Barony

Barony, a roguelike from 2015, exhibits unusual performance scaling when paired with the Intel Core i3-12100F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a configuration that is heavily CPU-bound at lower resolutions, with the GPU only becoming the primary limiting factor at 4K with higher quality presets. The data indicates that this combo is capable of extreme frame rates, far exceeding the refresh rates of most displays, but the bottlenecks shift dramatically depending on the workload.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate progression from 1080p to 4K shows a classic sign of a CPU bottleneck at lower resolutions, which gradually transitions to a GPU bottleneck as pixel count increases. At 1080p with Low settings, the system produces an average of 552.7 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops this to 347.4 FPS, a reduction of approximately 37%, and at 4K Low, the average falls to 179.7 FPS. This steep decline from 1080p to 1440p, where the pixel count increases by 78%, suggests the CPU is hitting its performance ceiling early, preventing the GPU from fully flexing its muscles at lower resolutions.

At High settings, the scaling is more moderate but still indicates a CPU limit. The 1080p High result of 353.9 FPS drops to 220.7 FPS at 1440p, a 38% decrease, and then to 116.7 FPS at 4K, another 47% drop. The consistent ~38% decline between 1080p and 1440p across Low and High settings is a strong indicator that the processor is the limiting component in this range. The RTX 4070 Ti, which sits in the 85th percentile of all GPUs according to benchmark data, is being held back by the i3-12100F’s 4 cores and 8 threads.

The most revealing data point is at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 82.3. This is the only scenario where the GPU is clearly the primary bottleneck. The transition from 1440p Ultra (162.1 FPS) to 4K Ultra (82.3 FPS) represents a 49% performance hit, which aligns more closely with the increased pixel workload of 4K (2.25x the pixels of 1440p). This suggests that only at this extreme resolution and quality setting does the rendering workload outpace the CPU's ability to feed the GPU. The data shows a system that can deliver over 500 FPS in undemanding scenarios but settles into a more balanced state only at 4K Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz. Its benchmark scores paint a picture of a processor with strong single-thread performance but limited multi-threaded capacity. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1681 and multi-core score of 11912 show a significant gap between the two, with the multi-core score being only about 7 times the single-core score despite having 8 threads. This indicates that scaling beyond 4 cores is poor, which is a crucial detail for a game like Barony.

In the context of this game, the CPU role is dominant at 1080p. The fact that the system can hit 552.7 FPS at 1080p Low, but only 353.9 FPS at 1080p High, reveals that even with a relatively simple rendering workload, the processor is the ceiling. The 3DMark 4-thread score of 2859 versus the 8-thread score of 4026 shows that there is some benefit to the extra threads, but the single-thread score of 893 suggests that Barony likely relies heavily on one or two primary threads. The PassMark single-thread score of 3444 is modest, and this is likely what prevents the system from pushing even higher frame rates in the 1080p Low test.

The processor's performance relative to other CPUs is average, sitting in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-7700K, which it edges out by 1.8% in average benchmark score, and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, which is a statistical tie at -0.1%. This context is important because it shows that while the i3-12100F is not a high-end part, its single-core strength is sufficient to drive very high frame rates in this title, but its 4-core limit prevents it from scaling further. The boost clock of 4.30 GHz is the key enabler here, allowing the processor to handle the game's logic and draw calls efficiently enough to exceed 500 FPS in the most favorable conditions.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured frame rates, the optimal settings depend entirely on the target resolution and the desired performance margin. The data shows that the "Ultra" preset is the most demanding, costing a significant amount of performance. At 1080p, Ultra delivers 255.2 FPS, which is a 28% reduction from the High preset's 353.9 FPS. This is a substantial drop for what is often a marginal visual improvement in a roguelike title. At 1440p, the Ultra preset yields 162.1 FPS, and at 4K, it drops to 82.3 FPS.

For players seeking the highest possible frame rates, the Low preset is the clear choice. At 1080p, it delivers 552.7 FPS, and even at 1440p, it maintains 347.4 FPS. This preset offers the largest performance headroom, which could be beneficial for competitive play or for users with high refresh rate displays. The Medium preset offers a balanced middle ground, with 410.4 FPS at 1080p and 256.1 FPS at 1440p, representing a 26% reduction from Low at both resolutions.

The High preset appears to be the most balanced recommendation for most users. At 1440p, it delivers 220.7 FPS, which is more than enough for any current display and maintains a 36% performance advantage over the Ultra preset. At 4K, High provides 116.7 FPS, which is a playable experience, whereas Ultra at 4K dips to 82.3 FPS. Given that the data indicates the CPU is the bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p for all settings, the choice between Medium and High has minimal impact on the CPU load, but the GPU workload increases. The measured results suggest that High is the sweet spot for visual fidelity without sacrificing the frame rate headroom that this hardware combo can provide.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo can achieve in Barony?

A: The highest measured average frame rate is 552.7 FPS, which is achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with the Low settings preset.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average frame rate drops to 82.3 FPS. This is the only tested configuration where the GPU becomes the primary bottleneck, as the rendering workload finally exceeds the CPU's capability.

Q: How does the i3-12100F's multi-threaded performance affect this game?

A: The processor's Cinebench R23 multi-core score is 11912, while its single-core score is 1681. The relatively limited multi-threaded scaling indicates that Barony likely does not utilize all 8 threads effectively, making the single-core performance more critical for the high frame rates seen at 1080p.

Q: What is the performance difference between the High and Ultra presets at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers an average of 220.7 FPS, while the Ultra preset delivers 162.1 FPS. This represents a 36% reduction in performance when switching to Ultra.

Q: Is there a large frame rate drop when moving from 1080p to 1440p?

A: Yes, at the Low settings preset, the frame rate drops from 552.7 FPS at 1080p to 347.4 FPS at 1440p, a 37% decrease. This significant drop indicates that the CPU is the limiting component in this resolution range.

Q: Does this hardware meet the needs of a high refresh rate monitor at 4K?

A: At 4K with High settings, the average frame rate is 116.7 FPS, which is above 100 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average is 82.3 FPS, which is below 100 FPS. The choice of settings is critical to maintaining higher refresh rates at this resolution.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a high-end graphics card based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, with a boost clock of 2610 MHz and 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. Its benchmark scores are strong, with a PassMark G3D score of 31624 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5024, placing it in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. However, its role in Barony is largely dependent on the resolution and settings selected.

At 1080p and 1440p, the GPU is consistently underutilized due to the CPU bottleneck. The data shows that the GPU's performance only becomes a significant factor at 4K resolution. The transition from 1440p High (220.7 FPS) to 4K High (116.7 FPS) shows a 47% drop, which is a more substantial decline than the 37% drop seen from 1080p Low to 1440p Low. This indicates that the GPU is starting to take on more work as the pixel count increases. The RTX 4070 Ti's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, which is 0.6% slower, and the Intel Arc A730M, which is 1.5% faster, showing that this desktop card sits in a competitive performance tier.

The GPU's 12 GB of VRAM is not a limiting factor in any of the measured scenarios, as even at 4K Ultra, the average frame rate of 82.3 FPS is likely limited by the GPU's compute and pixel throughput rather than memory capacity. The card's FP32 performance of 40.09 TFLOPS and texture rate of 626.4 GTexel/s are more than sufficient for this game, as evidenced by the high frame rates. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 Ti is capable of far more performance than the i3-12100F can feed it at lower resolutions, but at 4K Ultra, the GPU's workload becomes the deciding factor. The measured results indicate that this is a well-matched GPU for 4K gaming with this particular CPU, as it provides playable frame rates at High settings while being the primary limiter only at the most demanding preset.