Barony

Barony is a demanding roguelike that scales heavily with both resolution and preset, and the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 produces a wide spread of frame rates across the measured settings. The data shows a system capable of extreme performance at lower resolutions, but one where the GPU becomes the primary constraint at 4K Ultra. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS to explain exactly where this combo stands and how to get the best experience from it.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals how the workload shifts between the CPU and GPU. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 622 FPS, which is an exceptionally high figure that indicates the CPU is feeding frames with minimal GPU resistance. Moving to 1440p Low, the average drops to 392 FPS, a 37% reduction, and at 4K Low, it falls to 205 FPS, a 67% reduction from the 1080p baseline. This steep decline at lower settings is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions; the RTX 5080 has to render far more pixels, while the CPU’s 14 cores and 5.10 GHz boost clock have ample headroom.

The scaling pattern changes when settings are raised. At High settings, the drop from 1080p (397 FPS) to 1440p (250 FPS) is a 37% decrease, and then to 4K (131 FPS) is another 48% decrease. This creates a more linear progression than at Low settings, suggesting that the render load is increasing in a more balanced way. The Ultra preset shows the steepest relative drop: 1080p yields 284 FPS, 1440p yields 180 FPS (a 37% drop), and 4K yields 94 FPS (a 67% drop from 1080p). The fact that the 4K Ultra figure is less than one-third of the 1080p Low figure confirms that the RTX 5080 is the limiting factor at high resolutions and settings.

The Medium preset, which is the only one with min/max FPS data, provides additional insight. At 4K Medium, the average is 152 FPS with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the average is 292 FPS with a range of 248 to 336 FPS. At 1080p Medium, the average is 462 FPS with a range of 393 to 532 FPS. The frame time consistency is better at lower resolutions, as the minimum FPS stays proportionally closer to the average. This indicates that the CPU is able to maintain a more stable frame pacing when the GPU is not overwhelmed by pixel count. The most important takeaway is that this combo is never truly CPU-limited at 4K; the GPU is always the bottleneck, while at 1080p, the CPU’s performance ceiling is what prevents even higher frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

Within the database of tested combinations, this specific pairing of the Core Ultra 5 245 and RTX 5080 ranks 193rd out of 2935 combos for Barony. This places it in the top 6.6% of all tested configurations, which is a strong result for a game that can be very demanding on both the processor and graphics card. The high rank is driven by the GPU’s massive compute power and the CPU’s solid multi-threaded performance.

The CPU’s average benchmark score of 48995 places it at the 90th percentile among all CPUs. Its nearest rivals in aggregate performance are the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G, which scores 49196 (0.4% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, which scores 49228 (0.5% higher). The Intel Core i5-14600K is 0.8% behind with a score of 48618, and the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H is 0.6% behind with a score of 48698. These deltas are minimal, meaning the Core Ultra 5 245 is effectively on par with these competitors in general compute, but its combination with the RTX 5080 is what pushes this combo to its high rank in Barony.

The RTX 5080 itself is a top-tier GPU, ranking at the 87th percentile among all graphics cards. Its average benchmark score of 56083 is slightly higher than the AMD Radeon 8060S (55757, a 0.6% difference) and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB (55698, a 0.7% difference). The AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE is 2.2% faster with a score of 57367. The data shows that the GPU is the stronger component in this pairing, and the combo rank reflects that it is well-optimized for Barony’s specific rendering needs, which include heavy use of GPU resources. A rank of 193 out of 2935 confirms that this is a high-end setup that will handle the game with ease, though it is not the absolute fastest combination tested.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the dominant component in this pairing for Barony, and its specifications directly explain the measured frame rates. The GPU features 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s. This large memory pool ensures that even at 4K Ultra settings, texture data and geometry buffers are unlikely to overflow, which would otherwise cause stutters or crashes. The high bandwidth is critical for maintaining high average FPS, especially at 4K where the frame buffer demands are massive.

The GPU’s clock speeds are also a key factor. The base clock is 2295 MHz, with a boost clock of 2617 MHz. The boost clock is the more relevant figure for sustained gaming loads, and it allows the GPU’s 10752 shading units to operate at a high rate. This translates to a FP32 compute throughput of 56.28 TFLOPS. The 336 texture mapping units and 112 render output units work together to handle the pixel fill rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s. These figures are what allow the RTX 5080 to push 131 FPS at 4K High, a demanding scenario that would cripple lesser GPUs.

