Archeage

# Archeage Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-9400 + AMD Radeon RX 9070

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 paired with the Intel Core i5-9400 delivers a playable but uneven Archeage experience across the four tested settings presets. The data shows a clear hierarchy: Low and Medium presets maintain smooth frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, while High and Ultra settings become increasingly demanding, with 4K Ultra dropping to just 32.6 FPS average. The combination ranks 627th out of 1,727 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all systems evaluated. This analysis walks through the measured results to determine the optimal settings, interpret the ranking, and explain how the CPU and GPU interact in this MMORPG.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data reveals that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1080p, Medium achieves an average of 157 FPS, which is only 5.9 FPS below the Low preset's 162.9 FPS, while providing substantially better visuals. At 1440p, Medium maintains a strong 120.1 FPS average, comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. Even at 4K, Medium delivers 69.5 FPS average, which is playable on most displays.

For competitive play or maximum frame rates, the Low preset is the clear choice. It produces the highest averages at every resolution: 162.9 FPS at 1080p, 136.2 FPS at 1440p, and 73.4 FPS at 4K. The gap between Low and Medium narrows as resolution increases, suggesting diminishing returns from the Low preset's stripped-back visuals at higher pixel counts.

The High preset presents a trade-off. At 1080p, it delivers 118.9 FPS, which is strong, but at 1440p it drops to 81.8 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 48.1 FPS. The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combination, as it produces 83.3 FPS at 1080p, 52.7 FPS at 1440p, and a marginal 32.6 FPS at 4K. These numbers indicate that Ultra settings push the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range in Archeage, particularly at higher resolutions.

The best experience for most players is the Medium preset at 1440p, where the 120.1 FPS average provides a smooth, responsive feel while maintaining reasonable visual fidelity. For 4K users, Medium at 69.5 FPS is the only preset that stays above 60 FPS; High and Ultra both fall below that threshold.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination holds the 627th position out of 1,727 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the 36th percentile of all systems evaluated. This mid-pack ranking reflects a significant imbalance: the Radeon RX 9070 is a high-end GPU (79th percentile among all GPUs), while the Core i5-9400 sits at the 50th percentile among all CPUs. The pairing of a strong GPU with an older, mid-range processor limits the overall result.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this interpretation. The RX 9070 achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6,290 and a Passmark G3D score of 25,381, with an average benchmark score of 34,780 across all tests. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA A2, scores 34,866 (0.2% higher), while the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 trails at 34,511 (0.8% lower). These figures indicate the GPU is capable of far more than the measured FPS in Archeage suggests.

Meanwhile, the i5-9400's Cinebench R23 scores are 7,969 multi-core and 1,125 single-core. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i3-10305, scores 2,300 average (0.2% higher), while the Intel Core i7-8809G scores 2,319 (0.6% higher). The CPU's 50th percentile ranking places it squarely in the middle of the pack. In an MMORPG like Archeage, which typically relies heavily on single-thread performance, the i5-9400's modest single-core scores likely contribute to the overall mid-pack ranking.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Radeon RX 9070 the bottleneck in this combination?

A: No. The GPU's average benchmark score of 34,780 places it in the 79th percentile among all GPUs, while the CPU's average score of 2,305 places it in the 50th percentile. The CPU is the weaker component in this pairing.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Archeage?

A: The data shows 1440p Medium as the optimal balance, with 120.1 FPS average. At 1080p Medium, the system reaches 157 FPS, but the visual upgrade at 1440p is substantial. At 4K, only Medium (69.5 FPS) stays above 60 FPS.

Q: How much performance is lost when moving from Low to Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the drop from Low (162.9 FPS) to Ultra (83.3 FPS) is 79.6 FPS, a 48.9% reduction. At 1440p, the drop is 83.5 FPS (136.2 to 52.7), and at 4K, the drop is 40.8 FPS (73.4 to 32.6).

Q: Does this combo handle 4K gaming in Archeage?

