Barony

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination delivers remarkably high frame rates in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015. The data shows a system that is heavily overqualified for this game, with performance scaling that reveals distinct bottlenecks depending on resolution and settings. The measured results indicate that while the RTX 3080 is capable of pushing massive frame rates, the CPU’s exceptional single-thread performance ensures it is rarely the limiting factor, even at 1080p.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about where the performance ceiling lies. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 287 at 1920x1080 to 181 at 2560x1440, and finally to 95 at 3840x2160. This represents a 50.5% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47.5% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound workload at higher resolutions.

At Low settings, the pattern shifts. The average FPS at 1080p is 449, dropping to 284 at 1440p and 148 at 4K. The relative drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36.7%, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47.9%. The fact that the 1440p to 4K drop remains steep even at Low settings suggests that the RTX 3080’s raw pixel throughput is the primary constraint at these resolutions, regardless of the reduced graphical complexity.

The Medium preset shows a similar trend. At 1080p, the average is 334 FPS, which falls to 211 at 1440p and 110 at 4K. The min-to-max FPS spread at Medium settings is also revealing: at 4K, the range is 94 to 127 FPS, while at 1440p it is 179 to 242 FPS, and at 1080p it is 284 to 384 FPS. The absolute spread increases as resolution decreases, indicating that the CPU has more headroom to push higher peaks when the GPU is less burdened.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board, with averages of 206 FPS at 1080p, 130 FPS at 1440p, and 68 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36.9%, and from 1440p to 4K is 47.7%. Interestingly, the percentage drops are remarkably consistent across all four presets, hovering around 37% for the first step and 47-48% for the second. This consistency strongly implies that the RTX 3080’s memory bandwidth and shading capacity are the dominant factors in resolution scaling, with the CPU contributing less as pixel count increases.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip fabricated on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It features 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, along with 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1440 MHz and boosts to 1710 MHz, with memory running at 1188 MHz effective 19 Gbps. The 10 GB of GDDR6X memory is paired with a 320-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s.

In Barony, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced as resolution increases. The benchmark results show that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 68, which is the lowest recorded figure in the entire dataset. This suggests that the RTX 3080 is being pushed to its limits at this setting, particularly considering that the game is from 2015 and not known for being graphically demanding. The GPU’s pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s are clearly adequate for 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra preset appears to saturate the card’s capabilities.

The RTX 3080’s VRAM capacity of 10 GB is not likely a limiting factor in this title, given that even at 4K Ultra the card maintains a playable 68 FPS average. The memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s, however, could be a contributing factor to the steep scaling at 4K, where the demand for texture and geometry data increases substantially. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 29.77 TFLOPS provides ample compute headroom, but the data indicates that the card’s rasterization throughput is what ultimately governs performance at higher resolutions.

The RTX 3080 ranks in the 68th percentile among all GPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 23,172. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA P106-100 (0.3% higher score), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (0.3% higher), and AMD Radeon RX 6600M (0.4% higher). This places the RTX 3080 in a competitive position, though its performance in Barony appears to exceed what these rival scores might suggest, given the extremely high frame rates observed.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a Zen 5 (Granite Ridge) processor with 8 cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, with 96 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU’s performance in synthetic benchmarks is exceptional, particularly in single-threaded workloads. It scores 343 in Cinebench R15 single-core, 2,228 in Cinebench R23 single-core, and 4,704 in Passmark single-thread tests.

In Barony, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are exceptionally high. At Low settings, the average FPS reaches 449, which is likely near the upper bound of what the game engine can deliver. The fact that the CPU can sustain such high frame rates indicates that its single-core performance is more than sufficient for this title, which is typically not heavily multithreaded. The 5.60 GHz boost clock is particularly relevant here, as roguelike games often rely on a single primary game thread.

The CPU’s multi-threaded performance is also strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22,807 and a Passmark multithread score of 41,318. These scores suggest that even if Barony were to utilize multiple cores, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D would have ample headroom. The CPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 58,386. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (0.1% higher), Intel Xeon w5-2545 (0.2% lower), and Intel Core i9-14900 (0.5% higher).

