Archeage

# Archeage with Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

The pairing of Intel's Core i5-11400F with AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX presents a fascinating study in system balance for Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG that remains sensitive to both CPU and GPU capabilities. The benchmark data reveals a combination that ranks 628th out of 3,708 tested configurations, placing it in the top 17 percent of all tested combos. This rank suggests a system that handles the game's demands competently, though the measured frame rates across resolutions and settings tell a nuanced story about where the bottleneck lies and how the hardware responds to increasing graphical loads.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo's overall ranking in Archeage among tested systems?

A: The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ranks 628th out of 3,708 tested combos, which places it in the upper tier of configurations for this game.

Q: What are the best average FPS numbers achieved at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K?

A: At 1920x1080, the highest average FPS is 198 on Low settings. At 2560x1440, the peak average is 165 on Low. At 3840x2160, the maximum average is 95 on Low settings.

Q: How does the i5-11400F compare to its closest CPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17,177, which is 0.3 percent higher than the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17,120) and 0.6 percent higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17,074). It trails the Intel Core i5-12450H (17,239) by 0.4 percent and the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17,278) by 0.6 percent.

Q: What is the GPU's percentile ranking among all tested graphics cards?

A: The RX 7900 XTX sits in the 64th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,410. Its closest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB, scores 19,334, a margin of only 0.4 percent.

Q: Does the system achieve playable frame rates at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 39, which is below the typically desirable 60 FPS threshold. The 4K High preset fares better at 57 FPS average, while Medium reaches 84 FPS.

Q: How much performance difference exists between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, the gap from Low (198 FPS) to Ultra (101 FPS) is 97 FPS. At 1440p, Low (165 FPS) to Ultra (68 FPS) represents a 97 FPS difference. At 4K, Low (95 FPS) to Ultra (39 FPS) shows a 56 FPS gap.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX brings substantial graphics horsepower to this pairing, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 31 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU's specifications are formidable: 24 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 960.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The 6,144 shading units, 384 texture mapping units, and 192 ROPs provide the raw compute capacity, while 96 ray tracing cores add modern rendering features. Clock speeds start at a 1929 MHz base and boost up to 2498 MHz, with a game clock rated at 2365 MHz; memory runs at 2500 MHz with 20 Gbps effective speed. The card's pixel rate of 479.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 959.2 GTexel/s indicate how quickly it can fill frames and apply textures.

In Archeage, the GPU's role becomes evident when examining the frame rate progression. At 1080p Low settings, the RX 7900 XTX produces 198 FPS average, suggesting it is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions and settings. However, as resolution and settings increase, the GPU's workload grows substantially. The transition from Low to Ultra at 1080p cuts average FPS nearly in half, from 198 to 101, which demonstrates the GPU's sensitivity to the game's visual complexity at higher presets. The 24 GB frame buffer is unlikely to be saturated by Archeage, given the game's 2014 release date, but the memory bandwidth and compute throughput still determine how quickly the GPU can process the game's draw calls and particle effects.

The GPU's benchmark profile shows a 64th percentile ranking among all graphics cards, with an average score of 19,410. This places it in a curious position relative to its nearest rivals: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB (19,334, deltaPct 0.4), NVIDIA Quadro K5200 (19,602, deltaPct -1), AMD FirePro D300 (19,637, deltaPct -1.2), and NVIDIA TITAN Xp (19,177, deltaPct 1.2). The extremely tight margins — all within 1.2 percent — suggest that synthetic benchmarks compress the performance differences between these very different cards, though in gaming scenarios like Archeage, the RX 7900 XTX's modern architecture and massive memory capacity provide advantages that synthetic scores may not fully capture.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how the system scales across the three tested resolutions: 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 198 at 1080p to 165 at 1440p (a 16.7 percent reduction) and then to 95 at 4K (a 42.4 percent reduction from 1440p). This steep decline at 4K indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint as pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

The Medium preset tells a similar story: 190 FPS at 1080p, 147 FPS at 1440p, and 84 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 22.6 percent from 1080p to 1440p and 42.9 percent from 1440p to 4K. High settings show 149 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p (a 32.9 percent drop), and 57 FPS at 4K (a 43 percent drop). Ultra settings follow the pattern: 101 FPS at 1080p, 68 FPS at 1440p (32.7 percent drop), and 39 FPS at 4K (42.6 percent drop).

The consistency of the 4K penalty — roughly 42 to 43 percent reduction from 1440p across all settings — strongly suggests the GPU is the limiting component at 4K. The pixel throughput required at 3840x2160 is exactly four times that of 1080p, and the frame rate reductions track closely with this increased workload. At 1080p and even 1440p, the CPU likely plays a more significant role in determining frame rates, as evidenced by the relatively modest FPS gains from 1440p to 1080p at lower settings. The i5-11400F's 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost up to 4.40 GHz, can drive the game at high frame rates, but the RX 7900 XTX's capabilities are not fully utilized until the resolution climbs high enough to shift the bottleneck to the GPU.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 628 out of 3,708 tested configurations places it in the 83rd percentile of all tested combinations for Archeage. This is a strong showing, though not an elite one, and the ranking reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU in this specific game. The i5-11400F's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs (average benchmark score 17,177) and the RX 7900 XTX's 64th percentile among GPUs (average benchmark score 19,410) combine to produce a synergistic result that exceeds what either component achieves alone in their respective percentile rankings.

