Barony

FAQ

Q: What is the combo rank of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus plus AMD Radeon RX 9060 in Barony?

A: This combination ranks 1704 out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database for this specific game.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (83807) and 1.1% higher than the AMD EPYC 4584PX (83090). It trails the AMD EPYC 7F72 (85072) by 1.3%.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile and how does it compare to its nearest rival?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 sits at the 59th percentile among all GPUs. Its average benchmark score of 16014 is 0.7% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (16129), and 1% higher than both the AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 (15862 and 15852 respectively).

Q: What is the maximum average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 315, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. The lowest average FPS is 48, at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings.

Q: What are the memory specifications of the GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 9060 features 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s and memory clock of 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective).

Q: Does the CPU support ECC memory?

A: Yes, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus supports ECC memory, alongside DDR5 memory support with a dual-channel memory bus and 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 9060 is built on the RDNA 4.0 architecture with the Navi 44 chip, manufactured on a 4 nm process by TSMC. It contains 29,700 million transistors on a 199 mm² die. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 2400 MHz, and a boost clock of 2990 MHz. The memory runs at 2250 MHz, delivering 18 Gbps effective throughput across the 128-bit bus.

With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth, the GPU has a modest memory subsystem that becomes increasingly relevant at higher resolutions. The card features 1792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation units, along with 28 ray tracing cores. Its compute capability is rated at 21.43 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio), with a pixel rate of 191.4 GPixel/s and texture rate of 334.9 GTexel/s.

In Barony, the GPU's role shifts depending on resolution and settings. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the combo reaches 315 FPS average, indicating the GPU is not the limiting factor at this configuration. At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the average drops to 48 FPS, showing that the GPU's 8 GB memory and 128-bit bus become significant bottlenecks at 4K with maximum quality settings.

The GPU's benchmark results place it at the 59th percentile among all GPUs, with a DirectX 12 score of 44 in Passmark and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3322. Its Vulkan score in Geekbench is 39476, while OpenCL reaches 88183. The Passmark G3D score is 17631, with G2D at 1002 and GPU compute at 9919.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a clear progression as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo delivers 201 FPS average. Moving to 2560x1440 at High settings, the average drops to 127 FPS, a reduction of approximately 37%. At 3840x2160 with High settings, the average falls to 66 FPS, which is 67% lower than the 1080p High result.

The scaling pattern reveals that the GPU becomes the dominant limiting component as resolution increases. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 315 FPS, but at 4K Low it drops to 104 FPS. This 211 FPS difference at the same settings level indicates that the GPU's rendering throughput is heavily taxed by the pixel count increase, while the CPU's 24 cores and 24 threads remain largely underutilized at higher resolutions.

The Medium settings data provides min and max FPS values, showing frame time consistency. At 1920x1080 Medium, the average is 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 and maximum of 270. At 2560x1440 Medium, the average drops to 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 and maximum of 170. At 3840x2160 Medium, the average is 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 and maximum of 89. The frame ranges stay proportionally consistent across resolutions, suggesting stable performance without major spikes or stutters.

The Ultra settings results show the most dramatic scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo achieves 144 FPS average. At 1440p Ultra, this drops to 91 FPS, and at 4K Ultra, it falls to 48 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is only 33% of the 1080p Ultra frame rate, which strongly indicates that the GPU's 8 GB memory capacity and 128-bit memory interface are insufficient for the demands of 4K Ultra in Barony.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its strongest performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 315 FPS, while Medium settings average 235 FPS with a minimum of 199 and maximum of 270. High settings average 201 FPS, and Ultra settings average 144 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 1080p is 171 FPS, showing that settings quality has a substantial impact on frame rates even at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, performance remains strong but drops noticeably. Low settings average 199 FPS, Medium settings average 148 FPS with a minimum of 126 and maximum of 170, High settings average 127 FPS, and Ultra settings average 91 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra at 1440p is 108 FPS, which is a smaller absolute gap than at 1080p but a similar proportional relationship.

