Barony

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers exceptional performance in Barony, a roguelike title that is clearly not demanding on modern hardware. The data shows this combo achieves extremely high frame rates across all tested settings and resolutions, ranking in the top percentile of all tested combinations. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS results, the role of each component, and how this pairing compares to other systems in the benchmark database.

Settings Recommendations

For Barony, the measured data shows that the Ultra preset provides the most visually demanding experience while still maintaining very high frame rates. At 1920x1080, Ultra settings yield an average of 274 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay on any high-refresh-rate monitor. The High preset at the same resolution reaches 383 FPS, while Medium and Low achieve 446 and 545 FPS respectively. Given that the game is a roguelike, where precise timing and reaction speed matter, the Ultra preset at 1080p remains well above the threshold for competitive play, making it the recommended choice for maximum visual fidelity without sacrificing performance.

At 2560x1440, Ultra settings produce 173 FPS, which is still remarkably smooth, while High hits 242 FPS. The Medium preset at 281 FPS offers a balance between visual quality and headroom for demanding scenes. At 4K (3840x2160), the Ultra preset drops to 91 FPS, which is playable but starts to approach the lower end of high-refresh-rate territory. For users with a 4K display, the High preset at 126 FPS provides a better experience, maintaining fluid motion while retaining most visual details. The Medium preset at 147 FPS is also a strong option for those prioritizing smoothness over maximum detail.

The data indicates that the sweet spot for this combo is the High preset across all resolutions. It delivers 383 FPS at 1080p, 242 FPS at 1440p, and 126 FPS at 4K, all of which are well above the typical 60 FPS target. The Ultra preset is only recommended for 1080p and 1440p users with high refresh-rate displays, as the 4K performance at 91 FPS may not fully utilize a 120Hz or 144Hz monitor. Low settings provide no practical benefit at any resolution, as the frame rates are already in the hundreds, so the visual downgrade is unnecessary.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 9728 shading units, 304 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units, along with 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with a memory clock of 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective). The card has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s.

In Barony, the GPU's role is primarily to handle the game's rendering workload, which includes procedural dungeon generation, lighting effects, and particle systems typical of roguelike titles. The RTX 4080's raw compute power, with a FP32 performance of 48.74 TFLOPS and a texture rate of 761.5 GTexel/s, ensures that even the most complex scenes are rendered without bottlenecking the CPU. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Barony, as the game does not appear to require large texture pools or high-resolution assets, based on the consistent frame rates across all settings.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Ultra settings only reduces the average FPS from 545 to 274, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom. The GPU's performance is more visible at 4K, where the Ultra preset sees a significant drop to 91 FPS, suggesting that the increased pixel count begins to stress the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth. However, the RTX 4080's 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth is still sufficient to maintain high frame rates, as evidenced by the 126 FPS at High settings in 4K.

The GPU's benchmark scores further contextualize its capabilities. In Passmark G3D, it scores 34457, and in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 6567. These results place the RTX 4080 in the 86th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54247. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 4080 SUPER (0.1% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X (1.1% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (2.6% slower), confirming its position as a top-tier graphics solution.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales with resolution. At 1920x1080, the average FPS across all settings is very high, with Low at 545 FPS, Medium at 446 FPS, High at 383 FPS, and Ultra at 274 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop by approximately 30-35%: Low falls to 379 FPS, Medium to 281 FPS, High to 242 FPS, and Ultra to 173 FPS. This scaling pattern is typical for a GPU-bound scenario, where the increased pixel count directly impacts rendering load.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops further. Low settings achieve 198 FPS, Medium 147 FPS, High 126 FPS, and Ultra 91 FPS. The drop from 1440p to 4K is roughly 45-50% across all settings, which is consistent with the 2.25x increase in pixel count. For example, High settings go from 242 FPS at 1440p to 126 FPS at 4K, a 48% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting factor at 4K, as the CPU's performance is likely sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions.

