Barony

The Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination delivers exceptionally high frame rates in Barony, making it a top-tier performer for this roguelike. The data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-bound at higher resolutions but reveals surprising CPU headroom at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 450 FPS. This pairing ranks 987th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top quarter of all systems, a strong result given the game’s release date in 2015.

Resolution Scaling

The scaling from 1080p to 4K demonstrates a classic GPU-limited curve, with performance dropping by roughly 68% between the lowest and highest resolutions at Low settings. At 1920x1080 Low, the system produces an average of 466 FPS, which falls to 294 FPS at 2560x1440 and further to 154 FPS at 3840x2160. This steep decline—a 60 FPS drop from 1080p to 1440p and another 140 FPS drop from 1440p to 4K—indicates that the RTX 3080 Ti’s rendering throughput becomes the primary constraint as pixel count rises.

The pattern holds across all settings. At High preset, the average frame rate moves from 298 FPS at 1080p, to 188 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 98 FPS at 4K. The percentage deltas between resolutions are consistent: moving from 1440p to 4K reduces performance by approximately 48% at High settings, while the 1080p to 1440p step costs about 37%. This suggests the game’s rendering load scales nearly linearly with resolution, with no unexpected bottlenecks emerging.

At Ultra settings, the 4K average of 70 FPS represents a 67% drop from the 1080p result of 213 FPS. This is a larger relative decline than seen at Low settings, where the drop is 67% as well (466 to 154 FPS). The similarity in these percentages indicates that resolution scaling is consistent regardless of quality preset, reinforcing that the GPU is the limiting factor across all configurations. The 1440p results at Medium (219 FPS) and High (188 FPS) show only a 14% difference, suggesting that at this resolution, the GPU still has ample headroom and settings changes have a modest impact.

The 4K Medium result of 114 FPS with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 132 FPS shows a tight frame time distribution, indicating stable performance without significant spikes. This consistency is notable because it suggests the RTX 3080 Ti handles the 3840x2160 workload without thermal or power throttling issues, even at the 350 W TDP.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component in this system for Barony, as evidenced by the resolution scaling patterns. With 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, the card has ample memory capacity and throughput for this game’s needs. The GA102 chip, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process, packs 28,300 million transistors across a 628 mm² die, with 10,240 shading units and 112 ROPs.

The clock behavior is telling: the base clock of 1365 MHz boosts to 1665 MHz, and the data shows this boost is maintained under load. The pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s are the key metrics driving the high frame rates observed. At 1080p Low, the 466 FPS average translates to roughly 8.1 ms per frame, which requires the GPU to complete rendering work in that time window. The 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability provides ample shading power for the roguelike’s geometry and effects.

The GPU’s 83rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 41187, places it well above the median. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, scores 40377, a 2% delta, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300 trails by 0.8% with a score of 40870. These comparisons show the RTX 3080 Ti is competitive even against newer architectures in raw compute terms.

In Barony, the GPU’s role becomes more pronounced at higher settings. The transition from Low to Ultra at 4K shows a 55% performance drop (154 to 70 FPS), indicating that the additional shading work—likely from lighting and particle effects—heavily taxes the GPU. The VRAM usage is unlikely to be a constraint given the 12 GB capacity, and the 912.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures texture streaming is not a bottleneck even at 4K Ultra.

FAQ

*Q: What is the maximum average frame rate achievable with this CPU and GPU combination in Barony?*

A: The highest measured average FPS is 466 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This represents the ceiling for this pairing, constrained by the CPU’s single-thread performance.

Q: Is the RTX 3080 Ti or the i5-12400F the limiting factor at 1080p?

A: At 1080p Low, the 466 FPS average is likely CPU-limited, as the GPU’s rendering load is relatively light. The i5-12400F’s 3DMark single-thread score of 909 and PassMark single-thread score of 3481 indicate the CPU can issue draw calls quickly, but the game’s engine may still cap performance near this level.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: At 3840x2160 Ultra, the average FPS is 70, which is playable but represents the most demanding configuration tested. This is a 67% drop from the 1080p Ultra result of 213 FPS.

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

A: At 2560x1440, High produces 188 FPS while Ultra produces 135 FPS, a 28% difference. This indicates Ultra settings impose a significant additional GPU load at this resolution.

*Q: Does the 12 GB VRAM ever become a limitation in Barony?*

A: The data does not show VRAM-related stuttering or frame drops, and the minimum FPS values (e.g., 97 FPS at 4K Medium) remain high. The 12 GB GDDR6X memory is sufficient for this game’s requirements.

