Archeage

# CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor built on the Arrow Lake architecture using TSMC's 3 nm process node. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.10 GHz provide a strong foundation for both single-threaded responsiveness and multi-threaded workloads. The CPU carries 24 MB of shared L3 cache, with per-core L2 and L1 allocations of 3 MB and 192 KB respectively. This cache hierarchy is relevant for an MMORPG like Archeage, where game logic, network processing, and world-state updates can place sustained demands on the memory subsystem.

The processor's benchmark results position it in the 90th percentile among all tested CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48,995. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, scores 49,196, a delta of only -0.4% — a statistical tie. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 sits at 49,228 (-0.5%), while the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and Intel Core i5-14600K trail slightly at 48,698 (+0.6%) and 48,618 (+0.8%) respectively. These margins are negligible, indicating that the Core Ultra 5 245 is positioned squarely within a tightly clustered performance tier.

In single-threaded workloads, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,648 and a PassMark single-thread score of 4,394. These numbers are strong for an MMORPG, where frame pacing often hinges on a single main thread handling game simulation. The multi-core Cinebench R23 score of 32,924 shows substantial parallel capability, though Archeage's engine may not fully exploit all 14 cores. The PassMark multithread score of 38,706 and physics score of 2,569 further illustrate the CPU's balanced throughput.

The data suggests that at high frame rates — particularly at 1080p Low where the combo reaches 298 FPS average — the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the limiting factor. The boost clock of 5.10 GHz is the key enabler here, as the game's frame generation rate at such settings exceeds what many processors can sustain. Conversely, at 4K Ultra with only 47 FPS average, the CPU is far from saturated, and the bottleneck shifts decisively to the GPU.

# GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD102 chip on TSMC's 5 nm process. It packs 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, along with 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and boosts to 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivers 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth — a figure that becomes increasingly relevant at higher resolutions where texture streaming and asset loading demand massive throughput.

The RTX 4090's benchmark results place it in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 60,347. Its nearest rivals are revealing: the Intel Arc Pro A60 matches at 60,326 (0.0% delta), while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 sits at 60,140 (+0.3%). These are professional workstation cards, not gaming counterparts, which underscores how the RTX 4090's compute profile extends beyond gaming into content creation and AI workloads. The AMD Radeon Pro W6600M actually scores higher at 61,896 (-2.5% delta from the 4090's perspective), though its driver optimization for OpenCL workloads differs from DirectX gaming scenarios.

In Archeage specifically, the GPU's 24 GB frame buffer is a significant asset. The game, released in 2014, was designed for far smaller memory pools, but modern high-resolution textures and draw distances can still benefit from abundant VRAM. At 4K Ultra, the combo drops to 47 FPS average, which suggests the GPU is being pushed hard by the game's rendering demands at maximum settings. The pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s indicate the raw fill capacity is enormous, yet Archeage's engine may not be optimized to leverage the Ada Lovelace architecture fully.

The 450 W TDP and triple-slot design make this a power-hungry component, but the measured FPS data shows that even at 4K High (69 FPS average), the GPU is not consistently bottlenecked — frame rates vary substantially across settings, indicating that the game's rendering paths scale non-linearly with quality presets.

# Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data reveals a clear scaling pattern across resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 298 FPS average; at 1440p Low, it drops to 200 FPS; at 4K Low, it falls to 115 FPS. This represents a 61% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings. For High settings, the progression is 180 FPS at 1080p, 121 FPS at 1440p, and 69 FPS at 4K — a 62% drop. Medium settings show 265 FPS at 1080p, 178 FPS at 1440p, and 102 FPS at 4K, a 62% reduction. Ultra settings follow suit: 123 FPS at 1080p, 83 FPS at 1440p, and 47 FPS at 4K, a 62% decline.

The consistency of this ~62% scaling pattern across all four quality presets is analytically significant. It indicates that the resolution scaling factor is independent of the graphics settings — the relative performance drop from 1080p to 4K is nearly identical whether the game runs at Low or Ultra. This uniformity suggests that the limiting component at each resolution is the same: the GPU. If the CPU were the bottleneck at lower resolutions, we would expect the 1080p-to-1440p drop to be smaller than the 1440p-to-4K drop, because the CPU load would remain constant while GPU load increases. Instead, the linear scaling in percentage terms points to GPU-bound performance across the board.

