Barony

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame-rate data for Barony with the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 shows a clear hierarchy across the four presets. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers an average of 317.6 FPS, which is a substantial 27.9% lower than the High preset's 441.7 FPS. The Medium preset at 513.8 FPS sits between the two, while Low achieves 686.9 FPS. The step from Medium to High costs roughly 14% of the frame rate, while the step from High to Ultra costs a further 28.1%, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a disproportionate load.

At 1440p, the pattern repeats but with lower absolute numbers: High produces 274.7 FPS, Medium 322.3 FPS, and Ultra 200.2 FPS. The delta between High and Ultra is 27.1%, nearly identical to the 1080p gap. At 4K, the spread narrows in percentage terms: High averages 146.1 FPS, Medium 169.5 FPS, and Ultra 103.7 FPS. The Low preset at 4K still reaches 226.6 FPS, which is higher than the Ultra preset at any resolution, suggesting that the setting slider has a more pronounced effect than resolution scaling.

The data indicates that the High preset offers the best balance of visual fidelity and performance across all three resolutions. It maintains a minimum of 146.1 FPS at 4K, which is above the 100 FPS threshold that many users consider smooth. The Ultra preset, while playable at 103.7 FPS in 4K, drops below 200 FPS at 1440p and 317.6 FPS at 1080p, which is a significant sacrifice for what appears to be marginal visual gains based on the frame-time behavior. Medium is also viable, but it does not provide the same headroom as High for maintaining high refresh rates on 1440p displays. Given that the RTX 5090 is among the fastest GPUs available, the High preset is the recommended starting point; users with 360Hz or higher monitors may prefer Medium at 1080p to push past 500 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F is a 10-core, 16-thread processor from the Raptor Lake Refresh family, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. Its benchmark scores place it in the 88th percentile among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 32508. In the context of Barony, a roguelike title, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic updates. The data shows that the combo achieves 686.9 FPS at 1080p Low, which is a strong indicator that the CPU is not the limiting factor at lower settings.

The processor's multi-threaded capabilities, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21914, are more than sufficient for a game that is not heavily threaded. Its single-core performance, with a Geekbench single-core score of 2333 and a Passmark single-thread score of 3723, is what matters most for frame pacing in roguelikes, where physics and entity updates often run on one main thread. The 20 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB of L2 per core help reduce memory latency, which is critical for maintaining consistent frame times in procedurally generated environments.

When compared to its nearest rivals, the i5-14400F essentially ties with the Intel Core i7-12800H (deltaPct 0), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7645 (deltaPct 0.2), and the AMD Ryzen 7 250 (deltaPct -0.2). This means that in synthetic benchmarks, the CPU is on par with these chips, but the measured FPS in Barony suggests that the i5-14400F is not the bottleneck. At 1080p Low, the combo produces 686.9 FPS, which far exceeds the refresh rate of most monitors. The data implies that even at 4K Ultra, the CPU can keep up with the GPU's rendering demands, as the FPS drop from 1080p High (441.7) to 4K High (146.1) is proportional to the pixel count increase rather than a sudden CPU-induced plateau.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU with 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. Its base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost of 2407 MHz, and it houses 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The GPU's raw compute power is substantial, with an FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS. Its average benchmark score of 84306 places it in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, and it is virtually tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D (deltaPct 0.1) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (deltaPct 0.2).

In Barony, the GPU's role becomes evident when examining the FPS scaling across presets. At 1080p, the difference between Low (686.9 FPS) and Ultra (317.6 FPS) is a 53.7% reduction, which is a direct consequence of increased shader complexity and texture filtering. The 32 GB VRAM is far more than this game requires, but the memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s allows the GPU to handle high-resolution textures and effects without stutter. The transition from 1440p High (274.7 FPS) to 4K High (146.1 FPS) represents a 46.8% drop, which aligns closely with the pixel count increase from 3.7 million to 8.3 million (about 2.25x), indicating that the GPU is scaling as expected.

