Barony

# Barony with AMD Ryzen 7 9700F + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Barony across all tested resolutions and settings, with the combination ranking in the 77th percentile of all 2,935 tested CPU-GPU pairings. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at lower resolutions but transitions to a more balanced profile as resolution increases, with the 8-core Zen 5 processor providing ample headroom for the Ada Lovelace GPU to operate at its full potential.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates classic GPU-bound behavior at lower resolutions, transitioning to a more balanced workload as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 469 FPS, which drops to 296 FPS at 1440p and further to 155 FPS at 4K — representing a 37% reduction from 1080p to 1440p and a 48% reduction from 1440p to 4K. This scaling pattern indicates that at 1080p, the GPU is not fully saturated, as the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a rate exceeding what the RTX 4070 can render.

The Medium settings preset shows a similar scaling trajectory: 349 FPS at 1080p, 220 FPS at 1440p, and 115 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 37% and 48% respectively, closely mirroring the Low preset scaling. This consistency suggests that the resolution-based performance curve is largely independent of the graphics preset, pointing to the GPU as the primary limiting factor across all settings when resolution increases.

High settings exhibit the same pattern with 299 FPS at 1080p, 189 FPS at 1440p, and 99 FPS at 4K — a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 48% drop from 1440p to 4K. Ultra settings follow suit with 215 FPS at 1080p, 135 FPS at 1440p, and 71 FPS at 4K, showing reductions of 37% and 47% respectively. The remarkably consistent scaling percentages across all four presets strongly indicate that resolution scaling in Barony is governed by GPU throughput rather than CPU or memory bandwidth limitations.

At 4K, the performance gap between Low and Ultra settings narrows to a 2.18x difference (155 FPS vs 71 FPS), compared to a 2.18x difference at 1080p (469 FPS vs 215 FPS). This proportional scaling suggests that Barony's rendering pipeline scales uniformly with pixel count, and the RTX 4070's 12 GB GDDR6X memory is not becoming a limiting factor at higher resolutions — otherwise, the 4K gap would widen disproportionately.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 serves as the dominant performance determinant in this configuration, particularly at higher resolutions where the GPU's 5 nm Ada Lovelace architecture with 5,888 shading units is fully exercised. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1920 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) across a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This memory configuration is sufficient to feed the GPU's 64 ROPs and 184 texture mapping units without creating bottlenecks at any of the tested resolutions.

The GPU's 12 GB GDDR6X frame buffer is not a limiting factor in Barony, as evidenced by the consistent scaling between resolutions. If VRAM capacity were insufficient at 4K, the Ultra preset — which would demand the most memory capacity — would show a disproportionate performance penalty compared to lower presets. Instead, the 4K Ultra result of 71 FPS versus 4K Low at 155 FPS shows a predictable 54% performance reduction, consistent with the increased shading and texture work rather than memory capacity constraints.

The RTX 4070's PassMark G3D score of 26,927 places it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs, and its nearest rivals in the benchmark database include the NVIDIA Tesla P4 (0.1% ahead), AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (0.4% ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile (1.3% behind). These close benchmark scores indicate that the RTX 4070 sits in a densely populated performance tier, though in Barony specifically, the measured frame rates suggest the GPU is well-matched to the CPU for this workload.

The GPU's 29.15 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 455.4 GTexel/s texture rate provide substantial headroom for Barony's roguelike rendering demands. The measured 4K Ultra performance of 71 FPS indicates that even at maximum settings and highest resolution, the RTX 4070 maintains playable frame rates, while at 1080p Low, the 469 FPS result suggests the GPU is far from saturated and the CPU is contributing to the upper bound of achievable performance.

How This Combo Ranks

This CPU-GPU combination ranks 663rd out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 22.6% of all configurations. This ranking reflects a strong pairing for this specific title, though the percentile position (77.4th) is slightly below what the individual components' benchmark percentiles might suggest — the CPU sits in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, while the GPU is in the 81st percentile.

The rank of 663 indicates that the combination outperforms the majority of tested systems in Barony, but there is a substantial population of higher-ranked configurations. Given that the CPU's nearest rivals in PassMark average score include the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% ahead), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% behind), and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% ahead), the 9700F is competitive with these high-end processors. The GPU's nearest rivals — Tesla P4, RX Vega 56, RTX 4080 Mobile, and Radeon PRO W6400 — all score within 1.3% of the RTX 4070's average benchmark score, indicating the GPU is also in a tight performance cluster.

The fact that this combo achieves 469 FPS at 1080p Low and 215 FPS at 1080p Ultra suggests that the ranking could be limited by CPU performance in lower-resolution scenarios, where the GPU is not the bottleneck. In Barony, which is a roguelike title with potentially complex game logic and procedural generation, the CPU's single-thread performance (PassMark single-thread score of 4,691) and multithreaded capability (PassMark multithread score of 36,470) both play roles in determining the maximum achievable frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the Medium preset at 1440p offers the most balanced experience with 220 FPS average and a minimum of 187 FPS, providing smooth gameplay without excessive GPU load. At 4K, the Medium preset delivers 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS, which remains comfortably above standard display refresh rates and represents the best resolution-to-performance tradeoff for users prioritizing visual fidelity.

