Barony

# How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-12600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER achieves a rank of 650 out of 3,717 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 17.5% of all system configurations evaluated. This is a strong showing for a mid-range CPU paired with a high-end GPU, indicating that the combination delivers well above-average performance in this roguelike title.

The CPU itself sits at the 79th percentile among all processors tested, with an average benchmark score of 27,799. Its nearest rivals in the synthetic benchmark suite are tightly clustered: the Intel Core i9-10900K scores 27,872 (just 0.3% higher), the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D scores 27,896 (0.3% higher), and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U scores 27,887 (0.3% higher). The AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE is the only rival in the list that scores lower, at 27,712, which is 0.3% below the i5-12600KF. This near-parity among rivals suggests that the CPU is performing exactly as expected for its class, with no notable silicon lottery wins or losses.

The GPU, meanwhile, ranks at the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards, with an average benchmark score of 43,223. Its nearest rivals are all NVIDIA Quadro or mobile GeForce parts: the Quadro M6000 24 GB scores 43,262 (0.1% higher), the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 43,268 (0.1% higher), the Quadro M6000 scores 43,301 (0.2% higher), and the RTX 4090 Mobile scores 43,667 (1.0% higher). The RTX 4070 SUPER trails these by very small margins, confirming that it is performing within its expected envelope.

Given that the GPU percentile (83) is slightly higher than the CPU percentile (79), the combination is balanced but leans slightly toward GPU-bound scenarios in this game. The measured FPS data supports this interpretation, as we will explore in the resolution scaling section.

FAQ

Q: How well does this combo perform compared to other tested systems in Barony?

A: This combo ranks 650 out of 3,717 tested configurations, placing it in the top 17.5% of all systems. This indicates above-average performance for the game, though there is still a substantial number of higher-ranked combos ahead of it.

Q: What is the CPU's synthetic benchmark standing relative to its closest rivals?

A: The Intel Core i5-12600KF scores 27,799 on average, which is within 0.3% of the Intel Core i9-10900K (27,872), AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (27,896), and AMD Ryzen 7 6800U (27,887). It is 0.3% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 8500GE (27,712).

Q: How does the GPU compare to its nearest competitors in synthetic tests?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER scores 43,223 on average, trailing the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (43,262) by 0.1%, the RTX 5050 Mobile (43,268) by 0.1%, the Quadro M6000 (43,301) by 0.2%, and the RTX 4090 Mobile (43,667) by 1.0%.

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Barony?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 522 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This demonstrates the combo's ability to push very high frame rates at lower graphical presets.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS recorded for this combo in Barony?

A: The lowest average FPS recorded is 79 at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is still playable, but it is the only measured configuration that drops below 100 FPS.

Q: Does this combo support high refresh rate gaming at 1440p?

A: Yes, at 2560x1440, the average FPS ranges from 151 (Ultra) to 329 (Low), meaning all settings presets at this resolution exceed 144 Hz, making it suitable for high refresh rate monitors.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a clear pattern of scaling as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 522 at 1080p to 329 at 1440p, and then to 172 at 4K. This represents a 37% decrease from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 48% decrease from 1440p to 4K, for a total reduction of 67% from 1080p to 4K.

The same trend holds for Medium settings, where average FPS goes from 388 at 1080p to 245 at 1440p, and finally to 128 at 4K. The percentage drops are 37% and 48% respectively, mirroring the Low setting pattern almost exactly. High settings show a similar trajectory: 333 FPS at 1080p, 210 at 1440p, and 110 at 4K, with 37% and 48% drops again.

Ultra settings follow the same proportional scaling, with 239 FPS at 1080p, 151 at 1440p, and 79 at 4K. The consistent 37%/48% drop pattern across all settings presets is notable. This uniformity suggests that the scaling behavior is primarily driven by resolution itself, not by the specific graphical workload at different presets.

The fact that FPS drops are proportional across all settings indicates that the system is not becoming CPU-bound at lower resolutions. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller absolute FPS differences at 1080p when increasing settings, because the CPU would cap the frame rate regardless of GPU workload. Instead, the smooth scaling from 522 FPS at Low to 239 FPS at Ultra at 1080p shows that even at the highest frame rates, the CPU can feed the GPU adequately.

At 4K, the performance envelope is much tighter: 172 FPS at Low versus 79 FPS at Ultra. This 93 FPS spread at 4K, compared to a 283 FPS spread at 1080p, indicates that the GPU becomes more dominant as pixel count increases. The data suggests that the RTX 4070 SUPER is the primary performance limiter at 4K, while the i5-12600KF provides ample headroom at lower resolutions.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers its highest frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 522 FPS, Medium averages 388 FPS with a minimum of 330 and maximum of 446, High averages 333 FPS, and Ultra averages 239 FPS. The spread from Low to Ultra is 283 FPS, showing that graphical settings have a substantial impact at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains very high but drops noticeably. Low averages 329 FPS, Medium averages 245 FPS (min 208, max 282), High averages 210 FPS, and Ultra averages 151 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra narrows to 178 FPS, indicating that the GPU is beginning to exert more influence on performance.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are still respectable but considerably lower. Low settings average 172 FPS, Medium averages 128 FPS (min 109, max 147), High averages 110 FPS, and Ultra averages 79 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra is now just 93 FPS, demonstrating that at 4K, even the lowest settings cannot push the frame rate much higher than 172 FPS.

