Archeage

# Archeage Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

This combination of an Intel Core Ultra 5 225 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti delivers a measured performance profile in Archeage that places it in the 89th percentile of all tested system configurations, ranking 306th out of 2,761 combos. The pairing produces frame rates ranging from 39 FPS at 4K Ultra to 247 FPS at 1080p Low, indicating a system capable of handling the MMORPG's demands across most settings, though 4K Ultra remains challenging. The data reveals a configuration where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the CPU's strong single-thread performance keeps 1080p and 1440p frame rates consistently high.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 306 out of 2,761 tested configurations places it firmly in the upper tier of systems evaluated for Archeage, outperforming approximately 89% of all tested combinations. This ranking reflects a balanced pairing where neither component dramatically underperforms relative to the other, though specific bottlenecks emerge at different resolution and settings combinations.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225 achieves an average benchmark score of 36,938 across all tested workloads, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36,945, representing a negligible 0% performance difference. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D trails by 0.2% with a score of 37,018, while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 and Intel Core i9-12900T score 37,093 and 37,112 respectively, each within 0.5% of the Ultra 5 225's performance. This clustering indicates the CPU sits in a highly competitive segment where architectural differences translate to less than 0.5% variation in synthetic benchmarks.

On the GPU side, the RTX 4070 Ti's average benchmark score of 44,795 places it in the 84th percentile of all graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores 45,152, a 0.8% difference, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT scores 45,384 (1.3% higher) and the Intel Arc A730M scores 45,592 (1.7% higher). The NVIDIA RTX A6000 trails by 1.6% with a score of 44,075. These tight margins in synthetic benchmarks suggest the RTX 4070 Ti performs comparably to several other high-end options, though actual in-game results for Archeage depend heavily on the specific workload characteristics.

The combination's overall rank benefits from the CPU's 85th percentile standing and the GPU's 84th percentile position, together producing a system that handles Archeage's mixed CPU and GPU demands effectively. The rank suggests that users can expect smooth gameplay at most settings, with the system's weaknesses appearing primarily at the most demanding 4K Ultra preset.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process, provides 12 GB of GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This memory configuration proves adequate for Archeage at 1080p and 1440p, where frame rates remain high across all settings, but becomes a limiting factor at 4K Ultra where the game's texture and geometry demands push the GPU to its limits.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2310 MHz and a boost of 2610 MHz, drive its 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance. The card's 7,680 shading units and 240 texture mapping units handle Archeage's rendering workload efficiently at lower resolutions, as evidenced by the 247 FPS average at 1080p Low. However, the transition to 4K reveals the GPU's constraints, with the RTX 4070 Ti producing just 39 FPS at Ultra settings, indicating that the card's 80 raster operation units and 208.8 GPixel/s pixel rate struggle with the increased resolution's fill rate demands.

The memory subsystem, with 21 Gbps effective speed, provides sufficient bandwidth for most scenarios, though the 192-bit bus width limits overall throughput compared to wider-memory designs. This becomes apparent in the 4K results, where the GPU's memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s must serve a significantly larger pixel footprint. The 12 GB VRAM capacity handles Archeage's texture sets without exceeding memory limits, as the game's 2014 release date means its texture resolutions are modest by modern standards, allowing the GPU to maintain stable frame times at 4K Medium and High settings.

The RTX 4070 Ti's performance in Archeage correlates with its PassMark G3D score of 31,624 and its percentile standing of 84% among all GPUs. The card's 60 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores provide additional compute capabilities, though Archeage's rendering engine does not utilize these features, meaning the GPU's traditional rasterization performance determines the measured frame rates. The 285 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-hungry card, though these characteristics do not directly impact the benchmark results.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225, featuring 10 cores and 10 threads across its Arrow Lake architecture, operates at a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. This configuration, built on a 3 nm process from TSMC, provides the single-thread performance that Archeage's game engine relies upon for its primary game logic and network processing tasks.

The CPU's single-thread capabilities, demonstrated by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3,655 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,412, directly support Archeage's frame rate delivery. Archeage, like many MMORPGs, runs most of its simulation on a single thread, meaning the Ultra 5 225's 4.90 GHz boost clock enables higher minimum frame rates in player-dense areas. The multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 25,891, handles background tasks and the game's lesser-threaded workloads without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB per-core L2 cache provide adequate data locality for Archeage's asset access patterns. The 85th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938, places the Ultra 5 225 in a competitive position relative to its nearest rivals. The processor's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support with 102.4 GB/s bandwidth ensure that memory bandwidth does not constrain the game's performance, particularly at 1080p where frame rates exceed 200 FPS.

