Barony

# Barony with Intel Core i5-12400F + AMD Radeon RX 7600

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 delivers a remarkably consistent experience across Barony's four tested settings tiers. The data shows a system that scales predictably from 1080p to 4K, with the CPU's six Performance-cores and 12 threads proving sufficient to keep the Radeon RX 7600 fed at every resolution. The combo ranks 1155th out of 1702 tested combinations, placing it in the lower-middle portion of the database, yet the measured frame rates suggest this position undersells its practical capability in this particular roguelike.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K follows a clear pattern across all four settings presets. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 289.4 FPS at 1920x1080 to 180.9 FPS at 2560x1440, then to 97.8 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the GPU is increasingly becoming the limiting factor as pixel count rises. The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 212.3 FPS at 1080p, 136.8 FPS at 1440p, and 74 FPS at 4K — a 65.1% drop across the full range.

High settings exhibit the steepest relative decline, moving from 186.6 FPS at 1080p to 117.1 FPS at 1440p and finally 61.5 FPS at 4K, a 67.0% reduction. The Ultra preset, which is the most demanding, shows the largest absolute drop: 135.3 FPS at 1080p, 83.8 FPS at 1440p, and 41.7 FPS at 4K, a 69.2% decrease from the lowest to highest resolution. This pattern suggests that while the CPU handles the game's logic comfortably at all resolutions, the Radeon RX 7600's 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus begins to strain at 4K, particularly with the higher-detail presets.

Interestingly, the gap between Low and Ultra settings widens considerably as resolution increases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (289.4 FPS) and Ultra (135.3 FPS) is 154.1 FPS. At 1440p, that gap narrows to 97.1 FPS (180.9 vs 83.8). At 4K, it shrinks further to 56.1 FPS (97.8 vs 41.7). This convergence indicates that at 4K, both presets are increasingly bottlenecked by the same GPU limitations, whereas at 1080p the CPU has enough headroom to let the extra graphical work of Ultra settings manifest as a larger frame rate penalty.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F brings six cores and 12 threads to this pairing, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.40 GHz. Its Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process, delivers a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and a single-core score of 2332. These numbers place the CPU at the 77th percentile among all tested processors, with an average benchmark score of 19221. The nearest rivals in aggregate performance include the Intel Core i7-8700K (0.1% ahead), the Intel Core i5-1335U (0.3% ahead), and the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS (0.7% behind), indicating that the 12400F sits in a tightly contested performance band.

In Barony specifically, the CPU's role appears to be one of consistent enabling rather than bottlenecking. The fact that 1080p Low settings produce 289.4 FPS — a figure far beyond any display's refresh rate — demonstrates that the processor can feed the GPU with draw calls far faster than the Radeon RX 7600 can rasterize them at lower resolutions. The 18 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel memory support (DDR4 and DDR5) provide adequate bandwidth for the game's procedural generation and entity management systems, which are typical of the roguelike genre.

The 3DMark multi-threaded scores reinforce this picture: 5912 with all threads active, 4779 with 8 threads, and 3067 with 4 threads. The scaling from 4 to 8 threads (55.8% improvement) and from 8 to 16 threads (23.7% improvement) suggests that Barony can utilize additional cores to some degree, but the game's performance ceiling is not primarily CPU-bound in this configuration. Even at 4K Ultra, where the average FPS drops to 41.7, the CPU is unlikely to be the limiting component given its demonstrated ability to sustain far higher frame rates in lighter graphical loads.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600, built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip, provides the graphical muscle for this combo. Its 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs are driven at a base clock of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. The 8 GB of GDDR6 memory operates at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) across a 128-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. The GPU's PassMark G3D score of 16634 places it at the 63rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 20258.

The nearest rivals show how tightly grouped the RX 7600 is with its competition. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT sits just 0.6% ahead, while the Radeon RX 460 is 0.8% ahead — a surprising result given the generational gap, but one that reflects the aggregate benchmark methodology. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile trails by 1.3%, and the Intel Arc B570 is 1.5% behind. This clustering means that within the tested frame rates, small settings changes can shift the balance between these cards.

