Barony

# Resolution Scaling

Barony's performance scaling across resolutions tells a revealing story about where this system's bottleneck lives. From 1080p to 1440p, the data shows a dramatic but predictable decline, and from 1440p to 4K, the curve steepens considerably. At Low settings, the RTX 5050 delivers 302 FPS at 1920x1080, dropping to 191 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 100 FPS at 3840x2160. That represents a 36.8% performance hit from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a 47.6% drop from 1440p to 4K. The pattern is consistent with a GPU that becomes increasingly pixel-bound as resolution climbs, though the absolute numbers remain playable even at 4K.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 225 FPS at 1080p, 142 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The percentage declines are nearly identical in shape to the Low preset, which suggests the scaling behavior is governed more by resolution than by specific settings. However, the High preset tells a slightly different story. At 1080p, High yields 193 FPS; at 1440p, it drops to 122 FPS; and at 4K, it falls to 64 FPS. The 4K-to-1080p ratio here is about 3:1, which is steeper than the Low preset's 3.02:1 ratio. This indicates that higher quality settings amplify the resolution penalty, likely because more complex shading and texture work compounds with the increased pixel count.

Ultra settings present the most extreme case. The 1080p Ultra result of 138 FPS drops to 87 FPS at 1440p, then plunges to 46 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is less than one-third of the 1080p result, showing that Ultra pushes the GPU to its absolute limit at high resolutions. The min FPS data available for Medium settings reinforces this interpretation: at 4K Medium, the minimum observed frame rate was 63 FPS, while at 1080p Medium, it was 191 FPS. The gap between average and minimum FPS also widens with resolution, from 34 FPS at 1080p to 11 FPS at 4K, indicating that frame pacing becomes less consistent as the GPU works harder.

The overall scaling pattern suggests that Barony is not heavily CPU-limited at lower resolutions. The fact that 1080p Low produces 302 FPS implies the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond typical display refresh rates. The bottleneck shifts clearly to the GPU as resolution increases, with the RTX 5050's 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 320.0 GB/s bandwidth becoming the limiting factors at 4K. The 128-bit memory bus is a plausible contributor to the steep 4K performance cliff, though the data alone cannot confirm this definitively.

FAQ

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

A: At 2560x1440 with High settings, the system delivers 122 FPS average, which comfortably exceeds standard 60 Hz and 120 Hz display refresh rates. At 1920x1080, even Ultra settings produce 138 FPS, making 1080p Ultra the most visually demanding option that still maintains high frame rates.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 perform at 4K in Barony?

A: The 4K results range from 46 FPS at Ultra to 100 FPS at Low. The Medium preset provides 74 FPS average with a 63 FPS minimum, which is the only 4K configuration with reported minimum frame data. For consistent 60+ FPS at 4K, Low or Medium settings are required.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600F a bottleneck in this game?

A: The data suggests the CPU is not the primary limiter. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 302 FPS, which is far beyond typical display capabilities. The CPU's PassMark multi-thread score of 19236 and single-thread score of 2872 place it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, indicating ample headroom for this roguelike title.

Q: What settings preset provides the most balanced experience?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers 142 FPS average with a 120 FPS minimum, providing a strong balance between visual quality and smoothness. At 1920x1080, Medium delivers 225 FPS average with 191 FPS minimum, which is equally balanced but with higher absolute performance.

Q: How does the RTX 5050 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5050's average benchmark score of 21035 places it slightly below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21153, -0.6%) and AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21237, -1%), while being 1.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20713). Its percentile ranking is 66th among all GPUs.

Q: Does Barony's frame rate scale linearly with resolution?

