Barony

Barony, a roguelike released in 2015, presents a unique benchmark scenario for the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher visual presets, yet clearly CPU-limited at lower ones. With a combo rank of 1775 out of 2935 tested configurations, this pairing sits in the 60th percentile of all measured systems, indicating a mid-pack performance tier that aligns with the individual component percentiles: the CPU ranks in the 47th percentile, while the GPU sits higher in the 66th percentile.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about system bottlenecks. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 193 FPS at 1920x1080 to 122 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 64 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 33.7% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47.5% reduction from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is nearly linear with pixel count, indicating that the game is becoming progressively more GPU-bound as resolution increases.

The Low settings preset shows a similar trend but with much higher absolute numbers. At 1920x1080 Low, the system achieves 302 FPS, dropping to 191 FPS at 2560x1440 and 100 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36.8% and 47.6% respectively, which is remarkably consistent with the High settings scaling. This consistency suggests that the RTX 5050's rendering pipeline is the primary limiter across all presets, though the absolute frame rates at 1080p Low are high enough to suspect CPU involvement.

The Medium preset provides the most complete data with minimum and maximum FPS values. At 1080p Medium, the average is 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 and maximum of 258. Moving to 1440p Medium, the average drops to 142 FPS (min 120, max 163), and at 4K Medium it falls to 74 FPS (min 63, max 85). The frame time consistency appears to scale inversely with resolution, as the gap between min and max FPS narrows proportionally at higher resolutions, suggesting that CPU-side frame pacing becomes less of a factor as GPU load increases.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates across the board, with averages of 138 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and just 46 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is particularly telling, as it drops below the 60 FPS threshold commonly considered acceptable for smooth gameplay. The scaling from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra represents a 36.9% drop, and from 1440p to 4K a 47.1% drop, again maintaining the near-linear relationship with pixel count.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 5050 maintain playable frame rates at 4K in Barony?

A: At Medium settings, the average FPS is 74 with a minimum of 63, which is playable. However, at High settings the average drops to 64 FPS, and at Ultra settings it falls to 46 FPS, which may feel less smooth for some players.

Q: How does the CPU choice affect performance at lower resolutions?

A: The data shows that at 1080p Low settings, the system produces 302 FPS, which is extremely high. Given that the Intel Core i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads with a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, it is likely the limiting factor at this resolution and preset, as the GPU has more headroom than the CPU can feed.

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 1440p monitor?

A: For a 2560x1440 display, High settings provide 122 FPS average, which is excellent for smooth gameplay. Medium settings offer 142 FPS average with a minimum of 120 FPS, which may be preferable for competitive play where frame consistency matters more than visual fidelity.

Q: Is the RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM sufficient for Barony at high resolutions?

A: The measured data shows no indication of VRAM-related stutters or performance cliffs. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 46, but this is more likely due to raw GPU compute limits rather than memory capacity, as the game is a roguelike with relatively modest texture requirements.

Q: How does the i5-9400 compare to its nearest rivals in general CPU benchmarks?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2254, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-1068NG7 at 2259 (0.2% faster) and the Intel Core i7-10710U at 2248 (0.3% slower). It also trails the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 by 0.4% and beats the Intel Core i3-10305 by 0.4%.

Q: What frame rate can users expect at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 Ultra is 138, which provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS and is well-suited for high refresh rate displays.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, manufactured on Intel's 14 nm process node. It operates with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz, with a TDP of 65 W. The processor features 9 MB of shared L3 cache, with 64 KB L1 and 256 KB L2 cache per core. Memory support is limited to DDR4 with dual-channel configuration, providing a memory bandwidth of 42.7 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i5-9400 demonstrates its mid-range positioning. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score is 6629, while the single-core score is 935. Geekbench results show a multicore score of 5141 and a single-core score of 1389. The average benchmark score across all tests is 2254, placing it in the 47th percentile of all CPUs. This percentile ranking indicates that roughly half of all tested processors outperform it, which is consistent with its 6-thread limitation in a market where 8-core and 12-thread processors have become common.

The nearest rivals in terms of average score are all within a 0.4% delta. The Intel Core i7-1068NG7 scores 2259 (0.2% higher), the Intel Core i7-10710U scores 2248 (0.3% lower), the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 1500 scores 2246 (0.4% lower), and the Intel Core i3-10305 scores 2264 (0.4% higher). This tight clustering suggests that the i5-9400's performance is well understood and consistent with other processors of its generation and price class.

In the context of Barony, the CPU's role becomes evident at lower resolutions and settings. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 302 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum frame rate ceiling. The 6 threads may be sufficient for the game's roguelike logic, which typically involves procedural generation and entity management, but the lack of hyper-threading means each core must handle a single thread, potentially limiting performance in scenarios with many simultaneous game objects.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-9400 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 achieves a rank of 1775 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony. This places the system in the 60.5th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms roughly 60% of tested systems. This ranking is notably higher than the CPU's individual percentile of 47, but slightly lower than the GPU's percentile of 66, suggesting that the CPU is dragging down the overall system performance in this game.

