Barony

FAQ

Q: Does the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination deliver the highest frame rates at 1080p?

A: No. The data shows the combo ranks 48th out of 1702 tested combinations for Barony. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average FPS is 664.1, but this is not the top result in the database.

Q: What is the weakest performance point for this hardware in Barony?

A: The lowest measured average is 100.6 FPS, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with Ultra settings. This remains well above playable thresholds, but it represents the most demanding configuration in the measured results.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rival in overall benchmark scores?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X has an average benchmark score of 54450, which is 0.4% lower than the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681) and 0.7% higher than the Intel Core i7-14700F (54097). The deltaPct values indicate near-identical performance among these processors.

Q: Is the RTX 4090's performance significantly different from its closest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 4090's average benchmark score is 66473. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla T4, scores 66733 (0.4% higher), while the NVIDIA Tesla P40 scores 66127 (0.5% lower). These differences are marginal, suggesting the GPU sits in a tight performance cluster.

Q: What is the relationship between settings and frame rate at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, moving from Low (418.5 FPS) to Medium (311.5 FPS) costs roughly 25% of performance. High settings deliver 265.9 FPS, while Ultra drops to 190 FPS. The scaling is consistent across each preset step.

Q: Does the Ryzen 9 9900X's single-thread performance support high frame rates in Barony?

A: Yes. The CPU scores 1286 in 3dmark_single_thread and 4672 in passmark_single_thread. These scores, combined with a 4.40 GHz base and 5.60 GHz boost clock, indicate strong single-core capability that aligns with the high FPS values observed.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data reveals a clear hierarchy of performance across presets. At 3840x2160, High settings produce 140.2 FPS, which represents the optimal balance for 4K gaming. Ultra drops to 100.6 FPS, a 28% reduction, while Medium (165.5 FPS) and Low (218 FPS) sacrifice visual quality for diminishing returns in speed. The step from High to Ultra costs 39.6 FPS, whereas the step from Medium to High costs 25.3 FPS. This suggests High is the sweet spot at 4K.

At 2560x1440, High settings deliver 265.9 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. Medium provides 311.5 FPS, offering headroom for competitive play, but the visual improvement from Medium to High is generally worth the 45.6 FPS trade-off. Ultra at 190 FPS remains playable but delivers less marginal benefit over High than the cost suggests.

For 1920x1080, the story changes. High settings produce 422.8 FPS, while Medium hits 492.3 FPS. The gap between Medium and Low (664.1 FPS) is substantial, but High is the recommended preset for this resolution because it maintains frame rates far above display capabilities while providing superior image quality. Ultra at 303.9 FPS is unnecessarily demanding.

The data indicates that High settings provide the best measured experience across all three resolutions. The average FPS at High is consistently 40-50% higher than Ultra while remaining close to Medium performance. For users prioritizing maximum visual fidelity, Ultra at 1440p (190 FPS) is the only Ultra configuration that stays above 150 FPS. At 4K, Ultra's 100.6 FPS is the only measured result that approaches the 100 FPS threshold, making High the clear recommendation.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the primary driver of frame rates in Barony, as evidenced by the scaling across resolutions. The GPU features 16384 shading units, 512 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, with base and boost clocks of 2235 MHz and 2520 MHz respectively. This configuration produces a pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s.

Memory bandwidth is a critical factor for high-resolution rendering. The RTX 4090's 24 GB of GDDR6X memory operates on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective. This bandwidth supports the measured FPS differences between 1080p and 4K. At 3840x2160, the average FPS across all settings is 156.1, compared to 450.7 at 1920x1080. The 2.9x resolution increase results in approximately 2.9x more pixels, requiring proportionally more memory throughput.

The RTX 4090's FP32 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 82.58 TFLOPS (1:1) indicate that the card has substantial compute headroom. This is reflected in the benchmark scores: passmark_g3d of 38194 and passmark_gpu_compute of 26613. The 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 9223 places the card in the 91st percentile versus all GPUs.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the RTX 4090's average benchmark score of 66473 is within 1.3% of the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 (67320) and 0.9% of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (67097). These deltas are negligible, indicating that the RTX 4090's gaming performance aligns closely with professional-grade cards in synthetic tests. However, the measured FPS in Barony shows the card's real-world gaming capability, which is exceptional.

