Barony

The Intel Core Ultra 5 125H is a 14-core, 18-thread mobile processor based on the Meteor Lake architecture, built on Intel's 7 nm process. It features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.50 GHz, with a 28 W TDP, making it a power-efficient choice for a laptop platform. The chip's cache layout includes 112 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache, which helps feed its 18 threads during complex simulations. In Barony, a roguelike title that often involves procedural generation and simulation logic, this CPU's multi-threaded capacity is relevant, but the data shows that the frame rates are consistently high across all settings, suggesting that the processor is not the primary bottleneck at most resolutions. The CPU's PassMark multithread score of 21,100 and its single-thread score of 3,399 indicate a solid mid-range performer, though its overall average benchmark score of 27,507 places it just below the AMD Ryzen 7 5800 and Intel Core i5-12600K, which score 27,535 and 27,578 respectively, a negligible delta of -0.1% and -0.3%.

The CPU's role in this specific game is to maintain a stable frame pipeline, especially at lower resolutions where the GPU can output very high frame rates. At 1080p Low settings, the combo reaches 493 FPS, a figure that demands strong per-thread performance to avoid CPU-side stalls. The Core Ultra 5 125H's boost clock of 4.50 GHz helps here, as does its 18 MB of shared cache, which can hold more of the game's working set. However, the benchmark results indicate that while the CPU is capable, it is not the star of the show; the GPU takes over as the limiting factor when graphical settings are increased. The processor's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 12,804.5 and single-core score of 1,647.5 provide context that it is a competent mobile chip, but in a game like Barony, which is not heavily threaded, the single-thread performance is more critical for maintaining high minimum frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is a flagship desktop GPU built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process from TSMC. It packs 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, and 176 ROPs, along with 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores. The GPU's memory subsystem is particularly impressive: 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s. This massive memory pool and bandwidth ensure that even at 4K Ultra settings, the GPU does not run out of memory or bandwidth, allowing the frame rate to be determined purely by the rendering workload. The GPU's boost clock is 2,407 MHz, with a base clock of 2,017 MHz, and it has a TDP of 575 W, which is reflected in its high performance ceiling. In the benchmark data, the RTX 5090's PassMark G3D score is 39,650, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 18,355, placing it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs.

In Barony, the GPU's role scales directly with resolution and settings. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 74 FPS, which is a significant drop from the 104 FPS at 4K High, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects—likely higher draw distances and more complex lighting—are taxing the GPU's raw compute and texture units. The RTX 5090's 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance is more than enough to handle the game's geometry, but the frame rate differences between settings show where the GPU's limits are. At 1080p Low, the GPU is underutilized, pushing out 493 FPS, which suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at that point. The GPU's high pixel rate of 423.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 1,636.8 GTexel/s help explain why the card can maintain high frame rates at 1440p, where it averages 199 FPS on High settings, but the data indicates that the GPU's performance is the main variable when moving between presets.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates across the four presets provide a clear hierarchy for the best experience in Barony. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers an average of 493 FPS, which is far beyond any display's refresh rate, making it a waste of potential visual quality. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 366 FPS with a minimum of 312 FPS, still incredibly high, and the High preset drops to 315 FPS. The Ultra preset at 1080p averages 226 FPS, which is still above the threshold for high-refresh monitors, but the visual gains from Ultra over High are not specified in the data. For 1440p, the story is similar: Low averages 311 FPS, Medium averages 231 FPS with a minimum of 197 FPS, High averages 199 FPS, and Ultra averages 142 FPS. All of these are playable on high-refresh displays, but the jump from Medium to High is only a 32 FPS drop, while High to Ultra is a 57 FPS drop, suggesting that High offers a better balance of visual fidelity and performance.

