Archeage

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the Intel Arc B390 produces a highly constrained gaming experience in Archeage, with the data showing the GPU as the dominant performance limiter across all tested resolutions and settings. This combination ranks at 2453 out of 2761 tested combos in this game, placing it in the bottom 11% of systems, a result that aligns with the Arc B390’s low overall benchmark percentile of 9. The GPU’s performance ceiling is the primary factor preventing this otherwise capable CPU from delivering playable frame rates, and the measured results consistently show that lowering settings or resolution yields improvements, but never enough to reach the high refresh rates typically expected in competitive MMORPG scenarios.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems in Archeage?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 2453rd out of 2761 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the bottom 11% of all tested systems. This low ranking is consistent with the GPU’s percentile of 9 among all GPUs, indicating that the graphics card is the limiting factor for overall game performance.

Q: What is the best average FPS achieved by this combo at 1080p?

A: The highest average FPS recorded at 1920x1080 is 71 FPS, achieved with Low settings. Medium settings produce an average of 64 FPS, High settings produce 43 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 29 FPS, showing a clear performance degradation as visual fidelity increases.

Q: How does the CPU’s processing power compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF has an average benchmark score of 70163, placing it 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, 0.4% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%, which scores 70879.

Q: Is the Arc B390 better or worse than its closest GPU rivals?

A: The Intel Arc B390’s average benchmark score of 1482 is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, and 2.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM. It also leads the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 by 2.7%, with the GT 710 scoring 1443.

Q: What is the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium settings?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 64 FPS at 1920x1080 to 43 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 25 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 60.9% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, indicating a severe scaling penalty at higher resolutions.

Q: What are the core and clock specifications of the i7-14700KF?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF features 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It has 33 MB of shared L3 cache and 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and it supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is a system-integrated GPU based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The GPU’s memory configuration is entirely system shared, meaning it relies on the host system’s RAM rather than dedicated VRAM, and its memory bandwidth is listed as system dependent. This design choice directly impacts performance in Archeage, as the lack of dedicated video memory and the dependency on shared system memory creates a bottleneck that is evident in the measured FPS results.

The GPU’s raw compute specifications are modest: it has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units, along with 12 ray tracing cores. Its FP32 performance is rated at 7.680 TFLOPS, and it achieves a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. These figures place the Arc B390 in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, which is a strong indicator that it is not designed for demanding 3D workloads. In the context of Archeage, an MMORPG that relies heavily on draw calls and scene complexity, the GPU’s limited shading and rasterization capabilities directly translate to the low average frame rates observed.

The GPU’s performance in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 is 1482 points, which is only 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710. This comparison underscores the Arc B390’s position in the entry-level segment. When paired with the Core i7-14700KF, the GPU’s 80 W TDP and IGP form factor mean it shares thermal and power resources with the CPU, potentially limiting sustained performance. In Archeage, the GPU’s clock behavior and shared memory architecture result in severe FPS limitations, particularly at higher settings and resolutions, where the system begins to saturate the available memory bandwidth and compute units.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a pronounced scaling penalty as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 71 FPS at 1920x1080 to 48 FPS at 2560x1440, and then to 28 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 60.6% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the scaling is similarly steep: 43 FPS at 1080p, 29 FPS at 1440p, and 17 FPS at 4K, a 60.5% reduction. The consistency of this drop across settings suggests that the GPU’s fill rate and shading capacity are the limiting factors, rather than the CPU.

The resolution scaling behavior reveals that the Arc B390 is overwhelmed by the pixel count at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the GPU can maintain a reasonable average of 64 FPS at Medium settings, but doubling the pixel count to 1440p reduces that to 43 FPS, and quadrupling to 4K brings it down to 25 FPS. The data indicates that the GPU is not able to compensate for the increased workload, and the FPS drop is nearly linear with the increase in pixel count, which is typical of a system where the graphics card is the primary bottleneck. The CPU, with its high single-thread performance (628 points in Cinebench R15 single-core) and 20 cores, is not the limiting factor here, as evidenced by the fact that FPS scales directly with resolution changes.

