Barony

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 places 73rd out of 2935 tested combos in Barony, putting it in the top 2.5% of all configurations analyzed. This is a formidable result for a roguelike title, indicating that the hardware combination is far stronger than what the genre typically demands. The ranking suggests that this pairing is not merely adequate but is positioned among the elite setups for this game, even if the raw scores at lower resolutions hint at a CPU-bound ceiling rather than a GPU-limited one.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s 73rd place ranking out of 2935 tested configurations places it in the 97.5th percentile of all hardware pairings evaluated. Benchmark results indicate this is a top-tier outcome, with the CPU and GPU both contributing to a system that handles Barony with substantial headroom. The data implies that the primary bottleneck at standard resolutions is not the hardware’s capability but rather the game’s own engine limits, as the frame rates at 1080p are extraordinarily high.

When examining the CPU’s standing, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus scores an average benchmark of 84003, which places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, scores 83807, a mere 0.2% behind, making the performance difference between these two essentially negligible. The AMD EPYC 7F72 scores 85072, which is 1.3% higher, indicating that the Ultra 9 290K Plus is not the absolute fastest processor on the market but is within a very tight margin of its closest competitors. For Barony, this level of CPU performance is far beyond what the game’s roguelike mechanics require, suggesting that the processor’s capabilities are largely untapped by this title.

On the GPU side, the RTX 5090 achieves an average benchmark score of 79842, ranking in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, scores 79605, a 0.3% difference, while the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X scores 80959, which is 1.4% higher. The RTX 5090’s position among these rivals shows that while it is a high-end card, its raw compute scores are not dramatically separated from some older or specialized hardware. However, in Barony, the GPU’s 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and Blackwell 2.0 architecture deliver frame rates that are exceptionally high, indicating that the card’s real-world gaming performance exceeds what its synthetic benchmark percentile might suggest.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides a clear picture of how different presets affect performance. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 679 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded across all settings and resolutions. This suggests that for players with high refresh rate monitors, the Low preset is the only one that approaches the limits of display technology, though even the Ultra preset at 311 FPS is far beyond what most displays can show. The data indicates that the Ultra preset at 1080p is the best balance for visual fidelity, as it still delivers over 300 FPS, making any additional frames from lower settings imperceptible on standard 144Hz or 240Hz monitors.

At 2560x1440, the Medium preset provides an average of 319 FPS with a minimum of 271 FPS, showing that the 1% lows remain above the 240Hz threshold. This makes Medium the recommended preset for 1440p, as it offers a substantial upgrade in visual quality over Low while maintaining frame rates that will not be visibly constrained by most gaming displays. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 196 FPS, which is still very high but may show slight dips below the refresh rate of top-tier 240Hz monitors, making it a less ideal choice for competitive play.

For 3840x2160, the High preset delivers an average of 143 FPS with no recorded minimum, suggesting that the frame pacing is consistent enough to avoid noticeable stutters. This is the optimal choice for 4K, as it provides a balance between visual quality and the 144Hz refresh rate that many 4K monitors offer. While the Ultra preset at 4K achieves 102 FPS, the drop of 41 FPS from High to Ultra indicates diminishing returns that are not worth the visual gain, especially when High already provides a smooth experience. The Low preset at 4K, at 224 FPS, is unnecessarily fast and would compromise visual quality for frames that exceed the display’s capability.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS progression from 1080p to 4K reveals important insights about the limiting component. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the average is 679 FPS. Moving to 2560x1440 with Low settings drops this to 428 FPS, a reduction of 37%. Continuing to 3840x2160 with Low settings yields 224 FPS, which is a 67% drop from the 1080p result. This scaling pattern is typical of a system that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, where the GPU is not being fully utilized. The CPU’s single-thread performance, evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303, is high but still becomes the primary limiter when the GPU can render frames faster than the processor can feed it.