*Q: How does this system rank compared to others tested in Barony?*

A: The combination ranks 987th out of 3717 tested combos, placing it in the 73rd percentile of all systems. This is a strong result, though not top-tier, reflecting the balance between the i5-12400F and RTX 3080 Ti.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest performance. Low settings produce an average of 466 FPS, which drops to 347 FPS at Medium (with a minimum of 295 and maximum of 399), 298 FPS at High, and 213 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Ultra is 253 FPS, a 54% reduction. The Medium settings’ frame time variance, shown by the 295-399 FPS range, indicates some CPU-bound fluctuations but remains well above playable thresholds.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages are 294 FPS at Low, 219 FPS at Medium (min 186, max 252), 188 FPS at High, and 135 FPS at Ultra. The Medium frame range tightens compared to 1080p, suggesting the GPU is becoming more consistent in its workload. The High-to-Ultra difference at this resolution is 53 FPS, a 28% drop, which is proportionally smaller than the 1080p difference, indicating the GPU is starting to become the primary constraint.

At 3840x2160, the averages are 154 FPS at Low, 114 FPS at Medium (min 97, max 132), 98 FPS at High, and 70 FPS at Ultra. The Medium settings’ minimum of 97 FPS shows that even in the worst cases, the system maintains a smooth experience. The Ultra result of 70 FPS is the only configuration that dips below 100 FPS average, making it the most demanding scenario for this hardware.

The overall trend across all resolutions is that the RTX 3080 Ti provides sufficient headroom for high refresh rate monitors at 1080p and 1440p, while 4K requires either Medium or High settings to maintain 100+ FPS averages. The Low preset at 4K (154 FPS) shows that even at maximum resolution, the GPU can deliver very high frame rates when visual quality is reduced.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F, with 6 cores and 12 threads, plays a supporting role in Barony but is crucial for achieving the highest frame rates. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz boosts to 4.40 GHz, and benchmark results show strong single-thread performance: 3DMark single-thread score of 909, Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1680, and PassMark single-thread score of 3481. These numbers indicate the CPU can handle the game’s main thread efficiently, which is essential for a roguelike that likely relies on a single primary game logic thread.

The CPU’s multi-threaded capabilities are also robust, as shown by Cinebench R23 multicore score of 12380 and Geekbench multicore score of 9472. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 5895 suggests that while the game may not fully utilize all 12 threads, the CPU has headroom for background tasks and OS overhead. The L3 cache of 18 MB shared provides low-latency access to frequently used game data.

The 73rd percentile ranking among all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 19039, places the i5-12400F near its rivals: the AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (19047, 0% delta), Intel Core 3 201E (19056, -0.1%), and Intel Core i5-1335U (18982, 0.3%). This proximity in scores indicates that the i5-12400F is a mid-range performer that does not bottleneck the RTX 3080 Ti in Barony except at the extreme 1080p Low settings.

The 466 FPS at 1080p Low is likely near the game engine’s frame-rate ceiling, as the GPU would otherwise produce even higher numbers. The PassMark find prime numbers score of 72 and data encryption score of 11679 suggest the CPU’s integer and cryptographic workloads are not relevant to gaming, but the floating-point math score of 46759 indicates solid compute capability for any physics calculations in the game.

Settings Recommendations

For the best experience, the data points to Medium settings as the optimal balance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium produces 347 FPS with a minimum of 295, which is indistinguishable from High in practical terms but offers a 16% performance improvement. At 1440p, Medium’s 219 FPS (min 186) provides a smooth experience on high refresh rate monitors, while High drops to 188 FPS—still excellent but leaving less headroom for demanding scenes. At 4K, Medium’s 114 FPS (min 97) is the only preset that maintains a 100+ FPS average while offering better visual quality than Low’s 154 FPS.

High settings are a reasonable alternative for users prioritizing visual fidelity over frame rate headroom. At 1440p, High’s 188 FPS is still well above the 144 Hz threshold, and at 4K, the 98 FPS average is nearly identical to Medium’s 114 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the settings increase. Ultra settings, however, show a significant penalty: at 4K, the 70 FPS average is 39% lower than High, making it the least efficient preset for the visual gain it provides.

Low settings are only recommended for competitive play at 1080p, where the 466 FPS average could benefit a 360 Hz monitor. At higher resolutions, Low’s visual reduction is not justified by the frame rate gains, as Medium at 4K (114 FPS) is only 26% slower than Low (154 FPS) but offers substantially better image quality. The Medium preset’s minimum frame rates—295 FPS at 1080p, 186 FPS at 1440p, and 97 FPS at 4K—ensure a consistent experience without stutters, making it the safest choice for this hardware combination.