Barony

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 produces a formidable combination in Barony, securing a rank of 45 out of 1702 tested combos. This places the pairing in the top 2.6% of all tested configurations, a position driven by the RTX 4090's immense raw throughput and the 7500F's solid single-thread performance. The data shows a system capable of delivering exceptionally high frame rates across all tested settings, though the scaling patterns reveal distinct bottlenecks that shift depending on resolution and quality preset.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 45 out of 1702 tested combos reflects a near-flagship standing in the database. This is not merely a function of the GPU's raw power; the CPU also contributes meaningfully. The Ryzen 5 7500F sits at the 82nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 24993. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-11850H (avgScore 24974, deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (avgScore 24897, deltaPct 0.4), indicating the 7500F is statistically tied with those parts in general compute. The 7500F's Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22799 and single-core score of 3218 show a balanced profile, which is crucial for Barony's procedural generation and AI logic that can stress a few cores heavily.

In the context of this specific game, the rank of 45 out of 1702 suggests that only a handful of other combinations—likely those with newer or higher-clocked CPUs paired with equally powerful GPUs—can exceed these frame rates. The delta between this combo and the top of the list is likely small in absolute FPS terms, given how high the measured averages already are. For context, the GPU alone ranks at the 91st percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66473. Its nearest rivals are professional workstation cards like the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (avgScore 66733, deltaPct -0.4) and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (avgScore 67097, deltaPct -0.9), which underscores that the RTX 4090 is operating at the absolute top tier of consumer silicon. The combination of a top-10% GPU with a CPU that is within 0.4% of its immediate rivals in aggregate score yields a system that is rarely CPU-limited outside of the lowest resolutions and settings.

FAQ

*Q: How does this combo rank against other tested configurations in Barony?*

A: The combo ranks 45th out of 1702 tested combinations. This places it in the top 2.6% of all systems tested, indicating near-elite performance for this title.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p with Low settings?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 663.8 FPS. This extremely high frame rate, combined with the fact that the RTX 4090 is far more capable than needed for this workload, strongly suggests the Ryzen 5 7500F is the primary bottleneck at this setting, as the GPU has massive headroom.

Q: What is the performance difference between 1080p Ultra and 4K Ultra?

A: At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 305.5. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 102.3. This represents a 66.5% reduction in frame rate when moving from 1080p to 4K at the highest quality preset.

Q: How does the Ryzen 5 7500F compare to its closest CPU rivals?

A: The 7500F has an average benchmark score of 24993. It is effectively tied with the Intel Core i7-11850H (deltaPct 0.1) and the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX (deltaPct 0.4), while being slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 5 8400F (both deltaPct -0.3).

Q: What is the RTX 4090's standing relative to other GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66473 and sits at the 91st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4) and NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (deltaPct -1.3), showing it is at the very top of the performance hierarchy.

Q: Does the game benefit more from the CPU or GPU at 4K resolution?

A: At 4K, the GPU becomes the dominant factor. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are fully utilized, while the CPU's role diminishes. The frame rates at 4K (138.5 FPS High, 102.3 FPS Ultra) are still high, but the scaling pattern indicates the GPU is the primary driver of performance at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the measured performance. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 16384 shading units. Its 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for Barony's texture-heavy environments and particle effects at high resolutions.

The data shows that the GPU's role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. At 1080p, the RTX 4090 is largely underutilized, as evidenced by the 663.8 FPS result at Low settings—a frame rate that far exceeds any display's refresh rate and indicates the GPU is not the bottleneck. However, at 4K, the GPU's compute power is brought to bear. The transition from Medium (163.3 FPS) to Ultra (102.3 FPS) at 4K shows a 37.4% performance drop, which is a direct consequence of the increased shading and memory pressure on the RTX 4090's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput.

The RTX 4090's memory subsystem is particularly relevant in this roguelike. Procedural generation can create large, complex scenes with many unique textures. The 24 GB VRAM capacity ensures that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU never runs out of memory, preventing stutter and allowing the 102.3 FPS average to remain stable. The GPU's average benchmark score of 66473 places it at the 91st percentile, but its nearest rivals are all professional-grade compute cards, not gaming GPUs. This suggests that for Barony, the RTX 4090 is operating at a performance tier where its raw compute and memory bandwidth are the primary levers for frame rate, rather than architectural optimizations for this specific title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of performance across three resolutions and four quality settings. At 1920x1080, the system delivers extraordinary frame rates that begin to expose CPU limitations. The Low preset yields 663.8 FPS, while Medium drops to 493.4 FPS, High to 424.3 FPS, and Ultra to 305.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 54% reduction in FPS, which is more moderate than the resolution scaling, indicating that the GPU is still able to handle the increased graphical load without collapsing.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but show a more pronounced impact from the GPU's workload. The Low preset achieves 419.1 FPS, Medium 309.5 FPS, High 268.3 FPS, and Ultra 191.8 FPS. The delta between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings is significant: Low drops by 36.8%, while Ultra drops by 37.2%. This consistency suggests that the GPU is now becoming a more active participant in determining performance, though the CPU still has headroom.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's dominance is unmistakable. The Low preset still manages 220.2 FPS, which is remarkable for 4K, but the Ultra preset falls to 102.3 FPS. The High preset sits at 138.5 FPS, and Medium at 163.3 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 53.5%, which is nearly identical to the gap at 1080p (54%), but the absolute values are much lower. This indicates that while the relative cost of each setting tier is consistent, the absolute performance is constrained by the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies. Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the average FPS across all settings drops by approximately 37%. Moving from 1440p to 4K, the drop is more severe, averaging around 47% across all settings. This non-linear scaling is typical of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions, where pixel count increases by 2.25x from 1080p to 4K, but the frame rate only drops by roughly 66% on average.

The specific numbers illustrate this. At Ultra settings, the FPS progression is 305.5 (1080p) → 191.8 (1440p) → 102.3 (4K). The 1440p to 4K drop is 46.6%, which is close to the theoretical 44% reduction one might expect from the pixel count increase, but not quite, because the RTX 4090's memory bandwidth is not the sole limiting factor. At Low settings, the progression is 663.8 (1080p) → 419.1 (1440p) → 220.2 (4K). The 1440p to 4K drop here is 47.5%, and the 1080p to 1440p drop is 36.8%.

The data strongly suggests that at 1080p, the Ryzen 5 7500F is the primary limiter. The jump from 1080p Low (663.8 FPS) to 1080p Ultra (305.5 FPS) shows a 54% drop, which is too large to be purely GPU-bound given the RTX 4090's capabilities. Instead, the CPU's single-thread performance—evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3218 and 3DMark single-thread score of 974—becomes the ceiling. As resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the system transitions to a GPU-bound state. At 4K, the CPU's influence wanes, and the RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth and 82.58 TFLOPS compute become the decisive factors. The result is a system that is exceptionally fast at all settings, but the data shows that for maximum frame rates at 1080p, a stronger CPU would be needed, while at 4K, the RTX 4090 is the undisputed workhorse.