Barony

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates for Barony reveal a clear hierarchy across the four available presets, and the data suggests that the High setting offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 1080p, High delivers 426.8 FPS, which is substantially above the 303.7 FPS of Ultra, yet it retains a visual quality uplift over Medium’s 491.9 FPS. The gap between High and Medium is 65.1 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra costs 123.1 FPS — a steep penalty that is unlikely to be justified by marginal visual improvements in a roguelike title where clarity of game-state information matters more than cinematic effects.

Moving to 1440p, the same pattern holds. High produces 266.9 FPS, comfortably above the 193.3 FPS of Ultra, and still well ahead of the 60 FPS threshold that most displays target. At 4K, High maintains 139.6 FPS, which is playable on high-refresh-rate 4K panels, whereas Ultra drops to 98.3 FPS. The Low preset, while achieving 554 FPS at 1080p, 422.9 FPS at 1440p, and 220.3 FPS at 4K, sacrifices too much graphical fidelity for frame rates that exceed what most monitors can display. Medium is a viable alternative for those prioritizing speed, but High appears to be the sweet spot: it consistently provides frame rates that are 30-40% higher than Ultra while keeping the experience visually coherent.

The data implies that the Ultra preset is poorly optimized for this hardware pairing, or that its additional effects disproportionately tax the GPU without commensurate returns. For competitive or fast-paced roguelike play, the High preset at 1440p — with 266.9 FPS — presents the strongest combination of responsiveness and detail. At 4K, High’s 139.6 FPS is the recommended choice, as it stays above the 120 Hz refresh rate common on premium displays, whereas Ultra’s 98.3 FPS would force users into lower refresh modes.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain why Barony runs at such high frame rates across all measured configurations. The GPU features 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. For a roguelike with procedurally generated levels and potentially large texture sets, this capacity ensures that asset streaming is never a bottleneck, even at 4K Ultra where memory pressure is highest. The 16,384 shading units and 512 texture mapping units provide ample raw compute for the game’s rendering workload, while the 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores suggest the card is overbuilt for a title that likely does not utilize these features heavily.

Clock speeds are equally telling: the base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz are high absolute values, and the memory operates at 1313 MHz base with 21 Gbps effective speed. These clocks, combined with the 82.58 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, allow the RTX 4090 to crush Barony’s demands at every preset. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the card maintains 98.3 FPS, which reflects its headroom. However, the performance spread between Low and Ultra at 4K — from 220.3 FPS down to 98.3 FPS — indicates that the Ultra preset introduces effects that scale heavily with GPU load, such as advanced lighting or post-processing, rather than being CPU-bound.

The RTX 4090’s 91st percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 66,473, places it far above typical gaming hardware. Its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are workstation-class cards like the NVIDIA Tesla T4 (deltaPct -0.4) and Quadro P6000 (deltaPct -1.3), which underscores its positioning at the top of the consumer stack. For Barony specifically, the GPU is never the limiting factor until 4K Ultra, and even then it remains well above playable thresholds.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K reveals how the workload shifts between CPU and GPU as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 426.8 FPS; at 1440p High, it drops to 266.9 FPS (a 37.5% reduction); at 4K High, it falls to 139.6 FPS (a 47.7% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions — the pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, and the frame rate drops by roughly two-thirds, which is consistent with the RTX 4090’s fill rate limits rather than any CPU constraint.

The Low preset shows a similar trajectory: 554 FPS at 1080p, 422.9 FPS at 1440p, and 220.3 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 23.7% and 47.9% respectively. At 1080p Low, the frame rate of 554 FPS suggests that the CPU is beginning to become a factor, as the GPU could theoretically render even faster, but the Intel Core i5-11400F’s six cores and twelve threads may cap performance around this level. This is corroborated by the fact that the gap between 1080p Low and 1440p Low is smaller than the gap between 1440p Low and 4K Low — the former is partially CPU-limited, while the latter is fully GPU-limited.

Ultra settings amplify the GPU load disproportionately. From 1080p Ultra (303.7 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (193.3 FPS) is a 36.4% drop, and from 1440p to 4K Ultra is a 49.2% drop to 98.3 FPS. The consistency of these drops across presets indicates that the RTX 4090’s memory bandwidth and compute throughput are the primary determinants of performance at high resolutions, with the CPU playing a diminishing role as pixel count increases.

How This Combo Ranks

Among the 1,702 tested combinations in the database, this pairing of the Intel Core i5-11400F with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 65th. This is a strong placement, placing it in the top 4% of all combos tested for Barony. The high rank is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, as the RTX 4090’s synthetic average benchmark score of 66,473 far exceeds what the i5-11400F alone could achieve. The CPU’s own percentile ranking is 75th among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 17,181, which is respectable but not exceptional.

