Archeage

# Archeage with AMD Ryzen 9 5950X + Intel Arc B370

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X paired with the Intel Arc B370 delivers a strikingly lopsided experience in Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG. The measured FPS data reveals a configuration where the integrated-class GPU is the overwhelming bottleneck, while the 16-core CPU sits largely idle in a title that rarely stresses modern processors. This combo ranks 3423rd out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems measured for this game, a position that reflects the GPU's 5th percentile standing among all graphics cards rather than any deficiency in the processor.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lives. At 1080p Low settings, the system averages 65 FPS, but at 1440p Low, that figure falls to 43 FPS — a 34% reduction. Moving to 4K Low, the average drops further to 25 FPS, which is just 38% of the 1080p Low result. This scaling pattern is far steeper than what one would expect from a balanced system, indicating that the GPU is being overwhelmed by pixel count well before the CPU becomes relevant.

The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly telling. At Medium settings, the drop from 39 FPS at 1440p to 22 FPS at 4K represents a 44% performance loss. For comparison, the High preset falls from 26 FPS at 1440p to 15 FPS at 4K, a 42% reduction. These consistent drops across presets suggest the rendering pipeline is purely fill-rate limited. The Intel Arc B370, with its 20 ROPs and 48.00 GPixel/s pixel rate, simply cannot sustain the pixel throughput demanded by 3840x2160, especially when combined with the game's alpha-heavy MMORPG effects.

What makes this scaling noteworthy is that the CPU should not be the limiting factor at any resolution. The Ryzen 9 5950X's 3dmark single-thread score of 944 and passmark single-thread score of 3470 rank in the 91st percentile among all CPUs, yet the system still cannot maintain playable frame rates at 4K. This strongly implies that even at 1080p, where the CPU has more headroom, the GPU is already the primary constraint. The fact that 1080p Ultra produces only 27 FPS — barely above the 4K Low result of 25 FPS — reinforces that the GPU's compute and memory resources are exhausted well before resolution becomes the deciding factor.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the decisive component in this configuration. With a 25 W TDP, 1280 shading units, and system-shared memory, this is an integrated graphics solution in every meaningful sense. The 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184 places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186, 0.2% faster) and the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192, 0.7% faster) — both legacy mobile parts from over a decade ago. The GPU's boost clock of 2400 MHz and base clock of 300 MHz suggest aggressive power management, but the 6.144 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is simply inadequate for modern rendering demands at high resolutions.

The system-shared memory configuration is particularly problematic for Archeage. Unlike dedicated VRAM, the Arc B370 draws from the same DDR4 memory pool as the CPU, with bandwidth described as "System Dependent." The Ryzen 9 5950X supports dual-channel DDR4 with a theoretical bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, but this bandwidth is shared between CPU and GPU workloads. In Archeage, which features large open-world zones with many players and dynamic objects, the constant texture streaming and geometry updates can saturate this shared bus, explaining why the measured FPS values are so low even at 1080p Medium (57 FPS) where one might expect better from a modern architecture.

The GPU's API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, which means it can technically handle modern rendering features. However, Archeage launched in 2014 and likely uses an older DX11-style pipeline. The Arc B370's Xe3-LPG architecture and Panther Lake chip may not be optimally tuned for legacy title workloads, as indicated by the steep performance cliffs between settings presets. The 10 RT cores and 40 TMUs provide some hardware capability, but the 20 ROPs create a pixel-pushing bottleneck that no amount of compute or texture throughput can overcome.

FAQ

Q: Why does the system only achieve 15 FPS at 4K High settings?

A: The Intel Arc B370 has a pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and only 20 ROPs, which is insufficient for 3840x2160 rendering. The 5th percentile GPU ranking (3dmark Steel Nomad score of 1184) confirms that this GPU is comparable to legacy parts like the ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), which were not designed for 4K gaming.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 5950X the reason for low frame rates?

A: No. The CPU benchmarks show strong performance (cinebench R23 multi-core score of 26017, passmark multithread score of 45424), and the CPU ranks in the 91st percentile. The measured FPS scaling between resolutions — 65 FPS at 1080p Low versus 25 FPS at 4K Low — indicates the GPU saturates long before the CPU's 16 cores and 32 threads become a factor.

Q: What is the best settings preset for this combo?

A: Based on measured data, 1080p Low provides the highest average FPS at 65. For a better visual experience, 1080p Medium at 57 FPS offers a reasonable trade-off, though the 1080p Ultra preset at 27 FPS shows that high settings are not viable at any resolution.

Q: How does the Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The GPU's 3dmark score of 1184 is within 1.4% of the AMD FirePro M2000 (1168) and within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192). All four nearest rivals are within a 2% performance band, meaning the Arc B370's relative position is tightly clustered with decade-old discrete mobile GPUs.

Q: Does the CPU's high core count help in Archeage?

A: Archeage is an MMORPG with workloads that typically scale to only a few threads. The Ryzen 9 5950X's 3dmark 2-thread score of 1856 and 4-thread score of 3595 are solid, but the measured FPS at 1080p Medium (57 FPS) versus 1080p High (39 FPS) shows settings-dependent performance that the CPU cannot offset given the GPU's limits.

Q: Is the 3423rd rank out of 3708 combos expected?

A: Yes. The combo's bottom 8% ranking aligns with the GPU's 5th percentile standing. The CPU is a top-tier part, but the GPU's integrated design creates a severe imbalance that drags the entire system down in this GPU-bound title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data clearly shows that the Low preset is the only viable option for this configuration, and even then, only at 1080p or 1440p. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 65 FPS, which is the only preset and resolution combination that approaches smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 57 FPS with a minimum of 49 FPS and maximum of 66 FPS, making it a marginally more demanding alternative that still falls within playable territory for an MMORPG.

