Barony

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 delivers a highly capable experience in Barony, a game where the data reveals a fascinating shift in system bottlenecks depending on the resolution. At 1080p, the CPU is clearly the limiting factor, while at 4K, the GPU takes over as the primary constraint.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a dramatic and predictable decline as resolution increases, but the rate of that decline tells a compelling story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces 430 FPS. This is an exceptionally high number that suggests the rendering pipeline is not being stressed by the graphics card; instead, the frame rate is likely capped by the CPU's ability to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. Moving to 1440p at the same Low preset drops the average to 272 FPS, a reduction of 158 FPS. This is a massive absolute drop, but the percentage decrease is about 37%, which is still a very high frame rate, indicating the CPU is still heavily involved.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K at Low settings is less severe in percentage terms, going from 272 FPS to 142 FPS, a 48% reduction. This steeper relative drop at the highest resolution points to the GPU beginning to hit its limits. The pattern becomes crystal clear when looking at the Ultra preset. At 1080p Ultra, the system manages 197 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it drops to 124 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 65 FPS. The transition from 1440p to 4K here is a 48% decrease, very similar to the Low preset, but the absolute numbers are much lower.

This indicates that while the RTX 4080 is powerful, 4K Ultra is a demanding workload that finally brings it to its knees. Conversely, the 1080p numbers across all settings—from 197 FPS at Ultra to 430 FPS at Low—suggest that the Core Ultra 7 155H, with its 16 cores and 22 threads, is the component preventing even higher frame rates at lower resolutions. The data implies that a stronger CPU could push the 1080p Low figure even higher, but the GPU is the definitive wall at 4K Ultra.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achievable with this combo?

A: The data shows the highest average FPS is 430, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is an outlier compared to other presets, highlighting the CPU-bound nature of low-resolution gameplay.

Q: How much of a performance drop is there between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the average frame rate drops from 275 FPS at 1920x1080 to 173 FPS at 2560x1440, and finally to 91 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a significant 67% reduction in FPS from the lowest to the highest resolution.

Q: Is the 4K Ultra preset playable with this hardware?

A: The measured average FPS for 4K Ultra is 65 FPS. This is above the 60 FPS threshold often considered the standard for smooth gameplay, so it is technically playable, though it will not take full advantage of high-refresh-rate 4K monitors.

Q: Where does this combo rank compared to other tested systems?

A: According to the comboRankInGame data, this specific combination of CPU and GPU ranks 926th out of 2935 tested combos for Barony. This places it in the upper third of all tested configurations, indicating a strong overall performance level.

Q: What is the difference in performance between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the average frame rate at Low settings is 272 FPS, while at Ultra settings it is 124 FPS. The Ultra preset is less than half the speed of the Low preset, showing the substantial cost of enabling the highest graphical features.

Q: Does the RTX 4080 have enough VRAM for this game?

A: The RTX 4080 is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory. For a roguelike title like Barony, this is an enormous amount of memory, and the measured FPS data shows no signs of stuttering or performance cliffs that would indicate VRAM capacity being exceeded at any resolution or setting.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured rows, the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution and refresh rate. For 1080p owners with high-refresh-rate monitors, the High preset is the clear sweet spot, delivering 275 FPS. This is more than enough to saturate even a 240Hz display, and it provides a significant visual upgrade over the 430 FPS of the Low preset, which is likely CPU-limited and would look considerably worse. The Medium preset at 1080p offers 320 FPS, but the jump to High is worth the slight FPS cost for improved fidelity.

At 1440p, the High preset again provides an excellent balance, hitting 173 FPS. This is ideal for 144Hz and even 165Hz monitors. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 124 FPS, which is still very smooth, but the visual difference between High and Ultra may not justify the 49 FPS loss for all users. For those with 4K displays, the High preset at 91 FPS is the best choice for a smooth experience, as the Ultra preset's 65 FPS, while playable, is a steep drop. The data suggests that High settings offer the best compromise between visual quality and frame rate across all resolutions, with Ultra being reserved for users who prioritize image quality over maximum smoothness.

