Barony

The Intel Core i7-12700K paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a stark contrast in capability tiers, and the measured frame rates in Barony reflect that imbalance clearly. The CPU is a high-end desktop part with strong multi-threaded performance, while the GPU is an integrated-class solution that ranks in the bottom 9th percentile of all GPUs. Consequently, the data shows this combo is strictly for playable, not high-refresh, experiences, and the settings you choose will determine whether the game feels smooth or slideshow-like.

Settings Recommendations

The measured rows across three resolutions and four quality presets show a clear hierarchy, but the playable zone depends heavily on your target resolution. At 1920x1080, the data shows an average of 159 FPS on Low, 118 FPS on Medium, and 102 FPS on High. These are all comfortably above the 60 FPS threshold, making 1080p the only resolution where this combo offers genuine flexibility. Even Ultra at 1080p manages a respectable 73 FPS average. The sweet spot for visual fidelity without sacrificing fluidity is the High preset at 1080p, which delivers 102 FPS and leaves enough headroom to avoid noticeable dips in busy scenes.

Moving to 2560x1440, the picture changes. Low settings yield 100 FPS, Medium drops to 75 FPS, and High falls to 64 FPS. Ultra at 1440p is the first configuration that puts this combo under real strain, averaging just 46 FPS. If you own a 1440p monitor, the data suggests Medium is the practical ceiling for maintaining a stable 60+ FPS experience. High at 1440p is borderline, hitting 64 FPS on average, but the lack of a recorded minimum frame time means you risk occasional stutters. For a roguelike where reaction time matters, Medium at 1440p is the safer pick.

At 3840x2160, the Arc B390 simply does not have the throughput for smooth gameplay. Low settings produce 53 FPS, Medium drops to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS, and High falls to 34 FPS. Ultra at 4K is nearly unplayable at 24 FPS. Unless you are willing to accept sub-60 FPS gameplay with potential frame-time spikes, 4K is not a viable target for this combo. The measured minimum of 33 FPS on Medium at 4K indicates that even mid-range settings will produce visible hitches. Stick to 1080p or 1440p for a coherent experience.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is the limiting factor in this pairing, and its specifications explain why the frame rates plateau where they do. This GPU features a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, with 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. It also includes 12 ray tracing cores. The raw compute figures are modest: 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16 (2:1). These numbers place it firmly in entry-level territory, which is confirmed by its 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs.

Critically, the memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning the GPU has no dedicated VRAM of its own. This has a direct impact on Barony's performance, particularly at higher resolutions. The frame rate drop from 1080p to 4K is not just about pixel count; it is also about memory bandwidth pressure. With shared system memory, the GPU must compete with the CPU for bandwidth, and the data reflects this bottleneck. The measured FPS at 4K High (34 FPS) versus 1080p High (102 FPS) shows a 67% reduction, which is steeper than what you would expect from a discrete GPU with dedicated VRAM.

The GPU's 80 W TDP and IGP slot width confirm it is designed for low-power integrated use, not sustained high-load gaming. The nearest rivals in the benchmark database are NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1.3% lower score), GeForce 800M (1.5% lower), GT 625 OEM (2.5% lower), and GT 710 (2.7% lower). This places the Arc B390 at the very bottom of the performance ladder, just above decade-old entry-level parts. In Barony, this means the GPU dictates that you play at lower settings to achieve playable frame rates, and the CPU's power is largely left on the table.

Resolution Scaling

The measured data shows a clear and predictable scaling pattern as resolution increases. At High settings, the average FPS goes from 102 at 1080p, to 64 at 1440p, to 34 at 4K. That is a 37% drop from 1080p to 1440p, and a further 47% drop from 1440p to 4K. This steep decline is characteristic of a GPU-bound scenario. When a system is CPU-bound, frame rates typically stay flat across resolutions because the CPU is the limiting factor. Here, the frame rate halves at each major resolution step, which indicates the Arc B390's rendering pipeline is saturated.

Low settings show a similar pattern: 159 FPS at 1080p, 100 FPS at 1440p, and 53 FPS at 4K. The relative drops are 37% and 47% respectively, mirroring the High preset almost exactly. This consistency suggests that the scaling is purely resolution-driven and not affected by the quality preset's impact on the CPU. The Medium preset tells the same story, with 118 FPS at 1080p, 75 FPS at 1440p, and 39 FPS at 4K. The minimum frame rate of 33 FPS at 4K Medium versus 101 FPS at 1080p Medium reinforces that the GPU is struggling to fill pixels at higher resolutions.

What this reveals is that the limiting component is unambiguously the GPU. The Intel Core i7-12700K is capable of far higher frame rates, as evidenced by the 159 FPS at 1080p Low, which is likely approaching the CPU's practical ceiling for this game. But as soon as resolution increases, the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become the bottleneck. The 24 ROPs and 48 TMUs are simply too few to handle 4K output efficiently. If you are playing on a 4K display, you will need to accept either Low settings (53 FPS) or a significant resolution scale down to 1440p to get a smooth experience.

