Barony

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER delivers exceptional performance in Barony, ranking in the top 20% of all tested combinations. The data indicates a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but transitions to a CPU-limited scenario at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 500 FPS. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, interprets the CPU and GPU roles, and provides actionable settings recommendations based strictly on the benchmark results.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, revealing a classic resolution-scaling curve. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 236.4 FPS at 1920x1080 to 153.8 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 82.6 FPS. Moving to 3840x2160, the average drops further to 76.5 FPS, which is exactly half of the 1440p figure. This pattern indicates that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary limiting component at 4K, as the workload on the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth increases quadratically with pixel count.

The scaling is even more dramatic at Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system produces a massive 523.1 FPS average, which drops to 328.1 FPS at 1440p and then plummets to 170 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is roughly 37%, and from 1440p to 4K is about 48%. This demonstrates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU's rendering pipeline becomes saturated at 4K, preventing the CPU from pushing higher frame rates. Conversely, the relatively small gap between 1080p and 1440p at Low settings (195 FPS difference) suggests that the CPU is starting to constrain performance at 1080p, as the GPU has more headroom than the processor can feed.

The 4K Ultra result of 76.5 FPS is the only measured point below the 100 FPS threshold, indicating that while the game is playable at 4K with maximum settings, it requires a compromise between visual fidelity and smoothness. The data shows that the 5600X's six cores and 12 threads are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the RTX 4070 SUPER at 4K, but the GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and 504.2 GB/s bandwidth are fully utilized at that resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports Ultra settings at 1080p and 1440p as the optimal experience, as both exceed 150 FPS averages. At 1920x1080 Ultra, the system delivers 236.4 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 97.3 FPS (from 333.7 to 236.4), but the visual improvements in a roguelike title where detail clarity matters are worth the trade-off for most users. Similarly, 1440p Ultra at 153.8 FPS provides a fluid experience that maximizes the GPU's capabilities without dipping below the 144 Hz threshold common on modern displays.

For 4K, the recommendation shifts to High settings. The 4K High result of 109.2 FPS is a substantial improvement over 4K Ultra's 76.5 FPS, and the 32.7 FPS gain comes with only a minor reduction in shadow quality and texture filtering. The 4K Medium setting offers 127.4 FPS, which is also viable, but High provides a better balance of visual fidelity versus performance. The 4K Low setting at 170 FPS is not recommended because the graphical downgrade is severe, and the frame rate increase over High is not as impactful as the visual loss.

The data indicates that Low and Medium presets are only useful for extremely high refresh rate monitors at 1080p. The 1080p Low result of 523.1 FPS and Medium result of 385.6 FPS are far beyond what any current display can show, making these settings wasteful for most users. The optimal strategy is to prioritize Ultra at 1080p or 1440p, and High at 4K, as these settings provide the best measured experience per the FPS rows.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, plays a crucial role in achieving the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions. The CPU's boost clock of 4.60 GHz and 32 MB of L3 cache contribute to its strong single-threaded performance, which is essential for Barony's game logic and entity updates. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2622 and multi-core score of 18578 indicate a balanced processor that can handle both the primary game thread and background tasks.

At 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. The 1080p Low average of 523.1 FPS is likely constrained by the 5600X's ability to process draw calls and game state updates, rather than the GPU's rendering capacity. The 3dmark single-thread score of 917 and the 2-thread score of 1793 suggest that the processor's single-core throughput is the ceiling for maximum FPS. The fact that the 1080p Low result is only 38% higher than the 1080p High result (523.1 vs 333.7) confirms that the CPU is preventing the GPU from running at full tilt at this resolution.

The 5600X's 65 W TDP and 7 nm process node allow for sustained boost clocks during gaming sessions, which is reflected in the consistent performance across all settings. The CPU's average benchmark score of 20680 places it in the 78th percentile of all processors, and it trades blows with the Intel Core i7-10700 and AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT, both within 0.3% of its score. For Barony, the 5600X's six physical cores are sufficient, as the game does not appear to scale beyond 12 threads based on the 3dmark max-thread score of 5588 being nearly identical to the 8-thread score of 4811.

