Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 delivers exceptionally high frame rates across all tested settings in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015. The measured data shows this combination reaching triple-digit averages even at 4K Ultra, making it far more powerful than what this game typically demands. This analysis breaks down how to configure the game, where the bottlenecks lie, and what these numbers mean relative to other tested hardware combinations.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across four presets at three resolutions reveals a clear pattern: Medium settings offer the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom. At 4K, Medium produces an average of 163 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS—the only preset at this resolution with full min/max data available. This represents a 63 FPS improvement over High settings at the same resolution, while the visual jump from Medium to High typically costs far less than that in most games.

At 1440p, Medium again stands out with a 311 FPS average, compared to 267 FPS on High and 418 FPS on Low. The 1440p Medium result also shows a minimum of 264 FPS and maximum of 358 FPS, indicating consistent frame delivery. For 1080p users, Medium hits 489 FPS average with a 416 FPS minimum and 563 FPS maximum, which is still 66 FPS above the High preset's 423 FPS average.

Ultra settings are the only preset that drops below 100 FPS in any scenario, hitting exactly 100 FPS at 4K. At 1440p, Ultra maintains 191 FPS, and at 1080p it reaches 303 FPS. Given that Medium at 4K already provides 163 FPS—well above typical display refresh rates—and that the min FPS of 138 FPS never approaches perceptible stutter territory, Medium is the recommended starting point. Players with 144Hz or 165Hz displays can confidently use High at 4K, since the 140 FPS average sits right at that threshold, but Medium guarantees headroom above any common refresh rate.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 carries the bulk of rendering work in Barony, and its specifications explain the high frame rates observed. Built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process at TSMC, this GPU packs 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs. The chip contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, with a transistor density of 125.3 million per square millimeter. Clock speeds are set at 2235 MHz base and 2520 MHz boost, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity is substantial at 24 GB of GDDR6X across a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is far beyond what Barony requires, but it eliminates any possibility of VRAM-related bottlenecks. The GPU achieves a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS. DirectX 12 Ultimate support and Vulkan 1.4 compatibility ensure the game runs through modern API paths.

The RTX 4090's benchmark scores reflect its position relative to other GPUs. It scores 38,194 in Passmark G3D and 26,613 in Passmark GPU compute, with a Passmark DirectX 11 score of 326 and DirectX 12 score of 150. Its percentile ranking sits at 88 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347. The nearest rivals are the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60,140 (0.3% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M at 61,896 (-2.5% delta), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 at 58,657 (2.9% delta). These comparisons show the RTX 4090 sitting in a tightly clustered group of high-end workstation and professional cards, though its gaming-specific performance in Barony is what matters here.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D provides the processing foundation for this combo, using 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Vermeer codename) on a 7 nm TSMC process. Base clock is 3.00 GHz with a boost clock of 4.00 GHz, drawing 105 W TDP on the AMD Socket AM4 platform. The processor includes 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and a substantial 96 MB shared L3 cache—the X3D designation points to the stacked cache design that benefits gaming workloads. Memory support covers DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, with ECC support included.

In Passmark benchmarks, the CPU scores 20,363 in multithreaded tests, 2,941 in single-thread tests, and 2,282 in physics. Other notable scores include 60,033 in integer math, 34,511 in floating point math, and 230,392 in data compression. The average benchmark score is 37,018, placing it at the 85th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals are tightly grouped: AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36,945 (0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37,093 (-0.2% delta), Intel Core Ultra 5 225 at 36,938 (0.2% delta), and Intel Core i9-12900T at 37,112 (-0.3% delta). This clustering indicates the 5500X3D performs essentially identically to these alternatives in synthetic benchmarks.

For Barony specifically, the CPU's role is less demanding than in modern AAA titles given the game's 2015 release date. The 6-core/12-thread configuration with the large L3 cache ensures that any physics or logic calculations the game performs will not become a limiting factor. The single-thread score of 2,941 is particularly relevant for roguelike games, which often rely heavily on a single main thread for game logic. The CPU's percentile ranking of 85 means it outperforms the majority of processors on the market, though the measured FPS results suggest the GPU is doing most of the heavy lifting at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 145th out of 2,935 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations. This rank reflects the raw capability of both components, though the position is not higher largely because Barony's modest requirements mean even mid-range hardware can achieve high frame rates, and the RTX 4090's advantages are partially wasted on a game with simple graphics.

