Barony

Barony is a roguelike, and the measured frame rates for the Intel Core i5-14400F paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 show that this combination is exceptionally fast at rendering the game. The data indicates that this setup is far beyond the threshold for smooth gameplay at any resolution, including 4K. The combo ranks 168th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 5% of all systems in the database for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate data reveals how the performance burden shifts from the CPU to the GPU as resolution increases. At 1920x1080 with Low settings, the system produces an average of 552 FPS. This extremely high frame rate at a lower resolution suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding frames at a very high rate, but it also hints that the workload is not heavily taxing the GPU yet.

Moving from 1080p to 1440p, the frame rates remain exceptionally high but show the expected drop. At Low settings, the average FPS decreases from 552 to 371, a reduction of about 33%. At High settings, the drop is from 405 to 272 FPS, which is a similar percentage decrease. This scaling pattern indicates that the GPU is starting to become a more significant factor, but the system has ample headroom.

The most substantial scaling occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K (3840x2160). At Low settings, the average FPS drops from 371 to 212, a 43% reduction. At High settings, the drop is from 272 to 156 FPS, a similar 43% decrease. This significant drop at 4K clearly identifies the GPU as the primary limiting component at this resolution. The RTX 4080 is being pushed harder, yet it still delivers frame rates well above 60 FPS.

The scaling from 1440p to 4K is more pronounced than from 1080p to 1440p, which is typical. The data shows that the CPU has less influence on performance as resolution climbs, and the GPU's rendering capabilities become the bottleneck. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 125, which is still very high, but the 31% reduction from 4K High (156 FPS) shows that the most demanding preset has a measurable impact on the GPU's workload.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows provide clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience. At 4K, the Medium preset yields an average of 180 FPS with a minimum of 153 FPS and a maximum of 207 FPS. This data indicates a very stable and high-performance experience. The High preset at 4K delivers 156 FPS average, which is also exceptional, but the Medium preset provides a higher average and a guaranteed minimum that is still far above the threshold for smooth play. The Ultra preset at 4K drops to 125 FPS average, which is still excellent, but the reduction from Medium is significant enough to suggest that the visual gains may not justify the performance cost for a fast-paced roguelike.

At 1440p, the Medium preset delivers an average of 314 FPS with a minimum of 267 FPS. This is an incredibly smooth experience. The High preset at 314 FPS is not measured, but the data shows High at 272 FPS average. The Low preset at 371 FPS is the fastest but may not offer the best visual fidelity. Given the high frame rates, the Medium or High presets at 1440p are ideal for maximizing visual quality while maintaining a very high level of performance.

At 1080p, all presets produce frame rates that are far beyond what any display can show. The Medium preset averages 467 FPS, with a minimum of 397 FPS. The High preset averages 405 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 326 FPS. Since the CPU is likely the limiting factor at this resolution, the choice of preset has a smaller relative impact on frame rate compared to higher resolutions. The data suggests that players can freely choose the Ultra preset at 1080p to get the best visuals without any concern for performance, as the 326 FPS average is still exceptionally high.

The most balanced recommendation across all resolutions is the Medium preset. It consistently offers the highest average frame rate with a reported minimum FPS, indicating stability. For example, at 4K, the difference between Medium (180 FPS) and High (156 FPS) is 24 FPS, while the difference between High and Ultra (125 FPS) is 31 FPS. The Medium preset provides the best combination of high performance and visual quality, especially at higher resolutions where the GPU is more stressed.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core i5-14400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 combination holds a rank of 168 out of 3717 tested combinations for Barony. This places the combo in the 95th percentile of all systems, indicating that it is significantly faster than the vast majority of other hardware pairings tested for this game. The data shows that this is a top-tier setup for this specific title.

The GPU's benchmark scores support its high ranking. The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247 and sits at the 86th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER, has an average score of 54209, which is a delta of 0.1%, meaning the RTX 4080 is essentially on par with its successor in synthetic tests. This performance level is a major contributor to the combo's excellent rank in Barony.

The CPU also performs well in synthetic benchmarks. The Intel Core i5-14400F has an average benchmark score of 32279 and is in the 83rd percentile of all CPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840U, has a score of 32233, a delta of 0.1%, showing they are closely matched. While the CPU is not the primary driver of frame rates in a roguelike, its strong single-thread performance is important for game logic, and the data shows it is more than capable of keeping up with the RTX 4080.

