Barony

# Barony Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-10400F + Intel Arc B570

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the Intel Arc B570 delivers a surprisingly robust Barony experience, with benchmark results indicating that this combination ranks in the 20th percentile of all tested combos (rank 2344 out of 2935). The data shows a system that excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming, with playable 4K performance at medium settings. The Arc B570's 10 GB GDDR6 memory and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth prove sufficient for Barony's roguelike demands, while the i5-10400F's 6 cores and 12 threads keep pace effectively across all resolution tiers.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, with the most dramatic drop occurring between 1440p and 4K. At Low settings, the system delivers 245 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 154 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction), and further to 81 FPS at 4K (a 47% reduction from 1440p). This scaling behavior indicates that the Intel Arc B570 becomes increasingly the limiting factor as pixel count rises, though the CPU's contribution remains significant at lower resolutions.

The gap between 1080p and 1440p performance is notably smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K across all settings, suggesting that the GPU's 160-bit memory bus and 380.0 GB/s bandwidth begin to strain at 4K resolutions. At High settings, the system produces 156 FPS at 1080p, 99 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The 4K High result falls below the 60 FPS threshold, while 1440p High comfortably exceeds it.

The Medium settings row provides the most complete picture with minimum and maximum FPS values: at 1080p Medium, the system averages 182 FPS with a range of 155 to 209; at 1440p Medium, it averages 115 FPS with a range of 98 to 132; and at 4K Medium, it averages 60 FPS with a range of 51 to 69. These figures demonstrate that the system maintains consistent frame delivery without severe dips, even at 4K.

Ultra settings reveal the steepest scaling curve: 112 FPS at 1080p drops to 71 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 37 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). The 4K Ultra result is the only measured configuration that falls below 40 FPS, indicating that this setting is not viable at 4K resolution.

The overall scaling pattern suggests that the Intel Arc B570, with its 2304 shading units and 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 performance, provides adequate compute for Barony at mainstream resolutions but hits a bandwidth ceiling at 4K. The i5-10400F's 2.90 GHz base and 4.30 GHz boost clocks appear sufficient to feed the GPU at 1080p, where the system achieves its highest frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 2344 out of 2935 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the lower-mid tier of all possible pairings. The percentile placement reflects a system that is capable but not exceptional, with the data showing that roughly 80% of tested combos outperform it in this specific game.

The Intel Core i5-10400F holds a 68th percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 14185. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks include the Intel Xeon 6756E (0.2% higher score), the Intel Core 7 160UL (0.3% lower), the AMD EPYC 7552 (0.5% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.6% lower). These tight margins indicate that the i5-10400F's CPU-level performance is competitive with a wide range of enterprise and consumer processors.

The Intel Arc B570 sits at the 65th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20556. Its nearest competitors include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher), the Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower), the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (0.4% higher), and the AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% lower). This places the B570 in a performance class that straddles mobile and desktop graphics solutions.

Given that both components rank in the upper-middle tier of their respective categories, the combined system's 20th percentile ranking in Barony suggests that the game's specific optimization characteristics may not favor this particular pairing. The data indicates that Barony's performance is more sensitive to GPU capabilities than CPU throughput, as evidenced by the dramatic FPS drops at 4K despite the CPU's solid synthetic scores.

The combo's ranking also reflects the game's 2015 release date and roguelike genre, which typically favor single-threaded performance and strong GPU compute rather than multi-core scaling. The i5-10400F's single-thread benchmarks (688 in 3dmark_single_thread, 1451 in cinebench_r23_singlecore) are modest, which may contribute to the lower overall ranking despite adequate multi-threaded scores.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p High settings provide the best balance, delivering 99 FPS average while 4K High drops to 52 FPS. For maximum smoothness, 1080p High achieves 156 FPS average.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rival?

A: The B570 scores 20556 on average benchmarks, which is 0.1% higher than the Intel Arc A750 and 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. This places it in a tightly contested performance tier.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, but only at Medium settings, which produces 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS. 4K High (52 FPS) and 4K Ultra (37 FPS) fall below ideal playability thresholds.

Q: What is the CPU's multi-threaded performance like?

A: The i5-10400F scores 10283 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 12115 in Passmark multithread, placing it at the 68th percentile of all CPUs. Its 6 cores and 12 threads handle Barony's workload effectively.

Q: Is the 10 GB VRAM sufficient for Barony at high resolutions?

