Barony

Barony is a roguelike that scales remarkably well with high-end hardware, and the measured data for the Intel Core i5-14600K paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti reveals a system that delivers extreme frame rates across all tested configurations. The dataset covers 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions at Low, Medium, High, and Ultra settings, providing a comprehensive view of how this combination behaves under varying loads. The results indicate a system that is rarely stressed by the game's engine, with even the most demanding preset at 4K maintaining a playable average.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data suggests that the Ultra preset is the most demanding configuration, yielding an average of 82.1 FPS at 4K, 158 FPS at 1440p, and 251.4 FPS at 1080p. While 82.1 FPS at 4K Ultra is above the standard 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, the drop from High to Ultra at 4K is substantial—from 118.2 FPS down to 82.1 FPS, a reduction of roughly 30%. This indicates that the Ultra preset imposes a significant additional load on the GPU.

For the best balance of visual fidelity and performance, the High preset emerges as the optimal choice. At 4K, it delivers 118.2 FPS, which is 36.1 FPS higher than Ultra and only 17.2 FPS lower than Medium. The gap between High and Medium at 4K is relatively small, suggesting that the visual upgrade from Medium to High comes at a modest performance cost. At lower resolutions, High becomes nearly excessive: 353.3 FPS at 1080p and 221.3 FPS at 1440p are far beyond what most displays can refresh. The data implies that players with 144Hz or 240Hz monitors could comfortably use High at 1440p, while 4K users should stick with High to maintain high frame rates. The Medium preset is a viable fallback for 4K users who want to push frame rates higher, but the incremental gain over High is not compelling enough to justify the graphical downgrade.

FAQ

Q: Does the RTX 4070 Ti bottleneck the Core i5-14600K in Barony?

A: The data shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 550.4 FPS, which is an extremely high figure that suggests the CPU is keeping pace with the GPU. However, the scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p (from 550.4 to 251.4 FPS) indicates that the GPU becomes more involved as settings increase. At 4K Ultra, the 82.1 FPS result points to the GPU being the primary limiting factor, as the CPU's high core count and boost clock are unlikely to struggle at this resolution.

Q: What is the performance difference between the 4K High and 4K Ultra presets?

A: The measured average FPS drops from 118.2 on High to 82.1 on Ultra at 4K, a difference of 36.1 FPS. This represents a 30.5% performance penalty for choosing Ultra over High. In practical terms, this means Ultra is only recommended for users who prioritize visual quality over frame rate, as High provides a much smoother experience.

Q: How does the Core i5-14600K's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 49166 is 0.2% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, which scores 49062. It trails the Intel Core i5-14600KF by 0.4%, as that chip scores 49367. The data indicates that the 14600K is effectively on par with these competitors, making it a well-rounded choice for gaming workloads.

Q: Is the RTX 4070 Ti's memory bandwidth sufficient for 4K gaming in Barony?

A: The GPU features 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 504.2 GB/s. At 4K Ultra, the average FPS of 82.1 suggests that the memory bandwidth is adequate for this game's demands, as there are no signs of severe stuttering or frame drops in the measured data. The game appears to be more sensitive to raw compute power than memory throughput.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested systems for Barony?

A: This particular combination of the Intel Core i5-14600K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti ranks 236th out of 1702 tested combos. This places it in the top 14% of all systems tested, indicating that it is a high-performing configuration for this title, though not the absolute top-tier.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is a substantial contributor to Barony's performance, particularly at higher resolutions and settings. Its boost clock of 2610 MHz and base clock of 2310 MHz provide the raw processing power needed to drive the frame rates observed in the data. With 7680 shading units and 240 texture mapping units, the GPU is well-equipped to handle the game's procedural generation and particle effects, which are common in roguelikes.

The memory configuration of 12 GB GDDR6X with a 504.2 GB/s bandwidth appears to be a non-issue for Barony. The game's low-poly, blocky aesthetic does not demand large texture pools, so the 12 GB capacity is more than sufficient. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (82.1) versus 4K Low (184.8) illustrates the GPU's scaling—as settings increase, the shading units and texture units are more heavily utilized, resulting in lower frame rates. The GPU's percentile rank of 85 among all GPUs confirms its high-end positioning, and its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, scores only 0.6% higher on average, showing that this desktop card is still competitive.

