Archeage

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 combination delivers a mid-range experience in Archeage, a 2014 MMORPG. The data shows a system that can handle the game smoothly at 1080p, but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K with higher settings. The measured results indicate a clear performance ceiling defined by the GPU, particularly as resolution increases.

FAQ

Q: What is the overall performance rank of this CPU and GPU combo in Archeage?

A: This combination ranks 1603 out of 2761 tested combos for Archeage, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the performance spectrum.

Q: What is the best average FPS this combo can achieve at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 142 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

Q: How does the GPU's average benchmark score compare to its nearest rival?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 has an average benchmark score of 16014, which is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's score of 16129.

Q: What is the CPU's multithreaded performance in Cinebench R23?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 scores 14769 points in the Cinebench R23 multicore test.

Q: Is the game playable at 4K Ultra settings with this hardware?

A: No, the data shows an average of only 23 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, which is below a generally acceptable playable threshold.

Q: What is the CPU's percentile ranking compared to all other CPUs?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 falls in the 89th percentile, indicating it outperforms the majority of tested CPUs in general benchmarks.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is the primary driver of frame rate output in this configuration. Its role becomes increasingly critical as resolution and graphical settings are raised. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Clock speeds are substantial, with a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, alongside a game clock of 2400 MHz.

The GPU's compute capabilities are defined by 1792 shading units and 28 ray tracing cores. Its raw throughput is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. In benchmark tests, the GPU achieves a Passmark G3D score of 17631, which is its strongest result. However, its DirectX 12 performance is notably weak, with a Passmark score of 44, while DirectX 11 and DirectX 10 scores are 182 and 104, respectively. The GPU's overall average benchmark score is 16014, placing it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. This places it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which scores 16129, a 0.7% difference. It also sits near the AMD Radeon RX 7700, which scores 15852, and the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862.

In Archeage, the GPU's influence is most apparent in the high-resolution settings. The transition from Low to Ultra settings at a fixed resolution causes a significant drop in frame rate, which is a direct consequence of the GPU's rendering load. The data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor well before the CPU's potential is reached, especially at 1440p and 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and AMD Radeon RX 9060 achieves a rank of 1603 out of 2761 tested combos in Archeage. This positioning indicates that while the system is functional and capable of running the game, it does not deliver top-tier performance. Over 58% of the tested combinations are able to outperform it, suggesting that many other hardware pairings can achieve higher frame rates.

The rank reflects a balance between the CPU's strong general performance and the GPU's mid-range capabilities. The CPU's high percentile ranking (89th for all CPUs) does not translate into a similarly high rank for this specific game combination, as the GPU holds the system back. This is a classic example of a CPU that is more powerful than the accompanying GPU, resulting in a bottleneck where the graphics card limits the overall gaming experience. The system is not at the bottom of the list, but it is far from the top, making it a mid-tier performer for this specific MMORPG.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed view of performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the system performs well. With Low settings, it achieves an average of 142 FPS. Medium settings yield 126 FPS, with a minimum of 107 FPS and a maximum of 145 FPS. High settings produce 86 FPS. Ultra settings drop the average to 58 FPS. This shows a clear progression where the game remains highly playable at all settings, though Ultra is the first to dip below the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, performance decreases noticeably. Low settings average 95 FPS. Medium settings average 85 FPS, with a range of 72 to 98 FPS. High settings produce 58 FPS. Ultra settings fall to 39 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant, with the High setting losing 28 FPS and the Ultra setting losing 19 FPS. This resolution is playable at Low and Medium, but High and Ultra become more demanding.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is heavily taxed. Low settings average 55 FPS. Medium settings average 49 FPS, with a minimum of 41 FPS and a maximum of 56 FPS. High settings average 33 FPS. Ultra settings are nearly unplayable, averaging only 23 FPS. The system fails to maintain 60 FPS at any setting at this resolution. The data shows that 4K is only viable at Low or Medium settings, and even then, the frame rates are modest. The pattern across all resolutions confirms that the GPU is the primary performance bottleneck, as the scaling of frame rates with settings is consistent with a GPU-limited scenario.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 provides the processing foundation for this system. It is built on the Arrow Lake architecture and manufactured on a 3 nm process. The CPU has 14 cores and 14 threads, which is a configuration without hyper-threading. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, and it can boost up to 5.00 GHz. The processor has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory on a dual-channel interface, providing 102.4 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

