Barony

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Barony, a 2015 roguelike that scales impressively across resolutions. The measured frame rates reveal a system that is heavily GPU-bound at higher settings, yet capable of exceeding 200 FPS at 1080p, making it a strong candidate for high-refresh-rate displays. The data positions this combination at rank 1149 out of 1702 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all configurations, though the specific performance characteristics suggest the pairing is well-balanced for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo produces 293 FPS, but at 4K with the same settings, that figure falls to 96.8 FPS — a 67% reduction. This dramatic scaling indicates that the RX 7600’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 128-bit bus become the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The GPU’s bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s is sufficient for 1080p, but the data shows it struggles to maintain headroom when the render target quadruples.

Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings illustrates a similar trend: 114.7 FPS drops to 59 FPS, a 48.6% decline. This is a steeper proportional loss than the 1080p-to-1440p transition, where High settings only fall from 186.5 FPS to 114.7 FPS (a 38.5% drop). The pattern suggests that while the CPU — with its 6 cores and 12 threads boosting to 4.40 GHz — can easily feed frames at lower resolutions, the GPU’s compute resources (21.75 TFLOPS FP32) become saturated as resolution increases. The 4K Ultra result of 43.1 FPS, versus 134.6 FPS at 1080p Ultra, confirms that the RX 7600 is the primary constraint at 4K, while the CPU remains underutilized.

FAQ

*Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Barony?*

A: The data shows 1440p at High settings yields 114.7 FPS, which balances visual fidelity with smoothness. At 1080p, Ultra settings still deliver 134.6 FPS, indicating headroom for higher refresh rates.

Q: How does the RX 7600 compare to its closest rival in raw GPU benchmarks?

A: The RX 7600 scores 20258 on average, sitting just 0.6% below the RX 7600 XT (20146) and 1.5% below the Intel Arc B570 (20556). The delta to the RX 460 is 0.8%, showing the 7600 is positioned mid-pack among its peers.

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

A: No. The i5-12400’s 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and multi-thread score of 5890 indicate strong per-core performance. The 293 FPS at 1080p Low suggests the CPU is not the limiting factor, as the GPU is clearly the constraint at that resolution.

Q: What settings provide the largest FPS jump?

A: Dropping from High to Low at 1080p raises average FPS from 186.5 to 293 — a 57% increase. At 4K, the same setting change boosts performance from 59 to 96.8 FPS, a 64% gain, showing Low settings significantly relieve GPU pressure.

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

A: This pairing ranks 1149 out of 1702 combos, placing it in the 67.5th percentile of all tested systems. This indicates it outperforms roughly two-thirds of tested builds in Barony.

Q: Is 8 GB of VRAM sufficient for 4K in this game?

A: The data shows playable results at 4K High (59 FPS), but the 43.1 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests VRAM capacity or bandwidth limits are near. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 8 GB capacity appear adequate for High, but Ultra pushes the memory subsystem too far.

GPU Role

The Radeon RX 7600’s specifications directly explain the measured performance in Barony. With 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, the GPU delivers a pixel rate of 169.9 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 339.8 GTexel/s. These figures support the strong 1080p results, where the card sustains 293 FPS at Low settings — a number that aligns with its 21.75 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability. However, the 128-bit memory bus and 8 GB GDDR6 capacity become evident at 4K, where the 43.1 FPS Ultra result indicates memory bandwidth saturation.

The GPU’s clock behavior is also telling. The base clock of 1720 MHz boosts to 2655 MHz, with a game clock of 2250 MHz. In a lightweight roguelike like Barony, the card can sustain high boost clocks, explaining the excellent 1080p scaling. The 63rd percentile ranking among all GPUs (avg score 20258) places it slightly above the RX 7600 XT (deltaPct 0.6%) but below the RTX 3070 Mobile (deltaPct -1.3%). This mid-tier positioning is consistent with the observed 1440p results, where High settings achieve 114.7 FPS — a strong number that suggests the GPU is the primary driver of performance at this resolution.

