Barony

Barony is a roguelike that, despite its 2015 release, proves extremely sensitive to both GPU and CPU performance depending on the resolution and settings chosen. The measured data for the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti combination reveals a system that is overwhelmingly powerful for this title, but the scaling patterns show exactly where the bottlenecks lie. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that the CPU becomes the primary limiter, while at 4K Ultra, the GPU finally takes over as the dominant constraint. This pairing sits at rank 478 out of 1702 tested combos, placing it in the top 28% of all systems tested, which is a strong result but not the absolute peak, indicating that other pairings do edge it out in this specific game.

Resolution Scaling

The transition from 1080p to 4K shows a dramatic and predictable decline in average frame rates, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly with the quality preset. At Low settings, the system produces 470.1 FPS at 1080p, which falls to 293.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 155.2 FPS at 4K. That is a 67% reduction from 1080p to 4K, which indicates that even at low graphical loads, the rendering pipeline is still heavily taxed by the increase in pixel count. The drop from 1440p to 4K at Low settings is 47%, showing that the 4K resolution nearly halves the output regardless of how simple the scene is.

Moving to High settings, the pattern shifts slightly. At 1080p, the system hits 299.7 FPS, which is already a substantial drop from the Low preset at the same resolution. At 1440p, High settings yield 190.2 FPS, and at 4K, the average falls to 98.6 FPS. The reduction from 1080p to 4K here is 67%, which is nearly identical to the Low preset, but the absolute numbers are lower because the increased shading work per pixel is now more demanding. The Ultra preset shows the steepest cliff: 214 FPS at 1080p, 134 FPS at 1440p, and just 69.6 FPS at 4K. That represents a 67% drop from 1080p to 4K as well, but the 4K Ultra figure is the only measurement in the entire dataset that falls below 100 FPS.

The limiting component becomes clear when comparing the scaling between settings at the same resolution. At 1080p, the gap between Low (470.1 FPS) and Ultra (214 FPS) is 256 FPS, indicating that the GPU has ample headroom and the CPU is likely the bottleneck at the lower settings. At 4K, the gap between Low (155.2 FPS) and Ultra (69.6 FPS) narrows to 85.6 FPS, which suggests that the GPU is now the primary constraint, as the extra pixel workload consumes all available graphics resources. The data shows that this combination is capable of exceeding 300 FPS at 1080p on Medium and High, but 4K Ultra is the only configuration where the system struggles to maintain a smooth experience.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Ampere architecture with a GA102 chip, featuring 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus. The memory bandwidth is 912.4 GB/s, which is substantial for a game like Barony that may not heavily utilize texture streaming but still benefits from fast memory access during complex procedural generation. The GPU clocks at a base of 1365 MHz and boosts to 1665 MHz, and it has 10240 shading units, 320 texture mapping units, and 112 raster output units. These specifications translate to a pixel rate of 186.5 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 532.8 GTexel/s, which are more than adequate for a roguelike that does not push modern graphical features to their limits.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 41224, which places it at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, which scores 41441, representing a delta of -0.5%, meaning the RTX 3080 Ti is essentially on par with the RTX 3090 in general compute tasks. This is reflected in the game data: the RTX 3080 Ti can push Barony to 470.1 FPS at 1080p Low, which shows that the GPU is not the limiting factor at that resolution. However, at 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops to 69.6 FPS, which is still playable but indicates that the GPU is finally being pushed to its limits.

The VRAM capacity of 12 GB is not a concern for this game, as the measured FPS does not show any signs of memory-related stuttering or frame drops, even at 4K Ultra. The 912.4 GB/s bandwidth ensures that any texture data is fed to the shading units quickly, and the 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores are present but largely unused in a roguelike that does not employ ray tracing or DLSS. The GPU’s FP32 performance of 34.10 TFLOPS is more than sufficient for the rasterization workload, and the data confirms that the RTX 3080 Ti is the dominant component at 4K, where the frame rate scales almost linearly with the pixel count.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-12700K is a 12-core, 20-thread processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 5.00 GHz. It has 25 MB of shared L3 cache, and its benchmark scores show strong single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. In Cinebench R23, it scores 4128 in single-core and 29241 in multi-core, which places it at the 89th percentile of all CPUs. Its average benchmark score is 35684, and its nearest rival, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 35802, a delta of -0.3%, meaning the i7-12700K is statistically tied with that processor.

In Barony, the CPU’s role becomes apparent at 1080p, where the frame rates exceed 300 FPS on Medium and High settings. At 1080p Low, the system reaches 470.1 FPS, which is so high that the GPU is likely starved for data, and the CPU’s single-threaded performance becomes the limiting factor. The i7-12700K scores 1043 in 3DMark single-thread and 4013 in Passmark single-thread, which are strong numbers but not the highest available. The fact that the frame rate drops from 470.1 FPS at 1080p Low to 293.9 FPS at 1440p Low shows that the CPU can feed the GPU at 1080p, but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as the resolution increases.

