Archeage

# Archeage Performance Analysis: Intel Core i7-14700KF + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The measured frame rates for this combination in Archeage reveal a system that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions and progressively more GPU-limited as resolution increases. The pairing of Intel's 20-core Core i7-14700KF with NVIDIA's RTX 4090 produces exceptional performance across all tested settings, with the data showing a clear pattern of diminishing returns as graphical load intensifies. At 1080p, the system delivers frame rates exceeding 290 FPS on low settings, while the 4K Ultra preset drops to 47 FPS, indicating the game's engine and the CPU's single-thread performance are the primary bottlenecks in less demanding scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior of this combo in Archeage is striking, particularly when examining the transition from 1080p to 4K. At 1080p Low settings, the system produces 297 FPS average, but this drops to 200 FPS at 1440p Low — a 32.7% reduction — and further to 115 FPS at 4K Low, representing a 61.3% decline from the 1080p figure. This pattern of substantial frame rate erosion with each resolution step indicates that at lower settings, the system is operating near its architectural limits, with the CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock and 20 cores providing sufficient headroom to push very high frame rates that then get throttled by the increasing pixel count.

When examining the High preset scaling, the trend is similar but with different absolute values. The 1080p High average of 180 FPS drops to 121 FPS at 1440p (a 32.8% decrease) and then to 69 FPS at 4K (a 61.7% decrease from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across Low and High settings — both around 33% from 1080p to 1440p and 61-62% from 1080p to 4K — suggests that resolution scaling in Archeage follows a predictable quadratic relationship with pixel count, rather than being complicated by unexpected CPU or GPU limitations at intermediate resolutions.

The Ultra preset tells a different story. At 1080p Ultra, the system averages 123 FPS, dropping to 83 FPS at 1440p (32.5% decrease) and 47 FPS at 4K (61.8% decrease from 1080p). While the percentage drops are consistent with other presets, the absolute 4K Ultra figure of 47 FPS is notable — it is less than half of the 4K Low result. This wide spread between low and ultra settings at the same resolution (115 FPS versus 47 FPS at 4K) reveals that Archeage's Ultra preset introduces graphical features that disproportionately tax the rendering pipeline, even on a GPU with 24 GB of VRAM and 16,384 shading units.

The Medium preset, which includes min/max FPS data, shows the most complete picture. At 1080p Medium, the average is 265 FPS with a minimum of 225 and maximum of 305, indicating tight frame pacing. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 178 FPS with a range of 152-205, and at 4K Medium, the average is 102 FPS with a range of 87-117. The consistent frame time behavior across resolutions — with minimums typically around 85% of the average — suggests that this combo maintains stable performance without major stuttering, even as the resolution increases.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of Intel Core i7-14700KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 87 out of 3,708 tested combinations in Archeage. This places the system in the top 2.3% of all tested combos, which is consistent with the hardware's high-end positioning. The rank reflects the measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings, weighted toward the game's typical play patterns.

The CPU's percentile ranking versus all processors is 94, meaning it outperforms 94% of all CPUs in the benchmark database. This places it slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F (0.2% higher average score), AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.4% higher), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.9% higher), while trailing the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%. For a game like Archeage, which appears to benefit from high single-thread performance given the scaling patterns, this ranking is significant.

The GPU's percentile ranking versus all GPUs is 88, with an average benchmark score of 60,347. The nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% ahead), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% behind), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% ahead). It is important to note that these GPU comparisons are based on general benchmark scores rather than game-specific performance, and the RTX 4090's strong showing in Archeage may differ from these abstract rankings.

The combination of a top-6% CPU and top-12% GPU yields a combo that ranks in the top 2.3% for this specific game, suggesting that Archeage's performance characteristics favor the balance of this pairing. The game appears to reward both strong single-threaded CPU performance and high-end GPU capabilities, which this system provides in abundance.

CPU Role

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. This Raptor Lake Refresh architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, includes a 33 MB shared L3 cache and 2 MB L2 cache per core. The CPU's benchmark results show exceptional multi-threaded capability, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,167 and a single-core score of 6,235, while Geekbench reports 21,462 multi-core and 2,578 single-core.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions and settings. The 1080p Low result of 297 FPS suggests that the CPU can sustain frame rates approaching 300 FPS in this scenario, limited by the game's engine and the CPU's single-thread execution rather than the GPU. The fact that 1080p Medium (265 FPS) and 1080p High (180 FPS) show significant drops from Low indicates that increasing graphical settings starts to shift the bottleneck toward the GPU, even at this resolution.

The CPU's performance percentile of 94 and its average benchmark score of 70,163 place it among the fastest desktop processors available. The PassMark multi-thread score of 52,425 and single-thread score of 4,480 corroborate the Cinebench results, showing a processor that excels in both heavily threaded workloads and lightly threaded tasks. For an MMORPG like Archeage, which often has numerous entities and player characters requiring physics and AI calculations, the 20-core configuration provides substantial headroom for background tasks and game logic.

The data suggests that Archeage does not fully utilize the CPU's 28 threads, as evidenced by the relatively small performance difference between the 1080p Low and 1080p Medium results (297 FPS versus 265 FPS, an 11% drop). If the game were heavily multi-threaded and CPU-bound, the drop would be more pronounced as the GPU workload increases. Instead, the pattern indicates that the game's main thread benefits from the high boost clock, while the additional cores handle auxiliary tasks without becoming a bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the system delivers average frame rates of 297 FPS on Low, 265 FPS on Medium (min 225, max 305), 180 FPS on High, and 123 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 58.6% reduction in frame rate, with the most significant single-step drop occurring between High and Ultra (57 FPS, or 31.7% lower). This suggests that the Ultra preset includes features that are particularly demanding on the GPU's shading and texture units.

