Barony

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 4K Ultra settings for this combo?

A: The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination delivers an average of 71 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is the lowest average among the four tested settings at that resolution.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its nearest rival?

A: The Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54,762, which is 0.6% lower than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF's score of 55,093. It is 1.3% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K's 54,053 score.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 4070 features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. Its memory clock runs at 1313 MHz, translating to 21 Gbps effective.

Q: What is the best performance at 1440p with this hardware?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset yields the highest average FPS at 296. The Medium preset delivers 220 FPS on average, with a minimum of 187 and maximum of 253 FPS.

Q: Does this CPU support overclocking?

A: Yes, the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D has an unlocked multiplier. It uses the AMD Socket AM5 platform and has a base clock of 4.40 GHz with a boost clock of 5.50 GHz.

Q: How does the GPU's average score compare to the closest competitor?

A: The RTX 4070's average benchmark score is 37,648, which is 0.1% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P4's 37,628. It trails the GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile by 1.3%, which scores 38,135.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data across three resolutions and four quality presets provides a clear picture of how this combination scales. The sweet spot for balanced performance is the Medium preset, which offers the only complete FPS range data in the pack—providing minimum and maximum values alongside averages.

At 1920x1080, the Medium preset averages 349 FPS, with a minimum of 296 and maximum of 401 FPS. This delivers a high refresh rate experience while retaining visual quality above Low. The High preset at 1080p drops to 299 FPS average, still strong but with no minimum/maximum recorded. Low hits 469 FPS, which is excessive for most displays and sacrifices visual fidelity.

The story shifts at 2560x1440. Medium averages 220 FPS, with a minimum of 187 FPS—still comfortably above 144 Hz refresh rates. High averages 189 FPS, which also crosses that threshold. Ultra averages 135 FPS, which is borderline for 144 Hz panels but ideal for 120 Hz displays. Low at 296 FPS is unnecessary for typical 1440p monitors.

At 3840x2160, the choices narrow. Medium is the only preset with full FPS range data: 98 minimum, 115 average, and 132 maximum. This makes it the only 4K setting where frame pacing can be fully assessed. High averages 99 FPS, matching the Medium minimum, which suggests potential stutter risk. Ultra averages 71 FPS, which is playable but below the 90+ FPS threshold many consider smooth. Low averages 155 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial.

For the best experience per the measured rows, Medium at 2560x1440 is the recommended target. It provides a 220 FPS average with a 187 FPS floor, ensuring consistent performance above 144 Hz. If 4K is mandatory, Medium is the only preset with verified minimum FPS data, making it the safest choice despite its 115 FPS average.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor from the 9000 series, built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates at a 4.40 GHz base clock and boosts to 5.50 GHz, with a 120 W TDP. The chip uses the AMD Socket AM5 platform and supports DDR5 memory in a dual-channel configuration, providing 89.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

This processor's cache hierarchy is notable: 80 KB of L1 per core, 1 MB of L2 per core, and a substantial 128 MB of L3 cache. The 128 MB L3 is particularly relevant for a roguelike like Barony, which often involves procedural generation and repeated data access patterns that benefit from large cache capacity. The 4 nm process node from TSMC houses 16,630 million transistors across a 2x 70.6 mm² die size.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong single-thread performance with a 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 6,739. Multi-threaded results are robust: Cinebench R23 multi-core reaches 47,737, and Geekbench multi-core scores 22,884. The PassMark multithread score of 56,154 confirms heavy parallel workloads scale well across the 24 threads.

The CPU's 3DMark results show scaling from 4 threads to 8 threads: 4,885 to 9,002, nearly doubling. From 8 threads to 16 threads, the score rises to 12,490, and max threads reaches 13,795. This scaling pattern indicates that Barony, which is a relatively lightweight roguelike, will not fully utilize all 24 threads, but the strong single-thread score ensures it won't bottleneck the GPU.

The Ryzen 9 9900X3D sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs by average benchmark score. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF, scores 55,093, just 0.6% higher. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K is 1.3% lower, and the Intel Xeon 6505P is 2% lower. This positions the CPU as a top-tier performer that exceeds the requirements of most games, including Barony.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and RTX 4070 ranks 663rd out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the top 22.6% of all tested configurations, which is a strong showing for a mid-to-high-end pairing.

This rank reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU. The CPU's 91st percentile performance ensures it is not a limiting factor, while the GPU's 81st percentile places it slightly lower. In a game like Barony, which is not graphically demanding by modern standards, the GPU still determines the ceiling at higher resolutions and settings.

