Barony

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination delivers exceptional performance in Barony, a roguelike title that is far more demanding on the GPU than its genre peers. The measured frame rates are consistently high across all resolutions, with the data showing a clear progression from 1080p to 4K that highlights the strengths and limitations of this particular hardware pairing. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, the roles of each component, and how this combo ranks among the thousands of tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data reveals a classic resolution scaling curve, with performance dropping as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 600 FPS, which drops to 379 FPS at 1440p and further to 198 FPS at 4K. This represents a 68.3% reduction in frame rate from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, but the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases.

The scaling pattern shifts with higher settings. At Ultra settings, the average FPS drops from 274 at 1080p to 173 at 1440p (a 36.9% decrease) and then to 91 at 4K (a 47.4% decrease from 1440p). This steeper decline at higher settings suggests that the GPU's workload scales more aggressively with both resolution and graphical fidelity. The gap between Low and Ultra settings also widens with resolution: at 1080p, Ultra is 54.3% slower than Low, while at 4K, Ultra is 54.0% slower, showing a consistent penalty for maximum quality.

The Medium settings data includes min and max FPS values, which provide insight into frame time consistency. At 1080p Medium, the average is 446 FPS with a min of 379 and max of 513, a spread of 134 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 281 FPS with a min of 239 and max of 324, while at 4K Medium, the average is 147 FPS with a min of 125 and max of 169. The relative spread (max-min)/avg remains fairly consistent around 30%, indicating that the frame pacing is stable across resolutions, though the absolute variance is smaller at 4K due to the lower overall frame rate.

These results indicate that the RTX 4080 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, especially at Ultra settings where the average drops below 100 FPS. At 1080p and 1440p, the CPU's strong single-threaded performance is sufficient to keep frame rates extremely high, but the GPU's rendering capacity caps the output at 4K. The data shows that this combo is best suited for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p, where it can exceed 240 FPS on High settings, while 4K gaming is viable but requires accepting lower settings to maintain high frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D is a 12-core, 24-thread processor based on the Zen 5 architecture, codenamed Granite Ridge. It operates on the AMD Socket AM5 platform with a base clock of 4.40 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz. The processor features a large 128 MB L3 cache, which is beneficial for gaming workloads that rely on data locality. Its 3DMark single-thread score of 1269 and multi-thread score of 13795 indicate strong per-core performance, which is critical for Barony's game logic and physics calculations.

In Barony, the CPU's role is to handle game state updates, entity interactions, and procedural generation. The high boost clock of 5.50 GHz ensures that single-threaded tasks are executed quickly, while the 12 cores allow for efficient multi-threading when the game utilizes multiple threads. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12490 demonstrates that the CPU scales well with additional threads, though the 2-thread score of 2512 shows nearly linear scaling, suggesting that the game may not heavily utilize all 24 threads.

The CPU's benchmark performance places it in the 91st percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 54762. Compared to its nearest rivals, the 9900X3D is 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (which scores 55093) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54053). This puts it in a competitive position, though the margin is small. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 47737 and single-core score of 6739 further confirm its strong performance for both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

The data suggests that the CPU is not the limiting factor in Barony at any resolution tested. Even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate reaches 600 FPS, the CPU is able to keep up with the GPU's output. The high L3 cache and fast clock speeds are well-suited for a roguelike game that may generate large amounts of data per frame. However, the fact that the frame rate scales down significantly with resolution indicates that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher pixel counts, not the CPU.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, featuring the AD103 chip built on a 5 nm process. It has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 716.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with 9728 shading units and 304 texture mapping units. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and Passmark G3D score of 34457 indicate strong overall graphics performance.

In Barony, the GPU is responsible for rendering the 3D environments, lighting, and visual effects. The 16 GB VRAM is ample for the game's texture requirements, and the high memory bandwidth ensures that texture streaming is not a bottleneck. The GPU's performance percentile of 86 places it above most other graphics cards, though its nearest rivals show very close scores: the RTX 4080 SUPER is 0.1% ahead (54209 vs 54247), while the AMD Radeon Pro W5700X is 1.1% behind (54828).

The GPU's role becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. The measured FPS data shows that the RTX 4080 can deliver 198 FPS at 4K Low, but this drops to 91 FPS at 4K Ultra. This 54% reduction from Low to Ultra at 4K highlights the GPU's workload scaling with graphical settings. At 1440p, the GPU still maintains high frame rates, with 379 FPS at Low and 173 FPS at Ultra, showing that the card has sufficient headroom for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution.

The GPU's boost clock of 2505 MHz is relatively high, contributing to its strong performance. The 112 ROPs and 76 RT cores are sufficient for the game's rendering requirements, though Barony does not appear to rely heavily on ray tracing based on the frame rates. The GPU's Passmark DirectX 12 score of 132 suggests that the game may not be using the most advanced DirectX features, which could explain why the frame rates are so high compared to more demanding titles.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 ranks 244th out of 3717 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 6.6% of all configurations. This high ranking indicates that this pairing is well-suited for the game, outperforming the vast majority of other hardware combinations. The combo's performance is consistent with the individual component rankings, as both the CPU and GPU are in the top percentiles of their respective categories.

