Archeage

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-14700KF is a 20-core, 28-thread Raptor Lake-R part with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. It carries 33 MB of shared L3 cache and sits on the LGA 1700 platform. In synthetic workloads, it posts a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44,557 and a single-core score of 6,290, with a PassMark single-thread result of 4,480.

For Archeage, an MMORPG from 2014, the measured frame rates reveal a pattern: at 1080p Low, the combo reaches 299.9 FPS, while at 4K Ultra it drops to 48.7 FPS. The scaling between settings at a fixed resolution shows the CPU’s headroom. At 1080p, moving from Low to Medium only reduces average FPS from 299.9 to 272.8, a modest 9% penalty. But jumping from Medium to High drops to 185.3 FPS, and Ultra falls to 127.4 FPS. This indicates the CPU can feed the GPU easily at lower settings, but the heavier graphical loads start to expose the engine’s single-thread limitations.

The processor’s 28 threads are largely underutilized in this title. Archeage’s ageing engine favors high single-core throughput, and the 14700KF’s 5.60 GHz boost clock is the key asset here. At 1440p High, the combo manages 124.6 FPS, which is still well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth MMORPG play. The CPU’s PassMark multi-thread score of 52,425 suggests plenty of parallel capability, but that is not what drives performance in this game. Instead, the data points to the boost clock and the L3 cache as the decisive factors, with the 33 MB shared cache helping maintain consistent frame times during crowded scenes.

The 14700KF sits at the 96th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 70,104. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-14700K, scores 70,074 (0% delta), while the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X scores 70,420 (-0.4% delta). This puts the 14700KF in elite company, but in Archeage the measured results show the GPU still dominates at higher resolutions. At 4K High, the average FPS is 70.6, which is roughly half the 1440p High result of 124.6 FPS. That halving suggests the game becomes increasingly GPU-bound as resolution climbs, with the CPU’s role shifting from primary driver to a supporting constraint.

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Core i7-14700KF compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 14700KF averages 70,104 in benchmark scores, placing it at the 96th percentile. Against the Intel Core i7-14700K (70,074, 0% delta), it is effectively tied, while the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (70,420) is 0.4% ahead, and the Intel Xeon Platinum 8270 (71,056) is 1.3% ahead.

Q: What is the best measured performance for this combo in Archeage?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 299.9 at 1080p Low settings. The lowest is 48.7 at 4K Ultra. This spread of 251.2 FPS across the tested configurations shows the game scales dramatically with both resolution and quality presets.

Q: Does the CPU bottleneck the GPU at any setting?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo hits 299.9 FPS, which is likely near the engine’s ceiling. Moving to 1440p Low yields 210.9 FPS, and 4K Low produces 120.9 FPS. The linear drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings (roughly 60% reduction) suggests the CPU remains a limiting factor only at the lowest graphical loads, while the GPU takes over as resolution increases.

Q: How does the 14700KF’s single-thread performance translate to Archeage?

A: The processor scores 6,290 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 4,480 in PassMark single-thread. These numbers correlate with the 185.3 FPS at 1080p High, indicating that the CPU’s high boost clock is sufficient to maintain playable frame rates even with substantial graphical overhead.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems?

A: The Intel Core i7-14700KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 5th out of 1,727 combos tested in Archeage. This places it in the top 0.3% of all configurations, though the measured FPS data shows there is still room for optimization at higher settings.

Q: Is there a significant difference between the 14700KF and the 14700K for this game?

A: The benchmark delta between the two is 0%, with the 14700K scoring 70,074 versus the 14700KF’s 70,104. In practical terms for Archeage, the measured FPS would be indistinguishable, as the difference is within run-to-run variation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience. At 1080p, the Medium preset delivers 272.8 FPS, which is 27% lower than Low (299.9 FPS) but 47% higher than High (185.3 FPS). The jump from Medium to High costs 87.5 FPS, a steep penalty for what is likely a minor visual gain in a 2014 MMORPG. Ultra drops further to 127.4 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a 53% reduction from Medium.

At 1440p, the pattern repeats. Medium achieves 182.3 FPS, while High drops to 124.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 87.9 FPS. The Medium preset at 1440p offers the best balance, with 182.3 FPS providing ample headroom for large player gatherings or intense combat effects. Low at 1440p hits 210.9 FPS, but the visual compromise is likely not worth the extra 28.6 FPS over Medium.

