Barony

The Intel Core i5-12400 and Intel Arc B390 combination delivers a playable, though constrained, experience in Barony, with the data clearly showing that the integrated GPU is the dominant performance bottleneck. The combo ranks in the 2601st position out of 2935 tested configurations, placing it in the bottom 11% of all combos, yet the benchmark results show that the game remains largely playable at lower settings, revealing a system that prioritizes CPU capability over graphical headroom.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings, demonstrating that the Intel Arc B390's rendering capabilities are quickly overwhelmed as pixel count increases. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 159 FPS at 1920x1080 to 100 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 59 FPS, and further declines to 53 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66.7% performance loss from 1080p to 4K, a substantial penalty that indicates the GPU is working near its limits even at the lowest graphical preset.

The Medium settings row tells a similar story, with averages of 118 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 1440p is 43 FPS, while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 36 FPS, showing that the scaling is relatively linear rather than exponential, which suggests the GPU's memory bandwidth and shading throughput are being taxed evenly across resolutions. High settings exhibit the same pattern: 102 FPS at 1080p, 64 FPS at 1440p, and 34 FPS at 4K, with the 4K result dipping below the 60 FPS threshold that many consider the baseline for smooth gameplay.

At Ultra settings, the scaling becomes more punishing. The average at 1080p is 73 FPS, which is still respectable, but this falls to 46 FPS at 1440p and plummets to 24 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration that drops below 30 FPS, and the 49 FPS loss from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is proportionally larger than at Low settings, indicating that the GPU's fixed-function units are saturated when handling the highest preset's increased draw calls and texture loads.

The limiting component is unequivocally the Intel Arc B390. The data shows that even at 1080p Low, the system achieves 159 FPS, which is far beyond what the CPU would need to provide for smooth gameplay, yet the frame rate still drops by 106 FPS when moving to 4K Ultra. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the scaling across resolutions would be much flatter, as the processor's workload would remain constant regardless of pixel count. The fact that performance degrades so sharply with resolution confirms that the GPU's 24 ROPs and 48 TMUs, combined with system-shared memory, cannot sustain high pixel throughput at 4K.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data strongly favors Medium settings as the optimal compromise between visual fidelity and performance for this combo. At 1080p Medium, the system delivers 118 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 136 FPS, providing a smooth, responsive experience that stays well above the 60 FPS threshold. The jump from Low to Medium costs 41 FPS at 1080p, but the visual improvement from the additional shading and texture detail is worth the trade-off, as the resulting 118 FPS still leaves ample headroom for demanding scenes.

At 1440p, Medium settings produce 75 FPS with a minimum of 64 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS line and acceptable for most players. The 86 FPS maximum shows that the system can occasionally push higher, but the 64 FPS minimum indicates that drops below 60 FPS are possible during intense combat sequences. For players prioritizing frame rate stability at 1440p, Low settings at 100 FPS average would be the safer choice, though the visual downgrade is noticeable.

High settings are the recommended choice for 1080p players who want better visual quality, as the 102 FPS average remains fluid and the drop from Medium is only 16 FPS. However, High settings at 1440p yield 64 FPS, which is borderline, and the 4K High result of 34 FPS is too low for comfortable gameplay. Ultra settings should be avoided entirely at 4K, where the 24 FPS average makes the game nearly unplayable, but the 73 FPS at 1080p Ultra is viable for those who prioritize maximum visual detail over frame rate.

The data indicates that the best experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium, offering 118 FPS with a tight frame time variance that ensures consistent gameplay. For 1440p users, Medium at 75 FPS is the sweet spot, while 4K is only practical at Low settings with 53 FPS, which still falls short of the 60 FPS ideal but is playable for a roguelike where reaction time is less critical than in fast-paced shooters.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the definitive performance ceiling in this configuration, and its specifications explain the measured results. The GPU features 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units, which are modest numbers for a modern graphics processor. The 3nm Panther Lake chip operates at a base clock of 300 MHz and boosts to 2500 MHz, providing a theoretical FP32 performance of 7.680 TFLOPS, but the actual gaming throughput is constrained by the system-shared memory architecture.

The memory configuration is the most significant limitation. With "System Shared" memory, the GPU has no dedicated VRAM, meaning it relies on the system's DDR4 or DDR5 memory for all texture storage and frame buffer operations. The memory bandwidth is listed as "System Dependent," which in practice means the GPU's performance is tied to the memory bandwidth of the host system, and for a CPU like the Intel Core i5-12400 that supports DDR4 and DDR5, the effective bandwidth is far lower than what a dedicated GPU with its own memory would provide. This explains why the 4K results are so poor, as the GPU must constantly fetch texture data from system memory over the bus, creating a bottleneck that the 24 ROPs cannot overcome.

The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this picture. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the Arc B390 scores 1482, which places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX at 1463, the NVIDIA GeForce 800M at 1460, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 at 1443. The Arc B390 leads these older discrete GPUs by 1.3% to 2.7%, but the delta is small, indicating that the integrated solution is barely outperforming decade-old entry-level graphics cards. This relative performance is consistent with the measured FPS in Barony, where the GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates at higher resolutions.

The 12 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate API support are present, but they are of limited practical use given the GPU's overall performance level. The texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s are theoretical maximums that the system-shared memory cannot sustain in real-world gaming, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra result of 24 FPS. The GPU's 80W TDP is low, which is typical for an integrated part, but this also means it lacks the power headroom to boost clocks aggressively under sustained load.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400 and Intel Arc B390 ranks 2601st out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 88.6th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms only 11.4% of tested systems. This low ranking is almost entirely attributable to the GPU, as the CPU's benchmark scores are far more competitive. The combo's rank reflects the reality that the integrated graphics solution is the weakest link, and even a capable six-core processor cannot compensate for the GPU's limitations in a graphically demanding title.

