Archeage

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers a highly capable Archeage experience, but the data reveals a clear performance hierarchy that shifts dramatically based on resolution and settings. At 1080p, this combination is overwhelmingly CPU-bound, producing exceptional frame rates that exceed 200 FPS on Low settings, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, dropping the experience to just 33 FPS. This pairing ranks in the top 23% of all tested combos for this game, indicating that while it is not at the absolute modern, it offers a robust and versatile platform for both competitive and high-fidelity play.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a textbook transition from a CPU-limited scenario to a GPU-limited one. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo achieves 211 FPS, which drops to 142 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 81 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 62% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The steep decline at higher resolutions indicates that the graphics card is being increasingly taxed as pixel count rises, which is expected given the RTX 4070's specifications.

Looking at the High settings preset, the scaling pattern is even more pronounced. The average FPS goes from 127 at 1080p, to 86 at 1440p, and finally to 49 at 4K. The percentage drops here are 32% and 61% respectively, showing that the GPU workload scales almost linearly with resolution when the visual fidelity is already demanding. The data strongly suggests that at 4K, the RTX 4070 is the limiting component, as the frame rates across all settings are significantly lower than at lower resolutions.

The Medium settings row provides the most complete dataset, including minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 187 FPS with a minimum of 159 FPS and maximum of 215 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 126 FPS with a range of 107 to 145 FPS. At 4K Medium, the average is 72 FPS with a range of 61 to 83 FPS. The minimum FPS values are particularly telling: the 4K Medium minimum of 61 FPS is still playable, but the gap between average and minimum narrows at higher resolutions, suggesting that frame time consistency improves when the CPU is no longer the bottleneck.

The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with 87 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and just 33 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is a 62% reduction, which is the largest percentage drop among all settings presets. This indicates that Ultra settings place an immense load on the GPU, and the RTX 4070 simply cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K with this preset. The data clearly indicates that for 4K gaming, users should stick to Medium or Low settings to achieve playable frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, provides a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. This bandwidth is crucial for handling the texture-heavy environments typical of MMORPGs like Archeage. The benchmark data shows that this GPU is capable of delivering 81 FPS at 4K Low settings, which indicates that even at high resolutions, the memory subsystem is not a limiting factor when the shading load is reduced.

The GPU's clock speeds are specified with a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. These clocks, combined with 5888 shading units, allow the card to achieve a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s. The FP32 performance of 29.15 TFLOPS is substantial, yet the 4K Ultra result of 33 FPS shows that even this computational power is insufficient for the most demanding settings at that resolution.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 37648 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA Tesla P4, which scores 37628, a negligible 0.1% difference. However, the RTX 4070 outperforms the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (score 37507) by 0.4%, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (score 37157) by 1.3%. The RTX 4070 is slightly behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (score 38135) by 1.3%. These rival scores indicate that the RTX 4070 is a mid-to-high-tier performer, and its in-game results at 1440p and below are consistent with that positioning.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity is a notable asset for Archeage, which is an older title from 2014 but can still consume significant memory at high resolutions and texture settings. The fact that the 4K Medium preset achieves 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS suggests that the VRAM capacity is sufficient for this resolution, as the performance bottleneck appears to be raw computational throughput rather than memory capacity. The 504.2 GB/s bandwidth also proves adequate, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution rather than suffering from memory-related stutters.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer, manufactured on a 7 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.80 GHz. The processor's large 64 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are well-suited for MMORPGs, which often involve complex world simulations and many concurrent entities.

The CPU's benchmark results show a strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16262 and a single-core score of 1527. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9075 and max-thread score of 10075 further confirm its multi-threaded capabilities. The PassMark multi-thread score of 39002 and single-thread score of 3469 indicate that this CPU excels in both heavily threaded and lightly threaded workloads.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 211 FPS, which is likely near the engine's maximum frame rate. The fact that this high frame rate does not scale proportionally with the GPU's capabilities suggests that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution. The Ryzen 9 5900X's high single-thread performance, as evidenced by its Geekbench single-core score of 2083, helps maintain high frame rates in the game's main simulation thread.

The CPU's overall average benchmark score is 41376, placing it in the 87th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival is the Intel Core i7-14650HX, which scores 41576, a 0.5% difference. The Ryzen 9 5900X is also closely matched with the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H (score 41263, 0.3% faster), the Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (score 41215, 0.4% faster), and the AMD Ryzen AI 5 PRO 440 (score 41208, 0.4% faster). This indicates that the Ryzen 9 5900X is still highly competitive in the current CPU landscape, despite being released in late 2020.