The scaling at Ultra settings follows a similar but slightly less steep trajectory. At 1080p Ultra, the average is 311 FPS, which drops to 196 FPS at 1440p, a 37% decrease, and then to 102 FPS at 4K, a 67% decrease from the 1080p figure. The consistency of these percentage drops across settings suggests that the scaling is resolution-driven, with the GPU becoming more of a factor at higher resolutions. However, even at 4K Ultra, the system still produces over 100 FPS, which indicates that the RTX 5090 has ample headroom for this game. The data implies that the RTX 5090 is not the bottleneck until 4K Ultra, where the 32 GB memory and 1.79 TB/s bandwidth are being taxed, but even then, the performance remains excellent.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete dataset reveals that Barony runs exceptionally well at every tested configuration. At 1920x1080, the Low preset hits 679 FPS average, which is the peak performance of the entire test suite. The Medium preset at 1080p averages 505 FPS, with a minimum of 429 FPS and a maximum of 580 FPS, showing that the frame time variance is relatively tight even at these high frame rates. The High preset averages 433 FPS, and the Ultra preset averages 311 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 174 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is 122 FPS, suggesting that the visual quality improvements from High to Ultra cost more performance than the jump from Medium to High.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 428 FPS, Medium averages 319 FPS with a minimum of 271 FPS, High averages 273 FPS, and Ultra averages 196 FPS. The Medium preset’s minimum of 271 FPS is notable because it ensures that even the worst-case frame drops remain above the 240Hz threshold, making it the safest choice for high-refresh-rate gaming at this resolution. The transition from 1080p to 1440p costs approximately 37% of the frame rate across all settings, which is a consistent penalty that indicates the system scales predictably with pixel count.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 224 FPS, Medium averages 167 FPS with a minimum of 142 FPS, High averages 143 FPS, and Ultra averages 102 FPS. The Medium preset at 4K has a minimum of 142 FPS, which means it will occasionally drop below the 144Hz refresh rate, but these dips are minor and likely imperceptible in actual gameplay. The High preset at 4K, at 143 FPS, sits right at the 144Hz threshold, making it a borderline choice for those with 144Hz displays. The Ultra preset at 4K, at 102 FPS, is the only configuration that falls below the 120Hz mark, but it remains above 100 FPS, which is still a very playable experience for a roguelike.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 brings 32 GB of GDDR7 memory across a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. In Barony, this memory configuration is overkill, as the game does not require large texture pools or high-resolution assets that would stress the VRAM. The data shows that even at 4K Ultra, the GPU maintains over 100 FPS, indicating that the memory bandwidth and capacity are not limiting factors. The card’s base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz provide the computational throughput needed for the game’s simple graphical demands, which are more reliant on raw pixel fill rate than complex shading.

The RTX 5090’s 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 1,636.8 GTexel/s texture rate are far beyond what Barony can utilize. The game’s visual style, typical of roguelikes, is not graphically intensive, so the GPU is effectively idle at lower resolutions. This is confirmed by the fact that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 679 FPS, which is likely limited by the CPU and game engine rather than the GPU. The GPU’s percentile ranking of 92nd overall is respectable, but its nearest rivals include older Tesla P100 cards, which suggests that the RTX 5090’s synthetic benchmarks are not fully representative of its gaming performance. In Barony, the GPU’s role is to provide a floor of high performance that never dips below playable levels, which it does effortlessly.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate achieved by this combo in Barony?

A: The highest average frame rate is 679 FPS, recorded at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low preset.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K?

A: The Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Ultra 9 285K’s score of 83807, making the performance difference effectively negligible.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded at 2560x1440 with Medium settings?

A: The minimum frame rate at 2560x1440 with Medium settings is 271 FPS, with an average of 319 FPS and a maximum of 366 FPS.

Q: At which resolution and preset does the combo drop below 120 FPS?

A: The combo drops below 120 FPS only at 3840x2160 with the Ultra preset, where it averages 102 FPS.

Q: What is the GPU’s memory bandwidth, and how does it relate to performance?

A: The RTX 5090 has a memory bandwidth of 1.79 TB/s from its 32 GB GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, which is more than sufficient for Barony, as even at 4K Ultra the game averages 102 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance impact Barony?

A: The CPU’s Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 indicates strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for Barony’s game logic, and the data shows that at 1080p Low, the system reaches 679 FPS, suggesting the CPU is the primary limiter at lower resolutions.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus features 24 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.80 GHz. In Barony, this processor is drastically overqualified, as the game’s roguelike mechanics are not heavily threaded. The 24-core configuration is unlikely to be fully utilized, and the game will primarily rely on single-core performance. The CPU’s PassMark single-thread score of 4823 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 are strong indicators that the processor can handle the game’s main thread without becoming a bottleneck.

The CPU’s L3 cache of 36 MB shared across the cores is ample for the game’s data needs, and the 115.2 GB/s memory bandwidth from dual-channel DDR5 support is more than sufficient for a game like Barony. The data’s FPS scaling from 1080p to 4K shows that at 1080p, the system is likely CPU-bound, as the frame rates are extremely high and do not increase significantly when the resolution is lowered. The processor’s 96th percentile ranking among all CPUs means it outperforms 96% of the tested processors, and its nearest rivals are all within 1.3% of its score, indicating that any of these CPUs would deliver similar results in Barony. However, the Ultra 9 290K Plus’s boost clock of 5.80 GHz provides the high single-thread speed that roguelikes benefit from, ensuring that the game’s logic and rendering commands are processed with minimal latency.