How This Combo Ranks

At rank 1149 out of 1702 combos, this pairing sits in the upper third of all tested configurations for Barony. This is a noteworthy position given the game’s age and the hardware’s mid-range status. The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking (avg benchmark score 19850) is higher than the GPU’s 63rd percentile, indicating the processor has more headroom relative to its peers. This asymmetry suggests that in Barony, the RX 7600 is the limiting component, which is consistent with the resolution scaling data.

The combo rank also reflects the game’s modest requirements. A roguelike from 2015 does not stress modern hardware heavily, and the measured FPS numbers confirm this. At 1080p, every settings preset exceeds 134 FPS, which is far above the 60 FPS standard. The 1149th rank out of 1702 combos implies that many higher-end systems achieve even higher frame rates, but this pairing delivers a smooth experience without requiring top-tier components. The deltaPct values for the CPU’s rivals (0.1% vs i7-9700, -0.2% vs i7-8700) and GPU’s rivals (0.6% vs RX 7600 XT) show that this combo is competitive with systems featuring slightly older or slightly newer parts.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the performance envelope is wide. Low settings produce 293 FPS, Medium drops to 217.9 FPS, High yields 186.5 FPS, and Ultra still manages 134.6 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 158.4 FPS, indicating that the GPU has substantial headroom even at maximum settings. The 1440p results show a predictable step down: Low hits 183.7 FPS, Medium 134.5 FPS, High 114.7 FPS, and Ultra 82.9 FPS. The Ultra-to-Low spread at 1440p is 100.8 FPS, a smaller absolute delta than at 1080p, suggesting diminishing returns as resolution climbs.

At 4K, the scaling becomes more pronounced. Low settings deliver 96.8 FPS, Medium 74 FPS, High 59 FPS, and Ultra 43.1 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 53.7 FPS, and critically, the High-to-Ultra transition (59 to 43.1 FPS) represents a 27% performance loss. This is the largest relative penalty between adjacent settings at any resolution, highlighting that Ultra at 4K pushes the RX 7600 beyond its comfortable operating range. The data shows that 4K High is playable at 59 FPS, but 4K Ultra falls below the 60 FPS threshold, making it a less desirable choice.

Settings Recommendations

For 1440p displays, Medium settings at 134.5 FPS offer the best balance of visual quality and performance headroom. High settings at 114.7 FPS provide a modest visual upgrade while staying well above 100 FPS, making either choice viable. Ultra at 82.9 FPS is still smooth, but the 38% drop from Medium to Ultra may not justify the visual gains in a roguelike where readability matters more than graphical fidelity.

For 4K users, the data strongly favors High settings at 59 FPS. This is the only 4K preset that remains near the 60 FPS target, and the jump from Medium (74 FPS) to High (59 FPS) represents a 20% performance cost. Ultra at 43.1 FPS is playable but noticeably less smooth, and given the game’s genre, the lower frame rate could impact gameplay responsiveness. At 1080p, Ultra at 134.6 FPS is the clear recommendation, as it maximizes visual quality while maintaining frame rates far above any competitive threshold. The 293 FPS Low setting is excessive for most displays, but it demonstrates the system’s capability for extreme refresh rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 provides a robust foundation for Barony, with 6 cores and 12 threads running at a base clock of 2.50 GHz and boosting to 4.40 GHz. The CPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core hits 15935, while single-core reaches 2249. This single-thread performance is critical for a roguelike, where game logic and AI processing often rely on a few heavily loaded threads. The 3DMark single-thread score of 910 and 2-thread score of 1692 suggest the processor can handle the game’s simulation demands without bottlenecking the GPU.

The CPU’s 77th percentile ranking (avg score 19850) places it just 0.1% above the i7-9700 and 0.4% above the i5-11600K, indicating it is a well-balanced mid-range processor. In Barony, the measured FPS at 1080p Low (293 FPS) suggests the CPU is not limiting performance, as the GPU is clearly the bottleneck at that resolution. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provide adequate bandwidth for the game’s data needs. The data implies that while the RX 7600 is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, the i5-12400 ensures that even at 1080p Ultra (134.6 FPS), the processor never becomes the limiting factor. This pairing demonstrates that a capable 6-core CPU can fully feed a mid-range GPU in a game that does not demand excessive multi-threading.