Archeage

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, presents an interesting scaling scenario for the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT combination. The data shows a substantial performance drop as resolution increases, with the most significant shift occurring between 1440p and 4K. At 1080p High settings, the combo achieves 77.4 FPS, which falls to 51.5 FPS at 1440p, and then plummets to 29.8 FPS at 4K. This represents a 61.5% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the graphics card becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The scaling pattern is consistent across all quality presets, with the gap between 1440p and 4K being particularly pronounced—for example, at Medium settings, the drop from 76.5 FPS to 46.7 FPS is a 39% loss, while the 1080p to 1440p transition only costs about 34% of the performance. This suggests that while the CPU has enough headroom to drive the game at lower resolutions, the RX 5700 XT's capabilities are stretched thin when pixel count increases dramatically.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear trend: Archeage becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution climbs. At 1080p Low settings, the combo posts 128.6 FPS, which is a playable and smooth experience for an MMORPG. Moving to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 86.2 FPS, a 33% reduction, but still remains fluid. However, at 4K Low, the average FPS falls to 50.1, which is a 42% drop from 1440p. This pattern intensifies with higher quality settings. At Ultra, the 1080p result is 49.7 FPS, which drops to 32.8 FPS at 1440p (a 34% loss), and then to 22.7 FPS at 4K (a 31% loss from 1440p). The data indicates that the limiting component shifts from the CPU to the GPU as resolution increases. At 1080p, the i5-14600K's strong single-threaded performance (geekbench_singlecore score of 2803) can help push higher frame rates, but by 4K, the RX 5700 XT's raw pixel throughput becomes the deciding factor. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution also widens with resolution: at 1080p, the difference is 78.9 FPS (128.6 vs 49.7), while at 4K, it narrows to 27.4 FPS (50.1 vs 22.7). This compression of the quality-scale range at 4K shows that the GPU is saturated even at Low settings, leaving little headroom for visual enhancements.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with a 7 nm process, features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. Its boost clock is 1905 MHz, with a base clock of 1605 MHz and a game clock of 1755 MHz. These specifications are directly relevant to the 4K results. At 4K Ultra, the combo only manages 22.7 FPS, which is below playable thresholds. The GPU's 64 ROPs and 2560 shading units are not sufficient to handle the pixel fill rate demands of 4K in Archeage, especially with Ultra settings that likely increase draw distances and effects. The 8 GB VRAM capacity is adequate for this game at these resolutions, as the data does not show a sudden drop that would indicate memory swapping—the scaling is gradual. However, the GPU's passmark_g3d score of 16277, while placing it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, is modest by modern standards. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile (deltaPct of -0.1%) and Intel Arc A350M (deltaPct of 0.3%), which indicates that the RX 5700 XT sits in a mid-range performance tier. This aligns with the observed FPS drops: the card can deliver 1080p performance well above 60 FPS on High settings (77.4 FPS), but falls below 30 FPS at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT achieves a comboRankInGame of 1288 out of 1727 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 25% of all configurations for Archeage. The rank reflects the overall average performance across all resolutions and settings, and the data shows that this combo struggles at higher resolutions. Given that the CPU is a high-end part (its avgBenchmarkScore of 49166 places it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs), the bottleneck is clearly the GPU. The i5-14600K's nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (deltaPct of 0.2%) and the Intel Core i5-14600KF (deltaPct of -0.4%), showing that the CPU is competitive with top-tier processors. However, the GPU's percentile rank of 68 is much lower, and its nearest rivals are mobile or professional parts with similar scores. This mismatch means the combo is not optimized for a game like Archeage, which is not heavily threaded but does require consistent frame pacing. The rank of 1288 suggests that users with this combo would experience stutter or low FPS in crowded zones or at high resolutions, which is a critical consideration for an MMORPG where world events and large player gatherings are common.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p High settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 77.4 FPS at 1920x1080 with High settings, which is a solid playable frame rate for most users.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from 1440p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 1440p Medium, the average FPS is 76.5, while at 4K Medium, it drops to 46.7. This represents a 39% reduction in frame rate.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the main bottleneck at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. For instance, at 4K Low, the FPS is 50.1, which is only 2.4 FPS higher than the 1440p High result of 51.5, showing that even lowering settings at 4K does not yield large gains.

Q: What are the lowest and highest FPS recorded in the dataset?

A: The lowest average FPS is 22.7 at 4K Ultra settings, while the highest is 128.6 at 1080p Low settings.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rival in terms of benchmark score?

A: The RX 5700 XT has an avgBenchmarkScore of 24731, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile's score of 24763.

Q: At what resolution does the combo fail to maintain 30 FPS?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 22.7, which is below the 30 FPS threshold. At 4K High, it is 29.8, also below 30 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a 14-core, 20-thread processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its L3 cache is 24 MB shared, and it supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. For Archeage, which is an MMORPG from 2014, the game's engine is not designed to utilize many cores, so the single-threaded performance is more critical. The i5-14600K's geekbench_singlecore score is 2803, and its cinebench_r23_singlecore score is 4642, which are strong numbers. In contrast, its multithreaded scores are also high (cinebench_r23_multicore of 32881), but these are less relevant for this game. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the FPS is 128.6, which is high enough to suggest the CPU is not the primary limiter at that resolution. However, the drop to 77.4 FPS at 1080p High indicates that the GPU is already becoming the constraint, even at 1080p. The CPU's 14 cores and 20 threads are overkill for this title, but its high boost clock and per-core efficiency ensure that it does not hold the GPU back at lower resolutions. The percentileVsAllCpus of 93 confirms that this is a top-tier processor, but its advantages are largely lost in Archeage due to the GPU bottleneck. The CPU's performance is comparable to the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (deltaPct of 0.2%), but for a game like Archeage, the single-threaded speed matters more, and the i5-14600K's boost clock of 5.30 GHz provides an edge that helps maintain frame times in CPU-intensive scenarios like large player gatherings.