Barony

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT delivers a comprehensively playable experience in Barony, with performance scaling that clearly identifies the GPU as the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions. The data shows a system that can push well beyond display refresh rates at 1080p, but which requires careful settings management to maintain high frame rates at 4K. The benchmark results indicate a balanced pairing for a roguelike title, where the CPU's strong single-threaded performance complements the GPU's substantial memory allocation.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression across resolutions reveals a classic GPU-bound scaling curve. At 1920x1080 with High settings, the combo produces 189.3 FPS, which drops to 120.8 FPS at 2560x1440, and further to 61.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 36% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling pattern indicates that the rendering pipeline becomes increasingly limited by the graphics processor as pixel count rises.

The Low settings preset provides the clearest view of the CPU's ceiling. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 296.8 FPS, but at 1440p Low it delivers 187.9 FPS, and at 4K Low it produces 98.5 FPS. The substantial gap between Low and Ultra settings at each resolution suggests that the GPU's shading units and memory bandwidth are the determining factors. Specifically, the transition from 1440p to 4K at Ultra settings shows a 47.6% performance drop, from 85.1 FPS to 44.6 FPS, which is a steeper decline than the 32% drop seen when moving from 1080p Ultra to 1440p Ultra. This non-linear scaling points to the 128-bit memory bus and its associated bandwidth becoming a constraint at higher pixel counts.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications directly explain the observed frame rates. The GPU operates with a base clock of 1980 MHz, a game clock of 2470 MHz, and a boost clock of 2755 MHz. The 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus provides 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is sufficient for the texture-heavy environments typical of a roguelike with procedural generation. The 2048 shading units and 64 ROPs deliver a pixel rate of 176.3 GPixel/s, which aligns with the 4K High result of 61.8 FPS.

The GPU's benchmark scores place it in the 63rd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20146. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 7600, scores 20258, a deltaPct of -0.6, meaning the RX 7600 XT trails slightly in synthetic tests. However, in this specific game, the 16 GB memory allocation provides headroom that the 8 GB RX 7600 lacks, even if the raw compute performance is similar. The GPU's performance in Barony at 1440p High (120.8 FPS) suggests that the memory size is not a limiting factor at this resolution, but the drop to 44.6 FPS at 4K Ultra indicates that the RDNA 3.0 architecture's compute throughput, specifically the 22.57 TFLOPS FP32 performance, is the bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F provides a solid foundation for this GPU, particularly in a game genre that often relies on single-threaded logic for game state updates. The CPU features 4 cores and 8 threads, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support are adequate for feeding the GPU in Barony's relatively modest simulation load. The 10 nm Alder Lake architecture delivers strong per-core performance, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 13516 places it in the 72nd percentile among all CPUs, and its nearest rivals show it is competitive with much more expensive parts. The Intel Core i7-7700K scores 13280, a deltaPct of 1.8, meaning the i3-12100F is 1.8% faster in synthetic benchmarks. This is notable because the i3 achieves this with fewer cores and significantly lower power consumption (58 W TDP versus the 7700K's higher draw). In Barony, the CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 893 and Geekbench single-core score of 2224 indicate that it can easily keep up with the GPU's output, even at 1080p Low where the system reaches 296.8 FPS. The data shows no evidence of CPU bottlenecking, as frame rates scale consistently with resolution changes.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 296.8 FPS, Medium 222.3 FPS, High 189.3 FPS, and Ultra 139.4 FPS. The transition from Low to Ultra reduces performance by 53%, which is a significant cost for the visual fidelity increase. For players with 144 Hz monitors, even Ultra settings provide sufficient headroom at 1080p.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain highly playable. Low settings yield 187.9 FPS, Medium 142 FPS, High 120.8 FPS, and Ultra 85.1 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra narrows to 29.5%, compared to the 35.9% gap at 1080p, indicating that the GPU's compute resources are becoming more evenly taxed. The 1440p Ultra result of 85.1 FPS is above the 60 FPS threshold but requires a high refresh rate monitor to fully exploit.

At 3840x2160, the system shows its limitations. Low settings produce 98.5 FPS, Medium 74.8 FPS, High 61.8 FPS, and Ultra 44.6 FPS. The Ultra preset drops below the 60 FPS playability threshold, making it unsuitable for smooth gameplay on 4K displays. The 4K Medium result of 74.8 FPS is more reasonable, while 4K High at 61.8 FPS is borderline playable. The scaling from 1080p to 4K at High settings shows a 67.4% reduction, which is consistent with the increased pixel count requiring more GPU throughput.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT ranks 1113 out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the lower third of the database. This ranking reflects the fact that while the individual components are capable, the pairing does not produce top-tier results in this specific title. The rank is likely influenced by the GPU's 63rd percentile standing and the CPU's 72nd percentile standing, which combine to place the system in a mid-range position.

The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 460, scores 20088 in synthetic benchmarks, a deltaPct of 0.3, meaning the RX 7600 XT is only 0.3% faster in general compute. However, in Barony, the RX 7600 XT's modern architecture and larger memory pool provide a significant real-world advantage. The CPU's nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, scores 13534, a deltaPct of -0.1, indicating the i3-12100F is essentially tied with a 32-core workstation processor in average benchmark performance. This confirms the i3's strong single-threaded performance, which is more relevant for Barony's game logic than multi-threaded throughput.

The combo's rank of 1113 out of 1702 suggests that many other pairings offer higher frame rates in this game. However, the data shows that this system is not constrained by a weak link; rather, it represents a balanced mid-range configuration that delivers excellent 1080p performance and respectable 1440p results, with 4K requiring settings compromises. The performance characteristics are consistent with the components' individual benchmark positions, making this a predictable and reliable pairing for Barony.