The CPU itself, the Intel Core i5-12400, ranks in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 18683. Its nearest rivals are the AMD EPYC 7643 with an average score of 18697 and a delta of -0.1%, the Intel Core i7-1355U at 18730 with a delta of -0.3%, the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 at 18811 with a delta of -0.7%, and the Intel Core i3-14100F at 18519 with a delta of 0.9%. These deltas are all within 1% of the i5-12400's score, showing that the CPU is solidly mid-range in processing power, but this strength is wasted when paired with a GPU that sits in the 9th percentile.

The contrast between the CPU and GPU rankings is stark. The i5-12400 is competitive with server-class EPYC processors and modern mobile chips, while the Arc B390 is only marginally faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710, a GPU that was entry-level when it launched. In Barony, this mismatch means that the system's overall performance is capped by the GPU, and the combo rank of 2601 reflects this bottleneck. If the GPU were replaced with even a modest discrete solution, the combo's rank would improve dramatically, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed a more powerful graphics processor.

The data shows that this combo is not suitable for high-refresh-rate gaming at 1440p or 4K, but it can handle 1080p gaming at medium to high settings. The rank of 2601 out of 2935 is a clear verdict: this is a budget-oriented configuration that prioritizes CPU performance for productivity tasks, with gaming as a secondary consideration.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides more than enough processing power for Barony, and the benchmark results confirm that the CPU is never the limiting factor in this combo. The processor features 6 cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. This configuration is more than sufficient for a roguelike game, which typically relies on single-threaded performance for game logic and physics, while the additional threads handle background tasks and asset streaming.

The CPU's benchmark scores demonstrate its capability. In Cinebench R23, the i5-12400 scores 15989 in multi-core and 2257 in single-core, while in Geekbench it achieves 8564 multi-core and 1848 single-core. The 3DMark results show a score of 5873 in the 16-thread test and 910 in the single-thread test, indicating strong scaling across cores. The PassMark multi-thread score of 18747 and single-thread score of 3456 further confirm that the CPU is well-balanced for both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads.

In Barony, the CPU's role is to handle the game's simulation and AI logic, which are not graphically intensive. The measured FPS data shows that even at 1080p Low, where the GPU is least stressed, the system achieves 159 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra it still manages 73 FPS. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at a certain point regardless of resolution or settings, but the data shows continuous scaling with both variables, meaning the GPU is the constraint.

The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB L2 cache per core are adequate for game data, and the 10nm Alder Lake architecture provides efficient instruction processing. The 65W TDP is modest, but it allows the CPU to boost to 4.40 GHz under load without thermal throttling, ensuring consistent performance in extended gaming sessions. The processor's memory support for both DDR4 and DDR5 is relevant here, as the GPU's system-shared memory relies on the same memory controller, and the dual-channel configuration provides sufficient bandwidth for the CPU's needs while the GPU contends for the same resources.

The data suggests that the i5-12400 could easily support a much more powerful GPU. The CPU's nearest rivals in benchmark scores include the AMD EPYC 7643, a server processor, and the Intel Core i7-1355U, a mobile chip, showing that the i5-12400 is competitive with a wide range of processors. In Barony, the CPU's performance is effectively untapped, as the GPU's limitations prevent the system from achieving frame rates that would stress the processor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its best performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 159 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 118 FPS with a minimum of 101 FPS and a maximum of 136 FPS, providing a smooth experience with minimal frame time variance. High settings achieve 102 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 73 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 86 FPS, showing that the GPU has enough headroom at this resolution to handle increased graphical loads, though the Ultra result indicates that the highest preset begins to strain the GPU.

At 2560x1440, the performance drops significantly. Low settings average 100 FPS, which is still playable, but the 59 FPS loss from 1080p Low highlights the GPU's limitations. Medium settings produce 75 FPS with a minimum of 64 FPS and a maximum of 86 FPS, keeping the average above 60 FPS but with occasional dips below that threshold. High settings fall to 64 FPS, which is marginal, and Ultra settings drop to 46 FPS, making them unsuitable for smooth gameplay. The 1440p results show that the system can handle the resolution at lower settings, but the GPU's system-shared memory becomes a bottleneck as texture sizes increase.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain playable frame rates. Low settings average 53 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS ideal but still playable for a turn-based roguelike. Medium settings drop to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 45 FPS, and High settings fall to 34 FPS. Ultra settings produce only 24 FPS, making the game nearly unplayable at the highest preset. The 4K results confirm that the Arc B390 is not designed for high-resolution gaming, and the system-shared memory architecture severely limits the GPU's ability to handle the increased pixel count and texture loads.

The data shows a clear hierarchy: 1080p is the playable resolution for this combo, 1440p is acceptable at Low to Medium settings, and 4K is only viable at Low settings with reduced frame rates. The Medium settings row at each resolution provides the most complete data, with minimum and maximum FPS values that give insight into frame time stability. At 1080p Medium, the 101 FPS minimum ensures consistent gameplay, while at 1440p Medium, the 64 FPS minimum is borderline, and at 4K Medium, the 33 FPS minimum indicates significant stuttering during intensive scenes. These measured results provide a comprehensive picture of the system's capabilities, and the verdict is clear: this combo is best suited for 1080p gaming at Medium to High settings, with the CPU proving more than capable for the task.