Barony

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti delivers a remarkably strong performance profile in Barony, a roguelike title that clearly favors high refresh rates. The measured data shows this combination ranks 691st out of 1702 tested combos, placing it comfortably in the upper tier of systems. The pair demonstrates that a modest four-core processor can keep pace with a high-end GPU when the workload is appropriately balanced, though the scaling patterns reveal distinct bottlenecks depending on resolution and settings.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep but predictable, and the pattern reveals a system that is CPU-bound at lower resolutions. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 409.4 FPS, which falls to 256.9 FPS at 1440p and further to 135.4 FPS at 4K. That represents a 37.3% reduction from 1080p to 1440p, and a 66.9% reduction from 1080p to 4K. The scaling is not linear, suggesting that at 1080p the CPU is the limiting factor—the GPU has headroom it cannot use because the i3-12100F cannot feed it frames fast enough.

Moving to High settings, the pattern shifts. At 1080p High the system hits 256.4 FPS, at 1440p High it reaches 163.3 FPS, and at 4K High it drops to 86.6 FPS. The percentage drop from 1080p to 1440p is 36.3%, nearly identical to the Low preset, but the drop from 1440p to 4K is 47.0%. This indicates that as settings increase, the GPU begins to take on more of the load, but the CPU still exerts a strong influence at the lower resolution. The data shows that 4K is where the RTX 3070 Ti finally becomes the primary bottleneck, as the frame rate drops below the 100 FPS threshold even on Medium settings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with 8 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 608.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Its boost clock of 1770 MHz and base clock of 1575 MHz drive 6144 shading units, producing 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. This is a substantial amount of compute for a roguelike, and the benchmark data confirms the GPU is rarely the limiting factor except at the highest resolutions and settings.

The GPU's benchmark percentile of 74 places it above most rivals, though the nearest competitors are close: the AMD Radeon RX 6700 trails by 0.8%, while the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 leads by 0.9%. The RTX 3070 Ti's average benchmark score of 30849 is within 1.2% of the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q, indicating that in synthetic tests the card sits in a narrow performance band. In Barony specifically, the GPU's role becomes critical at 4K Ultra, where the frame rate drops to 60.3 FPS—a figure that aligns with the card's position relative to its rivals. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient for this title, as the measured data shows no anomalous drops that would indicate memory pressure, even at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its 12 MB of shared L3 cache and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory make it a flexible budget option, but the core count is modest by modern standards. The benchmark data shows a single-thread score of 893 in 3DMark and 1681 in Cinebench R23, which are respectable figures for a four-core part.

The CPU's percentile of 72 places it in the upper half of all processors, but its nearest rivals are revealing. The AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX is 0.1% slower on average, while the Intel Core i7-1250U is 0.4% ahead and the Intel Core i3-10105 is 0.6% ahead. The i7-7700K, a much older part, trails by 1.8%. This positions the i3-12100F as a surprisingly competitive chip in synthetic benchmarks, but the Barony data tells a more nuanced story. At 1080p Low, the CPU is clearly the limiting factor—the GPU could likely push beyond 409.4 FPS if given more data, but the 4-core/8-thread configuration caps the output. The multi-threaded 3DMark score of 4023 at max threads is nearly identical to the 8-thread score of 4026, confirming that the processor does not scale beyond its physical cores.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimizing the experience. At 1080p, the Low preset delivers 409.4 FPS, which is excessive for any display, while Ultra still produces 183.4 FPS—far above the refresh rate of most monitors. The Medium preset at 300.3 FPS and High at 256.4 FPS both offer headroom, but the real question is where the visual quality improvement justifies the frame rate cost. Moving from Low to Medium costs 26.6% of the frame rate, while moving from Medium to High costs another 14.6%. The jump from High to Ultra only costs 28.5% more, but the absolute frame rate of 183.4 FPS is still excellent.

At 1440p, the pattern shifts. The Low preset hits 256.9 FPS, Medium drops to 194.1 FPS, and High reaches 163.3 FPS. Ultra falls to 117 FPS, which is still very playable but begins to approach the threshold where some users might notice a difference on high-refresh monitors. The sweet spot appears to be High at 1440p, offering 163.3 FPS while presumably providing better visuals than Medium. At 4K, the situation changes dramatically. Ultra drops to 60.3 FPS, which is the only measured configuration below 60 FPS, while High delivers 86.6 FPS and Medium reaches 97.8 FPS. For 4K, the data suggests High settings provide the best balance, as the jump from High to Ultra costs 30.3% of the frame rate for what is likely a marginal visual improvement.

FAQ

*Q: Can this system run Barony at 4K smoothly?*

A: Yes, but not on the highest settings. The measured data shows 86.6 FPS at 4K High and 97.8 FPS at 4K Medium. Only the Ultra preset drops to 60.3 FPS, which is still technically playable but below the refresh rate of most 4K monitors.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The CPU is the limiting factor at 1080p. The frame rate at Low settings is 409.4 FPS, but the GPU's benchmark score of 30849 and its performance at higher resolutions suggest it could render more frames if the processor could supply them faster.

Q: What is the best preset for a 144Hz monitor?

A: At 1440p, the High preset delivers 163.3 FPS, which is above the 144Hz threshold. At 1080p, even the Ultra preset reaches 183.4 FPS, so any preset will exceed 144Hz at that resolution.

Q: How does the RTX 3070 Ti compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3070 Ti's average benchmark score of 30849 is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME and 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6700. It is 0.9% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 and 1.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q.

Q: Does the i3-12100F hold back the RTX 3070 Ti?

A: In this game, the CPU limits performance mainly at 1080p Low, where the frame rate of 409.4 FPS appears constrained by the processor's 4-core/8-thread design. At higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 226.0 FPS (409.4 vs 183.4). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 139.9 FPS (256.9 vs 117). At 4K, the difference is 75.1 FPS (135.4 vs 60.3).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the performance envelope is broad. The Low preset achieves 409.4 FPS, Medium reaches 300.3 FPS, High produces 256.4 FPS, and Ultra delivers 183.4 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 55.2% reduction in frame rate, but even the lowest number is far above any practical display requirement.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but begin to show the GPU's workload. Low hits 256.9 FPS, Medium reaches 194.1 FPS, High produces 163.3 FPS, and Ultra drops to 117 FPS. The percentage drop from Low to Ultra is 54.5%, nearly identical to 1080p, indicating that the relative cost of settings is consistent across these resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the GPU becomes the clear bottleneck. Low still manages 135.4 FPS, Medium reaches 97.8 FPS, High produces 86.6 FPS, and Ultra falls to 60.3 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 55.5%, matching the pattern at lower resolutions, but the absolute numbers are much lower. The data shows that 4K Ultra is the only configuration in the entire measured set that falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it the only setting where the hardware truly struggles with this game.