At 4K, the recommendations shift. The Low preset averages 163 FPS, which is smooth, but the Medium preset averages 121 FPS with a minimum of 103 FPS, ensuring no noticeable stutter. High at 4K averages 104 FPS, which is still very playable for most users, but the Ultra preset drops to 74 FPS, which may be below the refresh rate of some high-end monitors. The data suggests that for the best experience at 4K, the High preset is the sweet spot, as it maintains a triple-digit average frame rate without the harsh performance penalty of Ultra. At 1440p, the Medium or High presets are recommended, as they both offer frame rates above 190 FPS, providing a smooth experience for competitive play or high-refresh displays. For 1080p, the High preset is the best choice, as it offers a 315 FPS average, which is more than sufficient, and the visual improvements over Medium are likely noticeable in a game with detailed textures and lighting.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 125H and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ranks 596th out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 20% of all systems tested. This rank reflects the high performance of the GPU, which is the primary driver of frame rates in this game. The CPU, while not a top-tier desktop part, does not hold back the GPU significantly at most settings. At 1080p, the combo achieves frame rates that are likely CPU-bound, but the GPU's raw power ensures that the CPU can still reach very high numbers. The rank of 596 suggests that there are many combos with faster CPUs that can push even higher frame rates at 1080p, but the gap is minimal in absolute terms. The GPU's percentile rank of 92nd versus all GPUs indicates that it is one of the fastest cards available, and its nearest rivals, such as the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB with a score of 79,605 and a delta of 0.3%, are not typical gaming cards. This means the RTX 5090 is effectively at the top of the gaming performance chart, and the only reason the combo rank is not higher is because the CPU is a mobile part that cannot match the single-thread performance of desktop chips like the Intel Core i5-12600K, which has a similar average score of 27,578.

The data indicates that the combo's performance is more GPU-limited at higher resolutions, which is why it ranks relatively well. At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate of 74 FPS is still above the console target of 60 FPS, demonstrating that the RTX 5090 can handle the game's most demanding preset even with a mid-range mobile CPU. The combo's rank of 596 out of 2,935 puts it in the 80th percentile of all combos, which is a strong result, but it is clear that pairing this GPU with a higher-end desktop CPU would improve the rank further, especially at 1080p where the CPU bottleneck is more apparent. The benchmark results show that the GPU is the star, and the CPU is a capable supporting player that does not significantly detract from the overall experience.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K reveals the balance between CPU and GPU load. At 1080p High, the combo averages 315 FPS, while at 1440p High, it drops to 199 FPS, a 36.8% decrease. Moving from 1440p to 4K High, the frame rate drops from 199 FPS to 104 FPS, a 47.7% decrease. This steep drop-off indicates that the GPU is becoming the limiting factor as resolution increases, as the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution in the same way. At 1080p Low, the frame rate is 493 FPS, which is likely near the CPU's maximum output for this game. When the resolution increases to 1440p Low, the frame rate drops to 311 FPS, a 36.9% decrease, which is a similar percentage to the High preset. However, at 4K Low, the frame rate is 163 FPS, a 47.6% drop from 1440p, showing that the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity are being pushed harder.

The data suggests that the transition from 1080p to 1440p is less punishing than from 1440p to 4K, because the GPU has enough headroom to handle the additional pixels at 1440p, but at 4K, the GPU's raw compute is more heavily taxed. The Ultra preset shows the most dramatic scaling: 226 FPS at 1080p, 142 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K. The 48.7% drop from 1080p to 1440p and the 47.9% drop from 1440p to 4K indicate that the GPU is consistently the bottleneck at this setting, as the CPU is not able to produce more than a certain number of frames per second. The fact that the frame rate at 1080p Ultra (226 FPS) is lower than at 1080p High (315 FPS) also shows that the Ultra settings increase the GPU load enough to reduce the CPU bottleneck, allowing the GPU to be the primary limiter even at the lowest resolution. Overall, the scaling pattern demonstrates that the RTX 5090 is the dominant component, and the CPU's influence is most felt at lower resolutions and settings where the GPU is not fully utilized.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The combo achieves an average of 315 FPS at 1080p with High settings, which is well above the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 4K High?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate is 74 FPS, while at 4K High, it is 104 FPS. The Ultra preset is 30 FPS slower, indicating a significant performance cost for the highest visual quality.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1440p Medium?

A: At 1440p Medium, the average frame rate is 231 FPS with a minimum of 197 FPS. The high frame rates suggest the GPU is not fully saturated, but the CPU's single-thread performance, with a PassMark single-thread score of 3,399, is likely contributing to the upper limit.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems in Barony?

A: The combo ranks 596th out of 2,935 tested combos, placing it in the top 20% of all configurations.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded at 4K Medium?

A: The minimum frame rate recorded at 4K Medium is 103 FPS, with an average of 121 FPS and a maximum of 139 FPS.

Q: How much faster is the GPU compared to its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB?

A: The RTX 5090 has an average benchmark score of 79,842, which is 0.3% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB's score of 79,605, a negligible difference in absolute terms.