Archeage

Archeage is a 2014 MMORPG that remains sensitive to both CPU and GPU performance depending on the settings and resolution you choose. This particular combination—an Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with an Intel Arc B390—produces a very specific performance profile that requires careful settings management to be playable. The data shows a system that is heavily constrained by its graphics processor, especially at higher resolutions, but which can deliver acceptable frame rates when the graphical load is reduced.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data clearly indicates that the "Ultra" preset is not viable for this combo at any resolution. At 1920x1080, Ultra produces an average of 29 FPS, which dips to 20 FPS at 2560x1440 and becomes a slideshow at 11 FPS in 4K. These numbers are below the threshold for comfortable play in an MMORPG, where smooth camera movement and ability readability are essential. The performance cost of Ultra settings is disproportionate to the visual gain, making it a poor choice for this hardware pairing.

The "High" preset offers a marginal improvement but still falls short of smooth gameplay. At 1080p, High delivers 43 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for a genre where reaction times matter. The situation worsens at 1440p with 29 FPS, and at 4K the average drops to 17 FPS. While High is more demanding than Medium, the data suggests that the GPU is already near its limits, and the extra graphical fidelity does not compensate for the frame rate penalty.

The "Medium" preset stands out as the optimal balance between visual quality and performance. At 1080p, Medium achieves 64 FPS average with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS, providing a consistently smooth experience. At 1440p, Medium still holds at 43 FPS average with a 36 FPS minimum, which is acceptable for less demanding content. The 4K Medium result of 25 FPS average is the only resolution where Medium falls below the playability threshold, but the 21 FPS minimum shows it is at least consistent.

The "Low" preset is the only way to achieve high frame rates, particularly at lower resolutions. At 1080p, Low produces 71 FPS average, which is excellent for an MMORPG. At 1440p, Low drops to 48 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 28 FPS. For players who prioritize responsiveness over visuals, Low is the recommended choice, but for a balanced experience, Medium at 1080p is the sweet spot. The data strongly suggests that users should avoid Ultra entirely and treat High as a situational preset for static scenes rather than active gameplay.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the primary bottleneck in this system. Its benchmark data shows a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is an extremely low score, and the nearest rivals confirm its position: it is only 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M, 2.5% ahead of the GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% ahead of the GT 710. These are all entry-level or legacy parts, indicating that the Arc B390 is not designed for demanding gaming workloads.

The GPU's architecture is Xe3-LPG on a 3 nm process, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. It features 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, along with 12 ray tracing cores. The memory configuration is entirely system-shared, meaning there is no dedicated VRAM. The memory type, bus width, and bandwidth are all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent," which means performance is tied to the host system's RAM speed and capacity. This shared memory arrangement is a significant limitation for a game like Archeage, which can have large texture and asset streaming demands.

The GPU's compute capabilities are 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16, with a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. While these numbers are not negligible, they are clearly insufficient for high-resolution gaming. The measured FPS data confirms this: the GPU cannot maintain 30 FPS at 4K even on Low settings, achieving only 28 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra settings at 1080p (71 FPS vs 29 FPS) shows that the GPU is heavily taxed by increased graphical complexity. The data indicates that this GPU is best suited for 1080p gaming at Medium settings or below, and that any attempt to push higher resolutions will result in sub-30 FPS averages.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF is a significantly more capable component than the GPU. It is a 14-core, 20-thread processor from the Core 14th Gen series, based on the Raptor Lake architecture on a 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, with a 125W TDP. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory in dual-channel configuration, and it has PCIe Gen 5 with 16 lanes.

The CPU's benchmark scores are strong. In Cinebench R23, it scores 32544 in multi-core and 4594 in single-core. In Cinebench R20, it scores 13668 multi-core and 1929 single-core. Its Geekbench scores are 17085 multi-core and 2445 single-core. On PassMark, it achieves a multithread score of 38697 and a single-thread score of 4273. The average benchmark score is 49394, which places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (0.3% ahead), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (0.4% ahead), Intel Core Ultra 5 245 (0.8% ahead), and AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 388 (0.8% behind). This shows the i5-14600KF is competitive with mid-range and high-end CPUs from the same era.

