Barony

# Barony with Intel Core Ultra 5 245 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D combination delivers top-tier performance in Barony, securing the #1 spot out of 2,935 tested combos. The CPU's 14 cores and 14 threads with a 3.50 GHz base clock and 5.10 GHz boost clock provide strong single-threaded responsiveness, while the GPU's 32 GB of GDDR7 memory ensures no capacity bottlenecks even at extreme frame rates. This pairing produces exceptional results across all resolutions, with the data showing a clear scaling pattern from 1080p to 4K that highlights the GPU as the primary performance driver at higher settings.

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

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 is a 14-core, 14-thread desktop processor built on Arrow Lake architecture with a 3 nm process node. Its base clock of 3.50 GHz can boost up to 5.10 GHz, and the chip includes 24 MB of shared L3 cache alongside 3 MB L2 per core and 192 KB L1 per core. This configuration, paired with dual-channel DDR5 memory support and 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth, provides the computational headroom needed to feed a high-end GPU in a fast-paced roguelike like Barony.

Benchmark results place this CPU in the 90th percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 48,995. Its nearest rivals show tight competition: the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G scores 49,196 (0.4% higher), the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 scores 49,228 (0.5% higher), while the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H trails at 48,698 (0.6% lower) and the Intel Core i5-14600K sits at 48,618 (0.8% lower). These margins indicate that the Ultra 5 245 performs within a narrow band of high-end desktop and workstation CPUs, though it lags slightly behind the top AMD options in raw processing throughput.

In Cinebench tests, the CPU achieves 3,318 in R15 multi-core, 468 in R15 single-core, 13,828 in R20 multi-core, 1,952 in R20 single-core, 32,924 in R23 multi-core, and 4,648 in R23 single-core. These figures demonstrate strong multi-threaded capability, but Barony's gameplay loop—procedural dungeon crawling, real-time combat, and inventory management—relies more heavily on single-threaded performance for game logic and entity updates. The R23 single-core score of 4,648 indicates robust per-thread throughput, which helps maintain consistent frame pacing in scenes with many active enemies or destructible objects.

PassMark results further characterize the CPU: multi-thread score of 38,706, single-thread score of 4,394, physics score of 2,569, and integer math at 91,187. The floating-point score of 120,548 and extended instructions score of 33,304 show solid arithmetic capability, while data compression at 400,942 and encryption at 30,236 round out the productivity profile. For Barony specifically, the physics score of 2,569 is relevant because the game's tile-based interactions and projectile calculations benefit from decent physics processing, though the title is not particularly demanding in this regard.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and Intel Socket 1851 compatibility make it an efficient choice for a gaming rig, but the data shows that in this particular combo, the processor is rarely the limiting factor. At 1080p Low settings, the combo achieves 724 FPS average, which suggests the CPU can deliver frame rates well beyond typical display refresh rates. Even at 4K Ultra, where the GPU becomes the bottleneck, the CPU maintains enough throughput to avoid stuttering, as evidenced by the 109 FPS average at that configuration. The 14 threads (matching the 14 cores, with no hyper-threading) provide adequate parallelism for modern game engines, though Barony's relatively simple AI and physics calculations mean the CPU is not pushed to its limits in most scenarios.

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

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is a flagship graphics card built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node. It houses 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operations pipelines, along with 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2017 MHz with a boost clock of 2407 MHz, and its memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) across a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The 32 GB GDDR7 frame buffer is exceptionally generous for any game, including Barony, which is a 2015 roguelike with modest texture requirements.

This GPU sits in the 92nd percentile among all tested graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 77,712. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT at 76,904 (1.1% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT at 78,940 (1.6% higher), the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB at 79,396 (2.1% higher), and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB at 79,605 (2.4% higher). These comparisons show that while the RTX 5090 D is a top-tier consumer card, some workstation-oriented GPUs edge it out in raw benchmark scores, though those products lack the gaming-specific optimizations and driver support that benefit Barony.

In synthetic tests, the GPU scores 14,326 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 310,674 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 376,915 in Geekbench Vulkan. PassMark results show a G3D score of 44,065, GPU compute score of 28,396, and DirectX 11 score of 371 (with DirectX 10 at 231, DirectX 12 at 219, and DirectX 9 at 434). The 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate and 423.6 GPixel/s pixel rate translate to massive fill-rate capabilities, which is overkill for Barony's 2D sprite-based visuals but ensures maximum frame rates even with high-resolution scaling and multiple effects enabled.

The measured FPS data confirms the GPU's dominance. At 4K Ultra, the combo averages 109 FPS, while at 4K High it jumps to 152 FPS, 4K Medium reaches 178 FPS, and 4K Low hits 239 FPS. These figures indicate that even at the most demanding settings, the RTX 5090 D maintains playable frame rates, and at lower settings it approaches the refresh rate limits of most gaming monitors. The 32 GB VRAM never becomes a constraint in Barony, as the game's texture sizes and draw distances are modest by modern standards, so the GPU's raw compute power is the primary determinant of performance.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

The measured frame rates across settings and resolutions reveal a clear hierarchy. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 109 FPS average, which is smooth for most players but leaves headroom for high-refresh-rate monitors. Dropping to High increases performance to 152 FPS, a 39% improvement over Ultra, while Medium yields 178 FPS and Low reaches 239 FPS. The step from Ultra to High is particularly notable because it provides a substantial FPS boost with likely minimal visual degradation in Barony's stylized art direction.

At 1440p, the picture improves dramatically: Ultra averages 209 FPS, High reaches 292 FPS, Medium hits 340 FPS, and Low achieves 457 FPS. These numbers suggest that for players with 144Hz or 240Hz monitors, the High preset at 1440p offers the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate, delivering 292 FPS which exceeds the refresh rate of most displays. The Medium preset at 340 FPS adds further headroom for competitive play, though the visual trade-offs may not be worth the extra frames for a game like Barony where reaction times matter but aren't as critical as in twitch shooters.

