Barony

Barony is a peculiar case for high-end hardware. The measured frame rates for this Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination are extraordinarily high, often exceeding the refresh rate of any mainstream display. The data set provided offers a clear view into how this pairing scales across resolutions and presets, revealing that while the GPU is capable of massive throughput, the CPU and game engine frequently become the defining constraint. This analysis breaks down the measured results to interpret what they mean for the system's balance and practical use.

Resolution Scaling

The most striking observation from the resolution scaling data is the sheer magnitude of performance on offer. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo produces an average of 663 FPS. This is not a typical gaming scenario; it is a stress test for the CPU's single-thread capabilities. Moving to 2560x1440 Low, the average drops to 418 FPS, and at 3840x2160 Low, it falls further to 219 FPS. This progression shows a clear 3.02x performance difference between 1080p and 4K at the lowest settings, indicating that the GPU is finally being tasked with more work as pixel count increases.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when looking at higher presets. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 303 FPS at 1080p, 191 FPS at 1440p, and 100 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Ultra is 67%, which is less severe than the 67% drop at Low settings. This suggests that at lower settings, the CPU is the primary limiter, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential. As settings increase, the burden shifts more towards the GPU, but the absolute frame rates remain so high that the GPU is never fully saturated at 1080p. The data implies that for this specific title, the RTX 4090's immense power is largely untapped at 1080p, with the bottleneck resting elsewhere.

The data indicates that the limiting component changes based on resolution and settings. At 1080p Low, the CPU is the clear bottleneck, as evidenced by the 663 FPS cap that does not scale with GPU power. At 4K Ultra, the GPU becomes more relevant, but the 100 FPS result still shows a system that is not struggling. The scaling from Medium to Ultra at 4K shows a drop from 163 FPS to 100 FPS, a 39% reduction, which aligns with the increased GPU load from more demanding visual effects. This suggests that while the GPU is powerful, the game's engine has a performance ceiling that is being approached at the highest settings.

How This Combo Ranks

In the broader context of all tested combinations for Barony, this specific pairing of the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 achieves a combo rank of 111 out of 2935 tested combos. This places it in the top 3.8% of all systems tested for this game, which is a strong showing. The rank indicates that this combination is not the absolute fastest, but it is significantly above the median, meaning that most other systems will deliver lower frame rates.

The rank of 111 is particularly interesting given the CPU's profile. The Core Ultra 5 235 has a percentile rank of 89 among all CPUs, and the RTX 4090 has a percentile rank of 88 among all GPUs. Both components are in the high-performance tier, yet the combo ranking is not higher. This discrepancy suggests that Barony may not fully utilize the multi-core capabilities of the CPU or the raw compute power of the GPU. The game's roguelike nature, which often features procedural generation and logic-heavy simulations, may place a premium on single-threaded performance, where the Core Ultra 5 235's boost clock of 5.00 GHz is beneficial.

The data shows that the combo's rank is influenced by the balance of the two components. While the RTX 4090 is an end-of-life product with a successor, it still delivers top-tier performance in this game. The Core Ultra 5 235, being a newer desktop processor, provides a solid foundation. The fact that this combo ranks 111th suggests that there are 110 other combinations that have been tested and found to deliver higher frame rates, likely involving even more powerful CPUs or specific configurations that better match the game's engine demands. The deltaPct from the CPU's nearest rivals is minimal, with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 being 0.1% slower and the Intel Core i9-13900HX being 0.1% faster in average benchmark scores, indicating that CPU choice within this performance tier has a negligible impact on synthetic scores, but may have a more pronounced effect in-game.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a behemoth of a graphics card, with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. Its specs include a base clock of 2235 MHz and a boost clock of 2520 MHz. The data shows that in Barony, the GPU's role is more about sustaining high frame rates than pushing the boundaries of visual fidelity. At 4K Ultra, the card produces 100 FPS, which is a demanding scenario, but the card is clearly not at its limit, as it achieves 219 FPS at 4K Low.

The VRAM capacity of 24 GB is far more than Barony requires, as the game is from 2015 and does not have the massive texture loads of modern AAA titles. This means that the GPU's memory bandwidth is not a limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios. The high bandwidth is instead a signal of the card's overall capability, which is being underutilized. The data implies that the RTX 4090's performance ceiling in this game is so high that the bottleneck is almost always the CPU or the game's engine itself.

The GPU's benchmark results, such as a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9223 and a Passmark G3D score of 38194, confirm its raw power. However, in Barony, the measured FPS at 1080p Low (663 FPS) is not indicative of the GPU's peak capability, as the CPU cannot feed it data fast enough. The GPU's role in this combo is to ensure that even at the highest settings and resolution, the frame rate remains well above the threshold for smooth gameplay. The fact that the card's nearest rival in benchmark scores is the Intel Arc Pro A60 with a deltaPct of 0% highlights that the RTX 4090's performance is unique, but in this game, that uniqueness translates to unnecessarily high frame rates rather than a transformative experience.

FAQ

Q: Why is the frame rate at 1080p Low so much higher than at 4K Ultra?

A: The data shows a drop from 663 FPS at 1080p Low to 100 FPS at 4K Ultra. This is due to the increased pixel count and graphical load at higher resolutions and settings, which places more demand on the GPU. At 1080p Low, the CPU is the limiting factor, allowing the GPU to render frames as fast as the CPU can process them, resulting in extreme frame rates.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 a bottleneck for the RTX 4090 in this game?

A: The evidence suggests yes, particularly at lower resolutions. At 1080p Low, the system produces 663 FPS, which is a CPU-limited scenario because the frame rate does not scale with GPU power. The CPU has 14 cores and 14 threads with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, which is strong, but the game's engine may not be able to utilize all cores effectively, making single-thread performance the key constraint.

