Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers a compelling 1080p and 1440p gaming experience in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015 that scales impressively across resolutions. Benchmark data shows this combination achieving high frame rates even at 4K, though the relationship between settings presets and performance reveals interesting bottlenecks that shift depending on resolution. The combo ranks 1935th out of 2935 tested combinations in this game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all tested systems, which is notable given the CPU's strong synthetic benchmarks and the GPU's mid-range positioning.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination in Barony?

A: According to the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 provides the highest frame rates across all settings, with Low hitting 294 FPS, Medium reaching 219 FPS, High achieving 188 FPS, and Ultra still delivering 135 FPS. At 2560x1440, the combo remains highly playable with High at 118 FPS and Ultra at 85 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060 has an average benchmark score of 26331, placing it 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon 860M (26401) and 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 (26421), while sitting 1.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26011). The GPU ranks in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU's performance ranking relative to other processors?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX scores 76212 on average benchmarks, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. It sits nearly identical to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (76155, 0.1% difference) and the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P (76492, -0.4% difference), while trailing the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX (76513) by 0.4%.

Q: Does Barony show a preference for CPU or GPU performance?

A: The data indicates the game scales well with both, but the CPU's exceptional multi-threaded performance (42713 in Cinebench R23 multi-core) combined with the GPU's mid-range positioning suggests the system becomes GPU-limited at higher settings, particularly at 4K where Ultra drops to 44 FPS.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for this combo?

A: The measured data includes minimum FPS only for Medium settings: 61 FPS at 4K, 117 FPS at 1440p, and 186 FPS at 1080p. Other settings presets lack min FPS measurements, but the Medium preset's minimums confirm smooth gameplay across all tested resolutions.

Q: How does the combo's ranking in Barony compare to its overall component rankings?

A: The combo ranks 1935th out of 2935 tested combinations (approximately 66th percentile), while the CPU alone ranks in the 95th percentile and the GPU in the 72nd percentile. This suggests the pairing does not fully leverage the CPU's potential in this specific game.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 1935 out of 2935 tested combinations places this system in the upper third of all tested hardware pairings for Barony. This ranking is interesting when contextualized against the individual component percentiles—the CPU sits in the 95th percentile of all processors, while the GPU ranks in only the 72nd percentile. The gap between these two figures hints that the RTX 5060 may be holding back the Ryzen 9 8945HX in this title, or that Barony's engine cannot fully utilize the CPU's massive 16-core, 32-thread configuration.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores are exceptional: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 42713, single-core hits 6030, and PassMark multi-thread scores 51405. These numbers place it within 0.4% of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX and essentially tied with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (0.1% difference). Yet in Barony, the measured FPS at 1080p Ultra (135 FPS) suggests the game does not scale linearly with this level of CPU horsepower.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 26331 puts it in a tight cluster with its nearest rivals—the AMD Radeon 860M at 26401 (-0.3%) and the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 at 26421 (-0.3%)—while the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT trails by 1.2% at 26011. This clustering indicates the RTX 5060 delivers performance that is competitive with these alternatives, but the 72nd percentile ranking overall suggests it is not a top-tier GPU.

The discrepancy between the combo's 66th percentile ranking and the CPU's 95th percentile ranking underscores that Barony is not a CPU-bound title at these settings. Instead, the data points toward GPU limitations at higher resolutions and settings, which becomes evident when examining the resolution scaling behavior.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals clear resolution scaling patterns that identify the limiting component at each tier. At 1080p, the system delivers 294 FPS on Low, 219 FPS on Medium, 188 FPS on High, and 135 FPS on Ultra. Moving to 1440p, these figures drop to 186 FPS, 138 FPS, 118 FPS, and 85 FPS respectively. At 4K, the numbers fall further to 97 FPS, 72 FPS, 62 FPS, and 44 FPS.

The percentage drops between 1080p and 4K are substantial: Low falls from 294 to 97 FPS (approximately 67% reduction), Medium from 219 to 72 FPS (67% reduction), High from 188 to 62 FPS (67% reduction), and Ultra from 135 to 44 FPS (67% reduction). This consistent 67% drop across all settings presets strongly indicates a GPU-bound scenario—the CPU has ample headroom, but the RTX 5060 cannot maintain frame rates as pixel count quadruples.

The scaling pattern between 1080p and 1440p shows approximately 37% reduction for Low (294 to 186), 37% for Medium (219 to 138), 37% for High (188 to 118), and 37% for Ultra (135 to 85). This uniformity suggests the GPU is the primary bottleneck even at 1080p, as the CPU's massive multi-threaded capabilities (16 cores, 32 threads, 5.40 GHz boost) are not being fully exercised.

At 4K, the Ultra preset's 44 FPS average indicates the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus (448.0 GB/s bandwidth) are insufficient for maximum quality at that resolution. The GPU's 2497 MHz boost clock and 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance cannot compensate for the pixel throughput demands, confirming that resolution scaling in Barony follows a predictable GPU-limited trajectory.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest performance. Low settings produce 294 FPS average, representing the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 FPS and maximum of 251 FPS, showing tight frame pacing. High settings achieve 188 FPS, while Ultra drops to 135 FPS. All 1080p presets exceed the 120 FPS threshold, making this resolution ideal for high refresh rate displays.

