Archeage

# Archeage with Intel Core i3-12100F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a wide spread of frame rates across Archeage's four presets and three resolutions, with the data showing that the High preset at 1440p is the sweet spot for balanced performance. The measured rows reveal a system that can push past 170 FPS at 1080p on Low settings, yet drops to just 25.3 FPS at 4K Ultra, indicating a dramatic swing that depends heavily on both resolution and quality level.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows paint a clear hierarchy of presets. At 1080p, the Low preset produces 176.6 FPS, Medium delivers 157.1 FPS, High reaches 107.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 71.3 FPS. The jump from High to Ultra costs 36.3 FPS, a 33.7% drop, while the step from Medium to High costs 49.5 FPS, a 31.5% reduction. Benchmark results indicate that High at 1080p is the most efficient choice for high-refresh displays, as it keeps frame rates above 100 FPS without the steep penalty of Ultra.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. Low produces 119.6 FPS, Medium hits 105.5 FPS, High manages 69 FPS, and Ultra drops to 45.9 FPS. Here, Medium offers the best experience per the measured rows, staying above 100 FPS while providing a substantial visual upgrade over Low. High at 1440p falls below the 70 FPS mark, which may be noticeable on 144Hz panels, making Medium the recommended preset for this resolution.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. Low yields 68.5 FPS, Medium drops to 56.7 FPS, High falls to 42.2 FPS, and Ultra plummets to 25.3 FPS. None of the presets exceed 70 FPS at 3840x2160, and the data suggests that players targeting smooth gameplay at this resolution should stick with Low or Medium. The 31.8 FPS gap between Low and Medium at 4K is significant, but even Low cannot sustain a locked 60 FPS in all scenes. For the best overall experience across the measured rows, High at 1080p or Medium at 1440p emerges as the optimal balance of frame rate and visual quality.

GPU Role

The RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is substantial for a game of Archeage's era. The GPU's boost clock of 1725 MHz and base clock of 1500 MHz operate within a 220 W TDP envelope, and the 5888 shading units handle the game's draw calls efficiently at lower resolutions. The measured data shows that at 1080p, the GPU is not the primary bottleneck in most presets — the frame rate differences between Low and Medium are only 19.5 FPS, suggesting headroom remains.

At 1440p, the GPU begins to assert more influence. The drop from Low to Medium costs 14.1 FPS, while High and Ultra show larger penalties of 50.6 FPS and 73.7 FPS respectively compared to Low. This indicates that the RTX 3070's compute resources are increasingly taxed as settings rise. At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant constraint. The 43.2 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 3840x2160 demonstrates how the 8 GB frame buffer and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth struggle with higher quality textures and effects at this resolution. The GPU's percentile rank of 72 versus all GPUs places it in the upper tier, yet Archeage's Ultra preset at 4K pushes it beyond its comfortable operating range.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 176.6 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset. This represents the ceiling for this configuration in the measured data.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1080p to 1440p at High settings?

A: At High settings, the 1080p average is 107.6 FPS, while 1440p drops to 69 FPS. This is a reduction of 38.6 FPS, or roughly 35.9% lower performance.

Q: Is the RTX 3070 capable of 4K gaming in Archeage?

A: Yes, but only at lower presets. The measured data shows 68.5 FPS at 4K Low and 56.7 FPS at 4K Medium, while High and Ultra fall to 42.2 FPS and 25.3 FPS respectively. Smooth 60 FPS at 4K is only possible on Low.

Q: Which preset offers the best balance of frame rate and visual quality at 1440p?

A: Medium at 1440p delivers 105.5 FPS, which is the only preset at this resolution to exceed 100 FPS. High drops to 69 FPS, making Medium the recommended choice per the measured rows.

Q: What is the performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: Low averages 176.6 FPS, while Ultra averages 71.3 FPS. This represents a 105.3 FPS difference, meaning Ultra delivers just 40.4% of Low's frame rate at the same resolution.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested combinations in Archeage?