For 4K, the situation changes. Medium produces 107.4 FPS, which is still playable, but High drops to 70.6 FPS and Ultra falls to 48.7 FPS. The 4K Medium result is the highest setting that maintains a comfortable 100+ FPS threshold. Low at 4K reaches 120.9 FPS, but given the resolution’s purpose, most users would prefer Medium’s visual quality at 107.4 FPS.

The data suggests Medium is the sweet spot across all resolutions. It delivers 272.8 FPS at 1080p, 182.3 FPS at 1440p, and 107.4 FPS at 4K. These figures are consistently 40-50% higher than High presets at the same resolution, while the visual difference between Medium and High in a game from 2014 is unlikely to justify the frame rate loss. For users prioritizing maximum smoothness, Low at 1080p (299.9 FPS) is the only configuration that approaches the 300 FPS mark, but the marginal gain over Medium is modest.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i7-14700KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 5th out of 1,727 tested combos in Archeage. This is an exceptional position, placing the configuration in the top 0.3% of all systems evaluated. The rank reflects the combination’s raw capability, but the measured FPS data provides context: the combo achieves 299.9 FPS at 1080p Low, which is likely near the game engine’s practical limit.

The GPU’s contribution to this rank is substantial. The RTX 5090 scores 39,650 in PassMark G3D and 14,411 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it at the 94th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the RTX 5090 D, scores 84,241 (0.1% delta), showing this is the top-tier graphics card. However, the CPU’s 96th percentile ranking (70,104 average) means the combo leverages two of the best components available.

What is notable is the gap between the combo’s rank and its measured performance at higher settings. At 4K Ultra, the 48.7 FPS result is below the 60 FPS threshold, which is surprising for a top-5 combo. This suggests Archeage’s engine has significant scaling limitations, and the 5th rank out of 1,727 may be more indicative of the system’s theoretical peak (1080p Low) rather than its consistency across all configurations. The 4K Ultra result is 84% lower than the 1080p Low result, a massive drop that points to the game’s rendering pipeline rather than any hardware deficiency.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS across resolutions reveals a clear trend: each step from 1080p to 1440p to 4K exacts a significant toll, but the magnitude depends heavily on the settings preset. At Low settings, the combo delivers 299.9 FPS at 1080p, 210.9 FPS at 1440p, and 120.9 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 89 FPS (29.7%), and from 1440p to 4K is another 90 FPS (42.7%). This near-linear degradation indicates the GPU is the primary scaling factor at Low settings, as the CPU has ample headroom.

At Medium settings, the pattern shifts slightly. 1080p yields 272.8 FPS, 1440p drops to 182.3 FPS, and 4K falls to 107.4 FPS. The percentage drops are 33.2% and 41.1%, respectively. The 4K result at Medium is still above 100 FPS, suggesting the GPU can handle the resolution increase when the visual load is moderate.

High settings tell a different story. 1080p High produces 185.3 FPS, 1440p High drops to 124.6 FPS (32.8% reduction), and 4K High falls to 70.6 FPS (43.3% reduction). The absolute drop from 1440p to 4K is 54 FPS, which is the largest single-step reduction in the dataset. This indicates that at High settings, the GPU’s pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor, and the 4K resolution with its 8.3 million pixels overwhelms the rendering pipeline.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. 1080p Ultra achieves 127.4 FPS, but 1440p Ultra drops to 87.9 FPS (31% reduction), and 4K Ultra plummets to 48.7 FPS (44.6% reduction). The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration below 60 FPS, and it represents a 61.8% reduction from the 1080p Ultra baseline. This steep curve suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that are disproportionately expensive at higher resolutions, likely related to shadow rendering or draw distance calculations.

The limiting component shifts based on resolution. At 1080p, the CPU’s boost clock of 5.60 GHz and 33 MB L3 cache are likely constraining the frame rate, as the GPU has massive headroom (its PassMark G3D score of 39,650 is near the top). At 4K, the GPU’s 32 GB GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are being taxed, but the fact that 4K Medium reaches 107.4 FPS while 4K Ultra only manages 48.7 FPS indicates the game’s software overhead, not hardware, is the final bottleneck. The data shows that resolution scaling follows a predictable pattern, but the magnitude of the drops at High and Ultra settings suggests Archeage’s engine is not optimized for modern 4K rendering.