Barony

Barony, a roguelike with a 2015 release date, presents an interesting case for modern hardware. The measured data for the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 shows a combination that is heavily influenced by resolution and settings, with the system's performance scaling predictably as graphical load increases. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across different configurations, contextualizes the combo's standing among other tested systems, and examines the individual roles of the CPU and GPU based strictly on the provided benchmark data.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear and consistent pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At the "Low" preset, the average frame rate drops from 294 FPS at 1080p to 186 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 97 FPS at 4K. This represents a significant 67% reduction in average FPS from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the rendering pipeline is being pushed substantially harder at higher pixel counts.

The "High" preset shows a similar trajectory, with average FPS falling from 188 at 1080p to 118 at 1440p and 62 at 4K. The most demanding "Ultra" preset demonstrates the steepest scaling curve, starting at 135 FPS at 1080p, dropping to 85 FPS at 1440p, and reaching just 44 FPS at 4K. This pattern strongly suggests that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 becomes the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the performance hit is far more pronounced than what would be expected from CPU-bound scaling alone.

The "Medium" preset, which has the most complete data including minimum and maximum FPS values, illustrates the scaling with more nuance. At 1080p, the average is 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 and maximum of 251. At 1440p, the average drops to 138 FPS with a range of 117 to 159. At 4K, the average falls to 72 FPS with a range of 61 to 83. The consistency of the minimum FPS values relative to the averages indicates that frame pacing remains stable even as overall throughput declines, which is a positive sign for gameplay smoothness.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is particularly telling. At "Low" settings, the drop is from 186 to 97 FPS, a 48% reduction. At "High" settings, the drop is from 118 to 62 FPS, a 47% reduction. At "Ultra" settings, the drop is from 85 to 44 FPS, a 48% reduction. This nearly uniform percentage drop across all presets when moving from 1440p to 4K points directly to the GPU being the bottleneck, as the pixel count increase from 3.7 million to 8.3 million pixels demands significantly more from the renderer.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 combination is ranked 1935 out of 2935 tested combos for Barony. This places the combo in the 34th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly two-thirds of the tested combos deliver higher measured average frame rates in this game. Given the game's 2015 release date, this rank suggests that Barony is not particularly demanding on modern hardware, and many older or mid-range components can achieve high frame rates.

The combo's rank is somewhat surprising given the individual component standings. The CPU, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, has an average benchmark score of 35670 and sits in the 85th percentile against all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 with an average score of 35719 (a delta of -0.1%), the Intel Core 7 250H with 35728 (-0.2%), the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 with 35802 (-0.4%), and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with 35909 (-0.7%). These rivals are all extremely close in score, with deltas under 1%, indicating that the Ultra 9 185H is a solidly performing mobile processor.

The GPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, has an average benchmark score of 26331 and sits in the 72nd percentile against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon 860M with 26401 (-0.3%), the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 with 26421 (-0.3%), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary with 26553 (-0.8%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT with 26011 (1.2%). The closeness of these scores, with the RX 6750 XT being 1.2% lower, shows that the RTX 5060 is competitive with a range of desktop and mobile parts.

The low combo rank in Barony, despite the high individual component percentiles, indicates that the game's performance is not well-correlated with raw synthetic benchmark scores. The game may be more sensitive to specific architectural features or driver optimizations rather than raw compute throughput. The data suggests that this high-end mobile combo is not optimized for this particular title, potentially due to the game's age and its rendering engine's behavior with modern hardware.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings for this combo depend heavily on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1920x1080, the "Ultra" preset delivers an average of 135 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay and also exceeds the 120 FPS mark for high-refresh-rate displays. The "High" preset at 188 FPS offers even more headroom, and the "Low" preset at 294 FPS is suitable for competitive play where maximum frame rates are prioritized over visual fidelity.

At 2560x1440, the "High" preset is the recommended choice, delivering an average of 118 FPS. This provides a smooth experience on standard 60Hz monitors and is also sufficient for 120Hz displays with minimal dips. The "Ultra" preset at 85 FPS is also playable, but the drop from 118 to 85 FPS may not justify the visual improvements. The "Medium" preset at 138 FPS is an option for those who want extra headroom, but the "High" preset offers a better balance of visual quality and performance.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. The "Medium" preset delivers an average of 72 FPS, which is just above the 60 FPS threshold for acceptable gameplay. The "High" preset at 62 FPS is also playable but leaves less margin for demanding scenes. The "Ultra" preset at 44 FPS is not recommended for a smooth experience, as it falls below the 60 FPS target. The "Low" preset at 97 FPS is an option for users who prioritize frame rate over visual quality, but the "Medium" preset provides a better overall experience with only a 26% reduction in average FPS compared to "Low" while offering significantly improved visuals.

For the best experience per the measured rows, the "High" preset at 1080p or 1440p offers the most balanced performance. At 4K, the "Medium" preset is the highest quality setting that maintains a playable frame rate above 60 FPS.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured average FPS across settings is as follows: "Low" delivers 294 FPS, "Medium" delivers 219 FPS with a minimum of 186 and maximum of 251, "High" delivers 188 FPS, and "Ultra" delivers 135 FPS. The progression from "Low" to "Ultra" shows a 54% reduction in average FPS, which is expected given the increased graphical complexity.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS is 186 on "Low", 138 on "Medium" with a range of 117 to 159, 118 on "High", and 85 on "Ultra". The drop from 1080p to 1440p is significant across all settings, with the "Low" preset seeing a 37% reduction, "Medium" a 37% reduction, "High" a 37% reduction, and "Ultra" a 37% reduction. This uniform percentage drop across all presets indicates that the GPU is the limiting factor at this resolution.