A: The combo ranks 769 out of 1,727 tested combinations, placing it in the 44.5th percentile. This suggests it performs slightly below the median of all tested systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS rows provide a complete picture across three resolutions and four presets. At 1920x1080, the data shows 176.6 FPS on Low, 157.1 FPS on Medium, 107.6 FPS on High, and 71.3 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Medium costs 19.5 FPS, Medium to High costs 49.5 FPS, and High to Ultra costs 36.3 FPS. This reveals that the largest single-step penalty at 1080p occurs between Medium and High, suggesting a significant increase in GPU workload at that tier.

At 2560x1440, the measured averages are 119.6 FPS on Low, 105.5 FPS on Medium, 69 FPS on High, and 45.9 FPS on Ultra. The gaps are 14.1 FPS between Low and Medium, 36.5 FPS between Medium and High, and 23.1 FPS between High and Ultra. Compared to 1080p, the absolute frame rates are lower across the board, but the relative ordering of presets remains consistent.

At 3840x2160, the data shows 68.5 FPS on Low, 56.7 FPS on Medium, 42.2 FPS on High, and 25.3 FPS on Ultra. The differences are 11.8 FPS between Low and Medium, 14.5 FPS between Medium and High, and 16.9 FPS between High and Ultra. Notably, the penalty for each successive preset tier grows as resolution increases, indicating that the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading capacity are being saturated more completely at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 769 out of 1,727 tested combinations places this system in the lower-middle portion of the database. This ranking is somewhat surprising given the RTX 3070's individual percentile of 72 and the Core i3-12100F's percentile of 72. The data implies that while both components are individually above average, their combination in Archeage does not yield a top-tier result. The CPU's avg benchmark score of 13,516 sits within 0.1% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX and 0.4% below the Intel Core i7-1250U, suggesting the i3-12100F is not the limiting factor in raw compute terms.

The GPU's avg benchmark score of 28,238 places it 0.6% above the AMD FirePro S7150 and 0.9% above the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, yet the in-game performance at 4K Ultra (25.3 FPS) indicates that Archeage's specific workload is not fully utilizing the GPU's capabilities. The rank of 769 suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings deliver better frame rates in this MMORPG, potentially due to the game's optimization patterns or the CPU's 4-core, 8-thread configuration struggling with crowded scenes despite its strong single-thread score of 893 in 3dmark.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F operates with 4 cores and 8 threads at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide reasonable data locality for a game like Archeage, which typically favors single-thread performance. The CPU's cinebench r23 multicore score of 11,912 and single-core score of 1,681 demonstrate capable throughput, and its passmark single-thread score of 3,444 reinforces this strength.

However, the measured FPS data reveals that this CPU may struggle to feed the RTX 3070 at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system produces 176.6 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra it drops to 71.3 FPS — a pattern that suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher settings, while the CPU limits performance at lower settings. The CPU's percentile of 72 versus all CPUs indicates it is competitive, but its 4-core design may cause frame pacing issues in MMORPG environments with many player characters. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 4,051 versus the 2-thread score of 1,659 shows scaling efficiency, yet Archeage's engine may not leverage all threads effectively, leaving the i3-12100F's advantages partially unrealized.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, 1080p yields 176.6 FPS, 1440p drops to 119.6 FPS (a 32.3% reduction), and 4K falls to 68.5 FPS (a 61.2% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline at 4K indicates the GPU is heavily taxed, as resolution scaling directly increases pixel count and memory pressure.

At High settings, 1080p produces 107.6 FPS, 1440p drops to 69 FPS (a 35.9% reduction), and 4K falls to 42.2 FPS (a 60.8% reduction from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that resolution scaling has a uniform impact regardless of quality level. The 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 8 GB frame buffer are likely contributors to the 4K performance collapse, as higher resolutions require more texture data and larger frame buffers. The data implies that the RTX 3070 is the limiting component at 1440p and above, while at 1080p the i3-12100F's 4-core architecture may cap maximum frame rates below what the GPU could theoretically deliver.