Barony

The Intel Core i5-12400 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 delivers a remarkably broad performance envelope in Barony, stretching from a playable 58 FPS at 4K Ultra to a staggering 385 FPS at 1080p Low. This combination ranks 1596th out of 3717 tested combos in the game, placing it in the upper-middle tier of all configurations. The data reveals a system that is clearly capable of high-refresh-rate esports-style play at lower resolutions while still offering a smooth 4K experience at high settings, making it a versatile pairing for this roguelike title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a consistent and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases, but the rate of performance drop reveals critical information about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p High, the combo produces 246 FPS. Moving to 1440p High drops the frame rate to 155 FPS, a reduction of approximately 37%. Scaling further to 4K High yields 81 FPS, which is about a 67% drop from the 1080p figure. This steep decline as pixel count rises is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario at higher resolutions.

However, the story is not uniform across all settings. When looking at the Low preset, the 1080p score of 385 FPS is extraordinarily high, suggesting that the CPU is doing the heavy lifting at this point. The drop to 243 FPS at 1440p Low (-37%) and 127 FPS at 4K Low (-67%) mirrors the percentage drops seen at High settings. This proportional scaling, even at Low settings where GPU load is minimal, indicates that the RTX 3070's memory bandwidth and compute throughput are still the primary factors governing performance, even when the visual workload is light.

The most revealing data point is the Ultra preset scaling. At 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 176 FPS. At 1440p Ultra, it falls to 111 FPS (-37%), and at 4K Ultra, it drops to 58 FPS (-67%). The consistency of the percentage drop (roughly 37% and then 67%) across all four settings presets is striking. It suggests that the RTX 3070's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth are being taxed uniformly as resolution increases, regardless of the complexity of the shaders or effects being run. The GPU is the clear limiting component for resolution scaling, as the CPU's 6-core, 12-thread configuration is likely not being saturated in any of these scenarios.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Barony at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Yes. The data shows an average of 81 FPS at 4K High and 58 FPS at 4K Ultra. While the Ultra preset dips to 58 FPS, the High preset provides a comfortable margin above the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best resolution for high refresh rate monitors?

A: At 1080p, the combo achieves 246 FPS on High and 385 FPS on Low, which pairs well with 240Hz or higher displays. At 1440p, the High preset still delivers a very smooth 155 FPS, which is ideal for 144Hz to 165Hz monitors.

Q: How much of a performance difference is there between Low and Ultra settings?

A: At 1080p, the difference is 209 FPS (385 FPS on Low versus 176 FPS on Ultra). At 1440p, the gap is 132 FPS (243 FPS vs 111 FPS). At 4K, the gap narrows to 69 FPS (127 FPS vs 58 FPS), demonstrating that the GPU becomes the bottleneck at higher resolutions, reducing the impact of settings changes.

Q: Is the 8 GB VRAM of the RTX 3070 sufficient for Barony?

A: The data suggests it is. Even at 4K Ultra, the combo maintains a stable 58 FPS average. There is no evidence in the measured data of a performance cliff that would indicate VRAM capacity being exceeded, as the scaling from Medium to Ultra at 4K is consistent (95 to 58 FPS).

Q: How does this CPU compare to its nearest rivals in general benchmarks?

A: The i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 18683. This puts it 0.1% behind the AMD EPYC 7643 (18697) and 0.3% behind the Intel Core i7-1355U (18730). It is 0.7% behind the AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 (18811) and 0.9% ahead of the Intel Core i3-14100F (18519).

Q: What are the minimum FPS figures for the Medium preset?

A: The measured rows show min FPS of 80 at 4K Medium, 154 at 1440p Medium, and 244 at 1080p Medium. These minimums indicate that even in the most demanding moments at 4K Medium, the frame rate does not drop below 80 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake-S architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. In synthetic benchmarks, it scores 15989 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 2257 in single-core, with a Passmark multithread score of 18747. These numbers indicate a solid mid-range CPU, but the game's performance data suggests that Barony is not heavily dependent on this processor's capabilities.

The evidence for this lies in the FPS scaling patterns. If the CPU were a bottleneck, we would expect to see the FPS plateau or become inconsistent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less taxed. Instead, the FPS continues to climb dramatically at 1080p, reaching 385 FPS on Low settings. This indicates the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU data much faster than the GPU can render it, even at the highest frame rates. The 12 threads are likely more than sufficient for Barony's roguelike gameplay logic, which often involves procedural generation and entity management but is not typically a highly demanding multi-threaded workload.

The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache is a notable asset for gaming, as it can reduce memory latency and improve performance in certain scenarios. However, the benchmark results show that the i5-12400's performance is within 1% of its nearest rivals, which include the EPYC 7643 and Core i7-1355U. This suggests that the CPU is not the differentiating factor in this combo's gaming performance. The data points to the GPU as the dominant component, as the FPS scales almost perfectly with resolution changes, a behavior that would not occur if the CPU were holding the system back.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12400 and RTX 3070 combination is ranked 1596th out of 3717 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the 57th percentile of all tested systems, meaning that roughly 57% of tested combos perform worse in this specific game. The ranking is a holistic measure that considers the system's performance across all settings and resolutions, and it reflects the balance between the CPU and GPU.

