Archeage

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 paired with the Intel Arc B370 is a combination that produces strictly playable frame rates in Archeage, but only when the settings are managed carefully. The measured data shows this combo sits at rank 3423 out of 3708 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 8% of all tested combos. This is not a hardware pairing for high-refresh monitors or maximum visual fidelity; it is a setup for getting through the game’s content at acceptable, if unspectacular, performance levels. The Arc B370, operating as an integrated graphics solution with system-shared memory, is the clear bottleneck, and the benchmark results consistently reflect that limitation across every resolution tested.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data makes the optimal settings path clear: Low settings at 1920x1080 is the only configuration that approaches a consistently playable experience, delivering an average of 65 FPS. This is the sole preset and resolution combination that breaks the 60 FPS threshold, making it the default recommendation for anyone using this hardware. If you are willing to accept a slightly lower frame rate, Medium settings at 1920x1080 yields 57 FPS on average, with a minimum of 49 FPS and a maximum of 66 FPS, which is still a viable option for a 60Hz display, though it will dip below that target during demanding scenes.

Stepping up to High settings at 1080p drops the average to 39 FPS, which is a significant 26 FPS loss compared to Low. This is a steep cost for the visual improvements, and the data suggests it is not worth the performance hit. The Ultra preset at 1080p is effectively unplayable, averaging only 27 FPS. The pattern is consistent across all resolutions: Low is always substantially faster than High, and Ultra is always the slowest. At 1440p, Low settings produce 43 FPS on average, which is playable but not smooth, while Medium drops to 39 FPS. At 4K, even Low settings only manage 25 FPS, which is below the threshold for comfortable gameplay. The recommendation is to stick with Low or Medium at 1080p, as the jump to High produces a disproportionate FPS penalty without a corresponding playability benefit.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is the limiting factor in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the benchmark results are so constrained. This is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 25 W TDP, using system-shared memory rather than dedicated VRAM. Its boost clock is 2400 MHz with a base clock of 300 MHz, and it has 1280 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 20 ROPs. The GPU’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is a modest 1184, which places it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, indicating it is near the bottom of the performance spectrum. The nearest rivals in the benchmark database are older parts like the ATI Radeon HD 5770, which scores 1190 (0.5% higher), and the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570, which scores 1186 (0.2% higher). This positions the Arc B370 as a legacy-tier performer in modern gaming scenarios.

The lack of dedicated VRAM means the GPU relies on system memory bandwidth, which is "System Dependent" per the spec sheet. This is a critical constraint for a game like Archeage, which has open-world environments that can be memory-intensive. The data shows that FPS scales inversely with resolution and settings in a way that points squarely at the GPU. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 65 FPS, but at 4K Low, it falls to 25 FPS. This 40 FPS drop is a direct consequence of the GPU being overwhelmed by the pixel count, as the system-shared memory bandwidth cannot keep up with the demands of 4K rendering. The GPU also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but these features do not compensate for the raw compute limitations. The pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are low by modern standards, reinforcing that this is not a part designed for heavy gaming loads.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 3423 out of 3708 tested combinations in Archeage, placing it in the 92nd percentile from the bottom—meaning 92% of tested combos perform better. This is a poor showing, and the data suggests that the Arc B370 is dragging down the entire system. The CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 5 235, is a capable processor on its own, but it cannot compensate for the GPU’s limitations in a graphics-bound title like Archeage. The CPU’s average benchmark score is 46062, which is in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, placing it well above average. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 with an average score of 46030 (0.1% lower), the Intel Core i9-13900HX with 46098 (0.1% higher), and the AMD EPYC 4364P with 45970 (0.2% lower). These are all high-end processors, indicating the CPU is not the weak link. However, in the game-specific combo ranking, the GPU’s low percentile (5th) dominates the outcome. The gap between the CPU’s strong standalone performance and the combo’s poor in-game rank highlights a severe imbalance. For a game that relies heavily on GPU rendering, this pairing is heavily skewed, and the results reflect that.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combo for this hardware?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with Low settings is the best option, producing an average of 65 FPS. This is the only configuration that exceeds 60 FPS. Medium at 1080p is a secondary option at 57 FPS average.

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

A: No. At 3840x2160, even Low settings only achieve 25 FPS on average, and High settings drop to 15 FPS. Ultra at 4K is unplayable at 10 FPS. The system-shared memory and low GPU compute power cannot handle 4K rendering.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 compare to its closest rivals?

A: The CPU’s average benchmark score is 46062, which is within 0.2% of its nearest rivals. It scores 0.1% higher than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i9-13900HX, and 0.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 4364P. It is a solid mid-to-high-tier processor.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B370 a dedicated graphics card?

A: No. It is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 25 W TDP, using system-shared memory. It has no dedicated VRAM, and its memory bandwidth is system-dependent. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184 puts it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and High settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings average 43 FPS, while High settings average 26 FPS. This is a 17 FPS drop, or roughly 40% lower performance, for the higher visual quality.

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

A: In Archeage, this combo ranks 3423 out of 3708 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 8% of all tested combos, indicating that the GPU is severely limiting overall performance.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound system. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 65 at 1920x1080 to 43 at 2560x1440, and then to 25 at 3840x2160. This represents a 61.5% reduction in FPS when moving from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, but the trend is clear: each step up in resolution costs a significant chunk of performance. At High settings, the drop is from 39 FPS at 1080p to 26 FPS at 1440p, and then to 15 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is only 38.5% of the 1080p score, showing that the GPU is being increasingly overwhelmed as pixel count rises.

This pattern indicates that the limiting component is the GPU, not the CPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect FPS to remain relatively stable across resolutions, as the CPU’s workload does not scale as dramatically with resolution. Instead, the FPS falls sharply with each resolution increase, which is a classic symptom of a GPU that is maxed out. The system-shared memory of the Arc B370 is particularly problematic here, as the bandwidth available to the GPU is dependent on the system’s memory configuration and is not dedicated. This means that at 4K, the GPU is likely starved for memory bandwidth, causing the frame rate to plummet. The data supports this: the 4K Low score of 25 FPS is barely above the 1440p High score of 26 FPS, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling regardless of settings at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong: it achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14769 and a single-core score of 2085. In PassMark, it scores 37816 in multithread and 4516 in single-thread. These numbers place it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of processors on the market. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i9-13900HX, scores 46098 in the average benchmark, which is only 0.1% higher, showing that the Ultra 5 235 is competitive with high-end mobile HX parts.

In Archeage, however, the CPU’s strong performance does not translate into high frame rates because the game is overwhelmingly GPU-bound in this configuration. The CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and with 14 cores and 14 threads, it is more than capable of handling the MMORPG’s CPU demands. The data does not show CPU-specific bottlenecks; instead, the FPS scales with resolution, which is a GPU characteristic. The CPU’s L3 cache is 24 MB shared, and it supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, which is sufficient for gaming. The lack of hyperthreading (14 threads on 14 cores) is not a significant disadvantage for a game like Archeage, which typically uses fewer threads. The conclusion is that the CPU is not the problem here. If the user were to pair this CPU with a more powerful dedicated GPU, the system would likely perform much better, but with the Arc B370, the CPU’s potential is left untapped. The benchmark results are a direct reflection of the GPU’s limitations, not the CPU’s capabilities.