At 3840x2160, the average FPS is 97 on "Low", 72 on "Medium" with a range of 61 to 83, 62 on "High", and 44 on "Ultra". The drop from 1440p to 4K is even more pronounced, with the "Low" preset seeing a 48% reduction, "Medium" a 48% reduction, "High" a 47% reduction, and "Ultra" a 48% reduction. The "Ultra" preset at 44 FPS is the only configuration that falls below the 60 FPS playability threshold, indicating that this setting is too demanding for 4K on this combo.

The minimum FPS data for the "Medium" preset shows that at 1080p, the minimum is 186 FPS, at 1440p it is 117 FPS, and at 4K it is 61 FPS. This shows that even the minimum frame rates remain above 60 FPS at all resolutions for this preset, making it a safe choice for consistent performance. The maximum FPS values of 251, 159, and 83 at the respective resolutions also demonstrate that the combo can burst above the average when the scene allows.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture with a 5 nm process node from TSMC. It features 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. The GPU has 3840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, and 48 raster output units, with a base clock of 2280 MHz and a boost clock of 2497 MHz.

The measured FPS data shows that the GPU is the dominant factor in this combo's performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The consistent percentage drops in FPS when moving from 1440p to 4K across all settings point to the GPU's rendering capabilities being the bottleneck. The 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for Barony's requirements, as the game is not known for high memory usage, and the 448.0 GB/s bandwidth provides ample data throughput for the roguelike's textures and geometry.

The GPU's synthetic benchmark scores further contextualize its performance. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 113321 and OpenCL score of 112787 show strong compute capabilities. The Passmark G3D score of 20891 and G2D score of 1154 indicate solid general-purpose rendering performance. The GPU's passmark DirectX scores are varied, with DirectX 11 at 200 and DirectX 12 at 77, which may explain some of the game's performance characteristics if it relies on older DirectX versions.

The RTX 5060's percentile rank of 72 against all GPUs means it outperforms the majority of graphics cards. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, has an average score of 26011, which is 1.2% lower. This indicates that the RTX 5060 is slightly ahead of that desktop card in synthetic benchmarks, though in Barony the actual performance will depend on driver and game-specific optimizations.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest playable setting at 4K resolution for this combo?

A: At 3840x2160, the "Medium" preset delivers an average of 72 FPS with a minimum of 61 FPS, making it the highest quality setting that maintains an average above 60 FPS. The "High" preset at 62 FPS is also technically playable, but the "Ultra" preset at 44 FPS falls below the playability threshold.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 1080p on the highest settings?

A: Yes, at 1920x1080 with the "Ultra" preset, the combo delivers an average of 135 FPS, which is more than double the 60 FPS threshold. Even the "Medium" preset's minimum FPS of 186 is well above 60 FPS.

Q: How does the combo's rank in Barony compare to its individual component ranks?

A: The combo is ranked 1935 out of 2935 combos, placing it in the 34th percentile. However, the CPU is in the 85th percentile and the GPU is in the 72nd percentile, indicating that the game does not scale well with this hardware combination.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at the "Low" preset?

A: The average FPS drops from 294 at 1920x1080 to 97 at 3840x2160, which is a 67% reduction. This indicates that the GPU is heavily stressed by the increased pixel count.

Q: Which settings preset shows the most consistent frame pacing?

A: The "Medium" preset has the most complete data, with minimum and maximum FPS values at all three resolutions. The minimum FPS at 1080p is 186, at 1440p is 117, and at 4K is 61, showing that frame pacing remains above 60 FPS even at 4K.

Q: Is the combo better suited for high-refresh-rate or high-resolution gaming?

A: The data shows that the combo excels at high refresh rates at 1080p, with the "High" preset delivering 188 FPS. At 4K, the combo struggles to maintain high frame rates, with the "Ultra" preset at 44 FPS, so it is better suited for high-refresh-rate 1080p or 1440p gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is a mobile processor from the Core Ultra Series 1, based on the Meteor Lake architecture manufactured on a 7 nm process node by Intel. It has 16 cores and 22 threads, with a base clock of 3.90 GHz and a boost clock of 5.10 GHz. The CPU has a 24 MB shared L3 cache and supports dual-channel DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores show strong single-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1810.5 and a Geekbench single-core score of 1794. Its multi-threaded performance is also robust, with a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 17984.5 and a Geekbench multi-core score of 11657. The Passmark single-thread score of 3697 and multithread score of 29376 further corroborate its capability.

In Barony, the CPU's role appears secondary to the GPU, given the measured FPS scaling patterns. At 1080p, the "Low" preset at 294 FPS is likely near the CPU's limit, but the "Ultra" preset at 135 FPS suggests that the CPU can handle the game's logic and physics without bottlenecking the GPU at lower resolutions. The CPU's high boost clock of 5.10 GHz and 22 threads provide ample headroom for the roguelike's procedural generation and game state calculations.

The CPU's nearest rivals show that it is competitively positioned. The AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 has an average score of 35719, which is 0.1% higher, and the Intel Core 7 250H is 0.2% higher at 35728. The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845 is 0.4% higher at 35802, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is 0.7% higher at 35909. These deltas are all within 1%, indicating that the Ultra 9 185H is on par with these alternatives in general-purpose benchmarks.

The CPU's 85th percentile ranking against all CPUs means it outperforms 85% of processors in its benchmark suite. Despite this, the combo's rank in Barony is lower than expected, which suggests that the game's performance is not primarily CPU-bound. The CPU's integrated graphics, Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 128EU, are not utilized in this configuration, as the discrete RTX 5060 handles all rendering duties. The CPU's 45 W TDP indicates it is designed for mobile use, and its performance in Barony is sufficient to feed the GPU at all tested resolutions and settings.