The rank of 663 out of 2,935 suggests that many combos with higher-tier GPUs outperform this pairing, but it also indicates that a substantial majority of tested systems—over 77%—score lower. For a roguelike that prioritizes frame rate smoothness over visual complexity, this combo delivers performance that exceeds the requirements of most displays.

At 1080p, the FPS figures are exceptionally high—469 on Low and 349 on Medium—which indicates the CPU is feeding the GPU adequately. If the CPU were a bottleneck, these numbers would plateau regardless of resolution. The fact that 4K Ultra drops to 71 FPS while 1080p Ultra hits 215 FPS shows the scaling is GPU-bound at higher resolutions, confirming the CPU has headroom.

The combo rank benefits from the CPU's cache architecture. Barony's procedural dungeon generation often involves large data structures that benefit from the 128 MB L3 cache, reducing memory latency and improving frame consistency. This is reflected in the Medium preset's minimum FPS values, which are relatively close to averages—187 vs 220 at 1440p, and 98 vs 115 at 4K.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD104 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, with a transistor density of 121.8M per mm². The GPU operates at a base clock of 1920 MHz and boosts to 2475 MHz.

Memory configuration is a defining feature: 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1313 MHz, which translates to 21 Gbps effective. This bandwidth is sufficient for Barony's requirements, as the game's asset sizes are modest compared to modern AAA titles.

The GPU has 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output processors. It includes 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The pixel rate is 158.4 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 455.4 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is rated at 29.15 TFLOPS.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4070 scores 26,927 in PassMark G3D and 14,720 in PassMark GPU Compute. Its Geekbench Vulkan score is 174,152, and OpenCL scores 154,858. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test yields 3,854. These scores place the GPU in the 81st percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU's nearest rivals show tight competition: the NVIDIA Tesla P4 scores 37,628 (0.1% lower), the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37,507 (0.4% lower), and the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 scores 37,157 (1.3% lower). The GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is 1.3% higher at 38,135. This clustering indicates the RTX 4070 sits at a performance plateau where small differences separate competitors.

For Barony, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 4K, the Ultra preset averages 71 FPS, while Low averages 155 FPS—a 2.2x difference. This scaling shows the GPU is the primary constraint at 4K Ultra. At 1080p, the difference between Low (469 FPS) and Ultra (215 FPS) is also 2.2x, but the absolute numbers are so high that the GPU is rarely the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data covers three resolutions and four quality presets, with complete average values for all combinations. Minimum and maximum FPS values are only provided for the Medium preset at each resolution.

At 1920x1080, the performance is exceptional. Low settings produce an average of 469 FPS, which is the highest figure in the entire dataset. Medium averages 349 FPS, with a minimum of 296 and maximum of 401 FPS—a 105 FPS spread that indicates some frame pacing variation. High averages 299 FPS, and Ultra averages 215 FPS. The jump from Ultra to High is 84 FPS, while the jump from High to Medium is 50 FPS, and from Medium to Low is 120 FPS. This suggests diminishing returns as settings increase.

At 2560x1440, the same pattern emerges with lower absolute numbers. Low averages 296 FPS, Medium averages 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 and maximum of 253 FPS, High averages 189 FPS, and Ultra averages 135 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 187 FPS is notable because it is only 2 FPS below the High preset's average of 189 FPS, indicating Medium provides more consistent performance than the average suggests.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low averages 155 FPS, Medium averages 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 and maximum of 132 FPS, High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 71 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 98 FPS is nearly identical to High's average of 99 FPS, which suggests that the High preset may have more variable frame times than the average implies.

Comparing across resolutions, the scaling is consistent. At Low settings, 1080p is 469 FPS, 1440p is 296 FPS (63% of 1080p), and 4K is 155 FPS (33% of 1080p). At Ultra, 1080p is 215 FPS, 1440p is 135 FPS (63%), and 4K is 71 FPS (33%). This consistent scaling indicates the GPU is the primary constraint, with resolution changes affecting performance proportionally.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete data, allowing for frame time analysis. At 4K, the spread from minimum to maximum is 34 FPS (98 to 132), which is 30% of the average. At 1440p, the spread is 66 FPS (187 to 253), which is also 30% of the average. At 1080p, the spread is 105 FPS (296 to 401), which is also 30% of the average. This consistent 30% spread suggests that Barony's frame time variance scales proportionally with resolution, and the Medium preset offers predictable performance characteristics.