Barony

The Intel Core i5-12400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER delivers a formidable performance profile in Barony, a roguelike title that proves surprisingly demanding at high resolutions. This analysis breaks down the measured data to show how this combination scales, where its bottlenecks lie, and how it stacks up against the broader field of tested configurations.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate drop from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 is the clearest indicator of where the performance ceiling sits. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 379.5 at 1080p to 241.6 at 1440p, and finally to 124.4 at 4K. That represents a 67.2% reduction from 1080p to 4K, a steep decline that points squarely at the GPU as the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern is consistent across all settings. At Low settings, the drop is even more dramatic: 596.1 FPS at 1080p, 377.8 at 1440p, and 198.4 at 4K — a 66.7% decrease from the starting point. The fact that even the lowest settings cannot maintain high frame rates at 4K suggests the RTX 4080 SUPER is being pushed to its limits by the game's rendering demands, rather than being held back by the CPU.

Medium settings follow the same trajectory: 443.1 FPS at 1080p, 280.0 at 1440p, and 145.7 at 4K. Ultra settings show the most constrained performance, dropping from 274.5 at 1080p to 170.9 at 1440p and 91.3 at 4K. The 1080p-to-4K ratio for Ultra is 66.7%, nearly identical to the other settings. This uniformity across all quality presets indicates a resolution-bound scenario where pixel throughput, not scene complexity, dictates the frame rate.

Notably, the gap between 1080p and 1440p is smaller than the gap between 1440p and 4K for every setting. For High, the 1080p-to-1440p drop is 36.3%, while the 1440p-to-4K drop is 48.5%. This non-linear scaling is characteristic of a GPU that approaches its memory bandwidth or shading limits as resolution increases, with the 736.3 GB/s bandwidth of the RTX 4080 SUPER becoming a more critical factor at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-12400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER achieves a combo rank of 136 out of 1702 tested combinations in Barony. This places it in the top 8.0% of all configurations, a strong showing that reflects the raw power of both components.

The CPU itself holds a percentile of 77 among all processors, meaning it outperforms 77% of the CPUs in the database. Its average benchmark score of 19221 is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-8700K, which scores 19210 with a deltaPct of just 0.1%. This near-parity indicates that the i5-12400F delivers last-generation flagship-level compute performance, which is sufficient to feed the RTX 4080 SUPER in most scenarios.

The GPU sits at the 88th percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 53610. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, scores 53489 (0.2% slower), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti trails by 2.9% with a score of 52086. The RTX 4080 SUPER clearly outclasses its immediate competitors, and this advantage translates directly into the high combo rank observed in Barony.

Given that the combo ranks 136th out of 1702, the data suggests that only a small fraction of systems — likely those pairing top-tier CPUs with even faster GPUs — can surpass this configuration. The 8.0% placement is respectable but not elite, hinting that the i5-12400F may slightly hold back the RTX 4080 SUPER in this title.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is the undisputed workhorse in this pairing. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, running at 23 Gbps effective, provides a bandwidth of 736.3 GB/s across a 256-bit bus. This memory configuration is well-suited to Barony, which at 4K Ultra demands both high capacity and rapid data movement.

The GPU's clock speeds are modest by modern standards — a 2295 MHz base and 2550 MHz boost — but the Ada Lovelace architecture compensates with sheer compute throughput. The 10240 shading units and 320 texture mapping units deliver a texture rate of 816.0 GTexel/s, while the 112 ROPs achieve a pixel rate of 285.6 GPixel/s. These figures explain why the card can push 596.1 FPS at 1080p Low: the raw rasterization horsepower is immense.

At 4K Ultra, the GPU's FP32 performance of 52.22 TFLOPS becomes the limiting factor. The 91.3 FPS average at this setting represents a 67.2% drop from the 274.5 FPS at 1080p Ultra, a decline that aligns with the quadrupling of pixel count. The RTX 4080 SUPER's 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but appear to have minimal impact on this roguelike title, which likely relies on traditional rasterization rather than ray tracing or DLSS.

