Barony

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 produces a wide spread of frame rates in Barony, ranging from a playable 39 FPS at 4K Ultra to a fluid 261 FPS at 1080p Low. Analysis of the measured data reveals a system where the GPU becomes the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance allows for very high frame rates at 1080p. This combination ranks in the 21st percentile of tested combos, placing it behind a significant majority of configurations, yet the absolute frame rates remain respectable for the game’s roguelike genre.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial across all settings, indicating that the RTX 2060 is the limiting component as pixel count increases. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 167 FPS at 1920x1080 to 105 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 62 FPS, and then further to 55 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 67% decrease in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, a scaling pattern typical of a GPU that is saturated by the increased resolution workload. The data suggests that at 1080p, the system has headroom, but at 4K, the graphics card is working near its limit.

The scaling pattern is consistent across other settings. At Medium settings, the average FPS drops from 194 at 1080p to 123 at 1440p, and then to 64 at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K is 67%, identical to the High setting drop, which reinforces the notion that the GPU’s rendering throughput is the bottleneck at higher resolutions regardless of the visual preset. At Low settings, the drop is less severe in relative terms: from 261 FPS at 1080p to 165 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 86 FPS at 4K. This is a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K as well, showing a remarkably uniform scaling pattern across all presets.

The Ultra preset tells a different story at 4K, where the average FPS plummets to 39, which is below the generally accepted 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The gap between 1440p Ultra (76 FPS) and 4K Ultra (39 FPS) is a 49% drop, which is the largest relative decrease among all settings. This suggests that the Ultra preset’s additional graphical effects, likely including more demanding shading and post-processing, place an extra burden on the GPU that becomes particularly punishing at 4K resolution. The data points to a system where 4K gaming is only viable at Low or Medium settings, while 1080p and 1440p offer smoother experiences across all presets.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset provides the most balanced experience across all three resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers an average of 194 FPS, which is more than sufficient for fast-paced action and leaves headroom for consistent frame pacing. The minimum FPS recorded at this setting is 165, ensuring that even demanding scenes remain fluid. At 1440p, Medium yields 123 FPS on average with a minimum of 104, which still exceeds the 60 FPS threshold by a wide margin. Even at 4K, Medium manages an average of 64 FPS with a minimum of 55, making it the highest preset that remains playable at this resolution.

The High preset is a viable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over raw frame rate. At 1080p, High produces 167 FPS on average, still well above the refresh rate of most monitors. At 1440p, High achieves 105 FPS, which is excellent for a smoother visual experience. However, at 4K, High drops to 55 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target and may cause noticeable stuttering in some scenes. For users with 4K displays, Low settings (86 FPS average) are the only preset that provides a comfortable margin above 60 FPS.

The Ultra preset is not recommended for any resolution due to its lower frame rates. At 1080p, Ultra achieves 120 FPS, which is acceptable, but the jump to 1440p drops it to 76 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 39 FPS. The performance cost of Ultra over High is significant: at 4K, the drop is from 55 to 39 FPS, a 29% reduction, while at 1440p it is from 105 to 76 FPS, a 28% reduction. Given the modest visual improvements typically associated with Ultra presets, the frame rate penalty makes this setting less attractive. The data supports Medium as the sweet spot, with High as a strong choice for 1080p and 1440p users who prioritize image quality.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and RTX 2060 combination holds the 2308th position out of 2935 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the 21st percentile. This ranking indicates that the majority of tested configurations outperform this pairing in this specific game. The rank is influenced by both the GPU’s age and the CPU’s mid-range positioning, though the measured frame rates show that the combo is still capable of delivering playable performance at lower resolutions and settings.

The CPU’s benchmark scores provide context for its contribution to this ranking. The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 achieves an average benchmark score of 48995, which places it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, -0.4% delta), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, -0.5% delta), and the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, 0.8% delta). These scores indicate that the CPU is not the primary factor holding back the combo’s ranking, as it performs competitively with other high-end processors.

The GPU, however, is a different story. The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, placing it in the 58th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta), the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta). This mid-pack GPU performance, combined with the relatively low combo rank, suggests that Barony’s rendering demands are more sensitive to GPU capabilities than CPU power, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU becomes the bottleneck.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates across all presets. The Low preset achieves an average of 261 FPS, which is exceptionally high and indicates that the CPU and GPU have ample headroom at this resolution. Medium produces 194 FPS on average, with a minimum of 165 and a maximum of 224. High reaches 167 FPS, while Ultra drops to 120 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 141 FPS, showing that the preset has a significant impact on performance at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease but remain playable. Low averages 165 FPS, Medium averages 123 FPS with a minimum of 104 and a maximum of 141, High averages 105 FPS, and Ultra averages 76 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra narrows to 89 FPS, reflecting the increased GPU load at this resolution. The minimum FPS values for Medium (104) and the averages for High (105) suggest that 1440p is a viable resolution for this combo, provided users stick to Medium or lower presets for consistent frame delivery.

