Archeage

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a playable experience in Archeage, but the data reveals a system that is heavily constrained by graphical settings and resolution, with the CPU becoming the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the combo achieves high frame rates, but the scaling to 4K shows a dramatic drop that shifts the load onto the GPU. The benchmark results indicate that this configuration is best suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming, while 4K Ultra settings should be avoided for smooth gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern across the three tested resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 161 FPS. Moving to 1440p drops that to 122 FPS, a 24% reduction, and at 4K, the average falls to 70 FPS, a 57% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at higher resolutions, as the pixel count increase directly impacts the render workload.

However, the scaling pattern changes dramatically when examining Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra average is 75 FPS, which drops to 51 FPS at 1440p (a 32% decrease) and further to 29 FPS at 4K (a 61% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the 4K Ultra score is less than half of the 1440p Ultra score suggests that the combination of high resolution and maximum settings overwhelms the GPU's capabilities, likely due to the 8 GB VRAM capacity and the demanding nature of the game's higher presets.

The data indicates that the scaling from Medium to High settings is relatively modest at each resolution. At 1080p, Medium produces 155 FPS and High produces 110 FPS, a 29% drop. At 1440p, Medium yields 109 FPS and High yields 74 FPS, a 32% drop. At 4K, Medium produces 62 FPS and High produces 42 FPS, a 32% drop. This consistent percentage suggests that the performance cost of moving from Medium to High is uniform across resolutions, pointing to a balanced workload increase.

The most telling data point for the limiting component is the difference between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution. At 1080p, the gap is 86 FPS (161 to 75), which narrows to 71 FPS at 1440p (122 to 51) and 41 FPS at 4K (70 to 29). This narrowing gap indicates that at lower resolutions, the CPU is able to feed frames quickly enough for the GPU to render, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the sole bottleneck, reducing the impact of settings changes on the final frame rate.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this CPU-GPU pair in Archeage?

A: The data shows that 1080p with Medium settings delivers 155 FPS average, while 1440p with Medium settings delivers 109 FPS. For a 4K experience, High settings at 42 FPS is the only playable option, as Ultra at 29 FPS falls below the threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti perform at 4K in this game?

A: The measured results show a 4K High average of 42 FPS, a 4K Medium average of 62 FPS, and a 4K Low average of 70 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset is the only configuration that drops below 30 FPS, hitting an average of 29 FPS.

Q: Is the i5-9400 a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The evidence suggests yes. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 161 FPS, but at 4K Low, it only reaches 70 FPS. The large gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p (86 FPS) compared to 4K (41 FPS) indicates that the CPU limits the frame rate at lower resolutions, preventing the GPU from working at full capacity.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings?

A: Across all resolutions, the drop from Medium to High is remarkably consistent. At 1080p, it drops from 155 to 110 FPS (29%). At 1440p, it drops from 109 to 74 FPS (32%). At 4K, it drops from 62 to 42 FPS (32%). This uniformity suggests a consistent increase in rendering complexity.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1402 out of 3708 tested combinations, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all combos. This indicates that while it is not a top-tier pairing, it outperforms the majority of systems tested in this game.

Q: Can this system handle 1440p gaming in Archeage?

A: Yes, the data shows that 1440p with High settings produces 74 FPS average, and 1440p with Ultra settings produces 51 FPS. The 1440p Medium preset is particularly strong at 109 FPS, making it a viable option for high-refresh-rate monitors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is a high-end Ampere architecture GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 608.3 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock is listed at 1770 MHz, and it features 6144 shading units. In the context of Archeage, the GPU's role is primarily to handle the rendering workload at higher resolutions and settings, as evidenced by the measured FPS scaling.

The GPU's performance in this game is strong at 1080p, where it achieves 161 FPS at Low settings and 155 FPS at Medium settings. However, the data shows that the GPU's capabilities are strained at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 29. This is likely due to the combination of the 8 GB VRAM capacity and the demands of the Ultra preset, which can exceed the available memory at 4K resolution.

