Archeage

Archeage is a 2014 MMORPG with a heavy reliance on server-side simulation and draw calls, which makes its performance scaling distinct from modern single-player titles. The measured data for the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile combination reveals a pattern where the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong single-threaded performance keeps frame rates high at lower settings. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS rows to explain what the numbers mean for gameplay, setting by setting and resolution by resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 shows a steep decline that is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher pixel counts. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 212 at 1080p to 143 at 1440p, a reduction of 69 frames, and then falls further to 82 at 4K. This represents a 61% drop in performance from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering load is scaling heavily with pixel count, which points directly at the GPU as the limiting component at these settings.

The scaling pattern becomes even more revealing at Ultra settings, where the average FPS at 1080p is 87, dropping to 59 at 1440p and then to 34 at 4K. The relative performance loss from 1440p to 4K is 42%, while the loss from 1080p to 1440p is 32%. This nonlinear degradation suggests that the RTX 4090 Mobile is being pushed to its limits at 4K Ultra, where the sheer number of pixels combined with the game's draw call overhead creates a bottleneck that CPU frequency cannot resolve.

At Medium settings, the measured data includes min and max FPS values, which provide additional insight. At 1080p Medium, the average is 188 FPS with a min of 160 and max of 217. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 127 FPS (min 108, max 146), and at 4K Medium it falls to 73 FPS (min 62, max 84). The min-to-max spread at each resolution stays relatively consistent at around 57-58 FPS, which indicates that the frame time variance is not exploding as resolution increases, but the average is clearly being pulled down by the GPU's fill rate limits.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 212 FPS, which is well beyond typical display refresh rates and suggests the CPU is still providing enough headroom to feed the GPU. However, the gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 125 FPS (212 vs 87), which is a 59% reduction. This gap narrows at 4K, where Low and Ultra differ by only 48 FPS (82 vs 34). The narrowing gap at higher resolutions is a classic sign that the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck, as the CPU's role in determining frame rate diminishes.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a chip designated as AD103, manufactured on a 5 nm process. It features 9728 shading units and 112 ROPs, with a boost clock of 1695 MHz. The memory subsystem is substantial: 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus delivers 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game like Archeage, which can load many textures for characters and environments, the 16 GB capacity is more than sufficient, and the high bandwidth helps maintain consistent frame delivery when the camera pans across crowded areas.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 84th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 43667. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 with a deltaPct of 0.8, the RTX 5050 Mobile at 0.9, and the RTX A6000 at -0.9. This means the RTX 4090 Mobile is statistically tied with these cards in synthetic workloads, but the measured FPS data in Archeage shows it delivering playable frame rates even at 4K High, where it averages 49 FPS. The PassMark G3D score of 27212 and DirectX 12 score of 107 suggest strong raw compute, though Archeage's older engine may not fully utilize modern APIs.

The boost clock of 1695 MHz is relatively modest for a flagship mobile GPU, but the architecture's efficiency compensates. The pixel rate of 189.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 515.3 GTexel/s indicate that the GPU can handle the fill rate demands of 4K, but the measured data shows that Ultra settings at 4K still only reach 34 FPS. This implies that the game's Ultra preset includes effects that are particularly heavy on the GPU, possibly related to shadow rendering or post-processing, which the architecture's tensor cores and RT cores cannot accelerate in this title.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. The average FPS of 127 with a minimum of 108 ensures that frame drops stay above the 100 FPS threshold, which is smooth for an MMORPG where precise timing is less critical than in competitive shooters. The max FPS of 146 shows there is headroom for occasional spikes, and the min-to-max spread of 38 FPS is tighter than at 1080p Medium, where the spread is 57 FPS.

For users with 4K displays, the High preset at 3840x2160 yields an average of 49 FPS. This is below the 60 FPS target that many players prefer, but it is playable for the genre. The Low preset at 4K achieves 82 FPS, which is much smoother, but the visual degradation is significant. The Medium preset at 4K sits in between with 73 FPS, making it the better choice for 4K if the user can tolerate Medium-level shadows and textures. The data does not include min or max values for 4K High or Low, so the average alone suggests that Medium is the safest option for consistent frame pacing.

At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset averages 87 FPS, which is acceptable, but the High preset at 128 FPS is a substantial improvement with likely minimal visual difference in a game like Archeage. The Medium preset at 1080p reaches 188 FPS, which is excellent for high-refresh-rate monitors, and the min of 160 ensures that even busy scenes stay above 144 FPS. For competitive play or fast camera movement, the Low preset at 212 FPS provides maximum fluidity, but the Low preset likely disables ambient occlusion and other effects that give the world depth.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The resolution with the highest frame rates shows a clear hierarchy. Low settings deliver 212 FPS average, which is the peak measured value across all configurations. Medium settings reduce this to 188 FPS, with min and max values of 160 and 217 respectively, indicating some frame time variance but overall stability. High settings drop to 128 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 87 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 125 FPS, demonstrating that the Ultra preset imposes a massive penalty on the GPU at this resolution.

