Archeage

ArcheAge is a 2014 MMORPG with a heavy reliance on server-side simulation and complex scripting, but the client-side rendering still demands a robust system. The data for the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination provides a clear picture of how this high-end mobile-class CPU and flagship desktop GPU interact in this specific title. The benchmark results show significant performance swings based on resolution and quality settings, revealing a system that is capable of excellent frame rates but also exhibits classic bottlenecks tied to the game's engine and settings.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is a 24-core, 24-thread processor built on the Arrow Lake-HX architecture using a 3 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.40 GHz, with a TDP of 55 W. This is a mobile processor, but its core count and high boost clock make it a powerhouse for threaded workloads. In synthetic benchmarks, it achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35589 and a single-core score of 2204, placing it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs tested. Its nearest rivals in average benchmark score include the Intel Xeon w5-3525 (0.3% slower) and the AMD EPYC 4484PX (0.5% slower), which shows that this laptop-class chip trades blows with high-end workstation server processors.

For ArcheAge, the CPU's role is primarily to handle the game's logic, physics, and the massive number of entities and player characters in the world. The data suggests a strong CPU is essential, but the performance scaling from the measured FPS tells a more nuanced story. At 1080p with Low settings, the system hits an average of 212 FPS. This high frame rate indicates the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU a massive amount of data, and it is not a severe limiting factor at that resolution. However, as settings are increased to Ultra at 1080p, the average FPS drops to 87. This 125 FPS swing is not solely a CPU limitation; it shows that the increased graphical load, which includes more draw calls and effects, is now taxing both the CPU and GPU. The CPU's strong multi-threading (24 threads) is likely beneficial for handling the game's background simulation, but the 24-thread count is not necessarily optimized for the game's primary render thread, which often relies on fewer, faster cores. The single-core performance is still strong, as evidenced by the Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2204, which helps maintain playable frame rates in less demanding scenes.

When comparing to its rivals, the Ultra 9 275HX's performance is nearly identical on average to the Intel Xeon w5-3525, with a deltaPct of -0.3%. This means in a game like ArcheAge that may not perfectly scale with core count, the difference between these processors is negligible. The benchmark results indicate that the CPU's 36 MB of shared L3 cache and 192 KB of L1 cache per core are likely sufficient to keep data flowing, but the game's engine is old and may not take full advantage of the newer architecture's capabilities. The data shows a clear trend: the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at lower resolutions, but its influence becomes more apparent at higher resolutions where the GPU is less able to mask CPU overhead. The core and clock specifications place it at the top end of the mobile market, yet in this specific title, its performance is capped by the software's limitations rather than the hardware's potential.

FAQ — 4-6 Q&A pairs answerable from FACT PACK data

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in ArcheAge?

A: The highest average frame rate is 212 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the RTX 4090's performance compare to its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score is 60347, which is 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M's average score of 61896, according to the deltaPct data. This places the RTX 4090 slightly behind that specific rival in the aggregate benchmark suite.

Q: Does turning the settings from Low to Ultra at 1440p have a larger impact on FPS than going from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings?

A: Yes. At 1440p, dropping from Low (143 FPS) to Ultra (59 FPS) is a drop of 84 FPS. In comparison, going from 1080p Low (212 FPS) to 1440p Low (143 FPS) is a drop of 69 FPS. The settings change has a more profound effect on performance than the resolution increase.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested system combinations in this game?

A: The combo is ranked 588 out of 2761 tested combinations, placing it in the top 21.3 percent of all tested systems for ArcheAge.

Q: Is the RTX 4090 a good match for the Ultra 9 275HX in this game?

A: The data shows it is a capable match, but not perfectly balanced. At 4K Ultra, the system only manages 34 FPS, indicating a GPU bottleneck at the highest settings. At 1080p Low, the 212 FPS result suggests a CPU limit, as the GPU is not fully taxed. The system is well-suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at lower settings or high-fidelity gaming at lower resolutions, but not for 4K Ultra.

Q: What is the average FPS for the Medium settings at 2560x1440, and what are the minimum and maximum frame rates?

A: The average FPS for Medium settings at 2560x1440 is 127, with a minimum of 108 FPS and a maximum of 146 FPS.

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

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic performance curve dominated by the GPU as resolution increases. Starting at 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 212 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops the average to 143 FPS, a 32.5% decrease. At 4K, the average falls to 82 FPS, a further 42.7% decrease from the 1440p result. This steep decline is a strong indicator that the RTX 4090 is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) are being saturated by the pixel workload.

The pattern holds for Medium settings. At 1080p Medium, the average is 188 FPS. At 1440p Medium, it drops to 127 FPS, and at 4K Medium, it further decreases to 73 FPS. This consistent scaling across resolutions confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck. The frame drops are roughly proportional to the increase in pixel count, which is expected for a GPU-bound scenario. However, the data for High settings shows a different trend. At 1080p High, the average is 128 FPS. At 1440p High, it is 86 FPS, but at 4K High, it drops to 49 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is 43%, which is still significant, but the absolute FPS values are lower than Medium, indicating that the increased visual fidelity is putting additional strain on the GPU's compute units.