The data shows that the CPU is never the bottleneck in this configuration, even at 1080p Low where the frame rate exceeds 400 FPS. The 8-core, 16-thread configuration with high boost clocks ensures that the GPU is always the limiting factor, which is the ideal scenario for a gaming system. The CPU’s L3 cache of 96 MB shared may also contribute to the smooth frame delivery, as it reduces the need to access system memory for frequently used game data.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum average FPS achievable with this combination?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 449, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 334 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 287 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23,172, which is 0.3% lower than the NVIDIA P106-100 and AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16, and 0.4% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6600M. It ranks in the 68th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU’s single-thread performance relative to its multi-thread performance?

A: The CPU scores 2,228 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 22,807 in multi-core, indicating a strong single-thread performance that is roughly 10% of its multi-core score. Passmark results show 4,704 for single-thread and 41,318 for multithread.

Q: Does the 10 GB VRAM of the RTX 3080 cause issues at 4K?

A: The data does not show any VRAM-related performance degradation. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 68, and at 4K High it is 95, indicating that the 10 GB capacity is sufficient for this game at all tested settings.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average FPS at Low is 284, while at Ultra it is 130. This represents a 54.2% reduction in frame rate when moving from the lowest to the highest preset.

Q: How does the CPU rank compared to other processors?

A: The Ryzen 7 9850X3D ranks in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 58,386 is 0.1% lower than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M and 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i9-14900.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are as follows: Low settings produce 449 FPS, Medium produces 334 FPS with a range of 284 to 384 FPS, High produces 287 FPS, and Ultra produces 206 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 243 FPS, which is a 54.1% reduction. The Medium preset shows the only recorded min/max values at this resolution, with a spread of 100 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the averages are 284 FPS for Low, 211 FPS for Medium with a range of 179 to 242 FPS, 181 FPS for High, and 130 FPS for Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 154 FPS, representing a 54.2% reduction. The Medium preset at this resolution has a min/max spread of 63 FPS, which is narrower than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the averages drop to 148 FPS for Low, 110 FPS for Medium with a range of 94 to 127 FPS, 95 FPS for High, and 68 FPS for Ultra. The difference between Low and Ultra is 80 FPS, which is a 54.1% reduction, exactly matching the percentage at lower resolutions. The Medium preset at 4K has the smallest absolute min/max spread of 33 FPS across all resolutions.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: the percentage reduction from Low to Ultra is nearly identical (54.1-54.2%) across all three resolutions. This suggests that the relative performance impact of the settings presets is resolution-independent, while the absolute frame rates scale with pixel count. The Medium preset provides the only min/max data points, with the 1080p spread of 100 FPS being the widest, indicating more frame time variance at lower resolutions where the CPU has more influence.

Settings Recommendations

For players seeking the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers an average of 449 FPS, which is likely beyond the refresh rate of any current display. This setting is recommended for competitive play or for users with high refresh rate monitors, as the frame rate headroom is substantial. However, the visual quality trade-off may not be worth it for a game like Barony, which is not graphically intensive.

The Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, it delivers 334 FPS average with a range of 284 to 384 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. At 1440p, the average is 211 FPS with a range of 179 to 242 FPS, comfortably above 144 Hz refresh rates. Even at 4K, the Medium preset maintains an average of 110 FPS with a range of 94 to 127 FPS, which is playable on most displays.

The High preset is a reasonable choice for 1440p and 4K gaming, delivering 181 FPS and 95 FPS respectively. At 1080p, the 287 FPS average is still excellent, though the jump to Medium provides a 16.4% improvement. The Ultra preset, while offering the best visual quality, drops to 130 FPS at 1440p and 68 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra figure is the only result below 100 FPS in the entire dataset, making it the least desirable option for smooth gameplay.

Given the data, the Medium preset is the recommended default for most users. It provides the highest frame rates that still include min/max data, indicating a measurable frame time distribution. At 1440p Medium, the 211 FPS average with a 63 FPS spread suggests a smooth experience on high refresh rate displays. At 4K Medium, the 110 FPS average with a 33 FPS spread is the best combination of quality and performance at that resolution. For users with 144 Hz or lower monitors, the High preset at 1440p or 4K offers sufficient performance without sacrificing too much visual quality.