Barony

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination delivers exceptional performance in Barony, a 2015 roguelike that is far more demanding than its pixel-art aesthetic suggests. The measured data shows a system capable of extreme frame rates at every resolution, with the primary challenge being how to leverage that power effectively. This analysis breaks down the optimal settings, the role of each component, and how the combo ranks among all tested configurations.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data for this combo in Barony reveals a clear hierarchy across the four tested presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At every resolution, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate, but it does so by sacrificing visual fidelity. Conversely, the Ultra preset provides the most visually rich experience but imposes a significant performance penalty. The data suggests that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience, particularly when considering frame time consistency.

At 1920x1080, the Medium preset achieves an average of 493 FPS, with a minimum of 419 FPS and a maximum of 567 FPS. This is a substantial drop from the Low preset's 663 FPS average but still far exceeds any display's refresh rate capabilities. The High preset at 1080p yields 423 FPS, while Ultra drops to 303 FPS. The frame time data for Medium (minimum 419 FPS) indicates a stable experience, whereas the other presets lack min/max data, making consistency harder to assess.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Medium preset again stands out. It delivers an average of 311 FPS, with a minimum of 264 FPS and a maximum of 358 FPS. This represents a 25.5% reduction in average FPS compared to 1080p Medium, but the minimum frame rate of 264 FPS still ensures buttery-smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. The Low preset at 1440p hits 418 FPS, while High and Ultra produce 267 FPS and 191 FPS, respectively.

At 3840x2160, the performance landscape shifts. The Medium preset averages 163 FPS, with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 187 FPS. This is the only 4K preset with complete frame time data, and the 138 FPS minimum is still comfortably above the 100 FPS threshold often considered the baseline for premium experiences. The Low preset reaches 219 FPS, High hits 140 FPS, and Ultra drops to an average of 100 FPS.

The optimal choice depends on the user's display and priorities. For players with 240Hz or faster monitors at 1080p, the High preset at 423 FPS is the sweet spot, offering improved visuals over Medium while still exceeding refresh rate limits. At 1440p, the High preset at 267 FPS is recommended for those with 240Hz panels, as it provides better image quality than Medium (311 FPS) while still clearing the refresh rate bar. For 4K, the Medium preset at 163 FPS is the best experience, as it maintains high frame rates with the only complete consistency data available. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K, as its 100 FPS average represents a 38.6% drop from Medium and may introduce noticeable frame pacing issues in a fast-paced roguelike.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant force in this configuration. Based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, this GPU carries 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding a massive 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. Its 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster output pipelines provide immense raw compute power. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective).

In Barony, the GPU's role is clearly performance-enabling rather than bottlenecking. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains a 100 FPS average, a figure that many lesser GPUs could not achieve at lower settings. The RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM is far more than this game requires, but the sheer compute throughput allows the CPU to stretch its legs without being held back. The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is the engine driving the high frame rates observed across all presets.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capability. It achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 255416, and a Vulkan score of 271631. In PassMark, it scores 38194 in G3D and 26613 in GPU Compute. Its percentile ranking against all GPUs is 88, indicating it outperforms 88% of tested graphics cards. However, its nearest rivals in the database, such as the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta) and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% delta), show that the average benchmark score of 60347 places it in a specific performance tier that does not directly translate to gaming supremacy.

The GPU's memory subsystem is particularly relevant for 4K gaming. The 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensures that texture streaming and high-resolution assets do not become a limiting factor. Even at 4K Ultra, where the game's visual load is heaviest, the GPU maintains a playable frame rate. The RTX 4090's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are present but largely idle in this title, as Barony does not leverage ray tracing or DLSS. This means the GPU's raw rasterization performance is what drives the results, and it excels in that regard.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K reveals a predictable scaling pattern that highlights the CPU-bound nature of Barony at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 663 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 418 FPS, a 36.9% reduction. At 4K Low, the average is 219 FPS, a further 47.6% reduction from 1440p. This scaling pattern indicates that as resolution increases, the GPU becomes more engaged, but even at 4K Low, the frame rate remains extraordinarily high.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend. From 1080p (493 FPS) to 1440p (311 FPS), the drop is 36.9%. From 1440p to 4K (163 FPS), the drop is 47.6%. This consistent percentage decrease across resolutions suggests that the game's rendering load scales linearly with pixel count, and the RTX 4090 handles each step without hitting a hard bottleneck. The High preset drops from 423 FPS at 1080p to 267 FPS at 1440p (36.9% reduction) and then to 140 FPS at 4K (47.6% reduction).

The Ultra preset demonstrates the steepest scaling curve. At 1080p, it averages 303 FPS. At 1440p, it falls to 191 FPS, a 36.9% reduction. At 4K, it drops to 100 FPS, a 47.6% reduction from 1440p. This pattern is remarkably consistent across all presets, with the 1080p-to-1440p transition always incurring a 36.9% penalty and the 1440p-to-4K transition always incurring a 47.6% penalty.

