Barony

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination delivers a widely varying experience in Barony, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary constraint at higher resolutions. The measured frames per second (FPS) data across three resolutions and four quality presets shows a system that is exceptionally capable at 1080p but begins to show its limits as pixel count increases.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 produces a predictable but steep decline in average FPS across all settings. At High settings, the system drops from 169.6 FPS at 1080p to 106.1 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 56.6 FPS at 4K. This represents a substantial 67% reduction in frame rate from the lowest to the highest resolution tested. The pattern is consistent across other presets: Low settings fall from 262.4 FPS at 1080p to 165.8 FPS at 1440p and 85.5 FPS at 4K, while Medium settings go from 197.8 FPS down to 125.7 FPS and then 64 FPS. Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling, starting at 119.9 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 78.6 FPS at 1440p, and reaching just 41 FPS at 4K.

This scaling behavior indicates that the limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p, the CPU and GPU are both heavily utilized, but the frame rates are so high that neither component appears to be a bottleneck in a problematic way. At 1440p, the data suggests a more balanced workload, with the GPU beginning to take on more responsibility. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor; the frame rate drops are proportionally much larger than the increase in pixel count would suggest if the CPU were the constraint. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K is particularly telling: 85.5 FPS versus 41 FPS, a 44.5 FPS difference that shows the GPU's rendering workload is the dominant variable.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is a substantial processing foundation for this configuration. Its 8 cores and 16 threads, based on the Zen 3 architecture, provide ample parallel processing capability. The CPU's boost clock of 4.60 GHz and base clock of 3.70 GHz give it strong single-threaded performance, which is often critical for game logic and frame pacing. The 16 MB of L3 cache helps maintain data locality. The processor's benchmark scores reflect its capability: a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 20655 and a single-core score of 2916, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 901. The Passmark multithread score of 24303 places it in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, indicating it is a solid performer.

In the context of Barony, which is a roguelike title, the CPU's role is to handle the game's simulation, AI, and procedural generation. The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The measured 262.4 FPS at Low settings suggests there is headroom for the CPU to feed the GPU. The CPU's performance relative to its nearest rivals is also noteworthy. It is within 1.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 5 340, and it is slightly ahead of the Intel Core i9-9900K by 0.7%. This level of performance ensures that the CPU will not hold back the system in most gaming scenarios, especially at resolutions where the GPU is the primary bottleneck.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is the component that defines the system's performance ceiling in Barony. It features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU's boost clock is rated at 2491 MHz, with a game clock of 2044 MHz. It has 1792 shading units and 64 ROPs, which are key for pixel throughput. The GPU's compute capability is rated at 8.928 TFLOPS for FP32. Its benchmark scores are modest, with a Passmark G3D score of 15096 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1492. The GPU sits in the 69th percentile of all GPUs, which is a middle-of-the-road ranking.

The measured FPS data shows that the RX 6600 is the decisive factor in resolution scaling. At 1080p, it can deliver very high frame rates, with the data showing 262.4 FPS at Low settings. However, this performance diminishes rapidly as resolution increases. The GPU's 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for Barony at all tested settings, but the raw compute power is the limiting factor at 4K. The jump from 1440p to 4K at High settings, from 106.1 FPS to 56.6 FPS, highlights the GPU's struggle with the increased pixel workload. Compared to its nearest rivals, the RX 6600 is nearly identical in average score to the AMD Radeon 890M (0% difference) and the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (-0.2%), but it is slightly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti by 0.5%. This places it in a competitive, if not outstanding, position for its class.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal balance between visual quality and frame rate is achieved at the High preset for most users. At 1080p, High settings deliver 169.6 FPS, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. At 1440p, High settings still provide a very playable 106.1 FPS. Even at 4K, High settings maintain 56.6 FPS, which is acceptable for a slower-paced roguelike, though it is close to the lower bound of what is comfortable.

The Medium preset offers a slight performance boost over High, with 197.8 FPS at 1080p, 125.7 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. This represents a 13-15% improvement over High at the cost of some visual fidelity. The Ultra preset, while offering the best visuals, is the most demanding. It delivers 119.9 FPS at 1080p and 78.6 FPS at 1440p, but it drops to 41 FPS at 4K, which is likely below the playability threshold for most users. The Low preset provides the highest frame rates, with 262.4 FPS at 1080p, but the visual quality reduction is likely too significant for a satisfying experience. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot, providing a strong experience across all resolutions without sacrificing playability.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and AMD Radeon RX 6600 combination ranks 1349 out of 1702 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the lower half of all tested configurations, which is a somewhat surprising result given the individual component performance. The CPU's 84th percentile ranking and the GPU's 69th percentile ranking suggest that the combination should perform better than its overall rank indicates.

This lower ranking is likely due to the GPU being the limiting factor in the tested scenarios. While the CPU is a strong performer, the RX 6600 holds the system back, particularly at higher resolutions. The data shows that the combo is far more competitive at 1080p, where its ranking would likely be much higher, but the inclusion of 4K results pulls the average down. The fact that the GPU is only slightly better than its nearest rivals, and in some cases nearly identical, suggests that the system's performance is not exceptional relative to other tested configurations. The rank of 1349 out of 1702 indicates that this is a mid-to-low tier combination for this specific game, despite the individual merits of its components. The system is best suited for 1080p or 1440p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates, but it is not designed for high-refresh-rate 4K gaming.