Barony

Barony pairs the Intel Core i5-14600KF with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, and the measured results place this combination at the very top of the database, ranking 1st out of 2,935 tested combos. The data shows a system capable of exceptional frame rates across all settings and resolutions, though the relationship between the CPU and GPU shifts dramatically depending on the workload. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS, component roles, and scaling behavior to understand what this hardware pairing delivers in this specific roguelike title.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear hierarchy across the four available presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. At every resolution, the Low preset delivers the highest average frame rate, followed by Medium, then High, with Ultra producing the lowest averages. For example, at 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 724 FPS, while Medium drops to 538 FPS, High to 462 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 331 FPS. This consistent ordering suggests that the performance cost of each settings tier is substantial, but the absolute numbers remain high enough that even the most demanding preset is playable.

The best experience per the measured rows is the High preset at 2560x1440, which delivers a 292 FPS average. This strikes an optimal balance: it provides a significant visual upgrade over Low and Medium while maintaining frame rates well above the refresh rates of even high-end monitors. The 1440p High result is also more stable than the 1080p Ultra option, which drops to 331 FPS—still fast, but a noticeable step down. For users prioritizing maximum smoothness above all else, the Low preset at 1920x1080 hits 724 FPS, but this comes at the cost of visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1440p (340 FPS) is another strong candidate, offering a middle ground with a measured minimum of 289 FPS, which indicates consistent frame pacing.

At 4K, the High preset (152 FPS) is the recommended choice for most users. It outperforms Ultra (109 FPS) by a substantial margin while retaining most visual quality. The Medium preset at 4K (178 FPS) is also viable, but the jump from Medium to High appears to be a modest 26 FPS drop, making High the better value for the visual gain. The Ultra preset at 4K, while still playable, represents a steep performance penalty of 43 FPS compared to High, making it suitable only for users who prioritize maximum detail over frame rate headroom.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the dominant component in this pairing, and the measured FPS data reflects its immense rasterization power. The GPU features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, providing 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth—resources that are largely untapped by Barony’s demands at lower resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates exceed 700 FPS on Low, which indicates the GPU is capable of far more than the game can request, but the scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals where its limits begin.

The GPU’s clock speeds are listed as 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). These figures are consistent across all settings, suggesting that thermal or power throttling is not a factor in the measured results. The 32 GB VRAM capacity is far beyond what a roguelike like Barony requires, even at 4K Ultra, so memory capacity is not a bottleneck. Instead, the GPU’s raw compute—104.8 TFLOPS FP32 and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate—drives the performance, and the data shows that the GPU remains the primary limiter only at the highest resolution and settings.

The RTX 5090 D’s percentile ranking of 92 among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 77,712, places it near the top of the hardware landscape, though its nearest rivals in synthetic tests include the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (deltaPct -1.6) and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (deltaPct -2.4). These rivals are not directly comparable in gaming workloads, but they contextualize the GPU’s standing. In Barony, the GPU’s role is to provide overwhelming headroom at 1080p and 1440p, while at 4K Ultra, it still delivers 109 FPS—a result that would be considered high-end for most titles.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate measured for this combo?

A: The highest measured average is 724 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset at 1440p compare to the High preset at 4K?

A: The Ultra preset at 2560x1440 delivers 209 FPS, while the High preset at 3840x2160 delivers 152 FPS. The 1440p Ultra result is 57 FPS higher, indicating that resolution has a greater impact than the settings tier in this comparison.

Q: Is the RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM ever a limiting factor in Barony?

A: No, the measured data shows no evidence of VRAM limitation. The GPU’s 32 GB capacity and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth exceed the game’s requirements at all tested settings and resolutions, with even the 4K Ultra preset maintaining a 109 FPS average.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 724 FPS, while Ultra averages 331 FPS. This represents a 393 FPS difference, or a 54% reduction in performance when moving from the lowest to the highest settings.

Q: Which settings preset provides the most stable frame rate according to the data?

A: The Medium preset at 1080p has a measured minimum of 458 FPS and a maximum of 619 FPS, with an average of 538 FPS. The 161 FPS swing between minimum and maximum is the smallest relative variance among the rows with min/max data.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other tested combinations?

A: This combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks 1st out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, making it the top-performing pairing in the database.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data spans three resolutions and four settings presets, providing a complete picture of performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the Low preset delivers 724 FPS, the highest recorded result in the dataset. Medium follows at 538 FPS, with a minimum of 458 FPS and maximum of 619 FPS. High achieves 462 FPS, and Ultra drops to 331 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is substantial, but even the lowest 1080p result exceeds the refresh rate of any consumer monitor.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 457 FPS, which is a 37% reduction compared to 1080p Low. Medium delivers 340 FPS (minimum 289, maximum 391), High reaches 292 FPS, and Ultra produces 209 FPS. The 1440p results show a more compressed range than 1080p, with the gap between Low and Ultra narrowing to 248 FPS. This suggests that the GPU is beginning to take on more work at this resolution, though it still operates well within its capabilities.

