Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i5-11400F + AMD Radeon RX 7700

The Intel Core i5-11400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 delivers a robust Barony experience across all tested resolutions and settings. The measured frame rates show a system that can comfortably handle the roguelike at high refresh rates even at 4K, though the scaling pattern between 1080p and 4K reveals where the performance ceiling sits. This analysis walks through the resolution scaling, competitive ranking, component roles, and specific settings recommendations based on the measured data.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 follows the expected pattern of increasing GPU load, but the magnitude of the drop reveals important characteristics about this combo. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 230 at 1080p down to 145 at 1440p, and finally to 76 at 4K. That represents a 37% reduction when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 48% drop when stepping up to 4K. The total decline from 1080p to 4K at High settings is approximately 67%, which indicates a system where the GPU becomes progressively more limiting as pixel count rises.

Looking at Low settings, the pattern is more dramatic. The system produces 360 FPS at 1080p, drops to 227 FPS at 1440p, and falls to 119 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p reduction is 37%, while the 1440p to 4K reduction is 48% — the same percentages as High settings. The fact that both Low and High settings show identical scaling percentages across resolutions suggests that the resolution-dependent workload scales linearly with pixel count, and the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions regardless of quality preset.

Medium settings tell a similar story with different absolute numbers. At 1080p, the average is 268 FPS; at 1440p, it drops to 169 FPS; and at 4K, it falls to 88 FPS. The percentage drops are 37% and 48% respectively, matching the pattern seen in Low and High. Ultra settings produce 165 FPS at 1080p, 104 FPS at 1440p, and 54 FPS at 4K — again showing the same percentage reductions.

The consistency of these scaling percentages across all four settings presets is notable. It indicates that Barony's rendering workload at each resolution is dominated by pixel throughput rather than settings-dependent effects. The CPU, an Intel Core i5-11400F with 6 cores and 12 threads, maintains sufficient headroom to keep feeding the GPU even at 1080p where frame rates exceed 300 FPS. The limiting component at higher resolutions is clearly the GPU, as evidenced by the steep drops when pixel count increases.

At 4K, even the lowest setting of 119 FPS remains playable, which suggests that this combo can handle Barony at 4K without requiring drastic compromises. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 65 FPS, showing that settings have a substantial impact at this resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low and Ultra is 195 FPS, indicating that the CPU begins to play a more significant role in determining maximum frame rates at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranking for Barony places this configuration at position 1336 out of 2935 tested combinations. This puts it in the 54th percentile of all tested combos, meaning it outperforms slightly more than half of the tested systems in this game. Given that the GPU sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs and the CPU at the 71st percentile among all CPUs, the combined ranking is somewhat lower than either component's individual percentile would suggest.

The GPU's nearest rivals provide context for its performance tier. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852, which is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862 (a delta of -0.1%). It sits 1% below the AMD Radeon RX 9060 at 16014, and 1.1% above the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 15679. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16129 is 1.7% higher. These deltas are all within a narrow band, suggesting that the RX 7700's raw compute capabilities place it in a tightly contested performance tier.

The CPU's nearest rivals show a similar clustering. The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177, which is 0.3% above the AMD EPYC 7H12 at 17120, 0.4% below the Intel Core i5-12450H at 17239, 0.6% below the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G at 17278, and 0.6% above the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17074. These tight margins indicate that the i5-11400F delivers competitive multi-threaded performance despite being an older architecture.

In Barony specifically, the combo's rank of 1336 out of 2935 suggests that the game is not particularly demanding on either component. The measured frame rates are high across all settings and resolutions, indicating that even at 4K Ultra, the system maintains an average of 54 FPS. This places the combo well within playable territory for a roguelike genre game, which typically does not require extreme frame rates for competitive play.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7700 is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It contains 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, with a transistor density of 81.2M per mm². The GPU features 2560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 40 ray tracing cores. Its compute capabilities are rated at 25.18 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 operations, with a pixel rate of 236.1 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 393.4 GTexel/s.

Memory configuration is substantial for Barony's requirements. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. This is far more than a roguelike game would require, but the memory subsystem's headroom means there is no risk of bandwidth or capacity constraints at any tested setting. The memory runs at 2438 MHz with 19.5 Gbps effective speed.

Clock speeds are reasonable for the architecture. The base clock is 1900 MHz, with a game clock of 2041 MHz and a boost clock of 2459 MHz. The difference between game and boost clocks suggests that the card can sustain higher frequencies under lighter loads, which is relevant for Barony's relatively modest rendering demands. The card's 200 W TDP and dual-slot design with 2x 8-pin power connectors indicate it is a mid-range power consumer.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 58th percentile among all GPUs. Its passmark G3D score is 20974, with a passmark GPU compute score of 10963. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 2865. These synthetic benchmarks align with the measured performance in Barony, where the GPU delivers high frame rates at all resolutions but begins to show its limits at 4K Ultra.

