Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The data for this combo shows a roguelike game that is surprisingly demanding at higher settings, with average FPS ranging from 385 at 1080p Low down to 58 at 4K Ultra. This pairing of an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D processor with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 demonstrates that Barony, despite its 2015 release date, can push even modern hardware at extreme resolutions and quality presets. The measured results reveal a clear scaling pattern where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck as resolution increases, while the CPU's substantial L3 cache helps maintain high frame rates at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Barony with this hardware combo?

A: The data shows the strongest balance at 2560x1440 with High settings, delivering 155 avg FPS. At that resolution, the game runs well above 144 Hz refresh rates while maintaining quality. At 1920x1080, even Ultra settings hit 176 avg FPS, but the 385 FPS at Low suggests the CPU is capable of far more than the GPU can render at higher settings.

Q: How does the RTX 3070's VRAM affect performance in Barony?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the avg FPS drops to 58, indicating that both memory capacity and bandwidth limitations are likely in play. At 4K Medium, the FPS jumps to 95, showing that reducing texture-heavy settings alleviates memory pressure.

Q: What settings preset should I avoid at 4K resolution?

A: The Ultra preset at 3840x2160 yields only 58 avg FPS, which is below the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The data suggests that High settings at 81 avg FPS or Medium at 95 avg FPS are far more viable for 4K, with Medium also providing a measured min FPS of 80 to prevent stutter.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 5700X3D holding back the RTX 3070 in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 385 avg FPS, which suggests the CPU is providing ample headroom. The Ryzen 7 5700X3D's 3D V-Cache (96 MB shared L3) likely helps maintain consistent frame pacing. At higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, so the CPU is not a bottleneck in these scenarios.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This pairing ranks 1596 out of 3717 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the upper half of all configurations. The percentile data for the CPU (77th percentile vs all CPUs) and GPU (61st percentile vs all GPUs) indicates a balanced pairing where neither component significantly drags down the overall ranking.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: The measured data shows 181 avg FPS at 2560x1440 Medium, with a min FPS of 154 and max FPS of 208. This suggests that this preset is highly consistent, with the minimum frame rate still well above 144 Hz for competitive play or high-refresh monitors.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 plays a central role in determining Barony's performance at higher resolutions. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, running at 14 Gbps effective on a 256-bit bus, provides 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming, as evidenced by the high FPS numbers at those resolutions, but the 4K Ultra result of 58 avg FPS suggests the 8 GB capacity may be a limiting factor for the highest quality textures at extreme resolutions.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed as 1500 MHz base and 1725 MHz boost, with a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s. These specifications translate to strong rasterization performance, which is the dominant workload in Barony's roguelike rendering. The 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs provide ample compute for the game's visual effects, while the 184 texture mapping units handle the detailed sprite work common in roguelike titles.

The RTX 3070's 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores are present but likely underutilized in Barony, as the game does not appear to rely heavily on ray tracing or DLSS features based on the measured data. The FP32 performance of 20.31 TFLOPS provides substantial raw compute headroom, which helps explain why the GPU can maintain 155 avg FPS at 1440p High settings. The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a consistent drop, but the GPU still delivers playable frame rates even at Ultra settings.

The data reveals an interesting pattern: at 1080p, the RTX 3070 is not fully taxed, as the Low preset reaches 385 FPS. This indicates the GPU is capable of far more rendering work than the game demands at that resolution. At 4K, however, the GPU becomes the definitive bottleneck, with the Ultra preset dropping to 58 avg FPS. The gap between 4K Medium (95 FPS) and 4K Ultra (58 FPS) is particularly wide, suggesting that the Ultra preset introduces effects that heavily tax the GPU's resources.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings preset depends heavily on resolution and target frame rate. At 1920x1080, every preset exceeds 144 FPS, with even Ultra achieving 176 avg FPS. This makes Ultra the best choice for 1080p users with high-refresh monitors, as the visual quality increase comes at no practical performance cost. The Low preset's 385 FPS is excessive unless the user prioritizes maximum responsiveness for competitive play.

At 2560x1440, the High preset at 155 avg FPS provides the best balance, offering a 60% improvement over Ultra's 111 avg FPS while maintaining visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 181 avg FPS is also viable, with a measured min FPS of 154 that ensures smooth frame delivery. The Ultra preset at 111 avg FPS remains playable but dips below 144 Hz, making it a secondary choice if users prioritize visual quality over refresh rate.

For 3840x2160, the data strongly recommends Medium settings at 95 avg FPS, as this is the only preset that combines a 60+ FPS average with a measured min FPS of 80. The High preset at 81 avg FPS is acceptable but lacks recorded min/max data, making its consistency uncertain. Ultra at 58 avg FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold and should be avoided for comfortable gameplay. The Low preset at 127 avg FPS is an option for users who prioritize frame rate over quality, but the visual compromise is severe.

The overall recommendation is to use High settings at 1440p as the default configuration, as this provides the best combination of visual quality and performance headroom. Users with 4K displays should choose Medium settings, while 1080p users can safely enable Ultra without compromising frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured data shows a wide range of performance across settings. Low settings produce 385 avg FPS, Medium reaches 287 avg FPS with a min of 244 and max of 330, High delivers 246 avg FPS, and Ultra achieves 176 avg FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 54% reduction in frame rate, but even the lowest Ultra result remains far above typical display refresh rates.

