Archeage

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, presents an interesting study in hardware scaling due to its age and the specific demands of its engine. The measured performance of the Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT reveals a configuration that is heavily influenced by both resolution and the game's preset settings. The data indicates that this combination is capable of delivering high frame rates, but the path to achieving them is not always intuitive, with the game's Ultra preset appearing to be a significant performance bottleneck.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate behavior across resolutions shows a clear and expected trend, but the magnitude of the drop is highly dependent on the quality preset. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 163.5 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops this to 112.1 FPS, a reduction of approximately 31%. The jump to 4K further reduces the average to 64.4 FPS, which is another 43% drop from the 1440p figure. This steep decline suggests that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as pixel count increases, a typical scenario for a modern mid-range graphics card.

However, the scaling story changes dramatically when looking at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 67.3. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 42.5 FPS (a 37% drop), and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 26.8 FPS (a 37% drop from 1440p). The absolute numbers are far lower, but the percentage drop between resolutions is relatively consistent. This indicates that the Ultra preset is imposing a heavy, uniform load that impacts the GPU at every resolution, likely due to features like high-detail shadows or post-processing effects that the 2014 engine renders inefficiently. The data implies that while the RX 6750 XT has the raw power to handle the resolution scaling at lower presets, the Ultra preset creates a scenario where the GPU's compute resources are saturated even at 1080p.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in Archeage?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 163.5 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to the 1080p Low performance?

A: The difference is substantial. The 4K Ultra average is 26.8 FPS, whereas the 1080p Low average is 163.5 FPS. This represents a performance drop of over 80%, illustrating the massive impact of both resolution and the Ultra preset.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at 1440p with this hardware?

A: The data shows an average of 42.5 FPS at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings. While this is above the 30 FPS threshold for console-like playability, it falls short of the 60 FPS target many PC gamers prefer, indicating it is a demanding setting for this configuration.

Q: At what resolution does the combo struggle to maintain a 60 FPS average on High settings?

A: At 3840x2160 (4K) with High settings, the average FPS is 36.3. This is the only resolution where the High preset drops below the 60 FPS mark, while 1440p High yields 65.3 FPS and 1080p High yields 99.7 FPS.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Medium preset averages 143.1 FPS, while the High preset averages 99.7 FPS. This shows a significant performance cost for the visual improvements offered by the High preset.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested combinations for this game?

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT combination is ranked 846 out of 1727 tested combos for Archeage, placing it in the middle of the pack.

How This Combo Ranks

The benchmark data places this specific combination at rank 846 out of 1727 tested combos for Archeage. This mid-pack ranking is a curious result, especially given the individual performance of the components. The CPU sits in the 75th percentile of all CPUs, and the GPU is in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. Based on these individual standings, one might expect the combo to rank higher than the 50th percentile. The fact that it does not suggests that Archeage's engine is not fully utilizing the potential of either component.

This discrepancy implies that the game may be bottlenecked by its own code, perhaps by a single-threaded game logic loop or inefficiencies in its DirectX 11 renderer. This would prevent the six-core, twelve-thread i5-11400F from flexing its multi-threaded muscle and limit the RX 6750 XT from reaching its full frame-rate ceiling. The ranking suggests that for this specific title, the hardware's potential is capped by the game's engine, a common issue for older MMORPGs that have received numerous updates but still rely on legacy code paths.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured data provides a detailed picture of the combo's performance envelope. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 163.5 FPS, which is the highest score recorded. The Medium preset follows at 143.1 FPS, and High at 99.7 FPS. The Ultra preset is the outlier, dropping significantly to 67.3 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the pattern repeats: Low averages 112.1 FPS, Medium averages 96.7 FPS, High averages 65.3 FPS, and Ultra averages 42.5 FPS. At 3840x2160, the averages are 64.4 FPS for Low, 54.2 FPS for Medium, 36.3 FPS for High, and 26.8 FPS for Ultra.

The data reveals a consistent gap between the High and Ultra presets. At every resolution, the Ultra preset is more than 30% slower than the High preset. This significant penalty is not seen between other consecutive settings (e.g., Medium to High), suggesting that Ultra enables a specific, computationally expensive feature or set of features that disproportionately impacts performance. The difference between Low and Medium is also notable, but less severe than the High-to-Ultra gap.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Rocket Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Its benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14372 and a single-core score of 2029, indicate a strong mid-range performer. The data for Archeage, however, shows that this CPU's power is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings.

At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 163.5 FPS is likely near the engine's logical limit, but the CPU is doing its job. The fact that the frame rate scales down significantly when the GPU load increases (e.g., from 163.5 FPS at 1080p Low to 64.4 FPS at 4K Low) confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck in those scenarios. The CPU's 12 threads and high boost clock are more than sufficient to feed the RX 6750 XT in a game from this era. The data suggests that the i5-11400F provides a solid foundation, and its performance is not a hindrance to achieving high frame rates in Archeage, especially when compared to its nearest rivals in synthetic tests, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, which scores nearly identically.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS, the best experience for a 60 FPS target is found with the High preset at 1080p or 1440p. At 1080p, High averages 99.7 FPS, providing a smooth experience with a healthy headroom. At 1440p, High averages 65.3 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS target and offers a higher resolution. The Medium preset is also a viable option for 4K gaming, as it averages 54.2 FPS, which is playable but not quite at the 60 FPS target.

The Ultra preset is largely not recommended for this combo. At 1080p, it achieves 67.3 FPS, but the substantial performance cost compared to High suggests the visual gains may not be worth the 32% frame rate drop. At 1440p and 4K, the Ultra preset drops to 42.5 and 26.8 FPS respectively, which are not ideal for a smooth experience. For players with a 144Hz monitor, the Low preset at 1080p is the only setting that can approach that refresh rate, hitting 163.5 FPS. For a balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset at 1440p appears to be the sweet spot, offering a 65.3 FPS average with a significant resolution boost over 1080p.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is a substantial piece of hardware, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its GPU clocks are high, with a base of 2150 MHz and a boost of 2600 MHz. With 2560 shading units and 40 ray accelerators, it is a capable RDNA 2.0 part. The data from Archeage shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance scaling, particularly when moving from 1080p to 4K.

The frame rate drops at lower settings are directly attributable to the GPU's workload. For example, at Low settings, the transition from 1080p (163.5 FPS) to 1440p (112.1 FPS) shows a clear GPU-bound scenario. The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM is not a concern at these resolutions, as the game's textures are from 2014 and unlikely to exceed that capacity. The GPU's performance is strong, but the Ultra preset reveals a potential inefficiency. The dramatic FPS drop from High to Ultra suggests that the RX 6750 XT's architecture is not well-optimized for whatever specific effects the Ultra preset enables in this older title. The data indicates that the GPU has the raw power to dominate at High settings and below, but its performance is curtailed by the game's demanding and seemingly inefficient Ultra settings.