Q: How does this combo rank compared to other systems in Barony?

A: This combo ranks 111th out of 2935 tested combinations. This places it in the top 3.8% of all systems tested, indicating that it is much faster than the majority of setups, though there are 110 other combinations that deliver even higher frame rates.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 4K gaming with this combo?

A: At 3840x2160, the High preset delivers an average of 140 FPS, which is excellent for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset drops to 100 FPS, which is still playable but represents a 29% reduction in performance for what may be marginal visual gains. The Medium preset at 163 FPS offers a good balance, but High appears to be the sweet spot for high refresh rate 4K.

Q: Does the 24 GB of VRAM on the RTX 4090 matter for Barony?

A: No, the data does not indicate that VRAM capacity is a limiting factor. Barony is a roguelike from 2015, and the 24 GB of GDDR6X memory is far more than the game can use. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 1.01 TB/s is also not a bottleneck, as the frame rates are more dependent on CPU performance.

Q: How does the CPU's performance compare to its rivals?

A: The Core Ultra 5 235 has an average benchmark score of 46062, which is nearly identical to its nearest rivals. For example, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 has a score of 46030, a deltaPct of 0.1% lower, and the Intel Core i9-13900HX has a score of 46098, a deltaPct of 0.1% higher. This indicates that in synthetic benchmarks, the CPU is on par with these alternatives.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's display and preference for visual quality versus raw frame rate. For 1080p users, the data shows that even the Ultra preset delivers 303 FPS, which is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors. In this case, the Ultra preset is recommended because it provides the best visual experience without any noticeable performance compromise. The High preset at 423 FPS and Medium at 493 FPS are also viable, but Ultra offers the highest fidelity at a frame rate that is still exceptionally high.

For 1440p, the High preset delivers 267 FPS, which is ideal for high refresh rate monitors. The Medium preset at 311 FPS is slightly faster but may not offer the same visual clarity. The Ultra preset at 191 FPS is still very smooth and provides the best image quality. Given the data, the High preset is recommended as it strikes the best balance between performance and visual fidelity, ensuring the frame rate remains above 240 FPS for the most demanding displays.

At 4K, the recommendation becomes more nuanced. The Ultra preset produces 100 FPS, which is smooth but may not be sufficient for 144Hz displays. The High preset at 140 FPS is a significant improvement, offering a 40% increase in frame rate over Ultra. The Medium preset at 163 FPS provides even more headroom, but with lower visual quality. The data suggests that the High preset is the best choice for 4K, as it provides a high frame rate that is suitable for most high-refresh-rate monitors while maintaining good visual fidelity. The Low preset at 219 FPS is not recommended as it sacrifices too much visual quality for a frame rate that is already high at the High setting.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its base clock is 3.40 GHz, and it boosts up to 5.00 GHz. It has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. In Barony, the CPU's role is critical, as the game's logic and entity updates are likely single-threaded or lightly threaded. The high boost clock of 5.00 GHz is the key factor in achieving the high frame rates seen at lower resolutions.

The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 663 FPS, which is a clear indication of CPU limitation. The CPU's Passmark single-thread score is 4516, which is strong, but the game's engine appears to have a performance cap that is being reached. The CPU's multi-threaded performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769, is not fully utilized in this game, as the frame rates do not scale with additional cores. The role of the CPU is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game state updates, and in Barony, this becomes the bottleneck at lower resolutions.

The CPU's benchmark comparisons show that it is competitive with other top-tier processors, with its average benchmark score of 46062 placing it in the 89th percentile of all CPUs. However, in Barony, the specific combination of high single-thread speed and the game's engine characteristics determines the final frame rate. The data implies that a CPU with a higher single-thread boost clock might deliver even higher frame rates, but the Core Ultra 5 235 is already providing exceptional performance. The 14 threads are more than sufficient for the game's workload, and the 24 MB of cache helps reduce latency for frequently accessed data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive view of the system's performance across all settings and resolutions.

At 1920x1080, the results are as follows:

• Low: 663 FPS average
• Medium: 493 FPS average, with a min of 419 FPS and max of 567 FPS
• High: 423 FPS average
• Ultra: 303 FPS average

The 1080p data shows a clear progression from Low to Ultra, with the frame rate dropping as the graphical load increases. The Medium setting shows a significant variance between min and max FPS, indicating some scene complexity fluctuations, but the average remains high.

At 2560x1440, the results are:

• Low: 418 FPS average
• Medium: 311 FPS average, with a min of 264 FPS and max of 358 FPS
• High: 267 FPS average
• Ultra: 191 FPS average

The 1440p data shows a more pronounced drop from Low to Ultra, with a 54% reduction in frame rate. The Medium setting again shows a variance, but the average is still above 300 FPS, making it suitable for high refresh rate gaming.

At 3840x2160, the results are:

• Low: 219 FPS average
• Medium: 163 FPS average, with a min of 138 FPS and max of 187 FPS
• High: 140 FPS average
• Ultra: 100 FPS average

The 4K data shows the most significant scaling, with Ultra providing exactly 100 FPS, which is a common target for 4K gaming. The High setting at 140 FPS offers a substantial improvement, and the Low setting at 219 FPS is still very smooth. The Medium setting's min FPS of 138 suggests that even with this powerful combo, there can be dips in performance, but the average remains high. The data across all resolutions confirms that this system is capable of running Barony at maximum settings with playable frame rates, and at lower settings, it can achieve frame rates that are well beyond what is necessary for a smooth experience.