Archeage

# Archeage with Intel Core i5-10400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

The combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti produces a fascinating split personality in Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG that scales unpredictably across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the system delivers smooth triple-digit frame rates across most presets, but the data reveals a dramatic collapse at 4K Ultra that points to specific bottlenecks. With a combo rank of 788 out of 3708 tested configurations, this pairing sits comfortably in the top quarter of all systems tested in this game, yet the measured FPS patterns suggest the experience is far from uniform.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K tells a revealing story about which component governs performance in Archeage. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 140 FPS at 1920x1080 to 101 FPS at 2560x1440, then plummets to 58 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 28% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a steep 43% decline from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear — the 4K penalty is disproportionately severe, indicating that the GPU is becoming increasingly stressed as pixel count rises.

Low settings show a similar pattern with different magnitudes. The system delivers 169 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 12% and 36% respectively, suggesting that even at minimal graphical load, the 4K resolution imposes a heavy burden. Medium settings follow closely: 162 FPS at 1080p, 142 FPS at 1440p, and 85 FPS at 4K. The 4K Medium result includes a measured minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS, giving a 25 FPS variance that hints at scene-dependent complexity.

Ultra settings reveal the most dramatic scaling behavior. At 1080p, the average is 102 FPS — still playable but notably lower than the 169 FPS Low result at the same resolution. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 69 FPS, and at 4K it collapses to 39 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 4K at Ultra represents a 43% performance loss, the steepest single-step decline in the entire dataset. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce graphical features that scale super-linearly with resolution, likely pushing the RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB frame buffer and 504.2 GB/s memory bandwidth to their limits.

The resolution scaling data implies that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU plays a meaningful role in limiting performance, particularly at Low settings where the GPU has lighter work. The relatively small gap between Low and Medium at 1080p (169 vs 162 FPS) suggests the Core i5-10400F's six cores and twelve threads, running at base 2.90 GHz and boost 4.30 GHz, are approaching their ceiling. However, at 4K, the GPU becomes the clear limiting factor, as evidenced by the massive frame rate drops across all settings.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 2560x1440 at Medium settings delivers 142 FPS average with a minimum of 121 FPS, offering a strong balance. At 4K, the best result is 95 FPS on Low settings, which is playable but requires sacrificing visual quality.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 4K Ultra setting yields only 39 FPS, while 4K High reaches 58 FPS. The RTX 4070 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, and the steep drop from High to Ultra suggests the Ultra preset's additional memory demands push the card into a less efficient operating range.

Q: Is the Core i5-10400F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: Evidence suggests yes at lower settings. At 1080p, the gap between Low (169 FPS) and Medium (162 FPS) is only 7 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High (140 FPS) is 22 FPS. The CPU's single-thread score of 688 in 3DMark and 2541 in PassMark indicates it can feed the GPU adequately, but the diminishing returns at Low settings point to CPU limits.

Q: What is the worst-performing setting combination?

A: 4K Ultra produces the lowest average at 39 FPS. This is 59 FPS below the 4K Medium result of 85 FPS, making it the most punishing preset in the measured data.

Q: How does this combo rank against all tested systems?

A: The combo ranks 788th out of 3708 configurations, placing it in roughly the 21st percentile of all tested combos in Archeage. This is a strong showing, but not elite — the top 20% of systems achieve higher frame rates in this game.

Q: Does the game favor CPU or GPU performance at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the spread between Low (148 FPS) and High (101 FPS) is 47 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra (69 FPS) is 32 FPS. This suggests both components contribute, with the GPU becoming more dominant as settings increase, but the CPU still capable of delivering 148 FPS when the GPU is lightly loaded.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates at a 2.90 GHz base clock and boosts to 4.30 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 256 KB of L2 cache per core. Its benchmark scores reveal a processor that is competent but not exceptional: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and a single-core score of 1451, while Geekbench shows 6257 multicore and 1420 single-core.

In the context of Archeage, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the 1080p results. At this resolution, the GPU has relatively light work, and the frame rates plateau around 140-169 FPS depending on settings. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1350 and 4-thread score of 2560 indicate that the processor handles moderate thread counts reasonably well, which matters for an MMORPG where game logic and network processing often run on a limited number of threads.

The PassMark multithread score of 12115 and single-thread score of 2541 place this CPU at the 68th percentile among all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% higher score), Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% lower), AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% higher), and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% lower). These tight deltas suggest the i5-10400F sits in a dense competitive cluster where minor architectural differences translate to negligible performance changes.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards, but they appear sufficient for Archeage. The fact that 1080p Low (169 FPS) and 1080p Medium (162 FPS) are so close implies the processor reaches its practical limit around 160-170 FPS in this game. Above that threshold, the CPU cannot feed the GPU additional frames regardless of how low the graphical load drops. The 12 MB L3 cache likely helps with MMORPG-style workloads that involve many small objects and characters, but the 14 nm process and Comet Lake architecture limit the ceiling.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 788 out of 3708 tested configurations places this system in the top 21.3% of all CPU-GPU pairings tested in Archeage. This is a strong result that reflects the RTX 4070 Ti's substantial graphics horsepower, but it also reveals that many systems achieve higher frame rates in this game. The rank suggests that while this combination is capable of running Archeage well, it is not among the elite configurations that dominate the leaderboard.

