Archeage

# Archeage GPU/CPU Performance Analysis

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 represents a mainstream desktop configuration from the Comet Lake and Turing generations respectively. In Archeage, an MMORPG released in 2014, this combination ranks 1648th out of 1727 tested combos, placing it in the lower quartile of all possible pairings. The measured frame rate data across three resolutions and four quality settings reveals a system that can deliver playable performance at 1080p with reduced settings, but struggles at higher resolutions and maximum quality presets.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in Archeage?

A: The data shows the highest average frame rate of 61.9 FPS is achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. Medium settings at the same resolution yield 57.6 FPS, while High settings drop to 38.2 FPS. Ultra settings at 1080p produce only 26.8 FPS, making Low or Medium at 1080p the practical choices.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The GTX 1650 posts an average benchmark score of 8713, which is 0.4% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile (8746) and 0.4% below the AMD Radeon 550X (8749). It sits 0.5% above the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8671) and 0.5% below the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8761). These are tight margins, indicating near-parity with its immediate competitors.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance relative to its rivals?

A: The i5-10400F achieves an average benchmark score of 14168, placing it 0.4% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115) and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (14277). It trails the Intel Core i5-8500 (14332) by 1.1% and the AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (14336) by 1.2%.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck Archeage at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the frame rates are consistently low across all settings, with Medium achieving 24 FPS, Low at 22.6 FPS, High at 16.4 FPS, and Ultra dropping to 9.1 FPS. The GPU's 4 GB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit bus width with 128.1 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for this resolution, indicating a clear GPU limitation.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 perform in DirectX benchmarks?

A: The PassMark DirectX 9 score of 124 is the highest among the API tests, followed by DirectX 11 at 58, DirectX 10 at 39, and DirectX 12 at 35. This suggests the card's architectural strengths align with older DirectX versions, which is relevant for a 2014 MMORPG.

Q: What is the CPU's single-threaded performance classification?

A: The i5-10400F scores 688 in 3DMark single-thread testing and 2541 in PassMark single-thread testing. Its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453 and Geekbench single-core score of 1454 confirm modest single-thread capability, which can matter in an MMORPG's main-thread-bound scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 features the TU117 chip built on a 12 nm process at TSMC, containing 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. Its memory subsystem comprises 4 GB of GDDR5 across a 128-bit bus, delivering 128.1 GB/s bandwidth. The card operates at a base clock of 1485 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, while memory runs at 2001 MHz (8 Gbps effective). With 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, the GPU achieves a pixel rate of 53.28 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 93.24 GTexel/s. Its FP32 throughput is 2.984 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 5.967 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).

In Archeage, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1920x1080, the GTX 1650 delivers 61.9 FPS at Low settings, which drops to 57.6 FPS at Medium—a modest 6.9% reduction. The jump to High settings cuts performance to 38.2 FPS, a 38.3% decline from Low, while Ultra plunges to 26.8 FPS, representing a 56.7% loss. This pattern suggests that texture quality and shading complexity at High and Ultra presets exceed what the 4 GB frame buffer can efficiently manage at 1080p.

At 2560x1440, the GPU's limitations become more pronounced. Low settings produce 38.3 FPS, Medium yields 37.6 FPS, and High drops to 25.8 FPS. Ultra falls to 14.7 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. The 4 GB memory capacity and 128-bit bus are increasingly stressed at this resolution, as the bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s becomes a limiting factor for high-resolution texture streaming in an open-world MMORPG.

The 43rd percentile ranking among all GPUs places the GTX 1650 in the lower half of the performance distribution. Its average benchmark score of 8713 shows it operates within a tight band of its nearest rivals, with deltas of only 0.4-0.5% against the RTX 3050 A Mobile, Radeon 550X, Quadro P2200, and Radeon Pro WX 5100. This indicates the card's performance level is well-established and predictable across various workloads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration, providing 42.7 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The CPU connects via PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes and uses the Intel Socket 1200 interface.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded scaling. In 3DMark, the score progresses from 1350 with 2 threads to 2560 with 4 threads, 3929 with 8 threads, and peaks at 4748 with 16 threads. The max-thread score of 4735 is nearly identical to the 16-thread result, confirming that the 12 threads are fully utilized. Cinebench R23 scores of 10297 multi-core and 1453 single-core, along with PassMark multi-thread results of 12115, indicate solid all-round performance for its class.

