Barony

# Barony — Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 570

This combination of an Intel Core i5-11400F and an AMD Radeon RX 570 delivers playable performance in Barony at 1080p and 1440p, but struggles at 4K where the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. The measured frame rates reveal a system that handles the roguelike's demands competently at lower resolutions, yet the drop-off at Ultra settings across all resolutions suggests the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM and aging GCN architecture limit the experience. With a combo rank of 1625 out of 1702 tested combinations, this pairing sits in the lower quartile of all systems benchmarked for this title, indicating that while it can run the game, it does so with significant compromises compared to more modern hardware.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p Low, the system produces 138.6 FPS, which drops to 88.9 FPS at 1440p and further to 46.8 FPS at 4K — a 66.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings: High settings show 88.4 FPS at 1080p, 55.5 FPS at 1440p, and 30.5 FPS at 4K, representing a 65.5% loss from the lowest to highest resolution. This steep decline indicates that the RX 570's rendering capabilities are being taxed heavily as pixel count increases, with the GPU's 224.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 performance being insufficient to maintain higher frame rates at 4K.

The Medium preset follows the same trend: 104.6 FPS at 1080p, 64.3 FPS at 1440p, and 33.3 FPS at 4K. Interestingly, the percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p (38.5% loss) is less severe than from 1440p to 4K (48.2% loss), suggesting that the GPU has enough headroom at 1440p but becomes overwhelmed at 4K. The Ultra setting shows the most dramatic scaling: 63.9 FPS at 1080p falls to 38.5 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 19.6 FPS at 4K — a 69.3% total reduction. These numbers indicate that the limiting component is unquestionably the GPU, as the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads with boost clocks up to 4.40 GHz provide ample processing power for this roguelike title. The data implies that 4K gaming is only viable at Low settings, and even then, the 46.8 FPS average falls short of smooth 60 FPS gameplay.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 570, built on the Polaris 20 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, plays the dominant role in determining Barony's performance. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but becomes a limiting factor at 4K resolution. The GPU's 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs are responsible for the frame rate differences observed across settings — at 1080p Ultra, the card produces 63.9 FPS, but this drops to 19.6 FPS at 4K Ultra, a 69.3% decrease that directly correlates with the 4x increase in pixel count.

The clock speeds of 1168 MHz base and 1244 MHz boost are modest by modern standards, and the 5.095 TFLOPS FP32 performance places this card well below contemporary offerings. The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this positioning — its average benchmark score of 30158 places it at the 74th percentile of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (deltaPct 0.2) and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (deltaPct 0.2). Despite being an end-of-life product released in 2017, the RX 570 still manages to deliver playable frame rates at 1080p across all settings, with even Ultra settings hitting 63.9 FPS. However, the data shows that the GPU's 4 GB VRAM capacity becomes a constraint at higher resolutions, where texture memory demands increase significantly, contributing to the steep FPS drops observed at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides a solid foundation for Barony, with its 6 cores and 12 threads ensuring that CPU-side processing never becomes the primary constraint in this title. The processor's base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz deliver strong single-threaded performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark_single_thread score of 868 and passmark_single_thread score of 2981. The CPU's 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the roguelike genre, which typically doesn't demand extensive multi-threaded scaling.

Benchmark results show the i5-11400F performing competitively within its class — its cinebench_r23_multicore score of 14372 and geekbench_multicore score of 7579 indicate robust multi-threaded capabilities. The CPU achieves a 75th percentile ranking among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 17181. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 5700U (deltaPct 0), Intel Core i7-1260P (deltaPct -0.2), and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (deltaPct -0.2), showing that this desktop chip holds its own against newer mobile and hybrid processors. In the context of Barony, the CPU's 12 threads ensure that even at 1080p Low where the GPU produces 138.6 FPS, the processor can keep up without becoming a bottleneck. The data suggests that upgrading the GPU would yield far greater performance gains than upgrading the CPU, as the current combination shows the GPU limiting performance at all resolutions above 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings for this combination depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, all settings produce playable results — even Ultra achieves 63.9 FPS, which is smooth enough for most players. The Medium preset at 1080p delivers 104.6 FPS, providing an excellent balance between visual quality and performance. For players seeking maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p produces 138.6 FPS, which is ideal for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

At 1440p, the High preset (55.5 FPS) and Medium preset (64.3 FPS) both offer acceptable experiences, though players with 60 Hz displays would prefer Medium for a more consistent frame rate. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 38.5 FPS, which is noticeably less smooth. At 4K, only the Low preset (46.8 FPS) approaches playability, while Medium (33.3 FPS), High (30.5 FPS), and Ultra (19.6 FPS) all fall short of smooth gameplay. The data clearly shows that 4K gaming is not a practical option for this combination, and players should stick to 1080p or 1440p for the best experience. For the optimal balance of visual fidelity and performance, the Medium preset at 1440p or High preset at 1080p represent the sweet spots for this hardware pairing.

