Archeage

Archeage, an MMORPG released in 2014, presents a unique challenge for modern hardware due to its age and engine limitations. The measured performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 reveals a complex interplay between resolution, settings, and component bottlenecks that defies simple expectations.

Resolution Scaling

The data shows a dramatic and non-linear drop in frame rates as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, indicating a significant shift in the limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 211 FPS, but this falls to 142 FPS at 1440p and further to 81 FPS at 4K. This scaling pattern suggests that at lower resolutions, the system is heavily CPU-bound, as the GPU has ample headroom to render frames quickly, while the processor struggles to feed it data. The 24-core, 24-thread Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, with its boost clock of 5.50 GHz, is clearly powerful, but Archeage's engine appears unable to utilize its full potential, creating a bottleneck.

The scaling from Medium to High settings at each resolution is also telling. At 1080p, the drop from Medium (187 FPS) to High (127 FPS) is a 60 FPS reduction, a 32% decrease. However, at 4K, the same settings transition only reduces performance from 72 FPS to 49 FPS, a 23 FPS or 32% drop. This proportional decrease indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The RTX 4070, with its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth, is a capable card, but the demands of 4K rendering are significant. The transition from Low to Medium at 4K shows a drop from 81 to 72 FPS, a smaller absolute change than at 1080p, where the same transition sees a 24 FPS drop. This suggests that at 4K, the GPU is already saturated, and the incremental cost of Medium over Low settings is less impactful relative to the overall load.

The most dramatic scaling, however, occurs with Ultra settings. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 87 FPS, which is 41 FPS lower than High. At 1440p, Ultra drops to 58 FPS, and at 4K, it collapses to 33 FPS. This steep curve for Ultra settings across all resolutions points to a specific feature or rendering path in Archeage that is exceptionally demanding, likely related to shadow quality or draw distance. The jump from High to Ultra is not a linear progression; it represents a massive computational leap that punishes the GPU regardless of resolution, though the impact is most severe at 4K where the RTX 4070's raw compute power (29.15 TFLOPS FP32) is insufficient to maintain playable frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual fidelity and performance is found at Medium settings for most resolutions. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers an average of 187 FPS with a minimum of 159 FPS and a maximum of 215 FPS. This provides a smooth, high-refresh-rate experience that far exceeds the demands of typical displays. The 159 FPS minimum ensures that even in busy scenes, there is no perceptible stutter. While High settings at 1080p still offer a respectable 127 FPS, the 60 FPS drop from Medium is a significant sacrifice for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in an older game.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings produce an average of 126 FPS, with a minimum of 107 FPS and a maximum of 145 FPS. This remains an excellent experience for high-refresh-rate 1440p monitors, staying well above the 100 FPS threshold. High settings at this resolution drop to 86 FPS, which is still playable, but the 40 FPS loss is substantial. For users prioritizing smoothness, Medium is clearly the superior choice. At 3840x2160, Medium settings yield an average of 72 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS. This is on the edge of playability for a 60 Hz display, but the minimum frame rate suggests there could be occasional dips below the ideal threshold. High settings at 4K drop to 49 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and would likely feel less fluid.

Low settings are an option for competitive play at 1080p, where the 211 FPS average is exceptional. However, the visual compromise is likely too severe for general enjoyment. Ultra settings, regardless of resolution, are not recommended based on the data. The 33 FPS average at 4K is a slideshow, and even at 1080p, the 87 FPS average is only marginally better than what High settings achieve at 1440p. The data implies that the Ultra preset is poorly optimized for this combination of hardware and game engine. The best experience per the measured rows is Medium settings at 1080p or 1440p, offering high frame rates and stable minimums that indicate a consistent performance profile.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 633 out of 2761 tested combos in Archeage, placing it in the top 23% of all systems. This is a strong showing, but it is not exceptional given the pedigree of the components. The rank suggests that while this hardware is capable, there are many other combinations that achieve higher performance in this specific title. This is likely due to the game's age and its dependence on single-threaded performance, which can favor processors with higher clock speeds over those with more cores.

The CPU itself holds a 96th percentile ranking against all CPUs in general benchmarks, indicating it is a top-tier processor. Its average benchmark score of 93785 places it nearly identical to the Intel Xeon 6520P (93786), with a 0% deltaPct. It is also only 1.5% behind the AMD EPYC 4564P (95183) and 1.9% behind the AMD EPYC 9175F (95615). These rivals are enterprise-class server processors, which highlights the raw multi-threaded power of the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. However, in Archeage, this multi-core strength is not fully leveraged.

The GPU, with an 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs, has an average benchmark score of 37648. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (37628), which is only 0.1% slower. It is also 0.4% faster than the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) and 1.3% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (38135). The RTX 4070 is a solid mid-to-high-end card, but its performance in Archeage is constrained by the game's engine. The combo's rank of 633 out of 2761 indicates that the system is well-balanced but not optimized for this specific workload, as other, potentially less powerful, combinations might achieve higher frame rates due to better CPU-GPU pairing for this game's engine.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates provides a detailed view of performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 211 FPS average.
• Medium: 187 FPS average, with a minimum of 159 FPS and a maximum of 215 FPS.
• High: 127 FPS average.
• Ultra: 87 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 142 FPS average.
• Medium: 126 FPS average, with a minimum of 107 FPS and a maximum of 145 FPS.
• High: 86 FPS average.
• Ultra: 58 FPS average.