2560x1440: The 1440p results show a similar pattern but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings average 143 FPS, Medium averages 127 FPS (min 108, max 146), High averages 86 FPS, and Ultra averages 59 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p is notable because its min FPS of 108 is higher than the average FPS of the High preset at 86, meaning that Medium provides a more consistent experience than High at this resolution. The Ultra preset at 59 FPS is borderline playable but below the 60 FPS threshold.

3840x2160: At 4K, the data shows the GPU's limits more clearly. Low settings average 82 FPS, which is surprisingly high for 4K and indicates the game is not extremely demanding at low quality. Medium settings average 73 FPS with a min of 62 and max of 84, making it the only 4K preset with full min/max data. High settings drop to 49 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 34 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium at 4K is only 9 FPS, whereas the difference between Medium and High is 24 FPS, suggesting that the High preset enables effects that are disproportionately expensive at this resolution.

FAQ

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

A: The measured data shows that 2560x1440 with Medium settings provides 127 average FPS with a minimum of 108, which is the highest resolution that maintains a minimum above 100 FPS. For 4K, the Medium preset averages 73 FPS, but the min of 62 indicates occasional drops below 60.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 Mobile compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 43667, placing it in the 84th percentile. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 with a deltaPct of 0.8 and the RTX 5050 Mobile at 0.9, meaning the RTX 4090 Mobile is slightly ahead of both. The RTX A6000 is 0.9% faster.

Q: Does the CPU become a bottleneck at any settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 212 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high frame rates. The Ryzen 9 8945HX has a boost clock of 5.40 GHz and scores 6030 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is likely sufficient for Archeage's single-threaded engine, but the data shows the GPU becomes the limiter at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the frame time consistency at 4K Medium?

A: The 4K Medium preset has a min of 62 FPS and a max of 84 FPS, resulting in a spread of 22 FPS. This is the smallest spread among all measured Medium presets, indicating that 4K Medium provides the most consistent frame pacing at that resolution.

Q: How does the Ultra preset affect performance compared to High?

A: At every resolution, Ultra is significantly slower than High. At 1080p, Ultra is 41 FPS slower than High (87 vs 128). At 1440p, the difference is 27 FPS (59 vs 86), and at 4K, it is 15 FPS (34 vs 49). The relative penalty decreases as resolution increases, but Ultra always costs more than 30% performance.

Q: Is the Ryzen 9 8945HX a strong CPU for this game?

A: The CPU has a percentile rank of 95 among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 76212. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, is only 0.1% faster, while the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is 0.6% slower. This indicates the 8945HX is among the top processors for single-threaded tasks, which is relevant for Archeage's engine.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread processor from the 8000 series, built on Zen 4 architecture with a codename of Dragon Range. It uses a 5 nm process from TSMC and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing 83.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The base clock is 2.50 GHz with a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, which is crucial for a game like Archeage that likely relies on a single main thread for game logic and rendering submission.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong single-threaded performance: a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6030 and a Cinebench R20 single-core score of 2532. In multi-threaded workloads, the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 indicates that the processor has substantial parallel capabilities, but Archeage's engine may not use all 32 threads effectively. The PassMark single-thread score of 3907 and the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 607 further confirm that the CPU can handle high-frequency requests without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

In the measured FPS data, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p Low, where the combo reaches 212 FPS. This high frame rate is likely limited by the GPU's ability to process draw calls, but the CPU's 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures that the game's main thread can issue those calls quickly enough. The fact that 1080p Medium achieves 188 FPS with a min of 160 suggests that even when the GPU is doing more work, the CPU maintains consistent frame delivery. At higher resolutions, the CPU's workload per frame decreases relative to the GPU, so its impact on FPS diminishes.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 8945HX and RTX 4090 Mobile ranks 815th out of 3708 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the top 22% of all configurations. This rank is based on the measured FPS across all settings and resolutions, and it reflects the fact that while the CPU and GPU are individually high-performing, the game's engine does not fully utilize the hardware's capabilities. The rank of 815 is likely influenced by the fact that Archeage is an older MMORPG that may be more sensitive to memory latency than raw core count.

Given the CPU's 95th percentile rank and the GPU's 84th percentile rank, one might expect a higher combo rank. The discrepancy suggests that Archeage's optimization limits the benefits of such powerful hardware, particularly at 4K Ultra where the combo only manages 34 FPS. However, the combo's performance at 1440p Medium (127 FPS) and 1080p High (128 FPS) places it well above average for playable settings. The nearest CPU rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, has a deltaPct of 0.1, meaning the 8945HX is essentially tied in CPU benchmarks, so the ranking difference is more likely due to GPU behavior than CPU choice.

The data indicates that this combo is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming, where it delivers 188-212 FPS at Medium and Low settings. For 4K, the user must accept Medium settings to stay above 70 FPS, or High settings for a playable 49 FPS. The rank of 815 out of 3708 is respectable but not exceptional, as many other combos with slightly less powerful hardware may achieve similar frame rates in Archeage due to the game's engine constraints.