Barony

Barony is a roguelike that, on the surface, seems modest in its graphical demands, but the measured FPS data for the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 combination reveals a surprisingly wide performance envelope. With frame rates ranging from 74 FPS at 4K Ultra to 466.8 FPS at 1080p Low, this system demonstrates that the game’s performance is highly sensitive to both resolution and settings. The data indicates a configuration that is unequivocally capable of dominating this title, but the optimal experience depends heavily on the user's display and preference for visual fidelity versus raw frame rate.

Settings Recommendations

The benchmark data clearly indicates that the Ultra preset is the most demanding, yet it still delivers thoroughly playable frame rates at every resolution tested. At 1080p, Ultra produces 214.5 FPS, which is more than sufficient for any high-refresh-rate monitor. The step down to High yields a significant performance increase, jumping to 296.6 FPS at 1080p, and represents the most balanced setting for competitive play or maximizing smoothness without a major visual compromise. For users prioritizing the absolute highest frame rates, the Low preset at 1080p produces a staggering 466.8 FPS, which is essential for esports-level responsiveness, though it will sacrifice visual detail.

At 1440p, the High preset remains the standout choice, delivering 191.1 FPS, which comfortably exceeds the refresh rate of most 1440p gaming monitors. The Medium preset at 1440p, at 220.3 FPS, is also a strong option if the user prefers a higher frame rate buffer over High's visual enhancements. The data suggests that the Ultra preset, while playable at 137.8 FPS at 1440p, offers diminishing returns for the performance cost when compared to High. At 4K, the High preset is the clear recommendation, as it is the only settings tier that breaks the 100 FPS barrier (100.3 FPS) while maintaining a high level of visual quality. The 4K Ultra setting, at 74 FPS, is the only measured configuration that dips below the 100 FPS threshold, suggesting it is best reserved for users who prioritize graphical fidelity over frame rate smoothness on a 4K display.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 plays the central role in this game's performance, as evidenced by the massive frame rate swings between settings. The GPU's 12 GB of GDDR6X memory over a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth, is more than ample for a game of Barony's visual complexity, ensuring that memory capacity or bandwidth is never a limiting factor at any resolution. The card’s Ada Lovelace architecture, with its 5888 shading units and 46 RT cores, provides the raw compute power necessary to push the frame rates observed in the data.

The boost clock of 2475 MHz is likely a key contributor to the high FPS figures, as it allows the GPU to process the game's scenes at a rapid pace. The performance scaling from Low to Ultra across all resolutions is a direct reflection of the GPU's workload increasing with more complex shading and effects. For instance, at 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is a substantial 252.3 FPS, indicating that the GPU is the primary driver of performance and is capable of being fully utilized when the CPU is not a bottleneck. The GPU's 81st percentile ranking among all GPUs further cements its position as a high-end part that is well-suited for this game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data across the three tested resolutions reveals a clear pattern of scaling that highlights the GPU as the primary bottleneck in this configuration. At the High preset, the frame rate drops from 296.6 FPS at 1080p to 191.1 FPS at 1440p, a reduction of 105.5 FPS. This trend continues at 4K, where the High preset achieves 100.3 FPS, representing a further drop of 90.8 FPS from the 1440p result. This consistent decline indicates that as the pixel count increases, the GPU's workload expands proportionally, and its resources become the limiting factor.

This pattern is even more pronounced at the Ultra preset, where the frame rate falls from 214.5 FPS at 1080p to 137.8 FPS at 1440p, and then to 74 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only configuration where the frame rate dips below the 100 FPS mark, showing the extreme demands of rendering the game at that resolution with maximum settings. The scaling suggests that while the CPU is powerful enough to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, the RTX 4070 is the component that determines the final frame rate as the resolution increases. The data implies that the system is GPU-bound at 4K, as the frame rate drop is directly correlated with the increase in rendering resolution.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete set of measured FPS figures provides a granular look at the system's performance. At 1920x1080, the average FPS ranges from 466.8 at Low, to 350.5 at Medium, 296.6 at High, and 214.5 at Ultra. This shows that the system is extremely powerful at this resolution, with even the most demanding setting producing frame rates far beyond what most displays can show.

