Barony

The data for Barony with the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 shows a combination that is firmly in the upper echelon of tested systems, ranking 764th out of 2935 combos. This pairing of a 20-core mobile processor with a flagship-class RTX 5080 delivers extremely high frame rates across all tested resolutions, though the scaling patterns reveal distinct bottlenecks depending on the setting level.

Resolution Scaling

The measured frame rates show a clear and predictable decline as resolution increases, but the magnitude of that decline is heavily influenced by the graphics preset. At the Low preset, the system delivers a staggering 462 FPS at 1920x1080, which drops to 291 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 152 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K at Low settings, indicating that even the RTX 5080's immense compute power becomes the limiting factor when pushing 8.3 million pixels.

The Medium preset shows a similar pattern but with slightly less dramatic scaling. Starting at 343 FPS at 1080p, the frame rate falls to 217 FPS at 1440p and 113 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 4K at Medium is 67%, nearly identical to the Low preset percentage-wise. Interestingly, the Medium preset at 4K shows a minimum FPS of 96 and maximum of 130, providing the only complete frame time data in the entire measured set. This suggests that Medium at 4K exhibits some variance, though the 37 FPS gap between min and max is relatively modest for a roguelike with dynamic environments.

High settings present a slightly different scaling curve. The system achieves 295 FPS at 1080p, 186 FPS at 1440p, and 97 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K here is 67%, consistent with the other presets. However, the absolute delta between 1440p and 4K is larger in percentage terms (48% reduction) compared to the 1080p to 1440p step (37% reduction). This nonlinear scaling suggests that at 4K High, the RTX 5080 is working substantially harder, with the 16 GB of GDDR7 memory and 960 GB/s of bandwidth being taxed by the higher resolution textures and effects.

Ultra settings produce the lowest frame rates but the most consistent scaling. At 1080p, the system manages 211 FPS, dropping to 133 FPS at 1440p and 70 FPS at 4K. The reduction from 1080p to 4K is 67% once again, maintaining the pattern seen across all presets. This consistency across the board indicates that Barony's rendering workload scales linearly with pixel count, a hallmark of a well-optimized engine that doesn't have unexpected memory or bandwidth bottlenecks at higher resolutions.

The extremely high frame rates at 1080p across all presets — even Ultra hits 211 FPS — suggest that the CPU is not a limiting factor at this resolution. With a boost clock of 5.30 GHz and 20 cores, the Core Ultra 7 265HX has ample headroom to feed the GPU. However, the fact that Low at 1080p reaches 462 FPS while Ultra at 1080p only reaches 211 FPS indicates that the GPU is still doing meaningful work even at lower settings, and the 2.5x performance gap between Low and Ultra at the same resolution points to the GPU being the primary constraint even at 1080p.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured data, the Medium preset at 2560x1440 offers the most balanced experience for this combination. At 217 FPS average with a minimum of 184 FPS, this setting provides a substantial margin above the refresh rates of most high-end monitors while maintaining smooth frame pacing. The 92 FPS delta between 1080p Medium (343 FPS) and 1440p Medium (217 FPS) shows that the resolution upgrade costs about 37% of the frame rate, which is a reasonable trade-off for the increased visual fidelity.

For players prioritizing maximum visual quality, the High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 186 FPS, which remains exceptionally smooth and only falls 14% short of the Medium preset's 217 FPS. This makes High at 1440p the sweet spot for those who want enhanced shadows, textures, and effects without sacrificing the high refresh rate experience. The 4K High option at 97 FPS is still playable and provides a console-quality presentation, but the frame rate is significantly lower than what the 1440p options offer.

The Ultra preset at 1080p, delivering 211 FPS, is arguably the best choice for competitive play. It provides the highest visual quality available in the game while still maintaining a frame rate that exceeds 200 FPS, ensuring minimal input latency. However, the data shows that Ultra at 1080p (211 FPS) is actually slower than High at 1440p (186 FPS) by only 12%, meaning players could achieve nearly the same performance at a higher resolution with slightly reduced settings.

The Low preset at any resolution provides no meaningful advantage for this hardware. At 1080p Low, the system hits 462 FPS, but this exceeds the refresh rate of virtually all gaming monitors, making the extra frames imperceptible. The 4K Low option at 152 FPS is interesting, as it offers a high refresh rate experience at maximum resolution, but the visual compromises are likely too severe for a game that relies on visual clarity for roguelike dungeon navigation.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 achieves a rank of 764 out of 2935 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the top 26% of all systems. This is a strong showing, though the ranking might seem modest given the raw performance numbers. The explanation lies in the nature of Barony as a roguelike — it is not a graphically demanding game, so even mid-range GPUs can achieve high frame rates, compressing the performance spread at the top.

The CPU's individual benchmark performance supports this analysis. The Core Ultra 7 265HX scores 40,642 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, which places it at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i7-13790F, scores 63,080 in average benchmark score, a mere 0.1% difference. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G trails by 0.2%, and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P185 is 0.5% ahead. This clustering of scores within 0.7% indicates that the 265HX is well within the normal range for high-end mobile processors.