For users with 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 215 FPS is entirely viable and represents the best visual experience without sacrificing smoothness, as even the average frame rate exceeds 200 FPS. The High preset at 1080p delivers 299 FPS, which provides additional headroom for competitive play or for users with high refresh rate displays (240 Hz or above), though the visual difference between High and Ultra may justify the 28% performance cost of Ultra.

At 1440p, the High preset at 189 FPS is recommended for users seeking a balance between visual quality and performance, while Ultra at 135 FPS remains playable but shows a 29% reduction from High. For 4K users, the High preset at 99 FPS provides the best visual fidelity while staying near the 100 FPS threshold, though Medium at 115 FPS offers a more comfortable margin for frame time consistency — the Medium preset's minimum of 98 FPS at 4K indicates stable performance, whereas High and Ultra do not report minimum frame rates in the measured data.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the lowest tested resolution, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 469 FPS average, Medium settings yield 349 FPS with a minimum of 296 FPS and maximum of 401 FPS, High settings achieve 299 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 215 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 54% reduction in frame rate, indicating that each settings tier adds meaningful GPU workload.

At 2560x1440, performance remains high but shows the expected reduction from 1080p. Low settings average 296 FPS, Medium settings deliver 220 FPS with a minimum of 187 FPS and maximum of 253 FPS, High settings achieve 189 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 135 FPS. The 1440p results show a 37% reduction from 1080p across all settings, confirming the GPU-bound scaling pattern.

At 3840x2160, the highest tested resolution, frame rates remain playable across all settings. Low settings average 155 FPS, Medium settings deliver 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS, High settings achieve 99 FPS, and Ultra settings reach 71 FPS. The 4K results represent a 48% reduction from 1440p, and the Medium preset's minimum of 98 FPS demonstrates that even the lowest measured frame time remains above 60 FPS.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, the measured data shows 4K performance ranging from 71 FPS at Ultra settings to 155 FPS at Low settings. The Medium preset at 4K delivers 115 FPS with a minimum of 98 FPS, making 4K gaming viable at all tested settings.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play?

A: At 1080p Low, the system achieves 469 FPS, which provides the maximum frame rate for competitive scenarios. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 215 FPS result exceeds the refresh rate of most gaming monitors.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F has an average benchmark score of 69,996, placing it 0.2% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX, 0.2% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700KF, 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, and 0.9% ahead of the Intel Core i7-14700K.

Q: Does the GPU bottleneck the CPU at 1080p?

A: The data suggests the opposite: at 1080p Low, the 469 FPS result indicates the GPU is not fully saturated, and the CPU's single-thread and multithread performance (PassMark scores of 4,691 and 36,470 respectively) may be the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

Q: What is the frame rate consistency at Medium settings?

A: The Medium preset is the only one with reported minimum and maximum frame rates. At 1080p, the range is 296-401 FPS with an average of 349 FPS; at 1440p, 187-253 FPS with an average of 220 FPS; and at 4K, 98-132 FPS with an average of 115 FPS.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 663rd out of 2,935 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 22.6% of all configurations tested for this game.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700F plays a crucial role in enabling the high frame rates observed at lower resolutions, where the GPU is not the primary constraint. This 8-core, 16-thread processor based on Zen 5 architecture (Granite Ridge) operates with a base clock of 3.80 GHz and a boost clock of 5.50 GHz, with a 65 W TDP. The CPU's 32 MB shared L3 cache and 1 MB L2 cache per core provide the low-latency data access that roguelike games with procedural generation and complex game state benefit from.

The CPU's PassMark single-thread score of 4,691 and multithread score of 36,470 place it in the 94th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 69,996. This performance level is essential for achieving the 469 FPS result at 1080p Low, as the CPU must process game logic, generate procedural content, and issue draw calls at a rate sufficient to feed the GPU. The near-identical frame rates at 1080p across settings (469 FPS Low vs 215 FPS Ultra) suggest that the CPU can sustain frame rates well above 200 FPS in all scenarios.

The 9700F's nearest rivals in the benchmark database — the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX (0.2% higher average score), Intel Core i7-14700KF (0.2% lower), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (0.7% higher), and Intel Core i7-14700K (0.9% higher) — all represent high-end desktop and mobile processors, indicating that the 9700F is positioned in a competitive performance tier. The CPU's 94th percentile ranking reinforces its capability to support high-refresh-rate gaming in Barony, particularly at 1080p and 1440p where the GPU is not fully saturated.

The memory bandwidth of 89.6 GB/s from dual-channel DDR5 support, combined with the CPU's PCIe Gen 5 interface with 24 lanes, ensures that data transfer between the CPU, memory, and GPU does not introduce bottlenecks in this configuration. The 8,315 million transistors on a 70.6 mm² die, manufactured on TSMC's 4 nm process, contribute to the CPU's efficiency and performance characteristics that enable the measured frame rates in Barony.