Archeage

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB produces a highly variable experience in Archeage, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The measured data shows this combo ranks 3247th out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems for this specific MMORPG. While the CPU provides ample headroom, the 4 GB graphics card struggles to maintain playable frame rates beyond 1080p, particularly when settings are raised. This analysis breaks down the resolution scaling, measured FPS, component roles, and provides actionable settings recommendations based solely on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is severe and follows a clear pattern of GPU-bound performance degradation. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 91 FPS average, but this falls to 61 FPS at 1440p and further to 35 FPS at 4K—a reduction of 33% and 62% respectively from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline indicates that the RTX 3050 4 GB is the limiting factor, as the rendering load increases exponentially with pixel count, overwhelming the GPU's 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 compute.

The scaling pattern becomes even more pronounced at higher settings. With High settings, the average FPS drops from 55 at 1080p to 37 at 1440p (a 33% decrease) and then to 21 at 4K (a 62% drop from 1080p). The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 81 FPS at 1080p, 55 FPS at 1440p, and 31 FPS at 4K. This consistent ~33% drop from 1080p to 1440p and ~62% drop from 1080p to 4K across multiple settings presets confirms that resolution scaling is the dominant factor, with the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus proving insufficient for 4K textures and geometry.

The Ultra preset delivers the lowest scores across all resolutions, with 38 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and just 14 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 21 FPS (35 vs. 14), which is smaller than the 53 FPS gap at 1080p (91 vs. 38). This convergence at 4K suggests that the GPU is fully saturated regardless of settings, as the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become the hard bottlenecks. The data indicates that for this combo, 1080p is the only resolution where the CPU can still contribute meaningfully to frame rate, while 1440p and 4K are strictly GPU-limited scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve in Archeage?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 91, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next best is 81 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 61 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Archeage?

A: No, the data shows 4K performance is poor across all settings. The best 4K result is 35 FPS at Low settings, while Medium averages 31 FPS, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages only 14 FPS. Only the Low preset approaches playability, and even then it falls short of a smooth 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at the same resolution?

A: At 1080p, Ultra averages 38 FPS compared to High's 55 FPS, a 17 FPS deficit. At 1440p, Ultra averages 25 FPS versus High's 37 FPS. At 4K, Ultra averages 14 FPS versus High's 21 FPS. The Ultra preset consistently costs roughly 30-40% of the frame rate compared to High.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more responsible for the performance numbers?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the primary bottleneck at all resolutions above 1080p. The RTX 3050 4 GB has a 90 W TDP and 4 GB GDDR6 memory, which is insufficient for high-resolution textures. The i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides strong 3DMark scores, but the FPS drops from 1080p to 4K show the GPU limiting performance.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded in the measured data?

A: The only minimum FPS values provided are for Medium settings: 27 FPS at 4K, 46 FPS at 1440p, and 69 FPS at 1080p. The maximum FPS for Medium settings are 36 at 4K, 63 at 1440p, and 93 at 1080p.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Archeage?

A: The combo ranks 3247th out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the lower 12% of all systems. This low ranking reflects the GPU's 4 GB VRAM limitation, which is particularly problematic for an MMORPG with large open-world environments.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 3247 out of 3708 tested combinations places it firmly in the lower quartile of systems for Archeage performance. This ranking is consistent with the measured FPS data, which shows the system struggling to maintain 60 FPS at 1080p with Medium settings (81 FPS average) but falling below that threshold at 1440p (55 FPS average) and dropping to unplayable levels at 4K (31 FPS average on Medium). The percentile positioning indicates that 87.6% of tested combos outperform this configuration in Archeage, which is expected given the RTX 3050 4 GB's modest specifications.

The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus is 73, meaning the i5-12400F outperforms 73% of all CPUs in general benchmarks. However, the combo's in-game rank is much lower, confirming that the GPU is the limiting factor. The i5-12400F's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (deltaPct 0%), Intel Core 3 201E (deltaPct -0.1%), and Intel Core i5-1335U (deltaPct 0.3%), showing the CPU is competitive with modern mid-range processors. Yet in Archeage, the 4 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus of the GPU prevent the CPU from demonstrating its full potential, especially at higher resolutions.

The ranking disparity between CPU and GPU performance (73rd percentile CPU vs. 50th percentile GPU) highlights the imbalance in this pairing. While the CPU has headroom to push more frames, the GPU's 90 W TDP and 4 GB GDDR6 memory create a hard ceiling on performance. This is particularly evident in the 4K results, where even the Low preset only manages 35 FPS, indicating that the GPU is completely saturated regardless of CPU capabilities.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers a wide range of performance depending on settings. Low settings produce the highest average at 91 FPS, followed by Medium at 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS. High settings drop to 55 FPS average, while Ultra brings the average down to 38 FPS. The 1080p results show that the system is capable of smooth gameplay at Low and Medium presets, but High and Ultra require compromises.

At 2560x1440, the performance falls noticeably. Low settings average 61 FPS, which is still playable but no longer hits the 60 FPS target consistently. Medium averages 55 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS and maximum of 63 FPS, showing noticeable frame dips. High settings average 37 FPS, and Ultra drops to 25 FPS. The 1440p data reveals that this resolution is borderline for the combo, with only Low and Medium presets approaching acceptable frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles across all settings. Low averages 35 FPS, Medium averages 31 FPS (minimum 27, maximum 36), High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages just 14 FPS. None of the 4K results reach 60 FPS, and even the best case (Low at 35 FPS) falls well short of smooth gameplay. The 4K data conclusively shows that this combo is not suitable for 4K gaming in Archeage, as the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources are insufficient for the resolution's demands.

