Barony

# Barony with Intel Core Ultra 7 265K + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 delivers exceptional frame rates in Barony, a roguelike title from 2015 that proves highly responsive to both CPU and GPU resources. Across twelve measured configurations spanning three resolutions and four quality presets, this combo never drops below 96.8 FPS average, with the highest result reaching 638.8 FPS at 1080p Low. The data reveals a system with massive headroom, where the limiting factor shifts discernibly between CPU and GPU depending on resolution and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows how dramatically performance scales as resolution increases. At 1080p High, the combo produces 407.7 FPS, while at 1440p High it drops to 254.9 FPS, and at 4K High it settles at 133.6 FPS. This represents a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K at High settings — a substantial scaling curve that indicates the GPU becomes progressively more dominant as pixel count rises.

The pattern is consistent across all presets. At Low settings, 1080p yields 638.8 FPS, 1440p yields 400.2 FPS, and 4K yields 208.1 FPS — a 67% drop from 1080p to 4K. At Medium, the figures are 472.1 FPS, 296.9 FPS, and 157.9 FPS respectively, again a 67% reduction. At Ultra, 1080p delivers 292.1 FPS, 1440p delivers 185.2 FPS, and 4K delivers 96.8 FPS — a 67% decline from the lowest to highest resolution.

This consistent scaling pattern suggests that the RTX 5080's rendering workload scales predictably with resolution, with no sudden bottleneck appearing at any tested configuration. The 4K Ultra result of 96.8 FPS is the only measurement below 100 FPS, indicating that even the most demanding settings remain comfortably playable. The fact that 1080p Low exceeds 600 FPS shows the CPU side — the Core Ultra 7 265K with its 20 cores and 20 threads — is capable of feeding the GPU at extremely high rates without becoming a limiting factor at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Barony?

A: The highest measured average is 638.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The lowest is 96.8 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: How does the combo perform at 4K Ultra compared to 4K Low?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 96.8, while at 4K Low it reaches 208.1 FPS. This represents more than a doubling of performance when moving from the most demanding to the least demanding preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more likely to be the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the system reaches 638.8 FPS, which is an extremely high rate. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has a boost clock of 5.50 GHz and scores 7060 in Cinebench R23 single-core, suggesting strong per-thread performance. The data indicates the CPU can sustain very high frame delivery at 1080p, with the GPU becoming more relevant as resolution increases.

Q: What is the difference between 1440p and 4K at High settings?

A: At 1440p High, the average FPS is 254.9, while at 4K High it drops to 133.6 FPS. The 4K result is roughly 48% lower than the 1440p figure.

Q: How does the Ultra preset compare to High at each resolution?

A: At 1080p, Ultra delivers 292.1 FPS versus 407.7 FPS for High. At 1440p, Ultra delivers 185.2 FPS versus 254.9 FPS for High. At 4K, Ultra delivers 96.8 FPS versus 133.6 FPS for High. The Ultra preset consistently costs roughly 28% of performance compared to High across all resolutions.

Q: What percentile does this combo rank among all tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 82nd out of 1702 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the top 5% of all systems evaluated.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the primary driver of resolution scaling in this data. Its 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus provides 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which supports the large framebuffer demands of 4K rendering. The boost clock of 2617 MHz, combined with 10752 shading units, delivers 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. These specifications align with the measured results showing the GPU scaling performance cleanly as resolution increases.

The GPU's memory subsystem appears well-suited to Barony's requirements. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains 96.8 FPS, and the memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s is likely sufficient to avoid texture streaming bottlenecks. The RTX 5080's 89th percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 59188, places it in the upper tier of graphics hardware. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Arc A570M (1.6% higher score) and the Intel Arc A580 (2.5% higher), though these comparisons are based on synthetic benchmarks rather than Barony-specific results.

The GPU's thermal and power characteristics — a 360 W TDP with a suggested 750 W PSU — indicate this is a high-power part, but the measured frame rates justify the electrical appetite. The dual-slot design and 304 mm length make it a sizeable but manageable component. In Barony, the RTX 5080 demonstrates that its raw compute and memory bandwidth are more than adequate for even the most demanding 4K preset, with the 96.8 FPS floor at Ultra remaining above the 60 FPS threshold typically considered minimum for smooth gameplay.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the Barony experience with this combo. At 4K, the Ultra preset delivers 96.8 FPS, which is playable but leaves limited headroom for frame-time spikes. Dropping to High at 4K raises the average to 133.6 FPS, a 38% improvement that provides a more comfortable margin. The Medium preset at 4K offers 157.9 FPS, while Low reaches 208.1 FPS — all well above display refresh rates for most monitors.

For users with 1440p displays, the Ultra preset at 185.2 FPS is the recommended choice, as it remains far above any practical refresh rate ceiling while delivering maximum visual quality. The High preset at 254.9 FPS adds marginal headroom but the visual difference between High and Ultra is typically more meaningful than the frame rate gap at these levels.

At 1080p, even the Ultra preset produces 292.1 FPS, making it the obvious choice. The High preset at 407.7 FPS offers additional headroom for competitive play, but the Ultra preset's visual fidelity is unlikely to cause perceptible smoothness issues at nearly 300 FPS. The data suggests that this combo is over-provisioned for 1080p, where the CPU at 5.50 GHz boost and 20 threads can easily feed the GPU at maximum settings.

Across all resolutions, the step from Ultra to High yields the largest relative FPS gain per quality reduction — approximately 38% at 4K, 38% at 1440p, and 40% at 1080p. The step from High to Medium provides smaller gains of 18% at 4K, 16% at 1440p, and 16% at 1080p. This pattern suggests that High is the sweet spot for balanced visual quality and performance, with Ultra reserved for users prioritizing image fidelity over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 ranks 82nd out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it comfortably in the top percentile of all systems evaluated. The rank reflects the synergy between a CPU that scores 50009 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 7060 in single-core, and a GPU that achieves 36565 in Passmark G3D.

The CPU's nearest rivals show it performing within a narrow band of similar high-end processors. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF scores 0.2% higher on average, while the Intel Core i9-14900KF also scores 0.2% higher, and the Intel Core i9-14900K is 0.9% higher. The AMD EPYC 7413 leads by 1.2%. These small deltas indicate the 265K is operating at the top of its performance class, with no meaningful gap to the closest alternatives.

The GPU's nearest rivals, based on synthetic benchmarks, include the Intel Arc A570M (1.6% higher), Intel Arc Pro A60 (1.9% lower), Intel Arc A580 (2.5% higher), and AMD Radeon Pro W5500X (2.6% higher). These comparisons are less relevant to Barony specifically, as the measured FPS data shows the RTX 5080 delivering exceptional results across all resolutions.

The combination rank of 82 out of 1702 places this system in the top 5% of all tested configurations for Barony. This is consistent with the measured FPS figures, which never fall below 96.8 FPS even at maximum settings and resolution. The data indicates that users of this combo can expect a consistently high-performance experience in Barony, with the ability to run any preset at any resolution without dropping below playable frame rates.