This mid-pack ranking is interesting considering the high absolute frame rates the combo achieves. The 1596th position suggests that while this pairing is very capable, there are many other combos that push higher frame rates, likely featuring more powerful GPUs like the RTX 3080 or above. The data also shows that the GPU's nearest rivals in terms of average benchmark scores are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.7% higher score) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (1% higher). This indicates that the RTX 3070 is positioned in a competitive segment, but its average benchmark score of 17208 is not the highest in its class.

The ranking implies that for Barony specifically, the i5-12400 is not a limiting factor in achieving a good rank. If the CPU were holding back the GPU, we would expect the combo to rank lower than similarly equipped systems with better CPUs. Instead, the data suggests that the 1596th rank is primarily determined by the RTX 3070's raw performance, which is a solid mid-to-high tier card. The combo's performance is sufficient to place it in the top half of all tested configurations, which reflects the balanced nature of this pairing for this particular title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the clear performance driver in this configuration. With 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus providing 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has a boost clock of 1725 MHz and offers 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. Its average benchmark score is 17208, placing it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. In Barony, its role is evident in the resolution scaling data, which shows a direct correlation between pixel count and frame rate.

The GPU's memory configuration is particularly relevant for 4K gaming. The 8 GB VRAM is sufficient at 4K Medium (95 FPS) and High (81 FPS), but the drop to 58 FPS at 4K Ultra suggests that the Ultra preset may be pushing the card to its limits, whether through memory capacity or raw compute. The performance difference between 1440p High (155 FPS) and 4K High (81 FPS) is a 74 FPS drop, which is a 48% reduction. This is a significant penalty for moving to 4K, but the resulting 81 FPS is still very playable.

The GPU's performance relative to its rivals is telling. It scores 0.7% lower than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and 1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 in average benchmarks, but it is 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA Tesla K40c. These close margins suggest that the RTX 3070 is a well-balanced card for 1440p gaming, where it shines with a 155 FPS average on High settings. The data shows that the GPU is the component that dictates the performance ceiling at 4K, while the CPU is more than capable of keeping up at 1080p, where the card is the limiting factor.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers exceptional performance across all presets. The Low preset reaches 385 FPS, Medium averages 287 FPS with a minimum of 244 FPS, High averages 246 FPS, and Ultra averages 176 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system is never constrained by the CPU, as even the highest frame rate of 385 FPS does not expose a bottleneck. The minimum FPS of 244 at Medium suggests that frame pacing is stable, with no severe drops.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains impressive but scales down as expected. Low produces 243 FPS, Medium averages 181 FPS with a minimum of 154 FPS, High averages 155 FPS, and Ultra averages 111 FPS. The 1440p results are ideal for high-refresh-rate gaming, as even the Ultra preset stays above 100 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum FPS of 154 is particularly strong, indicating that even in heavy combat or procedural generation moments, the frame rate stays above 150 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is clearly the limiting factor. Low settings yield 127 FPS, Medium averages 95 FPS with a minimum of 80 FPS, High averages 81 FPS, and Ultra drops to 58 FPS. The 4K results show a steeper performance curve, with the Ultra preset being the only one that dips below 60 FPS. The Medium preset's minimum of 80 FPS is acceptable, but the High preset's 81 FPS average is the sweet spot for 4K gaming, offering a solid experience without the performance penalty of Ultra settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend heavily on the user's display and performance priorities. For 4K displays, the High preset is the clear recommendation, delivering an average of 81 FPS. This provides a smooth experience that is well above the 60 FPS threshold, while the Ultra preset's 58 FPS average is marginally below it, making High the best choice for a consistent frame rate. The Medium preset at 4K offers a higher 95 FPS average, but the visual fidelity difference between Medium and High is likely worth the 14 FPS trade-off for most users.

For 1440p displays, the High preset is the best balance of visual quality and performance, averaging 155 FPS. This is ideal for 144Hz monitors, as it provides a comfortable margin above the refresh rate. The Ultra preset at 111 FPS is also viable for 120Hz displays, but the 44 FPS drop from High to Ultra (155 to 111) is significant, suggesting that the High preset is the more sensible choice for maintaining a high refresh rate. The Medium preset at 181 FPS is overkill for most 1440p monitors and does not offer a substantial visual improvement over High.

For 1080p displays, the Ultra preset at 176 FPS is the recommended setting for those with high refresh rate monitors (144Hz-240Hz). It provides the best visual quality while still maintaining a frame rate that exceeds most 1080p displays' refresh rates. The High preset at 246 FPS is more suitable for 240Hz monitors, but the visual difference between High and Ultra is often noticeable, and the 70 FPS drop (246 to 176) is a reasonable trade-off for higher fidelity. The Low preset at 385 FPS is only necessary for extreme esports scenarios, as the game's roguelike nature does not typically require such high frame rates for competitive advantage.