Barony

The Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 delivers exceptional performance in Barony, a roguelike that clearly favors high frame rates. The data shows a combo that handles even 4K Ultra settings with playable results, though the scaling patterns reveal where each component's strengths lie. This pairing ranks in the 50th percentile of tested combos (858th of 1702), placing it squarely in the upper-middle tier of systems for this title, with headroom to spare for competitive play or high-refresh-rate monitors.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but not catastrophic, indicating a balanced system where the GPU becomes the primary limiter at higher resolutions. At High settings, performance falls from 228.1 FPS at 1920x1080 to 143.1 FPS at 2560x1440 — a 37% reduction — then further to 76.8 FPS at 3840x2160, another 46% drop. This pattern is classic GPU-bound scaling; the RTX 5060's 8 GB of GDDR7 memory and 128-bit bus are simply working harder to fill more pixels.

The Low settings curve tells a similar story but with higher absolute numbers. From 357.6 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate drops to 228.4 FPS at 1440p (a 36% loss) and then to 118.3 FPS at 4K (a 48% loss from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests the CPU is not a bottleneck at any resolution — if it were, the 1080p numbers would be artificially capped and the percentage drops would shrink.

Ultra settings show the most dramatic scaling, with 166 FPS at 1080p falling to 103.2 FPS at 1440p (37.8% lower) and then to 57 FPS at 4K (44.8% lower than 1440p). The 4K Ultra result of 57 FPS is the only sub-60 measurement in the entire dataset, confirming that this is the one configuration where the GPU is genuinely struggling. At 1080p and 1440p, even the heaviest preset remains comfortably playable.

The overall pattern suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo. The gap between 1080p and 1440p results is significant, but the 4K numbers are still respectable for a mid-range GPU. Gamers targeting 240 Hz monitors will need to stay at 1080p with Medium or lower settings, while those with 144 Hz displays can comfortably run 1440p at High.

GPU Role

The RTX 5060's specifications explain its behavior in Barony. With 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has enough throughput for this roguelike's textures and effects. The boost clock of 2497 MHz and 3840 shading units provide the raw compute needed to push those high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The GPU's 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is clearly sufficient for Barony's visual complexity. The fact that 4K High delivers 76.8 FPS while 4K Medium reaches 88.4 FPS shows that the card is not severely memory-constrained — the performance difference between presets is proportional to the workload, not a sudden cliff that would indicate VRAM overflow.

Interestingly, the RTX 5060's PassMark G3D score of 20891 places it near the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (deltaPct 0) and just ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (deltaPct 0.5). This benchmark alignment carries over to real-world gaming, where the card consistently delivers smooth frame rates across all tested settings. The 73rd percentile ranking among all GPUs confirms it is a solid mid-range performer, though not a flagship.

The 8 GB VRAM capacity is worth noting. While Barony does not appear to exceed this limit at any tested setting — even 4K Ultra maintains 57 FPS — the headroom is minimal compared to higher-tier cards. The pixel rate of 119.9 GPixel/s and texture rate of 299.6 GTexel/s are adequate for the game's roguelike environments, which typically feature procedural generation rather than massive open-world draw distances.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 858 out of 1702 tested configurations places it at roughly the 50th percentile for Barony. This is a middle-of-the-pack result, which may surprise given the high raw frame rates — but the database includes many high-end combos with flagship CPUs and GPUs that push far beyond these numbers.

The CPU's own benchmark percentile is 88, meaning the i5-14400F outperforms 88% of all tested processors. Its average benchmark score of 32508 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-12800H (32513, deltaPct 0) and slightly ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (32446, deltaPct 0.2). This puts the CPU in strong company, though the GPU's 73rd percentile ranking tempers the overall combo position.

In Barony specifically, the combo's mid-pack ranking suggests that many other tested systems achieve higher frame rates, likely due to more powerful GPUs. The RTX 5060's nearest rivals in the GPU benchmark — the RX 7700 XT, RX 570, and RTX 5070 Mobile — all have similar average scores, but their in-game performance may vary based on driver optimization and architecture differences.