The FPS spread between Low and Ultra settings narrows as resolution increases: 53 FPS at 1080p, 36 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. This diminishing gap indicates that at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the bottleneck regardless of settings, as the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth limit performance more than the shading workload.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F brings 6 cores and 12 threads to the pairing, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This Alder Lake-S architecture processor, built on Intel's 10 nm process, has an 18 MB shared L3 cache and 80 KB L1 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark scores show strong single-thread and multi-thread performance: 3DMark single-thread scores 909, 4-thread scores 3067, and max-thread scores 5912. Cinebench R23 results show 1680 single-core and 12380 multi-core, while Geekbench reports 1964 single-core and 9472 multi-core.

In Archeage, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU based on the measured FPS data. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 and max-thread score of 5912 indicate that the CPU has sufficient multi-threaded capability for an MMORPG, which typically involves numerous NPCs, players, and world calculations. However, the FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows that GPU limitations dominate, as the frame rate drops by 62% from 1080p Low to 4K Low even though the CPU workload remains constant.

The CPU's percentileVsAllCpus of 73 places it above most processors, and its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS, Intel Core 3 201E, and Intel Core i5-1335U, all within 0.3% delta of its average benchmark score. The PassMark multi-thread score of 19433 and single-thread score of 3481 further underscore its capability. The data suggests that the i5-12400F is not the bottleneck in this system, as even at 1080p Low where the CPU has the most influence, the 91 FPS result is likely constrained by the GPU's rendering speed rather than CPU processing.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel memory support (DDR4, DDR5) make it a capable partner, but in this specific pairing, its performance headroom is largely untapped at higher resolutions. The 3DMark 2-thread score of 1699 and 8-thread score of 4779 indicate that the CPU can handle both lightly-threaded and moderately-threaded workloads, which is relevant for Archeage's mixed single-thread and multi-thread demands.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. For 1080p gaming, the Medium preset provides the best balance, averaging 81 FPS with a minimum of 69 FPS and maximum of 93 FPS. This delivers smooth gameplay at 60+ FPS while maintaining reasonable visual quality. The Low preset at 1080p offers higher performance (91 FPS average) but sacrifices visual fidelity for a marginal 10 FPS gain, which is not recommended given that Medium already exceeds the 60 FPS threshold.

For 1440p, the Low preset is the only setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS, hitting 61 FPS. Medium at 1440p averages 55 FPS with a minimum of 46 FPS, which may cause noticeable stuttering in busy scenes. The High preset at 1440p averages 37 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for an MMORPG where smooth camera movement is important. The recommendation is to use Low at 1440p if frame rate consistency is the priority, or accept Medium's 55 FPS average for better visuals if slight dips are tolerable.

For 4K, none of the settings provide a satisfactory experience. The Low preset averages 35 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. Medium averages 31 FPS, High averages 21 FPS, and Ultra averages 14 FPS. The data strongly suggests avoiding 4K with this combo in Archeage, as even the lowest settings fail to achieve 40 FPS. Users targeting 4K should consider a different GPU with more VRAM and higher bandwidth, as the 4 GB GDDR6 memory on this card is a clear limitation.

The Ultra preset is not recommended at any resolution. At 1080p, it averages 38 FPS, which is below the Medium preset's 81 FPS while offering only marginal visual improvements. At 1440p and 4K, Ultra delivers 25 FPS and 14 FPS respectively, making it unplayable. The performance cost of Ultra is substantial, and the measured data shows that High settings at 1080p (55 FPS) provide a better experience than Ultra at 1080p (38 FPS) while likely offering comparable visual quality.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is the dominant factor in this combo's Archeage performance. Built on the Ampere architecture with the GA107 chip manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process, this GPU features 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Its 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves insufficient for high-resolution textures in Archeage. The GPU's base clock is 1545 MHz with a boost clock of 1740 MHz, delivering 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.

The GPU's percentileVsAllGpus is 50, placing it exactly at the median of all GPUs. However, its 4 GB VRAM is a critical weakness for an MMORPG like Archeage, which features large open-world environments with extensive draw distances and numerous character models. The 90 W TDP and 250 W suggested PSU indicate this is a low-power card, and the 1x 6-pin power connector reflects its modest power requirements. The GPU's 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores are present but contribute little to this game's performance, as Archeage does not utilize these features.

The measured FPS data clearly shows the GPU's limitations. At 1080p, the GPU can handle Medium settings at 81 FPS, but the 4 GB VRAM becomes a constraint at higher resolutions. At 1440p, the same settings produce 55 FPS, and at 4K, they drop to 31 FPS. The memory bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s is simply insufficient for 4K rendering, where the pixel fill rate demands more data throughput. The GPU's pixel rate of 55.68 GPixel/s and texture rate of 111.4 GTexel/s are modest by modern standards, further limiting high-resolution performance.

The RTX 3050 4 GB's end-of-life production status and its position at the 50th percentile of all GPUs reinforce that it is an entry-level card. Its 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die size with a transistor density of 43.5M / mm² show it is a compact, efficient design, but efficiency cannot compensate for the fundamental lack of VRAM and memory bandwidth. In Archeage, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the steep FPS drops with increasing resolution and settings. The data indicates that users seeking better performance should prioritize a GPU with more than 4 GB of VRAM and a wider memory bus.