Barony

The Intel Core i5-14600KF paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 delivers a remarkably fluid experience in Barony, with the measured data showing frame rates that far exceed display refresh rates at every tested resolution. The dataset reveals a system that is heavily GPU-limited at 4K but transitions to a CPU-bound state as resolution drops, creating a fascinating performance curve for a roguelike title. This combination ranks in the 534th position out of 1702 tested combos, placing it in the upper third of all configurations for this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is dramatic and reveals the shifting bottleneck. At Ultra settings, the average frame rate falls from 205.7 FPS at 1920x1080 to 127.6 FPS at 2560x1440, then plunges to 68.7 FPS at 3840x2160. This represents a 66.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RTX 3080's rendering workload becomes the dominant constraint at higher pixel counts. The GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth are being pushed hard at 4K Ultra.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically at Low settings. Here, the 1080p result of 449.9 FPS drops to 285.7 FPS at 1440p and then to 147.9 FPS at 4K. The percentage drop from 1080p to 4K at Low is 67.1%, nearly identical to the Ultra scaling. This consistency across settings suggests that the RTX 3080's raw compute throughput, not memory capacity, is the limiting factor at 4K. The GPU's 29.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 164.2 GPixel/s pixel rate are being saturated regardless of the graphics preset.

What is more revealing is the 1440p to 1080p transition. At High settings, the jump from 183.7 FPS to 288 FPS represents a 56.8% improvement, which is larger than the proportional pixel count reduction of 44%. This super-linear scaling indicates that the CPU begins to participate in limiting performance at 1440p. The Core i5-14600KF's 14 cores and 20 threads, with a boost clock of 5.30 GHz, start to become a factor as the GPU workload lightens.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data shows that Medium settings offer the most balanced experience across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium produces 333.8 FPS compared to 449.9 FPS at Low and 205.7 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Medium and Ultra is 128.1 FPS at 1080p, which is substantial, but the visual quality difference in a roguelike typically justifies the performance cost. At 1440p, Medium delivers 211 FPS, still far above the 127.6 FPS of Ultra.

For 4K displays, High settings emerge as the optimal choice. The 93.3 FPS average at High is comfortably above 60 FPS, while Ultra drops to 68.7 FPS. The margin between High and Ultra at 4K is only 24.6 FPS, but High maintains a healthier buffer above the 60 FPS threshold. Low settings at 4K produce 147.9 FPS, but the visual degradation in a dungeon-crawling roguelike where readability matters may not be worth the extra 54.6 FPS over High.

The data suggests that players with 1080p or 1440p displays can safely use Ultra settings, as even 1440p Ultra maintains 127.6 FPS. For 4K users, High settings provide the best combination of visual fidelity and performance headroom. The 68.7 FPS at 4K Ultra is playable but leaves little margin for demanding scenes, whereas High's 93.3 FPS offers more stability.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate is 205.7 FPS at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings. This is well above any standard display refresh rate and indicates the system is not GPU-limited at this resolution and preset combination.

Q: Is 4K gaming viable with this hardware in Barony?

A: Yes, 4K gaming is viable. At 3840x2160, High settings produce 93.3 FPS, and even Ultra settings maintain 68.7 FPS. Both exceed the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between settings at a single resolution?

A: At 1080p, the gap between Low (449.9 FPS) and Ultra (205.7 FPS) is 244.2 FPS. This is the largest spread across any resolution in the measured data.

Q: How does the 1440p Medium result compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: The 1440p Medium result of 211 FPS is slightly higher than the 1080p Ultra result of 205.7 FPS. This suggests that Medium settings at a higher resolution can outperform Ultra at a lower resolution.

Q: Does this combo rank highly among all tested configurations?

A: The combination ranks 534th out of 1702 tested combos. This places it in the upper third of all configurations, though not in the top tier.

Q: What is the most demanding settings/resolution combination in the data?

A: The most demanding combination is 4K Ultra, which produces 68.7 FPS. This is the lowest average frame rate in the entire measured dataset.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 achieves a rank of 534 out of 1702 tested combos in Barony. This places the system in the 68.6th percentile of all tested configurations, meaning roughly one-third of tested combos perform better. The ranking reflects a strong but not elite pairing for this particular roguelike title.