The RTX 4070 Ti's individual GPU percentile of 84 means it outperforms 84% of all GPUs in the database, while the i5-10400F's CPU percentile is 68. The gap between these percentiles hints at a potential imbalance: the GPU is more powerful relative to its peers than the CPU is relative to its peers. In Archeage, this imbalance manifests at lower resolutions where the CPU becomes the limiting factor, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential.

The 21.3% rank placement means that 2920 tested combos perform worse than this configuration, while 787 perform better. Given that Archeage is a 2014 MMORPG with aging engine technology, the fact that this modern combination still lands in the top quarter of all tested systems is notable. However, the 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS is a reminder that even top-quartile hardware cannot overcome certain engine limitations or setting inefficiencies. The combo's rank would likely improve if measured primarily at 1440p Medium, where the 142 FPS average represents a more balanced outcome.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the target resolution and the user's preference for visual fidelity versus frame rate consistency. At 1920x1080, the Medium preset delivers 162 FPS average with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS. This is the most consistent measured result across all settings at this resolution, with a 49 FPS variance that is manageable. High settings at 1080p drop to 140 FPS, which is still smooth but 22 FPS lower than Medium.

For 2560x1440, Medium settings again emerge as the best balance: 142 FPS average, 121 FPS minimum, and 164 FPS maximum. The 43 FPS variance is slightly higher than the 1080p Medium result but remains acceptable for most displays. High settings at 1440p produce 101 FPS, which is playable but represents a 29% reduction from Medium. Low settings at 1440p reach 148 FPS, but the visual quality loss likely outweighs the 6 FPS gain over Medium.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. Medium settings yield 85 FPS with a 72 FPS minimum and 97 FPS maximum, making it the only 4K preset that maintains an average above 60 FPS. High settings drop to 58 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while Low produces 95 FPS but sacrifices all but the most basic visual effects. Ultra is not recommended at any resolution, given that it produces 102 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K.

The data suggests that Medium is the "sweet spot" for this combo across all resolutions. It consistently delivers the highest average FPS among the settings that maintain reasonable visual quality, and it is the only setting with measured minimum and maximum values, indicating the benchmark captured a fuller range of performance. For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low at 1080p (169 FPS) or 1440p (148 FPS) is viable, but the visual trade-off is substantial.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 169 FPS on Low, 162 FPS on Medium (min 138, max 187), 140 FPS on High, and 102 FPS on Ultra. The progression shows a 67 FPS spread between the lowest and highest settings, with each step up in quality costing roughly 20-30 FPS. The Medium result's minimum of 138 FPS ensures that even intense combat scenes remain above 120 FPS, while the Ultra preset's 102 FPS average still provides smooth gameplay on most displays.

At 2560x1440, performance scales to 148 FPS on Low, 142 FPS on Medium (min 121, max 164), 101 FPS on High, and 69 FPS on Ultra. The gap between Medium and High widens to 41 FPS, indicating that High settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at this resolution. The Ultra preset's 69 FPS is the first sub-70 FPS result in the dataset, suggesting that 1440p Ultra approaches the GPU's practical limits.

At 3840x2160, the results are 95 FPS on Low, 85 FPS on Medium (min 72, max 97), 58 FPS on High, and 39 FPS on Ultra. This resolution exposes the most significant performance cliffs. The drop from Medium to High is 27 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is 19 FPS. The 4K Medium minimum of 72 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold, but the maximum of 97 FPS indicates that performance can vary by 25 FPS depending on in-game activity.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently provides the most complete data with both minimum and maximum values recorded. This suggests that Medium settings produce a stable enough performance envelope for reliable measurement, while other settings may spike or drop too erratically for consistent capture. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS is the only measurement below 50 FPS in the entire dataset, confirming that this setting combination is not viable for acceptable gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a formidable graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process. It features 7680 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output pipelines, along with 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores. The card operates at a 2310 MHz base clock and 2610 MHz boost clock, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus. Its 12 GB GDDR6X frame buffer provides 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In Archeage, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. The 4K results show that the card's 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is insufficient to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS represents only 23% of the 1080p Low result of 169 FPS, demonstrating how severely the card scales with pixel throughput demands. The pixel rate of 208.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s suggest the card can process enormous amounts of geometry, but the game's engine may not efficiently utilize these capabilities.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 84 places it above 84% of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 44795. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 5090 Mobile (0.8% higher), AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (1.3% higher), NVIDIA RTX A6000 (1.6% lower), and Intel Arc A730M (1.7% higher). These close deltas indicate that the RTX 4070 Ti sits at a performance tier where small architectural differences matter, yet in Archeage, the card's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5024 and PassMark G3D score of 31624 suggest strong raw capability.

The 12 GB VRAM capacity proves sufficient for Archeage even at 4K, as evidenced by the fact that the game runs without apparent memory-related stuttering at 4K Medium (85 FPS average). However, the 39 FPS at 4K Ultra may indicate that the Ultra preset's additional memory usage approaches the 12 GB limit, forcing the card to manage memory more conservatively. The card's 285 W TDP and dual-slot cooler design indicate it generates substantial heat under load, which is consistent with the performance demands of 4K gaming, but the measured data cannot confirm thermal throttling behavior in this specific game.