Barony

Barony, a roguelike with a 2015 release date, presents an interesting case for the Intel Core i5-13400F and Intel Arc B570 combination. The measured data shows this pairing is capable of high frame rates, but the experience varies significantly based on resolution and settings. The benchmark results indicate a clear hierarchy where 1080p and 1440p gaming is exceptionally smooth, while 4K Ultra presents a challenge that requires settings adjustments to maintain playability.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear picture of which settings preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for this specific processor and graphics card combination. At 1920x1080, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 112 FPS, which is more than sufficient for smooth gameplay in a fast-paced roguelike. However, the step down to High settings yields a substantial increase to 156 FPS, a gain of 44 frames per second over Ultra. This suggests that the Ultra preset imposes a heavy load on the GPU with diminishing returns for the visual fidelity gained in a game with Barony's graphical style.

For 2560x1440, the High preset averages 99 FPS, which remains comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold for responsive gameplay. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 115 FPS, offering a 16 FPS improvement over High. Given that the Medium preset also has documented minimum and maximum frame times (98 and 132 FPS respectively), it appears to be a stable and well-optimized choice. The data suggests that Medium is the sweet spot for 1440p, as it provides a significant performance buffer over High while likely maintaining most of the visual enhancements that matter in a roguelike environment.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The High preset manages only 52 FPS, which is below the ideal threshold for a game that may require quick reactions. The Medium preset at this resolution averages 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69, making it the only 4K preset that consistently hits the 60 FPS mark. The Low preset at 4K averages 81 FPS, which is the highest frame rate available at this resolution, but it comes at the cost of reduced visual detail. For the best overall experience at 4K, the Medium preset is recommended, as it provides the most balanced frame rate without dipping into the sub-60 FPS territory that characterizes the High and Ultra presets at this resolution. Across all resolutions, the Low preset offers the highest frame rates, but for users seeking a balance between performance and visuals, Medium at 1080p (182 FPS), Medium at 1440p (115 FPS), and Medium at 4K (60 FPS) represent the most well-rounded choices.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570 is the primary driver of frame rates in Barony, as evidenced by the significant performance scaling across different quality settings. The GPU's memory configuration includes 10 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 380.0 GB/s. This bandwidth is sufficient for the texture and geometry loads typical of a roguelike title, even at higher resolutions. The GPU's clock speeds are locked at a base and boost of 2500 MHz, with the memory running at an effective speed of 19 Gbps.

The GPU's architecture, Xe2-HPG, is built on a 5 nm process by TSMC, featuring 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die. It includes 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 200.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 360.0 GTexel/s, which are more than adequate for handling Barony's graphical demands. The FP32 performance is 11.52 TFLOPS, which places the Arc B570 in a competitive position for mainstream gaming.

The benchmark data shows that the GPU's performance relative to other graphics cards is solid, with a percentile ranking of 65 among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 20556 is nearly identical to that of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile, which scores 20534, a delta of just 0.1 percent. It also sits close to the Intel Arc A750, which has an average score of 20582, a delta of -0.1 percent. This indicates that the Arc B570 is well-matched to these rivals in raw compute capability. In the context of Barony, the GPU's role is clear: it handles the rendering load efficiently up to 1440p, but at 4K Ultra, its limits are exposed, with the average FPS dropping to 37, which is a 67 percent reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. This demonstrates that while the GPU is powerful, it is not designed for maximum settings at 4K in every title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the High settings preset, the average frame rate drops from 156 FPS at 1080p to 99 FPS at 1440p, a decrease of 57 FPS (approximately 37 percent). Moving from 1440p to 4K, the High preset drops further to 52 FPS, a reduction of 47 FPS (approximately 47 percent). This scaling indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the pixel count increases significantly, demanding more from the render output units and memory bandwidth.

At the Medium preset, the scaling is similar but with slightly different proportions. The average FPS at 1080p is 182, which falls to 115 at 1440p (a 37 percent drop) and then to 60 at 4K (a 48 percent drop from 1440p). The consistent proportional drops across presets suggest that the game's rendering load scales predictably with resolution, and the Arc B570's performance is bounded by its fillrate and bandwidth capabilities.