The GPU's benchmark scores indicate it is a capable performer. Its Passmark G3D score is 23356, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3478. The GPU's percentile ranking against all GPUs is 75, meaning it outperforms three-quarters of all tested GPUs. When compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 3070 Ti performs nearly identically to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 (-0.5% delta), but it is 1.6% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 6700.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K resolution. The difference between 4K Low (70 FPS) and 4K High (42 FPS) is a 40% drop, while the difference between 1080p Low (161 FPS) and 1080p High (110 FPS) is a 32% drop. This increased sensitivity to settings at 4K confirms that the GPU is operating at its performance ceiling at that resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS values are 161 for Low, 155 for Medium, 110 for High, and 75 for Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum FPS of 131 and a maximum of 178, indicating a stable frame delivery. The Low preset does not have min/max values listed, but its average of 161 FPS is the highest across all configurations tested.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 122 for Low, 109 for Medium, 74 for High, and 51 for Ultra. The Medium preset again has min/max values, showing a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 125 FPS. This range indicates that even at 1440p, the system maintains playable frame rates in most scenarios, though the Ultra preset at 51 FPS is starting to approach the lower threshold for competitive play.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 70 for Low, 62 for Medium, 42 for High, and 29 for Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 53 FPS and a maximum of 72 FPS. The 4K results clearly show that the Ultra preset is not viable, with an average below 30 FPS, which would result in noticeable stuttering in an MMORPG environment.

The settings scaling at each resolution is consistent. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 86 FPS. At 1440p, that gap narrows to 71 FPS. At 4K, the gap is 41 FPS. This progressive narrowing indicates that as resolution increases, the absolute FPS difference between settings shrinks because the GPU becomes the bottleneck, limiting the impact of lower settings on frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti combination ranks 1402 out of 3708 tested combos in Archeage. This places the system in the top 38% of all configurations tested, indicating a solidly above-average performance. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU, as well as their individual capabilities in this specific game.

The data shows that this combo is capable of delivering high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, which is likely why it ranks above the median. The 1402 rank out of 3708 means that roughly 2300 other combos performed worse, while about 1400 performed better. Given that the GPU ranks in the 75th percentile and the CPU ranks in the 47th percentile, the overall combo rank suggests that the game is somewhat GPU-bound, but the CPU's lower percentile does hold back the full potential of the GPU at lower resolutions.

In terms of the GPU's nearest rivals, the RTX 3070 Ti is closely matched with the RTX 5070 Mobile, RX 6800, and RTX 2080 Ti. The delta percentages range from -0.5% to 0.5%, indicating that these GPUs would likely produce nearly identical FPS results in this game. The CPU's nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, also have deltas within 0.4%, suggesting that swapping the i5-9400 for any of these would yield negligible performance differences.

The rank of 1402 also indicates that there is a significant number of combos that achieve higher scores, likely featuring more powerful CPUs or GPUs. However, for a system with a 6-core, 6-thread CPU from 2018 and a 2021 GPU, the measured performance in Archeage is respectable, particularly considering the game's release date in 2014.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor from the Coffee Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz. It has 9 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s. The CPU's benchmark scores show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and a single-core score of 935.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 161 FPS, which is the highest measured value. However, at 4K Low, the FPS drops to 70, which is a 57% reduction. This significant drop despite identical settings indicates that the CPU is able to feed frames quickly enough at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K.

The CPU's percentile ranking is 47, meaning it performs better than 47% of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-10710U and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, with delta percentages of 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. This suggests that the i5-9400 is a mid-range CPU in terms of raw compute performance, which aligns with its 6-core/6-thread configuration.

The benchmark results indicate that the CPU is not a major bottleneck at 1440p and 4K resolutions. The FPS scaling from 1080p to 1440p at High settings shows a drop from 110 to 74 FPS (33%), which is consistent with the increased pixel count. However, at 1080p, the difference between Low and Medium settings is only 6 FPS (161 to 155), while at 4K, the difference is 8 FPS (70 to 62). This small gap at 1080p suggests that the CPU is limiting the frame rate, as the GPU should be able to render Low and Medium settings with a larger FPS difference.

The CPU's boost clock of 4.10 GHz is reasonably high for a 2018 processor, and its 6 cores are sufficient for an MMORPG like Archeage, which may not heavily utilize more than a few threads. The measured data shows that the CPU can sustain high frame rates at 1080p, but its performance ceiling is reached at that resolution, as evidenced by the diminishing returns when lowering settings from Medium to Low.