In Archeage, an MMORPG that relies heavily on CPU for game logic, network handling, and world state updates, the i5-10400F's 6 cores and 12 threads provide adequate headroom. The single-thread performance, while not exceptional with a PassMark score of 2541, is sufficient for the game's main-thread operations. The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking among all processors suggests it outperforms the GPU's 43rd percentile positioning, making the GPU the primary bottleneck in most scenarios.

The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.4% ahead), AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% behind), Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% behind), and AMD Ryzen Embedded V2546 (1.2% behind). These small deltas indicate that the i5-10400F sits at a performance plateau shared by several processors, with no significant advantage or disadvantage over direct competitors.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the configuration achieves its most playable results. Low settings deliver 61.9 FPS average, which is above the common 60 FPS target. Medium settings maintain 57.6 FPS, still comfortably playable. High settings drop to 38.2 FPS, which may introduce noticeable stutter in crowded MMORPG environments. Ultra settings yield only 26.8 FPS, making this preset impractical for smooth gameplay.

At 2560x1440, performance degrades across all settings. Low produces 38.3 FPS, Medium 37.6 FPS, and High 25.8 FPS. Ultra falls to 14.7 FPS, which is below the threshold for acceptable playability. The difference between Low and Medium at this resolution is minimal at 0.7 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is already saturated and additional quality settings have limited impact.

At 3840x2160, the results are universally poor. Medium settings lead with 24 FPS, followed by Low at 22.6 FPS, High at 16.4 FPS, and Ultra at 9.1 FPS. The fact that Medium outperforms Low by 1.4 FPS is anomalous and may indicate that certain Low settings cause inefficient GPU utilization. None of these results approach playable frame rates for an MMORPG.

The Ultra preset consistently produces the lowest frame rates at every resolution: 26.8 FPS at 1080p, 14.7 FPS at 1440p, and 9.1 FPS at 4K. This represents a steep performance cliff compared to High settings, suggesting that Ultra enables features that severely tax the GPU's 2.984 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability and 4 GB memory.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component clearly. At Low settings, frame rates decline from 61.9 FPS at 1080p to 38.3 FPS at 1440p (a 38.1% reduction) and further to 22.6 FPS at 4K (a 63.5% reduction from 1080p). At Medium settings, the progression is 57.6 FPS to 37.6 FPS to 24 FPS, representing drops of 34.7% and 58.3% respectively.

High settings show 38.2 FPS at 1080p, 25.8 FPS at 1440p, and 16.4 FPS at 4K, with reductions of 32.5% and 57.1%. Ultra settings produce 26.8 FPS, 14.7 FPS, and 9.1 FPS across the three resolutions, with drops of 45.1% and 66.0%. The scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s and 128-bit bus width are the primary constraints as pixel count increases.

The fill rate and texture rate figures—53.28 GPixel/s and 93.24 GTexel/s respectively—provide context for these results. At 4K, the pixel throughput required to maintain even 30 FPS exceeds what the GTX 1650 can sustain given its other bottlenecks. The GPU's 43rd percentile ranking and its proximity to mobile and workstation competitors (within 0.5% of the RTX 3050 A Mobile and Quadro P2200) confirm that this card is not designed for high-resolution gaming.

The CPU's 73rd percentile ranking relative to the GPU's 43rd percentile indicates that the i5-10400F retains headroom that the GTX 1650 cannot exploit at higher resolutions. At 1080p, where frame rates are highest, the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads can keep up with the GPU's output. As resolution increases, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck, with frame rates limited by rendering throughput rather than game logic or world simulation. For Archeage, this configuration is best suited to 1080p gaming with Low or Medium settings, where it can approach or exceed 60 FPS.