Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a striking performance envelope in Barony, a roguelike that scales from highly playable at 4K to extraordinarily fast at 1080p. Measured data across three resolutions and four quality presets reveals a system where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck only at the highest settings, while lower presets expose a CPU that keeps pace remarkably well. This combination ranks 1258th out of 2935 tested combos in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of configurations, with the data indicating a balanced pairing that favors high-refresh-rate play at 1440p and smooth 4K at medium settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K follows a predictable pattern, but the magnitude of the drops reveals important insights about the limiting component at each setting level. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 363 FPS at 1920x1080 to 229 FPS at 2560x1440, a 37% reduction, then to 120 FPS at 3840x2160, another 48% drop from 1440p. This steep decline at Low settings strongly indicates the GPU is the limiting factor even at the lowest quality tier, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames well beyond what the RTX 5060 can render at higher resolutions.

At Medium settings, the pattern shifts slightly. The 1080p average of 270 FPS drops to 170 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction) and then to 89 FPS at 4K (48% reduction from 1440p). The similar percentage drops across Low and Medium suggest that the GPU remains the dominant constraint, with the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads providing consistent throughput without becoming a ceiling at these settings. The minimum FPS values for Medium at 1080p (229 FPS) and 1440p (145 FPS) show that even the lowest measured frames remain well above 60 FPS, indicating smooth gameplay throughout.

High settings introduce a more pronounced scaling curve. From 231 FPS at 1080p, the average drops to 146 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction) and further to 76 FPS at 4K (48% reduction from 1440p). The consistent 37% and 48% reductions across Low, Medium, and High settings point to a uniform GPU-bound scenario where resolution is the primary variable. However, at Ultra settings, the scaling becomes steeper: 166 FPS at 1080p falls to 105 FPS at 1440p (37% reduction) and then to 55 FPS at 4K (48% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 55 FPS is the only measured average that dips below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that this preset pushes the GPU to its limits at the highest resolution.

The consistent percentage drops across all settings indicate that Barony's rendering load scales nearly linearly with pixel count, and the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth handles the increased resolution demands without hitting a memory bandwidth wall. The data shows no anomalous spikes or collapses that would suggest driver issues or thermal throttling; the scaling is clean and predictable, characteristic of a well-optimized engine running on a capable GPU.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS achievable with this combo at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system reaches an average of 363 FPS, which is the highest measured result across all resolutions and presets. Even at Ultra settings, 1080p produces 166 FPS on average.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, at 4K with Low, Medium, and High settings, the average FPS is 120, 89, and 76 respectively, all above 60 FPS. However, at 4K Ultra, the average drops to 55 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium experience compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the average FPS is 170 with a minimum of 145 FPS. At 1920x1080 with Ultra settings, the average is 166 FPS. The 1440p Medium configuration delivers slightly higher average FPS and a minimum that exceeds the 1080p Ultra average, making it the better overall experience.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The lowest minimum FPS measured is 76 FPS, observed at 3840x2160 with Medium settings. All other recorded minimums are 145 FPS at 1440p Medium and 229 FPS at 1080p Medium.

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

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination ranks 1258th out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems.

Q: Is the RTX 5060's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: Based on the measured data, 4K High settings achieve 76 FPS average and 4K Ultra achieves 55 FPS, indicating the 8 GB memory is adequate for this game's demands at all tested settings, though Ultra at 4K does strain the GPU to sub-60 FPS levels.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience across different resolutions. At 1920x1080, every preset delivers well above 60 FPS, with Ultra achieving 166 FPS average. The jump from High to Ultra costs 65 FPS (from 231 to 166), a 28% reduction for the visual quality increase. For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, Low settings at 363 FPS are excessive for most displays, making High a sensible choice at 1080p since it retains the 231 FPS average while offering better visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the recommended preset is Medium, which delivers 170 FPS average with a minimum of 145 FPS. This combination provides smooth gameplay that exceeds 144 Hz refresh rate thresholds while maintaining reasonable quality. High settings at 1440p produce 146 FPS average, which is still excellent but offers diminishing returns over Medium given the 24 FPS difference. Ultra at 1440p drops to 105 FPS average, which is playable but sacrifices the high-refresh experience that Medium preserves.

For 3840x2160, Medium is the optimal preset, delivering 89 FPS average with a minimum of 76 FPS. This stays comfortably above 60 FPS and provides a responsive experience at 4K. High settings at 4K achieve 76 FPS average, which is acceptable for most players, but the 13 FPS difference between Medium and High is modest compared to the 34 FPS drop from Medium to Ultra. Low settings at 4K offer 120 FPS, but the visual quality trade-off is substantial for most users. The data suggests that 4K Ultra at 55 FPS is the only configuration that fails to maintain 60 FPS, making it the least desirable choice unless visual fidelity is the sole priority.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1258 out of 2935 tested combinations places this system in the upper-middle range of all configurations tested in Barony. This percentile position indicates that the AMD Ryzen 7 9700F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 pairing is competitive but not top-tier, which aligns with the GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs and the CPU's 94th percentile among all CPUs. The CPU is significantly stronger relative to its peers than the GPU, suggesting that in GPU-bound scenarios like this game, the RTX 5060 is the limiting factor.

