Barony

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT delivers a robust experience in Barony, a roguelike title that clearly favors high frame rates. The measured data shows a system that is overwhelmingly GPU-limited at higher resolutions, while the processor’s strong single-thread performance allows for exceptional throughput at 1080p. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, contextualizes the combo’s standing among 1,702 tested configurations, and examines the CPU’s contribution to the results.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 reveals a classic scaling curve heavily influenced by the graphics card. At 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 392.8 FPS, which drops to 245.6 FPS at 1440p and further to 129.3 FPS at 4K. This represents a 67% reduction in frame rate from 1080p Low to 4K Low, indicating that the RX 7700 XT is the primary constraint as pixel count rises.

The scaling becomes more pronounced at higher settings. At Ultra, the frame rate falls from 180.5 FPS at 1080p to 115.7 FPS at 1440p, and finally to 62 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is the only measured point below the 60 FPS threshold, suggesting that the GPU’s 12 GB memory and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth are being saturated by the combination of maximum detail and 8.3 million pixels. Conversely, the 1080p results, particularly the 392.8 FPS Low figure, indicate that the CPU’s 12 cores and 20 threads are not the limiting factor; the i7-12700K’s 5.00 GHz boost clock provides ample headroom for the game’s logic at lower resolutions.

The data shows diminishing returns when moving from Medium to High. At 1440p, the difference between Medium (184.4 FPS) and High (156.6 FPS) is 27.8 FPS, while the jump from High to Ultra (115.7 FPS) is a steeper 40.9 FPS drop. This suggests that Ultra settings introduce effects that disproportionately tax the GPU’s 96 ROPs and 216 TMUs, making 4K Ultra a demanding target for this combination.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo?

A: The peak measured performance is 392.8 FPS at 1920x1080 with Low settings. This is the only configuration exceeding 300 FPS in the dataset.

Q: Does the combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No, the 4K Ultra result is 62 FPS, which is just above 60 FPS. This is the only settings/resolution pairing below 80 FPS in the entire measured set.

Q: How does the CPU’s single-thread performance compare to its multi-thread performance?

A: The i7-12700K scores 4,128 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 29,241 in multi-core. This ratio highlights strong single-thread capability, which is relevant for a roguelike’s game logic, while the 20-thread count supports background tasks.

Q: What is the frame rate difference between Low and Ultra at 2560x1440?

A: At 1440p, Low settings yield 245.6 FPS, while Ultra produces 115.7 FPS. The difference is 129.9 FPS, representing a 53% reduction in performance when moving to maximum quality.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck at 1080p?

A: Benchmark results indicate the GPU becomes the limiting factor even at 1080p Ultra, where the 180.5 FPS figure is well below the 392.8 FPS Low result. The CPU’s 3,456 shading units and 35.17 TFLOPS FP32 performance are sufficient to drive higher frame rates, but the game’s rendering load at Ultra caps output.

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

A: The combination ranks 752nd out of 1,702 tested combos in Barony. This places it in the 44th percentile of all configurations, indicating above-average performance for the game.

Settings Recommendations

For players targeting high refresh rates, the Low preset at 1080p is the clear choice, delivering 392.8 FPS. This configuration is ideal for competitive play or for users with 240 Hz monitors. At 1440p, the Low preset still offers 245.6 FPS, which is sufficient for most high-refresh displays.

The Medium preset provides the best balance between visual fidelity and frame rate. At 1080p, it produces 290.4 FPS, which is only 102.4 FPS less than Low but offers noticeably improved textures and effects. At 1440p, Medium yields 184.4 FPS, which comfortably exceeds 144 Hz refresh rates. For 4K users, Medium is the recommended ceiling, as the 96.6 FPS result is playable and significantly smoother than the 62 FPS Ultra figure.

