Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D sits at the absolute top of the Barony performance ladder, ranking #1 out of 2,935 tested CPU and GPU combinations. The 12-core Zen 5 processor with 128 MB of L3 cache feeds the Blackwell 2.0 GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, and the measured frame rates confirm this pairing is overkill for a 2015 roguelike — but the data still reveals interesting scaling behavior across resolutions and settings.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D the bottleneck at 1080p in Barony?

A: Yes. At 1920x1080, the average frame rate jumps from 462 FPS on High to 724 FPS on Low, while the CPU's single-thread score of 1,269 in 3DMark and 6,739 in Cinebench R23 suggest it can push even higher. The 1080p Low result of 724 FPS appears to be the practical ceiling for this combination in Barony.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 9900X3D compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The 9900X3D has an average benchmark score of 54,762. It sits 0.6% behind the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093) and 1.3% ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053). Against the Intel Xeon 6505P (53,701) and Intel Core i7-14700F (53,620), it leads by 2.0% and 2.1% respectively.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gameplay?

A: The data shows High settings at 3840x2160 delivers 152 FPS average, which is the sweet spot. Ultra drops to 109 FPS, while Medium gives 178 FPS — but the 151 FPS minimum on Medium suggests occasional dips that High likely avoids with its higher average.

Q: Does the RTX 5090 D outperform its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712. It is 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76,904) and 1.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940). Against the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396) and 16 GB (79,605), it trails by 2.1% and 2.4% — though those are compute-oriented cards.

Q: How much VRAM does Barony need at 4K Ultra?

A: The RTX 5090 D's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth is far beyond what Barony requires. At 4K Ultra the card delivers 109 FPS, and the 512-bit memory bus ensures bandwidth is never a constraint in this title.

Q: Is the 9900X3D's 3D V-Cache beneficial for Barony?

A: The 128 MB L3 cache likely helps maintain consistent frame pacing. The measured minimum FPS of 151 at 4K Medium and 289 at 1440p Medium show strong 1% lows, and the CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs supports its capability for this roguelike's procedural generation.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data across all four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — at three resolutions reveals a clear pattern. At 1080p, Low produces 724 FPS, Medium 538 FPS, High 462 FPS, and Ultra 331 FPS. The gaps between presets are substantial: dropping from High to Low nearly doubles performance, while stepping up to Ultra costs roughly 28% of the High preset's frame rate.

At 1440p, the ordering holds: Low 457 FPS, Medium 340 FPS, High 292 FPS, Ultra 209 FPS. The percentage drop from High to Ultra is similar to 1080p, suggesting the GPU is still not fully saturated at this resolution. At 4K, Low hits 239 FPS, Medium 178 FPS, High 152 FPS, and Ultra 109 FPS.

For the best experience, the data points to High settings at any resolution. At 4K, High delivers 152 FPS — well above the 144 Hz refresh rate of most monitors — while Ultra only adds marginal visual improvements for a 28% performance hit. The Medium preset at 4K offers 178 FPS but includes a measured minimum of 151 FPS, which could cause visible stutters on a 160 Hz+ display. At 1080p and 1440p, High is similarly the recommended choice because the frame rates (462 and 292 FPS respectively) are already beyond what virtually any display can show, and the visual quality improvement over Medium is worthwhile.

Ultra settings are only advisable for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate and own a 120 Hz or slower 4K display, since the 109 FPS average at 4K Ultra remains playable. However, the 331 FPS at 1080p Ultra shows this preset scales well on lower resolutions, so players with high-refresh 1080p monitors can safely enable it.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior reveals where the bottleneck shifts between CPU and GPU. From 1080p to 1440p, the High preset drops from 462 FPS to 292 FPS — a 37% reduction. From 1440p to 4K, it falls from 292 FPS to 152 FPS — a 48% reduction. The Low preset tells a similar story: 724 FPS at 1080p, 457 FPS at 1440p (37% drop), and 239 FPS at 4K (48% drop).

These consistent percentage drops across settings indicate the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the 724 FPS result suggests the CPU is nearing its limit — the 9900X3D's 3DMark single-thread score of 1,269 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,646 indicate strong per-core performance, but Barony's gameplay logic and procedural generation still create a ceiling. The fact that 1080p Low (724 FPS) is only 58% faster than 4K Low (239 FPS) — when pixel count increases by 400% — confirms the CPU limits frame generation at low resolutions.

At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint. The RTX 5090 D's 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate are substantial, but Barony's rendering workload at 8.3 million pixels per frame eventually saturates even this hardware. The scaling from 1440p to 4K shows a near-linear relationship with pixel count, which is typical for GPU-bound scenarios.