The CPU itself holds a 93rd percentile ranking among all processors, while the GPU sits at the 80th percentile among all graphics cards. The gap between these two percentile positions suggests the CPU has more headroom relative to its peers than the GPU does. However, the in-game rank of 534 out of 1702 indicates that the combined system performance is somewhat lower than what the individual component percentiles might suggest, pointing to potential bottlenecks in specific game scenarios.

When comparing the CPU to its nearest rivals, the Core i5-14600KF scores 49367 in average benchmarks, which is 0.4% higher than the Intel Core i5-14600K at 49166 and 0.6% higher than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at 49062. The performance delta is minimal, suggesting that any of these processors would produce nearly identical results in Barony. The GPU's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro Duo, scores 35860 versus the RTX 3080's 35787, a difference of only 0.2%.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 plays a dominant role in determining Barony's performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The GPU's 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus provides 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which appears sufficient for this game's texture and geometry demands at all tested settings. The 4K Ultra result of 68.7 FPS suggests the GPU is nearing its limits, but the 93.3 FPS at 4K High indicates there is still headroom when settings are moderated.

The GPU's clock speeds of 1440 MHz base and 1710 MHz boost, combined with 8704 shading units, deliver 29.77 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The scaling from 1440p to 4K at High settings shows a 49.2% reduction in frame rate (183.7 to 93.3 FPS), which closely matches the 44% increase in pixel count. This near-linear scaling confirms that the GPU's pixel throughput is the primary constraint at these resolutions.

The RTX 3080's 80th percentile ranking among all GPUs places it in a competitive position, though its nearest rivals show remarkably similar aggregate scores. The passmark_g3d score of 25086 and 3dmark_steel_nomad_dx12 score of 4407 provide additional context for the GPU's overall capabilities. The 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are present but unlikely to be heavily utilized in a roguelike title like Barony, which typically relies more on traditional rasterization.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows exceptional performance across all settings. Low settings produce 449.9 FPS, Medium delivers 333.8 FPS, High achieves 288 FPS, and Ultra maintains 205.7 FPS. The progression from Low to Ultra represents a 54.3% reduction in frame rate, indicating that each settings tier adds meaningful rendering work.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show the expected decline. Low settings produce 285.7 FPS, Medium delivers 211 FPS, High achieves 183.7 FPS, and Ultra maintains 127.6 FPS. The 1440p results represent a 36.5% to 38.0% reduction compared to 1080p across all settings, which is slightly less than the 44% pixel count increase, suggesting some CPU limitation at lower resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the performance drops significantly. Low settings produce 147.9 FPS, Medium delivers 112.8 FPS, High achieves 93.3 FPS, and Ultra maintains 68.7 FPS. The 4K results show a 48.2% to 66.6% reduction compared to 1080p, with the largest percentage drop occurring at Ultra settings. This indicates that the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as both resolution and settings increase.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF's 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and boost clock of 5.30 GHz, provide substantial processing power for Barony. The CPU's 93rd percentile ranking among all processors reflects its strong single-thread performance, which is crucial for game logic and AI in roguelike titles. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4643 and multi-core score of 32889 demonstrate the CPU's balanced capabilities.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent at lower resolutions where the GPU is less stressed. The 1080p Low result of 449.9 FPS indicates the CPU can handle very high frame rates without becoming the limiting factor. However, the smaller-than-expected performance gains from 1440p to 1080p at Low settings (from 285.7 to 449.9 FPS, a 57.5% increase versus the 44% pixel reduction) suggest the CPU is beginning to influence performance at these high frame rates.

The Core i5-14600KF's nearest rivals show extremely close aggregate scores, with all four competitors within 1.4% of the 49367 average. This indicates that CPU choice among these top performers would have minimal impact on Barony's frame rates. The CPU's 24 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4/DDR5 memory support provide adequate bandwidth for game data, though the exact memory configuration was not specified in the benchmark data.