The High preset is a middle ground that sacrifices frame rate for modest gains. At 1080p, it delivers 248.5 FPS, while at 4K it drops to 80.5 FPS. Given that Medium outperforms High by 23-33% across resolutions, the High preset offers poor value in terms of frame rate per visual increment. Ultra settings should be avoided for 4K gaming, as the 62 FPS result is only marginally above the 60 FPS threshold and will likely suffer from frame time inconsistencies.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo’s rank of 752 out of 1,702 tested configurations places it squarely in the upper-middle tier of systems for Barony. The GPU’s percentile rank of 73 against all GPUs, combined with the CPU’s 89th percentile, suggests that the pairing is well-balanced for this title. However, the rank indicates that 950 other combos achieve higher average FPS, likely due to more powerful GPUs or newer CPU architectures.

The GPU’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, shows a 0% deltaPct in average benchmark score, meaning the RX 7700 XT is essentially equivalent in synthetic tests. In practice, the measured FPS data shows this GPU is capable of exceeding 100 FPS at 1440p High, which is a strong result for a mid-range card. The CPU’s nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, is 0.3% slower, while the Intel Core i5-14500HX is 0.7% faster, indicating the i7-12700K is competitive with current mobile and desktop parts.

The rank of 752 suggests that while this combo is not at the top tier for Barony, it is far from the bottom. More than 55% of tested combos outperform it, but the 4K Medium result of 96.6 FPS demonstrates that this system can handle high-resolution gaming with moderate settings. The data supports a conclusion that this is a dependable, mid-tier configuration for the game.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, fabricated on Intel’s 10 nm process. Its base clock is 3.60 GHz with a boost clock of 5.00 GHz, and it features 25 MB of shared L3 cache. For Barony, a roguelike that relies heavily on single-threaded game logic, the CPU’s single-core performance is critical. The Cinebench R23 single-core score of 4,128 places it well above average, which explains the high 1080p Low frame rate of 392.8 FPS.

The processor’s multi-thread capabilities are also substantial. The Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 29,241 and the 3DMark max threads score of 9,979 indicate that the CPU can handle background processes and any multithreaded aspects of the game engine without bottlenecking the GPU. However, the measured FPS data shows that the GPU becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions and settings. At 1080p Ultra, the 180.5 FPS figure is still high, but it represents a 54% drop from 1080p Low, confirming that the RX 7700 XT’s rendering pipeline is the constraint.

The CPU’s 5.00 GHz boost clock is particularly beneficial for a game like Barony, where frame times can be sensitive to CPU latency. The 3DMark single-thread score of 1,043 and Geekbench single-core score of 2,561 reinforce that this processor is well-suited for games that do not scale perfectly across many cores. The 12-core configuration ensures that even with multiple applications running, the game receives adequate CPU resources.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers its highest frame rates. Low settings produce 392.8 FPS, while Medium drops to 290.4 FPS. High settings yield 248.5 FPS, and Ultra settings are the slowest at 180.5 FPS. The scaling from Low to Ultra represents a 54% performance reduction, with the largest single drop occurring between Medium and High (41.9 FPS).

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates decrease predictably. Low settings achieve 245.6 FPS, which is a 37% reduction from 1080p Low. Medium settings produce 184.4 FPS, High settings reach 156.6 FPS, and Ultra settings deliver 115.7 FPS. At this resolution, the GPU’s workload increases by 78% compared to 1080p, and the data shows that the RX 7700 XT’s 12 GB of GDDR6 memory is still sufficient, as the frame rate drops are consistent across settings.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain high frame rates at maximum quality. Low settings yield 129.3 FPS, which is still playable, while Medium settings produce 96.6 FPS. High settings drop to 80.5 FPS, and Ultra settings are the only configuration to fall below 60 FPS, at 62 FPS. The 4K results show that the GPU’s 432.0 GB/s bandwidth and 244.2 GPixel/s pixel rate are heavily taxed, particularly at Ultra where the 96 ROPs are likely saturated. The difference between 4K Low and 4K Ultra is 67.3 FPS, demonstrating that resolution scaling is the dominant factor in this combo’s performance profile.