Archeage

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 lands at rank 2928 out of 3708 tested combos for Archeage. That places this pairing in the lower third of all tested configurations, which is a meaningful signal for a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The rank reflects the combination's overall capability in this specific title, and the data shows a system that can handle the game at mainstream settings but will struggle when pushed toward the highest visual fidelity or the most demanding resolutions.

The GPU sits at the 58th percentile among all tested GPUs, while the CPU is at the 47th percentile. Neither component is a standout, but the pairing works well enough to deliver playable frame rates in the middle of the settings range. The combo rank of 2928 suggests that many other combinations—both with stronger CPUs and with faster GPUs—will outperform this setup in Archeage. However, the ranking also indicates that this is not a bottom-tier pairing; there are 780 combos that rank below it, so the i5-9400 and RTX 2060 combination is far from the worst option for this game.

The benchmark data for the CPU shows an average score of 2254, which places it within a tight cluster of comparable processors. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-1068NG7, scores 2259, a difference of just -0.2%, meaning the i5-9400 is essentially on par with that chip. The AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 sits just 0.4% behind, and the Intel Core i3-10305 is 0.4% ahead. This grouping tells a clear story: the i5-9400 is a mid-pack CPU in synthetic tests, and Archeage's performance will reflect that mediocrity rather than any single outstanding trait.

For the GPU, the RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290 places it in a strange neighborhood. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, matches it exactly at 15283, a delta of 0%. That is an old card, yet the scores are identical, which speaks to how synthetic benchmarks can flatten generational differences. The AMD Radeon 680M is 0.1% behind, the RTX 3050 OEM is 0.6% behind, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 is 0.8% ahead. The practical takeaway is that this GPU performs in the same broad tier as those cards, and in Archeage specifically, the measured FPS will follow that pattern.

GPU Role

The RTX 2060 brings 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz and a 14 Gbps effective rate. That yields a bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s, which is adequate for a game like Archeage that does not demand extreme memory throughput. The GPU's base clock is 1365 MHz, boosting to 1680 MHz, and it packs 1920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The chip is TU106 on a 12 nm process from TSMC, with 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die.

In the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes clear when looking at how frame rates scale with settings at a fixed resolution. At 1080p, going from Low to High drops the average from 117 to 71 FPS, a 39% reduction. The jump from High to Ultra is even steeper, falling to 48 FPS, which is another 32% drop. These are large swings that indicate the GPU is doing substantial work as settings rise, but the game is also not pushing the card to its absolute limits at lower presets.

The 6 GB VRAM capacity is worth noting. Archeage is an older MMORPG, and its texture and geometry demands are not extreme, so 6 GB proves sufficient at the tested settings. There is no evidence in the data of VRAM-related stutters or crashes, as the min FPS values for Medium settings at 1080p (89 FPS) and 1440p (60 FPS) hold up well. The GPU's pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s are more than enough for this title, and the FP32 compute of 6.451 TFLOPS is not a bottleneck in Archeage's workload.

The RTX 2060's percentile ranking at 58 places it above most GPUs, but the nearest rivals show that the performance gap to other cards in its tier is minimal. The data does not suggest any single GPU feature is decisive in Archeage; rather, the card's overall throughput is what matters, and it delivers that consistently across the settings range.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset at 1080p is the sweet spot for this combo. It delivers an average of 104 FPS with a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 120 FPS. That is smooth, responsive gameplay with headroom for dips during busy MMO moments. The Low preset at 1080p pushes to 117 FPS average, but the visual compromise is unnecessary when Medium is already well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 1440p, Medium remains the best choice, yielding 70 FPS average with a 60 FPS minimum. That is playable for most users, though the min FPS being exactly at 60 suggests that frame pacing could become noticeable in heavy combat scenarios. High at 1440p drops to 48 FPS average, which is below the ideal threshold for a smooth experience. If the display is 1440p, sticking to Medium is the right call.

For 4K, the data paints a grim picture. Medium at 4K averages 40 FPS with a minimum of 34 FPS, which is borderline playable but not enjoyable for most. Low at 4K averages 45 FPS, and High drops to 27 FPS. Ultra is not viable at any resolution, with 48 FPS at 1080p, 33 FPS at 1440p, and 19 FPS at 4K. The only reasonable 4K option is Low, and even that barely clears 45 FPS.

