Archeage

# Archeage Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 5 225 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This combination pairs Intel's 10-core Core Ultra 5 225 (Arrow Lake-S, 3.30 GHz base, 4.90 GHz boost) with NVIDIA's flagship RTX 4090 (Ada Lovelace, 24 GB GDDR6X, 2520 MHz boost) in Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG. The measured frame rates reveal a system that ranges from exceptionally fast at 1080p to surprisingly constrained at 4K Ultra, with the data indicating a pronounced CPU limitation in this older title despite the modern hardware.

CPU Role

The Core Ultra 5 225 is a 10-core, 10-thread processor built on TSMC's 3 nm process, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz. It carries 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache per core, with 192 KB of L1 cache per core. Its memory bandwidth is rated at 102.4 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR5 interface, and the chip sits on Intel Socket 1851 with 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes (CPU only). In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 25,891 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 3,655 in single-core, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 30,459 and a single-thread score of 4,412. These results place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 36,938.

The nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database show a remarkably tight cluster. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F scores 36,945 (0% delta), the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D scores 37,018 (-0.2%), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 scores 37,093 (-0.4%), and the Intel Core i9-12900T scores 37,112 (-0.5%). This means the Core Ultra 5 225 is essentially performance-equivalent to these four rivals in aggregate CPU benchmarks, sitting within half a percent of all of them.

In Archeage specifically, the CPU's role becomes evident when examining the measured frame rates. At 1080p Low, the system produces 293 FPS average, which rises to 265 FPS at Medium and 180 FPS at High, before dropping to 123 FPS at Ultra. The fact that 1080p Low achieves nearly 300 FPS while Ultra drops to 123 FPS — a 58% reduction — suggests that the CPU is not the primary limiter at low settings, but the gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution points to GPU load scaling. However, the 10-core/10-thread configuration (no hyperthreading) may be a factor in Archeage's multi-threaded rendering paths, as the game launched in 2014 when 4-core CPUs were the norm.

The processor's single-thread performance of 3,655 in Cinebench R23 and 4,412 in PassMark single-thread indicates strong per-core capability, which matters for MMORPGs that often have a dominant main thread. The boost clock of 4.90 GHz is high, and the 65 W TDP suggests the chip can sustain boost frequencies without thermal throttling in most scenarios. Yet the benchmark data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS falls to 47 — a figure that is low even for a demanding title, and the data indicates the CPU may be contributing to this bottleneck when paired with the RTX 4090.

GPU Role

The RTX 4090 is NVIDIA's top-tier Ada Lovelace part, built on TSMC's 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die. It features 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 128 RT cores, and 512 tensor cores. The GPU runs at a 2235 MHz base clock and 2520 MHz boost, with memory clocked at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates over a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its compute capabilities include 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 (1:1), with pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s. The card is rated at 450 W TDP, uses a triple-slot cooler with a single 16-pin power connector, and requires an 850 W suggested PSU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4090 scores 9,223 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 255,416 in Geekbench OpenCL, 271,631 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 38,194 in PassMark G3D. Its PassMark GPU compute score is 26,613. It sits in the 88th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 60,347. The nearest rivals in the GPU database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60,140 (0.3% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61,896 (-2.5% delta), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 at 58,657 (2.9% delta). This cluster of professional/workstation GPUs with similar aggregate scores is notable — the RTX 4090's raw gaming performance is widely expected to be higher, but the database averages include diverse workloads.

In Archeage, the GPU's 24 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for any resolution or setting in this title, which dates to 2014 and would not have been designed to exceed even 4 GB of VRAM at launch. The memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is also far beyond what Archeage requires. The measured FPS at 4K Medium is 102 average (with min 87 and max 117), which suggests the GPU is capable of high frame rates even at 4K. However, the drop to 47 FPS at 4K Ultra — a 54% reduction from Medium — indicates that the Ultra preset introduces rendering effects that heavily tax the GPU, likely including higher shadow quality, draw distances, or anti-aliasing that this 2014 engine implements inefficiently.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals the system's bottleneck characteristics. At High settings, the average FPS moves from 180 at 1080p, to 121 at 1440p, to 69 at 4K. This is a reduction of 33% from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 43% from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear with pixel count — 1080p to 1440p increases pixels by 78%, yet FPS drops only 33%, while 1440p to 4K increases pixels by 125%, and FPS drops 43%. This suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is partially limiting performance, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential.

