Archeage

The Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a playable but heavily resolution-bound experience in Archeage. The data shows a classic GPU-limited scenario, where the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens dramatically as pixel count increases. At 1080p, the combo offers solid frame rates, but pushing to 4K reveals the Arc B570’s limitations, making it a pairing best suited for 1440p or lower.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data clearly illustrates how Archeage scales with resolution when driven by this combination. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces an average of 110 FPS. Stepping up to 2560x1440 at the same settings drops that average to 74 FPS, a reduction of 36 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160 at Low yields only 42 FPS, which is a 62% decrease from the 1080p figure. This steep trajectory indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component at higher resolutions, even on the lowest graphical preset.

The scaling is even more pronounced on the High preset. The system achieves 66 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 45 FPS at 1440p and bottoms out at 26 FPS at 4K. The delta between 1080p and 4K here is a substantial 40 FPS. This pattern suggests that while the CPU has enough headroom to feed frames at lower resolutions, the Arc B570’s rendering pipeline becomes saturated as the pixel workload multiplies, causing a near-linear drop in performance that is typical for a mid-range GPU under a heavy load.

Ultra settings exacerbate the issue, with the combo managing just 45 FPS at 1080p, 31 FPS at 1440p, and a mere 17 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K on Ultra is a 28 FPS loss, representing a 62% decline. These numbers indicate that Ultra is not viable beyond 1080p for this hardware. The scaling pattern across all settings confirms that Archeage is heavily GPU-bound at high resolutions, and the i5-14600K’s processing power is largely irrelevant to the FPS drops observed when moving from 1440p to 4K, which are driven almost entirely by the graphics card’s fill rate and memory bandwidth.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the decisive factor in these results, with its specifications directly explaining the performance cliff at 4K. The GPU features 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. While this is adequate for 1080p and 1440p textures, the data suggests it becomes a bottleneck for higher-resolution framebuffers, particularly when combined with the card’s 2304 shading units and 80 ROPs. The measured results show that at 4K Medium, the average FPS is 38, with minimum and maximum readings of 32 and 43, respectively. This narrow band around 38 FPS indicates the card is consistently hitting a throughput ceiling rather than experiencing sporadic spikes.

The GPU’s boost clock is listed at 2500 MHz, which is a modest figure for modern cards, but the architecture compensates with a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s. However, these theoretical peaks do not translate into playable 4K performance in this MMORPG. The 4K Ultra result of 17 FPS is particularly telling, as it suggests that the card’s 11.52 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is insufficient for the most demanding shader workloads at that resolution. In contrast, the 1080p Low result of 110 FPS shows that the card has ample raw power when the pixel count is low, and the limiting factor is not compute but rather memory bandwidth and ROP throughput as resolution increases.

The GPU’s percentile rank of 65 among all GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, and its average benchmark score of 20556 aligns closely with its nearest rivals, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and the Intel Arc A750, with deltaPct values of 0.1 and -0.1, respectively. This context underscores that while the B570 is a competent 1080p performer, it lacks the memory subsystem and raw fill rate to push 4K in a demanding title like Archeage. The 10 GB VRAM capacity is not the issue at 4K Low (42 FPS), but the bandwidth constraint becomes obvious when moving to High (26 FPS) and Ultra (17 FPS), where the higher texture detail levels require more data to be shuffled through the 160-bit interface.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Arc B570 holds a combo rank of 2222 out of 2761 tested combos for Archeage. This places the system in the bottom 20% of all configurations, which initially seems surprising given the individual component scores. However, the rank reflects the GPU’s limitations in this specific title rather than the CPU’s capabilities. The i5-14600K itself ranks in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48618, which is nearly identical to its nearest rivals like the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and AMD EPYC 4345P, with deltaPct values of -0.2 and 0.3, respectively.