At 2560x1440 resolution, the averages are 200 FPS on Low, 178 FPS on Medium (min 152, max 205), 121 FPS on High, and 83 FPS on Ultra. The relative scaling between presets is similar to 1080p, but the absolute values are lower across the board. The gap between Medium and High at 1440p (57 FPS) is notably larger than at 1080p (85 FPS), indicating that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor at this resolution.

At 3840x2160 resolution, the averages are 115 FPS on Low, 102 FPS on Medium (min 87, max 117), 69 FPS on High, and 47 FPS on Ultra. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is the only measured value below 60 FPS in the entire dataset, making it the sole scenario where the system fails to maintain a smooth experience on a high-refresh-rate display. The drop from 4K High to 4K Ultra (22 FPS, or 31.9%) mirrors the High-to-Ultra drop at other resolutions, confirming that the Ultra preset's incremental cost is consistent regardless of resolution.

The Medium preset, which is the only one with complete min/max data, shows consistent frame ranges across resolutions: 225-305 at 1080p, 152-205 at 1440p, and 87-117 at 4K. These ranges indicate that the system maintains stable performance without severe frame time spikes, which is crucial for an MMORPG where combat and large group encounters can cause sudden performance demands.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU's 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs are driven by a boost clock of 2520 MHz and a base clock of 2235 MHz. The Ada Lovelace architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process, includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, though these specialized units have limited relevance for Archeage's rendering workload.

The GPU's benchmark results show a PassMark G3D score of 38,194 and a PassMark GPU Compute score of 26,613, with Geekbench scores of 255,416 for OpenCL and 271,631 for Vulkan. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 places the GPU in the upper echelon of tested graphics cards. Despite being end-of-life in production status, the RTX 4090 remains one of the most capable GPUs in the database, with a percentile ranking of 88 versus all GPUs.

In Archeage, the GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution and settings increase. The 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at this extreme configuration, as the CPU has already demonstrated its ability to sustain over 100 FPS at 4K Low (115 FPS). The difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra (68 FPS) represents a 59.1% reduction, which is entirely attributable to the increased GPU workload from the Ultra preset's additional visual effects.

The GPU's 24 GB of VRAM is unlikely to be a limiting factor in Archeage, given that the game's release date of 2014 predates modern high-resolution texture packs. The measured frame rates do not show any signs of VRAM-related stuttering or texture thrashing, even at 4K Ultra, suggesting that the game's memory footprint is well within the GPU's capacity. The 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth similarly provides ample headroom for the game's data throughput requirements.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the Intel Arc Pro A60, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48, AMD Radeon Pro W6600M, and AMD Radeon PRO V710 — are all professional or workstation-oriented cards that do not directly compete in gaming performance. This underscores the RTX 4090's position as a top-tier consumer gaming GPU, even if the abstract benchmark scores show only small percentage differences.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Archeage with this combo for a balance of visual quality and performance?

A: The 1440p High settings provide 121 FPS average, which is above 120 FPS while offering improved visual fidelity over Low and Medium presets. The 4K Medium settings offer 102 FPS average, which is also viable for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings in Archeage?

A: No. The measured average FPS at 4K Ultra is 47 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K High settings achieve 69 FPS average, making it the highest 4K preset that exceeds 60 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF's average benchmark score of 70,163 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, 0.4% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, and 0.9% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. It trails the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K by 1%.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 1080p Medium settings?

A: The measured range is 225 FPS minimum to 305 FPS maximum, with an average of 265 FPS. This represents the tightest frame time consistency among the tested Medium preset configurations.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's performance in Archeage limited by the CPU at any resolution?

A: The data indicates that at 1080p Low settings, the 297 FPS average is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU has demonstrated the capability to render far more frames at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the 47 FPS result is GPU-limited, showing the expected CPU headroom.

Q: How does the combo rank compare to other tested combinations in Archeage?

A: This combo ranks 87th out of 3,708 tested combinations, placing it in the top 2.3% of all tested systems for this game. This is consistent with the CPU's 94th percentile and GPU's 88th percentile rankings.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience at 4K resolution, the High preset is recommended, as it delivers 69 FPS average — the only settings level at 4K that exceeds 60 FPS while providing substantial visual improvements over Medium. The Medium preset at 4K (102 FPS) is a strong alternative for players prioritizing frame rate, as it maintains a comfortable margin above 100 FPS with only modest visual sacrifices.

At 1440p, the High preset (121 FPS) offers the best combination of visual quality and performance, as it stays above 120 FPS while including the majority of the game's graphical features. Players with 144 Hz or higher refresh rate monitors may prefer the Medium preset (178 FPS) to fully utilize their display's capability, though the visual downgrade from High is noticeable. The Ultra preset at 1440p (83 FPS) is not recommended for competitive play, as the frame rate drops below 100 FPS, but it remains playable for casual content.

At 1080p, the Medium preset (265 FPS) provides the best experience for high-refresh-rate gaming, as it maintains a substantial frame rate advantage over High (180 FPS) while keeping the visual quality at a reasonable level. The Ultra preset at 1080p (123 FPS) is the only configuration at this resolution that fails to exceed 200 FPS, making it the least attractive option for players with 240 Hz or higher displays. The Low preset at 1080p (297 FPS) is recommended only for competitive scenarios where every frame matters, as the visual fidelity is significantly reduced.

The data reveals a clear pattern: the High preset represents the sweet spot across all resolutions, providing above-60 FPS at 4K, above-120 FPS at 1440p, and above-180 FPS at 1080p. This preset's consistent performance across resolutions suggests it is the most efficient use of the system's capabilities, balancing the CPU and GPU loads appropriately for Archeage's engine characteristics.