At 2560x1440, the average FPS drops but remains exceptionally high: 297 at Low, 220.3 at Medium, 191.1 at High, and 137.8 at Ultra. The 1440p results show that the system is still capable of driving high-refresh-rate monitors with ease, even with the visual quality set to High. At 3840x2160, the average FPS shows a more significant impact: 155.6 at Low, 117.2 at Medium, 100.3 at High, and 74 at Ultra. The 4K results are the most telling, as they show that the system is only able to maintain a 100+ FPS average at the High preset and below, making it the defining resolution for this hardware combination's limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the best settings preset for a 4K display?

A: The High preset is the optimal choice for 4K, as it is the only setting that achieves an average frame rate above 100 FPS (100.3 FPS). The Ultra preset, at 74 FPS, is noticeably slower and may feel less smooth by comparison.

Q: Which resolution provides the highest frame rate?

A: The 1920x1080 resolution provides the highest frame rates across all settings, peaking at 466.8 FPS on the Low preset. This resolution allows the CPU and GPU to work in tandem to produce the maximum possible output.

Q: How much faster is the Low preset compared to Ultra at 1440p?

A: At 1440p, the Low preset achieves 297 FPS, which is more than double the 137.8 FPS of the Ultra preset. This represents a 159.2 FPS difference, highlighting the significant performance headroom available by reducing graphical settings.

Q: Is the system capable of running the game smoothly at 4K Ultra?

A: Yes, but with a caveat. The 74 FPS average at 4K Ultra is considered playable for most users. However, it is well below the frame rates achieved at other settings and may not be ideal for those with 144 Hz or higher refresh rate displays.

Q: What is the frame rate at 1080p Medium?

A: The system achieves an average of 350.5 FPS at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset. This provides a massive performance buffer, making it an excellent choice for high-refresh-rate gaming.

Q: How does the 4K Low preset compare to the 4K High preset?

A: The 4K Low preset produces an average of 155.6 FPS, which is 55.3 FPS higher than the 4K High preset's 100.3 FPS. This shows that even at 4K, significant performance gains can be found by lowering settings.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-13400F provides the foundational processing power for this system. With 10 cores and 16 threads, it offers substantial multi-threaded capabilities, which is reflected in its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 21279. This high level of parallel processing power is likely sufficient to prevent the CPU from becoming a bottleneck in Barony, a game that is not typically known for being heavily CPU-dependent. The processor's strong single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3004 score in Cinebench R23 single-core, is also critical for maintaining high frame rates, as it ensures that the game's main logic and rendering threads are processed quickly.

The CPU's boost clock of 4.60 GHz is a key factor in its ability to keep up with the RTX 4070. The data suggests that at lower resolutions like 1080p, the CPU is able to feed the GPU with enough data to achieve frame rates exceeding 400 FPS on the Low preset. However, the performance scaling from 1080p to 4K indicates that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, meaning the CPU has sufficient headroom. The CPU's 82nd percentile ranking among all CPUs confirms its status as a strong performer, and its 65 W TDP indicates high efficiency. The benchmark results suggest that the i5-13400F is a well-matched partner for the RTX 4070, providing enough power to avoid limiting the GPU in most scenarios.

How This Combo Ranks

In the specific game of Barony, this combination of the Intel Core i5-13400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is ranked 411 out of 1702 tested combos. This places it in the top 24% of all hardware pairings tested for this game, indicating that it is a high-performance configuration. The rank is a holistic measure of the system's ability to run the game, and given the measured frame rates, this position seems well-earned.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 37283, placing it just below the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (37507) and above the AMD Radeon RX 5300M (36371). The CPU's average benchmark score is 25236, which is nearly identical to the Intel Core i7-13620H (25201) and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D (25365). These benchmark scores, while not game-specific, suggest that both components are competitive within their respective markets. The combo's rank of 411 suggests that while there are many faster systems, there are also a vast number of slower ones, making this a solidly high-end pairing for Barony. The measured FPS data shows that this system is capable of delivering an excellent experience at 1080p and 1440p, with the 4K results being the only area where the hardware shows its limits.