Barony

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a surprisingly robust experience in Barony, a roguelike that proves far more demanding than its genre peers. Benchmark data shows this combination handles 1080p and 1440p with ease, but 4K Ultra pushes the GPU to its limits. The sweet spot for this combo is 1440p Medium, which offers a 115 FPS average with a minimum of 98 FPS, providing a smooth and visually pleasing experience without sacrificing responsiveness. At 1080p, the combo is overkill for most settings, while at 4K, only Medium settings remain playable.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows reveal a clear hierarchy of playability across resolutions. For 1080p, the data shows that even Ultra settings achieve a 112 FPS average, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. High settings reach 156 FPS, Medium hits 182 FPS, and Low tops out at 245 FPS. Given that the game is a roguelike where reaction time matters, the 1080p Ultra setting provides the best balance of visual fidelity and performance; the 112 FPS average leaves ample headroom for demanding scenes, and the jump from High to Ultra is the most substantial visual upgrade per FPS cost.

Moving to 1440p, the situation changes. Ultra settings drop to a 71 FPS average, which is still playable but begins to show strain. High settings deliver a 99 FPS average, which is excellent, but the Medium preset is the standout. It offers a 115 FPS average with a minimum of 98 FPS, ensuring that even the most chaotic moments with multiple enemies and particle effects won't drop below 60 FPS. The data suggests that 1440p Medium is the optimal choice for this combo, as it provides a 16% higher average FPS than High while maintaining a near-locked 98 FPS floor.

At 4K, the options narrow significantly. Ultra settings yield a 37 FPS average, which is not suitable for a game requiring quick reflexes. High settings provide 52 FPS, which is borderline. Medium, however, delivers a 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS, making it the only 4K preset that can be considered fully playable. Low settings reach 81 FPS but compromise visual clarity, which is counterproductive for a dungeon crawler where spotting traps and items is critical. The recommendation is clear: for the best experience, use 1440p Medium. For 4K, settle for Medium at 60 FPS. For 1080p, Ultra is the way to go.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data places this specific CPU-GPU combination at rank 2344 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony. This percentile positioning, roughly in the bottom 20% of all combinations, is surprising given the strong individual benchmark scores of both components. The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X sits in the 81st percentile among all CPUs, while the Intel Arc B570 is in the 65th percentile among GPUs. However, the in-game rank suggests that Barony is particularly sensitive to a specific bottleneck that this combo does not resolve optimally.

The combo's rank of 2344 indicates that while the raw hardware is capable, the game's engine may not be leveraging the full potential of the Zen 5 architecture or the Battlemage GPU. The CPU's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755GE (0.2% slower), the AMD Ryzen 7 7840H (0.5% faster), and the AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT (0.6% faster). These are all 8-core parts, suggesting that Barony may favor higher core counts over the 9600X's superior single-thread performance. The GPU's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, is only 0.1% faster in average benchmark score, and the Intel Arc A750 is 0.1% slower, indicating that the B570 is right in line with expected performance for its class.

Despite the low combo rank, the actual measured FPS tells a different story than the percentile suggests. The rank may be influenced by a large number of combos featuring higher-end GPUs like the RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX, which dominate the top of the list. For a mid-range GPU like the B570, the 2344 rank out of 2935 is actually reasonable, placing it in the middle of the pack for its performance tier. The data indicates that this combo is not a top-tier performer, but it is far from a failure, offering playable frame rates at all but the most extreme settings.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 brings 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is crucial for Barony, which can have large texture sets for dungeon environments and item sprites. The 10 GB capacity is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p Ultra settings, but at 4K, the game's texture demands may approach this limit, contributing to the significant FPS drop seen at higher resolutions.

The GPU's clock speeds are notable for their consistency: both base and boost clocks are set at 2500 MHz. This flat clock curve suggests that the card maintains a steady performance level under load, which is beneficial for a game like Barony that may have prolonged play sessions. The memory clock runs at 2375 MHz, or 19 Gbps effective, which is a modest speed that aligns with the card's mid-range positioning. The B570 has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s.

