Q: Is the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K gaming in Archeage?

A: The data shows that at 3840x2160, the Ultra preset averages only 28 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 59 FPS with a minimum of 50 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 40 FPS. These results indicate the GPU struggles at 4K, particularly at higher settings, though the exact VRAM utilization is not measured in the dataset.

Q: What is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 173 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 71 FPS. This represents a 102 FPS difference, with Ultra delivering 59% lower performance than Low. The Medium preset at 154 FPS and High at 105 FPS fall between these extremes.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 combination ranks 1589th out of 3708 tested combos in Archeage. This places it in the lower half of the distribution, despite the CPU's strong 92nd percentile ranking, because the GPU's 61st percentile ranking pulls the overall combo down.

Q: Which resolution offers the best balance of performance and fidelity?

A: The 2560x1440 Medium preset delivers 104 FPS average with a minimum of 88 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 60 FPS while providing more detail than 1080p. The 4K Medium preset averages 59 FPS but dips to 50 FPS minimum, making 1440p Medium the highest resolution that maintains a consistent 60+ FPS experience.