Archeage

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB delivers a playable experience in Archeage, but the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by the graphics card at higher resolutions and quality presets. The measured frame rates across the three resolutions show a clear pattern of diminishing returns as pixel count increases, with the gap between Low and Ultra settings widening dramatically at 4K, indicating the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck in demanding scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and non-linear, confirming that the RTX 3050 4 GB is the limiting component in this combo. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 93.6 FPS at 1920x1080 to 64.1 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 31.5%, and then to 37.8 FPS at 3840x2160, a further 41% drop from the 1440p figure. This scaling pattern shows that the GPU’s 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 128-bit bus are insufficient to maintain throughput as the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K.

At Medium settings, the degradation is even more pronounced relative to the starting point. The system produces 79.4 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 56.7 FPS at 1440p (a 28.6% decline) and then to 29.5 FPS at 4K (a 48% decline from 1440p). The High preset follows a similar trajectory: 55.8 FPS at 1080p, 35.6 FPS at 1440p, and 22.6 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset is the most punishing, starting at 38.6 FPS at 1080p, falling to 23.9 FPS at 1440p, and collapsing to 15.4 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that the CPU, with its 6 cores and 6 threads, is not the primary constraint at lower resolutions; rather, the RTX 3050’s 4 GB VRAM and 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are exhausted quickly as the render load increases.

The relative performance gap between Low and Ultra also grows with resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 58.8% slower than Low (38.6 vs 93.6 FPS). At 1440p, that gap widens to 62.7% (23.9 vs 64.1 FPS). At 4K, Ultra is 59.3% slower than Low (15.4 vs 37.8 FPS). This consistency in the percentage gap indicates that the game’s Ultra preset features, likely including shadows and post-processing, tax the GPU disproportionately regardless of resolution, but the absolute FPS at 4K becomes unplayable on any preset above Low.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB ranks 1547 out of 1727 combos for Archeage. That places it in the bottom 10% of all tested systems, which is a significant finding given that the individual components are not entry-level. The CPU’s benchmark percentile is 50, meaning it sits exactly at the median of all processors tested, and its average benchmark score of 2305 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals.

The CPU’s nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are the Intel Core i3-10305 with an average score of 2300 (a delta of 0.2%), the Intel Core i3-1125G4 also at 2299 (delta 0.2%), and the Intel Xeon E-2134 at 2295 (delta 0.4%). The only rival that scores higher is the Intel Core i7-8809G at 2319, but it does so by a margin of only 0.6%. This clustering suggests that the i5-9400 is not a weak link in the combo; its processing power is adequate for the game’s MMO workload, which is typically more dependent on single-thread performance. The low combo rank is therefore attributable to the GPU, which has no direct rivals listed in the database and a percentile score of 50, but its 4 GB VRAM capacity is clearly insufficient for high-fidelity rendering at modern resolutions.

The rank of 1547 out of 1727 means that 180 other combos perform worse, but the overwhelming majority of tested systems deliver better frame rates in Archeage. This is a sobering stat for a GPU that was released in 2022, as the data shows the RTX 3050 4 GB is outclassed by many older or differently configured systems in this specific title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 4 GB is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA107 chip, manufactured on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It features 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, along with 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores. The card’s base clock is 1545 MHz with a boost clock of 1740 MHz, and it has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s. The memory operates at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed.

In Archeage, the GPU’s role is decisive, as evidenced by the FPS scaling. The card’s 4 GB VRAM is the most likely culprit for the severe performance drop at 4K Ultra (15.4 FPS), as the game’s high-resolution textures and effects likely exceed the memory capacity, forcing the system to use slower memory paging. The 7.127 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is also modest by modern standards, and the 55.68 GPixel/s pixel rate and 111.4 GTexel/s texture rate are not sufficient to maintain smooth frame rates at 4K on any preset above Low.

