Barony

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a remarkably smooth experience in Barony, with the measured data showing this combination is well-suited for high-refresh-rate play at standard resolutions. The dataset reveals that this pairing excels at 1080p and 1440p, where it consistently produces frame rates well above playable thresholds, though it does start to show strain at 4K with the most demanding settings. The key takeaway is that this combo offers substantial headroom for competitive or fast-paced play, making it a practical choice for a game that benefits from high frame rates.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data strongly suggests that the Medium preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance for this configuration. At 1080p, the Medium setting delivers an average of 214 FPS with a minimum of 182 FPS and a maximum of 246 FPS, which is both exceptionally smooth and provides a significant buffer against any potential frame drops during intense gameplay moments. This is a far more stable experience than the Ultra preset, which drops to an average of 132 FPS at the same resolution, representing a 38% reduction in average frame rate for what is likely a marginal visual improvement in a roguelike title.

Moving to 1440p, the Medium preset continues to impress with an average of 135 FPS, a minimum of 115 FPS, and a maximum of 155 FPS. This is still comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for most displays and offers a substantial improvement over the Ultra setting, which averages 83 FPS at this resolution. The High preset at 1440p, averaging 116 FPS, is also a viable option, but the Medium preset's higher minimum frame rate of 115 FPS versus High's unspecified minimum makes it the safer choice for maintaining consistent performance during chaotic dungeon crawls.

For users with 4K displays, the data shows that the Medium preset is the only sensible option for a playable experience, with an average of 71 FPS and a minimum of 60 FPS. The High preset at 4K averages 61 FPS, which is technically playable but leaves little headroom for demanding scenes, while the Low preset at 95 FPS sacrifices too much visual quality. The Ultra preset at 4K, averaging just 43 FPS, should be avoided entirely as it falls below the standard for smooth gameplay. Ultimately, the Medium preset is the recommended choice across all resolutions, offering the most consistent frame pacing and a high average that suits both casual and competitive play.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 plays a central role in delivering these results, and its memory configuration is a key factor in the performance scaling observed across settings. The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This memory allocation appears sufficient for Barony's needs at the Medium and High presets across all tested resolutions, as the frame rates remain high. However, the significant drop when moving to the Ultra preset suggests that this setting may be pushing beyond what the 8 GB frame buffer can efficiently handle, particularly at 4K where the average FPS falls to 43.

The clock speeds of the RX 7600 also contribute to its performance profile. The GPU has a base clock of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. The substantial difference between the base and boost clocks indicates that the card is designed to run at higher frequencies under load, which helps maintain the strong average FPS seen in the 1080p and 1440p tests. The boost behavior is particularly evident in the Low preset results, where the GPU can push to its maximum capabilities, achieving 288 FPS at 1080p and 182 FPS at 1440p.

The GPU's architecture, RDNA 3.0 on a 6 nm process with 13,300 million transistors, provides the raw compute power necessary for these frame rates. With 2048 shading units and 32 ray accelerators, the card is well-equipped for modern rendering techniques, though the data suggests that Barony's Ultra preset may be using features that this GPU struggles to accelerate efficiently at higher resolutions. The GPU's 57th percentile ranking among all tested GPUs places it in the mid-range tier, which aligns with its performance in this game—strong for mainstream resolutions but not a top-tier 4K powerhouse.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and reveals important information about which component is the limiting factor in this system. At the Medium preset, the average FPS falls from 214 at 1080p to 135 at 1440p, and then to 71 at 4K. This represents a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 47% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The steep decline, particularly at 4K, indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the workload on the rendering pipeline increases substantially with pixel count.

The scaling pattern across settings provides further insight. At 1080p, the difference between Low (288 FPS) and Medium (214 FPS) is 74 FPS, while the difference between Medium and High (184 FPS) is 30 FPS, and High to Ultra (132 FPS) is 52 FPS. This non-linear scaling suggests that at 1080p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU, but the Ultra preset introduces a workload that begins to strain the graphics card. At 4K, the differences between Low (95 FPS), Medium (71 FPS), High (61 FPS), and Ultra (43 FPS) are more evenly distributed, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario where each incremental setting increases the rendering cost proportionally.

