Barony

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT delivers a highly playable experience in Barony, but the performance scaling across resolutions reveals a clear shift in bottleneck behavior. At 1080p, the combo is heavily CPU-limited, producing extremely high frame rates that far exceed display refresh rates, while at 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, though the frame rates remain solidly above 60 FPS on most settings.

The data shows that this combination is well-balanced for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming in Barony, but it also possesses enough headroom to handle 4K at High settings with an average of 89 FPS. The most significant finding is the dramatic frame rate drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings, which indicates that the CPU's performance ceiling is reached at lower resolutions, allowing the GPU workload to dominate as resolution increases.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a textbook example of resolution-dependent scaling in Barony. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 424 at 1920x1080 to 267 at 2560x1440, representing a 37% reduction, and then further declines to 140 at 3840x2160, a 47% drop from 1440p. This steep decline at Low settings suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p, where the i5-10400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are fully utilized before the GPU can be stressed.

When moving to High settings, the scaling pattern changes noticeably. The average FPS at 1080p is 271, which decreases to 171 at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 89 at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). The similarity in percentage drops between Low and High settings from 1440p to 4K indicates that the RX 7800 XT becomes the primary bottleneck at 4K regardless of quality level, as its 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth are taxed more heavily by the higher pixel count.

Ultra settings produce the most dramatic scaling, with averages of 194 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that approaches the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that the combination of maximum graphical fidelity and 4K resolution pushes the GPU to its limits in this roguelike title. The data reveals that the RX 7800 XT's boost clock of 2430 MHz and 3840 shading units are sufficient for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K Ultra workload reduces performance by 67% compared to 1080p Ultra.

The medium settings data provides additional insight, with 4K averaging 104 FPS and a minimum of 88 FPS, indicating that even with some graphical compromises, the combo remains comfortably above 60 FPS at 4K. This suggests that users seeking 4K gaming should prioritize Medium or High settings over Ultra to maintain smoother frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the benchmark database, this CPU-GPU combination ranks 1232 out of 3717 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the 66th percentile of all configurations. This ranking indicates that while the combo is not at the absolute top tier, it outperforms the majority of tested systems, which is consistent with the high frame rates observed across most resolution and settings combinations.

The ranking position reflects a balanced pairing where neither component severely bottlenecks the other in typical gaming scenarios. The i5-10400F's average benchmark score of 14185 places it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, while the RX 7800 XT's average benchmark score of 11627 places it in the 51st percentile of all GPUs. The slight discrepancy between the CPU's higher percentile and the GPU's lower percentile suggests that the processor has more headroom, which explains why the combo performs better in CPU-bound scenarios at lower resolutions.

Compared to the GPU's nearest rivals, the RX 7800 XT's average score of 11627 is remarkably close to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660's 11680, a delta of only -0.5%. This proximity in synthetic benchmarks is surprising given the architectural differences between RDNA 3.0 and older NVIDIA designs, but it does not translate directly to Barony performance, where the RX 7800 XT's 16 GB VRAM and 60 ray accelerators provide advantages in specific workloads.

The combo's rank of 1232 out of 3717 suggests that other pairings with more recent CPUs or higher-tier GPUs achieve better results in Barony. However, the measured frame rates indicate that this combo rarely falls below 60 FPS except at 4K Ultra, making it a strong performer for the vast majority of gaming scenarios.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT serves as the primary graphics processor in this combo, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. The GPU's 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die provide substantial compute resources, including 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. These specifications translate to a peak FP32 throughput of 37.32 TFLOPS, which is more than sufficient for the pixel-heavy rendering required in Barony.

The GPU's memory subsystem is a critical factor in its performance. With 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, the RX 7800 XT achieves a bandwidth of 624.1 GB/s, which prevents memory bandwidth from becoming a bottleneck even at 4K resolutions. The memory clock of 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective) allows the GPU to feed its 3840 shading units efficiently, as evidenced by the 4K Medium average of 104 FPS.

The clock speeds show a significant gap between base and boost frequencies, with a base clock of 1295 MHz and a boost clock of 2430 MHz, along with a game clock of 2124 MHz. This dynamic range allows the GPU to conserve power during lighter scenes and ramp up under load, which is beneficial for maintaining consistent frame rates in Barony's procedurally generated environments. The pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s and texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s further support the GPU's ability to handle complex visual effects.