How This Combo Ranks

The comboRankInGame data places this pairing at 926 out of 2935 tested combinations. This is a strong showing, placing the system in the top 31.5% of all configurations tested for Barony. The rank reflects the combined power of the Core Ultra 7 155H and the RTX 4080. The CPU's high multi-threaded performance, evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15028, ensures that the GPU is well-fed in CPU-bound scenarios, while the GPU's raw power handles the more demanding resolutions.

This ranking is particularly impressive given that the CPU is a mobile part, as indicated by its market segment designation, while the GPU is a desktop-class component. The data suggests that this hybrid approach works well for Barony, a game that appears to be sensitive to both CPU and GPU performance depending on the settings. The rank of 926 out of 2935 confirms the balance of this combo, showing that it does not have a significant weak link that would drag its overall performance down relative to other systems.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the undisputed powerhouse in this pairing, and its role becomes increasingly critical as resolution and settings are raised. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is more than sufficient for Barony, preventing any memory-related bottlenecks. Its 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth ensures that texture data can be fed to the processing cores quickly, which is crucial at high resolutions.

The clock speeds, with a base of 2205 MHz and a boost of 2505 MHz, allow the GPU to maintain high throughput. This is reflected in the benchmark results, where the GPU achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 and a Passmark G3D score of 34457. These scores, combined with its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs, affirm its position as a high-end part. In Barony, the data shows that the GPU is the definitive bottleneck at 4K resolution. The difference between the 4K High (91 FPS) and 4K Low (142 FPS) presets shows that even with reduced graphical load, the GPU cannot push beyond the 142 FPS mark, indicating a hard performance ceiling at this resolution. The GPU's Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, provides the efficiency and power needed to handle these workloads.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The data provides a complete matrix of average frame rates across three resolutions and four settings presets.

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance. The Low preset produces an average of 430 FPS, which is the highest recorded in the data. The Medium preset averages 320 FPS, with a minimum of 272 FPS and a maximum of 368 FPS. The High preset averages 275 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 197 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is rarely GPU-bound, as even the Ultra preset maintains a very high frame rate.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains very strong. The Low preset averages 272 FPS, while the Medium preset averages 202 FPS, with a minimum of 172 FPS and a maximum of 232 FPS. The High preset averages 173 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 124 FPS. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p is roughly linear across all presets, with an average FPS reduction of about 37-40%.

At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to show its limits. The Low preset averages 142 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 106 FPS, with a minimum of 90 FPS and a maximum of 121 FPS. The High preset averages 91 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 65 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only preset that dips below the 100 FPS mark, highlighting the extreme demands of this configuration. The data clearly shows a linear progression, with higher resolutions and settings consistently producing lower average frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H plays a crucial, yet often understated, role in this system's Barony performance. As a mobile processor with 16 cores and 22 threads, it provides substantial multi-threaded capabilities. Its benchmark scores, including a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 15028 and a Passmark Multi-Thread score of 24873, demonstrate its strength in handling complex calculations. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache helps to reduce memory latency, which is beneficial for game logic.

The data strongly suggests that the CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. The fact that the 1080p Low preset (430 FPS) is significantly faster than the 4K Low preset (142 FPS) is expected, but the 1080p Low result is so high that it implies the CPU is hitting its own performance ceiling. If the GPU were the sole bottleneck, we might expect the 1080p Low and 1080p Medium results to be closer, as the GPU would still be waiting for the CPU. However, the large gap between 430 FPS (Low) and 320 FPS (Medium) suggests that even at Medium settings, the GPU is being utilized more, but the CPU is still keeping up.

The CPU's boost clock of 4.80 GHz ensures strong single-threaded performance, which is critical for many game engines. Its Passmark Single-Thread score of 3468 supports this, indicating it can handle the primary game thread efficiently. In Barony, a roguelike with potentially complex procedural generation and simulation, the CPU's multi-threading capabilities are likely well-utilized. The CPU's 83rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, and its close performance parity with rivals like the Intel Core i5-14600T (0% difference) and AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (0.1% difference), confirms that it is a solid performer that does not hold back the RTX 4080 in most scenarios, except for the extreme low-resolution, high-frame-rate cases.