In benchmark tests, the CPU demonstrates strong multi-core and single-core performance. It scores 14769 in Cinebench R23 multicore and 2085 in single-core. In Passmark tests, it achieves a multithread score of 37816 and a single-thread score of 4516. Its average benchmark score is 46062, which places it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals are close; the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 scores 46030 (0.1% higher), the Intel Core i9-13900HX scores 46098 (0.1% lower), and the AMD EPYC 4364P scores 45970 (0.2% lower).

For Archeage, a game released in 2014, the CPU's performance is more than adequate. The game's engine is not likely to be heavily multi-threaded, but the high single-core score of 2085 in Cinebench R23 suggests it can handle the game's logic and draw calls without issue. The CPU's role is to feed the GPU with data, and in this case, the data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor. The GPU is clearly the bottleneck, as evidenced by the significant FPS drops when resolution and settings are increased, which primarily impacts the GPU's workload.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and desired frame rate. For a smooth 60 FPS experience at 1920x1080, the High preset is a safe choice, averaging 86 FPS. For those with a high refresh rate monitor, the Low preset at 142 FPS or the Medium preset at 126 FPS would be better options, providing a more responsive experience. The Ultra preset, at 58 FPS, is playable but does not maintain a consistent 60 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset offers the best balance, with an average of 85 FPS. The Low preset is also a strong option, averaging 95 FPS. The High preset drops to 58 FPS, which is borderline, while the Ultra preset at 39 FPS is not recommended for a comfortable experience. For 4K gaming at 3840x2160, the options are limited. The Low preset averages 55 FPS, which is close to playable. The Medium preset averages 49 FPS, which may be acceptable for some, but the High and Ultra presets at 33 and 23 FPS, respectively, are too slow for a smooth experience.

The data suggests that for the best experience, users should prioritize the Medium preset. It provides a good frame rate at all resolutions and is the only setting where the minimum FPS is recorded, showing a stable range of 41 to 56 FPS at 4K, 72 to 98 FPS at 1440p, and 107 to 145 FPS at 1080p. This consistency makes Medium the most reliable choice for a diverse range of gaming scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent. At 1080p, the Low setting averages 142 FPS. Moving to 1440p, this drops to 95 FPS, a 33% decrease. At 4K, the average falls to 55 FPS, a 61% decrease from 1080p. For the High setting, the drop is from 86 FPS at 1080p to 58 FPS at 1440p (33% decrease) and then to 33 FPS at 4K (62% decrease). This pattern is repeated across all settings, showing a consistent scaling factor.

This scaling behavior is a strong indicator that the system is GPU-limited. As the resolution increases, the number of pixels the GPU must render grows exponentially. The CPU's workload, which is more dependent on game logic and scene complexity, does not scale in the same way. The fact that the frame rate drops by roughly a third when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then by another third when moving to 4K, is a classic sign of a GPU bottleneck. The CPU has enough headroom to process the game's data, but the GPU cannot keep up with the increased rendering demands at higher resolutions.

The data shows that the limiting component is unequivocally the AMD Radeon RX 9060. The CPU, with its high benchmark scores, is not the constraint. The performance at 1080p is excellent, with even the Ultra preset hitting 58 FPS. However, the GPU's 8 GB of VRAM and 128-bit memory bus become a significant disadvantage at higher resolutions, where the rendering load is much greater. This results in the system being well-suited for 1080p gaming, capable at 1440p with reduced settings, and only marginally playable at 4K with the lowest settings.