At Low settings, the FPS goes from 293 at 1080p, to 200 at 1440p, to 115 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 32%, and from 1440p to 4K is 43% — nearly identical percentages to High settings. This consistent scaling pattern across settings indicates that the limiting factor shifts gradually from CPU at 1080p to GPU at 4K, but the CPU still exerts influence even at 4K Low (115 FPS is below what the RTX 4090 would achieve in most titles at 4K Low).

At Medium settings, the FPS is 265 at 1080p, 178 at 1440p, and 102 at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 33%, and 1440p-to-4K is 43% — again matching the pattern. At Ultra settings, the FPS is 123 at 1080p, 83 at 1440p, and 47 at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 33%, and from 1440p to 4K is 43%. This uniformity across all four settings — with 1080p-to-1440p always around 33% and 1440p-to-4K always around 43% — strongly indicates that the CPU is the limiting component at 1080p and 1440p, capping the frame rate regardless of settings, while the GPU becomes the dominant limiter at 4K, especially at Ultra where 47 FPS reflects heavy GPU work.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Core Ultra 5 225 and RTX 4090 ranks 90th out of 3,708 tested combos in Archeage. This places it in the top 2.4% of all tested combinations, which is a strong result overall. However, given that the RTX 4090 is the fastest consumer GPU available and the Core Ultra 5 225 is a modern mid-range processor, one might expect a higher rank. The data suggests that the CPU is holding back the GPU in this title, which would explain why this combo does not crack the top 50 or top 20.

The rank of 90 out of 3,708 means there are 89 other combinations that achieve higher average frame rates in Archeage. These would likely include pairings of even faster CPUs (such as high-core-count Ryzen X3D parts or Intel Core Ultra 9 series) with the RTX 4090, where the stronger CPU can better feed the GPU in this MMORPG. The CPU's 10-core/10-thread configuration without hyperthreading may be a particular disadvantage in Archeage, which could spawn many background threads for game logic, network handling, and UI updates alongside rendering threads.

The percentile data — 85th for the CPU and 88th for the GPU — indicates both components are well above average in their respective categories. Yet the combo rank of 90/3,708 (97.6th percentile) is slightly lower than either component's individual percentile, reinforcing the interpretation that the pairing is not perfectly balanced for this specific game. The measured data shows the system can hit 293 FPS at 1080p Low and 200 FPS at 1440p Low, which are excellent numbers, but the 4K Ultra result of 47 FPS is the weak point that likely prevents a higher rank.

FAQ

Q: Is the Core Ultra 5 225 sufficient for the RTX 4090 in Archeage?

A: The data indicates the CPU limits performance at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 293 FPS, but the RTX 4090 is capable of far higher frame rates in less CPU-bound scenarios. The consistent 33% FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p across all settings suggests the CPU is the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

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

A: At 1440p High, the system averages 121 FPS, which is smooth for an MMORPG. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 83 FPS. At 4K Medium, it averages 102 FPS. The 1440p resolution offers a good balance, while 4K High at 69 FPS is playable but not ideal for fast-paced combat.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM affect Archeage performance?

A: Archeage, released in 2014, will not come close to using 24 GB of VRAM at any resolution or setting. The VRAM capacity is irrelevant to the measured results; the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are the relevant factors, and these are more than sufficient for the title.

Q: Why does 4K Ultra only achieve 47 FPS when 4K Medium reaches 102 FPS?

A: The Ultra preset imposes significantly heavier rendering loads — likely higher draw distances, more detailed shadows, and additional post-processing effects that this 2014 game engine renders inefficiently. The 55 FPS drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K indicates the Ultra settings are disproportionately expensive relative to their visual benefit.