The GPU's FP32 performance is rated at 11.52 TFLOPS, which is competitive for its class. In Barony, the GPU's role becomes dominant at 4K, where the measured FPS drops by 46% from High to Ultra (from 52 to 37 FPS). This indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, as the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2183.5) is more than adequate to feed the GPU at lower resolutions. The Arc B570's driver overhead appears to be well-managed in this title, as the 1080p Low setting reaches 245 FPS, suggesting minimal CPU bottlenecks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo shows excellent scaling. Low settings achieve 245 FPS, Medium drops to 182 FPS (with a minimum of 155 FPS and maximum of 209 FPS), High reaches 156 FPS, and Ultra settles at 112 FPS. The step from Medium to High is 26 FPS, while the step from High to Ultra is 44 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings carry a disproportionately heavy load. The minimum FPS of 155 at Medium shows that even the most demanding scenes in a roguelike dungeon will not cause stuttering.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales predictably. Low settings hit 154 FPS, Medium delivers 115 FPS (min 98, max 132), High provides 99 FPS, and Ultra drops to 71 FPS. The transition from 1080p to 1440p results in a 26% FPS loss at Medium settings (from 182 to 115 FPS), which is a moderate penalty for the resolution increase. The 1440p Medium minimum of 98 FPS confirms that this is the most stable preset, as it maintains a near-100 FPS floor.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to struggle. Low settings yield 81 FPS, Medium provides 60 FPS (min 51, max 69), High drops to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 21 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 15 FPS. The minimum FPS of 51 at Medium is the only 4K preset that stays above 50 FPS, making it the sole viable option for 4K gaming. The 4K Ultra average of 37 FPS is a 67% decrease from the 1080p Ultra average of 112 FPS, highlighting the GPU's memory bandwidth limitations at that resolution.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is pronounced and tells a clear story about the system's bottleneck. At Medium settings, the average FPS goes from 182 (1080p) to 115 (1440p) to 60 (4K). This represents a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 48% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is not linear; the 4K penalty is more severe, indicating that the GPU is running out of memory bandwidth or fill rate at that resolution.

At High settings, the progression is 156 (1080p) to 99 (1440p) to 52 (4K), showing a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the GPU is the primary limiting factor, as the CPU's performance remains constant regardless of resolution. The Ryzen 5 9600X's strong single-thread score (2183.5 in Cinebench R23) ensures that it can keep up with the GPU at 1080p, but as resolution increases, the GPU's workload grows, and the CPU becomes less relevant.

The 4K Ultra average of 37 FPS versus the 1080p Ultra average of 112 FPS shows a 67% reduction. This steep decline is typical for a GPU with a 160-bit memory bus and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth. The data suggests that for this combo, 1440p is the practical ceiling for high refresh rate gaming, while 4K is only viable at Medium settings. The limiting component is unequivocally the GPU, as the CPU's benchmark scores (3DMark single-thread score of 1253) indicate it has ample headroom.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings. The measured data shows a 60 FPS average at 4K Medium, with a minimum of 51 FPS. High settings drop to 52 FPS, and Ultra falls to 37 FPS, both of which are not ideal for a game requiring quick reactions.

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU pair?

A: 1440p Medium is the optimal choice based on the data. It offers a 115 FPS average with a minimum of 98 FPS, providing a smooth experience while maintaining good visual quality. At 1080p, Ultra is viable at 112 FPS, but 1440p Medium uses the hardware more effectively.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest rival in this game?

A: The B570's average benchmark score is 20556, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534) and 0.1% lower than the Intel Arc A750 (20582). In Barony, the B570's 10 GB of VRAM and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K performance suggests it is on par with other mid-range cards.

Q: Is the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X bottlenecking the GPU?

A: No, the CPU is not the bottleneck at any resolution. The 9600X has a high single-core score of 2183.5 in Cinebench R23, and the FPS drops are consistent with GPU limitations. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 245 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed the GPU well beyond typical refresh rates.

Q: What settings should be avoided with this combo?

A: 4K Ultra should be avoided, as it produces a 37 FPS average, which is unplayable for a roguelike. Additionally, 4K High at 52 FPS is borderline and may cause issues in dense areas. Stick with 4K Medium or lower the resolution to 1440p for better stability.

Q: Does the combo rank in-game reflect its actual performance?

A: The combo ranks 2344 out of 2935, which seems low, but this is relative to all tested combos, many of which feature top-tier GPUs. The measured FPS shows that the combo performs well for its class, and the rank is skewed by the presence of high-end hardware in the dataset.