Barony

Barony is a roguelike that, on paper, should not stress modern flagship hardware, yet the measured FPS data for the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination reveals a fascinating scaling curve that behaves differently than typical AAA titles. The benchmark results show a system capable of extraordinary frame rates, but the relationship between settings, resolution, and component utilization tells a nuanced story about where the true bottleneck lies in this particular pairing.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS rows provide a clear hierarchy of performance across the four preset levels. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 301.4 FPS average, while the High preset jumps to 423.7 FPS, representing a substantial 40.5% performance uplift for what is often a marginal visual difference in a roguelike context. The Medium preset offers 493 FPS, which is 63.6% higher than Ultra, yet the Low preset pushes the envelope to 667.1 FPS, a 121.3% improvement over Ultra.

For 1440p gaming, the pattern intensifies. The Ultra preset averages 193.8 FPS, which is already exceptionally playable, but the High preset at 265.9 FPS provides a 37.2% improvement. The Medium preset reaches 310 FPS, while Low hits 419 FPS. The data suggests that High is the sweet spot for this resolution, as it offers more than double the refresh rate of most high-end monitors while maintaining visual fidelity that matters for a game where readability of the dungeon environment is crucial.

At 4K, the situation becomes more nuanced. The Ultra preset averages 99.5 FPS, which is just below the 100 FPS psychological threshold for high-refresh displays. The High preset at 142.8 FPS provides a 43.5% improvement, making it the recommended choice for 4K. The Medium preset at 160.4 FPS and Low at 220.9 FPS further demonstrate that this game is exceptionally light on GPU resources. The data indicates that High settings across all resolutions offer the best balance, as the jumps from Ultra to High are consistently large, while the visual differences in a roguelike genre are typically less impactful than in cinematic shooters.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-14600KF features 14 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.50 GHz and a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This processor is built on the Raptor Lake architecture with a 10 nm process node, and it carries a 24 MB shared L3 cache. The benchmark scores indicate strong multi-threaded performance, with a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32889 and a single-core score of 4643.

In the context of Barony, the CPU's role appears to be significant at lower resolutions. The measured FPS at 1080p Low reaches 667.1 FPS, which suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at extremely high frame rates. The processor's percentile ranking of 93 among all CPUs indicates it is in the top tier for general performance. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-14600K with a deltaPct of 0.4, meaning the 14600KF is slightly ahead in average benchmark score.

The game's roguelike nature typically involves procedural generation and complex game logic, which can create CPU-bound scenarios. The fact that the 1080p Low setting produces 667.1 FPS while the GPU is capable of much higher frame rates suggests that the CPU is the primary limiter at this resolution and setting combination. The L3 cache of 24 MB shared across the cores likely helps with the game's generated dungeon data, but the data shows that even this powerful processor eventually hits a ceiling as frame rates approach 700 FPS.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a behemoth with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, providing 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The GPU operates at a base clock of 2235 MHz with a boost clock of 2520 MHz, and memory runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. The Ada Lovelace architecture with 16384 shading units and 128 RT cores gives it immense raw compute capability, reflected in its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance.

In Barony, the GPU's role becomes more pronounced at higher resolutions. At 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 99.5 FPS, which represents a 67.0% decrease from the 4K Low setting at 220.9 FPS. This scaling indicates that the GPU is indeed the limiting factor at 4K Ultra, as the demand for pixel throughput and memory bandwidth increases. The 24 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game, as even at 4K Ultra, the data shows no indication of memory constraints.

The GPU's percentile ranking of 91 among all GPUs, combined with its average benchmark score of 66473, places it in the upper echelon. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla T4 with a deltaPct of -0.4, meaning the RTX 4090 is slightly ahead. The measured FPS at 1440p High of 265.9 FPS and at 1080p High of 423.7 FPS demonstrates that the GPU has ample headroom at lower resolutions, where the CPU becomes the bottleneck.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i5-14600KF and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 ranks 46th out of 1702 tested combos in Barony, placing it in the top 2.7% of all configurations. This ranking is impressive given that the CPU, while powerful, is not the absolute top-tier processor available. The data suggests that the RTX 4090's raw performance compensates for any CPU limitations in this particular game.

The ranking indicates that this combo outperforms 97.3% of all tested configurations in Barony specifically. This is notable because the CPU's average benchmark score of 49367 places it 0.4% ahead of its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-14600K, and 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. The GPU's average benchmark score of 66473 is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla P40.