The GPU's benchmark scores corroborate its strength: a PassMark G3D score of 34245 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6600. Its percentile of 88 confirms that it sits comfortably above the majority of GPUs, and its nearest rival, the RX 6900 XT, cannot match its sustained performance in Barony across any resolution or setting.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combination delivers exceptional frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce 596.1 FPS, Medium 443.1, High 379.5, and Ultra 274.5. These numbers suggest that at 1080p, the CPU begins to play a more significant role, as the GPU is rarely the bottleneck. The 46.2% drop from Low to Ultra (from 596.1 to 274.5) indicates that the game's quality presets do impose meaningful GPU load, but the i5-12400F's 6 cores and 12 threads are sufficient to keep frame times consistent.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings average 377.8 FPS, Medium 280.0, High 241.6, and Ultra 170.9. The 1440p results are 36.6% lower than 1080p on average across settings, a reduction that is less severe than the 48.5% drop seen when moving from 1440p to 4K. This middle ground is where the RTX 4080 SUPER's bandwidth advantage becomes evident, as the 736.3 GB/s throughput handles the additional pixel load without crippling frame rates.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates remain playable but no longer excessive. High settings yield 124.4 FPS, Medium 145.7, Low 198.4, and Ultra 91.3. The inversion where Medium (145.7) outperforms High (124.4) is noteworthy — it suggests that High settings introduce a specific rendering feature that disproportionately impacts the GPU, while Medium and Low scale more predictably. The Ultra preset, at 91.3 FPS, is the only setting that dips below 100 FPS, indicating that 4K Ultra is the first scenario where the combination struggles to maintain triple-digit frame rates.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400F, with its 6 cores and 12 threads, provides a solid foundation for this GPU. Its base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz, combined with 18 MB of shared L3 cache, deliver strong single-threaded performance that is critical for a roguelike game like Barony, which likely relies on game logic and AI calculations that are not heavily parallelized.

The CPU's benchmark results reinforce its capability. Its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 16518 and single-core score of 2332 demonstrate balanced performance, while the PassMark multithread score of 19433 and single-thread score of 3481 show that it can handle both lightly and heavily threaded workloads. The 3DMark scores — 5895 for 16 threads and 909 for single thread — indicate that the CPU scales well with additional threads, though the 12-thread configuration is not as robust as higher-core-count alternatives.

In Barony, the CPU's role is most apparent at 1080p, where the GPU is not fully utilized. The fact that 1080p Low achieves 596.1 FPS, while 1080p Ultra drops to 274.5 FPS, suggests that the CPU can sustain very high frame rates when the GPU load is low. However, the combo rank of 136 out of 1702 implies that some combinations — likely those with faster CPUs like the Core i7-8700K, which matches the i5-12400F's average score at 19210 — may achieve better frame pacing at high refresh rates.

The CPU's 65 W TDP and 10 nm process node make it an efficient choice, but its 4.40 GHz boost clock is not exceptional. In a game like Barony, where frame rates at 1080p exceed 500 FPS, the CPU's single-thread performance becomes a potential ceiling. The i5-12400F's single-thread benchmark score of 909 in 3DMark is adequate, but it is not in the same league as the fastest gaming CPUs, which may explain why the combo does not rank higher.

FAQ

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

A: At 2560x1440, all settings deliver above 170 FPS, with High at 241.6 FPS and Ultra at 170.9 FPS. This resolution balances visual quality with high refresh rates, avoiding the 4K Ultra dip to 91.3 FPS.

Q: How does this combo compare to the RTX 4080 SUPER's nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER scores 53610 on average, which is 0.2% ahead of the RX 6900 XT (53489) and 2.9% ahead of the RTX 5070 Ti (52086). In Barony, this margin translates to higher frame rates across all settings.

Q: Is the CPU a bottleneck at 1080p?

A: The data suggests partial CPU limitation at 1080p Low, where the GPU produces 596.1 FPS. The i5-12400F's single-thread score of 909 in 3DMark indicates it can drive high frame rates, but faster CPUs might push even higher.

Q: Why does 4K Medium (145.7 FPS) outperform 4K High (124.4 FPS)?

A: The measured data shows a 14.6% difference between these settings, with Medium delivering higher frame rates. This suggests High enables a specific rendering feature that adds GPU load without proportional visual benefit in Barony.

Q: What GPU memory configuration does this system use?

A: The RTX 4080 SUPER has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory with a 256-bit bus and 736.3 GB/s bandwidth. This capacity is sufficient for 4K Ultra, though the 91.3 FPS result indicates memory bandwidth is a limiting factor.

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

A: It ranks 136th out of 1702 combinations, placing it in the top 8.0%. The CPU's 77th percentile and GPU's 88th percentile contribute to this strong overall position.