The 20 threads are not fully utilized in Barony, as the game is not heavily multithreaded, but the high boost clock of 5.00 GHz ensures that the few active threads can run at maximum speed. The CPU’s L3 cache of 25 MB is beneficial for procedural generation, where repeated access to the same data structures can be cached. The data shows that the CPU is not the limiting factor at 4K, as the frame rates at 4K Ultra (69.6 FPS) are clearly constrained by the GPU’s pixel throughput, not by the CPU’s ability to issue draw calls.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the Intel Core i7-12700K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti holds a combo rank of 478 out of 1702 tested combinations in Barony. This places it in the top 28% of all tested systems, which is a solid result but not a top-tier one. The percentile ranking suggests that there are 1224 other combinations that perform better in this specific game, which is surprising given the raw power of both components. This indicates that Barony is not particularly well-optimized for high-end hardware, or that other combinations with faster single-threaded CPUs or higher-bandwidth GPUs can push the frame rates even higher.

The CPU’s percentile of 89 vs all CPUs and the GPU’s percentile of 83 vs all GPUs are both high, but the combo rank of 478 out of 1702 shows that the pairing is not perfectly synergistic for this game. The GPU’s nearest rival, the RTX 3090, scores only 0.5% higher in average benchmarks, but in Barony, the difference in frame rates could be more pronounced at 4K Ultra, where the RTX 3080 Ti’s 12 GB of VRAM and 384-bit bus are the same as the RTX 3090’s, but the latter has more CUDA cores. The CPU’s nearest rival, the Ryzen 7 PRO 5845, scores 0.3% higher, but the i7-12700K’s higher boost clock may give it an edge in single-threaded workloads that Barony relies on.

The rank of 478 suggests that this combo is more than capable of running Barony at playable frame rates at all settings, but it is not in the top 100, which would likely be reserved for combinations with the latest generation hardware. The data shows that this pairing is a very strong mid-to-high-end option, but users seeking the absolute maximum FPS in Barony might need to look at newer GPUs or CPUs with higher single-threaded performance.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides clear guidance on which preset offers the best experience for this hardware combination. At 4K, the High preset delivers 98.6 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay, while the Ultra preset drops to 69.6 FPS, which is still playable but with less headroom. The Medium preset at 4K yields 113.2 FPS, which is the best balance of visual quality and performance, as it is nearly 15 FPS higher than High and still maintains a smooth frame rate. For 4K, the Medium preset is the recommended choice, as it provides a significant performance boost over High without a major visual sacrifice.

At 1440p, the High preset delivers 190.2 FPS, which is more than enough for any high-refresh-rate monitor, and the Ultra preset at 134 FPS is also excellent. The Medium preset at 219.3 FPS is even better for competitive play, but the visual differences between Medium and High are minimal in a roguelike. For 1440p, the High preset is the sweet spot, as it offers a substantial improvement in visual quality over Medium while still maintaining a frame rate well above 144 Hz.

At 1080p, the system is so powerful that even the Ultra preset delivers 214 FPS, which is above the refresh rate of most gaming monitors. The Low preset at 470.1 FPS is unnecessary for any practical purpose, but it shows the CPU’s limitations. For 1080p, the High preset at 299.7 FPS is the recommended choice, as it provides excellent visual fidelity without any risk of the frame rate dropping below 240 Hz. The Medium preset at 346.7 FPS is also viable, but the visual upgrade to High is worth the small FPS cost. Overall, the data suggests that Medium at 4K, High at 1440p, and High at 1080p offer the best balance of visual quality and performance for this combo.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system produces 470.1 FPS on Low, 346.7 FPS on Medium, 299.7 FPS on High, and 214 FPS on Ultra. The spread from Low to Ultra is 256.1 FPS, which shows that the GPU is not the bottleneck at this resolution, as even the most demanding preset still exceeds 200 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 293.9 FPS on Low, 219.3 FPS on Medium, 190.2 FPS on High, and 134 FPS on Ultra. The drop from 1080p to 1440p at the same settings is consistent: Low falls by 37%, Medium by 37%, High by 37%, and Ultra by 37%. This uniform reduction indicates that the GPU is now the primary limiter, as the pixel count increases by 78% but the frame rate only drops by 37%, showing that the GPU has enough headroom at 1440p to handle the extra workload.

At 3840x2160, the system delivers 155.2 FPS on Low, 113.2 FPS on Medium, 98.6 FPS on High, and 69.6 FPS on Ultra. The transition from 1440p to 4K shows a steeper drop: Low falls by 47%, Medium by 48%, High by 48%, and Ultra by 48%. This indicates that the GPU is now fully saturated at 4K, and the frame rate scales almost directly with the pixel count. The Ultra preset at 4K is the only configuration that falls below 70 FPS, making it the least desirable option for smooth gameplay. The data shows that this combination is best suited for High settings at 1080p and 1440p, with Medium being the optimal choice for 4K.