Barony

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 pairing delivers a compelling performance profile in Barony, a 2015 roguelike that proves surprisingly demanding at high settings. The data shows a system that excels at high refresh rates at 1080p and 1440p, but encounters predictable scaling challenges at 4K Ultra. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, resolution scaling behavior, and how this specific combination ranks against the broader database of tested hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The performance curve from 1080p to 4K reveals a classic transition from CPU-bound to GPU-bound behavior. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 385.5 FPS, which is an extraordinarily high ceiling that indicates the Ryzen 7 9800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads are not the limiting factor. The 4.70 GHz base clock and 5.20 GHz boost clock provide ample headroom for the game's logic and AI systems, which are typical bottlenecks in roguelike titles.

Moving to 2560x1440, the drop in average FPS is substantial but still maintains excellent playability. At Low settings, the average falls from 385.5 to 245.4 FPS, a 36% reduction. This scaling is consistent with the RTX 3070's 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus (448 GB/s bandwidth) beginning to assert more influence. The GPU's 5888 shading units and 96 ROPs are capable of handling the increased pixel count, but the frame rate drop signals that the rendering load is becoming more significant.

At 4K (3840x2160), the GPU becomes the clear primary constraint. The Low preset average of 131 FPS is still excellent, but it represents a further 47% reduction from the 1440p figure. This is where the RTX 3070's 8 GB VRAM capacity and 20.31 TFLOPS FP32 performance start to show their limits. The scaling from 1080p Low to 4K Low (385.5 to 131 FPS) shows a total reduction of 66%, which is a typical pattern for a mid-range GPU when pixel count quadruples.

The more telling data comes from the Ultra preset, which likely introduces higher fidelity effects that stress both the GPU's compute units and memory subsystem. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 179.7 FPS, which is only 47% of the Low preset's performance. At 1440p Ultra, the average drops to 111.3 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to 60.9 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K (131 vs 60.9 FPS) demonstrates that the RTX 3070's 184 texture mapping units and 46 RT cores are being heavily utilized, but the 8 GB frame buffer may be limiting advanced settings at higher resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo achieve 144 FPS at 1440p?

A: Yes, with High settings the average is 154 FPS, and with Medium it reaches 179.3 FPS. However, Ultra settings drop the average to 111.3 FPS, which falls below the 144 FPS target.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 compare to its nearest GPU rivals in this context?

A: The RTX 3070's average benchmark score of 28238 places it 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti. It trails the AMD FirePro S7150 by 0.6% and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X by 1.1%.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests no. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 385.5 FPS, indicating the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads are more than sufficient. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34004 and single-core score of 4800 support this.

Q: What is the maximum refresh rate achievable at 4K?

A: At 4K with Low settings, the average is 131 FPS, which can drive a 120 Hz display. Medium settings yield 93.2 FPS, High drops to 78.7 FPS, and Ultra falls to 60.9 FPS, which is suitable for a standard 60 Hz monitor.

Q: How does the CPU's performance ranking affect gaming?

A: The Ryzen 7 9800X3D sits in the 90th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 37780. It is 0.1% behind the Intel Xeon 6353P and Intel Core Ultra 5 225, and 0.7% behind the Intel Core i5-13600KF.

Q: Does the GPU's 8 GB memory limit performance at 4K Ultra?

A: The 60.9 FPS average at 4K Ultra versus 131 FPS at 4K Low (a 54% reduction) strongly suggests the 8 GB GDDR6 buffer and 448 GB/s bandwidth are significant limiting factors when high-resolution textures and effects are enabled.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a desktop processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) using a 4 nm process at TSMC. It features 8 cores and 16 threads with a 120 W TDP, and its 96 MB shared L3 cache is a defining characteristic. This large cache is particularly beneficial for roguelike games, which often involve procedural generation and complex state tracking.

In this benchmark data, the CPU's role is most evident at lower resolutions where the GPU is not fully saturated. At 1080p Low, the system pumps out 385.5 FPS, which confirms the CPU's single-thread performance (Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4800) and its multi-threaded capability (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 34004). The 16 threads help maintain consistent frame times when the game's AI and item generation systems are active.

The CPU's benchmark results further contextualize its gaming performance. In 3DMark, it scores 1212 in single-thread, 4669 in 4-thread, and 8252 in 8-thread tests, showing excellent scaling as thread count increases. The PassMark multi-thread score of 40009 and single-thread score of 4430 reinforce that this is a top-tier processor, ranking in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

However, the data shows that the CPU is not the constraint in this pairing. The transition from 1080p to 1440p at Low settings reduces FPS by 36%, which is more attributable to the GPU's pixel throughput. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D's 8 cores and 16 threads, combined with its high boost clock, easily feed the RTX 3070 up to 385 FPS, which is far beyond what most displays can show.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers outstanding performance across all presets. Low settings average 385.5 FPS, Medium averages 288.1 FPS, High averages 246.2 FPS, and Ultra averages 179.7 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra (a 53% reduction) shows that the RTX 3070's 5888 shading units are being progressively taxed, but even the Ultra preset maintains a frame rate well above 144 Hz.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. Low settings average 245.4 FPS, Medium averages 179.3 FPS, High averages 154 FPS, and Ultra averages 111.3 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across presets, with Low falling 36%, Medium 38%, High 37%, and Ultra 38%. This uniformity indicates that the GPU's memory bandwidth and ROP throughput are scaling linearly with resolution.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become apparent. Low settings average 131 FPS, Medium averages 93.2 FPS, High averages 78.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 60.9 FPS. The reduction from 1440p to 4K is steeper: Low falls 47%, Medium 48%, High 49%, and Ultra 45%. This non-linear scaling suggests that the 8 GB VRAM capacity is being exceeded at higher settings, forcing memory compression or texture swapping that impacts performance.

The data shows that the RTX 3070's 8 GB memory is the primary bottleneck at 4K Ultra, as the 60.9 FPS average is barely playable for a roguelike. At 4K High, the 78.7 FPS average is more comfortable, but still represents a 49% drop from 1440p High. For competitive or fast-paced play, the 1440p High preset (154 FPS) appears to be the sweet spot for this combination.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific pairing of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 ranks 785th out of 1702 tested combinations in Barony. This places it in the upper-middle tier of the database, which is logical given the RTX 3070's position in the GPU hierarchy. The GPU's percentile ranking of 72nd among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28238, is the limiting factor for the overall combo rank.

The CPU's strong performance (90th percentile) helps boost the combination, but the GPU cannot keep pace at higher resolutions. The combo rank of 785 out of 1702 suggests that many other systems, likely those pairing high-end CPUs with more powerful GPUs like the RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT, will outperform this setup in Barony's most demanding scenarios.

The data indicates that this combo is well-suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can achieve frame rates that exceed most high-refresh-rate displays. At 4K, it is playable but not ideal for Ultra settings. The rank reflects this balance: it is neither a top-tier 4K system nor a low-end 1080p system, but rather a versatile mid-range performer that excels at mainstream resolutions. The 60.9 FPS at 4K Ultra is the weakest result, while the 385.5 FPS at 1080p Low is the strongest, showing a wide range of capability that depends heavily on the chosen resolution and settings.