Archeage

ArcheAge is a 2014 MMORPG that remains sensitive to both CPU and GPU load, and this specific pairing of an Intel Core i5-10400F with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a wide spread of results depending on how you configure it. The measured data shows that the difference between the lowest and highest settings at 1080p is a massive 69 frames per second, from 117 FPS on Low down to 48 FPS on Ultra. This indicates that the game’s graphics settings have a profound impact on performance, and the RTX 2060 is capable of delivering very high frame rates when the load is reduced, but it struggles to maintain fluid motion at maximum quality presets. The GPU’s performance percentile versus all GPUs is 58, and its average benchmark score of 15290 places it in a dead heat with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, which scores 15283, and just 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon 680M, which scores 15270. The CPU, meanwhile, sits at the 68th percentile versus all CPUs, and its 12 threads are fully utilized by the game’s multithreaded engine, as multiple benchmark results indicate.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows present a clear picture: the Medium preset is the sweet spot for this hardware combination. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers an average of 104 FPS, which is a substantial and playable margin above the 60 FPS threshold, and it does so with a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 120 FPS. This consistency is crucial for an MMORPG where frame time spikes during large-scale battles can be disruptive. The High preset at 1080p drops the average to 71 FPS, which is still playable, but the 33 FPS average loss from Medium to High is significant for a relatively modest visual upgrade. The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution, as it pushes the average down to 48 FPS at 1080p, which is below the ideal range for a game that requires smooth camera movement and ability queues.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset remains the most viable option, producing an average of 70 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS. This is exactly at the edge of playability, and the data suggests that this is the highest resolution at which Medium settings can sustain a playable experience. The High preset at 1440p drops to 48 FPS average, which is a noticeable step down in fluidity, and the Low preset, while achieving 79 FPS, sacrifices too much visual fidelity for an MMORPG where the environment is a significant part of the experience. For 4K, the data indicates that this combination is not suited for high-quality gaming; the Medium preset at 3840x2160 averages only 40 FPS, and the High preset falls to 27 FPS. The Low preset at 4K reaches 45 FPS, but the visual compromise is severe.

The best experience is achieved by selecting Medium settings at 1080p. This configuration provides a high average frame rate with a tight minimum-to-maximum range, indicating stable performance. If you prefer higher visual fidelity and can tolerate a lower frame rate, the High preset at 1080p is acceptable, but the data shows that the transition from Medium to High costs roughly 31.7% of the average FPS. The Ultra preset should be avoided entirely with this hardware, as the performance penalty is disproportionate to the visual gains.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the primary driver of the frame rate differences between settings presets. The GPU has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. It operates at a base clock of 1365 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz, which are the frequencies that dictate its processing throughput. The GPU’s compute capabilities include 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units, and it delivers 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. These specifications are the raw resources that the game’s rendering engine uses to draw the world, and the measured FPS data shows that the RTX 2060 is the limiting factor when moving from Low to Ultra settings.

The data shows a clear correlation between the GPU’s workload and the average FPS. At 1080p, the Low preset averages 117 FPS, which suggests that the GPU is not fully saturated and that the CPU can feed it frames quickly. However, as settings increase to Medium and then High, the average FPS drops to 104 and 71, respectively, indicating that the GPU is taking on more work per frame. The Ultra preset at 1080p craters to 48 FPS, which is a 59% reduction from the Low preset. This pattern is consistent across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU’s VRAM capacity and compute power are the bottlenecks at higher quality settings. The 6 GB VRAM is a relevant factor; while ArcheAge is not a VRAM-heavy title by modern standards, the Ultra preset at 4K likely places a significant demand on the memory bus, contributing to the 19 FPS average. The GPU’s benchmark scores corroborate its mid-range positioning, with a Passmark G3D score of 14111 and a DirectX 12 score of 53, and its average benchmark score of 15290 is virtually identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, which has an average score of 15283, a delta of 0%. This indicates that the RTX 2060 is performing at a level commensurate with its historical standing, and its 58th percentile ranking places it in the middle of the pack for modern gaming.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play ArcheAge with this CPU and GPU?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the optimal resolution. At this resolution, the Medium preset delivers an average of 104 FPS, which is the highest playable frame rate with a stable minimum of 89 FPS. At 2560x1440, the Medium preset averages 70 FPS, which is playable but closer to the edge of the comfort zone, and at 3840x2160, no preset achieves a consistent 60 FPS average, with the best being the Low preset at 45 FPS.

Q: Should I use the Ultra graphics preset?

A: No. The measured data shows that the Ultra preset is the worst-performing option at every resolution. At 1080p, it averages 48 FPS, at 1440p it averages 33 FPS, and at 4K it averages 19 FPS. These frame rates are too low for a responsive MMORPG experience. The High preset is a better choice if you want better visuals, as it provides a 71 FPS average at 1080p.

Q: How much performance do I lose by playing at 1440p instead of 1080p?

A: With the Medium preset, the average FPS drops from 104 at 1920x1080 to 70 at 2560x1440, a reduction of 34 FPS. With the High preset, the average drops from 71 at 1080p to 48 at 1440p, a reduction of 23 FPS. With the Low preset, the average drops from 117 at 1080p to 79 at 1440p, a reduction of 38 FPS.

Q: Is the CPU or the GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher settings. The FPS scales significantly with resolution and settings, which is a hallmark of GPU-bound performance. For example, the Low preset at 1080p achieves 117 FPS, but the Ultra preset at 4K achieves only 19 FPS, a 98 FPS difference that is overwhelmingly due to the GPU’s workload. The CPU’s role is more apparent at lower resolutions and settings, where it must work harder to feed the GPU.

