Barony

# Barony Performance Analysis: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

This combination of Intel's Core Ultra 7 155H mobile processor and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU delivers remarkably strong performance in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015 that clearly favors high refresh rate gameplay. The measured data reveals a system capable of triple-digit frame rates at most settings, with the RTX 4060's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory proving sufficient even at 4K resolution.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data across all four settings presets at three resolutions paints a clear picture: Medium settings offer the best balance between visual fidelity and performance headroom. At 1080p, Medium delivers 225 FPS average, which is 32 FPS higher than High settings and 86 FPS higher than Ultra. The minimum FPS reading of 191 at Medium 1080p exceeds the average FPS of every other settings preset at that resolution except Low, indicating exceptional frame time stability.

Moving to 1440p, Medium again proves optimal with 142 FPS average and a minimum of 121 FPS. This represents a 20 FPS improvement over High settings while maintaining frame rates well above 120 Hz displays. The gap between Medium and Ultra grows to 55 FPS at 1440p, making Ultra increasingly difficult to justify for competitive play.

At 4K, the decision becomes more nuanced. Medium produces 74 FPS average with a minimum of 63 FPS, which remains playable on standard 60 Hz displays. High settings drop to 64 FPS average, while Ultra falls to 46 FPS — below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider minimum for smooth gameplay. Low settings at 4K reach 100 FPS, but the visual compromise is substantial.

The data suggests that Medium is the recommended preset for most scenarios, particularly given the 63 FPS minimum at 4K. For players with high refresh rate monitors at 1080p or 1440p, Medium provides the best combination of fluid motion and visual quality. Ultra settings should be reserved for players who prioritize image quality over frame rate and are willing to accept 139 FPS at 1080p or 87 FPS at 1440p.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 serves as the primary rendering engine in this configuration, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with 3,072 shading units and 96 texture mapping units. The GPU's boost clock of 2460 MHz and base clock of 1830 MHz provide the computational foundation for Barony's rendering workload, while 48 ROPs handle pixel output at a rate of 118.1 GPixel/s.

Memory configuration plays a crucial role in this game's performance scaling. The 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer on a 128-bit bus delivers 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves adequate even at 4K resolution. The fact that 4K Medium achieves 74 FPS average suggests that VRAM capacity is not a bottleneck — the game's 2015 release date likely means texture sizes remain modest by modern standards.

The GPU's 15.11 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power and 236.2 GTexel/s texture fill rate directly influence how quickly Barony can process its procedural dungeon generation and lighting effects. The RTX 4060's 24 RT cores and 96 tensor cores are present but unlikely to be heavily utilized in a roguelike title that predates widespread ray tracing adoption.

The GPU's benchmark scores provide context for its capabilities. A Passmark G3D score of 19,545 places it at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the AMD Radeon 780M (0.3% ahead) and AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.5% behind). This mid-pack positioning aligns with the measured performance — capable of high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but not overwhelming at 4K Ultra.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about system bottlenecks. At Medium settings, the average frame rate drops from 225 FPS at 1080p to 142 FPS at 1440p (a 37% reduction) and then to 74 FPS at 4K (a 48% reduction from 1440p). This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly dominant as the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

Comparing Low settings across resolutions shows similar trends: 303 FPS at 1080p, 191 FPS at 1440p, and 100 FPS at 4K. The 1080p to 1440p drop of 112 FPS (37%) mirrors the Medium settings scaling, suggesting consistent rendering overhead. However, the 4K result of 100 FPS at Low settings demonstrates that even at minimal visual quality, the RTX 4060 can maintain playable frame rates at full 4K resolution.

Ultra settings exhibit the steepest scaling curve: 139 FPS at 1080p, 87 FPS at 1440p, and 46 FPS at 4K. The 4K to 1080p ratio of 3.02:1 closely matches the pixel count ratio of 4:1, indicating that at Ultra settings the workload scales nearly linearly with resolution. This suggests the game becomes purely GPU-bound at Ultra, with CPU overhead playing a minimal role.

The High settings data provides an interesting middle ground: 193 FPS at 1080p, 122 FPS at 1440p, and 64 FPS at 4K. The diminishing returns at higher resolutions — where each resolution step costs roughly 37-48% of performance — point to the GPU's memory bandwidth and fill rate as the primary constraints at 4K.

FAQ

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K in Barony?

A: Yes, at Medium settings the average FPS is 74 with a minimum of 63 FPS. High settings achieve 64 FPS average, while Ultra drops to 46 FPS.

Q: What is the best settings preset for competitive play at 1080p?

