Archeage

Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG, presents an interesting benchmark scenario for a flagship 2023 CPU and a top-tier 2022 GPU. The data indicates that this combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers a wide spectrum of performance, heavily dependent on the graphics preset selected. The measured frames per second (FPS) reveal that while the hardware is capable of extreme frame rates at lower settings, the Ultra preset introduces a significant bottleneck that caps performance well below what the raw components might suggest.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data strongly suggests that the "Ultra" preset is not the optimal choice for this hardware combination in Archeage. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 125.3 FPS, which is a substantial drop from the 181 FPS achieved on the High preset. This pattern repeats at 1440p, where Ultra yields 81 FPS compared to High's 119.9 FPS, and at 4K, where Ultra drops to 47.2 FPS versus High's 70.9 FPS. The performance cost of moving from High to Ultra is considerable, ranging from a 31% decrease at 1080p to a 33% decrease at 4K.

The "High" preset appears to provide the most balanced experience. At 4K, it maintains a playable 70.9 FPS average, which is 50% higher than the Ultra preset's 47.2 FPS. The "Medium" preset offers an even larger performance headroom, with 104.5 FPS at 4K and 264 FPS at 1080p. For players prioritizing smoothness over maximum visual fidelity, the data shows that Medium is a strong candidate, especially at higher resolutions where it delivers nearly 2.2 times the frame rate of Ultra at 4K.

The "Low" preset yields the highest frame rates, reaching 301.7 FPS at 1080p and 117.2 FPS at 4K. However, this preset likely sacrifices too much visual quality for a system of this caliber. The optimal strategy, based on the data, is to use the High preset as a baseline. It provides a significant improvement in frame rate over Ultra while presumably retaining most of the visual features that justify the hardware investment. The 4K High result of 70.9 FPS is the only 4K setting that approaches a solid 60 FPS baseline, making it the recommended choice for a high-resolution experience.

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. Its base clock is 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz. These specifications are significant, but the game's performance scaling across presets suggests that the GPU's raw compute power is not the sole limiting factor.

The FPS drop from High to Ultra, and the massive jump from Ultra to Low, points to a specific rendering workload in Archeage that is particularly demanding at the highest settings. At 4K Ultra, the GPU produces 47.2 FPS, which is a low result for the RTX 4090, which ranks in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. This suggests that the Ultra preset may be applying effects or techniques that are not well-optimized for modern architectures, or that the game engine has a hard ceiling on certain calculations.

The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is substantial, but the data implies that the Ultra preset is not leveraging this power efficiently. The difference between 4K Medium (104.5 FPS) and 4K High (70.9 FPS) is a 47% reduction in frame rate, while High to Ultra is another 33% reduction. This non-linear scaling indicates that the Ultra preset introduces a disproportionately heavy graphical load, possibly related to shadow quality, draw distance, or post-processing effects that are not present in the High preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 13th out of 1727 tested combos in Archeage. This places it in the top 0.75% of all systems tested, which is an exceptional result. The data confirms that this pairing is among the most powerful configurations available for this game, even if the Ultra preset struggles.

This high ranking is consistent with the individual component strengths. The CPU has an average benchmark score of 79824, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs. The GPU's average benchmark score is 66473, placing it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs. When paired, they should theoretically be near the top of the performance charts, and the rank of 13 confirms this. The fact that it is not rank 1 suggests that some other combinations, perhaps with different memory configurations or overclocking, may yield slightly better results in this specific game.

