Barony

Barony, a roguelike with a 2015 release date, presents an interesting benchmark scenario for the combination of an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and an AMD Radeon RX 570. The measured FPS data shows a configuration where the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, while the high-core-count CPU ensures headroom at lower settings. The data indicates a ranking of 1648 out of 1702 tested combinations for this game, placing it near the bottom of the performance table, reflecting the GPU's age relative to the CPU's modern architecture.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data for this combination reveals a steep performance cliff as resolution increases, a classic indicator of GPU-bound rendering. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves an average of 139 FPS, which is remarkably high for a roguelike, suggesting the CPU and game engine are capable of feeding frames at a rapid pace. However, moving to 1440p at the same Low settings drops the average to 87.4 FPS, a significant 37% reduction, showing that the pixel fill rate of the RX 570 is already being taxed. At 4K with Low settings, the average plummets further to 44.2 FPS, a 68% decrease from the 1080p figure, underscoring that the GPU's 4 GB of VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for the load.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings presets. For High settings, the transition from 1080p (86.3 FPS) to 1440p (53.5 FPS) represents a 38% drop, and then to 4K (29.3 FPS) a further 45% drop from the 1440p result. This monotonic decline indicates that the limiting component is unambiguously the graphics card. The data suggests that the Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads, is not the constraint; even at 1080p Low, where the CPU's workload is relatively highest, the system reaches 139 FPS, which is well within the range of a capable CPU for this genre.

The behavior of the Ultra preset reinforces this analysis. At 1080p Ultra, the average FPS is 60.7, which is a playable frame rate, but at 1440p Ultra it drops to 42.6 FPS, and at 4K Ultra it falls to a nearly unplayable 19.8 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra settings at 4K (44.2 FPS vs. 19.8 FPS) is a 55% performance penalty, demonstrating how the game's visual fidelity options directly stress the GPU's shading units and texture mapping units. The data shows a system that is well-balanced for 1080p gaming but becomes severely GPU-limited at 4K, where the RX 570's 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is simply not enough to maintain smooth frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this CPU and GPU combination in Barony?

A: The highest measured average is 139 FPS, which occurs at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K resolution with Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average FPS drops to 19.8, indicating a very demanding scenario that is likely not smooth for gameplay.

Q: Is there a significant performance difference between Low and High settings at 1080p?

A: Yes, the data shows a difference of 52.7 FPS on average. Low settings yield 139 FPS, while High settings produce 86.3 FPS, a 38% reduction in performance.

Q: What is the performance ranking of this specific hardware combo for Barony?

A: The combination ranks 1648 out of 1702 tested combinations, placing it in the lower percentile of systems for this specific game.

Q: Does the GPU's memory bandwidth appear to be a limiting factor at higher resolutions?

A: The data suggests so. The RX 570 has a 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, and the steep FPS drops at 4K (e.g., 44.2 FPS on Low) compared to 1080p indicate that the memory subsystem is struggling to feed the rendering pipeline at higher pixel counts.

Q: At what resolution and settings does the system achieve its most balanced performance?

A: Based on the data, 1920x1080 with High settings (86.3 FPS) or 2560x1440 with Low settings (87.4 FPS) appear to offer a good balance between visual quality and playability, as both exceed the 60 FPS threshold.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, based on the Polaris 20 chip and GCN 4.0 architecture, is the definitive performance bottleneck in this configuration for Barony. Its specifications—a 14 nm process, 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, and a base clock of 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz—represent an older generation of hardware. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s, which is modest by modern standards. The data shows that this memory capacity and bandwidth are sufficient for 1080p gaming in this title, but they become a constraint at higher resolutions.

The GPU's benchmark scores, while not directly tied to game FPS, provide context for its relative performance. With a percentile rank of 74 among all GPUs, it sits above the median, but its nearest rivals in average score include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which are significantly newer and more capable parts. The deltaPct values are very small (0.2% to 0.8%), suggesting that in synthetic benchmarks, the RX 570 performs similarly to these cards, but in actual gaming, the architectural differences and memory limitations would likely show a wider gap.

In Barony specifically, the GPU's 32 ROPs and 128 TMUs are responsible for the resolution scaling seen in the data. The pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s are the theoretical limits that the game's rendering engine is pushing against. The measured FPS drop from 139 at 1080p Low to 44.2 at 4K Low shows that the GPU is being overwhelmed by the sheer number of pixels, not by compute-heavy effects. The data implies that for this roguelike, which likely relies on simple geometry but potentially complex particle or lighting effects, the RX 570's raw fill rate is the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete matrix of average frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system shows a clear progression: Low settings yield 139 FPS, Medium settings produce 104.2 FPS, High settings deliver 86.3 FPS, and Ultra settings result in 60.7 FPS. This spread of 78.3 FPS between the lowest and highest settings indicates that the GPU has a wide performance envelope at this resolution, and even the most demanding preset remains playable.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance drops across the board. Low settings average 87.4 FPS, which is still smooth, but Medium settings fall to 66.9 FPS. High settings produce 53.5 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 42.6 FPS. The data shows that at 1440p, the system crosses the 60 FPS threshold between Medium and High settings, suggesting that users seeking high frame rates would need to compromise on visual fidelity. The gap between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 44.8 FPS, a smaller absolute difference than at 1080p, but still significant.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 44.2 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target, and Medium settings drop to 33.7 FPS. High settings produce 29.3 FPS, and Ultra settings fall to a very low 19.8 FPS. The data indicates that 4K gaming is not viable with this GPU for Barony, as even the lowest settings fail to reach 45 FPS. The performance degradation from 1080p to 4K is roughly 68% on Low settings, 68% on Medium, 66% on High, and 67% on Ultra, showing a consistent and severe scaling penalty due to the GPU's limitations.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, with its 12 cores and 24 threads based on the Zen 4 architecture, is a high-end desktop processor that plays a supportive role in this benchmark. Its specifications are formidable: a base clock of 4.70 GHz, a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, and a 64 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU's benchmark scores are exceptional, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 43695 and a single-core score of 6168, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 50556 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with a deltaPct of -0.1%, indicating that this processor is at the top of its class.

In the context of Barony, the CPU's role is to ensure that frame rates are not limited by processing power. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 139 FPS, which is a high frame rate that suggests the CPU is keeping up with the GPU's output. The 3DMark scores for the CPU, such as 12536 for max threads and 1093 for single-thread, demonstrate its strong multi-threading and single-threaded performance. For a roguelike game, which often involves complex simulation and procedural generation, the CPU's 12 cores and 24 threads are more than adequate to handle the game's logic.

The comparison with the CPU's nearest rivals shows that the 7900X is well-matched to other top-tier processors. Its deltaPct of -0.1% against the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and -0.4% against the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT means that in synthetic benchmarks, the performance differences are negligible. However, the data suggests that in Barony, the CPU's performance is not the limiting factor; the GPU is. The fact that the system ranks 1648 out of 1702 combinations for this game, despite having a top-tier CPU, confirms that the GPU is holding back the overall performance. The CPU's high single-thread score of 4238 in Passmark and strong 3DMark multi-thread results ensure that it can deliver frames as fast as the GPU can render them, but the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and older architecture prevent the system from achieving higher frame rates, especially at higher resolutions and settings.