Archeage

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data for Archeage with the Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti reveals a clear pattern of resolution scaling that shifts the bottleneck between CPU and GPU as pixel count increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo delivers 180.4 FPS, which is the highest recorded figure across all tested configurations. Moving to 2560x1440 at the same Low preset drops performance to 125.8 FPS, a reduction of 54.6 FPS, while 3840x2160 at Low yields 68.8 FPS — a further drop of 57.0 FPS. This scaling behavior indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the primary limiting component, as the frame rate is high enough to expose the processor's maximum throughput in this MMO's engine.

The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a steeper relative decline, suggesting the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the resolution climbs. At Medium settings, the drop from 164.2 FPS at 1080p to 111.6 FPS at 1440p represents a 52.6 FPS reduction, while 4K Medium produces 64.1 FPS — a 47.5 FPS decline from 1440p. The High preset follows a similar trajectory: 111.9 FPS at 1080p, 73.7 FPS at 1440p, and 42.1 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, starting at 73.7 FPS at 1080p (identical to High at 1440p), dropping to 47.8 FPS at 1440p, and falling to 29.6 FPS at 4K.

The data indicates that the i5-11400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides sufficient single-thread performance to push high frame rates at lower resolutions, but the RTX 3070 Ti's rendering workload scales heavily with resolution. At 4K, the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory and 608.3 GB/s bandwidth become the limiting factor, particularly at Higher settings where the frame rate drops below the 60 FPS threshold. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 39.2 FPS, whereas at 1080p the gap is 106.7 FPS, confirming that resolution scaling compresses the performance spread as the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The RTX 3070 Ti, based on the GA104 chip with a boost clock of 1770 MHz, demonstrates its capacity to handle Archeage's rendering demands across all tested settings. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6X memory operates at 19 Gbps effective, delivering a bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s over a 256-bit bus. In an MMORPG like Archeage, which features large open-world environments and numerous player characters, this memory configuration is sufficient for the textures and geometry at 1080p and 1440p, but shows strain at 4K Ultra where the average FPS falls to 29.6.

The GPU's 6144 shading units and 192 texture mapping units are exercised heavily as settings increase. The measured results show that at 1080p Low, the GPU delivers 180.4 FPS, but the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and PassMark single-thread score of 2981 suggest that the processor can keep up with the GPU's output at this resolution. At 4K Ultra, the GPU's FP32 performance of 21.75 TFLOPS is tasked with nearly four times the pixel count of 1080p, resulting in the 29.6 FPS average. The pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s are reflected in the scaling patterns observed.

The GPU's 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present but not specifically leveraged by Archeage's rendering pipeline, which is typical for an MMORPG from 2014. The benchmark results show that the RTX 3070 Ti's raw rasterization performance is the key driver, with the 96 ROPs handling the final pixel output. At 1440p High, the 73.7 FPS result indicates a balanced workload between CPU and GPU, while at 4K High, the 42.1 FPS average shows the GPU is the clear limiting component. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 23356 and 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3478 provide context for its overall capability, placing it at the 74th percentile of all GPUs.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the i5-11400F and RTX 3070 Ti ranks 667 out of 1727 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the 61st percentile of all system configurations evaluated. This ranking reflects a mid-to-upper tier position, indicating that while the combo is capable, it is not among the top performers for this specific game. The CPU alone sits at the 75th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is at the 74th percentile, suggesting that neither component is a standout outlier in the benchmark database.

Relative to the CPU's nearest rivals, the i5-11400F's average benchmark score of 17181 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U at 17189 (a 0% delta), the Intel Core i7-1260P at 17212 (-0.2%), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17215 (-0.2%). The Intel Core i5-1240U trails slightly at 17141 (0.2% delta). This tight clustering indicates that the CPU's performance is well within the expected range for its class, and the combo's ranking in Archeage is likely influenced more by the game's engine characteristics than by any CPU advantage or deficit.

