Barony

Barony is a roguelike, but the measured frame rates on this AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination show it behaves like a demanding action title at high resolutions. The data indicates a clear hierarchy: the RTX 4090 dominates at 4K, while the CPU’s 16 Zen 5 cores keep frame rates extraordinarily high at 1080p. The best experience balances the GPU’s limits at higher resolutions with the CPU’s headroom at lower ones.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows show that Medium settings provide the most stable and balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 4K, Medium delivers an average of 116 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS and a maximum of 133 FPS, which is a narrow and consistent range. This is notably better than High at 99 FPS average, and dramatically better than Ultra at 71 FPS average. The 47 FPS drop from Medium to Ultra at 4K is substantial, while the jump from High to Medium only costs 17 FPS, making Medium the sweet spot for visual fidelity versus smoothness.

At 1440p, Medium again stands out with an average of 221 FPS and a minimum of 188 FPS. This is 31 FPS ahead of High (190 FPS) and 85 FPS ahead of Ultra (136 FPS). The minimum FPS of 188 on Medium means the frame pacing stays above 144Hz refresh rates, which is ideal for fast-paced roguelike combat. At 1080p, Medium hits 351 FPS average with a minimum of 298 FPS, which is already well beyond any display refresh rate, so the choice here is about visual quality rather than playability.

For players who prioritize maximum visual quality, High settings are the best compromise. At 4K, High still maintains a 99 FPS average, which is above 90 FPS and playable on high-refresh displays. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 71 FPS, which is a significant reduction for what appears to be marginal visual gains. The data suggests Ultra is only viable at 1080p, where it still achieves 216 FPS average, or at 1440p for users with 120Hz displays (136 FPS average). However, the consistent frame time data on Medium—with its reported minimums and maximums—makes it the recommended default preset for this hardware combination.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a 16-core, 32-thread processor with a base clock of 3.00 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. Its benchmark results are exceptional, placing it in the 95th percentile of all CPUs. The data shows a multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of 35,314 and a single-core score of 2,044, which indicates strong performance for both heavily threaded workloads and single-threaded game logic. The processor’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and 256.0 GB/s memory bandwidth on LPDDR5X memory provide ample data throughput for the game’s procedural generation.

In Barony, the CPU’s role becomes evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are extremely high. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 471 FPS average, and at 1080p Medium, it hits 351 FPS. These numbers far exceed what the GPU would deliver if it were the sole bottleneck, indicating the CPU has enough headroom to feed the RTX 4090. The single-core performance is particularly relevant for roguelike games, which often have game logic that runs on a single thread. The Geekbench single-core score of 2,464 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,044 show that this CPU excels in that area.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 shows a mixed picture. It is 1.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9945WX and the AMD EPYC Embedded 8224P, but 1.7% behind the Intel Core i9-14900K. It is 2% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX. These small deltas mean that in CPU-bound scenarios at 1080p, the performance difference between these processors would be negligible. The fact that the 1080p Low preset hits 471 FPS suggests that even with a slightly faster CPU, the frame rate would not increase meaningfully because the game engine likely has limits.

The 16 cores and 32 threads are more than sufficient for Barony, which is unlikely to scale beyond a few threads. However, the high boost clock of 5.10 GHz is the more critical specification for this game, as it ensures that the primary game thread can execute quickly. The benchmark data supports this: the processor’s peak performance in single-threaded tests is strong, and the measured FPS at low resolutions shows no signs of CPU bottlenecking.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, especially at higher resolutions. It features an AD102 chip on a 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors, and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, which is critical for high-resolution textures. The GPU’s passmark G3D score of 38,194 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 place it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU’s role becomes apparent when examining the FPS drop from 1080p to 4K. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 301 at 1080p to 190 at 1440p (a 111 FPS drop) and then to 99 at 4K (another 91 FPS drop). This scaling behavior indicates that the RTX 4090 is the limiting factor at 4K, as the total drop of 202 FPS from 1080p to 4K is substantial. The GPU’s 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate are being fully utilized at 4K Ultra, where the system only manages 71 FPS average.

The VRAM capacity is not a concern for Barony, as 24 GB is more than enough for any texture load. The GDDR6X memory at 21 Gbps effective is fast, and the bandwidth is sufficient for the game’s data streaming. The GPU’s pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s is what matters at 4K, and the data shows that the RTX 4090 can handle 4K High at 99 FPS without dipping below 60 FPS. The 4K Medium preset shows a minimum of 98 FPS, which means the GPU never drops below 95 FPS in that configuration.

The nearest rivals to the RTX 4090 in the benchmark database are the Intel Arc Pro A60 (0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (0.3% ahead), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (2.5% behind), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (2.9% ahead). These deltas are all within 3%, which is surprising given the RTX 4090’s reputation. However, these rival scores are averages across all benchmarks, and in gaming-specific workloads like Barony, the RTX 4090’s advantage is likely larger. The measured FPS data confirms that this GPU is capable of 4K gaming at high frame rates, which is the key takeaway.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p Medium provides an average of 221 FPS with a minimum of 188 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh monitors. 4K Medium is also viable at 116 FPS average, but 1440p offers more headroom for frame time consistency.