However, the absolute frame rates tell a more nuanced story. At 1080p Low, 298 FPS average exceeds what most displays can render, and the CPU's single-thread performance is likely the ceiling. The fact that 1080p Medium (265 FPS) is only 11% lower than 1080p Low (298 FPS), while 1080p Ultra (123 FPS) is 59% lower than Medium, indicates that Ultra settings introduce GPU-intensive effects that shift the balance. At 4K Ultra, the 47 FPS average is less than half of 4K Low (115 FPS), showing that the GPU's compute and memory bandwidth are being saturated by the combination of high resolution and maximum quality settings.

The data also shows that the 1440p-to-4K transition is more punishing than the 1080p-to-1440p transition in absolute terms. For High settings, 1440p delivers 121 FPS while 4K delivers 69 FPS — a drop of 52 FPS. The 1080p-to-1440p drop for High is 59 FPS (180 to 121). The pixel count increase from 1440p to 4K is roughly 2.25x, yet the FPS drop is proportionally similar to the 1.78x pixel increase from 1080p to 1440p. This suggests that at 4K, memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) and pixel fill rate (443.5 GPixel/s) are being taxed more heavily than raw shader throughput.

# How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 56th out of 2,761 tested combos in Archeage. This places it in the top 2% of all configurations in the database — a strong showing, though not the absolute top tier. The rank of 56 means there are 55 other CPU-GPU pairings that achieve higher average frame rates in this game.

Given that the RTX 4090 is near the top of the GPU hierarchy with an 88th percentile rank, the combo's 56th position suggests that the CPU is holding back the overall result. The Core Ultra 5 245's 90th percentile CPU rank is respectable, but in Archeage — a game with substantial single-threaded demands — the processor's 14-core configuration may not translate into optimal frame rates. Many of the 55 combos ahead of this one likely pair the RTX 4090 with higher-clock or higher-IPC CPUs that excel in single-threaded scenarios.

The delta between the CPU's percentile (90) and the combo's rank percentile (roughly 98th, since 56/2761 equals about 98th percentile) indicates that the GPU is the stronger contributor to this pairing's overall performance. The RTX 4090's 88th percentile GPU rank is lower than the CPU's 90th, yet the combo outperforms what either component's individual percentile would suggest. This is likely due to the GPU's massive memory bandwidth and the game's relatively modest CPU requirements at high settings.

Notably, the combo rank reflects average FPS across all tested settings and resolutions. The data shows this pairing excels at 1080p and 1440p, where it delivers well over 60 FPS at Ultra settings (123 and 83 FPS respectively), but struggles at 4K Ultra (47 FPS). The rank of 56 likely weights these results, and a player prioritizing 4K Ultra would find this combo less competitive relative to other configurations that maintain higher 4K frame rates.

# FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Archeage with this CPU-GPU combo?

A: Based on the measured data, 1440p Medium provides the best balance, delivering 178 FPS average with a minimum of 152 FPS and maximum of 205 FPS. This exceeds the 1440p High result (121 FPS average) and stays well above 1440p Ultra (83 FPS), making it the sweet spot for smooth gameplay without sacrificing visual quality.

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

A: Yes, but with caveats. At 4K Medium, the combo achieves 102 FPS average with a minimum of 87 FPS, which is playable. At 4K High, it drops to 69 FPS average. 4K Ultra is the weakest point at 47 FPS average, which is below the 60 FPS threshold that many players consider acceptable for smooth MMORPG gameplay.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 5 245 compare to its closest rivals in overall CPU performance?

A: The Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48,995 on average, which is within 0.8% of all four nearest rivals. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49,228 (-0.5%), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 49,196 (-0.4%), the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H scores 48,698 (+0.6%), and the Intel Core i5-14600K scores 48,618 (+0.8%). These differences are within measurement noise.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM beneficial for Archeage?

A: The 24 GB frame buffer is more than sufficient for Archeage, a game from 2014. The measured data shows the GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is likely the more critical factor, as frame rates drop consistently across resolutions regardless of texture memory usage. The VRAM capacity is not a bottleneck in any tested configuration.

Q: What causes the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K in this combo?

