Barony

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT is a combination that scales predictably with resolution in Barony, but the data reveals a clear bottleneck shift. At 1080p, the system is heavily CPU-limited, as evidenced by the massive FPS headroom across all presets. At 4K, the GPU becomes the primary constraint, with performance dropping by roughly 68% from the 1080p Low result. This combo ranks in the 35th percentile of tested configurations for this title, meaning it outperforms a majority of setups but is far from top-tier. The benchmark results indicate that while the RX 6650 XT is capable of delivering high frame rates, the aging six-core i5-9400 limits the upper ceiling at lower resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario at higher pixel counts. At the Low preset, the average frame rate falls from 298 FPS at 1920x1080 to 188 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 110 FPS or 36.9%. Pushing further to 3840x2160 yields an average of 98 FPS, which is 67.1% lower than the 1080p result. This steep drop-off indicates that the RX 6650 XT’s pixel throughput, while substantial, is the limiting factor once the resolution demands more from the render pipeline.

The scaling pattern shifts slightly when examining the High preset. At 1080p High, the combo achieves 190 FPS, dropping to 120 FPS at 1440p (a 36.8% decrease) and then to 63 FPS at 4K (a 66.8% decrease from 1080p). The consistency of these percentage drops across presets suggests that the GPU’s compute units and memory bandwidth are being saturated in a predictable, linear fashion as pixel count increases. This is typical for a roguelike title where the rendering complexity is more uniform than in open-world games, and it confirms that the RX 6650 XT is the dominant performance limiter at 4K.

At 1080p, the story is different. The jump from High (190 FPS) to Low (298 FPS) is a 56.8% improvement, which is a larger relative gain than seen at higher resolutions. This widening gap at 1080p points to the CPU becoming the bottleneck; the i5-9400 with its six cores and six threads cannot feed the GPU fast enough to maintain the frame rates the graphics card could theoretically produce. The data suggests that at 1080p, the CPU’s single-thread performance, which is modest by modern standards, is the limiting factor, while at 4K, the GPU’s 280.3 GB/s memory bandwidth and 10.79 TFLOPS of FP32 compute are the primary constraints.

The Medium preset offers the only complete dataset with min and max FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 222 FPS with a minimum of 188 FPS and a maximum of 255 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average drops to 140 FPS (a 36.9% reduction), with min and max of 119 and 161 FPS respectively. At 4K Medium, the average is 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS. This data shows that the variance between minimum and maximum FPS remains proportionally similar across resolutions, indicating that the frame pacing is stable and the bottleneck is consistent within each resolution tier.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo to maintain 60 FPS or higher?

A: Based on the measured data, all four settings presets at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 exceed 60 FPS on average. At 3840x2160, the High preset averages 63 FPS, which is barely above the threshold, while Medium averages 73 FPS. Ultra at 4K drops to 45 FPS, making it the only setting that fails to hit 60 FPS.

Q: How does the i5-9400 affect performance at lower resolutions?

A: At 1080p, the CPU’s six-core, six-thread configuration becomes a limiting factor. The data shows that the Low preset achieves 298 FPS, which is nearly double the High preset’s 190 FPS, indicating that the GPU is not the primary constraint at this resolution. The CPU’s 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.10 GHz boost clock are insufficient to fully saturate the RX 6650 XT’s capabilities.

Q: Is the RX 6650 XT strong enough for 4K gaming in Barony?

A: The GPU can handle 4K, but only at lower settings. The data shows 98 FPS at Low, 73 FPS at Medium, and 63 FPS at High. These are playable numbers, but the Ultra preset at 45 FPS is below the 60 FPS threshold. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus width are adequate for this game’s demands at 4K.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 188 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 86 FPS. This represents a 118.6% performance uplift when dropping from Ultra to Low. The gap is significant and suggests that visual fidelity has a major impact on the GPU’s workload at this resolution.

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

A: The combo ranks 2428 out of 3717 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the 65.3rd percentile, meaning it outperforms about two-thirds of all tested systems. This is a solid mid-pack ranking, reflecting the balance between the older CPU and the newer GPU.

Q: Does the RX 6650 XT’s performance in standard benchmarks align with its in-game results?

A: The GPU’s Passmark G3D score is 17166, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1859. These synthetic benchmarks show a strong mid-range card, which matches the in-game data showing high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p. The percentileVsAllGpus rating of 65 confirms it sits above the median for all GPUs.

Settings Recommendations

For the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset at 2560x1440 is the recommended configuration. The data shows an average of 120 FPS at this setting, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This provides a 50% improvement in frame rate over the 4K High preset while maintaining the same visual quality tier. The 1440p High setting delivers a more consistent experience than the 4K Medium preset, which averages 73 FPS but has a minimum of 62 FPS, potentially causing noticeable stutters in demanding scenes.