The benchmark scores for the RX 7800 XT reveal its strengths and limitations. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4157 and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 54228 indicate strong DirectX 12 and Vulkan performance, which aligns well with Barony's rendering requirements. The PassMark G3D score of 24176 and GPU Compute score of 13473 provide additional context for the GPU's overall compute capability, though the DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 scores of 121 and 249 respectively suggest that older API workloads are not the primary focus of this architecture.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 424 FPS, which exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors. Medium settings reduce this to 315 FPS, with a minimum of 268 FPS and a maximum of 362 FPS, showing minimal frame time variance. High settings average 271 FPS, while Ultra settings average 194 FPS, demonstrating that even at maximum quality, the combo easily exceeds 144 FPS for high-refresh-rate gaming.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains impressive but shows the expected reduction from increased pixel count. Low settings average 267 FPS, which is still well above 240 Hz refresh rates. Medium settings average 199 FPS with a minimum of 169 FPS and maximum of 229 FPS, providing a smooth experience for 144 Hz displays. High settings average 171 FPS, while Ultra settings average 122 FPS, both of which are suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming without compromise.

At 3840x2160, the combo faces its greatest challenge. Low settings average 140 FPS, which is still playable on 120 Hz displays. Medium settings average 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS and maximum of 120 FPS, maintaining smooth gameplay on standard 60 Hz monitors and most 120 Hz displays. High settings average 89 FPS, which is comfortable for 60 Hz gaming but may not fully utilize 120 Hz monitors. Ultra settings average 64 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold and represents the only configuration where frame rates become a concern.

The progression across settings at each resolution shows consistent scaling. At 1080p, the drop from Low to Ultra is 54%, while at 1440p it is 54% and at 4K it is 54%. This consistency suggests that the GPU's workload scales linearly with quality settings, and the CPU does not introduce additional bottlenecks at higher resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F provides 6 cores and 12 threads with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. This Comet Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process, delivers a single-thread performance that is critical for Barony's game logic and physics calculations. The CPU's L3 cache of 12 MB shared across all cores helps reduce memory latency, while the dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU efficiently.

The CPU's benchmark results show a clear multi-threaded advantage. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 10283 and Geekbench multicore score of 6257 indicate strong parallel processing capability for a 6-core part. The PassMark multithread score of 12115 and the 3DMark 16-thread score of 4748 further confirm the CPU's ability to handle multiple simultaneous tasks, which is beneficial for Barony's procedural generation and AI systems.

However, the single-thread scores reveal the CPU's age. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451 and 3DMark single-thread score of 688 show that the i5-10400F's per-core performance is modest compared to newer architectures. This explains why the combo becomes CPU-bound at 1080p, where the frame rates of 424 FPS at Low settings exceed the CPU's ability to process game logic and draw calls, creating a bottleneck that limits further FPS gains.

The CPU's 68th percentile ranking places it above the majority of processors, but the nearest rivals show narrow performance gaps. The Intel Xeon 6756E has an average score of 14163, just 0.2% lower, while the Intel Core 7 160UL scores 14232, 0.3% higher. The AMD EPYC 7552 scores 14115, 0.5% lower, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C scores 14277, 0.6% higher. These small deltas indicate that the i5-10400F sits in a densely packed performance tier where minor architectural differences do not significantly impact gaming performance.

The CPU's PCIe Gen 3 interface with 16 lanes provides sufficient bandwidth for the RX 7800 XT, which uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. While PCIe Gen 3 offers half the bandwidth of Gen 4, the data shows that this does not create a significant bottleneck in Barony, as the frame rates remain high across all resolutions.

FAQ

Q: Is this combo capable of 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 89 FPS at 4K High settings and 64 FPS at 4K Ultra settings. For smoother performance, Medium settings provide 104 FPS with a minimum of 88 FPS.

Q: What is the best resolution for high-refresh-rate gaming?

A: At 2560x1440, the combo delivers 267 FPS at Low settings and 171 FPS at High settings, which exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates. At 1080p, the frame rates range from 194 FPS at Ultra to 424 FPS at Low, suitable for 240 Hz displays.

Q: How does the CPU performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, placing it 0.2% above the Intel Xeon 6756E, 0.3% below the Intel Core 7 160UL, 0.5% above the AMD EPYC 7552, and 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes, the 4K Ultra average of 64 FPS indicates the RX 7800 XT is the limiting factor. The GPU's boost clock of 2430 MHz and 3840 shading units are fully utilized, resulting in a 67% performance drop compared to 1080p Ultra.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and how does it affect performance?

A: The RX 7800 XT features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. This configuration prevents memory bottlenecks, as evidenced by the consistent frame rates across settings at 4K.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combo ranks 1232 out of 3717 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the 66th percentile. This indicates it outperforms the majority of tested systems while not being a top-tier configuration.