Barony

Barony is a roguelike that, on the surface, might not seem demanding, but the measured frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 5 7400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination reveal a title that scales aggressively with both resolution and graphics presets. The data shows a system capable of triple-digit frame rates at nearly every setting, with the only notable exception being 4K Ultra. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, the role of the hardware components, and what settings deliver the best experience based strictly on the provided benchmark results.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear hierarchy for optimizing the experience in Barony. Based on the numbers, the "High" preset offers the most balanced performance across all resolutions, delivering exceptional fluidity without sacrificing the visual fidelity that the "Ultra" preset provides, albeit at a significant performance cost.

At 1920x1080, the "High" preset achieves an average of 299 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any display refresh rate currently on the market. The "Ultra" preset at this resolution drops to an average of 215 FPS, a substantial 84 FPS reduction. While 215 FPS is still very fast, the 28% performance penalty for the jump from High to Ultra is significant. The "Medium" preset at 349 FPS and "Low" at 469 FPS are even faster, but they likely reduce visual quality that the "High" preset maintains. For 1080p users, the "High" preset is the sweet spot, offering a massive performance headroom while presumably keeping most graphical features enabled.

Moving to 2560x1440, the story is similar. The "High" preset posts an average of 189 FPS, which remains excellent for high-refresh-rate gaming. The "Ultra" preset sees the average fall to 135 FPS, a 54 FPS drop that makes it less attractive for competitive play but still perfectly playable. The "Medium" preset at 220 FPS and "Low" at 296 FPS are again faster, but the data suggests "High" is the optimal choice. It provides nearly double the frame rate of the 4K "Ultra" setting while maintaining a high level of detail. The scaling from High to Ultra at 1440p shows a 28.5% performance loss, consistent with the 1080p results, indicating that "Ultra" carries a heavy computational burden.

At 3840x2160, the recommendation changes. The "High" preset manages an average of 99 FPS, which is good for 4K but not exceptional. The "Ultra" preset drops to 71 FPS, which is the only average below the 100 FPS mark in the entire dataset. For a smooth 4K experience, "High" is the clear winner. It offers a 28 FPS advantage over "Ultra" and is the highest preset that consistently breaks the 100 FPS barrier. The "Medium" preset at 115 FPS and "Low" at 155 FPS are available for users who prioritize maximum frame rates over visual detail, but "High" provides the best middle ground for 4K gaming.

The data strongly suggests that the "High" preset is the optimal configuration for this hardware combination across all three resolutions. It consistently delivers frame rates that are more than adequate for smooth gameplay, while leaving a clear performance buffer over the "Ultra" preset, which shows diminishing returns for its significant FPS cost. The only scenario where a different preset might be considered is 4K, where "High" is the only setting that keeps the average FPS in triple digits without compromising detail as much as "Medium" or "Low".

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the primary driver of frame rates in Barony, especially as resolution and settings increase. The GPU's specifications, including its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, are the key factors in the measured performance. The memory bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s and 192-bit bus width provide the data throughput necessary to feed the GPU's 5888 shading units at high resolutions.

The benchmark results show a clear correlation between GPU load and resolution. At 1920x1080, the GPU is likely not the limiting factor, as frame rates reach up to 469 FPS on "Low" settings. However, as the resolution increases to 2560x1440 and then 3840x2160, the frame rates drop, indicating that the GPU is becoming the primary bottleneck. The difference between 1080p "Low" (469 FPS) and 4K "Low" (155 FPS) is a stark 314 FPS, illustrating how the GPU's work scales with pixel count.

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks, such as a Passmark G3D score of 26927 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854, positions it as a high-end part, with a percentile ranking of 81 against all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 and AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, with the RTX 4070 having a negligible 0.1% and 0.4% average score delta, respectively. This context suggests that the RTX 4070 is a well-balanced card for 1440p and 4K gaming, which aligns with the measured results in Barony.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is a significant asset. While the data does not provide VRAM usage numbers, the presence of 12 GB of GDDR6X memory is a strong indicator that the card can handle high-resolution textures without running into memory limits. The fact that "Ultra" settings at 4K still manage an average of 71 FPS suggests that the graphics memory is not a bottleneck; the performance drop is more attributable to the raw compute requirements of the "Ultra" preset. The GPU's 46 RT cores and 184 Tensor Cores are part of the Ada Lovelace architecture, though their specific impact on Barony is not detailed in the measured FPS data.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for the highest frame rates?

A: The data shows that 1920x1080 with "Low" settings produces the highest average FPS at 469. However, for a balanced experience, 1920x1080 on "High" settings yields 299 FPS, which is significantly faster than any 4K configuration.

Q: Can this system handle 4K gaming in Barony?

A: Yes, the system can handle 4K, but with compromises. At 3840x2160, the "High" preset achieves an average of 99 FPS, while the "Ultra" preset drops to 71 FPS. The "Medium" preset at 115 FPS and "Low" at 155 FPS are also viable options for higher refresh rates.

