Barony

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER form a high-end desktop combination for Barony, a roguelike title released in 2015. The measured data places this combo at rank 316 out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.5 percent of all tested systems. This pairing leverages a 12-core, 24-thread Zen 4 processor with a 16 GB Ada Lovelace GPU, and the benchmark results show exceptional frame rates across all tested resolutions and settings. The following analysis breaks down the CPU and GPU contributions, measured FPS across different configurations, and how resolution scaling reveals the performance bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this specific CPU-GPU pairing at position 316 out of 3717 tested combinations. That rank represents the top 8.5% of all tested combos for Barony, which is a strong showing for a game that is not particularly demanding by modern standards. The ranking reflects the synergy between the Ryzen 9 7900X and RTX 4080 SUPER, where neither component appears to hold the other back in this title.

What makes this rank notable is the context of the game itself. Barony is a roguelike with a release date of 2015, meaning it does not feature the heavy geometric complexity or advanced rendering techniques found in newer AAA titles. Despite that, the combo still lands in the 316th position, suggesting that the high core count and substantial GPU memory bandwidth contribute to consistent performance even in a less demanding environment. The rank becomes more impressive when considering that many tested combos likely feature newer or more expensive components, yet this pairing outperforms 3401 other combinations.

The data shows a clear separation from the bottom of the ranking. With 3717 total combos, being at 316 means this system sits far above the median. The percentileVsAllCpus for the processor is 91, indicating it outperforms 91% of all CPUs in the benchmark database. Similarly, the GPU’s percentileVsAllGpus is 86, meaning it beats 86% of all GPUs. When combined, these percentiles align with the overall combo rank, confirming that both components are high performers in their respective categories.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is built on the Zen 4 architecture with the Raphael codename, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It features 12 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz. This processor belongs to the 7000 series and uses the AMD Socket AM5 platform. The cache hierarchy includes 64 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and 64 MB of shared L3 cache. Memory support is DDR5 with a dual-channel bus and a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s, and it supports ECC memory.

For Barony, the CPU’s role is primarily about maintaining high frame rates without becoming a limiting factor. The 12-core, 24-thread configuration provides substantial parallel processing capability, which is reflected in the benchmark scores. In Cinebench R23, the processor scores 29300 in multicore and 2016.5 in singlecore. The 3DMark scores show scaling from 1093 in single-thread to 12536 in max threads, with intermediate scores of 2137 for 2 threads, 4151 for 4 threads, and 7798 for 8 threads. This scaling pattern indicates that the processor can efficiently utilize additional threads, which is beneficial for games that can leverage multiple cores.

The Ryzen 9 7900X sits at the 91st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53288. Its nearest rivals include the AMD EPYC 7313P with an average score of 53206 and a deltaPct of 0.2, the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 at 53469 with a deltaPct of -0.3, the Intel Xeon 634 at 52974 with a deltaPct of 0.6, and the Intel Core i7-14700F at 53620 with a deltaPct of -0.6. These rival deltas are all within 0.6% of the Ryzen’s score, showing that the 7900X is in a tightly contested performance band. However, the 7900X’s advantage in this game comes from its high single-thread performance, as indicated by the Geekbench singlecore score of 2617 and PassMark singlethread score of 4238.

In Barony, the CPU’s high boost clock of 5.60 GHz is likely more important than the core count, as roguelikes typically have moderate thread usage. The single-thread performance in Cinebench R15 is 323, and in 3DMark single-thread it is 1093, which are solid numbers for a desktop processor. The PassMark physics score of 3060 and floating point math score of 103952 further demonstrate the CPU’s capability for game physics and general computation. The processor’s TDP is 170 W, which is a figure that indicates the power envelope required for this level of performance, but the benchmark data shows that it delivers results that justify the power draw.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is based on the AD103 chip with the Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2550 MHz, with memory running at 1438 MHz (23 Gbps effective). It features 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. The pixel rate is 285.6 GPixel/s, texture rate is 816.0 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 52.22 TFLOPS.

For Barony, the GPU’s 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient, and the high memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s ensures that texture streaming and scene rendering proceed without stutter. The GPU’s benchmark scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 219065, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 260075. The PassMark G3D score is 34245, and the PassMark GPU compute score is 19822. These figures place the RTX 4080 SUPER at the 86th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54209.

The nearest rivals for the RTX 4080 SUPER include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with an average score of 54247 and a deltaPct of -0.1, the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X at 54828 with a deltaPct of -1.1, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB at 55698 with a deltaPct of -2.7, and the AMD Radeon 8060S at 55757 with a deltaPct of -2.8. These rivals show that the RTX 4080 SUPER is slightly below some other GPUs in average benchmark score, but in Barony specifically, the measured FPS tells a different story. The GPU’s boost clock of 2550 MHz and high texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s contribute to excellent frame rates even at 4K resolution.

The GPU’s 112 ROPs and 80 RT cores are relevant for rendering efficiency, though Barony does not heavily utilize ray tracing. The DirectX 12 Ultimate support with API version 12_2 ensures compatibility with modern rendering pipelines, and the Vulkan 1.4 support allows for low-overhead access. The GPU’s TDP is 320 W, with a suggested PSU of 700 W, and it uses a triple-slot design with a 16-pin power connector. The display outputs include 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, allowing for multiple monitor setups.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four settings levels, providing a comprehensive view of performance. At 1920x1080, the lowest tested resolution, the combo achieves an average of 597 FPS on Low settings, 444 FPS on Medium, 381 FPS on High, and 273 FPS on Ultra. The Medium settings also recorded a minimum of 377 FPS and a maximum of 510 FPS, showing consistency across frames. These numbers are exceptionally high, and they indicate that at 1080p, the GPU is not the limiting factor; the CPU’s single-thread performance and the game’s relatively simple rendering workload allow for frame rates that exceed most displays’ refresh rates.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops but remains very high. Low settings produce 377 FPS, Medium produces 280 FPS with a minimum of 238 and maximum of 322, High produces 240 FPS, and Ultra produces 172 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is noticeable but not dramatic, as the GPU begins to take on more responsibility for pixel processing. The Medium settings at 1440p show a minimum of 238 FPS, which is still well above 144 Hz refresh rates, making this combo suitable for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming.

