Barony

# Barony Performance Analysis: AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + Intel Arc B390

The benchmark data for Barony with the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 and Intel Arc B390 reveals a configuration that struggles significantly at higher resolutions, with the integrated GPU acting as the primary limiting factor. Across all tested settings, the system delivers playable frame rates only at 1080p, while 4K performance falls well below acceptable thresholds. This analysis examines the measured FPS data, component roles, and practical settings recommendations based exclusively on the provided metrics.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a steep and consistent performance decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 102 FPS at 1080p to 64 FPS at 1440p, then further to 34 FPS at 4K. This represents a 37% reduction moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The pattern is consistent across all quality presets, indicating that resolution scaling has a uniform impact regardless of graphical settings.

At Low settings, the system achieves 159 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 100 FPS at 1440p and 53 FPS at 4K. Medium settings show a similar trajectory: 118 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. Ultra settings produce the lowest results across the board, with 73 FPS at 1080p, 46 FPS at 1440p, and just 24 FPS at 4K. These figures indicate that the performance ceiling is heavily constrained by the GPU, as the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K exceeds 50% at every preset level.

The scaling behavior suggests that Barony's rendering load increases roughly proportionally with pixel count, and the Intel Arc B390's limited compute resources become saturated quickly. At 4K, even the Low preset cannot maintain 60 FPS, achieving only 53 FPS on average. This is a clear indicator that the GPU is the bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU's capabilities are not being fully utilized when pixel throughput demands exceed the integrated graphics' capacity.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics solution based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, manufactured on Intel's 3 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, featuring 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster operation units. The GPU relies on system shared memory, with bandwidth described as system dependent, meaning performance can vary based on the host system's memory configuration.

Benchmark results place this GPU in the 9th percentile among all tested graphics cards, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (scoring 1463, 1.3% slower), the GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% slower), the GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5% slower), and the GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7% slower). These comparisons illustrate that the Arc B390 sits at the very bottom of the GPU performance spectrum, roughly equivalent to entry-level discrete GPUs from over a decade ago.

The GPU's pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s provide theoretical limits that align with the measured frame rates. At 4K (3840x2160, approximately 8.3 million pixels), a 60 GPixel/s rate theoretically supports around 72 FPS under perfect conditions, but real-world efficiency losses and shading complexity reduce this to the observed 24-53 FPS range depending on settings. The FP32 throughput of 7.680 TFLOPS further contextualizes the performance ceiling, as Barony's rendering workload demands substantial shader compute at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for playing Barony with this configuration?

A: Based on the measured data, 1920x1080 is the only resolution where all settings presets achieve at least 73 FPS average. At 1440p, only Low and Medium settings exceed 60 FPS (100 and 75 FPS respectively), while High and Ultra fall to 64 and 46 FPS. At 4K, no preset reaches 60 FPS, with the highest being Low at 53 FPS.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, Ultra delivers 73 FPS average compared to 102 FPS on High, representing a 28% performance penalty. The Medium preset achieves 118 FPS, while Low reaches 159 FPS. This suggests diminishing returns for the highest quality settings relative to the frame rate cost.

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

A: The data strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting component. The Intel Arc B390 ranks in the 9th percentile among all GPUs, while the AMD Ryzen 7 5700 ranks in the 78th percentile among all CPUs. The dramatic frame rate drops at higher resolutions, combined with the GPU's low benchmark scores, point to graphics processing as the primary constraint.

Q: What frame rates can players expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the system achieves an average of 75 FPS, with minimum and maximum readings of 64 and 86 FPS respectively. This is the highest average FPS at 1440p among all presets except Low, which reaches 100 FPS.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it 1.3% ahead of the GeForce GT 520MX, 1.5% ahead of the GeForce 800M, 2.5% ahead of the GeForce GT 625 OEM, and 2.7% ahead of the GeForce GT 710. These margins are negligible in real-world gaming terms.

Q: Can this system achieve 60 FPS at 4K in Barony?