The most telling data point is at Ultra settings. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 87 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it is 59 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it plummets to 34 FPS. This result shows that the RTX 4090, despite its 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, cannot maintain a smooth 60 FPS at 4K with Ultra settings in this game. This is likely due to the game's engine being inefficient with high-end settings, possibly relying on older rendering techniques that don't scale well with modern GPU architectures. The data indicates that the CPU is not the limiting factor in resolution scaling, as the 275HX has enough single-thread performance (2458 Geekbench single-core score) to handle the game's logic at 4K. Instead, the GPU's rendering pipeline is the clear bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions and quality presets.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination is ranked 588 out of 2761 tested combos in ArcheAge. This places it in the 78.7th percentile of all systems tested, meaning it outperforms the majority of configurations but is not the absolute top-tier setup. This rank is surprising given the high-end nature of both components, but it is a reflection of the game's specific engine limitations rather than a lack of hardware capability. The rank suggests that many other combinations, likely with different CPUs or GPUs, achieve higher frame rates in this title.

The RTX 4090's percentile vs all GPUs is 88, and the CPU's percentile vs all CPUs is 94, yet their combined rank is not proportionally higher. This indicates a potential imbalance or that other factors, such as memory configuration or game-specific optimizations, play a larger role. The combo rank of 588 out of 2761 implies that roughly 2173 other tested combos perform better in this game. This could be due to the fact that the RTX 4090, while powerful, is not the best card for ArcheAge's specific API and rendering path. The data shows that the GPU's nearest rival is the Intel Arc Pro A60, with a deltaPct of 0%, meaning they have identical average benchmark scores. This is a strange occurrence, but it highlights that the RTX 4090's raw power is not always the deciding factor in real-world performance.

For context, the CPU's nearest rival, the Intel Xeon w5-3525, has a virtually identical average score, and the AMD EPYC 4484PX is only 0.5% faster. These rival CPUs are likely paired with different GPUs in the test suite, and their combos may rank higher or lower depending on the GPU's performance. The combo's rank of 588 can be interpreted as a solid, high-tier result, but it is not in the top 10% of all combos. This suggests that for ArcheAge, a different pairing, perhaps with a more powerful GPU or a CPU with higher single-core performance, could yield better results. The benchmark data indicates that the system is well above average, but it leaves performance on the table due to the game's inability to fully utilize the hardware.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a desktop-class GPU with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s. It has a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with a TDP of 450 W. This is an end-of-life product with a launch MSRP of 1,599 USD. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 38194 in Passmark G3D and 255416 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 60347, which is nearly identical to the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta) and 2.5% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M.

In ArcheAge, the GPU's role is to render the game's environments, characters, and effects. The 24 GB of VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, even at 4K, as the game's textures are not likely to exceed that capacity. The memory bandwidth is also not a limiting factor at lower resolutions, but it becomes more critical at 4K. The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the system only achieves an average of 34 FPS, which is below the playable threshold for most users. This is not due to a lack of VRAM, but rather the GPU's compute units being bogged down by the game's shader complexity at Ultra settings.

The boost clock of 2520 MHz is high, and the 16384 shading units provide substantial compute power. However, the game's performance at 4K Ultra suggests that the RTX 4090 is not being fully utilized, or the game is not optimized for its architecture. The fact that the GPU's nearest rival, the Intel Arc Pro A60, has an identical average benchmark score is anomalous, but it does not reflect in-game performance, as the RTX 4090 dominates in actual gaming benchmarks. The data for this game shows that the GPU is the primary driver of performance at 1440p and 4K, with the CPU taking a backseat. At 1080p, the GPU is still capable, but the CPU's limitations become more apparent, as seen in the 212 FPS cap at Low settings. The RTX 4090's 450 W TDP and power connector requirements are not a concern for performance, but they do dictate the system's power supply needs, though the data does not show a performance impact from this.

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

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how the system performs across all resolution and settings combinations.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: Average FPS of 212. This is the highest frame rate achieved in any configuration, indicating a CPU-bound scenario where the GPU has ample headroom.
• Medium: Average FPS of 188, with a minimum of 160 and a maximum of 217. The minimum still exceeds 144 FPS, making it ideal for high-refresh-rate monitors.
• High: Average FPS of 128. This is a significant drop from Medium, showing that High settings introduce a substantial graphical load.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 87. This is the lowest at 1080p, but still playable for most users.

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: Average FPS of 143. This is a 32.5% decrease from 1080p Low, showing the impact of increased pixel count.
• Medium: Average FPS of 127, with a minimum of 108 and a maximum of 146. The minimum is just above 100 FPS, providing a smooth experience.
• High: Average FPS of 86. This is a 32.8% decrease from 1080p High, and the frame rate is now below 100 FPS.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 59. This is the first configuration where the average drops below 60 FPS, making it a borderline playable experience.

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: Average FPS of 82. This is a 42.7% decrease from 1440p Low, showing the steep cost of 4K rendering.
• Medium: Average FPS of 73, with a minimum of 62 and a maximum of 84. The minimum is just above 60 FPS, but the average is not high enough for a consistent 60 FPS experience.
• High: Average FPS of 49. This is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that the GPU is struggling with the workload.
• Ultra: Average FPS of 34. This is the lowest recorded average, and it is not a smooth experience for this MMORPG.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is the sweet spot for high refresh rates, 1440p is the best balance of visual quality and performance, and 4K is only viable at Low or Medium settings. The Ultra preset at 4K is not recommended based on the data, as the 34 FPS average will likely lead to a subpar gaming experience. The minimum FPS data is only available for Medium settings, which shows the frame time variance is manageable at 1440p and 4K but becomes tighter at 1080p.