Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The pairing of AMD's 6-core Ryzen 5 2600 with NVIDIA's flagship RTX 5090 D produces a striking performance profile in Barony, a 2015 roguelike that clearly favors high refresh rates over visual complexity. Measured data shows this combination achieving triple-digit average frame rates at every resolution and settings tier, with the 1080p Low preset reaching 417 FPS average. The combination ranks 252nd out of 2,935 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 8.6% of all configurations. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, settings behavior, component roles, and measured frame rate data to characterize how this unusual pairing behaves.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that remains GPU-bound at lower resolutions but begins to show CPU limitations as pixel count rises. At High settings, the transition from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 reduces average FPS from 354 to 292, a 17.5% decline. Moving from 1440p to 3840x2160 High brings the average down to 152 FPS, a further 48% reduction. The total scaling from 1080p High to 4K High is a 57% performance drop, which is substantial but still leaves the system well above 144 FPS at 4K.

The Low settings tier shows a different scaling pattern. At 1080p Low, the average reaches 417 FPS; at 1440p Low it drops to 357 FPS (14.4% lower); and at 4K Low it falls to 239 FPS (33% lower than 1440p). The 4K Low result of 239 FPS is actually lower than the 1440p High result of 292 FPS, suggesting that at 4K the GPU workload becomes significant enough to override the settings advantage that Low provides over High at lower resolutions.

Medium settings provide the most complete data with min and max frame rates recorded. At 1080p Medium, the average is 374 FPS with a minimum of 318 and maximum of 430. The 1440p Medium average drops to 321 FPS (min 272, max 369), and 4K Medium averages 178 FPS (min 151, max 204). The min-to-max spread narrows as resolution increases: 112 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. This compression of the frame rate range at higher resolutions indicates the GPU is becoming the consistent limiting factor, reducing variability that CPU scheduling might introduce at lower resolutions.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 313 FPS; 1440p Ultra drops to 209 FPS (33% reduction); and 4K Ultra falls to 109 FPS (48% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 109 FPS is the only measured configuration that dips below the 120 FPS threshold, though it still remains playable. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is a 65% performance reduction, the steepest of any settings tier, indicating that Ultra settings impose a heavier per-pixel cost that multiplies with resolution.

The data suggests that at 1080p and 1440p, the CPU is the primary constraint across all settings, as evidenced by the relatively modest FPS differences between Low and Ultra at these resolutions. At 1080p, the gap between Low (417 FPS) and Ultra (313 FPS) is only 25%, despite Ultra requiring significantly more GPU work. At 4K, the same Low-to-Ultra comparison shows a 55% gap (239 FPS vs 109 FPS), demonstrating that the GPU workload finally dominates at this resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 1440p Medium, the system delivers 321 FPS average with a minimum of 272 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. The min FPS of 272 at 1440p Medium is higher than the average FPS of 209 at 1440p Ultra, demonstrating that Medium avoids the frame rate dips that Ultra introduces.

For users prioritizing maximum smoothness at 4K, Medium is the clear choice. The 4K Medium average of 178 FPS with a 151 FPS minimum maintains a consistent experience above 144 Hz, while 4K Ultra drops to 109 FPS average and lacks recorded min/max data to confirm stability. The 151 FPS floor at 4K Medium is 42 FPS higher than the 4K Ultra average, making Medium the safer option for high-refresh-rate 4K displays.

At 1080p, the Medium preset again proves optimal. The 374 FPS average and 318 FPS minimum at 1080p Medium exceeds the 313 FPS average of 1080p Ultra while providing a documented floor that Ultra lacks. The 430 FPS maximum at 1080p Medium also shows headroom for very high refresh rate panels, though the 318 FPS minimum is the more relevant figure for consistency.

The High preset occupies a middle ground that may suit users with mid-range refresh rate displays. At 1440p High, the 292 FPS average is only 9% lower than Medium's 321 FPS, and at 4K High the 152 FPS average remains above 144 Hz. However, High lacks the min/max data that Medium provides, making it harder to verify frame time consistency.

Low settings are only recommended for competitive play at 1080p where the 417 FPS average could theoretically support a 360 Hz display, though the lack of min FPS data means stability is unverified. At 4K, Low's 239 FPS average is respectable but the settings reduction yields diminishing returns compared to Medium's 178 FPS, given that both exceed most display refresh rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination ranks 252nd out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 91.4th percentile of all configurations. This rank reflects the game's CPU sensitivity at lower resolutions, where the Ryzen 5 2600's 6-core/12-thread configuration becomes the bottleneck despite the RTX 5090 D's immense graphical capabilities. The top 251 combos presumably feature newer, higher-clocked CPUs that can feed the GPU more effectively at 1080p and 1440p.

The RTX 5090 D itself ranks in the 92nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark database include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (average score 76,904, 1.1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (average score 78,940, 1.6% lower), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (average score 79,396, 2.1% lower), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (average score 79,605, 2.4% lower). These close margins indicate the RTX 5090 D sits in a tightly clustered performance band despite its flagship positioning.

The Ryzen 5 2600 ranks in the 75th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21,484. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core Ultra 5 228V (average score 21,440, 0.2% lower), the Intel Core i9-11900H (average score 21,367, 0.5% lower), the Intel Xeon D-1746TER (average score 21,635, 0.7% higher), and the AMD EPYC 9454 (average score 21,223, 1.2% lower). The CPU's 75th percentile ranking, combined with the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking, explains why this combo ranks lower than the GPU alone would suggest — the CPU is the weaker link in the pairing.