The scaling pattern also shows that Ultra settings are nearly unplayable at any resolution, with 29 FPS at 1080p, 20 FPS at 1440p, and 11 FPS at 4K. This suggests that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and compute resources are exhausted by the highest quality presets, and reducing resolution does not provide a viable path to playability at Ultra. The system is firmly GPU-bound in Archeage, and the resolution scaling data confirms that the Arc B390 is the component that must be upgraded to achieve higher frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS ranges from 71 FPS at Low settings down to 29 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset yields an average of 64 FPS, with a minimum of 54 FPS and a maximum of 73 FPS, showing a relatively stable frame delivery. The High preset produces an average of 43 FPS. These results indicate that 1080p is the only resolution where the system can approach playable frame rates, and even then, only at Low or Medium settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops significantly across all settings. Low settings average 48 FPS, Medium averages 43 FPS with a minimum of 36 FPS and maximum of 49 FPS, High averages 29 FPS, and Ultra averages 20 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings is 32.4%, and at High settings it is 32.6%, indicating that the GPU is struggling to maintain performance as the pixel count increases. At this resolution, only the Low and Medium presets deliver frame rates that might be considered borderline playable, but they are still below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the performance is severely limited. Low settings average 28 FPS, Medium averages 25 FPS with a minimum of 21 FPS and maximum of 28 FPS, High averages 17 FPS, and Ultra averages 11 FPS. None of these results are playable for a smooth experience, and the data shows that the GPU is completely overwhelmed at 4K. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is a 60.7% reduction in FPS, highlighting the GPU’s inability to handle high-quality rendering at high pixel densities.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 2453 out of 2761 tested combos places this system in the bottom 11% of all configurations tested in Archeage. This low ranking is directly attributable to the GPU, which sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The CPU, in contrast, is in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, showing a massive disparity between the processing power available and the graphics capability. This imbalance means that the system is heavily GPU-limited, and the CPU’s performance is effectively wasted in this game.

The GPU’s nearest rivals in terms of benchmark scores are all older, low-end NVIDIA parts. The Arc B390’s score of 1482 is only marginally higher than the GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and the GeForce 800M (1460). This level of performance is far below what is needed for modern MMORPGs like Archeage, which have complex environments and many on-screen elements. The ranking data suggests that this combo is better suited for basic productivity or legacy gaming, not for a demanding online title.

The CPU’s ranking, however, is exemplary. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, and it trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by only 1%. This indicates that the i7-14700KF is a top-tier processor, but its capabilities are completely underutilized in this configuration. The combo rank is therefore a reflection of the GPU’s limitations, and any analysis of this pairing must acknowledge that the CPU is not the source of the performance bottleneck.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the only setting that provides a consistently playable experience is Low at 1920x1080, which yields an average of 71 FPS. This is the only combination of resolution and settings that exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended configuration for any semblance of smooth gameplay. The Medium preset at 1080p is a close second, with an average of 64 FPS and a minimum of 54 FPS, which may be acceptable for players who prioritize visual quality over absolute frame rate stability.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset delivers 48 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target but may be tolerable for some users. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 43 FPS, which is likely to feel sluggish in fast-paced combat scenarios. The High and Ultra presets at 1440p are not recommended, as they produce average FPS of 29 and 20, respectively, which are far too low for an MMORPG where responsiveness is critical.

For players who must play at 3840x2160, none of the settings provide an acceptable frame rate. The Low preset at 28 FPS is the highest achievable, but it is still below playable thresholds. The data strongly suggests that this combo should be used at 1080p with Low or Medium settings, and that any attempt to increase resolution or visual fidelity will result in a severely degraded experience. The Medium preset at 1080p, with its minimum FPS of 54 and maximum of 73, offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance stability.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a high-end desktop processor with 20 cores and 28 threads, based on the Raptor Lake architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, and it features 33 MB of shared L3 cache. This CPU is designed for heavy multi-threaded workloads, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and its Geekbench multi-core score of 21462. In terms of raw processing power, it is a top-tier part, ranking in the 94th percentile of all CPUs.

In Archeage, the CPU’s role is to handle game logic, physics, and the many background computations that an MMORPG requires. The data shows that the i7-14700KF is more than capable of this task, as the FPS is not limited by CPU performance. The resolution scaling analysis confirms this, as FPS drops consistently with increasing resolution, which would not happen if the CPU were the bottleneck. The CPU’s single-thread score of 6235 in Cinebench R23 is also strong, which is important for games that are not well-optimized for multi-core processors.

However, the CPU’s potential is unrealized in this pairing. The Arc B390’s 9th percentile GPU performance means that the CPU is often waiting for the GPU to finish rendering frames, leading to low GPU utilization and wasted CPU capacity. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the CPU could theoretically push higher frame rates, the system is capped at 71 FPS due to the GPU’s limitations. The i7-14700KF is a future-proof component that would perform well with a much more powerful GPU, but in this configuration, it is the GPU that dictates the overall experience.