At 1080p, all settings produce exceptionally high frame rates: Ultra at 331 FPS, High at 462 FPS, Medium at 538 FPS, and Low at 724 FPS. The Low preset's 724 FPS average indicates that the combo is heavily GPU-limited at this resolution, and the CPU's single-thread performance becomes the ceiling. For players with 360Hz or 500Hz esports monitors, the Medium preset at 538 FPS or Low at 724 FPS would be the optimal choice, but for standard 144Hz displays, the Ultra preset at 331 FPS is more than sufficient.

The data suggests that the High preset is the sweet spot across all resolutions, offering the best combination of visual quality and performance. At 4K High (152 FPS), 1440p High (292 FPS), and 1080p High (462 FPS), the frame rates are all well above the thresholds for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset's performance penalty (roughly 28-37% lower than High depending on resolution) is significant, and given Barony's pixel-art aesthetic, the visual upgrade from High to Ultra is likely imperceptible in most scenes. Therefore, the recommended settings are High at any resolution, with Ultra reserved for players who prioritize maximum quality over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 5 245 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D ranks #1 out of 2,935 tested combos for Barony. This top ranking is notable because it places this pairing above all other CPU-GPU combinations in the database, including those with higher-end processors or more specialized workstation graphics cards. The rank reflects the aggregate performance across all measured resolutions and settings, and the data confirms that this combo delivers the highest average frame rates in the game.

The #1 ranking is particularly impressive given that the RTX 5090 D's nearest GPU rivals (AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT, Tesla P100 variants) have similar average benchmark scores, yet this combo still outperforms any pairing involving those cards. Similarly, the CPU's rivals like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G score slightly higher in synthetic benchmarks, but when combined with the RTX 5090 D, the Ultra 5 245's architecture and memory subsystem appear to provide better real-world game performance in Barony.

This top-tier ranking has practical implications for players: the combo is capable of maintaining frame rates far above the thresholds for smooth gameplay at all tested settings and resolutions. The lowest measured average FPS is 109 at 4K Ultra, which is still comfortably playable, and the highest is 724 at 1080p Low, which approaches the limits of what current display technology can show. The data indicates that no other tested combination of CPU and GPU achieves higher performance in Barony, making this the definitive setup for players seeking maximum frame rates in this title.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured frame rates show a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At High settings, the combo averages 462 FPS at 1080p, 292 FPS at 1440p, and 152 FPS at 4K—a drop of 37% when moving from 1080p to 1440p, and another 48% when moving from 1440p to 4K. This translates to a total reduction of 67% from 1080p to 4K, which is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario where pixel count directly impacts rendering load.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic: 724 FPS at 1080p, 457 FPS at 1440p, and 239 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop is 37%, and 1440p to 4K drops another 48%, resulting in a 67% total reduction. The fact that Low settings show the same percentage drops as High settings suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor even at the lowest quality preset, as the CPU can maintain very high frame rates but the GPU's fill-rate and shading throughput become saturated as resolution increases.

The Medium preset shows similar trends with 538 FPS at 1080p, 340 FPS at 1440p, and 178 FPS at 4K. The Ultra preset scales slightly less aggressively: 331 FPS at 1080p, 209 FPS at 1440p, and 109 FPS at 4K, representing a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 48% drop from 1440p to 4K. This consistent scaling pattern across all settings indicates that the RTX 5090 D's rendering pipeline is the bottleneck, and the CPU's performance headroom is sufficient to avoid becoming a constraint even at 1080p with Low settings where frame rates exceed 700 FPS.

The resolution scaling analysis strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting component in this combo. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see diminishing frame rate differences between 1080p and 1440p, as the CPU's workload would cap performance regardless of resolution. Instead, the data shows a near-linear relationship between pixel count and frame rate, which is the hallmark of GPU-bound rendering. The RTX 5090 D's 32 GB VRAM and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provide ample memory resources, so the scaling is purely a function of compute and rasterization throughput rather than memory capacity constraints.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for maximum frame rates?

A: The 1080p Low preset delivers the highest measured average FPS at 724, followed by 1080p Medium at 538 FPS and 1440p Low at 457 FPS. For players prioritizing frame rate above all else, 1080p Low is the optimal choice.

Q: Can this combo maintain 144 FPS at 4K?

A: Yes, the 4K High preset averages 152 FPS, which exceeds 144 FPS. The 4K Medium preset averages 178 FPS, while 4K Ultra falls short at 109 FPS. To guarantee 144 FPS at 4K, use High or Medium settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 5 245 scores 48,995 on average, placing it 0.4% below the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5755G and 0.5% below the AMD Ryzen 9 7900, but 0.6% above the Intel Xeon Gold 5318H and 0.8% above the Intel Core i5-14600K.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between High and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, High averages 462 FPS versus 331 FPS for Ultra (a 28% difference). At 1440p, High averages 292 FPS versus 209 FPS for Ultra (a 28% difference). At 4K, High averages 152 FPS versus 109 FPS for Ultra (a 28% difference).

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck in this combo?

A: The GPU is the bottleneck. The resolution scaling pattern shows frame rates drop by roughly 37% from 1080p to 1440p and 48% from 1440p to 4K across all settings, indicating that the RTX 5090 D's rendering throughput limits performance while the CPU maintains sufficient headroom.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: This combo ranks #1 out of 2,935 tested CPU-GPU combinations for Barony, with the data showing it delivers the highest average frame rates across all measured resolutions and settings.