At 3840x2160, the highest tested resolution, the average FPS is 197 on Low, 146 on Medium with a minimum of 124 and maximum of 168, 126 on High, and 90 on Ultra. These 4K numbers are impressive for a roguelike, with even Ultra settings maintaining 90 FPS. The Medium settings at 4K show a minimum of 124 FPS, which is above 60 FPS and close to 120 Hz thresholds. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 107 FPS, from 197 down to 90, indicating that the GPU’s load scales significantly with settings at this resolution.

The data shows a consistent pattern where Ultra settings reduce FPS by roughly half compared to Low settings at each resolution. At 1080p, Ultra is 273 FPS versus 597 FPS for Low, a 54% reduction. At 1440p, Ultra is 172 FPS versus 377 FPS for Low, a 54% reduction. At 4K, Ultra is 90 FPS versus 197 FPS for Low, a 54% reduction. This consistent scaling suggests that the GPU is handling the extra rendering work proportionally, and the CPU is not introducing a bottleneck that would alter the pattern.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about which component is the limiting factor. From 1080p Low at 597 FPS to 4K Low at 197 FPS, the frame rate drops by 67%. From 1080p Medium at 444 FPS to 4K Medium at 146 FPS, the drop is 67%. From 1080p High at 381 FPS to 4K High at 126 FPS, the drop is 67%. From 1080p Ultra at 273 FPS to 4K Ultra at 90 FPS, the drop is 67%. This uniform 67% reduction across all settings indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the pixel count increases fourfold from 1080p to 4K, but the FPS does not drop to one-quarter.

If the CPU were the limiting factor, the FPS would remain relatively flat across resolutions, since the CPU’s workload is largely independent of resolution. The data shows that FPS does decrease with resolution, meaning the GPU is doing progressively more work. However, the reduction is not as severe as a pure 4x pixel count would suggest, because the GPU has substantial bandwidth and compute resources. The 16 GB VRAM and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient to handle the increased texture and geometry load at 4K without running out of memory.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is also informative. At Medium settings, 1440p produces 280 FPS while 4K produces 146 FPS, a 48% drop. At High settings, 1440p produces 240 FPS while 4K produces 126 FPS, a 48% drop. At Low settings, 1440p produces 377 FPS while 4K produces 197 FPS, a 48% drop. At Ultra, 1440p produces 172 FPS while 4K produces 90 FPS, a 48% drop. The consistent 48% drop from 1440p to 4K, compared to the 67% drop from 1080p to 4K, suggests that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases, but it still has headroom.

The resolution scaling analysis points to the GPU as the primary limiter at 4K, while the CPU is more influential at 1080p. At 1080p Low, the 597 FPS figure is likely near the CPU’s maximum frame generation capability, as the GPU is underutilized. At 4K Ultra, the 90 FPS figure shows the GPU working harder, but still delivering playable frame rates. The fact that the FPS drops by 67% from 1080p to 4K, rather than 75% or more, indicates that the RTX 4080 SUPER’s bandwidth and compute power prevent a more severe decline.

FAQ

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested systems for Barony?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 316 out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 8.5% of all tested combos.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multicore performance?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X scores 1093 in 3DMark single-thread and 12536 in max threads, showing strong scaling. In Cinebench R23, it scores 2016.5 singlecore and 29300 multicore, indicating that both single and multi-thread performance are high, but the boost clock of 5.60 GHz benefits single-thread tasks.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to the RTX 4080 SUPER in average benchmark score?

A: The nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with a deltaPct of -0.1, the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X with a deltaPct of -1.1, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB with a deltaPct of -2.7, and the AMD Radeon 8060S with a deltaPct of -2.8.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce an average of 197 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 90 FPS. This represents a 54% reduction in frame rate, showing the impact of higher graphical settings on the GPU.

Q: Does the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K indicate a CPU or GPU bottleneck?

A: The FPS drops by 67% from 1080p to 4K across all settings, from 597 FPS to 197 FPS on Low. This consistent reduction indicates the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU workload does not scale with resolution.

Q: What is the minimum FPS recorded for Medium settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 238, with an average of 280 and a maximum of 322. This minimum is still above 144 Hz, making the combo suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 4080 SUPER’s memory bandwidth compare to its VRAM size?

A: The GPU has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s. This bandwidth is sufficient for the memory demands of Barony at 4K, as evidenced by the 126 FPS average on High settings at that resolution.

Q: What are the CPU’s cache specifications?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has 64 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, and 64 MB shared L3 cache. These cache sizes contribute to low-latency data access, which is beneficial for game logic and physics calculations in Barony.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for the CPU and GPU?

A: The CPU has an average benchmark score of 53288, ranking at the 91st percentile among all CPUs. The GPU has an average benchmark score of 54209, ranking at the 86th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the maximum FPS recorded for Medium settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the maximum FPS is 510, with an average of 444 and a minimum of 377. This shows that the combo can exceed 500 FPS in less demanding scenes.