Barony

Barony, a roguelike released in 2015, is not typically a title that stresses modern flagship hardware, but the measured FPS data for the Intel Core i5-12400 + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER combo reveals a fascinating scaling pattern. The dataset shows this pair ranked 116th out of 1702 tested combos, placing it in the top 7% of all configurations. The combination of a 6-core/12-thread Alder Lake CPU with a 16 GB Ada Lovelace GPU produces frame rates that range from near-triple-digit 4K Ultra to nearly 600 FPS at 1080p Low, which warrants a close look at where the bottlenecks actually lie.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and tells a clear story about the limiting component. At 1080p Low, the combo delivers 597.9 FPS, but at 4K Low that falls to 196.2 FPS — a 67% reduction. This is a massive scaling penalty that points directly at the GPU becoming the primary constraint as pixel count rises. The pattern holds across all settings: 1080p Medium runs at 442 FPS versus 146.2 FPS at 4K Medium (a 67% drop), and 1080p High at 383.3 FPS versus 128.4 FPS at 4K High (a 66% drop). The consistency of this ~two-thirds reduction across Low, Medium, and High suggests that the RTX 4080 SUPER is being pushed to its limits at 4K, while the CPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions.

The Ultra preset tells a slightly different story. At 1080p Ultra, the combo hits 274.8 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 92.2 FPS — a 66% reduction, similar to the other settings. However, the absolute numbers reveal that Ultra is the most demanding preset, with 4K Ultra barely crossing the 60 FPS threshold needed for smooth gameplay on standard displays. The scaling from 1440p to 4K is also steep: 1440p High at 241.4 FPS falls to 128.4 FPS at 4K High (a 47% drop), while 1440p Ultra at 172.3 FPS drops to 92.2 FPS at 4K Ultra (a 46% reduction). These figures indicate that the GPU's raw throughput — 52.22 TFLOPS FP32 and 736.3 GB/s of memory bandwidth — is being fully utilized at higher resolutions, whereas the CPU's 6 cores and 12 threads are not the bottleneck until frame rates approach the 500+ range.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 is a 6-core, 12-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its benchmark scores show a strong single-thread performance of 910 in 3DMark single-thread and 2249 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which is crucial for a roguelike like Barony that likely relies on single-threaded game logic. The CPU's percentile rank of 77 vs all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19850, places it in a solid mid-range position. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i7-9700 (0.1% faster), Intel Core i7-8700 (0.2% slower), and AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX (0.4% slower) — a remarkable grouping that shows the i5-12400 punches well above its core count in synthetic tests.

In Barony specifically, the data suggests the CPU is rarely the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the 597.9 FPS result indicates the CPU can feed frames far beyond what most displays can show. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5873 and max-thread score of 5890 show only a marginal gain from 8-thread (4745) to 16-thread, implying that the processor's multithreading capabilities are adequate for this game's workload. The L3 cache of 18 MB shared and L2 of 1.25 MB per core provide enough data locality for a roguelike's procedural generation and entity management. The fact that 4K Ultra still hits 92.2 FPS — while CPU-bound 1080p Low reaches nearly 600 FPS — confirms that the CPU is not the primary constraint at higher resolutions, but rather the GPU's rasterization and shading work.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is a 5 nm Ada Lovelace chip with 10240 shading units, 80 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 736.3 GB/s of bandwidth, and the boost clock of 2550 MHz drives 52.22 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The GPU's percentile rank of 88 vs all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 53610, puts it in the upper echelon, just ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT (0.2% faster) and AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (0.4% faster), while the RTX 5070 Ti trails by 2.9%. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600 reflects strong modern API performance.

In Barony, the GPU's role is defined by resolution scaling. At 4K Ultra, the 92.2 FPS average shows the GPU is working hard, but the 196.2 FPS at 4K Low reveals that even at lower settings, the 4080 SUPER still delivers well above 60 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra at 4K — 196.2 vs 92.2 FPS — is a 53% reduction, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects (likely shadows, lighting, and post-processing) heavily tax the GPU. The 16 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for Barony's textures, as evidenced by the lack of any memory-related stutter in the data. The GPU's pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s are more than adequate for a roguelike's typically modest scene complexity, which is why even the most demanding preset at 4K maintains playable frame rates.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific combination of Intel Core i5-12400 and RTX 4080 SUPER ranks 116th out of 1702 tested combos in Barony. That places it in the top 6.8% of all configurations, which is impressive given that the CPU is a mid-range part. The ranking suggests that for this particular game, the GPU is the dominant factor — the RTX 4080 SUPER's high percentile (88) and the i5-12400's lower percentile (77) combine to produce a result that outperforms many combos with stronger CPUs. The nearest rival combos likely feature higher-end CPUs, yet the i5-12400's strong single-thread performance (3DMark single-thread score of 910) and adequate multithreading (Cinebench R23 multicore of 15935) allow it to keep pace.

