Archeage

# Archeage with Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The measured frame rates for this combination show a clear hierarchy across presets and resolutions, with the pairing of a six-core Rocket Lake CPU and an Ada Lovelace flagship GPU delivering strong performance in this 2014 MMORPG. The data indicates that Archeage remains playable at high framerates even at 4K, though the gap between settings tiers widens considerably as resolution increases.

Settings Recommendations

At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 198 FPS average, which is the highest measured value across all configurations. Medium follows closely at 190 FPS, while High drops to 164 FPS and Ultra falls to 123 FPS. The delta between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 75 FPS, representing a 38% performance penalty for maximum visual quality. For competitive play or maximum smoothness, Low or Medium are the optimal choices, as both exceed the refresh rate of most high-end monitors.

Moving to 1440p, the ranking shifts slightly. Low produces 174 FPS, Medium 167 FPS, High 121 FPS, and Ultra 83 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, with an average that remains above 160 FPS. The 43 FPS gap between Medium and High at this resolution suggests that the High preset introduces significant rendering costs without a proportional visual benefit in this title.

At 4K, the situation becomes more constrained. Low achieves 115 FPS, Medium 102 FPS, High 69 FPS, and Ultra drops to 47 FPS. The Ultra preset at 4K falls below the 60 FPS threshold, which is notable for a game from 2014. The Medium preset at 4K is the recommended choice for 4K displays, as it maintains over 100 FPS average while providing better visuals than Low. The measured minimum for 4K Medium is 87 FPS, with a maximum of 117 FPS, indicating consistent frame pacing.

Across all resolutions, Medium emerges as the most versatile preset. It delivers 190 FPS at 1080p, 167 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K — all comfortably above 60 FPS. The High preset shows a steep falloff at 4K (69 FPS), making it less ideal for 4K users. Ultra should be reserved for 1080p or 1440p use, where it still achieves playable framerates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and benchmark results indicate it is the primary driver of the high frame rates observed. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and the memory operates at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The card's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is substantial for this MMORPG.

The RTX 4090's percentile rank among all GPUs is 88, with an average benchmark score of 60347. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (deltaPct 0), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (deltaPct -2.5), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (deltaPct 2.9). The negligible performance differences among these cards in synthetic benchmarks suggest that the RTX 4090 is operating at the top tier of GPU performance, though the deltaPct values indicate the margin over these rivals is less than 3%.

In Archeage specifically, the GPU's role is most evident in the scaling from Low to Ultra settings. At 4K, the jump from Low (115 FPS) to Ultra (47 FPS) represents a 59% reduction in framerate, which is a direct consequence of increased pixel shading and memory pressure. The 24 GB VRAM capacity is more than sufficient for this game at any preset, as memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s provides ample headroom for texture streaming in an MMORPG environment.

The GPU's power envelope is substantial, with a 450 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 850 W. The triple-slot cooler and 304 mm length indicate this is a physically large card, but the data shows it delivers the expected performance for its class. The measured FPS at 1080p Low (198 FPS) appears to be near the practical ceiling for this game engine, suggesting that CPU or engine limitations may cap performance even with such a powerful GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how this combination scales with resolution. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 190 at 1080p to 167 at 1440p (a 12% reduction), then to 102 at 4K (a 46% reduction from 1440p). This pattern indicates that the GPU becomes progressively more stressed as resolution increases, but the CPU remains capable of feeding it adequately at all tested resolutions.

For the High preset, the scaling is more aggressive: 164 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p (26% drop), and 69 FPS at 4K (43% drop from 1440p). The steeper decline for High compared to Medium suggests that this preset includes effects that disproportionately impact higher resolutions. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 123 FPS at 1080p, 83 FPS at 1440p (33% drop), and 47 FPS at 4K (43% drop from 1440p).

At Low settings, the scaling is the most linear: 198 FPS at 1080p, 174 FPS at 1440p (12% drop), and 115 FPS at 4K (34% drop from 1440p). The smaller percentage drops at Low settings suggest that the GPU is not the limiting factor at 1080p with lower visual complexity—the 198 FPS figure may represent an engine or CPU bottleneck. The fact that 1440p Low (174 FPS) is still very close to 1080p High (164 FPS) reinforces this interpretation.