A: Partially. Only the Medium preset (69.5 FPS) exceeds 60 FPS at 4K. Low achieves 73.4 FPS, but High (48.1 FPS) and Ultra (32.6 FPS) fall below playable thresholds.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The i5-9400's average benchmark score of 2,305 is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 (2,300) and 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-1125G4 (2,299). It trails the Intel Core i7-8809G by 0.6% (2,319).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the system demonstrates strong performance across all presets. Low settings produce 162.9 FPS average, Medium delivers 157 FPS, High reaches 118.9 FPS, and Ultra drops to 83.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is small (5.9 FPS), while the jump from Medium to High costs 38.1 FPS, and High to Ultra costs another 35.6 FPS.

At 1440p, the pattern holds but with more pronounced differences. Low achieves 136.2 FPS, Medium follows at 120.1 FPS, High drops to 81.8 FPS, and Ultra falls to 52.7 FPS. The transition from Medium to High is the steepest drop, costing 38.3 FPS, while Low to Medium costs only 16.1 FPS.

At 4K, the system's limits become apparent. Low delivers 73.4 FPS, Medium achieves 69.5 FPS, High falls to 48.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 32.6 FPS. Interestingly, the difference between Low and Medium at 4K is just 3.9 FPS, suggesting the GPU is becoming the limiting factor at this resolution regardless of the preset.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the performance gap between Low and Medium remains modest across all resolutions (5.9 FPS at 1080p, 16.1 FPS at 1440p, 3.9 FPS at 4K). However, the gap between Medium and High grows significantly at higher resolutions, indicating that the High preset's additional effects tax the GPU disproportionately as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p to 4K reveals how this combination scales with resolution. At Medium settings, the system delivers 157 FPS at 1080p, 120.1 FPS at 1440p, and 69.5 FPS at 4K. This represents a 23.5% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 42.1% drop from 1440p to 4K.

At High settings, the scaling is steeper: 118.9 FPS at 1080p, 81.8 FPS at 1440p (a 31.2% drop), and 48.1 FPS at 4K (a 41.2% drop from 1440p). The Ultra preset shows the most extreme scaling, falling from 83.3 FPS at 1080p to 52.7 FPS at 1440p (36.7% drop) and 32.6 FPS at 4K (38.1% drop from 1440p).

The pattern suggests that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions. As resolution increases, the gap between Low and Medium narrows dramatically — from 5.9 FPS at 1080p to just 3.9 FPS at 4K. This indicates that beyond a certain pixel count, the GPU's rendering workload dominates, and the CPU's ability to feed frames becomes less relevant. The RX 9070's 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 644.6 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for Archeage at all tested resolutions, but the GPU's raw compute power (36.13 TFLOPS FP32) is strained by 4K Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with 9 MB of shared L3 cache. Its Cinebench R23 scores are 7,969 multi-core and 1,125 single-core, placing it at the 50th percentile among all CPUs.

In Archeage, an MMORPG that typically relies on single-thread performance, the i5-9400's single-core scores are the more relevant metric. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1,125 is modest by current standards, and the CPU's 50th percentile ranking reflects this. The nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database — the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4 — both score within 0.2% of the i5-9400, indicating that this processor sits at the edge of a performance cluster where small differences in architecture and clock speed matter.

The 6-core, 6-thread configuration means the CPU can handle modern game workloads that use multiple threads, but it lacks the hyper-threading found on comparable Intel Core i7 processors. This limitation becomes apparent at higher resolutions where the GPU is not the sole constraint. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 162.9 FPS, which is likely close to the CPU's frame delivery limit. At 4K Ultra, the 32.6 FPS result indicates the GPU is the bottleneck, but the CPU's moderate single-thread performance prevents the system from fully exploiting the RX 9070's capabilities in less demanding scenarios.

The i5-9400's DDR4 memory support with dual-channel configuration and 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for Archeage, but the PCIe Gen 3 interface (16 lanes) may slightly limit the RX 9070's PCIe 5.0 capability. However, the measured results suggest that this is not a significant constraint, as the system still achieves playable frame rates across most settings and resolutions.