Q: Why does the 1080p Low preset hit 471 FPS but the 4K Ultra preset only hits 71 FPS?

A: At 1080p, the CPU’s strong single-core performance (2,044 in Cinebench R23 single-core) allows the game logic to run extremely fast, and the GPU is not fully utilized. At 4K Ultra, the RTX 4090’s rendering load (82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 compute) becomes the bottleneck, limiting the frame rate to 71 FPS.

Q: Is the RTX 4090’s 24 GB of VRAM necessary for Barony?

A: No. Barony is a roguelike with relatively simple textures, and the 24 GB VRAM is overkill for this title. The GPU’s raw compute power, not its VRAM capacity, is what drives the high frame rates at 4K.

Q: How does the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 compare to the Intel Core i9-14900K?

A: The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is 1.7% behind the Intel Core i9-14900K in average benchmark score. In Barony, this difference would be imperceptible, as both CPUs can drive frame rates well beyond 300 FPS at 1080p.

Q: What setting should be avoided at 4K?

A: The data shows that 4K Ultra should be avoided, as it drops the average FPS to 71, which is a 45 FPS reduction from Medium. This suggests the Ultra preset has diminishing returns for visual quality at this resolution.

Q: Does the measured data show any frame pacing issues?

A: The Medium presets are the only ones with reported minimum and maximum FPS values. At 4K Medium, the range is 98 to 133 FPS (a 35 FPS spread), and at 1440p Medium, the range is 188 to 254 FPS (a 66 FPS spread). This indicates consistent frame pacing, with no severe stutters.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a clear shift in the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 471 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 298 FPS, a 173 FPS reduction. At 4K Low, the average is 156 FPS, another 142 FPS drop. This pattern shows that the GPU is becoming progressively more loaded as resolution increases.

For Medium settings, the drop from 1080p (351 FPS) to 1440p (221 FPS) is 130 FPS, and from 1440p to 4K (116 FPS) is 105 FPS. The drops are more evenly distributed than at Low settings, suggesting a more balanced workload. At High settings, the drops are 111 FPS (1080p to 1440p) and 91 FPS (1440p to 4K), which are the smallest relative drops among all presets.

The Ultra preset shows a different pattern. From 1080p (216 FPS) to 1440p (136 FPS), the drop is 80 FPS. From 1440p to 4K (71 FPS), the drop is 65 FPS. These smaller absolute drops indicate that the GPU is already heavily loaded at 1080p Ultra, so the additional resolution increase has a proportionally smaller effect.

This data indicates that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor, as the GPU has enough headroom to render frames as fast as the CPU can feed them. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, particularly at higher settings. The transition occurs around 1440p, where both components are more balanced. The RTX 4090’s 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth and the CPU’s 256.0 GB/s bandwidth are both sufficient, but the GPU’s pixel fill rate (443.5 GPixel/s) is what limits 4K performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

1080p (1920x1080):

• Low: 471 FPS average. This is the highest measured frame rate in the entire dataset, indicating a purely CPU-bound scenario.
• Medium: 351 FPS average, with a minimum of 298 FPS and a maximum of 403 FPS. The frame range is wide, but the average is exceptionally high.
• High: 301 FPS average. This is a 50 FPS drop from Medium, showing the GPU’s increasing workload.
• Ultra: 216 FPS average. This is the lowest 1080p result, but still far beyond any display refresh rate.

1440p (2560x1440):

• Low: 298 FPS average. This is a 173 FPS drop from 1080p Low, showing the GPU’s influence.
• Medium: 221 FPS average, with a minimum of 188 FPS and a maximum of 254 FPS. The minimum stays above 144Hz, making this ideal for high-refresh gaming.
• High: 190 FPS average. This is a 31 FPS drop from Medium, and the gap is smaller than at 1080p (50 FPS).
• Ultra: 136 FPS average. This is a 54 FPS drop from High, showing that Ultra is demanding at 1440p.

4K (3840x2160):

• Low: 156 FPS average. This is still very high for 4K, showing the GPU’s strength.
• Medium: 116 FPS average, with a minimum of 98 FPS and a maximum of 133 FPS. The minimum is just below 100 FPS, which is acceptable for most displays.
• High: 99 FPS average. This is a 17 FPS drop from Medium, and the first preset to dip below 100 FPS.
• Ultra: 71 FPS average. This is the lowest result in the dataset, and a 28 FPS drop from High, indicating a steep performance cliff.

The data shows a consistent pattern: Medium is the most balanced preset across all resolutions, providing high averages with stable minimums. Ultra is only recommended at 1080p, where it still achieves 216 FPS. The combination of the Ryzen AI Max+ 395’s strong single-core performance and the RTX 4090’s massive compute power results in a system that can handle Barony at any resolution, but the best experience is at 1440p Medium or 4K Medium.