In the context of Archeage, the CPU's role is less about raw frame rate and more about maintaining consistent performance in a game with many players and entities. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 71 FPS, which suggests the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU enough frames. However, the GPU becomes the limiting factor as settings increase. The CPU's high single-thread performance (4594 in Cinebench R23 single-core) is beneficial for an MMORPG, which often relies on a few heavily loaded threads for game logic and network handling. The 14 cores and 20 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and streaming, but they do not directly translate into higher frame rates in this scenario because the GPU is the bottleneck. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting component in this pairing; it has more than enough power to handle Archeage's CPU demands, but it is held back by the Arc B390's limited graphics performance.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and Intel Arc B390 ranks 3297 out of 3708 tested combos in Archeage. This places it in the bottom 11% of all tested configurations, which is a poor result for a system with such a strong CPU. The CPU's high benchmark scores (90th percentile) are completely undermined by the GPU's low benchmark scores (9th percentile). This mismatch is evident in the frame rates: the system cannot achieve 60 FPS at 1080p on any setting except Low, and it struggles to maintain 30 FPS at 1440p on Medium.

The rank of 3297 out of 3708 indicates that most other combinations tested in this game perform better. This is expected, given that the Arc B390 is positioned near the bottom of the GPU performance hierarchy, alongside legacy parts like the GT 710 and GT 625 OEM. The CPU is not the reason for the low ranking; it is the GPU that drags the combo down. If this CPU were paired with a more capable GPU, the rank would likely be much higher. However, as measured, this specific pairing is a poor match for Archeage, delivering playable performance only at 1080p with Medium or Low settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the limiting component. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 64 at 1080p to 43 at 1440p (a 33% drop) and then to 25 at 4K (a 61% drop from 1080p). At High settings, the progression is 43 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K—a consistent reduction of roughly 33-40% for each resolution step. This pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound system, where increasing pixel count directly reduces frame rate.

The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at higher resolutions. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions. Instead, the FPS drops dramatically as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU that is running out of pixel processing power. The GPU's 24 ROPs and 60.00 GPixel/s pixel rate are simply insufficient for 4K rendering. The system-shared memory also contributes to the problem, as memory bandwidth becomes more critical at higher resolutions with larger frame buffers.

The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is less severe than from 1440p to 4K, which suggests the GPU can handle some resolution increase but hits a wall at 4K. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 71 FPS, but at 4K Low, it drops to 28 FPS—a 60% reduction. This indicates that even at the lowest settings, the GPU is overwhelmed by the 4K pixel count. For users who want to play at 1440p, Medium settings (43 FPS) are the practical limit, while 4K is not viable for any settings profile. The data clearly shows that this combo is best used at 1080p, where the GPU can produce reasonable frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the results are as follows:

• Low: 28 FPS average
• Medium: 25 FPS average, with a minimum of 21 FPS and maximum of 28 FPS
• High: 17 FPS average
• Ultra: 11 FPS average

None of these results are playable for an MMORPG, as even the best case (Low) is below 30 FPS. The minimum FPS for Medium at 21 FPS indicates significant frame time variance, which would result in stutter.

At 2560x1440 (1440p), the results improve but remain limited:

• Low: 48 FPS average
• Medium: 43 FPS average, with a minimum of 36 FPS and maximum of 49 FPS
• High: 29 FPS average
• Ultra: 20 FPS average

Low and Medium are playable, with Medium providing a more consistent experience (minimum 36 FPS). High and Ultra are below the 30 FPS threshold and should be avoided.

At 1920x1080 (1080p), the results are the most usable:

• Low: 71 FPS average
• Medium: 64 FPS average, with a minimum of 54 FPS and maximum of 73 FPS
• High: 43 FPS average
• Ultra: 29 FPS average

Low and Medium both exceed 60 FPS, making them ideal for smooth gameplay. High is playable at 43 FPS, but Ultra is not. The Medium preset offers the best balance, with a minimum FPS of 54 that ensures consistent performance during busy scenes.

The data reveals a clear pattern: the system is viable at 1080p with Medium or Low settings, marginal at 1440p with Low or Medium, and not viable at 4K. The GPU is the limiting factor at every resolution, and the CPU's performance headroom is never fully utilized. For an MMORPG like Archeage, where smoothness is more important than graphical fidelity, the recommended configuration is 1080p with Medium settings, which provides a solid 64 FPS average with acceptable minimums.