Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 7 3700X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D delivers extraordinary performance in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015. The measured frame rates at every resolution and settings combination exceed 100 FPS, with the 1080p Low preset reaching 495 FPS average. This combination ranks 135th out of 2,935 tested combos in this game, placing it in the top 4.6% of all configurations. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at lower resolutions, while the CPU's 8-core, 16-thread configuration with a 4.40 GHz boost clock becomes increasingly relevant as resolution scales up.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K follows a consistent pattern across all settings presets, revealing the shifting balance between CPU and GPU workload. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 421 at 1920x1080 to 292 at 2560x1440 (a 30.6% reduction), then further to 152 at 3840x2160 (a 47.9% reduction from 1440p). This progressive decline indicates that the RTX 5090 D's raw rendering power is being increasingly taxed as pixel count grows, but the CPU maintains adequate headroom even at 4K.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling behavior. At 1080p, the system achieves 495 FPS average, dropping to 424 at 1440p (14.3% reduction) and 239 at 4K (43.6% reduction from 1440p). The relatively modest drop from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings suggests the CPU is nearing its limit at 1080p — the Ryzen 7 3700X's single-thread performance, as indicated by its Passmark single-thread score of 2,656, becomes the bottleneck when the GPU is barely stressed. The larger 4K drop reflects the GPU finally becoming the limiting factor.

Medium settings, which is the only preset with complete min/max FPS data, shows a similar trend: 444 FPS at 1080p, 340 at 1440p (23.4% drop), and 178 at 4K (47.6% drop from 1440p). The minimum FPS values at Medium settings — 377 at 1080p, 289 at 1440p, and 151 at 4K — indicate that frame pacing remains consistent even when the average drops significantly. The max FPS values of 510 at 1080p, 391 at 1440p, and 204 at 4K show that the system can still burst to high frame rates when scene complexity allows.

Ultra settings produce the steepest scaling curve: 331 FPS at 1080p, 209 at 1440p (36.9% reduction), and 109 at 4K (47.8% reduction from 1440p). The substantial drop from 1080p to 1440p at Ultra suggests that the additional shading work at higher resolutions disproportionately impacts the GPU. The 4K Ultra result of 109 FPS still comfortably exceeds 100 FPS, but the scaling pattern indicates that this is where the RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute is being most thoroughly exercised.

The overall pattern across all presets shows that the 1080p-to-1440p transition costs roughly 15-37% of performance depending on settings, while the 1440p-to-4K transition costs roughly 44-48% consistently. This uniformity at the 4K step suggests that pixel throughput becomes the dominant factor at that resolution, whereas the variable 1080p-to-1440p step reflects the changing CPU/GPU balance.

How This Combo Ranks

With a combo rank of 135 out of 2,935 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the top percentile of all CPU-GPU combinations tested in Barony. This ranking is particularly noteworthy given the age of the CPU — the Ryzen 7 3700X launched in 2019, while the RTX 5090 D is a 2025 product. The combination outperforms the vast majority of tested systems, indicating that Barony's engine scales well with the GPU's capabilities while remaining playable with the older CPU.

The CPU's benchmark positioning provides context for this ranking. With a percentile of 84 among all CPUs and an average benchmark score of 34,260, the Ryzen 7 3700X sits slightly above mid-pack compared to modern processors. Its nearest rivals demonstrate how close the competition is: the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 scores 34,222 (0.1% lower), the AMD EPYC 4244P scores 34,220 (0.1% lower), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H scores 34,083 (0.5% lower). Only the Intel Core i5-13450HX scores higher at 34,333 (0.2% higher). This clustering around the 34,000-34,300 range suggests that the 3700X's performance profile is well-matched to contemporary mid-range and upper-mid-range processors.

The GPU's benchmark standing is more polarized. The RTX 5090 D holds a 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals show a wider spread: the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT scores 76,904 (1.1% lower), while the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT scores 78,940 (1.6% higher), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB scores 79,396 (2.1% higher), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB scores 79,605 (2.4% higher). The GPU's strong relative performance in synthetic benchmarks translates directly to the excellent in-game results observed.

The discrepancy between the GPU's 92nd percentile ranking and the combo's 135th place out of 2,935 (roughly the 95.4th percentile) indicates that the CPU does hold back the system somewhat in Barony. If the GPU were the only factor, one would expect a higher combo ranking. The data suggests that while the RTX 5090 D provides exceptional raw performance, the Ryzen 7 3700X's Zen 2 architecture and 3.60 GHz base clock limit the system's ability to fully exploit the GPU at lower resolutions where CPU overhead dominates.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D overkill for a 2015 roguelike like Barony?