The pattern across all resolutions is consistent: Medium offers the best balance of visual quality and performance. Low leaves performance on the table, and High or Ultra push the frame rate below acceptable levels. The measured data supports Medium as the default recommendation, with the caveat that 4K users should accept Low or drop to 1440p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

Starting at 1920x1080, the Low preset produces an average of 117 FPS. That is a strong result, well above what any display at that resolution needs. Medium at 1080p averages 104 FPS with a minimum of 89 FPS and a maximum of 120 FPS. The min-to-max range of 31 FPS indicates some variance, but the floor is still solid. High at 1080p drops to 71 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 48 FPS. The drop from Medium to High is 33 FPS, which is substantial, and the drop from High to Ultra is another 23 FPS.

At 2560x1440, Low averages 79 FPS, which is a 32% reduction from the 1080p Low result. Medium at 1440p averages 70 FPS with a 60 FPS minimum and an 81 FPS maximum. That 60 FPS floor is the exact threshold for smooth gameplay, so any additional load could push it below. High at 1440p averages 48 FPS, and Ultra drops to 33 FPS. The trend is clear: each step up in settings costs roughly 20-30% of the frame rate.

At 3840x2160, the numbers become marginal. Low averages 45 FPS, Medium averages 40 FPS with a 34 FPS minimum and 46 FPS maximum, High averages 27 FPS, and Ultra averages 19 FPS. The gap between Low and High is 18 FPS, which is a 40% reduction. The min FPS of 34 at Medium 4K is the only recorded min value across all 4K rows, and it shows that even the playable preset has a low floor.

The overall trend across all resolutions and settings is that the combo delivers playable frame rates up to Medium at 1440p, with 1080p being the only resolution where High remains viable. Ultra is never viable, and 4K is only viable at Low or Medium with compromises.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the average goes from 117 FPS at 1080p to 79 FPS at 1440p and then to 45 FPS at 4K. That is a 61% reduction from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the drop is from 104 FPS at 1080p to 70 FPS at 1440p and 40 FPS at 4K, a 62% reduction. These are large, consistent drops that indicate the GPU is the primary limiting factor as resolution increases.

The scaling is not perfectly linear. From 1080p to 1440p, the FPS drops by about 32% across settings, which is close to the 56% increase in pixel count. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is another 43% on average, while the pixel count increases by 125%. The fact that the FPS drop is smaller than the pixel increase suggests that the GPU is not fully saturated at 1440p, but at 4K, the card is hitting a wall.

The CPU's role in this scaling is minimal. The i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost of 4.10 GHz. Archeage is not a multi-threaded beast, and the CPU's synthetic scores—like the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935—place it in the mid-range. At 1080p with Low settings, the 117 FPS result suggests the CPU can feed the GPU adequately, but the consistent FPS drops at higher resolutions point to the GPU being the constraint, not the CPU.

The data shows that this combo is balanced at 1080p, where both components are utilized. But as resolution climbs, the RTX 2060 becomes the clear bottleneck. The CPU is not holding the system back at higher resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that FPS drops scale with pixel count rather than with CPU load.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. Its base clock is 2.90 GHz, boosting to 4.10 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The cache layout includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 256 KB of L2 per core, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports dual-channel DDR4 memory with a bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s, and it uses PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 scores 6629 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 935 in single-core. The Geekbench scores are 5141 multi-core and 1389 single-core. These numbers place it at the 47th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 2254. Its nearest rivals are all within a 0.4% band, which confirms that this is a thoroughly average processor in the current landscape.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The game is an MMORPG, so large player gatherings and complex scenes can strain the CPU, but the measured data does not show severe CPU bottlenecks. At 1080p Low, the 117 FPS average indicates the CPU can push high frame rates when the GPU is not the limiting factor. The fact that 4K Low only drops to 45 FPS—while 1080p Ultra drops to 48 FPS—suggests that settings matter more than resolution for this CPU, and that the GPU is the primary constraint in most scenarios.

The CPU's 6 threads may be a limitation in heavily populated areas of Archeage, where many characters and effects can create a single-thread bottleneck. However, the measured FPS data does not include any CPU-specific metrics, so this remains a qualitative observation. The i5-9400's single-core performance of 935 in Cinebench R23 is adequate for a game from 2014, and the 47th percentile ranking means it will not be the star of the show, but it also will not be the weak link in most cases.

The combo's rank of 2928 out of 3708 suggests that the CPU is part of a larger picture. A stronger CPU might push the combo higher in the rankings at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU would still dominate the performance outcome. The data indicates that this pairing is best suited for 1080p gaming, where the CPU can keep up with the GPU's output, and it will deliver a smooth experience at Medium settings. For higher resolutions, the GPU's limits become the defining factor, and the CPU's role diminishes accordingly.