A: The data shows a consistent ~62% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K across all settings — Low drops from 298 to 115 FPS, High from 180 to 69 FPS, Medium from 265 to 102 FPS, and Ultra from 123 to 47 FPS. This uniform scaling indicates the GPU is the limiting component at all resolutions, with its pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth being saturated at 4K.

Q: Does the combo's 56th rank out of 2,761 mean it's a poor choice for Archeage?

A: No — the 56th rank places it in the top 2% of all tested combos. The RTX 4090's 88th percentile GPU rank and the Core Ultra 5 245's 90th percentile CPU rank are both strong individually, and their combination delivers high average frame rates at most settings. The rank simply indicates that a few dozen other pairings achieve even higher performance, likely due to CPUs with better single-thread performance.

# Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 298 FPS average, Medium 265 FPS with a minimum of 225 and maximum of 305, High 180 FPS, and Ultra 123 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 225 FPS is notable — it indicates that even in demanding scenes, the frame rate stays well above the refresh rate of most monitors. The gap between Medium and High (85 FPS) is larger than the gap between High and Ultra (57 FPS), suggesting that High settings introduce a significant rendering cost that Ultra only partially extends.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low settings achieve 200 FPS average, Medium 178 FPS with a range of 152 to 205, High 121 FPS, and Ultra 83 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 152 FPS remains above 144 Hz, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The drop from Medium to High at 1440p is 57 FPS, while the drop from High to Ultra is 38 FPS — the High-to-Ultra penalty is proportionally smaller at this resolution than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates fall to more moderate levels. Low settings achieve 115 FPS average, Medium 102 FPS with a range of 87 to 117, High 69 FPS, and Ultra 47 FPS. The Medium preset is the only 4K setting that maintains an average above 100 FPS, while Ultra dips below 60 FPS. The minimum of 87 FPS at 4K Medium shows that even the worst-case frame time stays within a playable range for most users, though the 47 FPS Ultra average would be noticeable on a 60 Hz display.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: Low to Medium represents a modest 10-15% FPS reduction, Medium to High represents a 32-38% reduction, and High to Ultra represents a 32-38% reduction. This non-linear scaling suggests that the Medium preset is the most efficient quality tier, while High and Ultra require exponentially more GPU resources for the visual improvements they offer.

# Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Based on the measured FPS data, the Medium preset offers the best experience for this combo across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 265 FPS average with a minimum of 225 FPS — nearly matching Low's 298 FPS but with significantly better visual quality. At 1440p, Medium achieves 178 FPS average with a minimum of 152 FPS, which remains well above the 144 Hz refresh rate common on high-end monitors. At 4K, Medium produces 102 FPS average with a minimum of 87 FPS, making it the only 4K setting that comfortably exceeds 60 FPS.

The High preset is a reasonable alternative for players prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate. At 1080p, High delivers 180 FPS average — still excellent — and at 1440p it maintains 121 FPS, which is sufficient for 120 Hz displays. At 4K, High drops to 69 FPS, which is playable but close to the 60 FPS minimum threshold. The jump from Medium to High costs 32% of frame rate at 1080p, 32% at 1440p, and 32% at 4K, making it a consistent trade-off.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for this combo in Archeage, particularly at higher resolutions. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 123 FPS average, which is strong, but at 1440p it falls to 83 FPS and at 4K to 47 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS average, and the 47 FPS figure would produce noticeable stuttering in fast-paced MMORPG combat. The Ultra preset's additional visual effects do not justify the 50-60% frame rate penalty over Medium at any resolution.

For players with high-refresh-rate monitors (144 Hz or higher), 1440p Medium is the optimal choice — it maintains a minimum of 152 FPS, ensuring no dips below the refresh rate. For 4K display owners, 4K Medium is the clear winner, as it provides 102 FPS average and 87 FPS minimum, which are both above 60 FPS and close to 100 FPS for smoother motion. The Low preset offers marginally higher frame rates (200 FPS at 1440p, 115 FPS at 4K) but the visual degradation is substantial, and the Medium preset's benefits outweigh the 10-15% frame rate difference.

In summary, the measured data points to Medium as the best-balanced preset for this CPU-GPU combination. It maximizes the playable frame rate across all three resolutions while maintaining a minimum FPS that stays above 85 even at 4K. The High preset serves as a viable alternative for those who prioritize visual quality, while Ultra should be reserved for 1080p gaming or screenshot purposes rather than competitive or immersive gameplay.