A: Medium settings provide 225 FPS average with a 191 FPS minimum, offering the best combination of frame rate stability and visual quality for competitive scenarios.

Q: How does the RTX 4060 compare to its closest GPU rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4060 scores 19,545 in Passmark G3D, placing it 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon 780M and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 560.

Q: Does the 8 GB VRAM limit performance at 4K resolution?

A: No, the 4K Medium result of 74 FPS average indicates that 8 GB is sufficient for this game's memory requirements at 4K.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Low settings achieve 191 FPS while Ultra reaches 87 FPS, a difference of 104 FPS (approximately 55% reduction from Low to Ultra).

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p Low settings?

A: The 303 FPS result at 1080p Low suggests the CPU may begin to constrain performance, as the frame rate approaches levels where CPU overhead typically becomes significant.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H provides the computational backbone for this system, featuring 16 cores and 22 threads based on the Meteor Lake architecture. With a base clock of 3.80 GHz and boost clock of 4.80 GHz, this mobile processor delivers substantial single-threaded performance that matters for game logic and physics calculations in Barony's procedural environments.

The CPU's cache hierarchy — 112 KB L1 per core, 2 MB L2 per core, and 24 MB shared L3 — supports the game's random dungeon generation and item interaction systems. The Passmark single-thread score of 3,468 and multi-thread score of 24,873 indicate strong overall processing capability, placing the chip at the 83rd percentile among all CPUs.

Benchmark results reveal the CPU's character: Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15,028 and single-core score of 1,743 demonstrate balanced performance across both single and multi-threaded workloads. The Passmark physics score of 1,727 and floating point math score of 63,703 suggest the CPU can handle the collision detection and particle effects common in roguelike gameplay.

The nearest CPU rivals show tight competition: the Intel Core i5-14600T scores 32,707 average (0% delta), while the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 is 0.1% behind at 32,662. The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F leads by 0.2% with 32,750, and the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 6850H tops the group at 32,812 (-0.4% delta from the 155H's perspective).

At 1080p Low settings, the 303 FPS result hints at potential CPU limitations, as this frame rate approaches the point where per-frame CPU overhead becomes significant. The 16-core, 22-thread configuration with 4.80 GHz boost clock provides ample headroom for Barony's single-threaded game logic, though the data suggests the CPU may cap performance at extremely high frame rates.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080 resolution, the settings ladder shows clear performance tiers. Low settings achieve 303 FPS average, representing the maximum achievable frame rate in this configuration. Medium settings deliver 225 FPS with a minimum of 191 FPS and maximum of 259 FPS, offering the most complete data set of any preset. High settings reach 193 FPS, while Ultra drops to 139 FPS.

The 2560x1440 results follow a similar pattern with reduced absolute values. Low settings produce 191 FPS, Medium 142 FPS (minimum 121, maximum 164), High 122 FPS, and Ultra 87 FPS. The minimum FPS at Medium 1440p (121) still exceeds the refresh rate of most standard monitors, indicating comfortable gameplay headroom.

At 3840x2160, the performance envelope tightens considerably. Low settings achieve 100 FPS, Medium 74 FPS (minimum 63, maximum 85), High 64 FPS, and Ultra 46 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 63 FPS represents the only 4K data point with a recorded minimum, suggesting frame time consistency at this resolution.

The complete dataset reveals that Medium settings provide the most consistent performance across all resolutions, with minimum FPS values that remain 84-85% of the average. This consistency suggests the game's rendering pipeline is well-optimized for this preset, avoiding the frame time spikes that might occur at other quality levels.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 ranks 1,763 out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the 40th percentile of all systems tested. This ranking reflects the mid-range positioning of both components — the CPU at the 83rd CPU percentile and GPU at the 61st GPU percentile produce a combined system that outperforms 60% of tested configurations.

The ranking context becomes clearer when examining the individual component positions. The CPU's 83rd percentile standing is notably stronger than the GPU's 61st percentile, suggesting that the processor has more headroom than the graphics card in this pairing. However, the measured FPS data shows the combination delivering excellent results in Barony specifically, with even 4K Medium exceeding 60 FPS.

The rank of 1,763 out of 2,935 indicates that while this system is not at the top of the performance ladder, it sits comfortably above the median. The gap between the CPU's high percentile and the GPU's mid-range percentile suggests that upgrading the graphics card would yield more significant FPS improvements than CPU upgrades in this configuration.

For Barony specifically, this ranking translates into a system capable of high refresh rate gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, with playable 4K performance at Medium settings. The 40th percentile combined ranking understates the practical gaming experience, as the game's modest graphical requirements allow this mid-range combo to excel in ways that synthetic benchmarks might not fully capture.