The 2560x1440 resolution reveals a similar pattern with lower absolute numbers. Low settings reach 243 avg FPS, Medium achieves 181 avg FPS with a min of 154 and max of 208, High delivers 155 avg FPS, and Ultra drops to 111 avg FPS. The gap between Medium and High is 26 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 44 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant performance penalty relative to its visual improvements.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops are more pronounced. Low settings hit 127 avg FPS, Medium reaches 95 avg FPS with a min of 80 and max of 109, High achieves 81 avg FPS, and Ultra falls to 58 avg FPS. The Medium preset's measured min FPS of 80 is notable, as it indicates relatively stable frame delivery despite the high resolution. The Ultra preset's 58 avg FPS represents the only measured result below 60 FPS across all settings and resolutions.

The data also shows that the scaling from Low to Ultra becomes more punishing at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the cost of Ultra over Low is 209 FPS (54% reduction). At 1440p, that difference grows to 132 FPS (54% reduction). At 4K, the difference is 69 FPS (also 54% reduction). This consistent percentage suggests that the settings presets scale uniformly regardless of resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 1596 out of 3717 tested combinations for Barony, placing it in the 43rd percentile of all configurations. This ranking suggests that while the hardware is capable, there are many other combos that achieve higher performance in this specific game. The CPU's 77th percentile ranking among all processors indicates it is a strong performer, while the GPU's 61st percentile ranking shows it is slightly above average but not exceptional.

The nearest rival CPUs to the Ryzen 7 5700X3D provide context for its performance. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D scores 24728 in average benchmarks, just 0.1% higher than the 5700X3D's 24709 average. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX scores 24822, 0.5% higher, while the Intel Core i5-12450HX scores 24576, 0.5% lower, and the Intel Core i5-11600 scores 24563, 0.6% lower. This shows that the 5700X3D sits in a tightly contested performance band where differences are minimal.

For the GPU, the RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 17208 compares closely to its nearest rivals. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT scores 17083, 0.7% lower, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 scores 17037, 1% lower, and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17019, 1.1% lower. The NVIDIA Tesla K40c scores 17468, 1.5% higher. This clustering indicates that the RTX 3070 is positioned in a competitive segment where small benchmark differences translate to similar real-world performance.

The combination's mid-pack ranking in Barony suggests that the game's performance is more dependent on specific hardware characteristics than raw benchmark scores. The 8 GB VRAM and 448.0 GB/s bandwidth of the RTX 3070 may be limiting factors at 4K, while the CPU's 96 MB L3 cache provides an advantage at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D is a Zen 3 architecture processor built on TSMC's 7 nm process, featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.00 GHz and boost clock of 4.10 GHz are modest by modern standards, but the processor compensates with a massive 96 MB shared L3 cache. This 3D V-Cache design is particularly beneficial for games that rely on frequent data access patterns, which is common in roguelike titles with procedurally generated content.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide insight into its capabilities. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 22366 and single-core score of 3157 indicate strong multi-threaded performance relative to single-threaded performance. The Geekbench multicore score of 11086 and single-core score of 1849 follow a similar pattern. The Passmark multithread score of 26318 and single-thread score of 2970 confirm that the processor excels in both domains.

In Barony, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p where the GPU is not heavily stressed. The 385 avg FPS at Low settings suggests that the processor can feed the GPU with enough frames to reach extremely high rates. The 3D V-Cache likely helps maintain consistent frame delivery in a game where procedural generation creates unpredictable data access patterns. The CPU's 105 W TDP and Socket AM4 compatibility make it a practical choice for existing platform users.

The processor's 16 threads provide sufficient parallel processing capability for any game logic or AI computation that Barony requires. The 3dmark benchmarks show strong scaling from 2 threads (1575) to 16 threads (6764), indicating efficient utilization of all available cores. The Passmark physics score of 2686 suggests adequate performance for any physics simulation the game might employ.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales across resolutions. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 385 at 1080p to 243 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 127 at 4K (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline at higher resolutions indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the pixel count grows.

For Medium settings, the progression is 287 FPS at 1080p, 181 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction), and 95 FPS at 4K (67% reduction from 1080p). The High settings show 246 FPS at 1080p, 155 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction), and 81 FPS at 4K (67% reduction). Ultra settings follow with 176 FPS at 1080p, 111 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction), and 58 FPS at 4K (67% reduction).

The consistent percentage reductions across all settings presets — 37% from 1080p to 1440p and 67% from 1080p to 4K — indicate that the scaling is primarily driven by pixel count rather than settings complexity. This pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, where the rendering workload increases proportionally with resolution.

The transition from 1440p to 4K represents a 2.25x increase in pixel count, yet the FPS drops by approximately 47-48% across all settings. This suggests that the RTX 3070's memory bandwidth and compute resources are being taxed heavily at 4K. The 8 GB VRAM capacity may also contribute to the performance decline, as higher resolutions typically require more texture memory.

The data implies that at 1080p, the CPU has significant headroom, as evidenced by the 385 FPS Low result. At 4K, the GPU is clearly the limiting component, with even Medium settings producing only 95 avg FPS. This resolution scaling analysis confirms that the optimal operating range for this combo is between 1080p and 1440p, where the CPU and GPU are more evenly matched.