Archeage

The Intel Core i7-13700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT delivers a playable but uneven experience in Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG that still stresses hardware at higher settings. With the CPU sitting at the 89th percentile among all processors and the GPU at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, this combo leans heavily on the processor for performance. Benchmark results show the pairing ranks 2418th out of 3708 tested combos in this game, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the field. The data indicates that while the CPU has ample headroom, the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions and settings, particularly when pushing beyond 1080p.

FAQ

Q: How does the Core i7-13700K compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The Core i7-13700K has an average benchmark score of 46881, which is 0.2% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 5900’s 46971 and 0.3% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375’s 47022. It is 0.5% higher than both the AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX and Intel Xeon w3-2535, which score 46654 and 46653 respectively. These are negligible differences, meaning the i7-13700K sits in a tightly contested performance tier.

Q: What is the RX 6650 XT’s standing relative to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RX 6650 XT posts an average benchmark score of 19765. It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K40m by 0.6% (that card scores 19885) and the AMD FirePro W7000 by 0.7% (19905). It leads the AMD FirePro D300 by 0.7% (19637) and the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 by 0.8% (19602). These deltas are all under one percent, so the RX 6650 XT is statistically tied with those four cards in synthetic workloads.

Q: What frame rates can this combo achieve at 1080p in Archeage?

A: At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 55 on Ultra settings to 134 on Low settings. Medium delivers 119 FPS average, while High gives 81 FPS average. The only recorded min/max values are for Medium, showing a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS.

Q: How does performance scale when moving to 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 37 on Ultra, 54 on High, 80 on Medium, and 90 on Low. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS. Compared to 1080p, this represents a reduction of roughly 33% on Low, 33% on High, 33% on Medium, and 33% on Ultra.

Q: Is 4K viable with this hardware in Archeage?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS falls to 21 on Ultra, 31 on High, 46 on Medium, and 52 on Low. Only the Medium setting has min/max data, showing 39 FPS minimum and 53 FPS maximum. The Ultra setting’s 21 FPS average is below playable thresholds, while Low at 52 FPS is the only 4K setting that approaches smooth gameplay.

Q: Which component limits performance more in this game?

A: The data shows the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. The CPU has a boost clock of 5.40 GHz and 16 cores, with strong synthetic scores like 30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core. However, the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus create bottlenecks, evidenced by the steep FPS drops from 1080p to 4K, where average frame rates roughly halve or worse on most settings.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture with a Navi 23 chip fabricated on a 7 nm process by TSMC. It carries 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The GPU has 32 ray tracing cores, though Archeage does not utilize ray tracing. Its base clock runs at 2055 MHz, with a game clock of 2410 MHz and a boost clock of 2635 MHz. Memory operates at 2190 MHz, which translates to 17.5 Gbps effective, across an 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer on a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 280.3 GB/s.

In Archeage, the GPU’s role is decisive at higher settings. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 134 FPS average, indicating the GPU can handle lighter loads with ease. But when settings rise to Ultra at the same resolution, the average collapses to 55 FPS. That is a 59% drop from Low to Ultra at 1080p, and the pattern becomes more severe at higher resolutions. At 1440p, Ultra yields 37 FPS average versus 90 FPS on Low, a 59% reduction again. At 4K, Ultra produces just 21 FPS average, while Low gives 52 FPS, a 60% drop. The consistency of these percentages points to the GPU being the dominant factor in scaling degradation, since the CPU’s workload does not change dramatically with resolution.

The GPU’s memory configuration is worth noting. With only 8 GB of VRAM and a 128-bit bus, the RX 6650 XT is not designed for high-resolution texture-heavy scenarios. Archeage, despite being from 2014, can still consume significant memory at Ultra settings, and the data reflects that strain. The 4K Medium result of 46 FPS average with a minimum of 39 FPS shows the GPU struggling to maintain consistent frame pacing. The pixel rate of 168.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 337.3 GTexel/s are modest figures that align with its mid-range positioning. In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 17166 in Passmark G3D and 1859 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it at the 65th percentile of all GPUs.

The nearest rivals to the RX 6650 XT are professional or older cards, which suggests its performance class is somewhat dated. The NVIDIA Tesla K40m, AMD FirePro D300, AMD FirePro W7000, and NVIDIA Quadro K5200 all score within 0.8% of the RX 6650 XT’s average. None of those cards are modern gaming GPUs, so the RX 6650 XT competes in a niche where newer options have moved past it. For Archeage specifically, the GPU’s 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is sufficient for lower settings but insufficient for Ultra at high resolutions. The data shows that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at 1440p Ultra and above, where frame rates fall below 40 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread processor from the Raptor Lake architecture, built on Intel’s 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 30 MB of shared L3 cache. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, and it includes UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics, though those are not used for gaming in this setup. The CPU’s TDP is 125 W, and it uses the Intel Socket 1700.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-13700K shows strong multi-threaded performance. It scores 30745 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 16292 in Cinebench R20 multi-core, and 12412 in 3DMark max threads. Single-thread performance is also solid, with scores of 2116 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 1136 in 3DMark single thread. The Passmark multithread score of 45887 and single thread score of 4333 reinforce its balanced capability. The CPU sits at the 89th percentile among all CPUs, which is high, and its average benchmark score of 46881 places it in the same tier as the AMD Ryzen 9 5900 and AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375.

For Archeage, the CPU’s role appears secondary to the GPU in most scenarios, but it still matters at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 134 FPS average, which is likely CPU-bound or at least co-limited. The CPU’s high boost clock and 24 threads allow it to handle MMORPG workloads that involve many entities and player interactions. The data shows that at 1080p, frame rates are high enough that the CPU is not a bottleneck, as evidenced by the 134 FPS Low result. However, at 4K Ultra, the 21 FPS average is clearly GPU-limited, since the CPU has far more headroom than the GPU in raw compute.