The CPU's role becomes more pronounced at 1080p, where the GPU has less work per frame and the CPU must feed frames quickly enough to maintain high frame rates. The 247 FPS average at 1080p Low demonstrates the CPU's ability to sustain high frame delivery, while the 102 FPS at 1080p Ultra shows how the GPU's workload increases with settings. At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the processor's strong single-thread performance allowing it to keep pace with the GPU's output demands.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces its highest frame rates, with the Low preset achieving an average of 247 FPS. The Medium preset delivers 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS and maximum of 253 FPS, while the High preset averages 149 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p yields 102 FPS average, representing a significant drop from the Low preset's performance.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease predictably, with the Low preset averaging 166 FPS. The Medium preset produces 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 FPS and maximum of 170 FPS, while the High preset averages 101 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1440p delivers 69 FPS, which remains playable but indicates the increasing GPU load at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system's performance becomes more constrained. The Low preset averages 95 FPS, while the Medium preset achieves 85 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS. The High preset averages 58 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 39 FPS, which falls below the threshold for smooth gameplay in most scenarios. The data shows that the RTX 4070 Ti can handle 4K at Low and Medium settings, but the High and Ultra presets push the GPU beyond its comfortable operating range.

The measured frame rates reveal a clear pattern: the system excels at 1080p and 1440p across all settings, with even the most demanding Ultra preset at 1440p maintaining 69 FPS. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, with the Ultra preset producing frame rates that would be challenging for fast-paced gameplay.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates the GPU-bound nature of higher resolutions. At the Low preset, the system delivers 247 FPS at 1080p, 166 FPS at 1440p, and 95 FPS at 4K, representing a 33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a further 43% reduction from 1440p to 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU's rendering workload increases disproportionately with resolution.

The Medium preset shows similar scaling, with 220 FPS at 1080p, 148 FPS at 1440p, and 85 FPS at 4K, representing 33% and 43% reductions respectively. The High preset produces 149 FPS at 1080p, 101 FPS at 1440p, and 58 FPS at 4K, with reductions of 32% and 43%. The Ultra preset demonstrates the most dramatic scaling, with 102 FPS at 1080p, 69 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K, representing 32% and 43% reductions.

The consistent 32-33% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and 43% reduction from 1440p to 4K across all settings indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at resolutions above 1080p. The CPU's performance headroom, evidenced by the high frame rates at 1080p Low and Medium, means that the system is not CPU-bound at higher resolutions. The 4K Ultra result of 39 FPS represents the GPU's maximum output capability for this game at the highest settings, with the RTX 4070 Ti's 12 GB VRAM and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth proving insufficient for the 4K Ultra workload.

FAQ

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

A: The system delivers its best balance of visual quality and performance at 2560x1440 with High settings, producing 101 FPS average. At 1080p, all settings exceed 100 FPS, while at 4K, only Low and Medium presets maintain playable frame rates above 85 FPS.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Archeage?

A: Yes, but with significant settings limitations. The system achieves 95 FPS at 4K Low and 85 FPS at 4K Medium, but drops to 58 FPS at High and 39 FPS at Ultra. Users seeking 4K gameplay should use Medium settings for a smoother experience.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti's average benchmark score of 44,795 is within 1.7% of the Intel Arc A730M (45,592), 1.3% of the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45,384), and 0.8% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile (45,152). It outperforms the NVIDIA RTX A6000 by 1.6%.

Q: What CPU performance level does the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 provide?

A: The CPU achieves an average benchmark score of 36,938, placing it in the 85th percentile of all processors. Its closest rival, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, scores 36,945, a 0% difference, while other rivals are within 0.5% of its performance.

Q: Is the system CPU-bound or GPU-bound in Archeage?

A: At 1080p and 1440p, the system is balanced, with the GPU handling rendering while the CPU maintains high frame delivery. At 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent 43% frame rate reduction from 1440p to 4K across all settings.

Q: What frame rates can users expect at 1440p Ultra settings?

A: The system produces an average of 69 FPS at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings, which is playable but below the 100+ FPS achieved at High settings. For competitive gameplay, users may prefer High settings at 101 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings configuration depends on the user's resolution and performance priorities. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers 102 FPS average, which is smooth for most gameplay scenarios. Users with high refresh rate monitors can select the Medium preset for 220 FPS or Low for 247 FPS, though the visual quality trade-off may not justify the frame rate increase beyond 102 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the High preset provides the best balance with 101 FPS average, matching the 1080p Ultra performance while offering higher resolution. The Ultra preset at 1440p produces 69 FPS, which remains playable but may feel less responsive in fast-paced combat. Users prioritizing frame rate can choose the Medium preset at 148 FPS, while the Low preset at 166 FPS offers the highest performance.

For 3840x2160, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, delivering 85 FPS with a minimum of 72 FPS and maximum of 97 FPS. This provides a smooth experience while maintaining acceptable visual quality. The High preset at 58 FPS is borderline playable, while the Ultra preset at 39 FPS falls below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. Users with 4K displays should accept Medium settings to maintain frame rates above 72 FPS, as the visual quality improvements from High and Ultra do not justify the significant performance penalty at this resolution.

The data indicates that the system's performance sweet spot is 1440p with High settings, where the 101 FPS average provides a responsive experience without compromising visual fidelity. For users who prioritize maximum frame rates, 1080p with Medium settings at 220 FPS offers the best performance, while 4K users should stick to Medium settings to stay above 72 FPS minimum frame rates.