A: No. The scaling is sub-linear, meaning performance drops faster than resolution increases. From 1080p to 4K (a 4x pixel increase), Low settings drop from 302 to 100 FPS (a 3.02x reduction), and Ultra settings drop from 138 to 46 FPS (a 3x reduction). This indicates diminishing returns as pixel count grows.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB207 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process. It packs 16,900 million transistors into a 149 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 113.4M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 2317 MHz and boosts to 2572 MHz, with memory running at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective). Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 128-bit bus delivers 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a modest figure for a modern GPU but adequate for a roguelike title like Barony.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5050 achieves a PassMark G3D score of 17326 and a PassMark GPU Compute score of 9184. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2502, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 90334 and 89381, respectively. The GPU's PassMark DirectX scores show 150 for DirectX 11 and 66 for DirectX 12, with DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 scoring 186 and 103. These numbers place the RTX 5050 in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 21035.

The measured FPS data reveals how the GPU's characteristics translate to real-world performance. At 1080p Low, the 302 FPS result shows the GPU can handle Barony's low-complexity rendering with ease. The 2560 shading units and 80 texture mapping units provide substantial fill rate, with pixel rate of 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate of 205.8 GTexel/s. The 32 ROPs are a potential constraint at high resolutions, which may explain why 4K Ultra drops to 46 FPS. The RTX 5050's 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores are present but Barony, being a 2015 roguelike, is unlikely to utilize them heavily.

The GPU's 130 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 8-pin power connector suggest it is a mainstream part, and the 300 W suggested PSU requirement is modest. The PCIe 5.0 x8 interface provides ample bandwidth for the 8 GB memory buffer. Interestingly, the nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include mobile and older desktop parts like the RTX A4000 Mobile (-1.6%) and RX 5600 XT (+1.6%), indicating the RTX 5050 sits in a competitive mid-range position despite its low absolute scores.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the RTX 5050 delivers its strongest results across all settings. Low settings produce 302 FPS average, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 225 FPS average with a minimum of 191 FPS and maximum of 258 FPS. High settings drop to 193 FPS average, while Ultra settings produce 138 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 164 FPS, showing that settings have a substantial impact even at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance envelope tightens. Low settings still deliver a strong 191 FPS average, while Medium produces 142 FPS with a 120 FPS minimum and 163 FPS maximum. High settings achieve 122 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 87 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 104 FPS, indicating that resolution scaling compresses the settings range. The 1440p Medium minimum of 120 FPS is noteworthy, as it remains above typical 60 Hz and 100 Hz display refresh rates.

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5050 begins to show its limits. Low settings maintain 100 FPS average, which is still playable, but Medium drops to 74 FPS with a 63 FPS minimum and 85 FPS maximum. High settings produce 64 FPS average, and Ultra falls to 46 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread here is 54 FPS, the narrowest of all resolutions, suggesting that at 4K, the GPU is so pixel-bound that settings changes have less relative impact. The 4K Medium minimum of 63 FPS is particularly important for frame pacing, as it represents the lowest guaranteed performance among the measured data points with min/max reporting.

The complete dataset shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p > 1440p > 4K in all settings, with the relative ordering of presets remaining consistent (Low > Medium > High > Ultra) at every resolution. The only anomaly is the 4K Ultra result of 46 FPS, which is less than half of the 1080p Ultra result of 138 FPS, underscoring the steep penalty for combining maximum quality with maximum resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the 5000 series, built on the Zen 3 Vermeer architecture at TSMC's 7 nm node. It runs at a base clock of 3.00 GHz and boosts to 4.00 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with a bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s, and it features 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 per core, and 32 MB shared L3 cache. Its PassMark multi-thread score is 19236, single-thread score is 2872, and average benchmark score is 36945, placing it in the 85th percentile of all CPUs.

In Barony, the CPU's role appears supportive rather than dominant. The 1080p Low result of 302 FPS is a strong indicator that the 5600F can keep the GPU fed without becoming a bottleneck. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (36938, 0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (37018, -0.2% delta), showing it sits in a tight performance band. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (37093, -0.4%) and Intel Core i9-12900T (37112, -0.5%) are also close, with all four rivals within 0.5% of the 5600F's average score.