A: The measured data shows that even at 4K Ultra settings, the system maintains 109 FPS average, while 1080p Low reaches 495 FPS. Given that the GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 21,760 shading units, it is technically overkill for this title, but the combination still ranks 135th out of 2,935 combos, suggesting that the CPU limits the system from reaching even higher frame rates.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 3700X compare to its nearest CPU rivals in this game?

A: The 3700X's average benchmark score of 34,260 is within 0.5% of its nearest rivals — the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (34,222), AMD EPYC 4244P (34,220), Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (34,083), and Intel Core i5-13450HX (34,333). This close clustering means the 3700X performs essentially identically to these modern processors in synthetic tests, which translates to comparable CPU-bound frame rates in Barony.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at if targeting 144 FPS?

A: The data shows that 1440p High (292 FPS), 1440p Medium (340 FPS), and 1440p Low (424 FPS) all exceed 144 FPS comfortably. At 4K, only High (152 FPS) and Medium (178 FPS) exceed 144 FPS, while 4K Ultra (109 FPS) falls below. For 1080p, all settings presets from Low (495 FPS) to Ultra (331 FPS) far exceed the 144 FPS target.

Q: Does Barony benefit from the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM?

A: The game's modest visual requirements mean that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU's 32 GB GDDR7 memory is unlikely to be fully utilized, although the measured 4K Ultra result of 109 FPS demonstrates that the GPU's other resources — such as its 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute — are sufficient for smooth gameplay at maximum settings.

Q: How does the system perform at Medium settings compared to High?

A: At every resolution, Medium settings outperform High: 444 versus 421 FPS at 1080p, 340 versus 292 at 1440p, and 178 versus 152 at 4K. The performance gap widens with resolution — a 5.5% improvement at 1080p grows to 17.1% at 4K. This suggests that the Medium preset reduces GPU load enough to meaningfully improve frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions.

Q: Is the frame pacing consistent across settings?

A: Only Medium settings include min/max data, and it shows consistent behavior: at 1080p the range spans 377-510 FPS, at 1440p it spans 289-391, and at 4K it spans 151-204. The minimum frame rates stay above 150 FPS even at 4K, indicating the system maintains smooth performance without significant frame drops.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. Low settings produce an average of 495 FPS, which represents the system's peak measured performance. Medium settings average 444 FPS with a minimum of 377 and maximum of 510. High settings reach 421 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 331 FPS average. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a total performance reduction of 33.1%, with the largest single step occurring between Medium and Ultra (a 25.5% drop from 444 to 331 FPS).

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain exceptionally high. Low settings average 424 FPS, Medium averages 340 FPS with a range of 289-391, High averages 292 FPS, and Ultra averages 209 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 50.7% at this resolution, compared to 33.1% at 1080p, indicating that the GPU becomes more of a limiting factor as pixel count increases.

At 3840x2160, the system still delivers excellent performance. Low settings average 239 FPS, Medium averages 178 FPS with a range of 151-204, High averages 152 FPS, and Ultra averages 109 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra performance gap at 4K is 54.4%, the largest relative spread across all resolutions. This suggests that at 4K, the Ultra preset's additional rendering demands create a more significant GPU bottleneck than at lower resolutions.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all three resolutions. The variance between minimum and maximum FPS narrows with resolution: 510-377 at 1080p (a 133 FPS spread), 391-289 at 1440p (102 FPS), and 204-151 at 4K (53 FPS). This narrowing range indicates that frame pacing becomes more consistent at higher resolutions, likely because the GPU's workload is more uniform when pixel-bound.

GPU Role

The RTX 5090 D's specifications reveal why it dominates Barony's performance. With a boost clock of 2407 MHz and a base clock of 2017 MHz, the GPU operates at high frequencies across all workloads. Its 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 render output units provide massive parallel processing capability, reflected in the 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate. These resources explain why even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains 109 FPS.

The GPU's memory subsystem is equally formidable. The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. For Barony, a game from 2015, this bandwidth is far beyond what the game's textures and geometry require, but it ensures that memory bandwidth never becomes a bottleneck. The 1750 MHz memory clock (28 Gbps effective) contributes to this exceptional throughput.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5090 D demonstrates its strengths across different APIs. Its Passmark G3D score of 44,065 and GPU compute score of 28,396 show strong general-purpose and compute performance. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 310,674 and Vulkan score of 376,915 indicate excellent cross-platform capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 confirms strong modern API performance, which benefits any game using DirectX 12 features.