The rank also reflects the fact that Barony is not a demanding title by modern standards. Even modest hardware can achieve playable frame rates, so the field of tested combos is crowded with capable systems. This combo's 4K Ultra result of 57 FPS is respectable, but it does not stand out in a database where many combos likely exceed 100 FPS at that setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers outstanding performance across all presets. Low settings produce 357.6 FPS, Medium reaches 269.9 FPS, High hits 228.1 FPS, and Ultra manages 166 FPS. Every single setting at 1080p exceeds 144 Hz, making this resolution ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming. The gap between Low and Ultra is 191.6 FPS, showing that the GPU has significant headroom even with all effects enabled.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but the scaling becomes more apparent. Low settings achieve 228.4 FPS, Medium drops to 168.3 FPS, High delivers 143.1 FPS, and Ultra stays above 100 FPS at 103.2 FPS. All four presets remain above 100 FPS, which is excellent for a 1440p experience. The difference between Low and Ultra at this resolution is 125.2 FPS, a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's limitations become visible. Low settings still deliver 118.3 FPS, which is impressive for 4K, but Medium drops to 88.4 FPS and High falls to 76.8 FPS. Ultra is the only preset that dips below 60 FPS, hitting 57 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 4K is 61.3 FPS, showing that the GPU is working progressively harder as settings increase.

The data reveals that the step from Medium to High is consistently modest across resolutions — at 4K it costs only 11.6 FPS, at 1440p it costs 25.2 FPS, and at 1080p it costs 41.8 FPS. This suggests High settings add visual quality without a proportional performance hit. Conversely, Ultra settings exact a significant toll, particularly at 4K where it costs 19.8 FPS over High.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F provides strong single-threaded performance that benefits Barony's game logic and procedural generation. With a boost clock of 4.70 GHz and a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 3093, the CPU is well-equipped to handle the per-frame calculations that roguelikes depend on. The 10 cores and 16 threads ensure that background tasks and multi-threaded engine processes do not interfere with frame pacing.

The CPU's multi-core performance is equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914 and a PassMark multithread score of 25783. These numbers place the i5-14400F in the 88th percentile of all CPUs, alongside the Intel Core i7-12800H and AMD Ryzen 7 250, both of which show deltaPct values within 0.2% of this chip's average score.

In Barony's context, the CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 16 threads help maintain consistent frame rates even when the game generates complex dungeon layouts or processes numerous entities. The 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node keep thermal headroom ample, preventing clock throttling during extended sessions. The base clock of 2.50 GHz is modest, but the 4.70 GHz boost ensures the CPU can ramp up quickly when needed.

The fact that frame rates at 1080p Low reach 357.6 FPS without any apparent CPU bottleneck confirms that the i5-14400F is not the limiting factor in this combo. Even at the highest frame rates, the CPU has sufficient headroom to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates.

Settings Recommendations

For competitive play or maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p delivers 357.6 FPS — far beyond what most monitors can display. This setting is ideal for players who prioritize responsiveness over visuals, as roguelikes often demand quick reactions to enemy attacks and environmental hazards.

The most balanced experience is High settings at 2560x1440, yielding 143.1 FPS. This combination provides excellent visual fidelity while staying well above 120 FPS, making it suitable for 144 Hz displays. The data shows that High offers a significant visual upgrade over Medium with a relatively modest performance cost — only 25.2 FPS at 1440p.

For 4K gaming, Medium settings at 88.4 FPS offer the best compromise between image quality and smoothness. Pushing to High at 4K drops the frame rate to 76.8 FPS, which is still playable but noticeably less fluid. Ultra at 4K should be avoided, as 57 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider minimum for comfortable gameplay.

Ultra settings are only recommended for 1080p, where the combo delivers 166 FPS. At this resolution, the visual enhancements of Ultra do not compromise performance, making it the best choice for players with high-refresh-rate 1080p monitors who want the game to look its best. However, the jump from High to Ultra at 1080p costs 62.1 FPS, so players who prefer maximum frame rates should stick with High.

The data clearly indicates that this combo excels at 1080p across all settings and remains highly capable at 1440p. The 4K results are respectable but require settling for Medium or High presets to maintain fluid gameplay. For most players, High at 1440p offers the best overall experience, balancing visual quality with the high frame rates that Barony's fast-paced gameplay benefits from.