Q: How does this combo compare to the CPU's nearest rivals in terms of overall performance?

A: The CPU's nearest rivals (AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, Ryzen 5 5500X3D, Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, Core i9-12900T) all score within 0.5% of the Core Ultra 5 225 in aggregate benchmarks. In Archeage, the combo rank of 90/3,708 suggests that any of these CPUs paired with an RTX 4090 would likely produce similar frame rates, given the CPU bottleneck observed.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 being fully utilized in this game?

A: The data suggests not at 1080p and 1440p. At 1080p Low, the system produces 293 FPS, but the RTX 4090's synthetic scores (e.g., 38,194 in PassMark G3D) indicate it can handle far more demanding workloads. At 4K Ultra with 47 FPS, the GPU is likely the limiter, but at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU prevents the GPU from reaching its full potential.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 293 FPS, Medium produces 265 FPS (with min 225 and max 305), High produces 180 FPS, and Ultra produces 123 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 170 FPS, representing a 58% reduction. The Medium setting shows a min/max range of 80 FPS, indicating some frame time variance but overall consistent performance.

At 2560x1440, the averages are: Low at 200 FPS, Medium at 178 FPS (min 152, max 205), High at 121 FPS, and Ultra at 83 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 93 FPS at Low (32%), 87 FPS at Medium (33%), 59 FPS at High (33%), and 40 FPS at Ultra (33%). The Medium setting at 1440p shows a min/max range of 53 FPS, which is tighter than at 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the averages are: Low at 115 FPS, Medium at 102 FPS (min 87, max 117), High at 69 FPS, and Ultra at 47 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 85 FPS at Low (43%), 76 FPS at Medium (43%), 52 FPS at High (43%), and 36 FPS at Ultra (43%). The Medium setting at 4K shows a min/max range of 30 FPS, which is the tightest of any resolution, indicating stable performance when the GPU is the primary limiter.

The data shows that at every resolution, the difference between Low and Medium is relatively small (28 FPS at 1080p, 22 FPS at 1440p, 13 FPS at 4K), but the jump from Medium to High is much larger (85 FPS at 1080p, 57 FPS at 1440p, 33 FPS at 4K). The High to Ultra jump is also significant (57 FPS at 1080p, 38 FPS at 1440p, 22 FPS at 4K). This suggests the Medium preset avoids the most expensive rendering effects, while High and Ultra introduce progressively heavier workloads.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and visual quality for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the system achieves 265 FPS average, which is far beyond the refresh rate of any mainstream monitor. At 1440p Medium, 178 FPS average remains exceptionally smooth for an MMORPG, with a min of 152 FPS ensuring no noticeable stutter. At 4K Medium, 102 FPS average with a min of 87 FPS is perfectly playable on high-refresh 4K displays.

The High preset is viable at 1080p (180 FPS) and 1440p (121 FPS), but at 4K it drops to 69 FPS, which may be borderline for players who prefer 100+ FPS. The Ultra preset is only recommended at 1080p, where 123 FPS is still smooth, but at 1440p it drops to 83 FPS and at 4K to 47 FPS, which is below the threshold for competitive play in this MMORPG genre.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 293 FPS, which is useful for high-refresh 240 Hz or 360 Hz monitors. At 1440p Low, 200 FPS still exceeds 165 Hz displays. At 4K Low, 115 FPS is solid for 120 Hz 4K panels. The Low preset in Archeage likely disables shadows, ambient occlusion, and other visual effects that are not essential for gameplay, making it a reasonable choice for competitive players.

The data indicates that the Medium preset provides the largest performance headroom relative to visual fidelity, as the jump from Medium to High costs 85 FPS at 1080p (32% reduction) and 33 FPS at 4K (32% reduction), while the visual improvement from Medium to High is typically incremental in this 2014 title. Therefore, for the best experience across all resolutions, Medium is the recommended setting, with High reserved for players who have 144 Hz or lower refresh monitors and prefer enhanced visuals at 1080p or 1440p.