Q: Can this hardware handle large-scale PvP battles?

A: The measured data does not include specific PvP scenarios, but it does show that the Medium preset at 1080p has a minimum FPS of 89, which is a strong indicator of stability. The High preset at 1080p has no minimum FPS recorded, but its average of 71 FPS suggests it would be more susceptible to drops in crowded areas. To maintain a high minimum frame rate, using the Medium preset is the safer choice.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Medium presets?

A: At 1080p, the Low preset averages 117 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 104 FPS, a difference of 13 FPS. At 1440p, the Low preset averages 79 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 70 FPS, a difference of 9 FPS. At 4K, the Low preset averages 45 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 40 FPS, a difference of 5 FPS. The visual quality improvement from Low to Medium is generally worth the small FPS cost.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. The results are presented as average FPS, with minimum and maximum values recorded only for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 117 FPS. The Medium preset achieves an average of 104 FPS, with a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 120 FPS. The High preset achieves an average of 71 FPS. The Ultra preset achieves an average of 48 FPS. The progression shows a steady decline as settings increase, with the most significant drop occurring between Medium and High, where the average falls by 33 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 79 FPS. The Medium preset achieves an average of 70 FPS, with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS. The High preset achieves an average of 48 FPS. The Ultra preset achieves an average of 33 FPS. The delta between Low and Medium is 9 FPS, and the delta between Medium and High is 22 FPS, indicating that the High preset is a heavy load for the GPU at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves an average of 45 FPS. The Medium preset achieves an average of 40 FPS, with a minimum of 34 FPS and a maximum of 46 FPS. The High preset achieves an average of 27 FPS. The Ultra preset achieves an average of 19 FPS. None of these presets provide a comfortable playable experience, as even the Low preset falls below the 60 FPS target, and the Ultra preset is essentially unplayable.

The data also shows that the minimum FPS for the Medium preset is relatively close to the average, which indicates good frame pacing. At 1080p, the minimum is 89 FPS, which is 85.5% of the average of 104 FPS. At 1440p, the minimum is 60 FPS, which is 85.7% of the average of 70 FPS. At 4K, the minimum is 34 FPS, which is 85% of the average of 40 FPS. This consistency suggests that the Medium preset does not cause severe frame time spikes.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals the scaling behavior of this hardware combination. At the Low preset, the average FPS goes from 117 at 1920x1080, to 79 at 2560x1440, and finally to 45 at 3840x2160. This represents a 38 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 34 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K. The percentage reduction from 1080p to 4K is 61.5%, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by the increase in pixel count.

At the Medium preset, the average FPS goes from 104 at 1080p, to 70 at 1440p, and to 40 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 34 FPS, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 30 FPS. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 61.5%, which is similar to the Low preset. This pattern suggests that the GPU’s rendering throughput, rather than its memory bandwidth or capacity, is the limiting factor. The pixel rate of the RTX 2060 is 80.64 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 201.6 GTexel/s, and these resources are consumed proportionally to the number of pixels rendered.

At the High preset, the average FPS goes from 71 at 1080p, to 48 at 1440p, and to 27 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 23 FPS, and the drop from 1440p to 4K is 21 FPS. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 62%. The Ultra preset follows a similar trend, with averages of 48 at 1080p, 33 at 1440p, and 19 at 4K. The consistent percentage drop across all settings indicates that the GPU is the bottleneck at every quality level, and the CPU is not preventing the GPU from reaching its maximum output. The scaling factor of roughly 61-62% reduction from 1080p to 4K is a straightforward consequence of the 4x increase in pixel count, confirming that the RTX 2060 is a purely rasterization-bound component in this scenario.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides the computational foundation for this system, and its specifications are well-suited for an MMORPG like ArcheAge. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. It features 12 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory on a dual-channel bus, with a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The CPU’s benchmark scores show that it is a capable mid-range processor, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451. Its Passmark multithread score is 12115, and its Passmark single-thread score is 2541.

In the context of ArcheAge, the CPU’s role is to process game logic, network data, and AI calculations. The benchmark data indicates that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck in this configuration. The evidence for this is that the FPS scales heavily with resolution and settings, which are GPU-bound tasks. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively flat across different resolutions. However, we see a significant drop in FPS from 1080p to 4K, which confirms that the GPU is the limiting component. The CPU’s 12 threads are likely sufficient to handle the game’s multithreaded workload, as the 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 is close to the max-thread score of 4735, indicating that the CPU scales well with additional threads.

The CPU’s single-thread performance, which is critical for games that rely on a single main thread, is also adequate. The 3DMark single-thread score is 688, and the Cinebench R20 single-core score is 609. These scores are moderate, but the measured FPS data shows that at the Low preset at 1080p, the system achieves 117 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough frames to reach this level. The CPU’s percentile versus all CPUs is 68, and its average benchmark score of 14185 places it in a tight race with the AMD EPYC 7552, which scores 14115, a delta of 0.5%, and the Intel Xeon 6756E, which scores 14163, a delta of 0.2%. This positioning indicates that the i5-10400F is a solid performer that does not hold back the RTX 2060 in this game. The CPU’s boost clock of 4.30 GHz is likely the key to maintaining good single-thread performance, and its 12 threads ensure that background processes and the game’s auxiliary threads do not cause stuttering. Overall, the data shows a balanced pairing where the GPU dictates the frame rate at higher settings, and the CPU provides enough headroom to avoid being the primary constraint.