At 1440p, the Low preset drops to 43 FPS, which may be acceptable for less action-oriented gameplay, but the Medium preset at 39 FPS (min 33, max 44) begins to show frame-time inconsistency. The High preset at 1080p (39 FPS) and 1440p (26 FPS) represents a steep quality-to-performance cliff, suggesting that the game's High preset introduces effects that disproportionately impact the GPU's limited resources. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable across all resolutions, with 4K Ultra at 10 FPS and 1080p Ultra at 27 FPS.

For the best experience per the measured rows, 1080p Low at 65 FPS is the clear recommendation. Players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate might consider 1080p Medium at 57 FPS, given that the minimum FPS of 49 remains above 30. However, the drop from Low to Medium (65 to 57 FPS) is modest, while High (39 FPS) represents a 40% performance loss from Medium — a substantial penalty that suggests the High preset enables resource-intensive features that this GPU cannot handle efficiently.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table reveals a consistent pattern of GPU-limited performance across all nine tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the system produces its best results: Low averages 65 FPS, Medium averages 57 FPS (min 49, max 66), High averages 39 FPS, and Ultra averages 27 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 38 FPS, indicating that each settings tier imposes significant additional load on the GPU.

At 2560x1440, performance drops substantially: Low averages 43 FPS, Medium averages 39 FPS (min 33, max 44), High averages 26 FPS, and Ultra averages 18 FPS. The 1440p Medium result is the only non-Low preset that maintains an average above 30 FPS, though the minimum of 33 FPS leaves little headroom for demanding scenes with many players.

At 3840x2160, the system becomes largely unplayable: Low averages 25 FPS, Medium averages 22 FPS (min 19, max 25), High averages 15 FPS, and Ultra averages 10 FPS. The 4K results show a compressed range of only 15 FPS between Low and Ultra, suggesting that the GPU's pixel throughput is so constrained that settings changes have diminishing impact. The Medium preset at 4K has the only recorded minimum and maximum values (19 to 25 FPS), indicating that even this mid-tier setting causes frame rates to fluctuate within a narrow, low band.

Comparing across resolutions at the same preset reveals the pixel-count sensitivity: Low preset drops from 65 FPS at 1080p to 43 FPS at 1440p (34% loss) and then to 25 FPS at 4K (42% loss from 1440p). The Medium preset shows a similar pattern: 57 FPS at 1080p, 39 FPS at 1440p (32% loss), and 22 FPS at 4K (44% loss). This consistent 30-45% per-resolution-step decline is the signature of a fill-rate-bound GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is a high-end desktop processor with 16 cores and 32 threads, base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz. Its benchmarks are uniformly strong: 3dmark max-thread score of 11597, cinebench R23 multi-core of 26017, and passmark multithread of 45424. The single-thread performance is equally solid with a geekbench single-core score of 2083 and 3dmark single-thread score of 944. The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms that it is not a limiting factor in this configuration.

However, the data suggests the CPU's capabilities are largely wasted in Archeage. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 10810 versus the 2-thread score of 1856 shows that the processor's performance scales dramatically with thread count, but MMORPGs like Archeage typically rely on fewer threads. The passmark physics score of 1878 and find-prime-numbers score of 228 indicate that the CPU's raw compute is available, yet the measured FPS never exceeds 65 even at 1080p Low — a figure that many mid-range CPUs could achieve.

The CPU's 64 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support at 51.2 GB/s provide ample bandwidth for game data, but the Arc B370's system-shared memory means the GPU competes for this same bandwidth. This shared resource contention could explain why the 1080p High preset (39 FPS) is disproportionately slower than Medium (57 FPS), as higher-quality textures and effects increase memory traffic that must be split between CPU and GPU workloads. The CPU's nearest rivals — Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (0.2% faster), AMD EPYC 8124P (0.3% faster), and Intel Core i9-13900F (0.4% slower) — all exhibit nearly identical average scores, confirming that the 5950X is not the performance determinant here.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 3423rd out of 3708 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the bottom 7.7% of all systems. The ranking is consistent with the GPU's 5th percentile standing; the Arc B370's 3dmark Steel Nomad score of 1184 is virtually identical to the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186) and ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190). In contrast, the CPU's 91st percentile ranking is among the highest of any processor tested, yet it cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations.

The disparity between the CPU's top-tier positioning and the combo's bottom-tier ranking highlights a fundamental imbalance. The Ryzen 9 5950X's nearest rivals — all within 0.7% in average score — represent modern high-end processors, while the Arc B370's nearest rivals are legacy mobile and desktop GPUs from over a decade ago. This combination of a 91st-percentile CPU with a 5th-percentile GPU produces a system that ranks near the bottom, demonstrating that in Archeage, the GPU is the sole arbiter of performance.

The measured FPS data reinforces this imbalance. The best-case scenario of 65 FPS at 1080p Low is achievable with far less capable CPUs, while the 4K Ultra result of 10 FPS is indistinguishable from systems with much weaker processors. The 3708 tested combos likely include many with mid-range CPUs and discrete GPUs that outperform this configuration, given that the Arc B370's integrated-class design (25 W TDP, system-shared memory) places it below even entry-level discrete graphics solutions. For Archeage players, this combo represents a case where CPU investment yields no visible return, and the GPU choice alone determines the playable settings envelope.