Examining the CPU's nearest rivals provides context for its ranking. The AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX scores 69,875 in average benchmarks, a 0.2% delta from the 9700F's 69,996 average. The Intel Core i7-14700KF scores 70,163, a -0.2% delta, while the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X scores 69,515 (0.7% delta) and the Intel Core i7-14700K scores 69,355 (0.9% delta). These margins are remarkably tight, with all four rivals within 1% of the 9700F's performance, indicating that the CPU is not a differentiator in this combination's ranking.

The GPU's nearest rivals further illuminate the combo's position. The AMD Radeon 860M scores 26,401 (-0.3% delta from the RTX 5060's 26,331), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 scores 26,421 (-0.3% delta), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary scores 26,553 (-0.8% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT scores 26,011 (1.2% delta). The RTX 5060 sits in a dense cluster of GPUs with similar average benchmark scores, all within 1.2% of each other, which explains why the combo rank is not higher despite the CPU's strong showing.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with the GB206 chip on a 5 nm process, provides the rendering horsepower for this combination. Its 8 GB of GDDR7 memory operates at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The measured FPS data shows that this memory configuration is sufficient for Barony at all tested resolutions, with no evidence of memory capacity or bandwidth throttling even at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's clock speeds of 2280 MHz base and 2497 MHz boost, combined with 3840 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, produce a pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s. The FP32 performance of 19.18 TFLOPS, with FP16 at 19.18 TFLOPS (1:1), positions this card for solid rasterization performance. In Barony, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution increases, with the FPS drops from 1080p to 4K showing a consistent pattern across all settings.

The GPU's 72nd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 26,331, places it in a competitive tier. The PassMark G3D score of 20,891 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,628 provide additional context for its capabilities. The GPU's 145 W TDP and dual-slot design with a single 8-pin power connector suggest it operates efficiently within a 300 W suggested PSU envelope, though these power characteristics are secondary to the measured performance data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS dataset reveals a consistent hierarchy across resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 363 at Low to 270 at Medium, 231 at High, and 166 at Ultra. The Medium preset records a minimum of 229 FPS and a maximum of 310 FPS, providing the only complete min/max data at this resolution. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 197 FPS, indicating significant performance headroom even at the highest quality settings.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 229 FPS at Low, 170 FPS at Medium, 146 FPS at High, and 105 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset shows a minimum of 145 FPS and a maximum of 196 FPS. The 124 FPS spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is smaller than at 1080p, reflecting the increased GPU load at higher resolution. The 1440p Medium minimum of 145 FPS is notable as it exceeds the 1080p Ultra average of 166 FPS by a comfortable margin.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 120 FPS at Low, 89 FPS at Medium, 76 FPS at High, and 55 FPS at Ultra. The Medium preset again provides min/max data with 76 FPS minimum and 102 FPS maximum. This is the only resolution where any setting drops below 60 FPS average, with Ultra at 55 FPS being the sole sub-60 result. The 65 FPS spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is the smallest of all resolutions, indicating that the GPU is increasingly constrained as pixel count rises.

The data shows a consistent pattern where Medium settings provide the most complete performance profile, with all three resolutions showing min/max values for this preset. The scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution follows a similar trajectory: Low is approximately 2.2x Ultra at 1080p (363/166), 2.2x at 1440p (229/105), and 2.2x at 4K (120/55). This uniformity suggests that the performance difference between presets is consistent regardless of resolution.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F, part of the 9000 series built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge), provides the computational foundation for this combo. With 8 cores and 16 threads running at a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 5.50 GHz, the CPU delivers strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The 32 MB shared L3 cache, 1 MB L2 per core, and 80 KB L1 per core provide ample cache hierarchy for game workloads, while the 65 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery.

The CPU's PassMark benchmarks show a multi-thread score of 36,470 and a single-thread score of 4,691, with a physics score of 2,122, placing it at the 94th percentile among all CPUs. The average benchmark score of 69,996 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX at 69,875 (0.2% delta), Intel Core i7-14700KF at 70,163 (-0.2% delta), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X at 69,515 (0.7% delta), and Intel Core i7-14700K at 69,355 (0.9% delta). This clustering indicates that the 9700F is well-matched against top-tier CPUs from previous generations.

In Barony, the CPU's role is to maintain frame delivery rates that exceed what the GPU can render at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low settings, the 363 FPS average approaches the practical limit for most display technologies, and the CPU's strong single-thread performance ensures it does not become a bottleneck. The data shows no evidence of CPU limitation: even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the frame rates continue to scale upward, suggesting the CPU has additional headroom beyond what was measured.

The CPU's DDR5 memory support with dual-channel configuration and 89.6 GB/s bandwidth, combined with PCIe Gen 5 with 24 lanes, provides a modern platform that complements the GPU's PCIe 5.0 x8 interface. The 9700F's 4 nm process and 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die represent a dense, efficient design that maintains high performance within a 65 W TDP. The combination of 8 cores and 16 threads is sufficient for Barony's roguelike mechanics, which typically do not scale heavily with core count, but the high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures rapid single-threaded response for game logic and physics calculations.