Archeage

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti delivers a highly capable Archeage experience, but the data reveals a clear bottleneck dynamic: at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU's six-core Comet Lake architecture limits frame rates, while at 4K the GPU's workload becomes the defining factor. This combination ranks in the top 22.2% of all tested combos, placing it at rank 383 out of 1727, which underscores its strength for this MMORPG, though the performance ceiling varies dramatically with settings and resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows that this combo's frame rate drops by roughly 40-45% when moving from 1080p to 4K, but the scaling is not uniform across all settings. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 140.3 at 1920x1080 to 105.8 at 2560x1440, then sharply to 60.4 at 3840x2160. This pattern—a mild 25% drop from 1080p to 1440p followed by a steep 43% drop to 4K—indicates that the RTX 5070 Ti is the limiting component at 4K, where its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 896.0 GB/s bandwidth are fully engaged.

At Low settings, the scaling tells a different story: 170.8 FPS at 1080p drops to 145.5 at 1440p (a 15% reduction) and then to 96.3 at 4K (a 34% reduction). The relatively smaller penalty at 1440p suggests the CPU is holding back performance at lower resolutions, as the GPU has spare capacity. The Ultra preset amplifies this effect: 106 FPS at 1080p falls to 72.6 at 1440p and 40.2 at 4K, showing that the most demanding preset pushes both components hard, with the 4K result dipping below the 60 FPS threshold.

The data indicates that the limiting component shifts with resolution. At 1080p, the i5-10400F's 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost clock, combined with its 12 MB shared L3 cache, create a CPU-bound scenario where frame rates plateau. At 4K, the RTX 5070 Ti's 43.94 TFLOPS FP32 throughput becomes the primary constraint, as evidenced by the 60.4 FPS High result. This is a classic MMORPG pattern: large player counts and world events tax the CPU, while high-resolution textures and effects load the GPU.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides six cores and twelve threads, a configuration that is adequate for Archeage but not exceptional by modern standards. Its benchmark scores reflect a mid-range position: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10297 and a single-core score of 1453 place it in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C with an average score of 14277 (0.8% higher) and the Intel Core i5-8500 at 14332 (1.1% higher), showing that this chip sits in a crowded performance band.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p and 1440p with lower settings. At Low settings, 1080p produces 170.8 FPS, but this only rises to 145.5 at 1440p—the GPU has headroom, yet the CPU's single-thread performance (a Geekbench single-core score of 1454) limits the frame rate. The 3DMark single-thread score of 688 reinforces this: Archeage relies heavily on a few threads for game logic and network handling, and the i5-10400F's Comet Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process, delivers adequate but not class-leading performance in this area.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and DDR4 dual-channel memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are modest, and this shows in the data. At Medium settings, 1440p yields 141.7 FPS versus 162.4 at 1080p—a 13% drop that is smaller than the High preset's 25% drop, suggesting that Medium settings reduce GPU load enough to keep the CPU as the primary limiter at both resolutions. The i5-10400F's 12 threads help with background tasks, but the PassMark multithread score of 12115 indicates it cannot fully feed the RTX 5070 Ti at higher frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows show a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate, with the Medium preset emerging as the best balance for this combo. At 1080p, Medium delivers 162.4 FPS, which is only 8.4 FPS lower than Low's 170.8, while providing significantly better visuals than Low. At 1440p, Medium produces 141.7 FPS, a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold and only 3.8 FPS below Low's 145.5. Even at 4K, Medium achieves 87 FPS, which is playable and far superior to High's 60.4 FPS.

High settings offer a meaningful quality increase but at a steep cost: 105.8 FPS at 1440p and 60.4 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result is borderline, and the data suggests that users with 4K monitors should prefer Medium to maintain a smooth experience. Ultra settings are the outlier, producing 106 FPS at 1080p and 40.2 FPS at 4K—the latter is below the playability threshold, and even the 1080p result is 34% lower than Medium's 162.4 FPS. The 40.2 FPS Ultra 4K figure indicates that Ultra is not viable at this resolution, and the 72.6 FPS 1440p Ultra result shows it is only marginal at that resolution.

For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium at 1440p is the recommended target: 141.7 FPS with a reasonable visual uplift over Low. At 1080p, Medium's 162.4 FPS provides high refresh-rate headroom for a 144 Hz monitor. For 4K, Medium's 87 FPS is the only preset that stays comfortably above 60 FPS, making it the clear choice for that resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti ranks 383rd out of 1727 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the top 22.2% of all configurations. This rank reflects the synergy between a mid-range CPU and a high-end GPU, where the GPU's 87th percentile performance (an average benchmark score of 52086) compensates for the CPU's 73rd percentile standing.

The GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark performance are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with an average score of 52085 (a 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700S at 52505 (0.8% higher). This tells us the RTX 5070 Ti is performing nearly identically to the RTX 4080 in synthetic tests, yet its in-game rank is dragged down by the CPU's limitations. The CPU's nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7552 at 14115 (0.4% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C at 14277 (0.8% higher), all within a tight 1.2% band.

The rank position suggests that while this combo is strong, it is not near the top because the CPU prevents the GPU from reaching its full potential in CPU-bound scenarios. In Archeage, which is a 2014 MMO, the game's engine likely does not scale perfectly with modern multi-core CPUs, so the i5-10400F's six cores are sufficient but not optimal. The 383rd rank out of 1727 indicates that a faster CPU would push this GPU higher, but the current pairing still delivers playable frame rates at all tested resolutions and settings except Ultra 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is the dominant component in this pairing, with a 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs and an average benchmark score of 52086. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for high-resolution textures in Archeage. The GPU's 8960 shading units and 280 texture mapping units, paired with a boost clock of 2452 MHz, deliver 43.94 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's role is most apparent at 4K, where its memory bandwidth and compute power determine the frame rate. At 4K High, the GPU achieves 60.4 FPS, while at 4K Low it reaches 96.3 FPS—the settings scaling shows the GPU is the limiter at this resolution. The PassMark G3D score of 32974 and the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6604 indicate strong raw performance, yet the data shows that Archeage's engine does not fully utilize this GPU at lower resolutions.

The nearest rival data shows the RTX 5070 Ti is essentially tied with the RTX 4080 (52085 average score, 0% delta), but the AMD Radeon RX 7700S is 0.8% faster with a score of 52505. This places the GPU in a narrow performance band, and in Archeage, its 16 GB memory capacity ensures no VRAM limitations at 4K Ultra, unlike smaller-memory cards. The GPU's 5 nm process node and 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die contribute to its efficiency, though the 300 W TDP suggests it draws significant power under load.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates, with Low settings producing 170.8 FPS, Medium at 162.4 FPS, High at 140.3 FPS, and Ultra at 106 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is small (8.4 FPS), while the jump from Medium to High is a 22.1 FPS drop, and High to Ultra is a 34.3 FPS drop. This shows that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy penalty on the CPU at 1080p, as the i5-10400F's 12 threads are taxed by the increased draw calls and physics calculations.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 145.5 FPS for Low, 141.7 FPS for Medium, 105.8 FPS for High, and 72.6 FPS for Ultra. The Low-to-Medium gap narrows to just 3.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not yet the primary limiter at this resolution. High settings drop 35.9 FPS from Medium, and Ultra drops another 33.2 FPS from High, suggesting that the GPU's workload becomes more significant at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the results are 96.3 FPS for Low, 87 FPS for Medium, 60.4 FPS for High, and 40.2 FPS for Ultra. The Low-to-Medium gap is 9.3 FPS, and Medium-to-High is 26.6 FPS, while High-to-Ultra is 20.2 FPS. The 4K Ultra result of 40.2 FPS is the only measured data point below 60 FPS, confirming that this preset is not viable at 4K. The 4K Medium result of 87 FPS is the sweet spot for 4K displays, offering a 44% improvement over High while maintaining visual quality.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this pairing?

A: The data shows that 2560x1440 with Medium settings delivers 141.7 FPS, which is the best balance of resolution and frame rate. At 1080p, Medium provides 162.4 FPS, and at 4K, Medium is the only preset above 60 FPS at 87 FPS.

Q: Can this combo handle 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. The measured 4K Ultra average FPS is 40.2, which is below the playable threshold. The next best 4K option is High at 60.4 FPS, but Medium at 87 FPS is the recommended 4K preset.

Q: Is this CPU or GPU bound in Archeage?

A: It depends on resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the 170.8 FPS result is CPU-limited, as the i5-10400F's single-thread score of 1454 in Geekbench restricts the frame rate. At 4K High, the 60.4 FPS result is GPU-limited, as the RTX 5070 Ti's 43.94 TFLOPS throughput is the constraint.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 383rd out of 1727 tested combos, placing it in the top 22.2%. The GPU's 87th percentile performance (average score 52086) is held back by the CPU's 73rd percentile standing (average score 14168).

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Medium settings?

A: The difference is minimal. At 1080p, Low is 170.8 FPS and Medium is 162.4 FPS (8.4 FPS difference). At 1440p, Low is 145.5 FPS and Medium is 141.7 FPS (3.8 FPS difference). At 4K, Low is 96.3 FPS and Medium is 87 FPS (9.3 FPS difference).

Q: Does the GPU's 16 GB VRAM matter for Archeage?

A: Yes. The 16 GB GDDR7 memory with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth ensures no VRAM limitations at 4K Ultra, as evidenced by the 40.2 FPS result being compute-bound rather than memory-bound. Smaller VRAM cards would likely show stutter or texture pop-in at this resolution.