The PassMark sub-tests provide insight into the CPU's capabilities. Its integer math score of 59339 and floating point math score of 34548 indicate strong arithmetic throughput, while data compression at 232836 and random string sorting at 23422 suggest solid memory subsystem performance. The find prime numbers score of 120 and physics score of 1043 are lower, but these are less relevant for gaming workloads. The extended instructions score of 16266 and data encryption score of 13839 round out the profile.

Given that Barony is a roguelike with relatively simple game logic, the 5600F's 6 cores and 12 threads are more than sufficient. The 32 MB shared L3 cache likely helps with game asset access, and the 4.00 GHz boost clock provides responsive single-threaded performance. The CPU's release date of 2025-09-15 and active production status indicate it is a current part, despite being based on the older Zen 3 architecture. The fact that the measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 302 suggests the CPU is not the limiting component in this system.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1920x1080, the data strongly supports Ultra settings. The 138 FPS average at 1080p Ultra is well above standard display refresh rates, and the visual quality improvement over Low (302 FPS) is substantial for a 54% performance reduction. Medium at 225 FPS is also viable for high-refresh monitors, but Ultra offers the best visual experience without sacrificing smoothness at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, High settings provide the best balance. The 122 FPS average is smooth, and the gap to Ultra (87 FPS) is significant enough that Ultra's 28.7% performance penalty may not justify the visual gains. Medium at 142 FPS is the alternative for players who prioritize frame rate over visual fidelity, with a 120 FPS minimum that stays above common 120 Hz display limits. Low at 191 FPS is excessive for most use cases, as it trades too much visual quality for performance that most monitors cannot display.

For 3840x2160, the recommendation is more nuanced. Medium settings offer 74 FPS average with a 63 FPS minimum, which barely maintains 60+ FPS consistency. High at 64 FPS is borderline, while Ultra at 46 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold. Low at 100 FPS is the only 4K preset that provides substantial headroom, but it sacrifices visual quality. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the sweet spot for this system, as it achieves playable frame rates while retaining moderate visual fidelity.

The overall best experience across all resolutions is arguably 1440p High, which delivers 122 FPS with a comfortable margin above 60 FPS. This configuration leverages the RTX 5050's strengths without pushing into the steep 4K performance cliff. For players with 1080p displays, Ultra is the clear choice. For 4K display owners, Medium is the recommended starting point, with Low as a fallback if frame pacing becomes an issue.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5600F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 ranks 1775 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 60.5th percentile of all systems tested. This mid-pack ranking reflects the RTX 5050's modest absolute performance, though the CPU's strong relative standing (85th percentile) helps compensate. The rank suggests that while this combo is not at the top tier, it is comfortably above the median for Barony performance.

Compared to the CPU's nearest rivals, the 5600F's performance is essentially tied with the Intel Core Ultra 5 225 (0% delta) and AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D (-0.2% delta), meaning the choice of CPU in this class has minimal impact on synthetic benchmarks. The GPU's nearest rivals show a wider spread, with the RTX 5050 trailing the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon HD 8970M by 1%, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT by 1.6%. This places the RTX 5050 in a competitive but not dominant position.

The measured FPS data supports the mid-pack ranking. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 193 FPS, which is strong for a roguelike but not exceptional when compared to high-end systems. At 4K Ultra, the 46 FPS result is below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this combo is not suited for maximum settings at 4K. The ranking of 1775 out of 2935 suggests that roughly 60% of tested combos perform better, which is consistent with the RTX 5050's 66th percentile GPU ranking and the 5600F's 85th percentile CPU ranking.

The data implies that this combo's ranking is primarily limited by the GPU rather than the CPU. The CPU's high percentile ranking and strong 1080p Low performance suggest it has headroom to support a faster GPU, while the RTX 5050's mid-range benchmark scores and steep 4K scaling indicate it is the constraining factor. For players considering upgrades, the data points to the GPU as the component to prioritize, though the combo remains a capable choice for 1080p and 1440p gaming in Barony.