Barony

# Barony — Intel Core i5-10400F + AMD Radeon RX 9060

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 9060 produces a benchmark profile that is heavily resolution-dependent in Barony, with 1080p results dominated by CPU throughput and 4K results increasingly constrained by GPU load. This Comet Lake processor, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, delivers single-thread performance that scales well at lower resolutions, while the RDNA 4.0 GPU, built on a 4 nm process with 1792 shading units, takes over as the primary limiter once pixel count rises. The measured frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets reveal a system that transitions from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound at 4K, with the medium preset offering the most balanced experience at every resolution tested.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate deltas from 1080p to 4K show a predictable but steep decline that accelerates as settings increase. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 315 at 1920x1080 to 199 at 2560x1440, a 37% reduction, and then further to 104 at 3840x2160, representing a 48% drop from 1440p. This pattern indicates that even at the lowest graphical preset, the GPU is being progressively saturated as resolution climbs, though the 1080p Low result of 315 FPS suggests the CPU is the limiting factor there, since the RX 9060 would likely deliver more if unconstrained.

Moving to High settings, the scaling is similar but with lower absolute values: 201 FPS at 1080p, 127 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 37% from 1080p to 1440p and 48% from 1440p to 4K, nearly identical to the Low preset scaling. This consistency across presets suggests that the resolution scaling factor is independent of settings, driven primarily by pixel throughput rather than shader complexity. The Ultra preset tells a different story, however, with 144 FPS at 1080p, 91 FPS at 1440p, and 48 FPS at 4K — the 4K result being only 33% of the 1080p figure, indicating that Ultra settings impose a heavier per-pixel cost that magnifies the resolution penalty.

The Medium preset, which includes measured minimum and maximum frame times, shows the most complete picture. At 1080p Medium, the average is 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS and maximum of 270 FPS, giving a 71 FPS spread that indicates some frame pacing variance. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 FPS and maximum of 170 FPS, a 44 FPS spread that tightens as the GPU becomes more consistently loaded. At 4K Medium, the average is 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and maximum of 89 FPS, a 23 FPS spread that suggests the GPU is now the primary bottleneck, smoothing out CPU-side spikes.

These results indicate that the limiting component shifts decisively across resolutions. At 1080p, the i5-10400F's single-thread performance, evidenced by its 3dmark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1451, caps frame rates below what the RX 9060 could theoretically produce. By 4K, the GPU's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes the constraint, particularly at Ultra settings where the 48 FPS average suggests the pixel fill rate and memory subsystem are stretched.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows 1440p as the sweet spot. At High settings, 127 FPS average is achievable, while 4K High drops to 66 FPS. The 1440p Medium preset delivers 148 FPS average with a 126 FPS minimum, providing both smoothness and headroom.

Q: How does the RX 9060 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RX 9060's average benchmark score is 16014, placing it 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16129, and 1% above both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700, which score 15862 and 15852 respectively.

Q: Is the i5-10400F a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: Yes. The 1080p Low preset achieves 315 FPS, which is extraordinarily high, but the scaling to 1440p Low at 199 FPS (a 37% drop) and 4K Low at 104 FPS (a 48% drop from 1440p) suggests the CPU is saturating at 1080p, preventing the GPU from reaching even higher frame rates.

Q: What settings preset offers the best frame time consistency?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with measured minimum and maximum values. At 1080p, the spread is 71 FPS (199-270), at 1440p it narrows to 44 FPS (126-170), and at 4K it tightens further to 23 FPS (66-89). The decreasing spread at higher resolutions indicates more stable frame pacing as the GPU becomes the limiter.

Q: How does the CPU's multi-threaded performance compare to its rivals?

A: The i5-10400F has an average benchmark score of 14185, which is 0.2% above the Intel Xeon 6756E at 14163, 0.5% above the AMD EPYC 7552 at 14115, but 0.3% below the Intel Core 7 160UL at 14232 and 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C at 14277.

Q: Does the GPU's VRAM capacity affect 4K performance?

A: The RX 9060 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS drops to 48, and at 4K High it is 66. While the data does not directly measure VRAM exhaustion, the significant drop from High to Ultra at 4K suggests memory capacity or bandwidth may be a contributing factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Comet Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel's 14 nm process. Its base clock of 2.90 GHz and boost clock of 4.30 GHz provide the single-thread headroom that Barony, as a roguelike genre title, likely leverages for game logic and entity updates. The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 42.7 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards but sufficient for this workload.

Synthetic benchmarks reveal the processor's character: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10283 and single-core score of 1451 show a 7.1:1 ratio, indicating that multi-threaded scaling is decent but not exceptional. The 3dmark results are more revealing — single-thread score of 688, 2-thread score of 1350, 4-thread score of 2560, 8-thread score of 3929, and max-thread score of 4735. The scaling from 4 to 8 threads is 53%, and from 8 to max threads is only 21%, suggesting that beyond 8 threads, the CPU's throughput gains diminish sharply, which aligns with the game's likely thread usage.

In Barony specifically, the 1080p Low result of 315 FPS is the clearest indicator of CPU dominance. The i5-10400F's single-thread performance, while ranking in the 68th percentile of all CPUs, is sufficient to drive frame rates well above display refresh rates at 1080p. The PassMark single-thread score of 2541 and Geekbench single-core score of 1420 corroborate this. However, the 315 FPS ceiling at Low settings suggests that even this CPU is the limiting factor at that resolution, as the RX 9060's raw performance would likely push higher if unconstrained.