The RTX 5080's individual performance is equally strong. Its Passmark G3D score of 36,565 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 255,450 place it at the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The closest rival, the AMD Radeon 8060S, scores 55,757 in average benchmark score, which is 0.6% lower. The AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12 GB is 0.7% behind, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE leads by 2.2%. This tight grouping suggests the RTX 5080 is competitive with its immediate peers, though the 2.2% gap to the RX 9070 GRE indicates there are faster options available.

The rank of 764 in-game, when compared to the CPU's 93rd percentile and GPU's 87th percentile rankings, suggests that Barony is more GPU-bound than CPU-bound in this configuration. The game's relatively simple geometry and effects mean that the CPU's 20 cores are not fully utilized, and the GPU's 10,752 shading units are the primary driver of frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the maximum frame rate this combination achieves in Barony?

A: The highest measured frame rate is 462 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. At Ultra settings, the maximum average frame rate is 211 FPS at 1920x1080.

Q: Can this system maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: Yes. The measured 4K Ultra average frame rate is 70 FPS, which exceeds the 60 FPS threshold. The 4K High preset achieves 97 FPS, providing additional headroom.

Q: How does the Core Ultra 7 265HX compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 63,173 places it 0.1% ahead of the Intel Core i7-13790F (63,080), 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G (63,331), and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P185 (62,839).

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Medium and High at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset averages 217 FPS at 2560x1440, while High averages 186 FPS. This represents a 31 FPS difference, or roughly a 14% performance reduction for the higher settings.

Q: Does the RTX 5080's 16 GB VRAM cause any limitations in Barony?

A: The measured data shows no evidence of VRAM limitations. The frame rates scale consistently across resolutions, indicating that the 16 GB of GDDR7 memory is sufficient for all tested settings at all resolutions.

Q: What is the performance gap between 1080p and 4K at High settings?

A: At High settings, the system delivers 295 FPS at 1080p and 97 FPS at 4K, representing a 67% reduction in frame rate when moving to the higher resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 plays the dominant role in determining Barony's frame rates across all tested configurations. The GPU's 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which proves sufficient for even the most demanding 4K Ultra settings. The memory clock of 1875 MHz (30 Gbps effective) ensures that texture streaming and asset loading never become a bottleneck, as evidenced by the consistent scaling from 1080p to 4K.

The GPU's compute capabilities are substantial, with 10,752 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. The boost clock of 2617 MHz (up from a 2295 MHz base) allows the GPU to maintain high utilization even when pushing 462 FPS at 1080p Low. The 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute power is more than adequate for a roguelike, and the measured frame rates suggest the GPU is rarely the limiting factor except at 4K Ultra.

The RTX 5080's 84 RT cores and 336 tensor cores are largely irrelevant for Barony, which does not appear to use ray tracing or DLSS based on the measured data. However, the raw rasterization performance is what drives the results. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 36,565 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8,637 indicate strong synthetic performance that translates well to real-world game frame rates.

The GPU's 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs means it outperforms the vast majority of installed hardware. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon 8060S, scores 55,757 in average benchmark, a 0.6% gap. The RX 9070 GRE leads by 2.2%, suggesting that while the RTX 5080 is not the absolute fastest GPU available, it is firmly in the top tier. In Barony specifically, this translates to frame rates that exceed 200 FPS at 1080p across all presets, demonstrating that the GPU is more than capable of handling the game's demands.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265HX provides the processing backbone for this combination, and while it is not the primary bottleneck in Barony, its capabilities ensure that frame rates are never CPU-limited. The processor features 20 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This configuration delivers single-thread performance of 5,737 in Cinebench R23, which is critical for a roguelike where game logic and entity updates often run on a single thread.

The CPU's 30 MB of shared L3 cache and 3 MB L2 per core provide ample low-latency storage for game assets and state data. The 102.4 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support ensures that the CPU can feed data to the GPU without creating a bottleneck. The 55 W TDP is modest for a 20-core processor, but the measured frame rates confirm that power delivery is not a limiting factor.

In terms of synthetic benchmarks, the 265HX achieves 40,642 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5737 in single-core. Its Passmark multithread score of 47,985 and single-thread score of 4,500 place it at the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. The nearest rivals show how tightly packed the high-end mobile CPU market is: the Intel Core i7-13790F is 0.1% behind, the AMD Ryzen AI 7 450G is 0.2% behind, and the AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P185 is 0.5% ahead.

The CPU's role in Barony becomes apparent when examining the frame rate scaling. At 1080p Low, the system hits 462 FPS, which is likely near the engine's ceiling. The fact that this frame rate is so high indicates that the CPU can process game logic fast enough to feed the GPU's output. However, the 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K across all presets shows that the GPU, not the CPU, is the determining factor in performance scaling. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see frame rates plateau at higher resolutions, which is not the case in the measured data.