The GPU's nearest rival comparisons show that the RX 7700 is positioned within a tight performance band. Its average benchmark score of 15852 is nearly indistinguishable from the R9 370X, and the deltas to the RX 9060, Pro W5500, and RTX 3060 Ti are all within 1.7%. This suggests that in Barony, the GPU's performance relative to these rivals would follow a similar pattern, with the RX 7700 providing competitive frame rates without being a class leader.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves in Barony?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 360 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. At Medium settings and 1080p, the average drops to 268 FPS, and at High settings it is 230 FPS.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No. The measured average frame rate at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings is 54 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold. However, at 4K High settings, the average is 76 FPS, comfortably above 60.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rival in raw benchmark performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 has an average benchmark score of 15852, which is 0.1% lower than the AMD Radeon R9 370X at 15862, 1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 at 16014, and 1.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 16129. It is 1.1% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 at 15679.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, Low settings produce an average of 227 FPS, while Ultra settings produce 104 FPS. This represents a difference of 123 FPS between the lowest and highest quality presets.

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

A: The Intel Core i5-11400F has an average benchmark score of 17177. It is 0.3% higher than the AMD EPYC 7H12 at 17120, 0.4% lower than the Intel Core i5-12450H at 17239, and 0.6% lower than the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G at 17278. It is 0.6% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U at 17074.

Q: What is the minimum measured FPS for Medium settings at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080 with Medium settings, the minimum measured frame rate is 228 FPS, with a maximum of 308 FPS and an average of 268 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance on which settings preset offers the best experience for this combo. At 1080p, all settings presets deliver well above 60 FPS, with even the most demanding Ultra preset averaging 165 FPS. The Medium preset at 1080p produces 268 FPS average with a minimum of 228 FPS, providing a smooth experience with substantial visual improvement over Low settings. For players with 1080p displays, High settings at 230 FPS is the recommended balance, offering strong visual quality while maintaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of most monitors.

At 1440p, the situation becomes more nuanced. Low settings produce 227 FPS, Medium produces 169 FPS, and High produces 145 FPS. All three exceed 120 FPS, making them suitable for high-refresh-rate displays. Ultra settings at 1440p drop to 104 FPS, which is still smooth but represents a significant visual quality investment. The Medium preset at 1440p with a minimum of 144 FPS is recommended for players who want consistent frame pacing, while High settings offer a better visual experience for those willing to trade some frame rate headroom.

For 4K displays, the recommendations shift toward quality prioritization. Low settings at 119 FPS provide a very smooth experience, Medium at 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 FPS remains excellent, and High at 76 FPS is still well above 60. Ultra at 4K drops to 54 FPS, which may be acceptable for a roguelike but falls below the 60 FPS threshold. The High preset at 4K is the recommended choice for visual quality and smoothness, while Medium is the safer option for those prioritizing consistent frame rates above 75 FPS.

The data shows that the Medium preset consistently provides the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all three resolutions. Its minimum frame rates are always significantly higher than the display's refresh rate requirements, and the average frame rates leave substantial headroom for scene complexity variations. For players who prefer maximum visual quality, High settings are viable at all resolutions, with the understanding that 4K Ultra will dip below 60 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Rocket Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The processor supports DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration with a memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s. Its cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 512 KB of L2 per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache.

The CPU's benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 14340, with a single-core score of 2024. In Geekbench, it scores 7737 multicore and 1777 single-core. The 3DMark scores scale from 868 single-thread to 5652 max-threads, indicating good scaling across the 12 threads. PassMark results show a multithread score of 16908 and a single-thread score of 2981.

The CPU sits at the 71st percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17177. Its nearest rivals are all within a narrow performance band, with deltas ranging from -0.6% to +0.6%. This indicates that the i5-11400F delivers competitive performance for its generation, though it is not a top-tier processor by current standards.

In Barony, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The measured frame rates at 1080p, which reach 360 FPS at Low settings, suggest that the CPU can handle Barony's workload without becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions. The consistent scaling percentages across resolutions indicate that the CPU is not the limiting factor even at 1080p, where frame rates are highest.

The CPU's single-thread performance, as indicated by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2024 and Geekbench single-core score of 1777, is sufficient for Barony's gameplay logic. The 12 threads provide ample headroom for background tasks and any multithreaded game systems, though Barony's roguelike nature likely does not heavily utilize more than a few cores. The 12 MB of L3 cache and 51.2 GB/s memory bandwidth are adequate for the game's data requirements.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured frame rates show a wide spread across settings. Low settings produce an average of 360 FPS, representing the ceiling for this combo at 1080p. Medium settings average 268 FPS with a minimum of 228 and a maximum of 308 FPS, providing a tight frame time distribution. High settings average 230 FPS, and Ultra settings average 165 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 195 FPS difference, indicating that settings have a substantial impact on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. Low settings average 227 FPS, Medium settings average 169 FPS with a minimum of 144 and a maximum of 194 FPS, High settings average 145 FPS, and Ultra settings average 104 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 123 FPS, narrower than at 1080p due to the increased GPU load.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops become more pronounced. Low settings average 119 FPS, Medium settings average 88 FPS with a minimum of 75 and a maximum of 102 FPS, High settings average 76 FPS, and Ultra settings average 54 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is 65 FPS at this resolution, showing that the GPU's capabilities become the dominant factor.

The Medium settings preset is the only one with complete minimum and maximum data across all three resolutions. At 1080p, the 228 FPS minimum and 308 FPS maximum show a 80 FPS range. At 1440p, the 144 FPS minimum and 194 FPS maximum show a 50 FPS range. At 4K, the 75 FPS minimum and 102 FPS maximum show a 27 FPS range. This tightening of frame time variance at higher resolutions suggests that the GPU becomes more consistently loaded as pixel count increases.