The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its strength. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 8637, and its Passmark G3D score is 36565. While these are synthetic tests, they correlate with the 4K performance seen in Barony. The fact that the 4K Ultra setting yields 94 FPS, which is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth play, shows that the GPU is powerful enough for the most demanding preset. The GPU’s 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of graphics cards, and its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, is only 2.2% faster in aggregate benchmarks. In Barony specifically, the RTX 5080’s raw compute and memory bandwidth ensure that the resolution scaling is the primary factor in performance variation, not any architectural limitation.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a complete picture of performance across resolutions and settings. At 1080p, the combo is exceptionally fast. With Low settings, the average FPS is 622. Medium settings produce 462 FPS, with a minimum of 393 FPS and a maximum of 532 FPS. High settings yield 397 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to 284 FPS. Even at the most demanding 1080p preset, the frame rate is far above what any standard 60Hz or 144Hz monitor can display, making this resolution essentially a CPU-bound scenario where the GPU is never fully utilized.

Moving to 1440p, the performance remains very high. Low settings produce 392 FPS, Medium settings produce 292 FPS (with a range of 248 to 336 FPS), High settings produce 250 FPS, and Ultra settings produce 180 FPS. This resolution is the sweet spot for this combo, as it offers a significant visual upgrade over 1080p while still maintaining frame rates that exceed the refresh rate of typical high-end 1440p monitors, which usually max out at 240Hz or 360Hz. The 180 FPS at Ultra is particularly impressive, showing that the GPU has enough headroom to run the game at maximum quality without sacrificing smoothness.

At 4K, the GPU begins to feel the pressure. Low settings yield 205 FPS, which is still very playable. Medium settings produce 152 FPS, with a minimum of 130 FPS and a maximum of 175 FPS, ensuring a consistent experience. High settings drop to 131 FPS, which is ideal for 120Hz displays. Ultra settings produce 94 FPS, which is the only measured configuration that falls below the 100 FPS mark, but it remains comfortably above 60 FPS for a smooth experience on 4K displays. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K is 111 FPS, which shows the significant impact of the preset on the GPU load. The data confirms that this combo can handle 4K gaming, but users with 144Hz or higher refresh rate 4K monitors will need to use Medium or High settings to stay in that range.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake architecture, and its performance in Barony is sufficient to feed the RTX 5080 at most resolutions. The CPU has a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. For a game like Barony, which is a roguelike that can involve complex simulation and many on-screen entities, the high boost clock is more important than the core count. The single-thread performance, as measured by Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4648, is strong and ensures that the game’s main logic thread is not a bottleneck.

The multi-threaded performance is also solid. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 32924, and the Passmark multithread score is 38706. These scores indicate that the CPU can handle background tasks and complex game state calculations without impacting frame rates. The CPU’s Passmark data compression score of 400942 and data encryption score of 30236 show its capability in data-intensive workloads, though these are not directly relevant to Barony. The CPU’s 24 MB of shared L3 cache is ample for game data, and its support for DDR5 memory with 102.4 GB/s of bandwidth ensures fast data transfer to the GPU.

The CPU’s percentile ranking of 90th among all CPUs confirms that it is a high-performance part. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, is only 0.8% slower in aggregate benchmarks, meaning the Core Ultra 5 245 is essentially on par with a well-known gaming CPU. However, in Barony, the CPU’s role is secondary to the GPU. The measured FPS shows that at 1080p Low, the CPU is the limiting factor, as the frame rate of 622 FPS is likely near the CPU’s maximum capability for the game’s logic. At 4K, the CPU has massive headroom, and the GPU is the clear bottleneck. The data indicates that the Core Ultra 5 245 will not hold back the RTX 5080 in any practical gaming scenario, and its 14 cores provide future-proofing for games that utilize more threads.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the best experience depends on the user’s display refresh rate and resolution preferences. For 1080p users, the Ultra preset at 284 FPS is the best choice, as it provides the highest visual quality without any risk of dipping below the refresh rate of even the fastest 1080p monitors. There is no reason to use a lower preset at this resolution, as even Ultra delivers an enormous frame rate.

For 1440p users, the Ultra preset at 180 FPS is the recommended starting point. This provides a perfect experience for 144Hz or 165Hz monitors, and it offers the full visual fidelity of the game. If the user has a 240Hz monitor, the High preset at 250 FPS is a better choice, as the slight reduction in visual effects is worth the extra 70 FPS for a smoother competitive experience. The Medium preset at 292 FPS is also viable for 360Hz monitors, but the visual compromise is significant. The data shows that 1440p Ultra is the sweet spot for balancing quality and performance on this combo.

For 4K users, the recommendation is more nuanced. The High preset at 131 FPS is ideal for 120Hz displays, offering a great balance of visual quality and smoothness. The Medium preset at 152 FPS is better for 144Hz displays, and it still provides a very good visual experience. The Ultra preset at 94 FPS is only recommended for users with 60Hz or 120Hz displays who prioritize visual fidelity above all else, as the drop from 131 FPS to 94 FPS is noticeable but the game remains playable. The Low preset at 205 FPS is not recommended for 4K, as the visual quality loss is too severe. In summary, for most 4K users, the High preset is the best option, as it provides the highest frame rate that still looks great, and it leaves headroom for any demanding scenes that might cause frame dips.