Barony

The pairing of AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090 in Barony produces a dataset that is far more revealing about CPU limitations than GPU potential. This is a roguelike title from 2015, and the benchmark results demonstrate a classic bottleneck scenario where the older Zen architecture holds back one of the most powerful consumer GPUs ever made. The measured frames per second (FPS) across resolutions tell a clear story about where the ceiling lies.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K is unusually shallow, which is the first sign that the Ryzen 5 2600 is the limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo hits 416.4 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low only drops that to 359 FPS, and at 4K Low it still manages 225.9 FPS. That is a 45.7% drop from 1080p to 4K, but the absolute numbers remain extremely high. The real insight comes from comparing the settings across resolutions.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is even more compressed. The combo delivers 311.8 FPS at 1080p, 200.1 FPS at 1440p, and 103.7 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 35.8%, and from 1440p to 4K is another 48.2%. While these are large percentage drops, the fact that 1080p Ultra cannot break past 312 FPS suggests the CPU is already near its limit. A GPU-bound system would show a much wider gap between 1080p and 4K at the same settings.

The data indicates that the RTX 5090 is starved for data at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 416.4 FPS figure is likely close to the maximum the Ryzen 5 2600 can push in this game. When you raise the resolution to 4K Low, you only lose about 46% of the performance, which is modest compared to what a fully GPU-bound scenario would show. This game is not demanding enough to saturate the RTX 5090’s capabilities, so the CPU becomes the primary constraint.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 brings massive specifications to the table, but Barony does not leverage them fully. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock sits at 2407 MHz, with a base clock of 2017 MHz. The shader count is 21760, which is an enormous amount of compute for a 2015 roguelike.

The benchmark results show that the GPU’s memory and bandwidth are not the limiting factors here. At 4K Ultra, the combo still manages 103.7 FPS, which is playable, but the GPU is clearly not being pushed to its limits. The 4K High setting produces 146.9 FPS, and 4K Medium hits 171.5 FPS. These numbers are respectable, but they do not reflect the RTX 5090’s true potential. The GPU’s own benchmark scores, like 39,650 in Passmark G3D, place it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, and it outperforms the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 by 1.3% in average scores.

The VRAM is almost certainly underutilized. A game like Barony, which is not graphically intensive, will not come close to using 32 GB of memory. The GPU’s 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is irrelevant when the CPU cannot feed it enough draw calls. The data suggests that the RTX 5090 is essentially idling in this scenario, waiting for the Ryzen 5 2600 to supply it with work.

FAQ

Q: Is the Ryzen 5 2600 a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: Yes, the benchmark data strongly suggests this. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 416.4 FPS, but at 4K Low it still reaches 225.9 FPS. The relatively small performance drop from 1080p to 4K indicates the CPU is limiting the frame rate, not the GPU.

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Barony?*

A: Based on the measured rows, 4K Ultra is the most demanding, delivering 103.7 FPS, which is still smooth. However, 1440p High at 275 FPS offers a good balance, and 1080p High at 353.9 FPS is also an option if you prefer maximum frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84,306. It is 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon PRO W6600, which scores 83,209. It essentially matches the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, which is only 0.1% behind, and the RTX 5050 Mobile, which is 0.2% behind.

Q: Does the CPU’s performance match its rivals?

A: The Ryzen 5 2600 has an average benchmark score of 19,616. It is 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (19,508) and 0.7% ahead of the Intel Core i7-10700F (19,485). It trails the Intel Core i5-11600KF by 0.6% and the Intel Core i5-1345U by 0.4%.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 4K, Low settings produce 225.9 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 103.7 FPS. This is a 54.1% reduction in frame rate when moving from Low to Ultra.

Q: Is the 32 GB of VRAM useful for this game?

A: The data does not show VRAM usage, but given the game’s age and the fact that even 4K Ultra only produces 103.7 FPS, it is highly unlikely that the 32 GB pool is stressed. The bottleneck is elsewhere.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 149th out of 1,702 tested combinations in Barony. This places it in the top 8.8% of all combos, which is impressive on the surface. However, this ranking is a reflection of the GPU’s raw power rather than the synergy of the pairing. A combo ranked 149th with an RTX 5090 is likely held back by the CPU.

The Ryzen 5 2600 sits in the 77th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19,616. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-1345U, scores 19,691, which is 0.4% higher. This level of CPU performance is adequate for many games, but it is not in the same league as the GPU. The RTX 5090 is in the 94th percentile of GPUs, scoring 84,306 on average. The gap between the CPU’s percentile rank and the GPU’s percentile rank is significant.

This ranking suggests that the combo is faster than the vast majority of systems tested, but it also implies that a more modern CPU would yield even higher frame rates. The fact that the combo cannot exceed 416.4 FPS at 1080p Low is a clear indicator of CPU limitation. If you were to pair this GPU with a stronger processor, the rank would likely improve substantially.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings deliver 416.4 FPS, Medium settings deliver 376.2 FPS, High settings deliver 353.9 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 311.8 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 104.6 FPS, which is a 25.1% reduction.

At 2560x1440, Low settings produce 359 FPS, Medium settings produce 320.4 FPS, High settings produce 275 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 200.1 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra here is 158.9 FPS, or 44.3%.

At 3840x2160, Low settings result in 225.9 FPS, Medium settings result in 171.5 FPS, High settings result in 146.9 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 103.7 FPS. The reduction from Low to Ultra is 122.2 FPS, which is 54.1%.

The data shows a consistent pattern: the frame rate is always high, even at 4K Ultra, but the scaling is not linear with GPU load. The CPU limits the low-resolution performance, while the GPU takes over as the resolution increases. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is relatively small, suggesting the CPU is the bottleneck in both cases. At 4K, the gap widens, indicating the GPU is starting to become more relevant, but it is still not fully utilized.

Settings Recommendations

For this combo in Barony, the best experience depends on your display and preference for frame rate. If you have a 1080p monitor with a high refresh rate, the Ultra preset at 311.8 FPS is the obvious choice. It offers the best visual quality while still providing a frame rate far above any display’s refresh rate. The 4K Ultra setting at 103.7 FPS is also viable, as it remains above 100 FPS.

If you are playing on a 1440p monitor, the High preset at 275 FPS is a good middle ground. It provides a substantial improvement over 1080p while maintaining a frame rate that exceeds most 1440p monitors’ refresh rates. The Ultra preset at 200.1 FPS is also a strong option if you want the best visuals, but the difference between High and Ultra is not worth a 27.3% frame rate drop.

For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 171.5 FPS is the sweet spot. It is nearly 65% faster than Ultra and still offers a visually pleasing experience. High at 146.9 FPS is acceptable, but Medium provides a better margin of safety for frame time consistency. Low at 225.9 FPS is unnecessary, as the visual degradation is not worth the extra frame rate.

The recommendation is to avoid Low settings entirely. The lowest preset only improves the frame rate by about 18% at 1440p compared to Medium, but it sacrifices a significant amount of visual fidelity. Given the high baseline frame rates, Medium or High presets are the most practical choices across all resolutions.