Archeage

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a title that is demanding at high presets but scales in a predictable manner, indicating where the bottleneck shifts between the CPU and GPU. The data shows that this combo is a high-end performer, ranking in the 88th percentile of all tested combinations, though its behavior at 4K Ultra suggests some limitations.

Resolution Scaling

The progression from 1080p to 4K shows a classic pattern of increasing GPU load, but with some notable exceptions that point to the game's engine and CPU dependency. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 247 FPS. This high frame rate indicates that the CPU, with its 20 cores and 28 threads, is not the limiting factor at this resolution and setting. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 166 FPS, a 33% reduction, which is a significant hit but still leaves a massive performance buffer. At 4K Low, the average falls further to 95 FPS, a 43% drop from 1440p. This steep decline demonstrates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, even on low graphical presets.

However, the scaling becomes more complex when examining higher settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 102, which is a substantial 59% drop from the 247 FPS seen at 1080p Low. This is a far larger penalty than the resolution change alone would suggest, indicating that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax both the GPU and the CPU. When moving to 1440p Ultra, the average is 69 FPS, a 32% drop from 1080p Ultra. This is a more moderate reduction, suggesting that at Ultra settings, the load is more balanced. Finally, at 4K Ultra, the average plummets to 39 FPS, a 43% drop from 1440p Ultra. This result confirms that at 4K Ultra, the RTX 4070 Ti is the definitive bottleneck, struggling to maintain playable frame rates.

The data implies that Archeage is not a purely GPU-bound title. The large performance gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution points to CPU-intensive settings or poor optimization for high preset features. For instance, the jump from 1080p Medium (220 FPS) to 1080p High (149 FPS) is a 32% reduction, which is a massive hit for a single step up in settings. In contrast, the drop from 1440p Medium (148 FPS) to 1440p High (101 FPS) is a 32% reduction as well, showing a consistent scaling pattern. This consistency across resolutions suggests that the performance cost of High and Ultra settings is not solely on the GPU, as the relative penalties remain similar regardless of resolution. The limiting component shifts from the CPU at low settings and low resolutions to the GPU at high settings and high resolutions, with the crossover point being around 1440p High.

FAQ

Q: What is the best average frame rate this combo achieves in Archeage?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 247 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo produces an average of 39 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the performance difference between Medium and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate drops from 148 FPS on Medium to 101 FPS on High, a 32% reduction in performance.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p Low settings?

A: The very high average of 247 FPS at 1080p Low suggests that neither component is severely stressed, but the CPU's strong single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6235, is likely sufficient to drive the GPU to its limit.

Q: Does the combo maintain a 60 FPS average at 1440p with High settings?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440 with High settings, the average frame rate is 101 FPS, providing a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB of VRAM affect performance at 4K?

A: While the GPU has 12 GB of VRAM, the data shows a significant performance drop at 4K, especially on Ultra (39 FPS). This suggests that while VRAM capacity may be sufficient, the GPU's compute power is the limiting factor at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a formidable piece of hardware, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using a 5 nm process at TSMC. Its benchmark scores, such as a Passmark G3D score of 31624 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5024, place it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. The GPU's specifications, including 7680 shading units, 60 RT cores, and 240 tensor cores, provide immense compute power for modern games. Its memory subsystem, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, delivers a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is critical for high-resolution textures.

In Archeage, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution and settings increase. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as evidenced by the 39 FPS average. This is despite the GPU's high boost clock of 2610 MHz and base clock of 2310 MHz. The game's engine appears to struggle with the combination of high-resolution rendering and the effects enabled by the Ultra preset, such as advanced shadows and post-processing. The performance drop from 4K Medium (85 FPS) to 4K High (58 FPS) is a 32% reduction, indicating that the High preset's features are particularly taxing on the GPU's pixel and texture processing capabilities, which are rated at 208.8 GPixel/s and 626.4 GTexel/s, respectively.

The data suggests that while the GPU has the raw power for high frame rates at lower resolutions, its performance at 4K is limited. The RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB of VRAM is likely not the primary issue, as even at 4K Low, which would use less VRAM, the average FPS is only 95. This indicates that the compute throughput of the GPU, measured at 40.09 TFLOPS FP32, is the limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's performance relative to its rivals is also telling; it is only 0.8% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile and 1.3% behind the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT in average benchmark scores, showing that it is a competitive high-end part, but not the absolute fastest.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of tested hardware combinations for Archeage, this pairing of the Intel Core i7-14700KF and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti holds the 445th position out of 3708 total combos. This places it in the top 12% of all systems tested, a strong showing that confirms its high-end status. The rank is a composite metric that considers performance across all settings and resolutions, and the data suggests that this combo is well-balanced for most gaming scenarios.

