Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 pairing delivers exceptional frame rates in Barony, a roguelike that scales from 100 FPS at 4K Ultra to 663 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination ranks 111th out of 2,935 tested combos in the game, placing it in the top 4% of all configurations. The data shows a system that is heavily GPU-bound at 4K, but increasingly CPU-bound as resolution drops, with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's 96 MB of L3 cache and 4.70 GHz base clock proving more than sufficient for Barony's demands.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of diminishing returns as resolution increases, with frame rates dropping by roughly half from 1080p to 4K at every settings preset. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 423 at 1920x1080 to 267 at 2560x1440, then to 140 at 3840x2160—a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K. This scaling curve is consistent with a system where the CPU has significant headroom at lower resolutions, and the GPU becomes the limiting factor as pixel count rises.

The Low preset shows the most dramatic scaling, with average FPS dropping from 663 at 1080p to 418 at 1440p and finally to 219 at 4K. The 1080p Low result of 663 FPS is particularly telling: it suggests the CPU is near its maximum throughput in this scenario, as even the RTX 4090 is not fully utilized at such high frame rates. The gap between 1080p and 1440p Low is 245 FPS, while the gap between 1440p and 4K Low is 199 FPS, indicating that the resolution scaling is relatively linear in CPU-bound territory.

Medium settings follow a similar trajectory, with 493 FPS at 1080p, 311 FPS at 1440p, and 163 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset at 4K also provides the only complete min/max data across all settings, with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS. Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board, with 303 FPS at 1080p, 191 FPS at 1440p, and 100 FPS at 4K—the latter representing the only three-digit result in the entire measured set.

The scaling from 1080p to 4K at Ultra (303 to 100 FPS, a 67% drop) mirrors the High preset's reduction almost exactly. This consistency across presets suggests that Barony's rendering pipeline scales predictably with resolution, and the RTX 4090's 24 GB GDDR6X memory and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth are not causing any memory-related bottlenecks at any tested resolution. The 4K Ultra result of 100 FPS remains well above playable thresholds, indicating that even the most demanding configuration is comfortably within the RTX 4090's capabilities.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D combined with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 111 out of 2,935 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the 96th percentile of all tested systems. This high ranking reflects both the CPU's strong single-threaded performance and the GPU's raw rasterization power, which together produce frame rates that exceed what most systems can deliver in this roguelike title.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 58,386 places it in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, with nearest rivals including the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58,323, only 0.1% lower), the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58,504, 0.2% higher), the Intel Core i9-14900 (58,115, 0.5% lower), and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (58,826, 0.7% higher). These extremely tight margins—all within 0.7% of each other—suggest that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's performance is nearly indistinguishable from several high-end server and desktop processors in general compute tasks.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 60,347 places it in the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals being the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, 0% difference), the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, 0.3% lower), the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896, 2.5% higher), and the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657, 2.9% lower). The RTX 4090's percentile ranking is slightly lower than the CPU's, but in Barony specifically, the combo's 111th rank out of 2,935 demonstrates that this pairing is exceptionally well-suited to the game's requirements.

Given that Barony is a 2015 roguelike with relatively modest graphical demands, the high combo rank is expected. The data indicates that the CPU's 8 cores and 16 threads, combined with its 96 MB L3 cache, provide ample processing power, while the GPU's 16,384 shading units and 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance are more than sufficient to maintain high frame rates even at 4K Ultra settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 brings substantial hardware resources to Barony, including 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU's memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective, while the base clock of 2235 MHz boosts to 2520 MHz under load. These specifications position the RTX 4090 as a top-tier graphics card, and the measured FPS data confirms that it handles Barony's rendering workload with considerable headroom.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions and settings. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 100 indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate drops significantly from the 1080p Ultra result of 303 FPS. The 4K Medium result of 163 FPS, with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS, shows that even at reduced settings, the GPU's workload at 4K is substantial. The RTX 4090's 176 ROPs and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate are clearly being exercised at this resolution.

At 1080p Low, the 663 FPS result suggests that the GPU is not the bottleneck; instead, the CPU's single-threaded performance likely caps the frame rate. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's 5.60 GHz boost clock and 4,704 single-thread PassMark score provide the processing power needed to feed the GPU at such high frame rates. The GPU's tensor cores (512) and RT cores (128) are not directly relevant to Barony, as the game does not appear to utilize ray tracing or DLSS-based features in the measured data.