The GPU's nearest rivals show a similar pattern, with the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME at 30755 (0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 6700 at 31112 (-0.8%), the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 at 31142 (-0.9%), and the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q at 31220 (-1.2%). The RTX 3070 Ti's average benchmark score of 30849 positions it slightly below the RX 6700, yet the measured FPS in Archeage demonstrates that the GPU's real-world performance is competitive within this range. The combo rank of 667 out of 1727 suggests that many other configurations achieve better frame rates in this game, likely due to factors such as higher-core-count CPUs or more recent GPU architectures that handle the game's draw calls more efficiently.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values across settings are as follows: Low averages 180.4 FPS, Medium averages 164.2 FPS, High averages 111.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 73.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 106.7 FPS, indicating that the CPU and GPU combination has substantial headroom at this resolution. The drop from Low to Medium is 16.2 FPS, from Medium to High is 52.3 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 38.2 FPS. The largest single step occurs between Medium and High, suggesting that the High preset introduces significant rendering load, likely through increased shadow quality or draw distance.

At 2560x1440, the measured FPS values are: Low averages 125.8 FPS, Medium averages 111.6 FPS, High averages 73.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 47.8 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 78.0 FPS, narrower than at 1080p. The drop from Low to Medium is 14.2 FPS, from Medium to High is 37.9 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 25.9 FPS. The High preset at 1440p produces the exact same average FPS as Ultra at 1080p (73.7), indicating that the increased resolution at High settings imposes a similar rendering cost to the highest settings at the lower resolution.

At 3840x2160, the measured FPS values are: Low averages 68.8 FPS, Medium averages 64.1 FPS, High averages 42.1 FPS, and Ultra averages 29.6 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 39.2 FPS, the smallest of any resolution. The drop from Low to Medium is 4.7 FPS, from Medium to High is 22.0 FPS, and from High to Ultra is 12.5 FPS. The relatively small gap between Low and Medium at 4K suggests that the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate are already saturated at Low settings, and incremental setting increases have diminishing returns in terms of FPS loss. The 4K Ultra result of 29.6 FPS is below playable thresholds for most users, while 4K Low at 68.8 FPS remains viable for those prioritizing frame rate over visual fidelity.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

For users targeting a smooth 60 FPS experience, the data shows that at 1080p, the High preset at 111.9 FPS offers a strong balance between visual quality and performance, with Ultra at 73.7 FPS still exceeding the 60 FPS threshold. At 1440p, the High preset at 73.7 FPS is the recommended choice, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 60 FPS while providing significant visual improvements over Medium at 111.6 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p provides 111.6 FPS, which is beneficial for high-refresh-rate displays, but the visual fidelity gain from High is substantial given the 37.9 FPS difference.

At 4K, the choices become more constrained. The Low preset at 68.8 FPS is the only setting that reliably exceeds 60 FPS, making it the default recommendation for 4K users. The Medium preset at 64.1 FPS also achieves this threshold but offers only a 4.7 FPS penalty over Low, making it a viable alternative if the visual improvements are worth the marginal FPS reduction. The High preset at 42.1 FPS and Ultra at 29.6 FPS fall below the 60 FPS target and should be avoided for competitive or fast-paced gameplay, though they may be acceptable for slower exploration or screenshots. The 4K Ultra result at 29.6 FPS represents the most demanding configuration and demonstrates the GPU's limitations at this resolution.

For the best overall experience across all resolutions, the data indicates that the High preset at 1440p provides the optimal combination of visual fidelity and frame rate, delivering 73.7 FPS while maintaining a substantial improvement over Medium. Users with 1080p displays can safely use Ultra at 73.7 FPS, while those with 4K displays should prioritize Low or Medium to stay above 60 FPS. The i5-11400F's 6-core, 12-thread configuration does not appear to bottleneck the GPU at any resolution, as evidenced by the consistent scaling patterns, meaning the settings recommendations are driven primarily by the RTX 3070 Ti's rendering performance.