The GPU’s power draw is rated at 90 W, which is low for a discrete card, but this does not translate into efficiency gains in this workload. The measured data shows that even at 1080p, the card cannot hit 60 FPS on High settings (55.8 FPS), which is a common target for MMO players. The card’s PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is not a bottleneck in this test, as the CPU only supports PCIe Gen 3 with 16 lanes, but the data does not indicate any interface-related issues.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the optimal balance of visual quality and playability is achieved at 1920x1080 with Medium settings, which produces an average of 79.4 FPS. This is well above the 60 FPS threshold and represents a 42.1% improvement over High settings at the same resolution (55.8 FPS). The jump from Medium to Low at 1080p yields 93.6 FPS, an 18% increase, but the visual fidelity loss may not be worth the extra frames for most players.

At 2560x1440, the only preset that delivers a consistently smooth experience is Low, with an average of 64.1 FPS. Medium drops to 56.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and may exhibit noticeable stutter in crowded MMO areas. High and Ultra at 1440p are not viable, with 35.6 and 23.9 FPS respectively. At 3840x2160, no preset is truly playable; Low averages 37.8 FPS, while Medium and High fall to 29.5 and 22.6 FPS, and Ultra is a slideshow at 15.4 FPS.

The data suggests that the best experience for this combo is 1080p Medium, which provides a 79.4 FPS average while retaining some visual enhancements over Low. For 1440p users, dropping to Low is mandatory for smooth gameplay, but the 64.1 FPS result is acceptable. 4K should be avoided entirely, as even the lowest preset cannot maintain 40 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers 93.6 FPS on Low, 79.4 FPS on Medium, 55.8 FPS on High, and 38.6 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a consistent decline of roughly 14-24 FPS per step, with the largest single drop being 17.2 FPS from Medium to High. The 1080p results are the only ones where any preset besides Low reaches the 60 FPS mark, with Medium being the sole exception.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 64.1 FPS on Low, 56.7 FPS on Medium, 35.6 FPS on High, and 23.9 FPS on Ultra. The drop from Medium to High is 21.1 FPS, which is the largest percentage decline (37.2%) in this resolution, indicating that the High preset introduces a significant rendering cost. The gap between Low and Medium is only 7.4 FPS, suggesting that the Medium preset is a minor upgrade.

At 3840x2160, the results are 37.8 FPS on Low, 29.5 FPS on Medium, 22.6 FPS on High, and 15.4 FPS on Ultra. The scaling here is nearly linear, with each preset step costing roughly 7-8 FPS. The Ultra preset’s 15.4 FPS is 59.3% lower than Low, which is the largest absolute difference across all resolutions. The 4K data confirms that the RTX 3050 4 GB is not designed for high-resolution gaming in this title.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Archeage at 60 FPS in 1080p?

A: Yes, but only on Low or Medium settings. The measured average FPS is 93.6 on Low and 79.4 on Medium. High settings fall short at 55.8 FPS, and Ultra is significantly lower at 38.6 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where the system can exceed 60 FPS on more than one preset. At 2560x1440, only Low reaches 60 FPS (64.1 FPS), while 3840x2160 never exceeds 40 FPS on any preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Archeage?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. The Intel Core i5-9400 has a benchmark percentile of 50 and scores within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, indicating adequate processing power. The RTX 3050 4 GB’s performance drops sharply with resolution, which is characteristic of a GPU bottleneck.

Q: How does the 4 GB VRAM affect 4K performance?

A: The 4 GB memory size is likely the primary cause of the poor 4K results. The highest average FPS at 3840x2160 is 37.8 on Low settings, and Ultra drops to 15.4 FPS, suggesting the VRAM capacity is exceeded by high-resolution textures.

Q: Is this combo ranked well for Archeage?

A: No, it ranks 1547 out of 1727 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 10% of all systems. This low rank is despite the CPU being at the 50th percentile, which further highlights the GPU’s weakness in this game.

Q: What settings should I use for a smooth 1440p experience?

A: Low settings are the only viable option at 2560x1440, producing an average of 64.1 FPS. Medium drops to 56.7 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and High and Ultra are not recommended due to their low frame rates of 35.6 and 23.9 FPS respectively.