The CPU's multi-threaded scores, including PassMark multi-thread of 12115 and Geekbench multi-core of 6257, indicate that the 12 threads are available for background tasks and any multi-threaded game systems, but Barony's roguelike nature likely keeps most work on fewer threads. The 3dmark 16-thread score of 4748 being nearly identical to the max-thread score of 4735 confirms that the CPU's threading capacity is fully utilized by 12 threads, with no headroom for additional parallel work.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides four presets — Low, Medium, High, and Ultra — across three resolutions. The Medium preset stands out as the recommended choice for balanced performance, as it is the only preset with complete minimum and maximum frame time data, allowing for a fuller assessment of consistency. At 1080p Medium, the 235 FPS average with a 199 FPS minimum provides ample headroom above any standard 144 Hz display. At 1440p Medium, the 148 FPS average and 126 FPS minimum still clear 120 Hz thresholds comfortably. Even at 4K Medium, the 77 FPS average with a 66 FPS minimum is playable for a roguelike, where frame rate demands are typically less stringent than competitive shooters.

The Low preset offers the highest frame rates — 315 FPS at 1080p, 199 FPS at 1440p, and 104 FPS at 4K — but sacrifices visual quality that the other presets provide. The High preset delivers a balanced middle ground: 201 FPS at 1080p, 127 FPS at 1440p, and 66 FPS at 4K. The step from High to Ultra is costly, particularly at 4K where the average drops from 66 to 48 FPS, a 27% reduction. At 1080p, the Ultra preset still achieves 144 FPS, but the 1440p Ultra result of 91 FPS and 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS suggest that Ultra is only viable for users prioritizing visual fidelity over smoothness.

For users with 1080p displays, the High preset at 201 FPS average is the best experience per the measured rows, as it offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium (235 FPS) at a frame rate cost that remains imperceptible on most monitors. For 1440p displays, the Medium preset at 148 FPS average is recommended, as the High preset at 127 FPS, while still smooth, approaches the point where frame time variance becomes more noticeable. For 4K displays, the Medium preset at 77 FPS average is the pragmatic choice, as the High preset at 66 FPS is close to the 60 FPS threshold and Ultra at 48 FPS falls below it.

How This Combo Ranks

In the database of tested combinations for Barony, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-10400F and AMD Radeon RX 9060 ranks 1704 out of 2935 total combos. This places it in the 42nd percentile of all tested systems, meaning roughly 58% of combinations produce higher frame rates in this game. The ranking reflects the mid-range positioning of both components — the CPU sits in the 68th percentile of all processors, and the GPU in the 59th percentile of all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 16014.

The combo rank of 1704 suggests that while this system is far from the top of the charts, it is by no means a weak performer. The 1080p results, particularly the Low preset at 315 FPS, demonstrate that this combo can handle Barony at high frame rates, but the 4K results show its limitations at higher resolutions. The rank is likely influenced by the fact that many tested combos include higher-end GPUs that achieve better 4K performance, while this system's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory bus constrain it at resolutions where pixel throughput is paramount.

The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals put it within 2.1% of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 and within 1% of the RX 7700, indicating that the RX 9060's performance class is well established. The CPU's nearest rivals show a similar clustering, with the i5-10400F within 0.6% of the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C. This tight clustering in synthetic benchmarks does not necessarily translate to identical gaming performance, but it provides context for where this combo sits relative to the broader hardware landscape in Barony.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates across settings are as follows: Low averages 315 FPS, Medium averages 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 FPS and maximum of 270 FPS, High averages 201 FPS, and Ultra averages 144 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 54% reduction in average FPS, with the largest single-step drop occurring from Medium to High (235 to 201 FPS, a 14% reduction) and from High to Ultra (201 to 144 FPS, a 28% reduction). The Medium preset's minimum of 199 FPS is notably close to the High preset's average of 201 FPS, indicating that Medium's frame time variance is contained within a reasonable band.

At 2560x1440, the results scale downward: Low averages 199 FPS, Medium averages 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 FPS and maximum of 170 FPS, High averages 127 FPS, and Ultra averages 91 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is consistent across presets, ranging from 37% at Low to 37% at High, with Medium at 37% and Ultra at 37%. The Medium preset's 44 FPS spread between minimum and maximum is tighter than at 1080p, suggesting more consistent GPU utilization.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are: Low averages 104 FPS, Medium averages 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 FPS and maximum of 89 FPS, High averages 66 FPS, and Ultra averages 48 FPS. The 4K Medium preset's 23 FPS spread is the tightest of any resolution and preset combination, indicating that the GPU is the dominant limiter with minimal CPU interference. The step from High to Ultra at 4K (66 to 48 FPS, a 27% reduction) mirrors the 1080p High-to-Ultra drop, showing that Ultra's additional rendering features impose a consistent penalty regardless of resolution.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process with 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz, with 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is a modest figure that becomes relevant at 4K Ultra where the 48 FPS average suggests memory throughput constraints.

In Barony, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the GPU has ample headroom, as evidenced by the 315 FPS Low result being CPU-limited. At 1440p, the GPU begins to assert itself, with the 199 FPS Low result representing a 37% drop from 1080p, consistent with the pixel count increase of 78%. At 4K, the GPU is firmly the bottleneck, with the 104 FPS Low result being 67% lower than 1080p Low, while the pixel count increases by 400% — this non-linear scaling indicates that the GPU is not purely pixel-bound, but also affected by memory bandwidth and fill rate limits.

The GPU's synthetic benchmarks provide context for its gaming performance. The 3dmark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322 and PassMark G3D score of 17631 place it in the 59th percentile of all GPUs. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 88183 and Vulkan score of 39476 show strong compute capabilities, while the PassMark DirectX 11 score of 182 and DirectX 12 score of 44 are more modest, though these synthetic tests may not directly correlate with Barony's rendering workload. The GPU's 64 ROPs and 191.4 GPixel/s pixel rate are adequate for 1080p and 1440p but become strained at 4K, particularly at Ultra settings where the 48 FPS average indicates the rasterization pipeline is saturated.