The scaling data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution. At 1080p, the frame rates are extremely high, and the GPU is still able to push hundreds of FPS, meaning the Ryzen 5 5500X3D's single-threaded performance is adequate for this game. The fact that the FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases confirms that the RTX 4080 is the limiting component, especially at 4K where the Ultra preset falls below 100 FPS. For users targeting 4K, the High or Medium presets are recommended to maintain high refresh rates, while 1440p and below can handle Ultra with ease.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a detailed look at performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 545 FPS, which is the highest recorded value in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 446 FPS, with minimum and maximum values of 379 and 513 FPS respectively, indicating some variance in frame times. High settings achieve 383 FPS, while Ultra drops to 274 FPS. These numbers show that even at the highest settings, the frame rate remains far above the refresh rate of most monitors, making the 1080p experience exceptionally smooth.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 379 FPS, which is still incredibly high. Medium settings produce 281 FPS, with a minimum of 239 and a maximum of 324 FPS. High settings reach 242 FPS, while Ultra falls to 173 FPS. The variance at Medium settings (239-324 FPS) is notable, suggesting that some scenes may be more demanding than others, but the overall experience remains fluid. The Ultra preset at 173 FPS is still well above the 144Hz refresh rate common on 1440p monitors, providing a seamless experience.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops more significantly. Low settings average 198 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings achieve 147 FPS, with a minimum of 125 and a maximum of 169 FPS. High settings average 126 FPS, while Ultra drops to 91 FPS. The 4K Ultra preset is the only configuration in the dataset that falls below the 100 FPS mark, indicating that this is the most demanding scenario for the combo. For 4K gaming, the High preset at 126 FPS is recommended, as it offers a better balance of visual quality and smoothness. The Medium preset at 147 FPS provides even more headroom, though the visual differences may be noticeable.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combo ranks 355th out of 3717 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the top 9.5% of all systems. This is an exceptional ranking, especially considering that the game is not particularly demanding. The combo's high rank is driven by the RTX 4080's raw GPU power, which allows it to maintain very high frame rates even at 4K resolution. The CPU's contribution is less critical, as the game appears to be GPU-bound at most settings.

The CPU itself, the AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D, is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename), fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with 96 MB of shared L3 cache. In Passmark benchmarks, it scores 20363 in multithread, 2941 in single-thread, and 34511 in floating-point math. Its average benchmark score is 37018, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F (0.2% faster), the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (0.2% slower), and the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0.2% faster).

The GPU, the RTX 4080, has an average benchmark score of 54247, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the RTX 4080 SUPER, which is only 0.1% faster, indicating that this combo is virtually at the top of the GPU hierarchy. The combination of a high-percentile CPU and GPU results in the 355th rank out of 3717, which is a strong showing. The data suggests that this combo is well-suited for Barony, delivering frame rates that are far above the requirements of the game, making it an excellent choice for users who want maximum performance.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The average FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 274 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate of most monitors, providing a very smooth experience.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K resolution?

A: At 3840x2160, the average FPS ranges from 91 FPS at Ultra settings to 198 FPS at Low settings. The High preset achieves 126 FPS, making it the recommended choice for 4K gaming.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in Barony?

A: The data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as FPS drops proportionally with resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU is not a bottleneck, as frame rates exceed 500 FPS on Low settings.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems in Barony?

A: The combo ranks 355th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 9.5% of all systems in the benchmark database.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 compare to its nearest rival?

A: The RTX 4080's average benchmark score is 54247, while its closest rival, the RTX 4080 SUPER, scores 54209, making the SUPER 0.1% faster. This is a negligible difference in real-world performance.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for Medium settings?

A: For Medium settings, the minimum FPS values are 379 FPS at 1080p, 239 FPS at 1440p, and 125 FPS at 4K, showing that even the lowest recorded frame rates are well above playable thresholds.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, based on the Zen 3 architecture with the Vermeer codename. It operates on the AMD Socket AM4 platform and uses DDR4 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. The CPU has a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, with a 105 W TDP. It features 64 KB of L1 cache per core, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 96 MB of shared L3 cache, which is a significant amount and helps with gaming performance in cache-sensitive titles.

In Barony, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics calculations. The Passmark data shows that the CPU scores 2282 in physics and 170 in find prime numbers, which are indicative of its computational capabilities. The single-thread score of 2941 and multithread score of 20363 suggest that the CPU is well-balanced for gaming, as many games still rely heavily on single-threaded performance. The 96 MB of L3 cache is a notable feature that can improve performance in games that benefit from large caches, though the data does not specifically isolate this effect.

The CPU's benchmark scores place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average score of 37018. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F, which scores 36945 (0.2% higher), and the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450, which scores 37093 (0.2% lower). These differences are minimal, indicating that the 5500X3D is competitive with other mid-range processors. For Barony, the CPU is more than sufficient, as the game does not appear to be CPU-intensive based on the extremely high frame rates achieved at 1080p, where the GPU is not the bottleneck. The combination of a strong single-threaded performance and a large L3 cache likely contributes to the smooth experience, even in complex roguelike scenarios with many entities on screen.