Barony

The Intel Core i5-9400 paired with the Intel Arc B370 is a modest combination that delivers playable framerates in Barony, but it demands careful settings management. The data shows that this combo ranks near the bottom of the tested pool, at position 2701 out of 2935 combos, which places it in the 8th percentile of all tested systems. This is not a hardware pairing for chasing maximum fidelity; it is a functional setup for enjoying the roguelike gameplay at reasonable settings. The measured results across three resolutions and four quality presets reveal a clear pattern: the system is consistently more capable at lower resolutions and settings, and the gap between Low and Ultra presets is substantial. For a game like Barony, where the core loop involves procedural dungeon crawling, maintaining a stable frame rate is more critical than achieving visual perfection.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data provides a clear directive for optimizing the experience with this hardware. Across all three tested resolutions, the "Low" preset delivers the highest average frame rates, and the margin over the next-best preset is significant. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 144 FPS, which is 37 FPS higher than the High preset and 78 FPS higher than the Ultra preset. This indicates that the Low preset is the only setting that fully utilizes the display's refresh rate potential at 1080p for a 144Hz monitor, though the Medium preset at 107 FPS is still a strong candidate for a 100Hz display.

For 2560x1440, the Low preset at 91 FPS is the only setting that comfortably exceeds the 60 FPS threshold, making it the recommended choice for smooth gameplay. The High preset at 58 FPS is borderline, and the Medium preset at 67 FPS is playable but with a noticeable compromise in visual quality. At 3840x2160, the situation becomes more constrained: the Low preset at 47 FPS is the only setting that approaches playability, while the Medium preset at 35 FPS and High preset at 30 FPS will feel sluggish. The Ultra preset at 22 FPS is effectively unplayable.

The practical advice is to use the Low preset for 4K, the Low or Medium preset for 1440p depending on your preference for smoothness versus visual fidelity, and the Low or Medium preset for 1080p if you have a high-refresh-rate display. The Medium preset offers a balanced compromise, providing 107 FPS at 1080p, 67 FPS at 1440p, and 35 FPS at 4K. However, the data suggests that the performance headroom is too thin at 4K to justify anything above Low. For the best overall experience, prioritize frame rate stability over graphical flair; Barony's roguelike gameplay benefits more from a responsive input and smooth motion than from high-detail textures.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B370 is an integrated graphics solution built on the Xe3-LPG architecture, and its role in this combo is clearly defined by its memory configuration. The GPU has "System Shared" memory, meaning it relies on the system's DDR4 RAM rather than dedicated VRAM. This shared memory arrangement is a significant factor in the performance deltas observed across resolutions. The GPU operates with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2400 MHz, which are modest figures that reflect its low 25 W TDP and integration into the processor package.

The GPU's benchmark results place it in the 5th percentile of all GPUs, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1184. This score is nearly identical to that of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), and AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192), indicating that the Arc B370's raw graphical compute is on par with decade-old discrete GPUs. The FP32 performance of 6.144 TFLOPS provides a theoretical basis for these results, but the practical limitations of shared memory bandwidth—described as "System Dependent"—likely bottleneck the GPU at higher resolutions.

The data shows a clear scaling pattern: as resolution increases, the average FPS drops disproportionately. This is a classic sign of memory bandwidth constraints. The GPU's pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 96.00 GTexel/s are sufficient for low-resolution rendering, but the shared memory subsystem cannot sustain the data throughput required for 4K. The 10 ray tracing cores and 1280 shading units are present, but their utility is limited by the memory bottleneck in this game. In practical terms, the GPU is the limiting component at 4K and Ultra settings, while the CPU becomes more relevant at lower resolutions.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and Intel Arc B370 ranks 2701 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the bottom 8% of all systems, which is consistent with the individual hardware rankings. The CPU sits at the 47th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU sits at the 5th percentile, indicating that the graphics solution is the primary drag on the combo's overall standing. The CPU's nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (deltaPct -0.2), Intel Core i7-10710U (deltaPct 0.3), AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 (deltaPct 0.4), and Intel Core i3-10305 (deltaPct -0.4). These rivals all have average benchmark scores around 2250, which is nearly identical to the i5-9400's average score of 2254. This means the CPU is performing as expected for its class, offering no unusual advantage or disadvantage.