At 2560x1440, performance remains robust but shows expected declines. Low settings hit 186 FPS, Medium reaches 138 FPS with minimum 117 FPS and maximum 159 FPS, High achieves 118 FPS, and Ultra produces 85 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 117 FPS suggests the system maintains smooth gameplay even during demanding scenes, though Ultra's 85 FPS average indicates some compromise is necessary for maximum quality at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the system becomes increasingly challenged. Low settings manage 97 FPS, Medium drops to 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS and maximum of 83 FPS, High falls to 62 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 44 FPS. The Medium preset's 61 FPS minimum is borderline for smooth play, while Ultra's 44 FPS average is below the 60 FPS target most gamers prefer. The 4K results clearly show the RTX 5060's limitations at this resolution.

The data reveals that the Medium preset offers the most balanced experience across all resolutions, with minimum FPS values of 186 FPS at 1080p, 117 FPS at 1440p, and 61 FPS at 4K. The High and Ultra presets lack minimum FPS measurements, but their average FPS figures suggest they would exhibit larger frame time variances.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 serves as the primary performance limiter in this combination, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, which proves adequate for 1080p and 1440p but strains at 4K Ultra where the 44 FPS average indicates memory bandwidth constraints.

The GPU's clock speeds—2280 MHz base and 2497 MHz boost—drive its 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance, which is competitive with its nearest rivals. The PassMark G3D score of 20891 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3628 position the card in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs. The tight clustering with rivals (AMD Radeon 860M at -0.3%, NVIDIA GeForce MX550 at -0.3%, AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT at +1.2%) suggests the RTX 5060 offers performance in a narrow band, with no significant advantage over these alternatives.

The GPU's 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores support DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, though Barony's 2015 release date means the game likely does not utilize these modern features. The 5 nm process node and 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die indicate architectural efficiency, but the 145 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU requirement position this as a mid-range mobile GPU.

The measured FPS data shows the GPU's impact most clearly at 4K: the 67% FPS drop from 1080p across all settings presets matches the 4x pixel count increase, confirming the GPU is fully saturated. At 1080p, the 294 FPS Low setting suggests the GPU still has headroom, but the 135 FPS Ultra figure indicates that higher quality settings consume the available bandwidth and shading resources.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data supports the Medium preset as the optimal balance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 219 FPS average with a 186 FPS minimum, providing a 33% improvement over High's 188 FPS while maintaining a smooth experience. The 251 FPS maximum demonstrates the system's capability to handle peak scenes without stutter.

At 1440p, Medium's 138 FPS average (117 FPS minimum) keeps gameplay above 120 FPS, while High drops to 118 FPS—still playable but with less margin. Ultra at 85 FPS is acceptable for slower-paced roguelike gameplay but sacrifices the smoothness that Medium provides. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 72 FPS average with 61 FPS minimum, which is the only 4K configuration that maintains playable frame rates.

For competitive play or maximum smoothness, Low settings at 1080p (294 FPS) or 1440p (186 FPS) offer the highest frame rates, but the visual quality reduction may not be justified given Medium's already excellent performance. High settings at 1080p (188 FPS) and 1440p (118 FPS) provide a middle ground for users prioritizing visual fidelity without major frame rate sacrifices.

Ultra settings are only recommended at 1080p where 135 FPS remains smooth. At 1440p, Ultra's 85 FPS is borderline, and at 4K, the 44 FPS average falls below acceptable playability thresholds. The data suggests that users with 4K displays should select Medium, while 1440p users can choose between Medium (138 FPS) and High (118 FPS) based on visual preferences.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX provides substantial computational headroom that Barony does not fully utilize. With 16 cores and 32 threads based on Zen 4 architecture (Dragon Range codename), the CPU achieves a 5.40 GHz boost clock and 2.50 GHz base clock. Its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 42713 and single-core score of 6030 place it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs, yet the game's FPS data suggests the CPU is not the primary bottleneck.

The CPU's 64 MB L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide ample data locality for game workloads, while 83.2 GB/s memory bandwidth over dual-channel DDR5 ensures the GPU receives data without starvation. The PassMark integer math score of 195180 and floating-point math score of 117453 indicate strong general-purpose performance, but Barony's roguelike genre likely does not demand the full computational throughput this CPU offers.

The nearest rival comparisons show the CPU trading blows with top-tier processors: 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, 0.4% behind the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P, and 0.4% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX. This performance tier suggests the CPU could drive much higher frame rates if the GPU were not limiting.

The measured FPS scaling—identical 67% drops from 1080p to 4K across all settings—confirms the CPU is not the limiting factor at any resolution. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the FPS would remain more constant as resolution increases. Instead, the consistent GPU-bound behavior indicates the Ryzen 9 8945HX has significant untapped headroom in Barony, making this combination more GPU-limited than the CPU's 95th percentile ranking might suggest.