The rank of 65 out of 1,702 suggests that there are 64 other combinations that outperform this one, likely pairing the RTX 4090 with faster CPUs such as high-end Ryzen 9 or Core i9 parts. However, the delta between this combo and those above it is likely small in actual gameplay terms, given that Barony’s frame rates already exceed 300 FPS at 1080p High. The data implies that the i5-11400F does not meaningfully bottleneck the RTX 4090 in this title, as evidenced by the 426.8 FPS at 1080p High, which is close to what faster CPUs might achieve. The 65th rank reflects a well-balanced pairing for this specific game, where the GPU’s dominance is the decisive factor.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides six cores and twelve threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth are modest by modern standards, yet they prove sufficient for Barony’s requirements. The CPU’s synthetic benchmarks — such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14,372 and a single-core score of 2,029 — indicate solid mid-range performance, placing it in the 75th percentile of all CPUs.

In Barony, the CPU’s role becomes apparent at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the 554 FPS figure hints at a CPU ceiling, as the RTX 4090 could theoretically push higher if given a stronger processor. The CPU’s 3DMark multi-threaded scores — 5,619 for 16 threads and 5,652 for max threads — show that its multi-core capability is adequate for the game’s logic and AI processing, but not exceptional. The single-thread score of 868 in 3DMark is more relevant for roguelike gameplay, where turn-based or event-driven logic may be serialized.

The data suggests that the i5-11400F does not bottleneck the RTX 4090 meaningfully at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the 98.3 FPS result is clearly GPU-limited, as the CPU has ample headroom. The gap between 1080p Low (554 FPS) and 1080p High (426.8 FPS) is 127.2 FPS, which indicates that the CPU can feed the GPU at a rate of at least 554 FPS, but the GPU’s load at High settings reduces output. This is a healthy balance, though users seeking absolute maximum frame rates at 1080p might benefit from a higher-clocked CPU.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average frame rates are: Low 554 FPS, Medium 491.9 FPS, High 426.8 FPS, and Ultra 303.7 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 250.3 FPS, showing a dramatic performance cost for maxed settings. The 1080p results are uniformly high, with even Ultra exceeding 300 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors.

At 2560x1440, the results are: Low 422.9 FPS, Medium 312.2 FPS, High 266.9 FPS, and Ultra 193.3 FPS. The drop from 1080p to 1440p ranges from 23.7% (Low) to 36.4% (Ultra), reflecting the increased pixel workload. Medium at 1440p remains above 300 FPS, while Ultra stays above 190 FPS, both suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming.

At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 220.3 FPS, Medium 165.1 FPS, High 139.6 FPS, and Ultra 98.3 FPS. The 4K results show the first sub-100 FPS figure for Ultra, though it remains playable. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 122 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset’s additional effects are particularly taxing at this resolution. Across all resolutions, the High preset offers the best compromise, with frame rates that are 30-40% higher than Ultra while maintaining visual quality.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: The High preset at 4K yields 139.6 FPS, which is well above Ultra’s 98.3 FPS. For a smoother experience, High is recommended, as the visual difference in a roguelike is unlikely to justify the 41.3 FPS penalty.

Q: Does the Intel Core i5-11400F bottleneck the RTX 4090 in Barony?

A: The data indicates minimal bottlenecking. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 554 FPS, which is near the CPU’s practical limit, but at higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. The 65th rank out of 1,702 combos suggests the pairing is well-matched for this game.

Q: How does the RTX 4090 compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 66,473, with its closest rival being the NVIDIA Tesla T4 at a deltaPct of -0.4, and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 at -0.9. This places it in the 91st percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What frame rate can I expect at 1440p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average is 193.3 FPS at 1440p Ultra, which is above 144 Hz refresh rates and provides a highly responsive experience. The High preset at 266.9 FPS offers even more headroom.

Q: Is the High preset significantly better than Medium in terms of frame rate?

A: At 1080p, High (426.8 FPS) is 65.1 FPS lower than Medium (491.9 FPS), a 13.2% reduction. At 4K, High (139.6 FPS) is 25.5 FPS lower than Medium (165.1 FPS), a 15.4% reduction. The trade-off is modest, making High a reasonable choice for improved visuals.

Q: How does this combo’s rank in Barony compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 65th out of 1,702 tested combos, placing it in the top 4% of all pairings. This high rank is driven primarily by the RTX 4090’s exceptional performance, with the CPU providing adequate support.