The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks provide context for its gaming performance. The i5-11400F's 3dmark scores range from 868 (single thread) to 5,652 (max threads), with a 16-thread score of 5,619. Cinebench R23 results show 14,340 multicore and 2,024 singlecore, while Geekbench reports 7,737 multicore and 1,777 singlecore. These numbers indicate a processor that excels in single-threaded tasks — crucial for MMORPGs like Archeage, which often rely heavily on one or two primary threads for game logic and rendering commands. The PassMark multithread score of 16,908 and single-thread score of 2,981 reinforce this profile.

Compared to its nearest CPU rivals, the i5-11400F sits in an extremely tight performance cluster. The AMD EPYC 7H12 is essentially tied (deltaPct 0.3), while the Intel Core i5-12450H, AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G, and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U are all within 0.6 percent. This suggests that synthetic benchmarks do not differentiate strongly among these processors, and actual gaming performance in Archeage likely depends more on the GPU and system configuration than on small CPU benchmark deltas.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 198 FPS, Medium reaches 190 FPS with minimum and maximum readings of 162 and 219, and High achieves 149 FPS. Ultra settings drop to 101 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 97 FPS spread, with the most significant single-step drop occurring between High (149) and Ultra (101), a 32.2 percent reduction.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain strong but begin to show the GPU's increasing workload. Low settings average 165 FPS, Medium hits 147 FPS (min 125, max 169), High reaches 100 FPS, and Ultra falls to 68 FPS. The gap from Low to Ultra is again 97 FPS, matching the 1080p spread exactly. The step from Medium to High is particularly steep at 47 FPS (a 32 percent drop), suggesting that High settings introduce rendering features that disproportionately impact performance at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system's limits become apparent. Low settings average 95 FPS, Medium averages 84 FPS (min 72, max 97), High drops to 57 FPS, and Ultra manages only 39 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 40 FPS, and it represents a 58.9 percent reduction from the 1080p Ultra score of 101 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K, with its 72 FPS minimum, is the only 4K setting that maintains a minimum above 60 FPS, making it the most viable option for smooth gameplay at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 60 FPS as a baseline, the measured data provides clear guidance. At 4K, the Medium preset (84 FPS average, 72 FPS minimum) is the highest quality setting that reliably exceeds 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 57 FPS, which falls short of the 60 FPS target, while Ultra at 39 FPS is only suitable for players who prioritize visual fidelity over smoothness.

At 1440p, the options expand considerably. High settings deliver 100 FPS average, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while maintaining strong visual quality. Ultra at 68 FPS also clears the 60 FPS threshold, making it a viable choice for players who want maximum detail at this resolution. The 68 FPS average suggests some headroom, though the lack of minimum FPS data for Ultra prevents a definitive assessment of frame time consistency.

At 1080p, all settings exceed 100 FPS, with Low at 198 FPS and Medium at 190 FPS. High at 149 FPS and Ultra at 101 FPS both provide excellent performance. For competitive play or high refresh rate monitors, Medium at 190 FPS (min 162, max 219) offers the best combination of visual quality and frame rate, while High at 149 FPS is a solid choice for players with 144 Hz displays who want enhanced visuals. The Ultra preset at 101 FPS is the only 1080p setting that approaches the 100 FPS boundary, but it still maintains a comfortable average.

The data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions, providing the only 4K configuration with a minimum above 60 FPS, a 147 FPS average at 1440p, and a 190 FPS average at 1080p. Players seeking higher visual fidelity at 1440p can safely use Ultra, while 4K users should stick to Medium or accept the 57 FPS average of High settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 11th Gen Core series, built on the Rocket Lake architecture using Intel's 14 nm process. It features a 2.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock, with a 65 W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR4 in dual-channel configuration, providing 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The processor uses Intel Socket 1200 and offers PCIe Gen 4 with 20 lanes from the CPU.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not fully stressed. The 1080p Low result of 198 FPS and 1440p Low of 165 FPS suggest the CPU can sustain high frame rates when the GPU workload is light. The 3dmark scores show a strong single-thread performance of 868, with 2-thread at 1,691 and 4-thread at 3,171, indicating that the processor scales well with additional threads. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,024 places it competitively for gaming workloads that depend on single-thread performance.

The CPU's benchmark profile places it in the 71st percentile of all processors, with an average score of 17,177. Its nearest rivals — the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17,120), Intel Core i5-12450H (17,239), AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (17,278), and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17,074) — all cluster within 0.6 percent of the i5-11400F's score. This tight grouping suggests that for Archeage, the CPU choice among these options would have minimal impact on frame rates; the game's performance is likely more dependent on the GPU and the specific optimization of the game engine for the CPU architecture.

The fact that the i5-11400F achieves a 71st percentile ranking while the RX 7900 XTX sits at only 64th percentile highlights an interesting dynamic: the CPU is relatively stronger in its own benchmark pool than the GPU is in its respective pool. This suggests the pairing is slightly CPU-favoring in terms of relative capability, though the measured FPS data indicates the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 4K. The CPU's 12 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are adequate for Archeage's demands, and the boost clock of 4.40 GHz provides the raw speed needed for the game's likely single-threaded bottlenecks.