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 81 FPS average.
• Medium: 72 FPS average, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS.
• High: 49 FPS average.
• Ultra: 33 FPS average.

These numbers reveal an interesting pattern in the frame rate ranges. For Medium settings, the spread between minimum and maximum FPS is relatively consistent across resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 56 FPS (159 to 215), at 1440p it is 38 FPS (107 to 145), and at 4K it is 22 FPS (61 to 83). This tightening of the range at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck, and its performance is more consistent. At 1080p, the CPU bottleneck causes more variance, as frame rates can spike when the CPU catches up with the GPU's requests.

The low average FPS at 4K Ultra (33) is particularly striking when compared to the 1080p Low result of 211 FPS. This represents a 6.4x reduction in performance from the least demanding to the most demanding configuration. This massive spread shows that the system is capable of a wide range of performance, but it is heavily dependent on the in-game settings and resolution. The data suggests that users must carefully tailor their settings to their display's resolution to achieve a smooth experience, as the penalty for pushing to Ultra at 4K is severe.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture and features the AD104 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. The GPU has a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz. Its 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output pipelines contribute to a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. The card also includes 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, though these are unlikely to be heavily utilized in Archeage.

In the measured FPS data, the GPU's role becomes evident when comparing the scaling of Low to Medium settings. At 1080p, the difference between Low (211 FPS) and Medium (187 FPS) is 24 FPS, indicating that the GPU can handle the extra load without issue. However, at 4K, the same transition only results in a 9 FPS drop (81 to 72), suggesting that the GPU is already near its limits. The RTX 4070's 12 GB of VRAM is likely sufficient for Archeage at all tested settings, as the game is from 2014 and does not have high-resolution texture packs that would exceed this capacity. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s is more than adequate for the game's demands, as the frame rate drops are more attributable to the GPU's compute capabilities than its memory subsystem.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks shows it is a balanced card. Its Passmark G3D score of 26927 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 174152 indicate solid DirectX and Vulkan performance. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854, while a specific test, confirms its capability in modern APIs. However, Archeage is an older title that likely relies on DirectX 11, where the card's Passmark DirectX 11 score of 244 suggests strong performance. The drop to 33 FPS at 4K Ultra is a clear indicator that the Ultra preset uses effects that are disproportionately expensive on the GPU, likely involving high-resolution shadows or post-processing effects that stress the card's 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to achieve over 100 FPS?

A: The data shows that both 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 can achieve over 100 FPS, but only on Low or Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the average is 187 FPS, and at 1440p Medium, it is 126 FPS. High settings at 1080p (127 FPS) also exceed 100 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, High settings deliver an average of 86 FPS, while Ultra drops to 58 FPS. This is a 28 FPS reduction, or a 33% decrease, indicating that the Ultra preset is significantly more demanding and may not be worth the visual gain.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data suggests this. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 211 FPS, but the increase in resolution to 1440p Low only drops the frame rate to 142 FPS. This smaller than proportional drop indicates that the CPU is limiting performance at 1080p, as the GPU has enough power to render more frames if the CPU could supply them.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded, and at what settings?

A: The lowest minimum frame rate recorded is 61 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. This is the only configuration with a recorded minimum below 100 FPS, besides the Ultra presets which do not have recorded minimums.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its nearest rival, the Tesla P4?

A: The RTX 4070 has an average benchmark score of 37648, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4's score of 37628. This makes them nearly identical in synthetic performance, but the RTX 4070's newer architecture provides features like ray tracing that the Tesla P4 lacks.

Q: What is the frame rate range at 4K Medium?

A: At 3840x2160 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 72, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 83 FPS. This 22 FPS range is the tightest of all Medium settings, indicating stable performance as the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh architecture, manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The CPU features a complex cache hierarchy, including 192 KB of L1 cache per core, 3 MB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 36 MB of L3 cache. It supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 115.2 GB/s.

In Archeage, the CPU's role is significant, particularly at lower resolutions. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 211 FPS, which is a very high frame rate. However, the CPU's performance in single-threaded tests is moderate for its class. Its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 2439, which is strong, but the game's engine likely benefits from higher clock speeds over more cores. The 5.50 GHz boost clock is excellent, but the 24-core configuration is underutilized in this MMORPG. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 5068 highlights its individual core performance.

The CPU's multi-threaded capabilities are exceptional, as evidenced by its Passmark multithread score of 68574 and Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 44253. However, these scores do not translate directly to Archeage performance. The game's engine, being from 2014, likely uses only a few threads, meaning the CPU's other 20 cores are idle. This explains why the system is CPU-bound at 1080p, as the game cannot utilize the full power of the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. The 96th percentile ranking against all CPUs shows that this is a top-tier processor, but its performance in Archeage is limited by software, not hardware. The data indicates that a processor with fewer, faster cores might perform similarly in this specific game, as the bottleneck is the game's ability to use the available cores, not the CPU's raw speed.