The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores suggest that ray tracing and DLSS features are available, though the measured data does not include these settings. The card's slot width is triple-slot, and it requires a 16-pin power connector with a suggested PSU of 850 W.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the RTX 4090 delivers 218 FPS on Low settings. Medium reduces this to 165.5 FPS, High to 140.2 FPS, and Ultra to 100.6 FPS. The progression from Low to Medium costs 52.5 FPS (24%), from Medium to High costs 25.3 FPS (15%), and from High to Ultra costs 39.6 FPS (28%). The Ultra setting is the only one that drops below 120 FPS, making it the most demanding configuration tested.

At 2560x1440, performance scales dramatically. Low produces 418.5 FPS, which is nearly double the 4K Low result. Medium delivers 311.5 FPS, High reaches 265.9 FPS, and Ultra maintains 190 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 107 FPS (26%), between Medium and High is 45.6 FPS (15%), and between High and Ultra is 75.9 FPS (29%). The percentage reductions mirror the 4K results, indicating consistent scaling behavior.

At 1920x1080, the RTX 4090 pushes frame rates to extreme levels. Low achieves 664.1 FPS, Medium hits 492.3 FPS, High reaches 422.8 FPS, and Ultra sustains 303.9 FPS. The difference between Low and Medium is 171.8 FPS (26%), between Medium and High is 69.5 FPS (14%), and between High and Ultra is 118.9 FPS (28%). The 1080p results show that even Ultra remains above 300 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all consumer monitors.

Comparing resolutions at the same settings reveals the resolution scaling factor. At High settings, 1440p delivers 265.9 FPS versus 140.2 FPS at 4K, a 90% increase. At 1080p High, the result is 422.8 FPS, which is 59% higher than 1440p. At Low settings, 1080p (664.1 FPS) is 59% higher than 1440p (418.5 FPS), which is 92% higher than 4K (218 FPS). These ratios confirm that Barony scales predictably with pixel count.

The minimum FPS values are not reported, so the data only reflects average performance. However, the consistency of the percentage drops across settings and resolutions suggests that frame pacing is stable. The Ultra preset at 4K, with 100.6 FPS, is the only measured configuration that approaches the 100 FPS mark, while all other settings maintain at least 140 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X provides the computational foundation for Barony's high frame rates. The CPU has 12 cores and 24 threads, with base and boost clocks of 4.40 GHz and 5.60 GHz respectively. Its architecture is Zen 5 (Granite Ridge) on a 4 nm TSMC process, and it uses the AMD Socket AM5.

Barony, as a roguelike, typically relies more on single-thread performance than multi-core scaling. The CPU's 3dmark_single_thread score of 1286 and passmark_single_thread score of 4672 indicate strong single-core capability. The 2-thread 3dmark score of 2519 is nearly double the single-thread result, showing efficient thread scaling. The 4-thread score of 4886 continues this trend, while the 8-thread score of 9114 and max-thread score of 13929 demonstrate diminishing returns beyond 8 threads.

The CPU's memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s over dual-channel DDR5 supports the GPU's high data throughput requirements. The 64 MB shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 per core provide ample on-chip storage for game data. In Cinebench, the CPU scores 4680 in R15 multicore and 660 in R15 singlecore, with R23 scores of 46438 multicore and 6555 singlecore. The Geekbench multicore score is 19827 with a singlecore score of 3341.

In PassMark tests, the CPU achieves 54643 in multithread and 3381 in physics. The integer math score of 181056 and floating point math score of 120083 indicate strong arithmetic processing. Data compression (683579) and encryption (33421) scores are less relevant for gaming but show general compute capability.

The CPU's 94th percentile ranking versus all CPUs places it in the top tier. Its average benchmark score of 54450 is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D (54681, -0.4%) and the Intel Core i7-14700F (54097, +0.7%). The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K shows a -1.5% delta and the 245KF -1.8%, meaning the 9900X outperforms both by a small margin.

For Barony, the high single-thread performance ensures that game logic, AI, and procedural generation do not bottleneck the GPU. The measured FPS values at 1080p Low (664.1 FPS) suggest that the CPU can feed the RTX 4090 at rates exceeding 600 FPS, which is far beyond typical display capabilities. The CPU's 5.60 GHz boost clock is particularly relevant for maintaining peak frame rates in scenes with many entities.