The combo's ranking is likely bolstered by its exceptional performance at 1080p and 1440p, where it delivers average frame rates well above 100 FPS on High settings. However, its rank is likely held back by the sub-60 FPS results at 4K Ultra. If the rank were based solely on 1080p performance, where it achieves 149 FPS on High and 102 FPS on Ultra, it would likely be much higher. Conversely, its 4K Ultra performance is in the bottom percentile for high-end systems, as many modern GPUs can exceed 60 FPS at that resolution. This creates a dichotomy where the combo is excellent for competitive or high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p but is not suited for 4K enthusiasts who demand maximum settings. The data implies that this is a "sweet spot" combo for 1440p gaming, offering a balance between the CPU's strong single-thread performance and the GPU's high rasterization power.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 14th-generation Raptor Lake Refresh processor, featuring 20 cores and 28 threads. This configuration, combined with a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, makes it a powerhouse for multi-threaded workloads and gaming. Its benchmark results are impressive, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44167 and a single-core score of 6235. The single-core score is particularly relevant for Archeage, as MMORPGs often rely heavily on one or two threads for game logic, physics, and draw calls.

In this game, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 247 FPS average shows that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough data to achieve extremely high frame rates. The CPU's high single-thread performance, evidenced by a Geekbench single-core score of 2578 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4480, is crucial for this. The L3 cache of 33 MB (shared) also likely helps in keeping frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing latency.

However, at higher settings, the CPU's load increases due to more complex game logic and additional effects. The performance drop from 1080p Medium (220 FPS) to 1080p High (149 FPS) is a 32% reduction, which is likely due to the CPU having to process more entities and effects. The data suggests that at Ultra settings, the CPU is still not the primary bottleneck, as the GPU is fully saturated at 4K. The CPU's performance relative to rivals is also strong, as it is only 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and 0.9% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X in average benchmark scores, while being 1% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. This indicates that the CPU is among the best for gaming, ensuring it does not hold back the RTX 4070 Ti in most scenarios.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the combo starts with a strong 247 FPS on Low, drops to 220 FPS on Medium, and then falls significantly to 149 FPS on High and 102 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting shows a minimum of 187 FPS and a maximum of 253 FPS, indicating some variance but a solid overall experience.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average frame rates are 166 FPS on Low, 148 FPS on Medium, 101 FPS on High, and 69 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting here has a minimum of 126 FPS and a maximum of 170 FPS, showing that even the dips are well above 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced, with 95 FPS on Low, 85 FPS on Medium, 58 FPS on High, and 39 FPS on Ultra. The Medium setting at 4K has a minimum of 72 FPS and a maximum of 97 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold.

The data reveals that the scaling from Low to Medium is relatively small, with an 11% drop at 1080p and 1440p, and a 10% drop at 4K. However, the jump from Medium to High is much larger, with a 32% drop at 1080p and 1440p, and a 32% drop at 4K. The jump from High to Ultra is also substantial, with a 32% drop at 1080p, a 32% drop at 1440p, and a 33% drop at 4K. This consistent pattern suggests that the High and Ultra presets introduce costly effects that have a uniform impact across resolutions, further indicating a CPU-side or engine-level bottleneck for these settings, rather than a purely GPU-bound one.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the best experience with this combo, the data points to 1440p as the optimal resolution. At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 101 FPS, which is ideal for a smooth and visually pleasing experience on a high-refresh-rate monitor. This setting provides a good balance between image quality and performance, with the CPU and GPU working in harmony to maintain high frame rates. The Medium preset at 1440p offers an even higher average of 148 FPS, which is excellent for competitive play, but the visual fidelity is noticeably lower.

At 1080p, the High preset achieves 149 FPS, which is perfect for esports-style play on a 144Hz or 165Hz monitor. However, the performance gain from 1440p High to 1080p High is only 32%, which may not justify the reduction in resolution for most players. For those with a 4K display, the data suggests that the Medium preset is the most viable option, as it yields an average of 85 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS. This is the only 4K setting that consistently stays above 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K, with an average of 58 FPS, may be acceptable for slower-paced gameplay, but it will dip below 60 FPS at times. The Ultra preset at 4K, with an average of 39 FPS, is not recommended for a playable experience.

In summary, the best experience is at 1440p High, which offers a high frame rate and good visual quality. If a player prioritizes frame rate over visuals, 1440p Medium is an excellent choice, and for 4K users, 4K Medium is the only recommended preset. The data indicates that this combo is best utilized as a high-refresh-rate 1440p machine, rather than a 4K Ultra powerhouse.