At 3840x2160, performance drops further, and the data shows a clear limitation. Low averages 86 FPS, Medium averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 and a maximum of 74, High averages 55 FPS, and Ultra averages 39 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 47 FPS, and the Ultra preset’s 39 FPS is the only measured result below 50 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 55 FPS indicates that even this setting can experience dips, though the average remains above 60 FPS. This breakdown demonstrates that 4K gaming requires sacrifices in visual quality to maintain smooth gameplay.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is built on the Turing architecture and features 1920 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units. Its boost clock reaches 1680 MHz, and it is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s. These specifications place the GPU in the 58th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 15290. The GPU’s role in Barony becomes more critical at higher resolutions, as the measured FPS data shows a clear performance ceiling at 4K.

The GPU’s VRAM capacity of 6 GB is a potential constraint in modern games, though Barony is a roguelike with relatively modest texture demands. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (39 FPS) and 4K High (55 FPS) suggests that the GPU’s compute throughput, rather than memory capacity, is the limiting factor. The pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s and texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s indicate that the GPU can handle a significant amount of pixel and texture work, but the 4K resolution’s 8.3 million pixels overwhelm it at higher presets.

The RTX 2060’s FP32 performance of 6.451 TFLOPS provides context for its 1080p results, where it achieves 167 FPS at High settings. The GPU’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15171, 0.8% delta) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta), both of which show similar average benchmark scores. This suggests that the RTX 2060 remains competitive with newer entry-level GPUs, but its age is evident in the 4K results where it falls below 60 FPS on all presets except Low.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this CPU-GPU combo in Barony?

A: Based on the measured FPS data, 1920x1080 provides the most consistent performance, with all presets exceeding 120 FPS. At 2560x1440, Medium and Low presets remain above 100 FPS, while 3840x2160 only achieves playable frame rates on Low settings.

Q: Is the Medium or High preset better for 4K gaming?

A: At 3840x2160, Medium averages 64 FPS with a minimum of 55 FPS, while High averages 55 FPS. Medium is the better choice for maintaining a smoother experience, as it stays closer to the 60 FPS target.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 has an average benchmark score of 15290, which is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15283, 0% delta) and the AMD Radeon 680M (15270, 0.1% delta). It is slightly ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15199, 0.6% delta).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1920x1080, the Low preset averages 261 FPS, while Ultra averages 120 FPS. This represents a 141 FPS difference, indicating that the Ultra preset imposes a significant performance penalty.

Q: Does the CPU or GPU limit performance at 4K resolution?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor at 3840x2160. The frame rate drops by 67% from 1080p to 4K at most presets, which is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario, while the CPU’s high benchmark scores suggest it has sufficient headroom.

Q: What is the combo’s ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks 2308th out of 2935 tested combos for Barony, placing it in the 21st percentile. This ranking reflects the GPU’s mid-range performance, as the CPU ranks in the 90th percentile of all processors.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. It has 24 MB of shared L3 cache and supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel interface, providing a memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s. The CPU’s benchmark scores are strong, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 32924 and a single-core score of 4648, placing it in the 90th percentile of all CPUs.

In Barony, the CPU’s role is most apparent at 1080p resolution, where frame rates are highest. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 261 FPS, which suggests that the CPU can feed the GPU with enough data to maintain very high frame rates. The single-core performance, as evidenced by the Cinebench R15 single-core score of 468, is particularly relevant for a roguelike game that may rely heavily on game logic and physics calculations. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score of 4394 further supports its capability in this regard.

The nearest CPU rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G (49196, -0.4% delta) and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 (49228, -0.5% delta), both of which have slightly higher average benchmark scores. However, the Intel Core i5-14600K (48618, 0.8% delta) scores slightly lower. These comparisons show that the Ultra 5 245 is competitive with other high-end processors, and its performance is unlikely to be the bottleneck in this combo. At higher resolutions, the CPU’s impact diminishes as the GPU becomes the limiting factor, but at 1080p, the CPU’s strong single-threaded performance enables the high frame rates observed in the data.