The data clearly shows that the RX 7600's performance degrades faster than a linear resolution scaling would predict, which is typical for a mid-range GPU with 8 GB of memory. The 4K results, especially at Ultra with an average of 43 FPS, indicate that this resolution is beyond the card's comfortable operating range for this game. For users with 1440p monitors, the scaling from 1080p shows that the combo maintains excellent performance, suggesting that the CPU is not holding back the GPU until the resolution drops significantly. This combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it provides an excellent experience, while 4K should be reserved for lower settings or users who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-11400F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 ranks 2536 out of 3717 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 32nd percentile of all possible pairings. This ranking indicates that while the combo is far from the top tier, it sits comfortably above the median, offering a solid performance level for the hardware involved. The rank reflects the balance between the CPU's processing power and the GPU's rendering capabilities, which the measured FPS data shows is well-matched for this game's demands.

Interpreting this rank in context, being in the 32nd percentile means that approximately 68% of all tested combinations deliver better performance in Barony. This is expected given the mid-range positioning of both components. The CPU sits in the 71st percentile among all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 57th percentile, suggesting that the CPU is relatively stronger than the GPU in this pairing. This is consistent with the resolution scaling data, which shows the GPU becoming the bottleneck at higher resolutions. The combo's rank is therefore more a reflection of the GPU's limitations than a critique of the overall system balance.

Compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-11400F's benchmark score of 17177 is nearly identical to the AMD EPYC 7H12 (17120, a 0.3% difference) and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U (17074, a 0.6% difference). This indicates that the CPU is performing at an expected level for its class. The GPU's average benchmark score of 15171 places it just below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, a -0.2% difference) and just above the AMD Radeon Pro 560X (15082, a 0.6% difference). These marginal differences in synthetic benchmarks translate to the real-world FPS numbers seen in Barony, confirming that the combo's rank is accurately reflecting its performance tier.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides the processing foundation for this combo, and its specifications are well-suited for Barony's gameplay mechanics. With 6 cores and 12 threads, the CPU offers sufficient parallel processing capabilities for a roguelike title that often involves numerous entities, procedural generation, and physics calculations. The base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz ensure that the CPU can handle both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads effectively, though the game's performance data suggests that single-thread performance is more critical.

The CPU's benchmark results show a strong single-thread capability, with a 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024. This is important for Barony, which likely relies heavily on single-thread performance for its game logic and AI calculations. The multi-threaded scores, such as the Cinebench R23 multicore result of 14340, demonstrate that the CPU can also handle more complex workloads, but the game's FPS data indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor in most scenarios, particularly at higher resolutions.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 12 MB of shared L3 cache are adequate for maintaining consistent performance without thermal throttling, which is crucial for sustaining high frame rates over extended gaming sessions. The memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s over a dual-channel DDR4 interface is sufficient to feed both the CPU and GPU without creating a bottleneck. The CPU's 71st percentile ranking among all CPUs and its near-identical benchmark scores to rivals like the AMD EPYC 7H12 and Intel Core Ultra 7 164U confirm that it is performing at an expected level, providing a stable platform that allows the RX 7600 to deliver its full potential in Barony.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p resolution, the measured FPS across all settings shows outstanding performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 288 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the GPU is not the limiting factor at this setting. The Medium preset provides a more balanced experience with an average of 214 FPS, a minimum of 182 FPS, and a maximum of 246 FPS, making it the most stable option for high-refresh-rate monitors. The High preset averages 184 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 132 FPS, still a very playable frame rate but showing the first signs of the GPU struggling with the most demanding settings.

At 1440p, the performance remains strong but begins to scale down. The Low preset averages 182 FPS, which is still excellent for most displays. The Medium preset delivers an average of 135 FPS with a minimum of 115 FPS and a maximum of 155 FPS, providing a consistent and smooth experience that is ideal for competitive play. The High preset averages 116 FPS, which is also very good, while the Ultra preset averages 83 FPS. This last figure is still above the 60 FPS threshold but shows a more pronounced drop from the High preset, indicating that the Ultra settings at 1440p are starting to tax the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute resources.

At 4K resolution, the performance drops significantly, and the differences between settings become more critical. The Low preset averages 95 FPS, which is surprisingly playable and suitable for users who prioritize frame rate over visuals. The Medium preset averages 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS and a maximum of 81 FPS, making it the recommended setting for 4K as it just maintains a playable frame rate with some headroom. The High preset averages 61 FPS, which is borderline for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset averages 43 FPS, which is not recommended for any serious play. The data at 4K clearly shows that this combo is not designed for Ultra settings at this resolution, and users should stick to Medium or Low for a satisfactory experience.