The Low preset shows the least dramatic scaling, with 245 FPS at 1080p, 154 FPS at 1440p (a 37 percent drop), and 81 FPS at 4K (a 47 percent drop from 1440p). This pattern confirms that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU (Intel Core i5-13400F) has ample headroom even at 1080p Low, where the frame rate exceeds 240 FPS. The data strongly suggests that for users targeting 4K, the Medium preset is the practical ceiling for maintaining 60 FPS, while 1440p and 1080p allow for more headroom to increase quality settings without sacrificing performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured frame rates provides a detailed view of this combo's performance across all tested configurations. At 1920x1080, the Low settings preset produces an average of 245 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded for this combo. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 182 FPS, with a minimum of 155 and a maximum of 209, indicating stable performance. The High preset averages 156 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 112 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 1080p is 133 FPS, showing the substantial impact of quality settings on performance at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 154 FPS, which is just 2 FPS lower than the High preset at 1080p, highlighting the resolution's significant cost. The Medium preset at 1440p averages 115 FPS, with a minimum of 98 and a maximum of 132. The High preset averages 99 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 71 FPS. The performance gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 83 FPS, which is smaller than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is starting to become more of a limiting factor.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates drop considerably. The Low preset averages 81 FPS, which is the only 4K setting that breaks the 80 FPS barrier. The Medium preset averages 60 FPS, with a minimum of 51 and a maximum of 69, making it the most viable option for a smooth 4K experience. The High preset averages 52 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 37 FPS. The data shows that at 4K, the Ultra preset is not practical for smooth gameplay, as the average frame rate falls well below the 60 FPS target, while the Low preset, though fast, sacrifices too much visual quality for most users. The Medium preset stands out as the best compromise at 4K, offering a playable frame rate with moderate visual fidelity.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-13400F and Intel Arc B570 combination ranks 2344 out of 2935 tested combos for Barony. This ranking places it in the lower-middle tier of all tested configurations, indicating that while it can run the game, many other combinations deliver higher frame rates. Given that the combo achieves over 150 FPS at 1080p High and over 100 FPS at 1440p High, the ranking may seem low, but it reflects the fact that many other systems with more powerful GPUs can achieve even higher frame rates, particularly at 4K Ultra.

The ranking suggests that this combo is not optimized for maximum performance in Barony, but rather for a balanced experience at mainstream resolutions. The CPU's performance, with a percentile ranking of 77 among all CPUs, is strong, but the GPU's percentile ranking of 65 among all GPUs is more modest. The GPU's nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and the Intel Arc A750, have nearly identical average benchmark scores, indicating that the Arc B570 is a mid-range performer. In the context of Barony, this combo is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates, but it falls short of the top-tier combos that dominate the 4K Ultra benchmarks.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F plays a supporting role in this combo's Barony performance, as the game's frame rates are primarily limited by the GPU at higher resolutions and settings. The CPU features 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.60 GHz. Its architecture, Raptor Lake, is built on Intel's 10 nm process, and it has a 20 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the specific memory configuration is not detailed in the measured data.

Benchmark results show that the CPU is capable of strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22604 and a single-core score of 3191. Its Passmark multi-thread score is 25032, and its single-thread score is 3634. The CPU's average benchmark score is 25292, placing it in the 77th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS (average score 25284, delta 0 percent), the Intel Core 5 120 (average score 25362, delta -0.3 percent), and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (average score 25365, delta -0.3 percent). These scores indicate that the i5-13400F is a well-rounded processor that won't bottleneck the GPU in most scenarios.

In Barony, the CPU's role is evident when examining the frame rates at 1080p Low, where the average FPS reaches 245. This high frame rate suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough data to sustain very high performance, even if the GPU is not the limiting factor at that resolution. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance headroom is not fully utilized. The CPU's 16 threads and high boost clock ensure that even in scenes with many entities or complex game logic, the processor can keep up, making it a solid partner for the Arc B570 in this game.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows that the High preset at 1920x1080 averages 156 FPS, which is a substantial improvement over the Ultra preset's 112 FPS. For most users, High offers the best balance of visual quality and performance, as the jump to Ultra yields a significant performance cost without a proportional visual benefit.

Q: Can this combo achieve 60 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, but only with the Medium settings preset, which averages 60 FPS at 3840x2160. The High and Ultra presets at 4K average 52 FPS and 37 FPS respectively, which are below the 60 FPS target. The Low preset at 4K averages 81 FPS, but it sacrifices visual quality.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B570 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B570 has an average benchmark score of 20556, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (20534, delta 0.1 percent) and the Intel Arc A750 (20582, delta -0.1 percent). This indicates that the Arc B570 is a direct competitor to these cards in terms of raw performance.

Q: What is the CPU's performance percentile relative to all CPUs?

A: The Intel Core i5-13400F ranks in the 77th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 25292. This places it above the majority of processors, indicating strong overall performance for gaming and other tasks.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between 1080p and 1440p at High settings?

A: At 1920x1080 High, the average frame rate is 156 FPS. At 2560x1440 High, it drops to 99 FPS, a decrease of 57 FPS (approximately 37 percent). This shows that the GPU is the limiting factor when moving to higher resolutions.

Q: Is the Ultra preset viable at any resolution for this combo?

A: The Ultra preset is viable at 1080p, where it averages 112 FPS, and at 1440p, where it averages 71 FPS. However, at 4K, the Ultra preset averages only 37 FPS, which is not smooth for gameplay. Users should avoid Ultra at 4K and consider Medium or Low instead.