The data shows that the combo's ranking is not a fluke — at 1080p High, the 383.3 FPS result is competitive with what a more expensive CPU might achieve, because the game is clearly GPU-limited at lower resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the 92.2 FPS result is still respectable, but the combo's rank of 116 indicates that some configurations with faster GPUs or better CPU-GPU balance achieve higher frame rates. The 0.1% delta between the i5-12400 and i7-9700 in synthetic benchmarks suggests that CPU choice is nearly irrelevant for most of Barony's workload, making the GPU the primary differentiator in ranking.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are: Low 597.9 FPS, Medium 442 FPS, High 383.3 FPS, and Ultra 274.8 FPS. These numbers are extremely high, indicating that at 1080p, the combo operates in a CPU-limited or engine-limited regime — the RTX 4080 SUPER is nowhere near its maximum output. The 1080p Low result of 597.9 FPS is particularly notable, as it suggests the CPU's 4.40 GHz boost clock and 6 cores are sufficient to drive frame rates beyond what most 1080p displays (typically 144 Hz or 240 Hz) can show.

At 2560x1440, the results scale down: Low 379.8 FPS, Medium 282.5 FPS, High 241.4 FPS, and Ultra 172.3 FPS. The 1440p results still exceed 170 FPS even at Ultra, which means the combo is well-suited for high-refresh-rate 1440p gaming. The transition from 1080p to 1440p shows a 36-38% reduction across settings, which is less severe than the 1440p to 4K drop. At 3840x2160, the results are: Low 196.2 FPS, Medium 146.2 FPS, High 128.4 FPS, and Ultra 92.2 FPS. The 4K Ultra result barely exceeds 90 FPS, which is still excellent for a roguelike, but it indicates that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck. The spread from Low to Ultra at 4K is 104 FPS, whereas at 1080p it is 323.1 FPS — this compression at higher resolutions confirms that the GPU is being saturated.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data suggests that the Ultra preset is not necessary for an optimal experience in Barony with this combo. At 4K Ultra, the 92.2 FPS average is playable but not ideal for high-refresh-rate displays. Dropping to High at 4K yields 128.4 FPS — a 39% improvement over Ultra — while the visual difference between High and Ultra in a roguelike is often minimal due to the game's pixel art aesthetic and procedural generation. At 1440p, the High preset at 241.4 FPS provides an excellent balance, and even Ultra at 172.3 FPS is well above the 144 Hz threshold. For 1080p, the Medium preset at 442 FPS is overkill; even High at 383.3 FPS exceeds any consumer display's refresh rate.

The data implies that the High preset is the sweet spot for this combo. At 1080p High, 383.3 FPS; at 1440p High, 241.4 FPS; and at 4K High, 128.4 FPS — all of these are above 120 FPS, which is the target for most gaming monitors. The Low preset offers marginal performance gains (54% at 1080p, 57% at 1440p, 53% at 4K over High) but likely sacrifices visual fidelity that could affect readability in a roguelike. The Ultra preset provides the highest visual quality but drops below 100 FPS at 4K, which may introduce input latency concerns in a game that rewards precise timing. Given the game's release in 2015 and its roguelike genre, the High preset at 1440p appears to be the recommended configuration, delivering 241.4 FPS with a comfortable margin over display refresh rates.

FAQ

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

A: The data shows that 1440p High delivers 241.4 FPS, which is ideal for high-refresh monitors. At 4K High, the combo still hits 128.4 FPS, but 1440p provides a better balance of visual fidelity and frame rate headroom.

Q: How does this combo compare to other tested configurations?

A: It ranks 116th out of 1702 combos, placing it in the top 6.8% of all tested configurations. The RTX 4080 SUPER's percentile of 88 and the i5-12400's percentile of 77 combine to produce strong results in this CPU-light game.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck at 4K Ultra?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary constraint. At 4K Ultra, the combo achieves 92.2 FPS, while at 1080p Low it reaches 597.9 FPS — a 6.5x difference that cannot be explained by CPU limitations alone, given the CPU's strong single-thread scores.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, Low runs at 597.9 FPS and Ultra runs at 274.8 FPS, a difference of 323.1 FPS (the Ultra preset is 54% slower than Low). This large gap suggests the Ultra preset adds significant GPU workload even at lower resolutions.

Q: Does the 16 GB VRAM matter for this game?

A: The 16 GB of GDDR6X memory is far more than Barony requires, as evidenced by the high frame rates across all settings. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s ensures no texture streaming bottlenecks are present in the data.

Q: How does the i5-12400 compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The i5-12400's average benchmark score of 19850 is within 0.4% of the Intel Core i7-9700, Intel Core i7-8700, and AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX, showing that its 6 cores and 12 threads are not a disadvantage in this game's workload.