Interestingly, the GPU's compute performance, as measured by Passmark (18396), is not a strong predictor of Barony's frame rates. The game seems to rely more on the fixed-function units and shader throughput, which is evident from the steep drop in FPS when moving from Low to Ultra at any resolution. For example, at 1440p, the difference between Low (346.4 FPS) and Ultra (158 FPS) is 188.4 FPS, highlighting how much the GPU's load increases with graphical fidelity.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 550.4 FPS, which is the highest measured value in the entire dataset. Medium settings reduce this to 411.7 FPS, while High yields 353.3 FPS. The Ultra preset brings the average down to 251.4 FPS, which is still well above any practical refresh rate. The scaling from Low to Ultra at 1080p shows a 54.3% reduction in FPS, indicating that the GPU is being increasingly taxed as settings rise.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance remains extremely high. Low settings average 346.4 FPS, Medium achieves 256.2 FPS, and High produces 221.3 FPS. The Ultra preset drops to 158 FPS, which is still smooth for most displays. The difference between 1080p and 1440p at the same settings is notable—for instance, High at 1440p is 132 FPS lower than High at 1080p, showing the impact of resolution on GPU load.

At 3840x2160, the system begins to show its limits. Low settings still manage 184.8 FPS, but Medium drops to 135.4 FPS. High is the recommended setting here with 118.2 FPS, while Ultra falls to 82.1 FPS. The spread between Low and Ultra at 4K is 102.7 FPS, which is the largest absolute gap in the dataset. These numbers suggest that 4K Ultra is the only configuration where the system might struggle to maintain very high refresh rates, though 82.1 FPS is still playable for most users.

Resolution Scaling

The data reveals a clear pattern of performance degradation as resolution increases. From 1080p to 1440p at High settings, the average FPS drops from 353.3 to 221.3, a 37.4% reduction. Moving from 1440p to 4K at High settings, the FPS falls from 221.3 to 118.2, a 46.6% reduction. This progressive decline indicates that the GPU is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the CPU's workload does not scale with resolution in the same way.

At Low settings, the scaling is more dramatic percentage-wise. From 1080p Low (550.4 FPS) to 1440p Low (346.4 FPS), there is a 37.1% drop. From 1440p Low to 4K Low (184.8 FPS), the reduction is 46.6%. This suggests that even at Low settings, the pixel count is a significant factor. The gap between 1080p and 4K at Low settings is 365.6 FPS, which is a massive difference that points to the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth being heavily utilized.

The scaling analysis suggests that the limiting component shifts as resolution increases. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the CPU could become a factor, but the Core i5-14600K's strong single-thread performance (evidenced by its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642) ensures it is not a bottleneck. At 4K, the GPU is unquestionably the limiting factor, as the 82.1 FPS at Ultra is less than a third of the 251.4 FPS at 1080p Ultra.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600K plays a crucial role in ensuring that the GPU is not starved of data. With 14 cores and 20 threads, the CPU offers substantial multi-threading capabilities, which are reflected in its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32881. However, Barony is a roguelike that may not fully utilize all 20 threads, so the single-core performance is more relevant. The CPU's boost clock of 5.30 GHz and its Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4642 indicate exceptional single-threaded speed, which helps maintain high frame rates even when the GPU is producing hundreds of FPS.

The CPU's cache hierarchy—80 KB of L1 per core, 2 MB of L2 per core, and 24 MB of shared L3—provides fast access to frequently used data, which is beneficial for a game that generates levels procedurally. The CPU's percentile rank of 93 among all CPUs confirms its high-end status, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, scores nearly identically (0.2% difference). This suggests that the 14600K is not a weak link in this combo.

At 1080p Low, the system hits 550.4 FPS, which is a strong indicator that the CPU can feed the GPU effectively at high frame rates. The data does not show any signs of CPU bottlenecking, as the FPS scales consistently with GPU load. If the CPU were a limiting factor, we would expect to see a plateau in FPS across different settings, but the 299 FPS difference between Low and Ultra at 1080p disproves this. The CPU's 125W TDP and support for DDR4 and DDR5 memory allow for flexible system configurations, but the benchmark results suggest that memory bandwidth is not a constraint in this game.

How This Combo Ranks

In the context of all tested combos for Barony, the Core i5-14600K and RTX 4070 Ti combination ranks 236th out of 1702 systems. This places it in the 86th percentile of all configurations, meaning it outperforms the vast majority of systems tested. The rank is impressive given that the GPU is not the absolute fastest on the market, but it is a high-end part that delivers excellent performance.

The rank of 236 out of 1702 suggests that there are 235 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates, likely featuring more powerful GPUs such as the RTX 4090 or higher-tier CPUs. However, the measured FPS data shows that this combo is more than capable of delivering a smooth experience in Barony at any resolution and setting. The 4K Ultra average of 82.1 FPS is particularly notable, as it indicates that even the most demanding configuration is playable.

The ranking also reflects the balance of the components. The CPU's average benchmark score of 49166 is competitive with its rivals, and the GPU's average score of 44900 is only 0.6% behind the RTX 5090 Mobile. This synergy means that neither component is severely underperforming, resulting in a well-rounded system that ranks highly for this specific game. The data implies that users looking to improve upon this combo would need to invest in significantly more powerful hardware to see meaningful gains, as the current setup already handles Barony exceptionally well.