This data strongly indicates that the CPU, the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F, is the limiting component at 1080p. The 663 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the CPU is nearing its maximum frame generation capacity. As resolution increases, the GPU takes on more work, allowing the CPU to keep up. The 7400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads based on Zen 4 architecture, has a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and a base clock of 3.70 GHz. Its 32 MB of shared L3 cache and 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth provide ample headroom for gaming, but the sheer frame rates demanded at 1080p push it to its limits.

The takeaway is that this combo is overkill for 1080p gaming, where the CPU limits performance. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU becomes the primary driver, but the CPU still provides enough throughput to avoid becoming a bottleneck. The consistent scaling percentages across presets indicate a well-balanced system where neither component completely dominates, though the CPU's influence is most pronounced at 1080p.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080: The data shows a full range of performance across settings. Low delivers an average of 663 FPS, the highest of any configuration. Medium averages 493 FPS, with a minimum of 419 FPS and a maximum of 567 FPS. High averages 423 FPS. Ultra averages 303 FPS. The 360 FPS spread between Low and Ultra at 1080p is the largest of any resolution, underscoring the CPU's role in frame generation.

2560x1440: Low averages 418 FPS. Medium averages 311 FPS, with a minimum of 264 FPS and a maximum of 358 FPS. High averages 267 FPS. Ultra averages 191 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 227 FPS, indicating the GPU is beginning to shoulder more of the rendering load.

3840x2160: Low averages 219 FPS. Medium averages 163 FPS, with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 187 FPS. High averages 140 FPS. Ultra averages 100 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is now 119 FPS, the smallest of all resolutions. This confirms that at 4K, the GPU is the primary determinant of performance, and the CPU's influence wanes.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the minimum of 419 FPS and maximum of 567 FPS show a stable frame delivery with a 148 FPS variance. At 1440p, the minimum drops to 264 FPS and the maximum to 358 FPS, a 94 FPS variance. At 4K, the minimum is 138 FPS and the maximum is 187 FPS, a 49 FPS variance. This tightening of the frame rate range as resolution increases further supports the GPU-bound theory at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Barony, this specific pairing of AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 holds a combo rank of 111 out of 2935 total tested combos. This places it in the top 3.8% of all configurations tested in this game. The rank reflects the combination's ability to deliver high average FPS across all settings, but it also indicates that other combos, likely those with even higher-end CPUs or more game-specific optimizations, outperform it.

The CPU's individual percentile ranking is 83, meaning it outperforms 83% of all CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score is 32750, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core i5-14600T (32707, +0.1% delta), Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (32697, +0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H (32812, -0.2% delta), and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (32662, +0.3% delta). These deltas are all within 0.3%, indicating the 7400F is firmly in a competitive performance tier for general compute tasks.

The GPU's percentile ranking is 88, outperforming 88% of all GPUs. Its average benchmark score is 60347, with nearest rivals including the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60326, 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60140, +0.3% delta), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61896, -2.5% delta), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58657, +2.9% delta). The 0% delta with the Arc Pro A60 is notable, suggesting the RTX 4090's average benchmark score does not fully capture its gaming prowess, as its gaming performance in Barony is exceptional.

The combo rank of 111 suggests that while this pairing is powerful, it is not the absolute best for Barony. The game's roguelike nature, with procedural generation and potentially CPU-heavy calculations, may favor combos with higher single-thread performance. The 7400F's Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3072 and multi-core score of 21765 are strong, but not class-leading. The RTX 4090's raw power ensures high frame rates, but the CPU's 6-core/12-thread configuration may limit performance in scenarios with heavy AI or world-generation tasks.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows excellent performance at all resolutions. At 1080p, the combo exceeds 300 FPS on Ultra. At 1440p, it maintains 191 FPS on Ultra. At 4K, it delivers 100 FPS on Ultra. The choice depends on display capabilities, but 1440p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and headroom, with High settings achieving 267 FPS.

Q: Which preset provides the most consistent frame delivery?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with complete minimum and maximum FPS data at all three resolutions. At 1080p, it ranges from 419 to 567 FPS; at 1440p, from 264 to 358 FPS; and at 4K, from 138 to 187 FPS. This consistency makes it the most reliable choice for stable gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this configuration?

A: At 1080p, the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is the limiting factor, as evidenced by the 663 FPS ceiling on Low settings. As resolution increases to 1440p and 4K, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 becomes the primary driver, with the CPU providing sufficient throughput to avoid bottlenecking.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 111th out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 3.8%. The CPU ranks in the 83rd percentile overall, while the GPU ranks in the 88th percentile, indicating both components are well above average for their respective categories.

*Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Barony?*

A: Yes. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 100 FPS. At 4K High, it reaches 140 FPS. At 4K Medium, it averages 163 FPS with a minimum of 138 FPS. These results show that 4K gaming is not only possible but delivers high refresh rate performance.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, Low averages 663 FPS while Ultra averages 303 FPS, a 360 FPS difference. At 1440p, the gap narrows to 227 FPS (418 vs 191). At 4K, the difference is 119 FPS (219 vs 100). The relative impact of settings diminishes as resolution increases.