Archeage

Archeage pairs the Intel Core i7-12700K with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, a combination that ranks 3572nd out of 3708 tested combos for this game. This placement in the 4th percentile of all tested systems indicates that this pairing is far from optimal for Archeage. The data shows a configuration that is heavily constrained by its graphics component, as the CPU's substantial processing power is consistently bottlenecked by the GPU's limited capabilities across all tested resolutions and settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 3572 out of 3708 places this system in the bottom 4% of all tested configurations for Archeage. This is a remarkably low standing, suggesting that the pairing produces a gaming experience that is significantly worse than the vast majority of other systems tested. The ranking reflects the fundamental imbalance between the two components: the i7-12700K is a high-end processor with an average benchmark score of 35287, while the GTX 1650 is a modest graphics card with an average benchmark score of 7472. This combination results in a system where the GPU becomes the limiting factor in nearly every scenario.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 84 against all processors shows it is capable of handling demanding workloads, while the GPU's percentile ranking of 40 against all graphics cards reveals its mid-to-low tier positioning. When these two components are paired for Archeage, the result is a system that struggles to maintain playable frame rates at higher settings. The data indicates that the CPU's potential is largely wasted in this configuration, as it cannot push the GPU to its limits because the GPU itself is the bottleneck. This ranking suggests that users would need to significantly lower graphical expectations to achieve acceptable performance.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 128.1 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1485 MHz with a boost clock of 1665 MHz, and its memory runs at 2001 MHz with 8 Gbps effective speed. These specifications place the GTX 1650 in a modest performance tier, as reflected by its 40th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The card's 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 render output units contribute to its 2.984 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance.

In the context of Archeage, the GPU's role is critical, as the game's performance is primarily limited by graphics processing power. The benchmark results show that the GTX 1650 cannot handle the game's demands at higher resolutions or settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the card manages an average of 62 FPS, but this drops dramatically as settings increase. The 4 GB VRAM capacity becomes a significant constraint, particularly at higher resolutions where texture and geometry data require more memory. The GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc A310, has an average score of 7550 with a deltaPct of -1, indicating that the GTX 1650 is only slightly ahead of this entry-level competitor.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 7880 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 305, confirms its limited capabilities. The card's DirectX 11 performance score of 58 in Passmark indicates weakness in legacy APIs, which may affect older games like Archeage. The GTX 1650's 12 nm Turing architecture, while supporting DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, does not provide enough raw power for demanding scenes. The measured data shows that the GPU consistently delivers sub-30 FPS averages at 4K resolution across all settings, highlighting its inability to handle high-resolution gaming.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 62 FPS, which drops to 41 FPS at 1440p and further to 24 FPS at 4K. This represents a 61% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the GPU is heavily taxed by higher pixel counts. The scaling pattern suggests that the GTX 1650's rendering capabilities are insufficient for resolutions beyond 1080p.

At Medium settings, the frame rates show a similar trend: 55 FPS at 1080p, 37 FPS at 1440p, and 21 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 43%, showing that the GPU's performance degrades more severely at higher resolutions. This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU that is running out of both computational and memory resources as resolution increases. The 4 GB VRAM capacity likely becomes a limiting factor at 4K, where texture memory requirements exceed the available capacity.

The High settings results show even more pronounced scaling issues: 37 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. These figures represent drops of 32% and 44% respectively, demonstrating that the GPU cannot maintain consistent performance as resolution scales. The Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across all resolutions: 25 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 10 FPS at 4K. The data indicates that the limiting component is clearly the GPU, as the CPU's strong performance cannot compensate for the graphics card's inability to render at higher resolutions. The scaling pattern suggests that 1080p is the only viable resolution for this combination, with even 1440p requiring significant settings reductions to achieve playable frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this system?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only resolution where this combination achieves playable frame rates. At 1080p with Low settings, the system averages 62 FPS, and at Medium settings it averages 55 FPS. At 1440p, the frame rates drop to 41 FPS at Low and 37 FPS at Medium, while at 4K, all settings produce averages below 24 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: This combination ranks 3572nd out of 3708 tested combos for Archeage, placing it in the bottom 4% of all tested configurations. This ranking indicates that most other systems tested provide better performance for this game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in this system?

A: The benchmark data clearly identifies the GPU as the bottleneck. The Intel Core i7-12700K has an average benchmark score of 35287 and ranks in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, while the GTX 1650 has an average score of 7472 and ranks in the 40th percentile. The frame rates are consistently limited by the GPU's rendering capabilities across all resolutions and settings.

Q: What settings should be used at 1080p?

A: For 1080p, Low settings provide the highest average frame rate at 62 FPS, while Medium settings offer 55 FPS. High settings drop to 37 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to 25 FPS. The data suggests that Medium settings provide a good balance between visual quality and performance.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming?

