Archeage

The Intel Core i5-13400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 produces a wide performance spread in Archeage, ranging from a highly playable 240.8 FPS at 1080p Low to a demanding 47.9 FPS at 4K Ultra. The data indicates that this combination ranks 34th out of 1,727 tested configurations for this MMORPG, placing it firmly in the top 2% of systems. The measured results show that while the RTX 5090 provides immense graphical headroom, the game's engine and the CPU's capabilities become significant factors at lower resolutions and higher settings, creating a complex scaling curve that rewards careful settings selection.

FAQ

Q: What is the best-performing settings preset for this CPU and GPU combination at 1080p?

A: The Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate at 1920x1080, achieving 240.8 FPS. The Medium preset is nearly as fast at 234.4 FPS, while the High preset drops to 185.9 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p in terms of average FPS?

A: The difference is substantial. At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 126.1 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 88.2 FPS. This represents a performance reduction of approximately 30% when moving from High to Ultra.

Q: Is the RTX 5090's performance consistent with its top-tier positioning in this game?

A: The GPU's benchmark scores are very high, with a Passmark G3D score of 39,650 and an average benchmark score of 84,306. In the system's overall game ranking, the combo sits at 34th out of 1,727, which is a strong result, though not the absolute top.

Q: What is the most demanding settings and resolution combination measured?

A: The 3840x2160 Ultra preset is the most demanding, yielding an average frame rate of just 47.9 FPS. This is the only measured configuration that falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How large is the gap between the Low and Ultra presets at 4K?

A: The gap is massive. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 119.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 47.9 FPS. The Ultra preset delivers only 40% of the frame rate of the Low preset.

Q: Does the CPU's benchmark performance align with its in-game results?

A: The i5-13400F's Cinebench R23 multicore score is 21,279, and its percentile ranking among all CPUs is 82. This indicates strong synthetic performance that supports high frame rates, but the in-game data shows that the CPU still becomes a limiting factor in specific scenarios.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this configuration, equipped with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This massive memory subsystem is supported by a boost clock of 2407 MHz and a base clock of 2017 MHz. The GPU's raw compute capabilities are substantial, with a FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS and a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s, which are essential for handling high-resolution textures and complex shaders in a game world as detailed as Archeage.

In the measured results, the GPU's strength is most evident at lower resolutions and settings where it can push frame rates to extreme levels. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 240.8 FPS, showcasing the GPU's ability to render frames far faster than the display's refresh rate in many cases. However, the data also reveals that the GPU's power is capped by other factors. The shift from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings shows a performance drop from 234.4 FPS to 103.8 FPS, illustrating how increased pixel count demands more from the rendering pipeline.

The RTX 5090's benchmark scores corroborate its high-end status. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,411 and Passmark G3D score of 39,650 place it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rival in the data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, has an average score of 84,241, just 0.1% lower, which confirms the 5090 is a top-tier part. Despite this, the data suggests that the RTX 5090 is not always the bottleneck in Archeage. The game's age and CPU-dependent nature mean that the GPU often has headroom to spare, waiting for the processor to supply draw calls and game logic updates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p displays, the Medium preset is the most balanced, delivering 234.4 FPS, which is nearly indistinguishable from the Low preset's 240.8 FPS but with better visual fidelity. The High preset at 185.9 FPS is also excellent and might be preferable for users with 144Hz monitors who want additional graphical polish, while the Ultra preset at 129.1 FPS is still viable for high-refresh gaming.

At 1440p, the High preset emerges as the sweet spot, achieving 126.1 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on 120Hz and 144Hz monitors without the severe performance penalty of the Ultra preset, which drops to 88.2 FPS. The Low and Medium presets are also playable, with 205.5 FPS and 184.4 FPS respectively, but they do not leverage the GPU's capabilities as effectively for visual improvements.

For 4K resolution, the data suggests a clear trade-off. The Low preset at 119.7 FPS is the only 4K setting that provides a high-refresh experience. The Medium preset at 103.8 FPS is also very good for 4K gaming. The High preset at 70.6 FPS is borderline for 60Hz displays, but the Ultra preset at 47.9 FPS is not recommended for smooth gameplay. Given the game's MMORPG nature, where consistent frame pacing is important for combat, the Medium or High presets at 4K provide the best combination of visual quality and playability.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete matrix of average frame rates across four resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the performance is exceptionally high across the board. The Low preset leads with 240.8 FPS, followed closely by Medium at 234.4 FPS. The High preset achieves 185.9 FPS, and the Ultra preset manages 129.1 FPS. This pattern shows that even the most demanding settings can sustain high frame rates at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain robust but show a wider spread. The Low preset delivers 205.5 FPS, and the Medium preset achieves 184.4 FPS. The High preset drops to 126.1 FPS, which is still a solid performance for high-refresh 1440p monitors. The Ultra preset at 88.2 FPS is the first configuration to fall below 100 FPS, indicating a significant jump in GPU load when enabling maximum details.

At 3840x2160, the scaling becomes more pronounced. The Low preset still manages a very playable 119.7 FPS. The Medium preset follows with 103.8 FPS, which is excellent for 4K. The High preset drops to 70.6 FPS, a substantial decrease from the 1440p result. The Ultra preset is the most demanding, with an average of 47.9 FPS, which is below the standard 60 FPS target and suggests a need for settings adjustment for a smooth experience.

Resolution Scaling

Analyzing the performance drop from 1080p to 4K reveals critical insights into the system's bottleneck characteristics. At the Low preset, the frame rate decreases from 240.8 FPS at 1080p to 119.7 FPS at 4K, a reduction of roughly 50%. This halving of performance when quadrupling the pixel count suggests a scaling pattern that is more gradual than purely GPU-bound, indicating that the CPU is also a contributor to the frame time.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically at higher settings. At the Ultra preset, the drop is from 129.1 FPS at 1080p to 47.9 FPS at 4K, a reduction of about 63%. This steeper decline at higher settings indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as the graphical load increases. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s are being stressed more heavily by the combination of high resolution and maximum detail settings.

The data shows that the i5-13400F is a capable partner for the RTX 5090 at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low and Medium presets both exceed 230 FPS suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU quickly enough to avoid major bottlenecks. However, the 1080p Ultra result of 129.1 FPS, compared to the 1080p Low result of 240.8 FPS, shows that the CPU's single-thread performance can be a constraint when the game logic and draw calls become more complex. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,004 and the Passmark single-thread score of 3,634 are solid, but they do not provide the immense headroom needed to maintain 200+ FPS with all settings maxed out. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings (126.1 FPS to 70.6 FPS) shows a 44% drop, which is closer to the theoretical pixel-count scaling and suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting component in this configuration.