Q: How does the "Ultra" preset compare to "High" in terms of performance?

A: The "Ultra" preset is significantly more demanding. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 299 to 215. At 1440p, it drops from 189 to 135. At 4K, it drops from 99 to 71. This represents a consistent performance penalty of over 25% across all resolutions.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU more important for this game?

A: Based on the measured FPS, the GPU appears to be the limiting factor at higher resolutions. The frame rates scale down significantly as resolution increases from 1080p to 4K, which is a typical indicator of GPU-bound performance. The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions, where frame rates are extremely high.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for the "Medium" preset?

A: The "Medium" preset has the only recorded min and max FPS values. At 1920x1080, the range is 296 to 401 FPS. At 2560x1440, it is 187 to 253 FPS. At 3840x2160, it is 98 to 132 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 4070's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4070's average benchmark score is 37648. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P4, has a score of 37628, a delta of 0.1%. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 37507, a 0.4% delta. The performance is effectively identical to these parts in synthetic benchmarks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at performance across three resolutions and four settings. All numbers are presented as average FPS unless otherwise noted.

1920x1080 (1080p)

• Low: The average FPS is 469. This is the highest score recorded in the entire dataset.
• Medium: The average FPS is 349. The minimum FPS is 296 and the maximum is 401.
• High: The average FPS is 299.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 215.

2560x1440 (1440p)

• Low: The average FPS is 296.
• Medium: The average FPS is 220. The minimum FPS is 187 and the maximum is 253.
• High: The average FPS is 189.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 135.

3840x2160 (4K)

• Low: The average FPS is 155.
• Medium: The average FPS is 115. The minimum FPS is 98 and the maximum is 132.
• High: The average FPS is 99.
• Ultra: The average FPS is 71.

The data reveals a consistent pattern: increasing the settings from Low to Ultra reduces performance by a similar factor at each resolution. For example, moving from High to Ultra at 1080p reduces the average FPS by 84, at 1440p by 54, and at 4K by 28. The frame time consistency, as indicated by the min/max values for the "Medium" preset, shows a wider spread at lower resolutions, which is common for CPU-bound scenarios.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is substantial and clearly indicates the system's scaling behavior. At the "High" preset, the average FPS goes from 299 at 1080p to 189 at 1440p and finally to 99 at 4K. This represents a 36.8% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 66.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K.

The scaling is consistent across all settings. For the "Low" preset, the average FPS drops from 469 at 1080p to 296 at 1440p (a 36.9% drop) and then to 155 at 4K (a 67% drop from 1080p). The "Ultra" preset shows a similar trend, with averages of 215, 135, and 71 FPS for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K respectively.

This scaling pattern is a classic sign of a GPU-bound workload. The 4K resolution has 4 times the pixels of 1080p, and while the FPS does not drop by exactly 75%, the significant reduction indicates that the RTX 4070's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint. The fact that the FPS does not scale perfectly with pixel count suggests that other factors, such as memory bandwidth and cache efficiency, are also at play. The 504.2 GB/s of memory bandwidth is sufficient, but the demands of 4K rendering on the 192-bit bus are apparent in the measured results.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is a 47.6% drop in FPS for the "High" preset. This is a steeper relative drop than the 36.8% seen from 1080p to 1440p, which suggests that the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity are being taxed much harder at 4K. The data indicates that 1440p is the "sweet spot" for this GPU in Barony, offering high frame rates without the steep performance penalty of 4K.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 7400F is a 6-core, 12-thread processor based on the Zen 4 architecture with a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. In Barony, its role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic, and the data suggests it does so effectively, especially at lower resolutions.

At 1080p, the CPU is likely the limiting factor, as the frame rates are extremely high. The jump from "Low" (469 FPS) to "Ultra" (215 FPS) shows that the GPU is still doing more work, but the very high FPS numbers at "Low" suggest the CPU is keeping up. The fact that the "Medium" preset at 1080p has a min FPS of 296 and a max of 401 shows a variance that could be attributed to CPU frame time spikes, though this is not explicitly stated.

The CPU's synthetic benchmark scores are strong. A Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 21765 and a single-core score of 3072 indicate a capable processor for gaming. Its Passmark single-thread score of 3689 is particularly relevant for games that are not heavily threaded. The CPU's percentile ranking of 83 against all CPUs places it in the upper tier. Its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600T, has an average score of 32707, which is a 0.1% delta from the Ryzen 5 7400F's 32750, indicating they perform nearly identically.

The CPU's 32 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR5 memory with a bandwidth of 83.2 GB/s are important for maintaining high frame rates. The data shows that at 1440p, the frame rates are still very high (296 FPS on "Low"), which implies the CPU is not a bottleneck at this resolution. However, at 4K, the frame rates are much lower, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint. The CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient for Barony, as the game's performance scales more with resolution than with core count, based on the measured FPS data. The system's overall combo rank in this game is 663 out of 2935, placing it in the top 22% of tested configurations, which is a strong showing for this CPU-GPU pairing.