Barony

# Barony Performance Analysis: Intel Core i5-11400F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

This combination of an Intel Core i5-11400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D produces exceptional frame rates in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015. The measured data shows this pairing ranks 66th out of 2935 tested combos, placing it in the top 2.2% of all configurations evaluated. The RTX 5090 D, with its 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth, drives most settings well past refresh-rate territory, while the i5-11400F's six cores and twelve threads provide adequate feeding for the Blackwell 2.0 architecture. The results reveal a system that is heavily GPU-limited at higher resolutions but transitions to a more balanced workload at 1080p, where the CPU's Rocket Lake architecture becomes a more significant factor.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data for Barony shows a clear hierarchy across all three resolutions. At 3840x2160, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 109 FPS, while High reaches 152 FPS, Medium hits 178 FPS, and Low peaks at 239 FPS. The Medium preset stands out as the only configuration at 4K with both minimum and maximum FPS recorded (151 and 204 respectively), indicating stable frame pacing. Given that the Low preset at 4K runs at 239 FPS average—still below the 240 Hz threshold but far above typical 144 Hz displays—the Medium preset at 178 FPS offers the best balance of visual fidelity and headroom for high-refresh monitors.

At 2560x1440, the situation becomes more forgiving. Ultra averages 209 FPS, High reaches 292 FPS, Medium delivers 340 FPS, and Low achieves 457 FPS. The Medium preset's recorded range of 289 to 391 FPS demonstrates consistent performance that comfortably exceeds 240 Hz displays. For users with 1440p 144 Hz monitors, the Ultra preset at 209 FPS provides maximum visual quality while still maintaining a comfortable margin above refresh rate. However, for those seeking the smoothest possible experience, Medium at 340 FPS is the pragmatic choice, as the visual difference between Medium and High in this roguelike is less impactful than the frame rate gain.

At 1920x1080, all presets exceed 330 FPS, with Low hitting 555 FPS, Medium at 498 FPS, High at 462 FPS, and Ultra at 331 FPS. The Medium preset again shows the only measured variance (423 to 573 FPS). For competitive or high-refresh 1080p gaming, the Ultra preset at 331 FPS still provides an excellent experience, but the Medium preset's 498 FPS average offers substantially more headroom for 360 Hz or 500 Hz displays, which are becoming more common in esports. Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently delivers the best combination of frame rate stability and visual quality, as evidenced by its complete min/max data points.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank of 66 out of 2935 tested combinations places this system in an elite tier of configurations for Barony. This ranking reflects the synergy between the i5-11400F and RTX 5090 D, despite the CPU being a mid-range 11th Gen part. The CPU's percentile ranking of 71 versus all CPUs indicates it outperforms 71% of processors in general benchmarks, while the GPU's percentile of 92 versus all GPUs shows it sits above 92% of graphics cards. The imbalance in these percentiles suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor in some scenarios, particularly at lower resolutions where the GPU's massive compute resources cannot be fully utilized.

The nearest rivals for the CPU provide context: the AMD EPYC 7H12 scores 0.3% higher, the Intel Core i5-12450H scores 0.4% lower, the AMD Ryzen 3 PRO 8300G scores 0.6% lower, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 164U scores 0.6% higher. These deltas are all within 1%, meaning the i5-11400F's performance is tightly clustered with these alternatives. For the GPU, the nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 1.1% higher, the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 1.6% lower, and two NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants at 2.1% and 2.4% lower. The RTX 5090 D's average benchmark score of 77712 substantially exceeds these rivals, yet the combo rank of 66 suggests that real-world gaming performance in Barony is influenced by factors beyond raw benchmark scores.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications explain the high frame rates observed. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is far beyond what Barony requires, given its 2015 release date, but it eliminates any possibility of VRAM limitations even at 4K Ultra settings. The core clock runs at 2017 MHz base and boosts to 2407 MHz, with 21760 shading units and 680 texture mapping units driving the rendering pipeline.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce its capability: the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows a score of 14326, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores reach 310674 and 376915 respectively. The PassMark G3D score of 44065 and GPU Compute score of 28396 indicate strong compute performance that may benefit Barony's procedural generation and physics calculations. The pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s provide ample fill rate for the game's dungeon environments and effects. In the measured FPS data, the GPU's role is most apparent at 4K, where the difference between Low and Ultra settings is 130 FPS (239 vs 109), demonstrating how the rendering load scales with visual quality.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 3840x2160, the RTX 5090 D delivers playable frame rates across all presets. The Low preset averages 239 FPS, which is remarkable for 4K and indicates the game's lightweight rendering engine. Medium averages 178 FPS with a recorded range of 151 to 204 FPS, showing consistent performance. High averages 152 FPS, and Ultra drops to 109 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 54.4% reduction in average FPS, which is substantial but still leaves even the Ultra preset above 100 FPS, ensuring smooth gameplay on standard 60 Hz and even 120 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, frame rates increase significantly. Low reaches 457 FPS, Medium averages 340 FPS with a range of 289 to 391 FPS, High averages 292 FPS, and Ultra averages 209 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 248 FPS, or 54.3%—nearly identical to the percentage drop at 4K. This consistency suggests the scaling between settings is resolution-independent, pointing to a GPU-bound workload where each preset tier imposes a similar relative cost.