The GPU's nearest rivals are all older discrete cards, with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (deltaPct -0.2), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (deltaPct -0.5), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (deltaPct -0.7), and AMD FirePro M2000 (deltaPct 1.4). The Arc B370's average benchmark score of 1184 is essentially a dead heat with these legacy parts, confirming that its integrated design does not punch above its weight. In the context of Barony, this rank means the combo will struggle to maintain high frame rates at demanding settings, but it is not a wholly incapable system. The rank of 2701 out of 2935 suggests that roughly 234 other combos are even slower, providing some context that this is a low-end but not the absolute bottom of the barrel. For a roguelike with relatively simple graphics, this rank is acceptable for 1080p gaming at lower presets.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of the combo's performance across all three resolutions and four settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves 144 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. The Medium preset delivers 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS, indicating a stable frame time distribution. The High preset drops to 92 FPS, and the Ultra preset falls to 66 FPS. The step from Medium to High is a 15 FPS loss, while the step from High to Ultra is a 26 FPS loss, showing that the Ultra preset is disproportionately demanding.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves 91 FPS, which is a 37% reduction from the 1080p Low score. The Medium preset delivers 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 78 FPS, which is a 37% reduction from the 1080p Medium score. The High preset at 58 FPS is a 37% reduction from the 1080p High score, and the Ultra preset at 42 FPS is a 36% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. The consistency of the percentage drops suggests that the scaling is uniform across settings at this resolution step.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset achieves 47 FPS, which is a 48% reduction from the 1080p Low score. The Medium preset delivers 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 41 FPS, which is a 67% reduction from the 1080p Medium score. The High preset at 30 FPS is a 67% reduction from the 1080p High score, and the Ultra preset at 22 FPS is a 67% reduction from the 1080p Ultra score. The Medium, High, and Ultra presets all experience the same percentage drop from 1080p to 4K, while the Low preset has a smaller relative drop, indicating that the Low preset is less memory-intensive and thus less affected by the resolution increase. The minimum FPS data for the Medium preset shows that at 4K, the frame rate can dip to 30 FPS, which is the edge of playability, while at 1440p the minimum of 57 FPS remains above the 60 FPS threshold only marginally.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling behavior reveals a critical insight into the system's bottleneck. From 1920x1080 to 2560x1440, the average FPS drops by approximately 37% across all four settings. This is a relatively uniform scaling that suggests both the CPU and GPU are being pushed proportionally harder. However, from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160, the scaling diverges: the Low preset drops by 48%, while the Medium, High, and Ultra presets all drop by 67%. This divergence is significant. The Low preset, with its reduced shading and texture requirements, manages to maintain a better frame rate because it places less stress on the memory subsystem.

The 67% drop for the higher presets from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU is hitting a hard memory bandwidth wall. The Arc B370's shared memory architecture cannot supply the data needed for 4K rendering at any setting above Low. This is also reflected in the absolute numbers: the difference between 1080p Ultra (66 FPS) and 4K Ultra (22 FPS) is a 67% reduction, which is a severe penalty. In contrast, the difference between 1080p Low (144 FPS) and 4K Low (47 FPS) is a 67% reduction as well, but the starting point is high enough that the 4K result remains semi-playable.

The data suggests that the CPU, the Intel Core i5-9400 with 6 cores and 6 threads, is not the primary limiter at 4K. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rates would show more consistency across settings at a given resolution. Instead, the fact that the Ultra preset at 4K is 22 FPS while the Low preset is 47 FPS proves that the GPU's rendering load is the determining factor. At 1080p and 1440p, the CPU has enough headroom to feed the GPU, but at 4K, the GPU's compute and memory resources are exhausted. This means that for users considering this combo, the path to better performance is to lower resolution or stick to the Low preset, as CPU-side upgrades would yield diminishing returns at higher resolutions.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Barony if I want to stay above 60 FPS?*

A: The only resolution where all settings except Ultra maintain an average above 60 FPS is 1920x1080. At 1080p, the Low preset hits 144 FPS, Medium hits 107 FPS, and High hits 92 FPS. At 2560x1440, only the Low preset (91 FPS) exceeds 60 FPS.

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Barony?*

A: Yes, but only with significant compromises. The Low preset at 3840x2160 averages 47 FPS, which is playable. The Medium preset averages 35 FPS, and the High preset averages 30 FPS, which are borderline. The Ultra preset at 22 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B370 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The Arc B370 has a 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1184, which is within 1.4% of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5570 (1186), ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1190), AMD Radeon HD 7650M (1192), and AMD FirePro M2000 (1168). This puts its raw performance on par with those older discrete GPUs.

Q: Is the Intel Core i5-9400 a bottleneck in this setup?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 2254 is nearly identical to its closest rivals, including the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 (2259) and Intel Core i7-10710U (2248). The data shows that at 4K, the performance drop between settings is more severe than at 1080p, indicating the GPU is the limiting factor rather than the CPU.

Q: What is the frame rate stability like at Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset provides the only min/max data in the pack. At 1080p, the average is 107 FPS with a minimum of 91 FPS and a maximum of 123 FPS. At 1440p, the average is 67 FPS with a minimum of 57 FPS and a maximum of 78 FPS. At 4K, the average is 35 FPS with a minimum of 30 FPS and a maximum of 41 FPS.

*Q: How does this combo's rank in Barony compare to other tested systems?*

A: This combo ranks 2701 out of 2935 tested combinations, placing it in the bottom 8% of all systems. This is consistent with the GPU's 5th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the CPU's 47th percentile ranking shows it is a more average component.