The combo's 252nd rank out of 2,935 means it outperforms 2,683 other tested combinations. This is a strong result, but the gap between the GPU's 92nd percentile and the combo's 91.4th percentile suggests that pairing the RTX 5090 D with a stronger CPU would likely yield a higher combo rank. The measured data supports this interpretation, as the 1080p Low result of 417 FPS appears CPU-limited given the GPU's theoretical headroom.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. The Low preset averages 417 FPS, Medium averages 374 FPS (min 318, max 430), High averages 354 FPS, and Ultra averages 313 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 104 FPS, with Medium providing the only documented min/max range in this resolution tier.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but shows more separation between settings. Low averages 357 FPS, Medium averages 321 FPS (min 272, max 369), High averages 292 FPS, and Ultra averages 209 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread widens to 148 FPS, indicating that GPU load begins to differentiate settings more meaningfully at this resolution. The Medium preset's 272 FPS minimum is particularly notable, as it remains above the 209 FPS average of Ultra.

At 3840x2160, the settings tiers separate dramatically. Low averages 239 FPS, Medium averages 178 FPS (min 151, max 204), High averages 152 FPS, and Ultra averages 109 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread reaches 130 FPS, but the absolute values drop significantly. The Medium preset's min FPS of 151 is the only recorded 4K floor above 150 FPS, while Ultra's 109 FPS average is the only measured configuration below 120 FPS across the entire dataset.

Comparing across resolutions at each settings tier reveals consistent scaling factors. At Low, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is 14.4% and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 33.1%. At Medium, the corresponding drops are 14.2% and 44.5%. At High, they are 17.5% and 47.9%. At Ultra, they are 33.2% and 47.8%. The Ultra tier shows the largest 1080p-to-1440p drop, suggesting that Ultra settings impose a particularly heavy load on the GPU even at moderate resolutions.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth. This is paired with a 2017 MHz base clock and 2407 MHz boost clock. The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all tested GPUs, with a 77,712 average benchmark score, confirms its position as a top-tier performer in synthetic tests.

In Barony, the GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution and settings increase. At 1080p, the GPU's massive compute resources are underutilized, as evidenced by the relatively small FPS differences between Low (417 FPS) and Ultra (313 FPS). The GPU's raw throughput — 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate, and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate — is more than sufficient for this roguelike's graphical demands at lower resolutions.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU's capabilities are finally taxed, producing 109 FPS average. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far more than Barony requires, but the memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s helps maintain performance at high resolutions. The GPU's 176 ROPs and 680 TMUs handle the pixel and texture workloads efficiently, though the game's age means it likely does not utilize the RTX 5090 D's 170 RT cores or 680 tensor cores to any significant degree.

The GPU's benchmark results show strong compute performance: 28,396 in Passmark GPU Compute, 310,674 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376,915 in Geekbench Vulkan. These scores indicate the GPU is capable of far more demanding workloads than Barony presents, but the measured FPS data shows that at 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor even in this older title.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a 3.40 GHz base clock and 3.90 GHz boost clock. It carries 16 MB of shared L3 cache and 96 KB of L1 cache per core, with a dual-channel DDR4 memory interface delivering 46.9 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's 75th percentile ranking, with an average benchmark score of 21,484, positions it as a mid-range performer by current standards.

In Barony, the CPU's influence is most apparent at 1080p and 1440p where the GPU is not fully utilized. The 1080p Low result of 417 FPS likely approaches the CPU's maximum frame generation capability for this game, as no settings tier at 1080p exceeds this value. The 1440p High result of 292 FPS being only 18% lower than 1080p High's 354 FPS further suggests CPU limitation, as GPU-bound workloads would typically show larger resolution scaling.

The CPU's single-thread performance is modest, with Geekbench single-core score of 1,154 and Cinebench R15 single-core score of 157.3. Barony, as a roguelike, may rely heavily on single-threaded game logic, which could explain why the CPU becomes a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The multi-threaded scores — 5,648 Geekbench multi-core and 1,248 Cinebench R15 multi-core — show the 12-thread configuration provides reasonable parallel throughput, but if the game's main thread is the constraint, these extra threads offer limited benefit.

The CPU's Passmark scores paint a picture of balanced performance: 13,160 multi-thread score, 2,239 single-thread score, 22,942 floating point math, and 44,518 integer math. The 75th percentile CPU ranking, combined with the 92nd percentile GPU ranking, creates an asymmetric pairing where the CPU is the clear bottleneck in Barony's lower resolution scenarios. This is reflected in the combo's 252nd rank, which is slightly below what the GPU alone would suggest.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combination?

A: The highest recorded average is 417 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest are 374 FPS at 1080p Medium and 357 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: Does this combo maintain 144 FPS at 4K across all settings?

A: No. At 4K, the Medium preset averages 178 FPS, High averages 152 FPS, and Low averages 239 FPS, all above 144 FPS. However, Ultra averages 109 FPS, which falls below the 144 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the CPU bottleneck affect 1080p performance?

A: At 1080p, the difference between Low (417 FPS) and Ultra (313 FPS) is only 25%, indicating the CPU limits performance. The GPU has headroom that cannot be utilized due to the Ryzen 5 2600's frame generation capacity.

Q: What is the best settings preset for consistent frame rates at 1440p?

A: Medium provides the most consistent experience, with a 272 FPS minimum and 369 FPS maximum around a 321 FPS average. This is the only 1440p tier with documented min/max values.

Q: How does this combo rank relative to all tested combinations in Barony?

A: It ranks 252nd out of 2,935 tested combos, placing it in the 91.4th percentile. This is slightly below the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking, reflecting the CPU's relative weakness.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra setting playable with this hardware?

A: Yes, the 109 FPS average at 4K Ultra is playable, though it is the only measured configuration below 120 FPS. The Medium preset at 178 FPS average provides a safer margin above 144 Hz.