The high FPS numbers at 1080p and 1440p on High and Medium settings are the primary drivers of this top-tier rank. The system's ability to exceed 100 FPS at 1440p High (119.9 FPS) and 4K Medium (104.5 FPS) demonstrates a level of performance that only a handful of other tested systems can match. This ranking confirms the raw power of the i9-14900K and RTX 4090, even when faced with an older game engine's quirks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high. The Low preset achieves 301.7 FPS, Medium reaches 264 FPS, and High delivers 181 FPS. The Ultra preset, however, drops to 125.3 FPS. This shows a clear hierarchy where the Ultra preset is nearly 58% slower than the Low preset at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low produces 199 FPS, Medium 179.3 FPS, and High 119.9 FPS. The Ultra preset again lags significantly, with 81 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is 38.9 FPS, which is a more substantial absolute difference than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the 4K resolution shows the most strain. Low yields 117.2 FPS, Medium drops to 104.5 FPS, and High falls to 70.9 FPS. The Ultra preset barely maintains playability at 47.2 FPS. This data reveals a consistent pattern: the performance cost of Ultra is disproportionately high across all resolutions, and the absolute FPS at 4K Ultra is the only result that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it a poor choice for a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 60 FPS experience at 4K?

A: The High preset is the only 4K option that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS, delivering an average of 70.9 FPS. The Medium preset is also viable with 104.5 FPS, while the Ultra preset falls short at 47.2 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 301.7 FPS, which is 176.4 FPS higher than the Ultra preset's 125.3 FPS. This represents a 141% performance increase.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU bottleneck the game at 4K Ultra?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra, as the frame rate drops to 47.2 FPS. However, this is not due to a lack of GPU power, but rather the Ultra preset's demanding workload, as the RTX 4090 ranks in the 91st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1440p High and 4K High?

A: The 1440p High preset delivers 119.9 FPS, while the 4K High preset delivers 70.9 FPS. This is a 49 FPS difference, indicating a 69% reduction in performance when moving from 1440p to 4K.

Q: How does this system rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This specific combination of the Intel Core i9-14900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 13th out of 1727 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the top 0.75% of all systems tested.

Q: Is the Ultra preset recommended for this hardware?

A: No. The data shows that the Ultra preset causes a significant performance drop at all resolutions. For example, at 1080p it drops from 181 FPS on High to 125.3 FPS on Ultra, making the High or Medium presets more optimal for a high refresh rate experience.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a 24-core, 32-thread processor with a base clock of 3.20 GHz and a boost clock of 6.00 GHz. It has 36 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Its architecture is Raptor Lake, a 10 nm design from Intel. In terms of synthetic benchmarks, it scores 49872 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7040 in single-core, placing it in the 97th percentile of all CPUs.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is evident from the frame rates at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 301.7 FPS, which is a very high number that indicates the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU with enough data. The i9-14900K's high boost clock of 6.00 GHz and strong single-core performance, evidenced by its 7040 Cinebench R23 score, are critical for an MMORPG like Archeage, which often has significant single-threaded game logic.

The CPU's performance is also reflected in its nearest rival comparisons. Its average benchmark score of 79824 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7413, with a deltaPct of -0.3%. It is also 0.7% faster than the Intel Core i9-14900KF and the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF. This shows that the i9-14900K is at the very top of the CPU performance hierarchy, which helps explain the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a clear and consistent scaling pattern as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K. At the High preset, the frame rate drops from 181 FPS at 1080p to 119.9 FPS at 1440p, and then to 70.9 FPS at 4K. This represents a 34% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 41% drop from 1440p to 4K. The total reduction from 1080p to 4K is 61%.

This scaling behavior indicates that the system is not purely CPU-bound at lower resolutions. If it were, the frame rate would remain more constant. Instead, the significant drop at 4K suggests that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor as the pixel count increases. At 1080p, the CPU is powerful enough to push frame rates above 300 FPS on Low, but the GPU still has headroom. However, by 4K, the GPU's workload becomes so heavy that the frame rate drops significantly, even on the High preset.

The Ultra preset shows an even more dramatic scaling issue. It drops from 125.3 FPS at 1080p to 81 FPS at 1440p, and then to 47.2 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K is a 62% reduction. This confirms that the Ultra preset's extra graphical features heavily tax the GPU, making it the definitive bottleneck at 4K. The data implies that for 4K gaming in Archeage, the High preset is the most balanced choice, as it provides a playable frame rate while avoiding the extreme performance penalty of Ultra.