Barony

The data for Barony, captured with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080, shows a configuration where the GPU is overwhelmingly dominant. Across all tested resolutions and settings, the frame rates are exceptionally high, indicating that this pairing is far beyond what the game requires for smooth gameplay. The analysis below breaks down the measured performance characteristics, focusing on how the system scales with resolution, the role of each component, and the practical implications for settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear and predictable pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases, but the absolute numbers remain high at every step. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 418 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 356 FPS, a reduction of 62 FPS, and further moving to 4K Low yields 209.6 FPS, another substantial drop of 146.4 FPS. This scaling indicates that the game is becoming more GPU-bound at higher resolutions, as the number of pixels to render increases significantly.

The trend is consistent across all settings presets. For High settings, the frame rate goes from 354.9 FPS at 1080p, down to 254 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 131.7 FPS at 4K. This pattern—where the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K—suggests that the GPU's rendering load scales super-linearly with pixel count in this title. The same effect is visible in the Medium preset, which drops from 372.9 FPS at 1080p to 297.6 FPS at 1440p and then to 158.3 FPS at 4K.

The most demanding configuration, Ultra at 4K, still achieves an average of 95.2 FPS. This is a significant finding because it means the system never becomes unplayable, even at the highest settings and resolution tested. The data implies that the bottleneck shifts from the CPU at lower resolutions to the GPU at 4K, but neither component ever becomes a limiting factor that would cause the frame rate to fall below a typically acceptable threshold. The scaling from 1080p to 4K on Ultra settings shows a drop from 291.5 FPS to 95.2 FPS, a 67% reduction, which is substantial but leaves a massive performance headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the primary driver of the exceptional performance observed. Its specifications include 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is more than sufficient for Barony, a game from 2015, and ensures that texture loading and memory bandwidth are never a constraint. The high bandwidth likely contributes to the minimal performance difference between Low and High settings at the same resolution, as the GPU can handle the increased data throughput without issue.

The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2295 MHz and a boost of 2617 MHz, are high for a modern card. The benchmark results for the GPU show a Passmark G3D score of 36565 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637. These scores place it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs, confirming its high-end positioning. In the context of Barony, the GPU's raw compute power, measured at 56.28 TFLOPS FP32, is vastly underutilized. The game's low system requirements mean that the RTX 5080 is effectively running at a fraction of its capacity, which is why even 4K Ultra settings produce a 95.2 FPS average.

The data also shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system hits 418 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's limit for frame generation in this game. The GPU could theoretically render more frames, but the CPU cannot feed it data fast enough. This is a classic sign of a CPU bottleneck at low resolutions. However, the GPU's role becomes more prominent as resolution increases, as evidenced by the larger FPS drops when moving to 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the data suggests that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this specific combination. At 1440p High, the system delivers 254 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. At 4K High, it achieves 131.7 FPS, which is still extremely smooth for most gaming scenarios. The jump from High to Ultra at 4K results in a significant performance cost, dropping from 131.7 FPS to 95.2 FPS, a 36.5 FPS reduction for what is typically a marginal visual improvement in a roguelike title.

For players with a 1080p monitor, the Low preset at 418 FPS is unnecessary, and the Medium preset at 372.9 FPS offers no practical advantage over High at 354.9 FPS, given that all exceed typical display refresh rates. The Ultra preset at 1080p, which yields 291.5 FPS, is the most demanding option but still provides an incredibly high frame rate. The data indicates that the system is so powerful that settings choices have little impact on playability at 1080p and 1440p, but at 4K, the difference between Low (209.6 FPS) and Ultra (95.2 FPS) is more pronounced.

The recommendation based on the data is to prioritize the High preset. It provides a substantial visual improvement over Low and Medium while maintaining a performance level that is indistinguishable from those lower presets in terms of smoothness. At 4K, High is the sweet spot, delivering 131.7 FPS. Ultra can be used for maximum visual fidelity, but the 95.2 FPS average is still perfectly playable. The Medium preset at 4K, at 158.3 FPS, is another viable option for those who want to maximize frame rate without dropping to the lowest visual quality.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average frame rate recorded for this combination?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 418 at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K with the highest settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system achieves an average FPS of 95.2, which remains a very playable frame rate.

Q: Is there a large performance difference between Low and High settings at 1080p?

A: The difference is noticeable but not massive: Low yields 418 FPS while High yields 354.9 FPS, a difference of 63.1 FPS.

Q: What is the performance drop when moving from 1440p High to 4K High?

A: The average FPS drops from 254 at 2560x1440 to 131.7 at 3840x2160 on High settings, a reduction of 122.3 FPS.

Q: Does the GPU or CPU appear to be the limiting factor at 1080p Low?

A: The data suggests a CPU limitation at 1080p Low, as the 418 FPS figure is likely constrained by the processor's ability to issue draw calls rather than the GPU's rendering capacity.

Q: How does the 4K Medium preset compare to the 4K High preset?

A: The Medium preset at 4K achieves 158.3 FPS, while the High preset achieves 131.7 FPS, showing a 26.6 FPS advantage for Medium.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 187th out of 1702 tested combos for Barony. This places it in the top 11% of all configurations, which is a strong result. The ranking reflects the overall capability of the system, but it is important to consider the context. The high ranking is almost entirely due to the GPU's immense power, as the CPU is significantly older and less capable by comparison.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 19616, which places it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-11600KF with an average score of 19740 (a delta of -0.6%) and the Intel Core i7-10700F with a score of 19485 (a delta of 0.7%). These rivals are all newer or higher-tier processors, yet the Ryzen 5 2600 remains competitive in synthetic benchmarks. However, in a game like Barony, which is not heavily threaded, the CPU's performance is adequate but not exceptional.

The GPU, on the other hand, is a top-tier part. Its average benchmark score of 59188 places it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A580 with a score of 57756 (a delta of 2.5%) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X with a score of 57661 (a delta of 2.6%). The RTX 5080 is clearly a much more powerful component than the CPU in this pairing. The combo rank of 187 reflects the GPU's ability to compensate for the CPU's age, pushing the overall system performance high in the rankings for this title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 2000 series, based on the Zen+ architecture. It has a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. Its benchmark scores show a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11186 and a single-core score of 1579. These scores indicate that the CPU is a solid mid-range part from its generation, but it is now several generations old. In the context of Barony, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, physics, and draw calls.

The data reveals that the CPU is the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates across all settings are extremely high, but the differences between settings are relatively small. For example, Low yields 418 FPS, Medium yields 372.9 FPS, and High yields 354.9 FPS. This pattern suggests that the CPU is reaching its limit in terms of frame generation, and the GPU is waiting for the CPU to provide more work. The 12 threads of the Ryzen 5 2600 are sufficient for Barony, which is not a highly multithreaded game, but the single-thread performance is likely the bottleneck.

The CPU's Passmark single-thread score is 2239, and its Cinebench R23 single-core score is 1579. These figures point to a processor that, while not slow, is not fast enough to keep up with the RTX 5080 at 1080p. The evidence is clear: the FPS numbers at 1080p are capped around the 418 FPS mark, regardless of the GPU's headroom. As the resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's influence on the final frame rate diminishes. This is a classic example of a system where the CPU is sufficient for high-resolution gaming but holds back performance at lower resolutions where the GPU could otherwise excel.