FAQ

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

A: The average frame rate is 467 FPS, with a minimum of 397 FPS and a maximum of 537 FPS.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra preset compare to 4K High in terms of average FPS?

A: The 4K Ultra preset has an average of 125 FPS, which is 31 FPS lower than the 4K High preset's average of 156 FPS.

Q: What is the lowest average FPS measured for this combo?

A: The lowest average FPS is 125, which occurs at 3840x2160 resolution with the Ultra settings preset.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU more likely to be the limiting factor at 4K?

A: The data suggests the GPU is the limiting factor at 4K. The frame rate drops significantly from 1440p to 4K (e.g., from 272 to 156 FPS at High settings), while the drop from 1080p to 1440p is less severe, indicating the GPU is under more strain at higher resolutions.

Q: What is the best settings preset for 1440p based on the data?

A: The Medium preset is a strong choice, offering an average of 314 FPS with a minimum of 267 FPS. The High preset also performs well at 272 FPS average, but the Medium preset provides a higher frame rate and a reported minimum, suggesting more consistent performance.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested systems for Barony?

A: It ranks 168th out of 3717 tested combinations, placing it in the top 5% of all systems.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is the dominant component in this configuration, especially at higher resolutions. It features 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. This large memory capacity and high bandwidth are crucial for handling the texture data and rendering workloads at 4K resolution without becoming a limiting factor. The GPU has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, with a memory clock of 1400 MHz (22.4 Gbps effective).

The GPU's performance in synthetic benchmarks reinforces its capability. It scores 34457 in Passmark G3D and 214739 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 86th percentile of all GPUs. The data shows that the RTX 4080 is a very powerful card, and its performance in Barony reflects this. The frame rate scaling from 1080p to 4K shows the GPU becoming the primary bottleneck, but it still manages to deliver playable frame rates at the most demanding settings.

The GPU's transistor count is 45,900 million on a 5 nm process from TSMC, with a die size of 379 mm². This high-density design allows for 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. The RTX 4080 also has 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores, although these features are less relevant for a game like Barony. The measured data shows that the GPU's raw rasterization power is more than sufficient for this title, as even the 4K Ultra preset achieves an average of 125 FPS.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14400F plays a supporting role in this combo, providing the necessary processing power to feed the RTX 4080. It has 10 cores and 16 threads, with a base clock of 2.50 GHz and a boost clock of 4.70 GHz. The CPU is based on the Raptor Lake architecture and is manufactured on Intel's 10 nm process. It supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, which offers flexibility for system builders, but the game's performance is not heavily dependent on this aspect.

The CPU's benchmark results show it is a strong performer. It scores 3055 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 21645 in multi-core, and 3701 in Passmark single-thread. This strong single-thread performance is important for game logic and physics calculations, which are often single-threaded. The CPU's 20 MB of shared L3 cache helps reduce latency for frequently accessed data.

The data indicates that the i5-14400F is not the bottleneck at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 500 FPS. In fact, the high frame rates at 1080p suggest that the CPU is capable of processing game instructions very quickly. However, as resolution increases, the GPU takes over as the limiting factor, and the CPU's role becomes less critical. The CPU's strong multi-threaded performance (e.g., 25470 in Passmark Multi-thread) ensures that it can handle background tasks and game logic without causing stutters, even when the GPU is working at full capacity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data is detailed across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the results are as follows: Low settings yield an average of 552 FPS; Medium settings yield 467 FPS average, with a minimum of 397 and a maximum of 537; High settings yield 405 FPS average; and Ultra settings yield 326 FPS average.

At 2560x1440, the performance remains very high: Low settings average 371 FPS; Medium settings average 314 FPS, with a minimum of 267 and a maximum of 361; High settings average 272 FPS; and Ultra settings average 219 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the GPU is more heavily loaded, but the results are still impressive: Low settings average 212 FPS; Medium settings average 180 FPS, with a minimum of 153 and a maximum of 207; High settings average 156 FPS; and Ultra settings average 125 FPS.

The data shows a consistent trend: lowering the resolution or lowering the settings preset increases the average FPS. The minimum FPS values are only reported for the Medium preset at each resolution, providing a snapshot of the worst-case performance. At 4K Medium, the minimum is 153 FPS, which is still exceptionally high. This indicates that the system maintains a high level of performance even under demanding conditions. The maximum FPS values for the Medium preset show that the system can push much higher, suggesting that the frame rate is not capped and can vary significantly depending on the scene complexity.