At 3840x2160 (4K), the Low preset averages 239 FPS, Medium delivers 178 FPS (minimum 151, maximum 204), High reaches 152 FPS, and Ultra drops to 109 FPS. The 4K results are the most demanding, and the Ultra preset at 109 FPS is the only row in the dataset that falls below the 144 FPS threshold commonly associated with high-refresh-rate gaming. The progression from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 130 FPS drop, indicating that both resolution and settings significantly impact the GPU workload.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data. The minimum values at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K are 458, 289, and 151 FPS respectively, while the maximums are 619, 391, and 204 FPS. These figures show that frame pacing remains consistent, with no anomalies or stutters indicated by the data.

How This Combo Ranks

The measured data places this combo at rank 1 out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, which is the top position in the database. This ranking is consistent with the hardware’s capabilities: the RTX 5090 D is a flagship GPU, and the Core i5-14600KF is a high-end desktop processor. The combination of a 14-core, 20-thread CPU with a 32 GB GPU creates a system that has no obvious bottleneck in this game.

The CPU’s average benchmark score is 49,394, placing it in the 90th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (deltaPct 0.3) and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (deltaPct 0.4), which are statistically tied in synthetic tests. The GPU’s average benchmark score is 77,712, in the 92nd percentile, with rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT (deltaPct -1.6) and NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (deltaPct -2.4) trailing slightly. These synthetic scores support the in-game ranking, as both components are near the top of their respective categories.

The rank of 1 suggests that no other tested combination of CPU and GPU achieves higher frame rates in Barony. This is notable because the game is a roguelike, which typically has modest graphics requirements. The fact that this combo still leads the rankings indicates that Barony can scale to very high frame rates with powerful hardware, and the RTX 5090 D’s raw performance is sufficient to push beyond what most other GPUs can deliver.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF has 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. Its architecture is Raptor Lake-R, built on Intel’s 10 nm process, with 24 MB of shared L3 cache. In Barony, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the measured FPS data indicates that it does so without becoming a bottleneck at any tested resolution.

At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 724 FPS, which is an extreme frame rate that would stress most CPUs. The fact that the i5-14600KF can sustain this suggests that its single-thread performance is sufficient for the game’s demands. The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score is 4,594, and its Geekbench single-core score is 2,445, both of which are strong indicators of per-core performance. The 5.30 GHz boost clock is likely the key factor here, as roguelike titles often rely on a few heavily loaded threads.

However, the CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities are also relevant. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32,544 shows that the 14 cores can handle parallel workloads, but Barony’s frame rates do not improve as resolution drops, suggesting that the GPU is not waiting on the CPU. The data shows that at 4K Ultra (109 FPS), the GPU is the limiting factor, while at 1080p Low (724 FPS), the system is likely hitting a CPU-imposed ceiling. The CPU’s percentile rank of 90 and its average benchmark score of 49,394, which is nearly identical to the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (deltaPct 0.3), confirm that this processor is competitive with top-tier alternatives.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how performance scales as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the Low preset, the average FPS drops from 724 at 1080p to 457 at 1440p (a 37% reduction), and then to 239 at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). This steep decline indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiter as pixel count increases, but the CPU still plays a role at 1080p.

At the High preset, the scaling is more gradual: 462 FPS at 1080p, 292 FPS at 1440p (a 37% drop), and 152 FPS at 4K (a 48% drop from 1440p). The percentage reductions are nearly identical to the Low preset, which suggests that the GPU’s workload scales uniformly with resolution regardless of settings. This is typical of a GPU-bound scenario, where the number of pixels rendered is the dominant factor.

The Ultra preset shows the largest absolute drops: 331 FPS at 1080p, 209 FPS at 1440p (a 37% drop), and 109 FPS at 4K (a 48% drop from 1440p). The consistency of these percentage reductions—roughly 37% from 1080p to 1440p and 48% from 1440p to 4K—points to a linear relationship between pixel count and frame time. This indicates that the RTX 5090 D is scaling predictably, and the CPU is not interfering with the GPU’s performance at higher resolutions.

The data implies that at 1080p, the system is partially CPU-limited, as the frame rates exceed what the GPU’s raw pixel throughput would suggest if it were the sole limiter. At 1440p and above, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent scaling pattern. For users targeting high refresh rates at 1080p, the CPU is the more critical component, but at 4K, the GPU’s performance is what determines the final frame rate. The 109 FPS minimum at 4K Ultra is still playable, but the 724 FPS at 1080p Low shows that this combo is best suited for high-resolution, high-settings gaming where the GPU can flex its full power.