The rank of 145 out of 2,935 means there are 144 combinations that perform better in this specific game. Given that the RTX 4090 is one of the most powerful consumer GPUs available—with a Passmark G3D score of 38,194 and an 88th percentile ranking—the combos above this one likely feature even faster CPUs or more optimized pairings. The CPU's 85th percentile ranking and its tight clustering with rivals like the Ryzen 5 5600F and Intel Core i9-12900T suggest that processor choice has a relatively minor impact on this game's performance once a certain threshold is met.

The data indicates this combo is overkill for Barony. The 4K Ultra average of 100 FPS is still smooth, and the jump to 4K Medium at 163 FPS shows substantial headroom. The ranking reflects diminishing returns: the RTX 4090's massive compute resources (82.58 TFLOPS FP32) and memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s) are barely taxed by a roguelike's rendering demands. For context, the GPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores—the Intel Arc Pro A60 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48—are professional cards that would likely perform similarly in this title despite being far less capable in other workloads.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals how the system scales under increasing resolution pressure. Starting at 1080p Medium, the combo achieves 489 FPS average. Moving to 1440p Medium drops this to 311 FPS, a reduction of 178 FPS (36.4% decrease). At 4K Medium, the average falls further to 163 FPS, another 148 FPS drop (47.6% decrease from 1440p). The scaling pattern is consistent: each resolution step roughly halves the remaining performance headroom, which is typical for a GPU-bound scenario.

The High preset shows a similar trajectory: 423 FPS at 1080p, 267 FPS at 1440p, and 140 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36.9% from 1080p to 1440p and 47.6% from 1440p to 4K. Low settings demonstrate the ceiling of this combination: 545 FPS at 1080p, 418 FPS at 1440p, and 219 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result of 219 FPS is still well above any display refresh rate, indicating that even at maximum resolution, the system has ample performance.

The scaling behavior points to the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions. The consistent pattern of FPS dropping by roughly a third when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and then by nearly half again at 4K, aligns with the increasing pixel count that the RTX 4090 must process. The CPU's 96 MB L3 cache and 6 cores are sufficient at all resolutions, as evidenced by the fact that even the 4K Ultra result of 100 FPS doesn't suggest a CPU bottleneck—if the CPU were limiting, the FPS would remain flat across resolutions. Instead, the linear degradation with resolution confirms the GPU is doing the heavy lifting, and the RTX 4090's capabilities are the deciding factor in final frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144Hz 4K display?

A: Medium settings at 4K produce a 163 FPS average with a 138 FPS minimum, providing enough headroom above 144Hz to avoid frequent dips below the refresh rate. High settings at 4K average 140 FPS, which is closer to the limit and leaves less margin for demanding scenes.

Q: How does this combo compare to its nearest GPU rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 60,347 is nearly identical to the Intel Arc Pro A60 at 60,326 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 at 60,140 (0.3% delta). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M by 2.5% and beats the AMD Radeon PRO V710 by 2.9%, showing the 4090 sits in a tightly contested group.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game's performance?

A: The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU is the primary driver, with averages dropping from 489 FPS to 163 FPS at Medium settings as resolution increases. The CPU's consistent performance across resolutions, evidenced by its 85th percentile ranking and 2,941 single-thread score, indicates it is not a limiting factor.

Q: Will this combo maintain smooth frame rates at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra average is exactly 100 FPS, which is still smooth for most players. However, the minimum FPS data is not available for this preset, so there is less certainty about worst-case drops compared to Medium, which shows a 138 FPS minimum.

Q: How does the CPU rank among all processors, and what are its closest competitors?

A: The Ryzen 5 5500X3D sits at the 85th percentile among all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 37,018. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F at 36,945 (0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 at 37,093 (-0.2% delta), and Intel Core Ultra 5 225 at 36,938 (0.2% delta), showing near-identical performance.

Q: What is the overall ranking of this combo in Barony?

A: This specific combination ranks 145th out of 2,935 tested combos, placing it in the top 5% of all configurations. The ranking reflects the high-end nature of both components, though the roguelike genre's modest demands mean many other combinations also achieve playable frame rates.