Barony

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 570 delivers a playable experience in Barony, but the data reveals a configuration that is heavily bound by the graphics card at higher resolutions. The measured FPS across the board shows a clear pattern: the GPU is the primary limiter, while the 6-core/12-thread CPU provides sufficient headroom to avoid bottlenecking the frame rate at 1080p. This combo ranks near the bottom of the tested database, indicating that while it is functional, it sits at the lower end of the performance spectrum for this roguelike title.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and consistent across all quality presets. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 88 FPS at 1920x1080 to 56 FPS at 2560x1440, and then plummets to 29 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 67% reduction in performance from 1080p to 4K, which is a classic sign that the AMD Radeon RX 570's rendering capabilities are being saturated as pixel count increases.

Looking at the Low preset, the scaling is even more revealing. The system achieves 138 FPS at 1080p, drops to 87 FPS at 1440p, and settles at 46 FPS at 4K. The fact that 4K Low still only produces 46 FPS—barely above the 30 FPS threshold—indicates that even with minimal graphical load, the RX 570 cannot handle the sheer number of pixels at 3840x2160. The gap between 1440p and 4K is particularly steep, with a 47% loss in frame rate, suggesting that the GPU's memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate are exhausted at the higher resolution.

The Medium preset provides the only complete data set with min and max FPS values. At 1080p, it averages 103 FPS with a minimum of 87 and a maximum of 118. Moving to 1440p, the average drops to 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74. At 4K, the average falls to 34 FPS, with a minimum of 29 and a maximum of 39. These numbers show that the frame pacing remains relatively stable—the min FPS is never more than 15% below the average—which means the GPU is not stuttering but rather consistently running at its limit. The 4K Medium result, with a minimum of 29 FPS, is borderline unplayable for a roguelike where quick reactions matter.

Ultra settings are the most demanding, and the results confirm that this resolution is not viable at 4K. The system averages 63 FPS at 1080p, 40 FPS at 1440p, and only 21 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1440p to 4K is severe, representing a 47.5% decrease. This pattern strongly suggests that the limiting component at 4K is the GPU's 4 GB VRAM and its 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, which are insufficient to feed the render pipeline at high pixel densities. The CPU, with its 12 threads, is not the bottleneck here; the data shows a linear scaling that matches GPU-bound behavior.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is the decisive factor in this combo's performance. With a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, the GPU's compute throughput is modest by modern standards, and its 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is entirely consumed by Barony's roguelike rendering at higher resolutions. The 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is adequate for 1080p but becomes a constraint at 1440p and 4K, where texture streaming and framebuffer demands increase exponentially.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28766. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R9 M295X, scores 28580, a delta of 0.7%, while the AMD Radeon RX 470 scores 28996, a delta of -0.8%. This puts the RX 570 in a tight cluster of similar-performance cards, but the data shows that for Barony, the GPU's raw power is simply not enough to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The 32 ROPs and 128 TMUs are underutilized at 1080p, where the CPU can feed them, but at 4K, the pixel fill rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s become the hard limits.

The power draw is specified at 150 W TDP, which is reasonable for a card of this class, but the 1x 6-pin power connector and suggested PSU of 450 W indicate that this is an entry-level solution. The launch MSRP is 169 USD, and the card is end-of-life, meaning it is a budget-oriented part that has been superseded. The data shows that in Barony, the GPU's performance drops by roughly 60% when moving from 1080p to 4K at the same settings, which is a direct consequence of the memory subsystem and shading units being overwhelmed. The GPU's 2048 shading units are sufficient for 1080p, where it can push 138 FPS on Low, but they cannot sustain the workload at 4K Ultra, where it falls to 21 FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank for this specific pairing in Barony is 3545 out of 3717 tested combinations. This places it in the bottom 5% of all configurations, which is a clear indicator that this is not a high-performance setup for this game. The rank of 3545 means that 172 other combos perform worse, but the vast majority—3544 of them—deliver better results. This is not surprising given the GPU's age and the resolution scaling data, but it underscores that this combo is suited for 1080p gaming at best.

The CPU's individual percentile is 68, meaning it outperforms 68% of all CPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 14185. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Xeon 6756E (avg score 14163, delta 0.2%) and the AMD EPYC 7552 (avg score 14115, delta 0.5%), which are server-class parts, indicating the i5-10400F's single-threaded and multi-threaded performance is competitive. However, the GPU's percentile is 74, which is higher than the CPU's, yet the combo still ranks poorly because the GPU is the limiting factor at the resolutions where the CPU could otherwise shine.