A: The data indicates yes at 4K Medium (60 FPS) and 1440p Ultra (71 FPS), though 4K Ultra (37 FPS) suggests VRAM or bandwidth constraints may be limiting at the highest settings.

Q: How does the combo's ranking compare to its individual component rankings?

A: The CPU ranks at the 68th percentile and the GPU at the 65th percentile individually, but the combo ranks 2344 out of 2935 (roughly 20th percentile) in Barony, indicating the game does not favor this pairing as strongly as synthetic benchmarks would suggest.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1080p, all settings deliver playable frame rates, with Low achieving 245 FPS, Medium at 182 FPS, High at 156 FPS, and Ultra at 112 FPS. Given that even Ultra comfortably exceeds 100 FPS, players should prioritize visual quality at this resolution, with High or Ultra being the recommended choices.

At 1440p, the recommended setting is High, which delivers 99 FPS average. Medium produces 115 FPS but with a minimum of 98 FPS, while Ultra drops to 71 FPS. The 1440p High setting offers the best compromise between visual fidelity and frame rate stability, maintaining an average above 90 FPS without the visual sacrifices of Medium.

At 4K, Medium is the only recommended setting, producing 60 FPS average with a minimum of 51 FPS. The Low setting achieves 81 FPS but at significant visual cost, while High (52 FPS) and Ultra (37 FPS) fall below the 60 FPS threshold that ensures smooth gameplay. The data suggests that 4K Medium is the maximum playable configuration.

For players using high refresh rate monitors, 1080p Low (245 FPS) or Medium (182 FPS) provide the best frame rate headroom, while 1440p Medium (115 FPS) offers a good middle ground. The system's performance at 1080p suggests it can drive 240Hz displays at Low settings, though 144Hz displays are more realistic at Medium or High.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system demonstrates its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings yield 245 FPS average, Medium produces 182 FPS with a range of 155 to 209 FPS, High achieves 156 FPS, and Ultra delivers 112 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 54% performance drop, with each settings tier costing roughly 30-40 FPS on average.

At 2560x1440, the performance scales down predictably. Low settings achieve 154 FPS, Medium averages 115 FPS with a range of 98 to 132 FPS, High delivers 99 FPS, and Ultra produces 71 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 37% at Low to 39% at Ultra, showing consistent scaling behavior across settings.

At 3840x2160, the system's limits become apparent. Low settings produce 81 FPS, Medium averages 60 FPS with a range of 51 to 69 FPS, High achieves 52 FPS, and Ultra drops to 37 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K costs between 47% and 48% of performance across settings, indicating the GPU's bandwidth constraints at this resolution.

The Medium settings rows provide the only complete min/max data across all resolutions, showing that frame time consistency remains stable. At 1080p Medium, the 155-209 FPS range represents a 26% variance; at 1440p Medium, the 98-132 FPS range shows a 26% variance; and at 4K Medium, the 51-69 FPS range demonstrates a 26% variance. This consistent variance pattern suggests reliable frame pacing without sudden spikes or drops.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F features 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, supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel configuration delivering 42.7 GB/s bandwidth. The CPU's 12 MB shared L3 cache and 256 KB L2 cache per core provide adequate data locality for Barony's procedural generation and game logic.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU demonstrates balanced performance across workloads. Its 3dmark scores scale from 688 single-thread to 4748 at 16 threads, showing reasonable multi-threading efficiency. The Cinebench R23 results (1451 single-core, 10283 multi-core) indicate that the CPU's single-thread performance is modest, while multi-threaded performance is competitive with its peers.

The CPU's role in Barony's performance becomes evident when examining the resolution scaling data. At 1080p, where the GPU is less stressed, the system achieves its highest frame rates, suggesting the CPU can keep up with the game's simulation requirements. However, the 68th percentile CPU ranking and the combo's 20th percentile game ranking suggest that Barony may be more demanding on CPU single-thread performance than this processor optimally provides.

The 42.7 GB/s memory bandwidth and dual-channel DDR4 support are sufficient for the game's needs, as evidenced by the consistent frame delivery across all measured settings. The CPU's 65W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface (16 lanes) provide adequate bandwidth for the Arc B570's PCIe 4.0 x8 connection, though the older PCIe standard may slightly limit data transfer rates in extreme scenarios.

The i5-10400F's Passmark scores reveal a processor that excels in integer math (41471) and floating-point operations (25956), which are relevant to Barony's procedural generation and physics calculations. Its data compression score (185944) and extended instruction performance (12500) indicate solid general-purpose compute capabilities that support the game's roguelike mechanics without bottlenecking the GPU.