In Barony, the GPU's 288.0 GB/s memory bandwidth appears to be the primary constraint at 4K. The drop from 74 FPS at Medium 4K to 61.5 FPS at High 4K — a 16.9% reduction — suggests that texture fetching and memory pressure increase with quality settings. The 8 GB frame buffer, while adequate for 1080p and 1440p, likely causes thrashing at 4K when Ultra settings demand more capacity. The GPU's 21.75 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than sufficient for the game's visual style, which is typical of a 2015 roguelike with modern enhancements.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data provides clear guidance for optimal settings at each resolution. At 1920x1080, all presets deliver playable frame rates, with even Ultra achieving 135.3 FPS. However, the jump from Medium (212.3 FPS) to High (186.6 FPS) costs 12.1% performance, while the jump from High to Ultra (135.3 FPS) costs 27.5% more. Given that Barony is a roguelike where reaction time matters during combat encounters, the High preset at 1080p offers the best balance of visual fidelity and headroom above 144 Hz displays.

At 2560x1440, the High preset delivers 117.1 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 60 FPS and approaches 120 Hz territory. The Ultra preset at 83.8 FPS remains playable but begins to dip below the refresh rates of high-end monitors. Medium at 136.8 FPS is the safest choice for competitive play, while Low at 180.9 FPS provides maximum responsiveness. For 4K, the situation reverses: High at 61.5 FPS is borderline for 60 Hz displays, while Medium at 74 FPS offers a more comfortable margin. The Ultra preset at 41.7 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold that most players consider essential, making it unsuitable for general play despite the visual gains. Low at 97.8 FPS is the only preset that maintains a high refresh rate at 4K.

Across all resolutions, the Medium preset consistently offers the best performance-per-quality trade-off, with frame rates that are 73-82% of Low but with substantially improved visual detail. Players with 144 Hz monitors should favor Medium or High at 1440p, while those with 60 Hz displays can comfortably use High at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

This combo ranks 1155th out of 1702 tested combinations, placing it in the 32nd percentile of all CPU-GPU pairings tested in Barony. This ranking may initially seem low given the frame rates observed, but it reflects the full breadth of the database, which includes high-end configurations with significantly more powerful components. The 1702 total combinations span everything from budget to enthusiast hardware, and a mid-range pairing like this naturally falls in the lower half.

The ranking disparity between the CPU (77th percentile) and GPU (63rd percentile) suggests that the processor is relatively stronger than the graphics card in this pairing. This is consistent with the resolution scaling analysis, which shows the GPU becoming the limiting factor at 4K. The fact that the CPU outperforms its nearest rivals by margins of 0.1-1.3% while the GPU trades blows within 1.5% of its competitors indicates that neither component is a standout in its class, but the combination works cohesively.

For a game released in 2015, Barony's requirements are modest enough that this mid-range combo delivers excellent absolute performance. The 1155th rank should be interpreted with the understanding that the database includes many combinations with substantially higher-end GPUs and CPUs. Among comparable mid-range pairings, the data suggests this combo is representative of its class, with no single component dragging the other down significantly.

FAQ

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

A: Yes, at Medium settings it achieves 74 FPS, and at High settings it maintains 61.5 FPS. However, Ultra settings drop to 41.7 FPS, which falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p gaming?

A: The High preset provides 117.1 FPS, which is ideal for 120 Hz displays. For maximum smoothness, Low delivers 180.9 FPS, while Ultra still offers 83.8 FPS.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The Intel Core i5-12400F scores 19221 on average, placing it 0.1% behind the Intel Core i7-8700K, 0.3% behind the Intel Core i5-1335U, and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 7533HS.

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest rivals in benchmark scores?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 20258 on average, placing it 0.6% behind the RX 7600 XT, 0.8% behind the RX 460, 1.3% ahead of the RTX 3070 Mobile, and 1.5% ahead of the Intel Arc B570.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p, the GPU is the primary constraint, as evidenced by the 289.4 FPS at Low settings versus 135.3 FPS at Ultra. The CPU's 3DMark max-thread score of 5912 indicates it has ample headroom.

Q: What is the frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K at High settings?

A: The average FPS drops from 186.6 at 1920x1080 to 117.1 at 2560x1440, then to 61.5 at 3840x2160 — a total reduction of 67.0% from 1080p to 4K.