The CPU’s nearest rivals all score within 0.5% of its average, meaning the i7-13700K provides no meaningful advantage or disadvantage over those alternatives in synthetic tests. But in Archeage specifically, the CPU’s 16 cores and 5.40 GHz boost clock are more than sufficient for the game’s demands. The game released in 2014, and even with updates, it is unlikely to stress a modern 16-core processor. The bottleneck at higher settings is the GPU, not the CPU. This is supported by the fact that FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent across settings, which would not happen if the CPU were the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Core i7-13700K and RX 6650 XT ranks 2418th out of 3708 tested combinations in Archeage. This places it in the 65th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly one-third of tested systems perform worse. The rank is relatively low given the CPU’s high percentile, which suggests that the GPU drags down the overall position. The CPU alone sits at the 89th percentile, but the GPU’s 65th percentile pulls the combined ranking down. The gap between the CPU’s percentile and the combo’s percentile indicates that Archeage is more sensitive to GPU performance than CPU performance in this configuration.

Compared to other combos, this pairing is not competitive at high settings. The 4K Ultra result of 21 FPS average is below playable thresholds, and even 1440p Ultra at 37 FPS average is marginal. The combo’s best results come at 1080p Low and Medium, where it delivers 134 and 119 FPS averages respectively. These are smooth frame rates, but they represent lower settings that do not showcase the hardware’s full potential. The rank of 2418 out of 3708 suggests that many other CPU-GPU pairings achieve better results, likely due to more balanced configurations or stronger GPUs.

The data indicates that this combo is CPU-heavy, meaning the processor is overqualified for the GPU. In synthetic tests, the CPU’s nearest rivals are all within 0.5% of its score, so there is no CPU advantage to exploit. The GPU’s nearest rivals are older professional cards, which highlights that the RX 6650 XT is not a high-end gaming GPU. For Archeage, this combo works best at 1080p with Medium or High settings, where it produces 119 and 81 FPS averages respectively. Pushing to Ultra at any resolution results in significant frame rate drops, and the combo ranks lower than many systems with mid-range GPUs and weaker CPUs.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern of degradation as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low, the average is 134 FPS. At 1440p Low, it drops to 90 FPS, a 33% reduction. At 4K Low, it falls to 52 FPS, another 42% drop from 1440p and a 61% drop from 1080p. For Medium settings, the progression is 119 FPS at 1080p, 80 FPS at 1440p (33% drop), and 46 FPS at 4K (43% drop from 1440p, 61% from 1080p). High settings show 81 FPS at 1080p, 54 FPS at 1440p (33% drop), and 31 FPS at 4K (43% drop from 1440p, 62% from 1080p). Ultra settings go from 55 FPS at 1080p to 37 FPS at 1440p (33% drop) and 21 FPS at 4K (43% drop from 1440p, 62% from 1080p).

The consistent 33% drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings, followed by a 42-43% drop from 1440p to 4K, indicates that the GPU is the limiting component. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the percentage drops would be smaller at higher resolutions because the CPU workload would remain constant while the GPU workload increases. Instead, the frame rate scales inversely with pixel count, which is characteristic of GPU-bound scenarios. The 4K results are particularly telling: even on Low settings, the average FPS is only 52, which is not smooth for fast-paced gameplay. On Ultra at 4K, the 21 FPS average is effectively unplayable.

The resolution scaling also reveals that the GPU’s 8 GB VRAM is likely a factor at 4K. Higher resolutions require more memory bandwidth and capacity, and the RX 6650 XT’s 280.3 GB/s bandwidth is insufficient for smooth 4K performance. The 128-bit memory bus is a known limitation for this GPU class, and the data confirms it. The Medium setting at 4K shows a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS, indicating inconsistent frame delivery. This variability is typical of a GPU struggling to keep up with memory demands. The recommendation from the data is clear: this combo is best used at 1080p, where it delivers playable frame rates on all settings except Ultra (55 FPS average, which is still playable but not ideal).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo produces its best results. Low settings yield an average of 134 FPS, which is well above any refresh rate concern. Medium settings give 119 FPS average, with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 137 FPS, providing a consistent experience. High settings drop to 81 FPS average, which is still smooth for most displays. Ultra settings fall to 55 FPS average, which is playable but not ideal for competitive scenarios. The 1080p data shows a clear hierarchy: each step up in settings costs roughly 25-35% performance, except the jump from High to Ultra, which costs 32% (from 81 to 55 FPS).

At 2560x1440, performance degrades noticeably. Low settings average 90 FPS, which is good but 33% lower than 1080p Low. Medium settings average 80 FPS, with a minimum of 68 FPS and a maximum of 92 FPS, showing acceptable consistency. High settings drop to 54 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings fall to 37 FPS average, which is below the 40 FPS threshold many consider the minimum for playable. The 1440p results suggest that this combo is only suitable for Low or Medium settings at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles across the board. Low settings average 52 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that approaches playability. Medium settings average 46 FPS, with a minimum of 39 FPS and a maximum of 53 FPS, indicating frequent dips below smooth thresholds. High settings drop to 31 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 21 FPS average. None of these results are ideal for a 4K gaming experience. The Ultra setting at 4K produces less than half the frame rate of the same setting at 1080p, and even Low at 4K is 61% lower than Low at 1080p. The data concludes that this combo is not suited for 4K gaming in Archeage, regardless of settings.