The Medium settings rows are the only ones that include min and max FPS data. At 1080p, the minimum is 330 and maximum is 446, giving a range of 116 FPS. At 1440p, the range is 74 FPS (208 to 282), and at 4K, it shrinks to 38 FPS (109 to 147). This narrowing range at higher resolutions further confirms that the GPU is becoming the bottleneck, as frame time variance decreases when the GPU is more consistently saturated.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting 1080p, all settings presets deliver exceptionally high frame rates. Ultra at 239 FPS is more than sufficient for any high refresh rate display, while Medium at 388 FPS offers a significant boost for competitive play. Given that the game is a roguelike, where reaction time can matter, the Medium preset at 1080p provides a good balance with an average of 388 FPS and a minimum of 330 FPS ensuring no noticeable dips.

At 1440p, the Ultra preset at 151 FPS still exceeds 144 Hz, making it viable for high refresh rate monitors. However, the High preset at 210 FPS offers a substantial margin above 144 Hz while presumably maintaining better visual fidelity than Medium. The Medium preset at 245 FPS is the most conservative choice for ensuring frame rates never dip below 208 FPS, based on the measured minimum.

For 4K gaming, the choice depends on the display's refresh rate. The High preset at 110 FPS is a solid option for 120 Hz displays, while Ultra at 79 FPS is suitable for 60 Hz panels. The Low preset at 172 FPS would be overkill for most 4K displays and would sacrifice visual quality unnecessarily. The Medium preset at 128 FPS (min 109) is a reasonable middle ground for those with 120 Hz 4K monitors who want some visual fidelity improvements over Low.

The data suggests that the best overall experience for most users would be High settings at 1440p, delivering 210 FPS average with no measured minimum below 208 FPS (based on the Medium preset's minimum at this resolution). This provides a high visual quality setting while maintaining frame rates well above 144 Hz.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12600KF is a 10-core, 16-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It has a base clock of 3.70 GHz and a boost clock of 4.90 GHz, with a TDP of 125 W. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and a shared 20 MB L3 cache.

In synthetic benchmarks, the CPU shows strong multi-threaded performance with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 23,391 and a single-core score of 3,302. The Geekbench multicore score is 12,137, while single-core is 2,157. The 3DMark scores scale from 1,016 (single-thread) to 7,956 (16-thread), showing good scaling up to 8 threads (6,128) and then a plateau at maximum threads (7,952).

The PassMark multi-thread score of 27,575 and single-thread score of 3,925 indicate that the CPU is capable of handling both lightly-threaded and heavily-threaded workloads effectively. The data compression score of 343,231 and integer math score of 87,830 are particularly strong, suggesting good general-purpose compute performance.

For Barony, a roguelike game, the CPU demands are typically modest. The measured FPS data confirms that at 1080p, even with Ultra settings at 239 FPS, the CPU is not the limiting factor. The smooth scaling from Low (522 FPS) to Ultra (239 FPS) at 1080p demonstrates that the i5-12600KF can sustain very high frame rates without bottlenecking the RTX 4070 SUPER.

The CPU's percentile ranking of 79th among all processors, with an average benchmark score of 27,799, places it firmly in the upper tier. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, scores 27,896, just 0.3% higher, indicating that the i5-12600KF offers comparable CPU performance to a well-regarded gaming processor.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using TSMC's 5 nm process, with 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. It features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The GPU has 7,168 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 80 raster output units, along with 56 ray tracing cores and 224 tensor cores.

The clock speeds are a base of 1980 MHz and a boost of 2475 MHz, with memory running at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The GPU achieves 35.48 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and a texture rate of 554.4 GTexel/s, with a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s.

In synthetic benchmarks, the GPU scores 29,995 in Passmark G3D and 17,108 in Passmark GPU Compute. The Geekbench OpenCL score is 172,795, while Vulkan scores 205,624. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4,627. These results place the GPU at the 83rd percentile among all graphics cards.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is ample for Barony at all tested resolutions and settings. The game does not appear to exceed this capacity, as the measured FPS data shows no signs of texture thrashing or severe performance degradation at 4K Ultra settings (79 FPS average), which would occur if VRAM were insufficient.

The GPU's role in this combo becomes increasingly important as resolution increases. At 1080p, the GPU has significant headroom, allowing frame rates up to 522 FPS at Low settings. At 4K, the GPU is the clear limiting factor, with the gap between Low (172 FPS) and Ultra (79 FPS) narrowing to just 93 FPS, compared to 283 FPS at 1080p.

The RTX 4070 SUPER's nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks are all within 1% in either direction, with the RTX 4090 Mobile being 1.0% higher. This confirms that the desktop RTX 4070 SUPER is performing at the expected level for its class, with no anomalies in the measured data for Barony.