FAQ

Q: What is the best preset for 1080p gaming with this combo?

A: The data shows High settings at 1920x1080 delivers 102 FPS on average, which is well above the 60 FPS target. Low settings reach 159 FPS and Medium hits 118 FPS, but High offers the best balance of visual quality and frame rate headroom. Ultra at 73 FPS is also playable, but the extra visual fidelity comes at a 28% performance cost compared to High.

Q: Is the Intel Arc B390 capable of 4K gaming in Barony?

A: The measured results indicate 4K is not practical. The best 4K result is 53 FPS on Low settings, but Medium drops to 39 FPS with a minimum of 33 FPS. High and Ultra are 34 FPS and 24 FPS respectively. For consistent 60 FPS gameplay, you would need to play at 1440p or lower.

Q: How does the Arc B390 compare to its nearest GPU rivals?

A: In the benchmark database, the Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with a score of 1463, which is 1.3% lower. The GeForce 800M is 1.5% lower, the GT 625 OEM is 2.5% lower, and the GT 710 is 2.7% lower. The Arc B390 is marginally faster than these legacy parts but remains in the bottom 9th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Does the Intel Core i7-12700K bottleneck the Arc B390?

A: No. The data shows the opposite. At 1080p Low, the combo reaches 159 FPS, which suggests the CPU can push well beyond what the GPU can render. The frame rate drops significantly at higher resolutions (159 FPS at 1080p to 53 FPS at 4K on Low), confirming the GPU is the limiting component, not the CPU.

Q: What is the combo's ranking among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combo ranks 2601 out of 2935 tested combinations in Barony. This places it in the bottom 11.4% of all tested systems, which is consistent with the GPU's low percentile ranking and the modest frame rates observed.

Q: Why do the frame rates drop so sharply between 1440p and 4K?

A: The drop is steep because the GPU lacks dedicated VRAM and uses System Shared memory. At 4K High, the average FPS is 34, compared to 64 at 1440p High. This 47% reduction is due to the increased pixel fill rate demand and memory bandwidth pressure, which the Arc B390's 24 ROPs and shared memory cannot handle efficiently.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo's rank of 2601 out of 2935 tested combinations places it in the bottom 11.4% of all systems tested in Barony. This is a low ranking, but it is not surprising given the GPU's specifications. The Intel Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile of all GPUs, and its average benchmark score of 1482 is only marginally better than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and GeForce 800M (1460). The CPU, by contrast, is in the 84th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 35287.

This mismatch is the defining characteristic of this combo. The Core i7-12700K brings substantial processing power, scoring 19784 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 15790 in Geekbench multi-core. But that power is irrelevant in Barony at higher resolutions because the GPU cannot keep up. The rank reflects the weakest link in the chain, which is the GPU. If you were to pair this CPU with a mid-range discrete GPU, the same combo rank would likely improve dramatically, but as configured, the Arc B390 caps the experience.

Compared to other combos in the database, this one is suited for 1080p gaming at medium-to-high settings, or 1440p at low-to-medium settings. The 2601st rank out of 2935 means there are 334 tested combos that perform worse, which includes systems with even older or weaker integrated graphics. For a roguelike like Barony, the game is playable, but you will not be pushing high refresh rates at high resolutions. The data is clear: this combo is a budget-oriented pairing that prioritizes CPU capability over GPU throughput.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is the dominant component in this pairing, and its specifications show why it is not the bottleneck. This processor features 12 cores and 20 threads, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It is built on Intel's 10 nm Alder Lake architecture and supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. The cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 per core, 1.25 MB of L2 per core, and 25 MB of shared L3 cache. The CPU's 125 W TDP and unlocked multiplier make it a high-performance desktop part.

In synthetic benchmarks, the i7-12700K shows strength in both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. It scores 1043 in 3DMark single-thread and 9979 in 3DMark max threads. Cinebench R23 results are 1850.5 for single-core and 19784 for multi-core. PassMark scores reinforce this, with 4013 for single-thread and 34404 for multithread. The CPU's percentile ranking of 84th among all CPUs confirms it is a solid performer for gaming and productivity alike.

In Barony, the CPU's role is to handle game logic, AI, and physics, which it does with ample headroom. The evidence is the 159 FPS at 1080p Low, which is the highest measured frame rate across all settings and resolutions. This suggests the CPU can drive frame rates well above 150 FPS in this game. The bottleneck appears only when the GPU cannot render frames fast enough, which happens at 1440p and 4K. The Core i7-12700K is not the limiting factor; the Arc B390 is. If you were to upgrade the GPU, this CPU would likely support significantly higher frame rates without needing a change.