The data shows that the CPU is not the bottleneck. In 3DMark tests, the CPU scores 4748 with 16 threads and 688 with a single thread, while Cinebench R23 yields 10283 multi-core and 1451 single-core. These scores are respectable, but they do not translate to high frame rates in Barony because the GPU cannot keep up. The combo's rank is a function of the GPU's inability to deliver playable FPS at 1440p and 4K, and even at 1080p, the Ultra preset only achieves 63 FPS, which is below the 70 FPS threshold many players prefer. The ranking reflects that this is a balanced but low-end pairing, where the CPU has headroom but the GPU is the weak link.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Barony?*

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 is the only viable resolution for consistent frame rates. At High settings, the combo achieves 88 FPS, and at Medium it reaches 103 FPS. At 2560x1440, the frame rate drops below 60 FPS on High (56 FPS), and at 3840x2160, it falls to 29 FPS on High, which is not playable.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Barony?*

A: No, not at acceptable frame rates. At 4K, the highest average FPS is 46 on Low settings, which is below the 60 FPS target. On Ultra, it drops to 21 FPS. The GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are insufficient for 4K rendering, as evidenced by the 67% FPS drop from 1080p to 4K on High.

Q: How does the CPU perform relative to its rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Xeon 6756E (14163) and 0.5% higher than the AMD EPYC 7552 (14115). It is 0.3% slower than the Intel Core 7 160UL (14232). This places it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, indicating solid mid-range performance.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck in this combo?

A: The GPU is clearly the bottleneck. Benchmark results indicate that the CPU's multi-threaded score of 10283 in Cinebench R23 provides sufficient headroom, but the GPU's 5.095 TFLOPS and 4 GB memory are the limiting factors. The FPS drops by 67% from 1080p to 4K, which is a GPU-bound pattern, not a CPU-bound one.

Q: What is the minimum FPS at 1080p Medium settings?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the minimum FPS is 87, the average is 103, and the maximum is 118. This is the only preset with complete min/max data, and it shows stable frame pacing with no significant stutters.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This combo ranks 3545 out of 3717 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the bottom 5%. This means 3544 combos perform better, and only 172 perform worse. The ranking reflects the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions, despite the CPU's respectable 68th percentile standing.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F plays a supporting role in Barony, providing sufficient compute power to avoid becoming the limiting factor. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the CPU has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, which is more than adequate for a roguelike that is primarily GPU-bound. The 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 42.7 GB/s of dual-channel DDR4 memory bandwidth ensure that the CPU can feed the GPU with data without stalling, as evidenced by the stable frame times at 1080p.

The CPU's benchmark scores confirm its capability. In Cinebench R23, it scores 10283 multi-core and 1451 single-core, while in Geekbench it scores 6257 multi-core and 1420 single-core. These numbers place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, which is respectable for a 10th Gen part. The 3DMark scores show a scaling pattern from 1350 (2 threads) to 4748 (16 threads), indicating that the CPU leverages its 12 threads effectively. However, in Barony, the CPU's role is diminished because the game's rendering load at 1080p is modest, allowing the CPU to maintain high frame rates without breaking a sweat.

The CPU's nearest rivals in the database are server or mobile parts, which suggests that its performance is well-balanced for its class. The 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1200 compatibility make it an easy fit for budget systems, but the data shows that the CPU is not the reason this combo ranks at 3545. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 138 FPS, which indicates that the CPU can handle high frame rates, but the GPU's inability to sustain those rates at higher settings is what drags the combo down. The CPU's boost clock of 4.30 GHz is high enough to avoid creating a bottleneck, but it cannot compensate for the GPU's limits at 1440p and 4K.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend on the resolution, but 1080p is the clear sweet spot. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers 88 FPS, which is smooth and responsive for a roguelike. The Medium preset offers even better performance at 103 FPS, with a minimum of 87 FPS, making it the best choice for players who want a safety margin. The Ultra preset at 1080p drops to 63 FPS, which is still playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes. For the best experience, Medium at 1080p provides the highest average FPS with the tightest min/max range, indicating consistent performance.

At 2560x1440, the High preset averages 56 FPS, which is borderline for a game that requires quick reactions. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 65 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS, which is playable but not ideal. The Low preset at 1440p reaches 87 FPS, which is the recommended setting if you must play at this resolution, as it avoids the risk of frame drops below 60 FPS. At 3840x2160, no preset is truly playable; even Low only achieves 46 FPS, and Medium dips to a minimum of 29 FPS. The data suggests that 4K should be avoided entirely with this combo.

For the best overall experience, use 1080p with Medium settings. This yields 103 FPS average, 87 FPS minimum, and 118 FPS maximum, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and provides a smooth, stutter-free experience. If you prefer visual fidelity, High at 1080p (88 FPS) is a viable alternative, but the Ultra preset (63 FPS) is not worth the performance cost. The data shows that the GPU's 4 GB VRAM is the limiting factor, so sticking to 1080p Medium or High ensures that the card's resources are used efficiently without exceeding its memory capacity.