For users prioritizing maximum frame rates, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the clear winner, averaging 298 FPS. However, this sacrifices significant visual fidelity. The Medium preset at 1080p offers a better compromise, with 222 FPS average and a minimum of 188 FPS, ensuring no frame drops below the refresh rate of most high-end monitors. This is the recommended preset for competitive play or for users with 144Hz or 165Hz displays.

At 4K, the Medium preset is the most sensible choice. It averages 73 FPS with a minimum of 62 FPS, which stays above the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 4K averages 63 FPS but lacks min/max data, making it riskier for frame time consistency. The Ultra preset at 4K should be avoided entirely, as the 45 FPS average is below playable standards for most users. The data clearly shows diminishing returns when pushing to Ultra settings, with a 38.4% performance drop from High to Ultra at 4K.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo demonstrates its peak performance. The Low preset achieves an average of 298 FPS, which is the highest recorded score across all resolutions and settings. The Medium preset follows at 222 FPS, with a minimum of 188 FPS and a maximum of 255 FPS. The High preset averages 190 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 136 FPS. This represents a 54.4% performance difference between the lowest and highest quality settings at 1080p, highlighting the significant impact of graphical presets on the GPU’s workload.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance scales down proportionally. The Low preset averages 188 FPS, representing a 36.9% drop from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 140 FPS, with min and max values of 119 and 161 FPS respectively. The High preset averages 120 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 86 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 118.6%, which is slightly wider than the 119.1% gap at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a limiting factor as resolution increases.

At 3840x2160, the performance takes a significant hit. The Low preset averages 98 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 67.1% reduction from the 1080p Low result. The Medium preset averages 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and a maximum of 84 FPS. The High preset averages 63 FPS, just above the 60 FPS threshold. The Ultra preset averages 45 FPS, which is not recommended for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at the High preset shows a 47.5% drop, while the Low preset shows a 47.9% drop, confirming that the GPU’s pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth are the primary constraints at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame places this specific configuration at 2428 out of 3717 tested combos in Barony. This ranking puts it in the 34.7th percentile from the bottom, meaning it outperforms 65.3% of all tested systems. This is a respectable position for a combination of a 2018-era CPU and a 2022-era GPU. The i5-9400’s percentileVsAllCpus rating of 47 indicates it is slightly below average compared to all CPUs, while the RX 6650 XT’s percentileVsAllGpus rating of 65 shows it is above average compared to all GPUs. The combination of a below-average CPU with an above-average GPU results in a net ranking that is slightly positive, but the CPU’s limitations are evident in the data.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RX 6650 XT’s average benchmark score of 19765 is within 0.8% of the NVIDIA Quadro K5200 and 0.7% of the AMD FirePro D300. However, these are professional-grade cards with different driver optimizations, and the in-game results favor the RX 6650 XT due to its gaming-focused architecture. The CPU’s nearest rivals, such as the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 and AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500, have average scores within 0.4% of the i5-9400, indicating that the CPU’s performance is consistent with its peers in synthetic benchmarks.

The rank of 2428 suggests that while this combo delivers high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, it is not exceptional compared to other tested systems. Many modern combos with newer CPUs and GPUs will outperform it, particularly at lower resolutions where the CPU bottleneck is more pronounced. The data confirms that this is a mid-range setup that excels at 1440p gaming but struggles to maintain high frame rates at 4K Ultra settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process. It has a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 9 MB shared L3 cache. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 6629 and single-core score of 935 provide context for its performance. In Barony, the CPU’s role is most evident at 1080p, where the frame rates are high enough that the CPU’s instruction throughput becomes the bottleneck.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 298 FPS, which is a CPU-limited scenario. The GPU is capable of rendering more frames, but the CPU cannot issue draw calls fast enough. This is typical for a six-core processor without hyper-threading, as the game’s main thread and secondary threads cannot scale beyond the physical cores. The 2.90 GHz base clock is relatively low for gaming, but the 4.10 GHz boost clock helps in single-threaded scenarios.

At higher resolutions, the CPU’s influence diminishes. At 4K, the GPU’s 64 ROPs and 128 TMUs are the limiting factors, and the CPU has enough headroom to keep up with the reduced frame rates. The Cinebench R20 single-core score of 392 and Geekbench single-core score of 1389 indicate modest single-thread performance, which explains the 1080p bottleneck. The CPU’s 65W TDP and six cores are sufficient for this game, but the lack of multi-threading means that games with more complex AI or simulation logic could see more significant CPU limitations.

The i5-9400’s memory support for DDR4 with dual-channel configuration and 42.7 GB/s bandwidth is adequate for this game. Barony is a roguelike with procedural generation, which can be CPU-intensive for world generation, but the measured data suggests that the GPU is the primary constraint at 1440p and 4K. The CPU’s 47th percentile ranking versus all CPUs confirms that it is an average performer, and in this specific combo, it is the weaker link that prevents the system from reaching the top tier of tested configurations.