How This Combo Ranks

This combination of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER ranks 327th out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 19.2% of all configurations. This rank reflects the system's ability to deliver high frame rates across all resolutions, but it also indicates that there are more powerful combinations available for this game. The rank is likely held back by the CPU's performance at 1080p, where faster processors like the Intel Core i5-12490F or AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT could push even higher frame rates.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 84 versus the CPU's percentile ranking of 78 suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the stronger component in this pairing. The GPU's average benchmark score of 42576 is 0.2% below the NVIDIA RTX A6000 and 0.3% below the AMD Radeon RX 7650 GRE, making it highly competitive in its class. However, the CPU's nearest rivals show that the 5600X is positioned in the middle of the pack, with the Intel Xeon 6325P being 0.7% slower and the Intel Core i5-12490F being 0.5% faster.

The 327th rank out of 1702 combos means the system outperforms roughly 80% of tested configurations, which is an excellent result for a mainstream mid-range build. The data shows that this combo is well-balanced for Barony, avoiding severe bottlenecks at any resolution. The only significant weakness is the 4K Ultra result of 76.5 FPS, which is below the 100 FPS mark that many users prefer for fast-paced roguelikes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the dominant component in this system, providing the vast majority of the rendering power. With its 7168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units, the GPU is capable of massive parallel processing. The boost clock of 2475 MHz and 12 GB of GDDR6X memory running at 21 Gbps effective deliver a memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s, which is crucial for high-resolution textures in Barony.

The GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. At 4K, the GPU is the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the 76.5 FPS Ultra result. The 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4627 and the Passmark G3D score of 29995 indicate strong DirectX 12 performance, which the game likely utilizes. The GPU's 84th percentile ranking among all graphics cards and its proximity to the RTX A6000 (0.2% slower) demonstrate that it is a top-tier performer for this game.

The RTX 4070 SUPER's ray tracing capabilities, with 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores, are not directly measured in the FPS data, but the 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance suggests it can handle Barony's visual effects with ease. The GPU's 220 W TDP and PCIe 4.0 x16 interface ensure it can sustain high clock speeds without thermal throttling, contributing to the consistent frame rates across all settings. The 4K High result of 109.2 FPS is particularly impressive, showing that the GPU can maintain playable frame rates at 4K with only a moderate settings reduction.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. The Low preset achieves 523.1 FPS, Medium reaches 385.6 FPS, High produces 333.7 FPS, and Ultra drops to 236.4 FPS. The spread of 286.7 FPS between Low and Ultra shows that the GPU has significant headroom at this resolution, with the CPU acting as the limiting factor.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear GPU influence. Low settings produce 328.1 FPS, Medium hits 245.4 FPS, High manages 210.4 FPS, and Ultra delivers 153.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 174.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is starting to feel the pressure of additional pixels.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is fully engaged. Low settings yield 170 FPS, Medium produces 127.4 FPS, High achieves 109.2 FPS, and Ultra falls to 76.5 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 93.5 FPS, which is the smallest spread across all resolutions, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at 4K.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: each step up in resolution reduces frame rates by roughly 30-40% at the same settings. The 1080p Ultra result of 236.4 FPS is 2.3 times higher than the 4K Ultra result of 76.5 FPS, while the 1080p Low result of 523.1 FPS is 3.1 times higher than the 4K Low result of 170 FPS. This scaling behavior is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved with this combo?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 523.1 at 1920x1080 with Low settings.

*Q: Can this system run Barony at 4K with playable frame rates?*

A: Yes, the 4K High setting achieves 109.2 FPS and 4K Medium reaches 127.4 FPS, both well above the 60 FPS threshold. However, 4K Ultra drops to 76.5 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU affect performance at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, as shown by the 523.1 FPS Low result being only 38% higher than the 333.7 FPS High result, indicating the processor cannot feed the GPU fast enough.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 144 Hz monitor?

A: For a 144 Hz monitor, 1440p Ultra at 153.8 FPS is the optimal choice, as it exceeds the refresh rate while providing maximum visual quality.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to all tested systems?

A: This combo ranks 327th out of 1702 tested combinations, placing it in the top 19.2% of all systems tested in Barony.

Q: Which component is more powerful in this pairing?

A: The GPU is the stronger component, ranking in the 84th percentile of all graphics cards, while the CPU ranks in the 78th percentile of all processors. The GPU's average benchmark score of 42576 is also significantly higher than the CPU's 20680.