Barony

Barony, a roguelike from 2015, presents an interesting case study for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 combination. The measured frame rates across resolutions and settings reveal a system that is remarkably capable at high refresh rates, but the scaling patterns indicate a nuanced balance between the CPU and GPU. The data suggests that while the RTX 2060 is the primary bottleneck at 4K, the i7-12700K's strong single-threaded performance allows the system to hit very high frame rates at lower resolutions, making the overall experience highly dependent on the user's display and quality preferences.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The measured FPS data shows a clear and dramatic decline as resolution increases, which is typical for a game like Barony, but the rate of decline offers specific insights. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 167 FPS at 1920x1080 to 105 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 62 FPS. Moving further to 3840x2160, the average falls to 55 FPS, which is a drop of 50 FPS from the 1440p result. This steep decline, especially from 1440p to 4K (a 48% reduction), strongly indicates that the GPU is becoming the primary limiting factor at higher pixel counts. The RTX 2060, with its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and 336.0 GB/s bandwidth, is being tasked with rendering significantly more pixels, and the data shows it struggling to maintain the high frame rates seen at 1080p.

At the Medium preset, the scaling follows a similar pattern. The average FPS goes from 194 at 1080p to 123 at 1440p, and then down to 64 at 4K. The 4K result is less than half of the 1440p result, reinforcing the idea that the GPU is hitting a performance wall. The Low preset shows the most extreme scaling, with 261 FPS at 1080p, 165 FPS at 1440p, and 86 FPS at 4K. While the absolute numbers are high, the percentage drop from 1440p to 4K is still substantial (48%), suggesting that even at the lowest settings, the sheer pixel count at 4K overwhelms the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth.

The Ultra preset reveals the most pronounced bottleneck. At 1080p, the system manages 120 FPS, but this falls to 76 FPS at 1440p and a relatively low 39 FPS at 4K. The gap between 1080p and 4K here is 81 FPS, a 67% reduction. This data implies that while the i7-12700K is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, the RTX 2060's performance ceiling is hit quickly when the Ultra preset's additional graphical demands are combined with a 4K resolution. The benchmark results indicate that the system is CPU-bound at 1080p, but becomes heavily GPU-bound as resolution increases, with the crossover point occurring somewhere between 1080p and 1440p depending on the preset.

Settings Recommendations — which preset gives the best experience per the measured rows

Analyzing the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings depend entirely on the target resolution and refresh rate of the user's monitor. For 1920x1080, the data shows that the Ultra preset, with an average of 120 FPS, is perfectly playable on a 120Hz or even a 144Hz display. The High preset offers a substantial increase to 167 FPS, which would be ideal for a 165Hz monitor, and the Medium preset at 194 FPS is suitable for very high refresh rate displays. The Low preset at 261 FPS is exceptionally high, but the visual fidelity trade-off may not be worth it for most users, as the High preset provides a 46 FPS improvement over Ultra while likely looking much better.

For 2560x1440, the recommendation shifts. The Ultra preset's 76 FPS average is playable, but it is not particularly high. The High preset, at 105 FPS, is a much better balance for a 144Hz 1440p monitor, offering a 29 FPS increase over Ultra. The Medium preset at 123 FPS is even smoother and would be the best choice for competitive play or for users who prioritize frame rate over maximum visual detail. The Low preset at 165 FPS is extremely fast, but the graphical downgrade is likely too severe for a game that may rely on visual cues.

At 3840x2160, the measured data suggests that the system is not well-suited for Ultra or High settings. The Ultra preset's 39 FPS average is below the standard for smooth gameplay, and the High preset at 55 FPS is marginal. The Medium preset, with an average of 64 FPS and a minimum of 55 FPS, is the only preset that approaches a playable level, though it is still not ideal for fast-paced action. The Low preset at 86 FPS is the only one that provides a consistently smooth experience at 4K, but it requires a significant reduction in visual quality. In summary, the best experience is a balance: High settings at 1080p, Medium to High at 1440p, and Low to Medium at 4K, depending on the user's tolerance for visual compromises.

FAQ

Q: What is the average frame rate at 1080p with High settings?

A: The measured average FPS at 1920x1080 with the High preset is 167 FPS, with no minimum or maximum values recorded in the data.

Q: How does the system perform at 4K with the Ultra preset?

A: At 3840x2160 with Ultra settings, the system achieves a relatively low average of 39 FPS, which is the lowest score across all measured configurations.

Q: Is the frame rate stable at 1440p with Medium settings?

A: Yes, the data shows an average of 123 FPS for this configuration, with a minimum of 104 FPS and a maximum of 141 FPS, indicating a reasonably stable experience.

Q: Which resolution and settings combination yields the highest average FPS?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 261, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low preset.

Q: What is the average FPS difference between High and Ultra at 1440p?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 averages 105 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 76 FPS, a difference of 29 FPS in favor of High.

Q: Does the system provide a consistent 60 FPS experience at 4K on any preset?

A: The data shows that only the Low preset at 3840x2160, with an average of 86 FPS, consistently exceeds 60 FPS. The High preset at 55 FPS and Medium preset at 64 FPS are close, but the Medium preset's minimum of 55 FPS falls below the 60 FPS threshold.