The rank of 244 out of 3717 suggests that there are 243 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in Barony. These likely include more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 4090 or newer generations, or possibly CPUs with higher single-threaded performance. However, the 9900X3D and RTX 4080 combination still delivers excellent results, with the measured FPS values showing that it can handle the game at high settings across all resolutions.

The combo's rank is notable because it demonstrates that the pairing is balanced for this game. Neither component appears to be a significant bottleneck, as the frame rates scale predictably with resolution and settings. The data shows that the combo is in the 94th percentile of all tested combinations, which is a strong indicator of its suitability for Barony. This ranking also suggests that users with this hardware can expect a smooth and responsive gaming experience, even at 4K with Ultra settings, where the average FPS of 91 is still above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the combo achieves an average of 600 FPS on Low settings, 446 FPS on Medium, 383 FPS on High, and 274 FPS on Ultra. The Medium preset has a min FPS of 379 and max FPS of 513, indicating a wide frame time distribution. This is the only setting at 1080p with min/max data available.

Moving to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops to 379 on Low, 281 on Medium, 242 on High, and 173 on Ultra. The Medium preset at 1440p shows a min of 239 and max of 324, representing a 35.6% spread from min to max. At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 198 on Low, 147 on Medium, 126 on High, and 91 on Ultra. The 4K Medium preset has a min of 125 and max of 169, which is a tighter range compared to lower resolutions.

The data shows a consistent pattern: as settings increase from Low to Ultra, the FPS decreases by roughly 50-60% at each resolution. For example, at 1080p, Ultra is 54.3% slower than Low, while at 1440p, Ultra is 54.4% slower, and at 4K, Ultra is 54.0% slower. This consistency suggests that the GPU's workload scales linearly with settings, and the CPU is not introducing any additional bottlenecks at higher settings.

The min FPS values for Medium settings are particularly informative. At 1080p, the min FPS of 379 is 85% of the average, while at 1440p, the min of 239 is 85% of the average, and at 4K, the min of 125 is 85% of the average. This indicates that frame pacing is consistent across resolutions, with no significant stuttering or frame drops. The max FPS values also show a similar pattern, with the max being approximately 15% higher than the average at each resolution.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p gaming, the High preset at 383 FPS is the best choice for most users, as it provides a substantial visual improvement over Medium (446 FPS) while still delivering an extremely high frame rate. The Ultra preset at 274 FPS is also viable for users with 240Hz displays, as it remains well above the refresh rate threshold. However, the Low preset at 600 FPS offers no practical benefit unless the user has a 600Hz display, which is uncommon.

At 1440p, the High preset at 242 FPS is the recommended choice for high-refresh-rate monitors, as it exceeds 240Hz. The Medium preset at 281 FPS is also excellent, but the visual difference between Medium and High may be noticeable in a roguelike game with detailed environments. The Ultra preset at 173 FPS is suitable for 144Hz or 165Hz displays, providing a good balance of visual quality and performance. The Low preset at 379 FPS is overkill for most displays and sacrifices visual fidelity unnecessarily.

At 4K, the Medium preset at 147 FPS is the best overall recommendation, as it provides a smooth experience on 144Hz displays while maintaining decent visual quality. The High preset at 126 FPS is also viable for 120Hz displays, offering improved visuals with a slight performance penalty. The Ultra preset at 91 FPS is playable on 90Hz or 100Hz displays, but the frame rate is close to the lower bound for smooth gameplay. The Low preset at 198 FPS is not recommended, as the visual degradation is significant and the frame rate exceeds most 4K display refresh rates.

For users prioritizing visual quality over frame rate, the Ultra preset at 4K is still playable, but the data shows that the Medium preset offers the best balance of performance and fidelity. The High preset is a good middle ground, providing 126 FPS at 4K, which is smooth on most displays. Overall, the data suggests that this combo is best utilized at 1440p with High settings for the optimal experience, with 4K Medium as a viable alternative for users with 4K displays.

FAQ

*Q: What is the highest average FPS achieved by this combo in Barony?*

A: The highest average FPS is 600, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The next highest is 446 FPS at 1080p Medium, followed by 383 FPS at 1080p High.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the combo achieves an average of 91 FPS. This is sufficient for 90Hz displays but may be limiting for higher refresh rates at 4K.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested hardware combinations in this game?

A: The combo ranks 244th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 6.6% of all configurations tested for Barony.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the primary bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests that the CPU is not a bottleneck at 1080p, as the frame rate reaches 600 FPS at Low settings. The GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K.

Q: What is the difference in performance between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average FPS drops from 383 at 1080p to 126 at 4K, representing a 67.1% reduction in frame rate. This indicates a significant GPU workload increase with resolution.

Q: How does the combo's Medium preset performance vary across resolutions?

A: The Medium preset achieves 446 FPS at 1080p, 281 FPS at 1440p, and 147 FPS at 4K. The min FPS values are 379, 239, and 125, respectively, showing consistent frame pacing across all resolutions.