Barony

The Intel Core i5-10400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers exceptional performance in Barony, a roguelike title where frame rates are already high. The measured data shows this combo is capable of obliterating standard refresh rate targets, and even at 4K Ultra, it maintains a playable frame rate. The key to optimizing this setup lies in understanding where the GPU workload becomes too heavy, as the CPU provides more than enough headroom for this genre. This analysis focuses on the measured FPS data to determine the best settings and what the performance scaling reveals about the system's balance.

Settings Recommendations

For this specific combination, the choice of settings is a trade-off between visual fidelity and the pursuit of extremely high refresh rates. The data shows that at 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 166.1 FPS. This is already well above the 144Hz threshold, making it the ideal choice for high-refresh-rate monitors without sacrificing image quality. The performance headroom is substantial; dropping to High only increases the average to 230.9 FPS, a significant jump that would benefit a 240Hz display, but the visual cost is not necessary for most users.

At 2560x1440, the Ultra preset maintains an average of 106.4 FPS, which is suitable for a 100Hz or 120Hz display but falls short of the 144Hz target. The High preset at this resolution, however, jumps to 145.1 FPS, perfectly hitting the 144Hz sweet spot. Given the modest visual difference between High and Ultra in most games, the High preset is the recommended choice for 1440p to ensure a consistently smooth experience. The Medium preset offers 170.4 FPS here, which is excessive for most monitors and a step down in quality.

The 4K resolution (3840x2160) is where the GPU starts to show its limits. The High preset produces an average of 77.4 FPS, which is playable but not ideal for fast-paced action. The Ultra preset drops to 57 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target. The data indicates that for a locked 60 FPS experience at 4K, the Medium preset, yielding 88.5 FPS, provides a much safer margin. The Low preset, at 121.7 FPS, is an option for those who prioritize frame rate above all else, but it is not recommended given the playability of the higher presets.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the primary driver of the performance scaling seen in the measured data. It features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is sufficient for the textures and effects in Barony at all tested resolutions. The GPU's clock speeds, with a base of 2280 MHz and a boost of 2497 MHz, are the key to its strong rasterization performance, which is evident in the high frame counts even at 1080p Ultra.

The RTX 5060's compute capabilities, with 3840 shading units and a 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 rating, are more than ample for this roguelike. The data shows a clear correlation between the GPU's workload and the FPS drop as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU is not the bottleneck, as the CPU is capable of feeding it enough data to produce over 360 FPS on Low settings. However, as resolution scales to 4K, the GPU's pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s becomes the limiting factor, causing the FPS to drop from 361.6 at 1080p Low to 121.7 at 4K Low. This indicates that the GPU is the component that dictates the upper limits of performance at higher resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

In the grand scheme of the benchmark database, this combination of the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 holds a solid position. The data shows it ranks 802nd out of 1702 tested combos for Barony. This places it in the upper half of all configurations, which is impressive given the CPU is a more budget-oriented part from the Comet Lake generation. The ranking reflects the GPU's strength, as the RTX 5060 is a modern, capable card.

The CPU's own benchmark scores are modest compared to its rivals. Its average benchmark score of 14168 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7552, which is just 0.4% faster, and the AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, which is 0.8% slower. This shows the i5-10400F is in a performance class with these parts, but it is not a top-tier processor. The GPU, however, performs significantly better relative to its own peers. The RTX 5060's average score of 30109 is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 570 (-0.2% delta). This indicates that the GPU is the stronger component in this pairing, and it is what boosts the combo's overall rank in a game like Barony.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of performance across all settings and resolutions. At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high. The Low preset averages 361.6 FPS, the Medium preset averages 270.7 FPS, the High preset averages 230.9 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 166.1 FPS. These numbers indicate that the system is heavily CPU-limited at this resolution, as the GPU has ample power to render frames far faster than the CPU can issue draw calls.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain very high but begin to show the GPU's increasing workload. The Low preset averages 226.4 FPS, the Medium preset averages 170.4 FPS, the High preset averages 145.1 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 106.4 FPS. The scaling is consistent, with a roughly 30-40% reduction in FPS from 1080p to 1440p across all settings.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The Low preset averages 121.7 FPS, the Medium preset averages 88.5 FPS, the High preset averages 77.4 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 57 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium at 4K is 33.2 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is only 11.1 FPS, suggesting that the High preset adds a significant amount of visual detail that heavily taxes the GPU.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and reveals the system's balance. At the Low preset, the average FPS falls from 361.6 at 1080p to 226.4 at 1440p and then to 121.7 at 4K. This represents a 37.4% decrease from 1080p to 1440p and a further 46.2% decrease from 1440p to 4K. This pattern indicates that the GPU is the primary limiting component, as the workload scales directly with the number of pixels.

At the Ultra preset, the drop is less severe in percentage terms but still substantial. The FPS goes from 166.1 at 1080p to 106.4 at 1440p (a 35.9% decrease) and then to 57 at 4K (a 46.4% decrease from 1440p). The fact that the percentage drop is similar across presets suggests that the scaling is consistent and not affected by specific settings like shadows or textures. This uniformity points to a pure pixel-pushing limitation. The CPU's role is diminished at 4K, as the GPU is working so hard that it cannot be bottlenecked by the processor's 6 cores and 12 threads.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-10400F plays a supporting role in this pairing, providing enough performance to feed the RTX 5060 at lower resolutions. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its single-thread performance, as measured by a 3DMark single-thread score of 688, is adequate for the game logic in Barony. The multi-threaded capabilities, with a 3DMark max-thread score of 4735, are more than sufficient for a roguelike that is unlikely to use all 12 threads effectively.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is the limiting factor. The FPS difference between the Low (361.6 FPS) and Ultra (166.1 FPS) presets is large, but even at the Low preset, the frame rate is capped by the CPU's ability to process the game state. The CPU's benchmark scores support this, as it ranks in the 73rd percentile of all CPUs, which is good but not exceptional. Its nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-8500 (1.1% slower) and AMD Ryzen 3 7320C (0.8% faster), are similarly performing parts. As resolution increases, the CPU's influence wanes, and the GPU's raw power takes over, allowing the system to maintain playable frame rates at 4K that are only limited by the graphics card's capabilities.