Barony

Barony is a 2015 roguelike that, despite its age, shows a remarkably wide performance spread when paired with an Intel Core i5-9400 and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. The measured frame rates range from a 103.1 FPS average at 4K Ultra to a 452.2 FPS average at 1080p Low, indicating that the game's engine scales dramatically with both resolution and graphical settings. This combination ranks 113th out of 1702 tested configurations, placing it in the top 7% of all system pairings for this title, a position driven by the extreme capabilities of the RTX 5090 even when held back by a mid-range 2018 processor.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i5-9400 is a 6-core, 6-thread processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture, built 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 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor's benchmark data shows a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 7969 and a single-core score of 1125, placing it at the 50th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score of 2305 is nearly identical to its nearest rivals, with a 0.2% delta compared to the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4, and a 0.4% delta versus the Intel Xeon E-2134.

In the context of Barony, the CPU's role is primarily to feed the GPU with draw calls and handle game logic. The i5-9400's lack of hyperthreading means it has only 6 threads to work with, which is sufficient for a roguelike's typically moderate CPU demands, but its age relative to the RTX 5090 is a limiting factor. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 452.2 FPS, which is the highest measured result. This suggests that even at low settings, the CPU is able to push frame rates well beyond typical display refresh rates, but the scaling from 1080p to 1440p and 4K reveals where the CPU's influence wanes.

At 1080p, the difference between Low and High settings is 67.1 FPS (452.2 to 385.1), indicating that the CPU is not the primary bottleneck at this resolution, as the GPU has headroom to render more complex scenes. However, the processor's single-threaded performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1125, is adequate for the game's logic, but it does not provide the massive headroom that would be needed to sustain the RTX 5090's full potential at lower resolutions. The 6-core, 6-thread configuration is a modest foundation for such a powerful GPU, and the benchmark results reflect a system where the CPU is a secondary constraint, particularly when settings are reduced, but it never becomes the sole limiting factor given the game's relatively light CPU footprint.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is the dominant component in this pairing, built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node. It features 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. The GPU's base clock is 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective). With 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, the RTX 5090 achieves a pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance rated at 104.8 TFLOPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores are extraordinary, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 14411 and a Passmark G3D score of 39650. It sits at the 94th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84306. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, is only 0.1% ahead, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is 0.2% behind, and the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 trails by 1.3%. This indicates that the RTX 5090 is at the very top of the performance hierarchy, and in Barony, this translates to exceptionally high frame rates across all tested configurations.

The GPU's role in Barony is to render the game's voxel-based environments and lighting effects. The data shows that at 4K Ultra, the system manages 103.1 FPS, which is a demanding workload that the RTX 5090 handles comfortably. The 32 GB of VRAM is far more than Barony requires, even at 4K Ultra, so memory capacity is not a limiting factor. Instead, the GPU's raw compute power is what drives the high frame rates. At 1440p Ultra, the average FPS jumps to 201.7, and at 1080p Ultra it reaches 318.1. The scaling from 4K to 1440p at Ultra settings shows a 98.6 FPS increase, highlighting the GPU's ability to deliver higher frame rates as pixel count decreases. The RTX 5090's performance is so robust that even at 4K High, it maintains 145.1 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, and the GPU is clearly the primary driver of the system's overall performance in this title.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate measured for this system in Barony?

A: The highest average frame rate is 452.2 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings.

Q: How does the Intel Core i5-9400 compare to its closest rival in average benchmark score?

A: The i5-9400 has an average benchmark score of 2305, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core i3-10305 and Intel Core i3-1125G4, and 0.4% higher than the Intel Xeon E-2134.

Q: What is the performance difference between the RTX 5090 and its nearest rival in average score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 84306, which is 0.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D, but 0.2% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile and 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600.

Q: What is the frame rate at 4K Ultra settings, and how does it compare to 4K High?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average frame rate is 103.1 FPS, while at High settings it is 145.1 FPS, representing a 42 FPS difference between the two settings.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration, and does it affect Barony's performance?

A: The GPU has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. This is far more than Barony requires, so memory capacity does not limit performance in this game.

Q: How many cores and threads does the CPU have, and what is its boost clock?

A: The Intel Core i5-9400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, with a base clock of 2.90 GHz and a boost clock of 4.10 GHz.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data for this combination covers three resolutions and four settings levels, providing a comprehensive view of performance scaling. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 452.2 FPS on Low, 407 FPS on Medium, 385.1 FPS on High, and 318.1 FPS on Ultra. This represents a 134.1 FPS spread between the lowest and highest settings at 1080p, with Low being 47.5 FPS faster than Medium and 67.1 FPS faster than High.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates drop but remain exceptionally high. Low settings produce 388.1 FPS, Medium delivers 323.8 FPS, High reaches 276.4 FPS, and Ultra manages 201.7 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 186.4 FPS, which is larger than at 1080p, indicating that the GPU is becoming more of a factor as pixel count increases. The drop from 1080p Low to 1440p Low is 64.1 FPS, while the drop from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra is 116.4 FPS, showing that higher settings amplify the resolution impact.

At 3840x2160, the performance is still strong but more moderate. Low settings yield 228.3 FPS, Medium produces 171.3 FPS, High achieves 145.1 FPS, and Ultra drops to 103.1 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 125.2 FPS, which is smaller than at 1440p, suggesting that the GPU is nearing a more consistent workload at this resolution. The transition from 1440p Low to 4K Low is a 159.8 FPS drop, while from 1440p Ultra to 4K Ultra is a 98.6 FPS drop, indicating that lower settings are more sensitive to resolution changes than higher settings.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals how the system's performance shifts as pixel count increases, and it points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck in most scenarios. From 1080p to 1440p at Low settings, the average FPS drops from 452.2 to 388.1, a 14.2% decrease. At Medium settings, the drop is from 407 to 323.8, a 20.4% decrease. At High settings, the drop is from 385.1 to 276.4, a 28.2% decrease. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 318.1 to 201.7, a 36.6% decrease. This pattern shows that higher settings amplify the impact of resolution scaling, which is a classic sign of GPU-bound performance.

From 1440p to 4K, the scaling is even more pronounced. At Low settings, the drop is from 388.1 to 228.3, a 41.2% decrease. At Medium settings, the drop is from 323.8 to 171.3, a 47.1% decrease. At High settings, the drop is from 276.4 to 145.1, a 47.5% decrease. At Ultra settings, the drop is from 201.7 to 103.1, a 48.9% decrease. The consistent ~40-49% drop across all settings from 1440p to 4K indicates that the GPU is the dominant limiting component, as the workload scales nearly linearly with pixel count.

The data suggests that the Intel Core i5-9400 is not the primary constraint in this pairing. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see smaller differences between resolutions at lower settings, where the GPU has more headroom. Instead, the large drops from 1080p to 1440p and 1440p to 4K, particularly at High and Ultra settings, confirm that the RTX 5090 is the component being taxed. The i5-9400's role is to ensure that the GPU is fed with data, and its 6-core, 6-thread design is sufficient for Barony's workload, but it does not add any significant performance limitation beyond what the GPU already imposes. The system's overall rank of 113th out of 1702 combinations reflects this balance, where the GPU's immense power is partially tempered by the CPU's mid-range capabilities, yet still results in top-tier frame rates across all tested scenarios.