The disparity between the CPU’s high percentile and the combo’s low rank highlights that the Arc B570 is the bottleneck. The GPU’s percentile rank of 65 is significantly lower than the CPU’s 90, and this imbalance drags the overall combo ranking down. In a game like Archeage, which is not known for extreme CPU demands, the data suggests that a stronger GPU would dramatically improve the combo rank, whereas upgrading the CPU would yield minimal gains. The rank of 2222 out of 2761 is a clear indicator that this configuration is suboptimal for achieving high frame rates in this MMORPG, and users seeking higher performance would need to consider a more powerful graphics solution rather than a faster processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its best results. The Low preset produces an average of 110 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play. The Medium preset yields 98 FPS, with a minimum of 83 and a maximum of 112, showing good stability. The High preset drops to 66 FPS, which remains playable but begins to show strain. The Ultra preset is the weakest at this resolution, averaging 45 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for smooth gameplay but still functional.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance degrades predictably. Low settings produce an average of 74 FPS, which is still quite smooth. Medium settings average 66 FPS, with a range of 56 to 76 FPS, indicating some minor frame pacing issues. High settings average 45 FPS, which is marginal for a fast-paced game. Ultra settings are nearly unplayable, averaging just 31 FPS, which is below the playability threshold for most users.

At 3840x2160, the results are stark. Low settings average 42 FPS, which is borderline playable. Medium settings average 38 FPS, with a minimum of 32 and a maximum of 43, showing that the frame rate is consistently low. High settings average 26 FPS, which is a poor experience. Ultra settings are effectively a slideshow, averaging just 17 FPS. The data shows that this combo is not suitable for 4K gaming in Archeage, as even the lowest settings fail to maintain a consistent 60 FPS, and the higher presets fall well below acceptable levels.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K plays a supporting role in this configuration, and the data indicates it is not the limiting factor in Archeage. The processor features 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. These specifications contribute to strong synthetic scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 24491 and a single-core score of 2064, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

In the context of this game, the CPU’s capabilities are largely untapped. The measured FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a pattern consistent with GPU limitation, not CPU bottleneck. For instance, at 1080p Low, the system achieves 110 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s frame limit for this setup. However, when the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the FPS drops proportionally, which would not happen if the CPU were the limiting factor. The high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Passmark single-thread score of 4270, ensures that the game’s main logic thread is well-fed, preventing any CPU-induced stutters or frame drops that could confound the GPU results.

The CPU’s 125 W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory indicate a robust platform, but in this specific test, it is the GPU that determines the outcome. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 245HX and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245, have average scores within 0.7% of the i5-14600K, suggesting that swapping the processor would have a negligible impact on the Archeage frame rates presented here. The conclusion is that the i5-14600K provides sufficient computational headroom, and the primary upgrade path for better performance in this game would be a GPU upgrade.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution. For 1920x1080, the Medium preset is the best choice, delivering an average of 98 FPS with a minimum of 83 FPS. This provides a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience without the steep performance cost of High or Ultra. The High preset at 66 FPS is acceptable for those who prioritize visual fidelity, but the 32 FPS drop from Medium to High is significant. The Ultra preset at 45 FPS is not recommended, as the marginal visual improvement does not justify the poor frame rate.

For 2560x1440, the Medium preset is again the sweet spot, averaging 66 FPS. This is playable, though the minimum of 56 FPS suggests occasional dips that could be noticeable in busy scenes. The Low preset at 74 FPS is a viable alternative for users who prefer higher frame rates over visual quality. The High preset at 45 FPS is borderline, and the Ultra preset at 31 FPS should be avoided entirely, as it falls below the playability threshold.

For 3840x2160, the data suggests that this combo is not suited for gaming at this resolution. The Low preset averages 42 FPS, which is technically playable but far from ideal. The Medium preset at 38 FPS is nearly indistinguishable from Low in terms of playability, and the High and Ultra presets are not viable. The recommendation is to avoid 4K with this hardware configuration, as even the lowest settings cannot maintain a stable 60 FPS. Users with 4K displays should either reduce the resolution to 1440p or consider a more powerful GPU, as the Arc B570’s memory bandwidth and shading power are insufficient for this game at that resolution.

In summary, the best experience per the measured rows is achieved at 1080p Medium, where the combo provides a high average FPS with acceptable minimums. For 1440p users, Medium is the highest playable preset, while 4K is not recommended for any settings level.