Barony

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a six-core, six-thread desktop processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built on Intel's 14 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. This CPU sits at the 50th percentile when compared against all CPUs in the benchmark database, with an average benchmark score of 2305. In synthetic multi-threaded workloads, it scores 3346 points in Cinebench R20 and 7969 points in Cinebench R23, while its single-thread performance is notably lower, producing 472 and 1125 points in those same tests, respectively. Its nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Core i3-10305 (average score 2300, a 0.2% delta) and the Intel Core i7-8809G (average score 2319, a -0.6% delta), placing the i5-9400 in a tightly contested mid-range segment.

In Barony, a roguelike title that is not typically demanding on core count, the i5-9400's six physical cores are sufficient to avoid bottlenecking the system at most settings. The game's performance is more sensitive to single-thread throughput, where the i5-9400's boost clock of 4.10 GHz provides a solid foundation. However, the data reveals that at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU becomes the limiting factor. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 453.5 FPS, but at 4K with Ultra settings, it falls to 81.8 FPS, indicating that the GPU is taking over the workload as resolution scales. The i5-9400's 9 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support are adequate for this game, but its performance ceiling is clearly defined by its six threads, which lack the multi-tasking headroom of higher-core-count parts.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows for this combination provide a clear picture of how settings impact performance across resolutions. At 1080p, the jump from Low to Medium is modest, moving from 453.5 FPS to 407.3 FPS, but the leap to High brings a significant drop to 356.1 FPS, and Ultra further reduces it to 250.9 FPS. The data suggests that High settings at 1080p offer the best balance, as the 356.1 FPS result is still far above any display refresh rate, while the visual upgrade over Medium is substantial. Pushing to Ultra at 1080p yields 250.9 FPS, which remains playable but represents a 29.5% performance penalty over High for marginal visual gains.

At 1440p, the same pattern holds. Low settings produce 349 FPS, Medium delivers 262.6 FPS, and High drops to 220.8 FPS. Ultra at this resolution falls to 158.2 FPS. The High preset at 1440p is the recommended choice, as 220.8 FPS is still exceptionally smooth, and it avoids the steep diminishing returns seen when enabling Ultra. At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. High settings yield 117.9 FPS, which is playable on high-refresh monitors, but Medium drops to 134 FPS, and Low jumps to 182.4 FPS. Ultra at 4K is the outlier, producing only 81.8 FPS, which may struggle on 120 Hz displays. For the best experience at 4K, the High preset is the sweet spot, providing 117.9 FPS without the visual fidelity loss of Medium or the performance hit of Ultra.

The overall recommendation is to prioritize the High preset across all resolutions. At 1080p and 1440p, this setting delivers frame rates well above 200 FPS, ensuring maximum responsiveness. At 4K, High remains the most balanced option, offering 117.9 FPS, which is close to the 120 Hz threshold. The Ultra preset is only advisable for users with 60 Hz displays at 4K, where its 81.8 FPS is still acceptable, but for competitive play, High is the clear winner.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher resolutions but CPU-bound at lower ones. At High settings, the system produces 356.1 FPS at 1080p, which drops to 220.8 FPS at 1440p (a 38% reduction) and further to 117.9 FPS at 4K (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This steep decline indicates that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the primary driver of performance as resolution increases, with the i5-9400 providing sufficient headroom at 1080p but becoming less relevant at 4K.

The Low settings row tells a similar story. At 1080p, the system hits 453.5 FPS, but this drops to 349 FPS at 1440p and 182.4 FPS at 4K. The fact that the 1080p Low result is so high suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution, as the GPU is capable of far more. However, at 4K Low, the 182.4 FPS figure is still dominated by the GPU, which is handling the pixel throughput. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is 59.8%, which is less severe than at High settings, indicating that the CPU bottleneck at 1080p is compressing the potential FPS ceiling.

At Ultra settings, the scaling is more linear: 250.9 FPS at 1080p, 158.2 FPS at 1440p, and 81.8 FPS at 4K. This 67.4% drop from 1080p to 4K aligns with the GPU's rendering load, confirming that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the limiting component when visual quality is maximized. The data shows that the i5-9400 is not the bottleneck at 4K, as the FPS is entirely dependent on the GPU's ability to render the scene. The overall pattern indicates that for this combo, the CPU is adequate for high-refresh gaming at 1080p and 1440p, but the GPU is the definitive performance arbiter at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER ranks 292nd out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 17.2% of all systems in the database. This rank reflects a strong pairing for this game, given that Barony is not a graphically intensive title and the GPU is significantly more powerful than what the CPU can fully utilize at lower resolutions. The i5-9400, sitting at the 50th percentile among CPUs, is the weaker link, but the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, at the 86th percentile among GPUs, compensates with raw rendering power.

Compared to other combos, this rank of 292 indicates that the system outperforms the vast majority of tested configurations. The GPU's high average benchmark score of 48704, which is 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A2000 and 2% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 Mobile, provides the bulk of the gaming performance. The CPU's modest score of 2305, which is within 0.6% of its nearest rivals, does not drag the combo down significantly in a game like Barony, where the frame rates are already extremely high. The rank would likely be higher if the CPU were more capable, but the data shows that the GPU's dominance ensures a strong overall position.

The deltaPct values for the GPU's nearest rivals show that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is competitive with professional-grade cards, but its consumer-oriented feature set and higher clock speeds give it an edge in gaming scenarios. The combo's rank of 292 out of 1702 reflects the GPU's ability to push high frame rates, even when paired with a mid-range CPU from an older generation. For users with this exact hardware, the benchmark results indicate a system that is well above average for Barony, with headroom for future upgrades to the CPU if needed.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It features 8448 shading units, 264 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, along with 66 ray tracing cores and 264 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2340 MHz and a boost clock of 2610 MHz, with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s. Its FP32 compute performance is 44.10 TFLOPS, and it achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5569 and a Passmark G3D score of 31811, placing it at the 86th percentile among all GPUs.

In Barony, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is clearly the performance driver, as evidenced by the FPS scaling across resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the GPU is tasked with rendering 81.8 FPS, while at 1080p Low, it easily exceeds 450 FPS. The GPU's memory capacity of 16 GB is more than sufficient for this roguelike, which does not have demanding texture requirements, but its high bandwidth of 672.3 GB/s ensures smooth frame delivery even at 4K. The GPU's average benchmark score of 48704 is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA CMP 50HX and 2.1% lower than the Intel Arc A550M, but its gaming-oriented design and driver optimizations make it more effective in real-world scenarios like Barony.

The GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions, where the CPU's limitations are masked. At 4K High, the system achieves 117.9 FPS, which is a 67% drop from 1080p High, confirming that the GPU is the sole bottleneck at this resolution. The boost clock of 2610 MHz and the 44.10 TFLOPS FP32 performance allow the GPU to maintain high frame rates even when settings are maxed out. For this combo, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the reason the system ranks 292nd out of 1702, as its raw power compensates for the i5-9400's age, making it a capable pairing for high-refresh gaming at 1440p and solid 4K performance.