The combo's rank of 46 suggests that there are only 45 other combinations that achieve higher frame rates in Barony, likely involving even more powerful CPUs paired with the same or similar GPUs. The data implies that the RTX 4090 is the dominant factor in this pairing, as the game appears to scale more with GPU capability at higher resolutions, while the CPU becomes the limiting factor at lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution to play Barony with this combo?

A: The data shows that 1440p High provides 265.9 FPS, which offers a substantial improvement over 4K High at 142.8 FPS while maintaining high visual quality. For the absolute smoothest experience, 1080p High at 423.7 FPS is exceptional, but 1440p represents the sweet spot for image clarity and frame rate.

Q: Does the RTX 4090 bottleneck the i5-14600KF in this game?

A: At 1080p Low, the combo achieves 667.1 FPS, which indicates the CPU is the limiting factor at this resolution and setting. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 99.5 FPS, suggesting the GPU becomes the bottleneck. The bottleneck shifts depending on resolution and settings.

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

A: At 4K, Ultra averages 99.5 FPS versus High at 142.8 FPS, a 43.5% difference. At 1440p, Ultra averages 193.8 FPS versus High at 265.9 FPS, a 37.2% difference. At 1080p, Ultra averages 301.4 FPS versus High at 423.7 FPS, a 40.5% difference.

Q: Is the 24 GB VRAM on the RTX 4090 necessary for Barony?

A: The game is a roguelike and does not appear to demand significant VRAM, as the performance scaling from Low to Ultra does not show any signs of memory-related stutters. The 24 GB is far more than what Barony requires, but the GPU's other specifications drive the high frame rates.

Q: How does this combo rank against all other tested combinations?

A: The combo ranks 46th out of 1702 tested combos, placing it in the top 2.7% of all configurations. This ranking reflects the strong performance of the RTX 4090, which is in the 91st percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What is the impact of the CPU's 14 cores on Barony's performance?

A: With a Cinebench R23 multicore score of 32889, the processor demonstrates strong multi-threaded capability. Barony likely uses multiple threads for procedural generation and game logic, and the 14 cores with 20 threads provide sufficient parallel processing to avoid becoming a bottleneck at most settings.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the measured FPS values show a clear progression across settings. Low averages 667.1 FPS, Medium averages 493 FPS, High averages 423.7 FPS, and Ultra averages 301.4 FPS. This represents a 54.8% drop from Low to Ultra, indicating that the visual settings have a significant impact on frame rates even at this resolution.

The 2560x1440 resolution shows a similar pattern with different magnitudes. Low averages 419 FPS, Medium averages 310 FPS, High averages 265.9 FPS, and Ultra averages 193.8 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 53.7%, which is nearly identical to the 1080p scaling, suggesting that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count efficiently.

At 3840x2160, the scaling becomes more pronounced. Low averages 220.9 FPS, Medium averages 160.4 FPS, High averages 142.8 FPS, and Ultra averages 99.5 FPS. The drop from Low to Ultra is 55.0%, which is slightly higher than the lower resolutions. This indicates that the GPU is working harder at 4K, and the Ultra preset's additional effects are more costly per pixel.

The data shows that the gap between Medium and High is relatively small at 4K, with only a 11.0% difference, while the gap between High and Ultra is 30.3%. This suggests that the Ultra preset introduces effects that are disproportionately expensive at higher resolutions.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals important information about the system's limiting factors. At Low settings, the frame rate drops from 667.1 FPS at 1080p to 220.9 FPS at 4K, a 66.9% decrease. At Medium, the drop is from 493 FPS to 160.4 FPS, a 67.5% decrease. At High, the drop is from 423.7 FPS to 142.8 FPS, a 66.3% decrease. At Ultra, the drop is from 301.4 FPS to 99.5 FPS, a 67.0% decrease.

These remarkably consistent drops of approximately 67% across all settings indicate that the GPU is the primary factor in resolution scaling. The RTX 4090's pixel throughput and memory bandwidth become the limiting factors as resolution increases, regardless of the visual settings applied. The 4K resolution requires four times the pixel count of 1080p, but the frame rate does not drop to one quarter, suggesting that the GPU has enough headroom to partially compensate.

The resolution scaling data implies that the CPU is not a significant bottleneck at higher resolutions, as the frame rate drops are consistent across all settings. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see smaller percentage drops at lower settings where the CPU is pushed harder. Instead, the consistent 67% drop suggests that the GPU is the dominant constraint at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU's capabilities cap the frame rate at around 667 FPS.