The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are more than adequate for Barony's visual effects, even at Ultra settings. The 4K Ultra result of 100 FPS, while the lowest in the measured set, remains smooth for gameplay, indicating that the RTX 4090 has headroom to spare. The 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while lower than the CPU's 92nd percentile, still places the RTX 4090 in the top tier of graphics hardware.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data spans three resolutions (1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3840x2160) and four settings presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra), providing a comprehensive view of performance across the visual quality spectrum.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers an average of 663 FPS, the highest result in the entire dataset. Medium settings produce 493 FPS average, with a minimum of 419 FPS and maximum of 567 FPS. High settings yield 423 FPS average, while Ultra settings drop to 303 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 360 FPS, demonstrating that Barony's settings have a significant impact on frame rate even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 418 FPS, a 245 FPS drop from the 1080p Low result. Medium settings average 311 FPS, with a minimum of 264 FPS and maximum of 358 FPS. High settings produce 267 FPS average, and Ultra settings deliver 191 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1440p is 227 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is beginning to exert more influence on performance.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 219 FPS, Medium settings average 163 FPS (minimum 138 FPS, maximum 187 FPS), High settings produce 140 FPS average, and Ultra settings deliver 100 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 119 FPS, the narrowest of the three resolutions, confirming that the GPU becomes the dominant bottleneck as resolution increases.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions: 419-567 FPS at 1080p, 264-358 FPS at 1440p, and 138-187 FPS at 4K. This data shows that frame time variance remains relatively consistent across resolutions, with the minimum FPS typically being about 15-18% lower than the average. The max FPS values are consistently 15-18% higher than the average, indicating stable frame pacing without major spikes or stutters.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Barony?

A: The highest average FPS is 663, achieved at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only result exceeding 600 FPS in the measured dataset.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 9850X3D compare to its nearest rival in general benchmarks?

A: The Ryzen 7 9850X3D scores 58,386 on average, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58,323), 0.2% lower than the Intel Xeon w5-2545 (58,504), 0.5% higher than the Intel Core i9-14900 (58,115), and 0.7% lower than the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (58,826).

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded, and at what settings?

A: The lowest average FPS is 100, recorded at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the only result in the dataset that falls to exactly 100 FPS.

Q: Does the combo's GPU rank higher or lower than its CPU in percentile terms?

A: The CPU ranks in the 92nd percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU ranks in the 88th percentile among all GPUs. The CPU has a slightly higher relative standing.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 423 at 1920x1080 to 140 at 3840x2160, a reduction of 283 FPS or approximately 67%.

Q: How many shading units does the RTX 4090 have?

A: The RTX 4090 features 16,384 shading units, along with 512 texture mapping units and 176 render output units.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting the highest visual fidelity, the Ultra preset at 1920x1080 delivers 303 FPS average, which is well above the threshold for smooth gameplay on high-refresh-rate monitors. At 2560x1440, Ultra settings produce 191 FPS average, still excellent for 144Hz displays. The 4K Ultra result of 100 FPS average is perfectly playable on 60Hz or 120Hz displays, though it represents the only configuration in the measured set that dips to exactly three figures.

The High preset offers a balanced alternative, with 423 FPS at 1080p, 267 FPS at 1440p, and 140 FPS at 4K. This preset maintains frame rates above 240 FPS at 1080p, above 144 FPS at 1440p, and above 120 FPS at 4K, making it the recommended choice for competitive play where high refresh rates matter. The 4K High result of 140 FPS is particularly strong, as it exceeds 120 FPS by a comfortable margin.

For players prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Medium preset provides the best combination of visual quality and performance, with 493 FPS at 1080p, 311 FPS at 1440p, and 163 FPS at 4K. The Medium preset at 4K also has the most complete frame time data, with a minimum of 138 FPS and maximum of 187 FPS, indicating stable performance. The Low preset delivers the highest possible frame rates—663 FPS at 1080p, 418 FPS at 1440p, and 219 FPS at 4K—but sacrifices visual fidelity for speed.

Given the data, the Ultra preset at 2560x1440 (191 FPS) offers the best high-fidelity experience, while the High preset at 3840x2160 (140 FPS) is the optimal choice for 4K gaming with high refresh rates. Players on 1080p displays should use the Ultra preset (303 FPS) to maximize visual quality without compromising performance, as the frame rate remains far above what any current display can reproduce.