The gap between the combo rank and the GPU percentile indicates that Barony is not purely GPU-bound in all scenarios. At 4K Ultra, where the GPU is heavily loaded, the system likely performs closer to its GPU's potential. Conversely, at 1080p Low, the CPU's limitations may cap performance well below what the GPU could theoretically deliver. The data supports this interpretation: at 1080p Low, the system produces 302 FPS, but at 1080p Ultra, it produces 138 FPS, a 54.3% reduction that is primarily attributable to GPU load.

When compared to other combos, this ranking suggests that users could achieve better frame rates by pairing the RTX 5050 with a stronger CPU, or by pairing the i5-9400 with a weaker GPU to balance the system. However, the current pairing is well-balanced for 1440p gaming, where the High preset delivers 122 FPS and Medium delivers 142 FPS, both of which are excellent for the resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 is a Blackwell 2.0 architecture GPU built on TSMC's 5 nm process node, featuring 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 2317 MHz and a boost clock of 2572 MHz, with 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. It includes 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores, though Barony's roguelike nature likely does not utilize these features. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 320.0 GB/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 5050 shows solid mid-range performance. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2502, while Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan scores are 90334 and 89381 respectively. The Passmark G3D score is 17326, with a GPU compute score of 9184. The average benchmark score across all tests is 21035, placing the GPU in the 66th percentile of all GPUs.

The nearest rivals are closely matched. The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL scores 21153 (0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M scores 21237 (1% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT scores 20713 (1.6% lower), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile scores 21379 (1.6% higher). This clustering indicates that the RTX 5050's raw performance is comparable to these older or mobile-oriented parts.

In Barony, the GPU's role is dominant at higher resolutions and settings. The transition from 1080p to 4K at each preset shows a consistent ~50% drop in frame rate for each doubling of pixel count, which is the expected behavior for a GPU-limited scenario. The RTX 5050's 8 GB VRAM appears sufficient for the game's needs, as there are no signs of memory-related performance degradation at 4K Ultra. The 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth also proves adequate, as the frame rate scaling remains linear with pixel count rather than showing a bandwidth cliff at higher resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce an average of 302 FPS, Medium produces 225 FPS (min 191, max 258), High produces 193 FPS, and Ultra produces 138 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 54.3% reduction in average FPS, illustrating the significant impact of visual quality settings on performance.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected reduction. Low settings average 191 FPS, Medium averages 142 FPS (min 120, max 163), High averages 122 FPS, and Ultra averages 87 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 54.5%, nearly identical to the 1080p gap, confirming that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at this resolution as well.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to struggle at higher presets. Low settings average 100 FPS, Medium averages 74 FPS (min 63, max 85), High averages 64 FPS, and Ultra averages 46 FPS. The Low to Ultra gap here is 54.0%, maintaining the consistent pattern. The 4K Ultra result of 46 FPS is the only measured scenario that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that users targeting 4K should stick to Medium or High settings.

The Medium preset is the only one with complete min/max data across all resolutions. At 1080p, the range is 191-258 FPS (gap of 67 FPS), at 1440p the range is 120-163 FPS (gap of 43 FPS), and at 4K the range is 63-85 FPS (gap of 22 FPS). This narrowing range at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU becomes more dominant, reducing the frame time variance that is often associated with CPU-side bottlenecks.

Settings Recommendations

For users with a 1920x1080 display, the data suggests that High settings at 193 FPS provides an excellent balance of visual quality and performance. Ultra settings at 138 FPS are also viable, especially for those with 144 Hz monitors, but the 28.5% FPS cost may not justify the visual improvement for a roguelike game. Low settings at 302 FPS are unnecessary for most users, as the frame rate far exceeds any display's refresh rate.

For 2560x1440 users, Medium settings at 142 FPS (min 120) offer the best combination of smoothness and visual fidelity. High settings at 122 FPS are also excellent and may be preferred for better image quality. Ultra settings at 87 FPS remain playable but show a 38.7% drop from High, making High the recommended preset for this resolution.

For 3840x2160 users, the choice is more constrained. Medium settings at 74 FPS (min 63) are the recommended choice, as they provide a consistent frame rate above 60 FPS while maintaining reasonable visual quality. High settings at 64 FPS are borderline, with the average just above the 60 FPS target. Ultra settings at 46 FPS should be avoided, as the frame rate is too low for smooth gameplay. Low settings at 100 FPS are viable for competitive play but sacrifice significant visual quality.

Overall, the RTX 5050 and i5-9400 combination is best suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming, where it can deliver high frame rates at most settings. At 4K, users should expect to compromise on quality, with Medium being the highest playable preset. The system's performance profile suggests that Barony's procedural generation and roguelike mechanics are not exceptionally demanding, allowing this mid-range hardware to deliver excellent results at mainstream resolutions.