Measured FPS Breakdown — resolution by resolution, settings by settings, exact numbers

The complete measured FPS data for this combination is as follows:

At 1920x1080, the system delivers increasingly high frame rates as settings are lowered. The Ultra preset averages 120 FPS. The High preset averages 167 FPS. The Medium preset averages 194 FPS, with a minimum of 165 FPS and a maximum of 224 FPS. The Low preset averages 261 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates remain high but show a clear step down. The Ultra preset averages 76 FPS. The High preset averages 105 FPS. The Medium preset averages 123 FPS, with a minimum of 104 FPS and a maximum of 141 FPS. The Low preset averages 165 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the system's performance drops significantly. The Ultra preset averages 39 FPS. The High preset averages 55 FPS. The Medium preset averages 64 FPS, with a minimum of 55 FPS and a maximum of 74 FPS. The Low preset averages 86 FPS.

This data reveals a consistent hierarchy across all resolutions, with the Low preset always providing the highest average FPS, followed by Medium, High, and Ultra in that order. The gaps between presets widen at higher resolutions, indicating that the GPU's workload scales disproportionately with both resolution and graphical fidelity.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 plays a central role in the measured performance, particularly at higher resolutions. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory is a key specification, and while Barony is not typically a VRAM-heavy game, the 4K results suggest that memory bandwidth could be a constraint. The GPU's memory runs at 1750 MHz, providing 14 Gbps effective speed and a total bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s across a 192-bit bus. The steep FPS drops from 1440p to 4K, especially on the High and Ultra presets, point to the GPU's pixel fill rate and memory subsystem being saturated by the increased resolution.

The RTX 2060's core clocks are 1365 MHz base and 1680 MHz boost. These clocks, combined with its 1920 shading units, produce a texture rate of 201.6 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 80.64 GPixel/s. The data implies that at 1080p, these specifications are more than sufficient, as the frame rates are very high. However, at 4K, the demand for pixel processing grows exponentially, and the 80.64 GPixel/s pixel rate appears to be a limiting factor, particularly when the Ultra preset is enabled. The GPU also features 30 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, but for a roguelike like Barony, these are less likely to be the primary performance drivers compared to raw rasterization throughput.

The GPU's benchmark scores also provide context. Its Passmark G3D score is 14111, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1242. These figures, combined with its 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs, indicate that the RTX 2060 is a mid-range performer. In this context, the measured FPS in Barony show that it can handle 1080p and 1440p very well, but it is simply outclassed by the demands of 4K Ultra settings. The data shows that the GPU is the primary bottleneck for this game at resolutions above 1080p.

CPU Role — cores, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The Intel Core i7-12700K provides the processing foundation for this system, and its characteristics are crucial for understanding the high frame rates at lower resolutions. With 12 cores and 20 threads, the CPU has substantial multi-threaded capability, but the game Barony, being a roguelike, likely benefits more from strong single-threaded performance. The CPU's base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 5.00 GHz are important factors. The high boost clock helps ensure that the game's main logic and draw call processing are handled with minimal latency, which is why the system can achieve 261 FPS at 1080p Low settings.

The CPU's benchmark results support this interpretation. Its Passmark single-thread score is 4013, and its Geekbench single-core score is 2308. These are strong numbers, and the data shows that the CPU is not a limiting factor at 1080p, where the GPU is likely the bottleneck. However, the CPU's multi-core performance, as evidenced by a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 19784 and a Passmark multithread score of 34404, ensures that background tasks and any game engine threading are handled effectively, preventing stalls that could cause frame drops.

The i7-12700K's L3 cache is 25 MB (shared), which is a large pool that can help keep frequently accessed game data close to the cores, reducing memory latency. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, though the memory bandwidth is not specified in the data. The 3DMark 16-thread score of 9276 and single-thread score of 1043 provide a relative measure of its compute capability. In the context of the measured FPS, the CPU's role appears to be enabling the high frame rates seen at 1080p and 1440p, while the GPU becomes the limiting factor at 4K. The data suggests that the processor has enough headroom to support even higher frame rates if the GPU were more powerful.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The overall ranking of this specific combination in Barony is 2937 out of 3717 tested combos. This places it in the bottom 21% of all tested systems, which is a surprising result given the high frame rates measured. This ranking likely reflects the fact that the database contains many combinations with more powerful GPUs, such as the RTX 3080 or RTX 4090, which would achieve much higher scores at 4K resolutions. The combo's rank is a relative measure, and the low percentile indicates that while this system is capable, there are many other tested configurations that perform better in this game.

The ranking is partly explained by the GPU's performance class. The RTX 2060's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, with an average score of 15283 and a deltaPct of 0, and the AMD Radeon 680M, with an average score of 15270 and a deltaPct of 0.1. These rivals are within a 0.8% deltaPct of the RTX 2060's average benchmark score of 15290, indicating that the GPU is closely matched with these other, often older or integrated, graphics solutions in general benchmarks. However, the CPU is a much stronger performer, with its nearest rivals being the Intel Core i5-13600T (avg score 35305, deltaPct -0.1) and the Intel Core i7-12700KF (avg score 35365, deltaPct -0.2), all within a 0.4% deltaPct of the i7-12700K's average score of 35287.

The rank of 2937 out of 3717 suggests that, in the context of all tested combos, the RTX 2060 is the weak link. The CPU is a high-end part that ranks in the 84th percentile among all CPUs, but the GPU's 58th percentile ranking among all GPUs drags the combined performance down. The data implies that for Barony, a more balanced system with a slightly slower CPU but a faster GPU would likely achieve a much better combo rank. The measured FPS at 4K, where the system averages 39 FPS on Ultra, are consistent with a low overall rank, as many other combos would likely exceed 60 FPS at that resolution and settings.