The takeaway: this combination is CPU-bound at 1080p and GPU-bound at 4K, with 1440p serving as a transitional zone where both components contribute meaningfully.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1920x1080:

• Low: 724 FPS average.
• Medium: 538 FPS average, with a minimum of 458 FPS and maximum of 619 FPS.
• High: 462 FPS average.
• Ultra: 331 FPS average.

2560x1440:

• Low: 457 FPS average.
• Medium: 340 FPS average, with a minimum of 289 FPS and maximum of 391 FPS.
• High: 292 FPS average.
• Ultra: 209 FPS average.

3840x2160:

• Low: 239 FPS average.
• Medium: 178 FPS average, with a minimum of 151 FPS and maximum of 204 FPS.
• High: 152 FPS average.
• Ultra: 109 FPS average.

The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum values, providing insight into frame variance. At 1080p Medium, the spread from 458 to 619 FPS represents a 26% variance around the 538 FPS average. At 1440p Medium, the range is 289 to 391 FPS (26% variance), and at 4K Medium it is 151 to 204 FPS (26% variance). This consistent variance ratio suggests Barony's frame time spikes scale proportionally with overall performance.

The step from Medium to High costs roughly 14% performance at 1080p (538 to 462 FPS), 14% at 1440p (340 to 292 FPS), and 15% at 4K (178 to 152 FPS). The step from High to Ultra is more expensive: 28% at 1080p, 28% at 1440p, and 28% at 4K. This consistent 2:1 ratio between the Medium-to-High and High-to-Ultra penalties indicates the Ultra preset introduces disproportionately heavy effects.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GB202 chip on a 5 nm TSMC process contains 92,200 million transistors across a 750 mm² die. With 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 ROPs, the card has enormous raw throughput — 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s.

The 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus delivers 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. Barony is not a memory-bandwidth-heavy title, so this capability is largely unused, but it ensures zero memory-related stuttering even at 4K Ultra with maximum textures. The 1,750 MHz memory clock (28 Gbps effective) provides headroom that no current game could exhaust.

The card's boost clock of 2,407 MHz and base clock of 2,017 MHz are modest for a flagship, but the massive shader count compensates. The 92nd percentile ranking among all GPUs places it near the top of the stack, though its nearest rivals in average benchmark score — the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.6% ahead) and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants (79,396 and 79,605, 2.1% and 2.4% ahead) — are surprising comparisons for a desktop flagship. These scores come from different benchmark suites; the RTX 5090 D's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14,326 and PassMark G3D score of 44,065 show strong gaming-oriented performance.

In Barony specifically, the GPU's role becomes evident in the resolution scaling. At 1080p, the card is barely taxed — the 724 FPS Low result is likely constrained by the CPU's ability to feed draw calls. At 4K, the GPU's pixel fill rate (423.6 GPixel/s) and shader throughput determine the 152 FPS High result.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D provides the processing foundation for this combo, and its 12 cores and 24 threads are far more than Barony needs. The Zen 5 architecture on a 4 nm TSMC process packs 16,630 million transistors across two 70.6 mm² chiplets. The 128 MB L3 cache — a hallmark of the X3D series — is the standout feature for gaming, as it reduces memory latency for frequently accessed data.

The CPU's clock speeds are 4.40 GHz base and 5.50 GHz boost, which are competitive for the 9000 series. Its benchmark results show strong single-thread capability: 1,269 in 3DMark single-thread, 6,739 in Cinebench R23 single-core, and 3,041 in Geekbench single-core. Multi-threaded scores are equally impressive: 13,795 in 3DMark max threads, 47,737 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, and 22,884 in Geekbench multi-core.

The 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs places it slightly below the top tier, and its nearest rivals — the Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (55,093, 0.6% ahead), Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (54,053, 1.3% behind), Intel Xeon 6505P (53,701, 2.0% behind), and Intel Core i7-14700F (53,620, 2.1% behind) — show the 9900X3D is competitive but not dominant in raw synthetic benchmarks.

For Barony, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p. The 724 FPS Low result represents a ceiling that the GPU could theoretically exceed if the CPU could feed it faster. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 12,490 and 8-thread score of 9,002 indicate the CPU scales well with thread count, but Barony's single-threaded game logic likely creates a bottleneck. The 2-thread score of 2,512 and 4-thread score of 4,885 suggest that even modest thread counts are sufficient for this game.

The 120 W TDP and DDR5 dual-channel memory support (89.6 GB/s bandwidth) are adequate for the CPU's role, and the 24 PCIe Gen 5 lanes ensure the RTX 5090 D has full bandwidth available. The launch MSRP of $599 positions it as a premium gaming processor, and its performance in Barony — where it sustains 724 FPS at 1080p Low — validates that positioning for high-refresh-rate scenarios.