At 3840x2160, the combo struggles to maintain high frame rates. Low settings average 104 FPS, which is still playable. Medium settings average 77 FPS with a minimum of 66 and maximum of 89. High settings average 66 FPS, and Ultra settings average 48 FPS. The 4K Ultra result falls below the 60 FPS threshold, indicating that this setting combination is not suitable for smooth gameplay.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones with complete min and max data. At 1080p, the range is 199 to 270 FPS with an average of 235. At 1440p, the range is 126 to 170 FPS with an average of 148. At 4K, the range is 66 to 89 FPS with an average of 77. In all three cases, the minimum FPS is approximately 85% of the average, suggesting consistent frame pacing without severe drops.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo ranks 1704 out of 2935 tested combinations in Barony, placing it in the 58th percentile of all tested combos for this game. This ranking reflects the combination of the CPU's 96th percentile performance among all CPUs and the GPU's 59th percentile performance among all GPUs. The CPU is clearly the stronger component in this pairing, while the GPU holds the combo back in the overall ranking.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 84003 places it just ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K by 0.2% and the AMD EPYC 4584PX by 1.1%, while trailing the AMD EPYC 7F72 by 1.3%. This tight grouping indicates that the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is competitive with its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks, though the differences are minimal.

The GPU's average benchmark score of 16014 places it slightly behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti by 0.7%, and slightly ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 370X and AMD Radeon RX 7700 by 1% each. The GPU's percentile ranking of 59 suggests that it is a mid-range performer, which aligns with the 8 GB memory capacity and 128-bit bus width.

In the context of Barony specifically, the combo's rank of 1704 out of 2935 indicates that there are 1231 tested combos that perform better in this game. This relatively low ranking is primarily attributable to the GPU's limitations at higher resolutions and settings, as evidenced by the 4K Ultra result of 48 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a 24-core, 24-thread processor based on the Arrow Lake Refresh codename, part of the Core Ultra Series 2 generation. It operates at a base clock of 3.70 GHz with a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. The CPU has a 125 W TDP and uses the Intel Socket 1851. It is manufactured on a 3 nm process by TSMC, with 17,800 million transistors on a 243 mm² die.

The cache hierarchy consists of 192 KB L1 per core, 3 MB L2 per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel bus and 115.2 GB/s bandwidth, along with ECC memory support. It includes integrated Arc Xe-LPG Graphics with 64 execution units, though this is unlikely to be used in gaming scenarios with a discrete GPU.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and single-core score of 7303. In Passmark, it scores 60860 in multithread, 4823 in single-thread, and 3315 in physics. The data compression score is 698346, data encryption is 52563, and extended instructions score is 52338. These results place the CPU at the 96th percentile among all CPUs.

In Barony, the CPU's role appears to be secondary to the GPU at higher resolutions. At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 315 FPS, which is likely approaching the CPU's frame generation limit for this game. However, as resolution increases, the GPU becomes the bottleneck, with the 4K Ultra result dropping to 48 FPS despite the CPU's strong multi-threaded capabilities. The 24 cores and 24 threads are more than sufficient for Barony's roguelike gameplay, which typically does not demand extreme CPU throughput.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the target resolution and performance requirements. For players seeking the highest frame rates, 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers 315 FPS average, which is the maximum measured performance for this combo. Those who prefer higher visual quality at 1080p can select High settings at 201 FPS or Ultra at 144 FPS, both of which remain well above the 60 FPS threshold.

At 2560x1440, High settings offer 127 FPS average, which provides a good balance between visual quality and performance. Medium settings at 148 FPS are also viable, while Low settings at 199 FPS maximize frame rates. Ultra settings at 91 FPS remain playable but may not be ideal for competitive play where higher refresh rates matter.

At 3840x2160, the options are more limited. Low settings at 104 FPS is the only setting level that maintains performance well above 60 FPS. Medium settings at 77 FPS are acceptable, but High at 66 FPS and Ultra at 48 FPS fall below the 60 FPS threshold. For 4K gameplay, Low or Medium settings are recommended to maintain smooth performance, while High and Ultra should be avoided unless the player prioritizes visual fidelity over frame rate.

The Medium settings rows provide the most complete data with min and max FPS values. At all three resolutions, the minimum FPS remains close to the average, indicating consistent frame pacing. For players who value stability, Medium settings at any resolution will provide a reliable experience. The data suggests that Medium at 1440p (148 FPS average) offers the best combination of performance and visual quality for most use cases, while Medium at 4K (77 FPS average) is the highest quality setting that still maintains a comfortable frame rate at 4K.