The RTX 5090's performance is so high that it can brute-force Ultra settings at 4K, achieving 103.7 FPS. However, the data shows diminishing returns: the jump from High to Ultra at 4K costs 29% of the frame rate (from 146.1 to 103.7), while the jump from Medium to High costs 13.8% (from 169.5 to 146.1). This suggests that the Ultra preset likely enables effects that are disproportionately expensive for the visual payoff, and the GPU's headroom is better utilized by staying on High to maintain higher refresh rates.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 6th out of 1702 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the top 0.4% of all configurations, which is an exceptional result. The rank reflects the synergy between the CPU and GPU, where neither component bottlenecks the other in this specific title. The CPU's 88th percentile standing and the GPU's 94th percentile standing combine to produce a system that is near the top of the heap.

The fact that this combo ranks 6th, rather than 1st, suggests that there are a few configurations with either faster CPUs or more optimized pairings that edge it out. However, given that the RTX 5090 is the flagship GPU in the data set, the difference is likely due to CPUs with higher single-thread performance or better memory latency. The i5-14400F's boost clock of 4.70 GHz is respectable, but some competing CPUs may have higher turbo frequencies that help in single-threaded scenarios. The data shows that the combo is not GPU-limited at 1080p Low (686.9 FPS), so the rank could be improved with a higher-clocked CPU, but the current position is already elite.

In practical terms, a rank of 6 out of 1702 means that this system will deliver frame rates that are indistinguishable from other top-tier configurations in normal gameplay. The measured FPS values are all well above 100 FPS even at 4K Ultra, so the user experience is consistently smooth. The delta between this combo and the hypothetical 1st place is likely less than 5%, which is imperceptible in a roguelike where gameplay is turn-based or has slower pacing.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the limiting component at each resolution. At 1080p High, the combo produces 441.7 FPS, which drops to 274.7 FPS at 1440p (a 37.8% decrease) and then to 146.1 FPS at 4K (a 46.8% decrease from 1440p). The 1080p to 1440p drop is smaller than the pixel count increase (which is about 1.78x), suggesting that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited. The i5-14400F cannot push frames fast enough to fully utilize the GPU's potential at 1080p, as evidenced by the fact that the FPS does not scale linearly with pixel count.

At 1440p to 4K, the drop is closer to the pixel count ratio (2.25x), indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck. This is confirmed by the 4K Low result of 226.6 FPS, which is only 33% lower than the 1080p Low result of 686.9 FPS. The scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 5090 is the dominant factor at 4K, while the CPU plays a more significant role at lower resolutions. For users with a 1440p 240Hz monitor, the High preset at 274.7 FPS is sufficient, but pushing to 4K requires accepting a frame rate below 150 FPS.

The data also shows that the Ultra preset scales worse than High: from 1080p Ultra (317.6 FPS) to 1440p Ultra (200.2 FPS) is a 37% drop, but from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra (103.7 FPS) is a 48.2% drop. This indicates that the Ultra preset at 4K is particularly demanding on the GPU's memory subsystem and shader units. The 32 GB VRAM is not a factor, as the game likely uses less than 8 GB, but the bandwidth and compute load are. Overall, the resolution scaling data points to a balanced system that shifts from CPU-bound at 1080p to GPU-bound at 4K.

FAQ

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

A: The High preset at 4K delivers 146.1 FPS, which is 40.9% higher than the Ultra preset's 103.7 FPS. Given that Ultra also drops below 120 FPS, High is the recommended preset for maintaining a high refresh rate at 4K.

Q: Can this combo achieve 500+ FPS at 1080p?

A: Yes, the Low preset produces 686.9 FPS, and the Medium preset reaches 513.8 FPS. The High preset falls short at 441.7 FPS, so only Low and Medium exceed the 500 FPS threshold.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p High?

A: At 1440p High, the combo produces 274.7 FPS. The scaling from 1080p High (441.7 FPS) is a 37.8% drop, which is less than the 1.78x pixel increase, indicating the CPU is still partially limiting at this resolution.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 5090 D in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5090 in this combo has an average benchmark score of 84306, while the RTX 5090 D scores 84241, a delta of 0.1%. This is a negligible difference in synthetic tests.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Medium and High at 1080p?

A: Medium averages 513.8 FPS, while High averages 441.7 FPS. The difference is 72.1 FPS, or a 14% reduction for the higher preset.

Q: Does the i5-14400F bottleneck the RTX 5090 in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 686.9 FPS, but the CPU's single-thread score (Geekbench 2333) is not the highest. The data suggests partial CPU limitation at 1080p, but at 4K, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, with FPS scaling closely following pixel count.