A: No, the measured data shows that 4K performance is not viable. At 4K resolution, the system averages 24 FPS at Low settings, 21 FPS at Medium, 14 FPS at High, and 10 FPS at Ultra. These frame rates are well below playable thresholds for an MMORPG.

Q: How does the GTX 1650 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1650 has an average benchmark score of 7472, which is slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7447, deltaPct 0.3) and the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (7441, deltaPct 0.4). It is slightly behind the Intel Arc A310 (7550, deltaPct -1).

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, manufactured on a 10 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a 25 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, has a dual-channel memory bus, and provides 20 PCIe Gen 4 lanes. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 19784 and a single-core score of 1850.5, as well as a Geekbench multicore score of 15790 and a single-core score of 2308.

In the context of Archeage, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and AI calculations. The data shows that the i7-12700K is more than capable of performing these tasks, as indicated by its 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs. The processor's nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-13600T, has an average score of 35305 with a deltaPct of -0.1, meaning the i7-12700K performs essentially identically to this competitor. The Core i7-12700KF is also nearly identical, with a deltaPct of -0.2, confirming that the integrated graphics on the 12700K do not significantly impact its processing performance.

The CPU's multicore performance, as shown by a Passmark multithread score of 34404 and a 3DMark max threads score of 9979, provides ample processing headroom for MMORPG environments where many players and entities are present. However, the benchmark results for Archeage indicate that this CPU power is not being fully utilized because the GPU cannot keep up. The frame rates at 1080p Low (62 FPS) and Medium (55 FPS) suggest that the CPU could support higher frame rates if the GPU were more capable. The single-thread performance, with a Passmark single-thread score of 4013 and a 3DMark single-thread score of 1043, is also strong, which is beneficial for games that rely on single-threaded performance.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this system depend on the user's resolution and performance priorities. At 1080p, which is the only resolution where this combination provides acceptable performance, the data shows that Medium settings offer a good balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. The average of 55 FPS at Medium settings is comfortably above the 30 FPS threshold, while the minimum of 47 FPS indicates that performance remains stable. In contrast, High settings at 1080p drop to 37 FPS, which is playable but noticeably less smooth, and Ultra settings fall to 25 FPS, which may be too low for comfortable gameplay.

For users who prioritize smooth gameplay over visual quality, Low settings at 1080p provide the best experience with an average of 62 FPS. This setting eliminates most graphical effects but ensures the highest frame rate. However, the difference between Low and Medium is only 7 FPS on average, making Medium the recommended choice for most users. At 1440p, the data shows that even Low settings only achieve 41 FPS, which is marginal for an MMORPG. Medium settings at 1440p average 37 FPS, but the minimum of 31 FPS suggests that performance can dip below playable levels in demanding scenes. Therefore, 1080p with Medium settings appears to be the best overall configuration for this system.

The Ultra settings are not recommended at any resolution, as they produce averages of 25 FPS at 1080p, 17 FPS at 1440p, and 10 FPS at 4K. These frame rates are too low for a responsive gaming experience. Similarly, High settings are only marginally better than Ultra, with averages of 37 FPS at 1080p, 25 FPS at 1440p, and 14 FPS at 4K. The data suggests that users should avoid High and Ultra settings unless they accept substantially reduced frame rates. Ultimately, the combination of 1080p resolution and Medium settings provides the most consistent and playable experience based on the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of this system's performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the system achieves its best results: Low settings produce an average of 62 FPS, Medium settings average 55 FPS with a minimum of 47 FPS and maximum of 63 FPS, High settings average 37 FPS, and Ultra settings average 25 FPS. The 1080p results show a clear progression of decreasing frame rates as settings increase, with a 60% reduction from Low to Ultra.

At 2560x1440, performance drops significantly across all settings. Low settings average 41 FPS, Medium settings average 37 FPS with a minimum of 31 FPS and maximum of 42 FPS, High settings average 25 FPS, and Ultra settings average 17 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 34% at Low settings to 32% at Ultra settings, indicating that the GPU is consistently strained by the higher pixel count. The minimum FPS of 31 at Medium settings suggests that frame rates can become unstable during intense gameplay moments.

At 3840x2160, the system's performance becomes largely unplayable. Low settings average 24 FPS, Medium settings average 21 FPS with a minimum of 18 FPS and maximum of 24 FPS, High settings average 14 FPS, and Ultra settings average 10 FPS. The 4K results show that even the lowest settings cannot maintain a consistent 30 FPS, with the average frame rate dropping below 25 FPS across all settings. The Medium settings at 4K show a minimum of 18 FPS, indicating severe frame rate drops during gameplay. The scaling from 1080p to 4K shows a reduction of 61% at Low settings, 62% at Medium settings, 62% at High settings, and 60% at Ultra settings, demonstrating that the GPU's performance degradation is consistent regardless of settings.