A: No. The highest 4K average frame rate measured is 53 FPS at Low settings, with Medium at 39 FPS, High at 34 FPS, and Ultra at 24 FPS. None of the tested presets reach the 60 FPS threshold at 3840x2160 resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 159 FPS, making it the only preset to exceed 150 FPS. Medium settings achieve 118 FPS average, with a minimum of 101 FPS and maximum of 136 FPS, providing a smooth experience with headroom for dips. High settings drop to 102 FPS average, still comfortably above 60 FPS. Ultra settings yield 73 FPS average, which remains playable but shows a significant 31 FPS reduction compared to High.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance declines noticeably. Low settings average 100 FPS, maintaining triple-digit performance. Medium settings average 75 FPS, with minimum and maximum readings of 64 and 86 FPS, indicating occasional drops near the 60 FPS threshold. High settings fall to 64 FPS average, which is borderline for smooth gameplay. Ultra settings drop to 46 FPS average, falling below the 60 FPS target.

At 3840x2160, all presets fail to reach 60 FPS. Low settings achieve 53 FPS average, the highest 4K result. Medium settings average 39 FPS, with minimum and maximum of 33 and 45 FPS, showing consistent sub-60 performance. High settings drop to 34 FPS average. Ultra settings produce just 24 FPS average, which is effectively unplayable for most users. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 29 FPS, representing a 55% performance difference.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data indicates that 1080p with High settings offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, achieving 102 FPS average. This provides sufficient headroom above 60 FPS to accommodate scene complexity without dropping below playable thresholds. For players prioritizing smoothness, Medium settings at 1080p deliver 118 FPS average with a documented minimum of 101 FPS, ensuring consistent frame delivery even during intense gameplay sequences.

At 1440p, Medium settings provide the most viable experience with 75 FPS average and 64 FPS minimum, keeping frame rates above the 60 FPS threshold in most scenarios. High settings at 1440p average 64 FPS, which is technically above 60 FPS but leaves minimal margin for frame time spikes. Low settings at 1440p achieve 100 FPS average but sacrifice visual fidelity. Ultra settings should be avoided at 1440p due to the 46 FPS average.

For 4K gaming, none of the presets provide a satisfactory experience. Low settings at 53 FPS average is the only option approaching playability, but even this falls short of 60 FPS. Medium settings at 39 FPS and lower presets are unsuitable for smooth gameplay. Players seeking 4K performance with this hardware would need to accept significant compromises or consider reducing resolution to 1440p for a better experience.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 is a desktop processor from the 5000 series, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads based on the Zen 3 architecture (Cezanne codename) on TSMC's 7 nm process. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 4.60 GHz, and includes 64 KB L1 cache per core, 512 KB L2 cache per core, and 16 MB L3 cache. The processor supports DDR4 memory with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth. The CPU's 78th percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is a competent performer for gaming workloads.

Synthetic benchmarks show strong multi-threaded performance: Cinebench R23 multicore scores 20655, while single-core scores 2916. Geekbench multicore reaches 9959 with single-core at 1907. PassMark multithread scores 24303 with single-thread at 3296. These results demonstrate that the CPU is capable of handling demanding workloads, with 16 threads available for any game that can utilize them.

However, in Barony with this GPU configuration, the CPU's capabilities are largely underutilized. The frame rates observed at 1080p (73-159 FPS depending on settings) suggest that the CPU can feed the GPU adequately at this resolution, but the GPU's limitations prevent higher performance. At 4K, the CPU is certainly not the bottleneck, as the GPU's pixel throughput constraints dominate. The Ryzen 7 5700's nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon D-2752TER (0.1% slower), AMD Ryzen 5 7640U (0.1% faster), AMD Ryzen 5 6600H (0.1% slower), and AMD Ryzen 7 5825U (0.3% faster), showing the CPU performs within a tight competitive band.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700 + Intel Arc B390 combination ranks 3300 out of 3717 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the bottom 11% of all configurations. This low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU, which ranks in the 9th percentile among all graphics cards. The CPU's 78th percentile ranking does little to compensate for the GPU's severe performance deficit.

This ranking position means that the vast majority of tested hardware combinations outperform this setup in Barony. The GPU's nearest rivals — all entry-level NVIDIA discrete cards from previous generations — provide context for its performance level. The combination's ranking reflects the reality that an integrated GPU, regardless of its architecture, cannot match the performance of even modest discrete solutions in this game.

For users considering this configuration, the data suggests that the combo is best suited for 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings, where it can maintain playable frame rates. Higher resolutions or maximum quality presets will result in suboptimal experiences. The ranking also implies that upgrading the GPU would yield substantial performance improvements, as the CPU has significant headroom to support a more capable graphics solution.