The CPU's 24 threads are likely beneficial for Archeage in crowded areas or during large-scale battles, where many simultaneous computations are required. However, the data shows that at 1440p and 4K, the frame rates are more dependent on the GPU, as the decreases in FPS align with the increased pixel rendering load rather than any CPU limitation. The 1080p Ultra result of 87 FPS, compared to 1080p High at 127 FPS, shows a 31% drop, which is attributed to the GPU's increased workload rather than the CPU.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 863rd out of 3708 tested combos for Archeage, placing it in the top 23.3% of all configurations. This is a strong ranking that reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU. The rank indicates that while there are many faster combos, this pairing is significantly better than the majority of systems that have been benchmarked.

The ranking is particularly impressive when considering that the CPU is from the 5000 series, which is now a previous generation. The Ryzen 9 5900X's percentile of 87 against all CPUs shows that it remains a high-end processor, and its pairing with the RTX 4070, which is in the 81st percentile of GPUs, creates a synergistic combination. The fact that the combo ranks in the top quarter of all tested systems suggests that this hardware pairing is well-suited for Archeage, delivering high frame rates at most settings.

The combo's ranking is further contextualized by the individual component's nearest rivals. The CPU is 0.3% slower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 366H, yet the overall combo ranking suggests that the GPU is the more significant factor in determining Archeage performance. The GPU is 1.3% slower than the RTX 4080 Mobile, but this difference is unlikely to be noticeable in most gameplay scenarios. The data indicates that this combo is in a sweet spot, offering high performance without the extreme cost associated with top-tier components.

Given that this combo ranks 863rd out of 3708, it is clear that a significant portion of tested systems (approximately 2845 combos) rank below it. This means that the Ryzen 9 5900X and RTX 4070 combination will provide a gaming experience that is superior to the vast majority of other configurations. For players seeking high refresh rates at 1080p or solid frame rates at 1440p, this combo is well above average.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For 1080p gaming, the High settings preset at 127 FPS is an excellent choice, offering a smooth experience well above the 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset at 187 FPS is even better for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors, while the Low preset at 211 FPS is best for maximizing frame rates. The Ultra preset at 87 FPS is also playable and provides the best visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the High settings preset at 86 FPS is the recommended choice, as it balances visual quality with a frame rate that is comfortably above 60 FPS. The Medium preset at 126 FPS is a strong alternative for those who prioritize frame rate over visual detail, while the Low preset at 142 FPS is suitable for competitive scenarios. The Ultra preset at 58 FPS is borderline, as it dips below 60 FPS and may result in less smooth gameplay.

For 4K gaming, the data clearly shows that the Ultra preset is not viable, with an average of just 33 FPS. The High preset at 49 FPS is also below the ideal 60 FPS threshold but is still playable in a less demanding MMORPG context. The Medium preset at 72 FPS is the best choice for 4K, providing a good balance of visual quality and performance. The Low preset at 81 FPS is the most performant option at 4K, should players prioritize smoothness above all else.

The data suggests that the Medium settings preset offers the best overall experience across all resolutions. It provides the most consistent frame times, as evidenced by the available minimum and maximum FPS values, and it avoids the extreme performance penalties of the Ultra preset. For the majority of players, selecting Medium settings at their native resolution will yield a satisfying combination of visual fidelity and performance. The High preset is a viable alternative for those with 1080p or 1440p displays who want better graphics without a significant FPS drop.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS data for this combo is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the Low settings preset achieves an average of 211 FPS with no minimum or maximum data provided. The Medium preset averages 187 FPS, with a minimum of 159 FPS and a maximum of 215 FPS. The High preset averages 127 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 87 FPS. This shows a clear progression where each step up in settings reduces the average FPS, with the most significant drop occurring between High and Ultra, a 31.5% reduction.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 142 FPS. The Medium preset averages 126 FPS, with a minimum of 107 FPS and a maximum of 145 FPS. The High preset averages 86 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 58 FPS. The percentage difference between Low and Ultra here is 59.2%, which is more pronounced than at 1080p, indicating the GPU's increasing role at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 81 FPS. The Medium preset averages 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. The High preset averages 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 33 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra at 4K is 59.3%, showing that the GPU is heavily taxed at this resolution regardless of settings.

The Medium preset is the only one that provides complete data across all three resolutions, allowing for a precise analysis of scaling. From 1080p to 1440p, the average drops from 187 to 126 FPS, a 32.6% decrease. From 1440p to 4K, the average drops from 126 to 72 FPS, a 42.9% decrease. The minimum FPS at 1080p is 159, at 1440p is 107, and at 4K is 61, showing a similar trend of decreasing floor as resolution increases. These numbers confirm that the RTX 4070's performance scales predictably with pixel count, and the CPU's influence diminishes at higher resolutions.