The GPU's 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it near the top of the performance hierarchy. Its nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% lower), AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (1.6% higher), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (2.1-2.4% higher) — show that the 5090 D sits in a competitive performance band. However, in Barony specifically, the GPU's capabilities are so far beyond the game's requirements that the CPU becomes the primary limiting factor at lower resolutions.

The 575 W TDP and suggested 950 W PSU indicate the GPU's power requirements are substantial, but the measured frame rates justify this power draw for users seeking maximum performance. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface ensures the GPU can communicate with the CPU without bandwidth constraints, which is important given the Ryzen 7 3700X's PCIe Gen 4 support.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 444 FPS average with a minimum of 377 and maximum of 510 — a 10.6% improvement over High's 421 FPS. At 1440p, Medium's 340 FPS average represents a 16.4% improvement over High's 292 FPS. At 4K, Medium's 178 FPS average is 17.1% better than High's 152 FPS. The consistent advantage of Medium over High across all resolutions, combined with the only complete min/max data showing stable frame pacing, makes Medium the recommended preset.

For users with 4K displays seeking maximum visual fidelity, Ultra remains viable at 109 FPS average. This exceeds the 100 FPS threshold and provides the best image quality the game offers. However, the 63.3% performance penalty from Medium to Ultra at 4K (178 to 109 FPS) may not be justified for the visual improvements, particularly in a roguelike where fast response times matter.

At 1440p, the choice between High (292 FPS) and Ultra (209 FPS) depends on display refresh rate. For 144 Hz displays, High provides nearly double the required frame rate, while Ultra still exceeds 144 FPS with 209 FPS average. Both presets deliver a smooth experience, but High offers a 39.7% performance advantage over Ultra for a modest visual trade-off.

For 1080p users with high-refresh-rate displays (240 Hz or above), the Low preset's 495 FPS provides the maximum headroom, though Medium's 444 FPS also exceeds 240 Hz comfortably. The Low preset may introduce visual artifacts, but for competitive play in a roguelike where reaction time is critical, the extra 51 FPS could be meaningful. Ultra at 331 FPS still supports 240 Hz displays, making it the best choice for users prioritizing visual quality without sacrificing smoothness.

CPU Role

The Ryzen 7 3700X's 8-core, 16-thread configuration with a 3.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock provides substantial processing power for Barony. The CPU's Zen 2 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process, includes 3,800 million transistors on a 74 mm² die. This relatively compact design delivers efficient performance, reflected in the CPU's 65 W TDP.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its balanced capabilities. Its Cinebench R15 multicore score of 2,092 and single-core score of 204 show strong multi-threaded performance with respectable single-thread capability. The Geekbench multicore score of 8,899 and single-core score of 1,593 further confirm this profile. The Passmark scores reveal specific strengths: integer math at 66,399, floating point math at 39,005, and extended instructions at 19,241. The data compression score of 296,379 and encryption score of 18,900 indicate strong throughput for these workloads.

The CPU's 32 MB L3 cache and 512 KB L2 cache per core provide ample cache for Barony's game logic. The 64 KB L1 cache per core handles immediate data needs. The dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without starvation, although the RTX 5090 D's 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth vastly exceeds this — meaning the GPU's own memory handles the bulk of graphics data.

The CPU's 84th percentile ranking among all CPUs places it in the upper tier of processors, but its nearest rivals show how close the competition is: the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (0.1% lower), AMD EPYC 4244P (0.1% lower), Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (0.5% lower), and Intel Core i5-13450HX (0.2% higher). This clustering suggests that the 3700X remains competitive with modern processors in synthetic workloads, which is reflected in its ability to drive high frame rates in Barony.

In this game specifically, the CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the 495 FPS result approaches what the CPU can sustain given the GPU's minimal workload. The relatively small frame rate gain from Medium to Low at 1080p (444 to 495 FPS, an 11.5% improvement) compared to the larger gain at 4K (178 to 239 FPS, a 34.3% improvement) suggests that the CPU begins to bottleneck the GPU at 1080p. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score of 2,656 and Cinebench single-core score of 204 indicate adequate but not exceptional single-thread performance, which is crucial for game logic in roguelikes that may rely heavily on one core.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s is modest compared to modern processors, but in Barony, this does not appear to be a limiting factor given the overall high frame rates. The PCIe Gen 4 support with 24 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the RTX 5090 D, although the GPU's PCIe 5.0 interface means it operates at Gen 4 speeds in this system. The measured performance suggests this does not meaningfully impact results in Barony.