Overall, the data shows that this combination is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, with all presets except Ultra exceeding 120 FPS. At 4K, only Low and Medium presets maintain framerates above 100 FPS. The limiting component at 4K is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the consistent framerate drops with increasing resolution, whereas at 1080p the CPU may impose an upper bound around 200 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU pairing ranks 307 out of 3708 tested combinations for Archeage, placing it in the top 8.3% of all configurations. The rank reflects the overall capability of the i5-11400F and RTX 4090 together in this specific game. Given that the RTX 4090 is near the top of the GPU hierarchy (88th percentile), the combo's rank is slightly tempered by the CPU's more modest standing.

The CPU's percentile rank among all processors is 71, with an average benchmark score of 17177. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7H12 (deltaPct 0.3), Intel Core i5-12450H (deltaPct -0.4), AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G (deltaPct -0.6), and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (deltaPct 0.6). The close deltaPct values indicate that the i5-11400F sits in a dense performance cluster for synthetic workloads.

The rank of 307 out of 3708 suggests that while this combo is strong, there are many configurations that deliver better Archeage performance. The gap between this combo and the top-ranked systems likely stems from the CPU's six-core/12-thread configuration, which may limit performance in MMORPG scenarios with many players or complex NPC interactions. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo still achieves excellent results in most settings and resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a six-core, 12-thread processor based on Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.60 GHz with a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, and it has a 65 W TDP. The L3 cache is 12 MB shared, with 80 KB L1 and 512 KB L2 per core. Memory support is DDR4 dual-channel with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU does not include integrated graphics and is unlocked for overclocking.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-11400F achieves a passmark multithread score of 16908 and a single-thread score of 2981. Cinebench R23 results show 14340 multi-core and 2024 single-core. The Geekbench scores are 7737 multi-core and 1777 single-core. These scores place it in the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with the nearest rivals being within 0.6% of its average score.

For Archeage, the CPU's role is most apparent at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not fully utilized. At 1080p Low, the 198 FPS average is likely near the engine's maximum, and the CPU's single-thread performance (3dmark single-thread score of 868) is critical for maintaining high framerates in an MMORPG where game logic and player interactions are often single-threaded. The 3dmark 2-thread score of 1691 suggests that the game may utilize a few threads effectively, as the 12-thread configuration provides ample parallel capacity.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is adequate for this game, as Archeage's data requirements are modest by modern standards. The Rocket Lake architecture's PCIe Gen 4 support with 20 lanes ensures the RTX 4090 is not bottlenecked by interface bandwidth. The 65 W TDP means the CPU runs relatively cool, which is beneficial for sustained gaming sessions.

At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes, as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck. The framerate differences between 1080p and 4K at the same settings (e.g., High: 164 vs 69 FPS) demonstrate this shift. However, the CPU must still maintain minimum frame rates, and the data shows no severe drops that would indicate CPU stutter issues.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The Medium preset at 4K achieves 102 FPS average with a minimum of 87 FPS and maximum of 117 FPS. Low reaches 115 FPS, but High drops to 69 FPS and Ultra falls to 47 FPS. Medium provides the best visual quality while staying above 100 FPS.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 bottleneck the i5-11400F in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the 198 FPS average suggests a possible CPU or engine limitation, as the GPU is capable of far higher outputs. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as shown by the framerate drops with increasing resolution.

Q: How does the i5-11400F compare to its closest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score is 17177, with the AMD EPYC 7H12 at 17120 (0.3% higher), Intel Core i5-12450H at 17239 (0.4% lower), AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G at 17278 (0.6% lower), and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17074 (0.6% higher). All rivals are within 0.6% of the i5-11400F's score.

Q: What is the combo's overall rank for Archeage?

A: The combination ranks 307 out of 3708 tested combos, placing it in the top 8.3% of all configurations tested for this game.

Q: Is the Ultra preset playable at any resolution?

A: Yes, Ultra achieves 123 FPS at 1080p and 83 FPS at 1440p, both above 60 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra drops to 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4090 have and what is its memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This is more than sufficient for Archeage at any tested setting and resolution.