At 1920x1080, the frame rates become exceptionally high. Low averages 555 FPS, Medium averages 498 FPS with a range of 423 to 573 FPS, High averages 462 FPS, and Ultra averages 331 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra gap is 224 FPS (40.4%), which is smaller in percentage terms than at higher resolutions. This narrowing gap indicates that at 1080p, the CPU begins to limit the maximum achievable frame rate, preventing the GPU from fully expressing the performance difference between settings. The Medium preset's recorded minimum of 423 FPS still exceeds the Ultra preset's average of 331 FPS, demonstrating the significant performance cost of the Ultra settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the bottleneck characteristics of this system. At High settings, the average FPS drops from 462 at 1080p to 292 at 1440p (a 36.8% reduction) and further to 152 at 4K (a 67.1% reduction from 1080p). For Medium settings, the progression is 498 to 340 to 178 FPS, representing a 31.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 64.3% drop from 1080p to 4K. The Low settings show 555 to 457 to 239 FPS, with a 17.7% drop to 1440p and a 56.9% drop to 4K. The Ultra settings show 331 to 209 to 109 FPS, a 36.9% drop to 1440p and a 67.1% drop to 4K.

These scaling patterns indicate that the system is primarily GPU-limited at 4K, where the RTX 5090 D's rendering load increases dramatically with pixel count. The smaller percentage drops from 1080p to 1440p for Low settings (17.7%) compared to 4K (56.9%) suggest that at 1080p Low, the CPU is becoming the limiting factor—the GPU could render more frames if the i5-11400F could feed it faster. This is consistent with the CPU's six cores and twelve threads, which provide decent but not exceptional single-thread performance (as evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 868 and Geekbench single-core score of 1777). The 4K results, where even Low settings only reach 239 FPS, show the GPU is the primary constraint at that resolution, as the pixel fill rate requirements overwhelm the CPU's influence.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to use with this combo for the highest frame rates?

A: The measured data shows 1920x1080 produces the highest average FPS across all settings, with Low reaching 555 FPS, Medium at 498 FPS, High at 462 FPS, and Ultra at 331 FPS. If maximizing frame rate is the priority, 1080p is the clear choice.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes. At 3840x2160, all tested presets exceed 100 FPS, with Low at 239 FPS, Medium at 178 FPS, High at 152 FPS, and Ultra at 109 FPS. Even the most demanding Ultra preset maintains an average above 100 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 5090 D compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77712, which is 1.1% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (76904), 1.6% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (78940), and 2.1% to 2.4% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe variants (79396 and 79605).

Q: Is the i5-11400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5090 D in this game?

A: The data suggests partial CPU limitation at 1080p, where the FPS gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows to 40.4% compared to 54.3% at 1440p and 54.4% at 4K. At 1080p Low, the 555 FPS average likely approaches the CPU's maximum frame delivery capability.

Q: What settings preset provides the most stable performance?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with recorded minimum and maximum FPS values at every resolution: at 1080p (423 to 573 FPS), at 1440p (289 to 391 FPS), and at 4K (151 to 204 FPS). This indicates more consistent frame pacing compared to other presets.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 5090 D have, and is it sufficient for Barony?

A: The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, which is vastly more than Barony requires. The 512-bit memory bus and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth ensure no memory bandwidth limitations at any resolution or settings preset.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-11400F provides the computational foundation for this system, and its specifications are modest compared to the RTX 5090 D. The CPU features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz. The Rocket Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process, includes 12 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. Memory support is DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 51.2 GB/s bandwidth, which is a potential limiting factor for feeding the GPU's fast GDDR7 memory.

The CPU's benchmark scores provide context for its performance. The Cinebench R23 multicore score of 14340 and single-core score of 2024 show balanced multi-threaded and single-threaded capability. The Geekbench scores of 7737 multicore and 1777 single-core align with the 3DMark results that show 5619 for 16 threads and 868 for single-thread. The PassMark multithread score of 16908 and single-thread score of 2981 further confirm the CPU's mid-range positioning. The average benchmark score of 17177 places it at the 71st percentile of all CPUs, with nearest rivals all within 0.6% of its performance.

In Barony, the CPU's role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates approach or exceed 500 FPS. At these levels, the CPU's ability to process game logic, AI, and draw calls becomes critical. The CPU's 12 threads handle the game's roguelike mechanics, which involve procedural generation and entity management, but the 2.60 GHz base clock and 4.40 GHz boost clock provide adequate single-thread performance for the game's 2015-era engine. The 65 W TDP and lack of unlocked multiplier mean the CPU runs at stock speeds, but the measured results show this is sufficient to keep frame rates above 300 FPS at 1080p Ultra. At 4K, the CPU's influence diminishes as the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, evidenced by the 54.4% FPS drop from Low to Ultra settings at that resolution.