FAQ

Q: Can this system run Barony at 60 FPS in 1080p?

A: Yes, all four settings presets at 1920x1080 exceed 60 FPS. Low produces 138.6 FPS, Medium 104.6 FPS, High 88.4 FPS, and even Ultra reaches 63.9 FPS, so 60 FPS gameplay is achievable at any preset.

Q: What is the best resolution for this combination?

A: The data shows 1920x1080 is the ideal resolution, with all settings delivering above 60 FPS. At 2560x1440, only Low (88.9 FPS) and Medium (64.3 FPS) exceed 60 FPS, while High (55.5 FPS) and Ultra (38.5 FPS) fall short.

Q: Is this GPU or CPU bottlenecked in Barony?

A: The GPU is clearly the limiting component. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads provide ample processing power, while the GPU's frame rates drop dramatically with resolution increases. The 69.3% FPS reduction from 1080p Ultra to 4K Ultra indicates GPU-bound performance.

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

A: This combination ranks 1625 out of 1702 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 5% of all systems benchmarked for Barony. This low ranking reflects the aging RX 570 GPU and mid-range i5-11400F CPU pairing.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 4K with Low settings?

A: At 3840x2160 with Low settings, the system produces an average of 46.8 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that approaches playable performance, though it still falls below 60 FPS.

Q: Does the Ultra preset provide a good experience at any resolution?

A: At 1080p, Ultra produces 63.9 FPS, which is playable. However, at 1440p Ultra drops to 38.5 FPS and at 4K Ultra falls to 19.6 FPS, making Ultra viable only at 1080p for this hardware combination.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce 138.6 FPS, Medium 104.6 FPS, High 88.4 FPS, and Ultra 63.9 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 74.7 FPS, showing that visual quality has a significant impact on frame rates at this resolution. The 1080p results demonstrate that this combination can handle Barony's roguelike gameplay with smooth performance across the board.

At 2560x1440, there is a noticeable performance drop. Low settings yield 88.9 FPS, Medium 64.3 FPS, High 55.5 FPS, and Ultra 38.5 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra widens to 50.4 FPS, and only Low and Medium maintain frame rates above 60 FPS. The 1440p results indicate that players must make a choice between visual fidelity and smoothness, with Medium being the highest preset that consistently exceeds 60 FPS.

At 3840x2160, performance becomes marginal across all settings. Low produces 46.8 FPS, Medium 33.3 FPS, High 30.5 FPS, and Ultra 19.6 FPS. None of these presets reach 60 FPS, and the 4K results show that this resolution is not practical for this hardware pairing. The 4K data reveals the RX 570's limitations, with even Low settings struggling to maintain a playable frame rate, let alone approach the 60 FPS target that most players expect.

How This Combo Ranks

This Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 570 combination ranks 1625 out of 1702 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the bottom 4.5% of all systems benchmarked for this game. This low ranking is particularly notable given that both components individually perform reasonably well in their respective categories — the CPU sits at the 75th percentile of all processors, and the GPU at the 74th percentile of all GPUs. The discrepancy between individual component rankings and the combined system ranking suggests that Barony's performance profile heavily favors GPU capabilities, and the RX 570's age and specifications hold back what is otherwise a competent mid-range processor.

The combo's ranking reflects the GPU's limitations more than any CPU deficiency. The i5-11400F's strong single-threaded performance (3dmark_single_thread score of 868, passmark_single_thread score of 2981) and multi-threaded capabilities (cinebench_r23_multicore score of 14372) mean the processor is not the weak link. However, the RX 570's 4 GB VRAM, 224.0 GB/s bandwidth, and 5.095 TFLOPS of FP32 compute place it well below modern graphics cards, resulting in the low overall ranking. The measured frame rates confirm this analysis — at 1080p, where CPU performance matters more relative to GPU load, the system performs adequately, but at 4K where GPU capabilities dominate, the system falls far behind other tested combinations. Players considering this pairing for Barony should expect a playable but not exceptional experience at 1080p or 1440p, with significant compromises required at higher resolutions.